Animals of Yasothon

Here are some strange creatures I met in Yasothon province. My favorite is the short-legged rooster. It was pretty adorbs.

Bangkok in Pictures (and Also Some Words)

Basically, my motivation for coming to Bangkok for a weekend was utilizing Tom's kitchen to have wonderful western food. Here is my beautiful breakfast of a cappuccino and toast, which I had right after my all-night bus ride.

I was able to have a burrito and these wonderful chips and salsa at the mall downtown.

Our beautiful homemade dinner of fresh pasta, olives and feta with a side of salad featuring Tom's curry vinegrette.

This is a sign telling you not to bring durian into the subway because it is too smelly

This rice is blue! Dyed that way by something called a "butterfly pea"? It's also mali (or jasmine) rice.

 

 

Here is Tom's wonderful dog Sam, posing nicely for me.

 

Khon Kaen Dinosaur Sightings

Running at KKU

When I think of running I think of the endless residential neighborhoods of Walla Walla, with a little loop around Pioneer Park to see the birds. Ideally, it's some time in the winter, so I'm able to run without overheating, and (especially important) without being seen.

This is basically the exact opposite of any running situation I would find at Khon Kaen University. It's hot, and there are people and cars and motorcycles everywhere.

However, once on a walk I went exploring and found some endless residential style streets that were just like Walla Walla, except more jungle-y.

So, today I headed there for a run.

It was going fairly smoothly and I had avoided the judging glares of all the Thais who never exercise yet are forever tiny even though they only eat deep fried food. But... I had forgotten one thing.

Dogs.

They came out of nowhere, barking loudly at me, following me, raising my heart rate far more than my slow, slow run ever could have.

Unlike the states, no one chains up their dogs here. None of them are that well trained, and they're everywhere... they're also probably full of diseases.

Luckily none of them tried to jump at or bite me, but after the 10th group of dogs started running at me and yapping, I gave up.

Moral of the story: I either have to suck it up and pay to go to the gym, or run in more public areas. Or wait until I get back to easy breezy Walla Walla to go for a decent run without any threats to my life.

Knock Knock

I'm going to sum up my feelings right now with a joke:

Knock knock
Who's there?
Diabetes!
Go away!
Nope! Knock knock!

Basically, diabetes is really inconvenient and I've been ignoring it pretty hard core. Today, after a day of over 300 blood sugars, I took a walk for the first time, figuring it would ring my blood sugar down. It did, quickly. Suddenly I was low and started frantically eating all the snacks in that kind of low frenzy that happens. 10 minutes later, I'm back to over 300.

It sucks, but maybe I should look at diabetes management as a condition of my extended life. Without this frustrating disease I wouldn't be here to enjoy going for a walk and discovering the back alleys and roads of KKU where there are run down houses with nice cars parked under tarps, and always, always chickens.

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Life.