MicahJohn

Here’s another song for those interested.

The other day after classes I went outside the school and ordered a snack. There were a number of students who had already ordered ahead of me. I waited.

After I’d waited a while the vendor made a comment about my patience. He wondered that I didn’t tell him to serve me, the teacher, before the students. I told him I didn’t mind waiting my turn.

He responded by saying that foreigners like to wait in line. I’m not sure that I like waiting in lines, but I do think the system of lines is better than people pushing each other around.

He went on to say something that particularly caught me; he said, “Thai people do not like to wait in line. They prefer to cut the line. If they cannot cut the line, they will try to buy the line.”

Today during the lunch hour somebody practiced the following steps of creepy on me. I found them quite effectively creepy.

1. Sit on your motorcycle in the shade watching passersby.
2. When a passerby catches your eye wait till they pass you, then drive ahead to the next tree and again sit in the shade.
3. When the passerby again comes even with you, strike up a conversation. Throughout the conversation do your best to emit a too-friendly vibe. At the end of the conversation offer the passerby a ride on the back of your motorcycle.
4. If the passerby turns down your offer of a ride, do not despair; opportunities for further creepiness lie just ahead.
5. Having been turned down, follow the passerby to their destination.
6. If the passerby goes into a restroom, follow them.
7. If there is a wall with 8 empty urinals, choose the urinal next to the passerby.
8. When the passerby finishes, follow them to the sink; again ignore any empty sinks, choosing only the one right next to the passerby.
9. With any luck, at this point the passerby will be so creeped out that they will flee the scene.

Today I got to show Mark around Ubon. We saw Tung Sri Muang and surrounds. We swung by the OTOP. We were joined by Jon for a lunch at Golfer House followed by a Milo Dip. We then took a tour of SK wrapping up the tour with a movie (in Thai (Mark okeyed it)). Mark and I then went over to Nong Bua park. We watched some Takraw, always impressive. We ate ข้าวมันไก่ for dinner followed by mangoes on sticky rice for dessert.

We set off in the early morning from our place just 10 km into Thailand from the ช่องสะงำ border crossing. I had the great idea of trying to take a shortcut we had heard tell of. I don’t know if I picked the wrong road, or if the shortness of the route got lost in the potholes, hills, and rain. Rather muddy and wet we finally found a place for breakfast. Shortly after breakfast more rain drove us under the roof of a supply store. The owners were friendly, made conversation, and brought us water. We moved on.

We made good time along 24, stopping for a late lunch of ลาบ and ต้มปลา. After lunch we continued to move along. About the time we might have considered stopping for the day, Ubon was tantalizingly close (40km). We couldn’t stop.

My hands were quite tired of gripping the handle bars so I was riding without holding them when a large truck went by close and fast. The wind rocked me and I went for the handle bars and the brakes. I locked up my front wheel and despite all the extra weight of my bag on the back wheel I became aware of being a good deal higher than my handle bars. Before I could correct anything I was on the ground with my bike behind me. I’m not entirely sure of all the details. I do know by the time I went down I had slowed down considerably so there was very little sliding and scraping. Just a jarring of the wrists and a skinning up of the palms. Far less serious than it could have been. After a minute or two of settling we were back on the road, I with a pair of Mark’s clean socks between my hands and the handlebars.

As darkness was settling we pulled into the Warin Big C. We consumed a medium pizza, a pan of baked rice, fries, and wings. Refreshed we finished the journey in the dark (with both head and tail lights).

The extra push at the end put blisters on my seat and a tingling in my hands. Hopefully they’ll clear up quickly.