rob’s place

A Khim is a hammered dulcimer from Thailand…and Patricia got a lesson!

YouTube - Patricia learns to play the Khim

, originally uploaded by gotigersjf.

With the #4 overall pick of the 2007 NFL Draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers select GAINES ADAMS.

Congrats also to the other Tigers drafted.

For about two weeks I was pretty much off the internets. Actually, each week was different.

Week 1 - Was in Bangkok and I used the internets mostly to learn more about and stay updated on the Virginia Tech Massacre. I didn’t do a lot of gReading or eMailing or even podWatching. It was nice.

Week 2 - Was in Chiang Mai and I was completely unplugged. It was nice.

Week 3 - Am in Orlando and I’ve thought about staying unplugged a little longer. Maybe this week I’ll be semi-plugged in. I don’t feel like I’ve got much to say, but do have some photos and videos to show you. Perhaps I’ll get to them.

Week 4 - Will be in Greenville and who knows what kind of plugged in status I’ll have or want to have.

Random realization - in 2007 so far I’ve been in 4 continents and only 3 US states. Perhaps that’s why I feel a bit fatigued and willing to unplug.

Everyone is very friendly
Phad Thai is much better in Thailand than in our kitchen in Orlando
The city is big, packed and a little smelly
Traffic is crazy
After several nights in Bangkok I don’t feel like the world is my oyster
The biggest difference between an American massage and a Thai massage is in one culture they keep both feet on the ground
Green Tea ice cream tastes just like it sounds
The Thai love to serve
The King is a wonderful man so we’re reminded
April is the hottest and stickiest month all year
Thai bow a lot (that should not be read as “Tae Bo a lot”)
The hotel staff wear name tags but it doesn’t help
Most everything is inexpensive
Like many big cities, squalor and wealth are side-by-side
The fabrics are very colorful
If you want to go to a specific tailor or jeweler, don’t back down when the cab driver wants to take you elsewhere; and they will try very hard
They offer a lot of seafood but I stuck with pig, chicken and salmon
Though it’s Japanese, just a dab of wasabi will do ya
I appreciate forks much more now
YouTube.com is still blocked

an early bangkok morning on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

more

Ever get tired of errors in bad form? I got an error message today that was “well formed”.

Nice.

I feel like I’ve been out of the news loop with all this travel. So catching up on some of what I missed, seems this is pretty much what happened this week while I’ve been unplugged:

• Duke lacrosse is innocent but the former attorney isn’t
• Don Imus is a doofus
• Alton Brown is a winner
• Tawinese zookeeper almost lost an arm to a Nile croc (graphic photos)
• Michael Scott influenced Wikipedia
• Most of you won’t comment

Did I miss anything?

I haven’t had root beer in a long time.

Today, we had lunch at A&W Root Beer here in Bangkok.

Guess the Thai food has worn off already.

Oh, and happy Songkran (defined, photographed, and opined).

A local here at the hotel told me it’s culturally 2550 now.

Not sure how traditional a chicken sandwich, curly fries, and root beer are for Songkran, but that’s how we celebrated during lunch.

This week’s Foto Friday comes to you from Seoul, Korea’s Incheon airport on the way to Bangkok.

I knew that YouTube was banned here in Thailand so I went there to see what would happen. This is a screenshot of what YouTube.com looks like here. Click it to go to Flickr and see a larger image of it. I’m curious what the Thai translates to in English.