orang37

"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.

Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security."

Albert Einstein, 1950

In our humble opinion, the most dangerous self-delusion is the idea that there is such a thing as "normal" life, and that we happen to be an example of it; which leads to perceptions of others who appear to live/behave using different values, goals, philosophies ... which consciously, or subconsciously, appear to us as "incongruent," or "meaningless," or "boring," or "deviant," or "wrong" ... as : ... insert your stereotypes here ...

Does this imply a "totally non-judgemental" mentality : no. Does this imply a "moral relativism" in which any type of cruelty or sadism is "off the hook" : no.

But, you do need to become a clever thief in order to walk at a least a mile in many other person's shoes.

best, ~o:37;

... snip ... and thanks mainly to him there's an excellent record of the farang community who never left Thailand after their deaths.

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Loaded,

We are sure we'd enjoy meeting Major Roy !

So many expats have a much better record after they die here, compared to their behavior while alive, and if Major Roy's powers help enable that, we salute him !

best, ~o:37;

Sawasdee Khrup, TV CM Friends,

Our duality was at Talat San Pak Hoi, buying the usual treats for kitty and the human meat-package, and noticed that the stage was up again for Chinese opera.

According to my friends at the market it will play tonight, and three more nights. Tonight (Friday) in Chinese, Saturday only in Thai, and the other preformances in Chinese.

Show time 7:30PM.

Stumbled across the show last year by accident, and came in late in the performance: no one asked for an admission fee, but not totally sure it's free. The next night was at the market early, and had the treat of watching the actors putting on their stage make-up, but could not stay, unfortunately, for the performance.

Directions : Talat San Pak Hoi on Thanon Kong Sai

1. leaving Chiang Mai over the main bridge (Nawarat) heading east on Thanon Charoen Muang towards the superhighway or first ring road :

2. at the second red light after you cross over the river make a right turn (on your left is Bumrungrat Road) onto a small fifty meter stretch of Naiphon Road. You can also note that there is a Krung Si Bank on the corner there where you make the right turn.

3. make the first left turn possible onto Thanon Kong Sai and the market is immediately on your left. there is paid (ten baht) parking for cars at the first possible right turn you can make off Thanon Kong Sai which leads into an area where there is a Muay Thai arena.

Enjoy

best, ~o:37;

Hi guys Basically I have had some abdomen problems for the last month and still feeling no better. ... snip ...

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun James24,

We encourage you to get to see an internal medicine specialist at the Sriphat Center within Maharaj Hospital. None of us here are competent to give medical advice, but do note that a CT scan puts a large amount of radiation through you (the equivalent, so we read, of 100 medical x-rays).

Whether you need an ultrasound, a ct-scan, an mri, or (the most expensive of all), the pet scan, should be determined by your doctor, but it makes sense to start with the lowest priced scan (ultrasound) first: if your doctor feels that it may clearly identify the problem. And "abdominal problems" can cover a lot of ground from gastro-intestinal to bowels, to stomach ulcers, and on, and on.

Recently a friend of ours, a forty year old woman in New York, had abdominal pain and tenderness in the appendix area; she thought she might have appendicitis: a scan revealed she had a tumor, and, unfortunately, it turned out to be the rare and highly malignant signet-cell carcinoma. She's alive after major surgery, and surviving very brutal chemotherapy.

It may take you some time to "work up your way up" at Sriphat to get to see the top-level specialists (who will also be Professors in the Medical School). Sriphat has Thailand's number one oncologist, Dr. Loavicharn, at the radiation clinic.

If you don't speak Thai well, try and take a Thai friend with you.

Breathe deeply, don't panic, beg or borrow the money, and get some good medical help. It IS available here in Chiang Mai.

best, ~o:37;

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun SwaziBird,

Could be worse : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1147686/Pictured-The-man-worlds-longest-ear-hair.html

best, ~o:37;

Phew!! Glad all that's over, getting to old for this house moving caper. The actual moving was a doddle compared with getting 3BB to bring me back on line. But all's well that ends (fingers crossed!) well.

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun ToonBroon,

Happy Housewarming ! Glad to hear it ended well.

best, ~o:37;

if the venues were aquariums, Spicy would contain bottom feeders

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Donnyboy,

Nicely put ! Makes us want to try one too :

If Chiang Mai night-life venues were oceans, Spicy would be a smoking stinking black fumarole on the ocean floor surrounded by meter-long day-glo hermaphroditic flourescing tube-worms gnashing razor-sharp mandibles.

best, ~o:37;

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Newbie,

We appreciate the invitation; please don't be discouraged by the usual splatter from the choir of fallen angel boys who haunt this forum.

We'd groove on getting non-dual with you, but the fact that we are a duality (an Orangutan and a human) sharing one creaking old meat-package (the human's body) kind of forces us to live in stereo.

"Wisdom tells me I am nothing. Love tells me I am everything. Between the two, my life flows." Nisargadatta Maharaj

He was a cool one, that Nisaragadatta !

best, wishes, on your journey that never began.

~o:37;

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Rikki,

Diving birds do not come as far inland as Chiang Mai, so the ones you saw locked up are probably illegals from Burma.

best, ~o:37;

To clarify a few things about dengue. ...

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Snark,

Good points made in your comments. Our human had Dengue once: it was a nightmare roller-coaster ride from feeling excellent to total disability in the space of thirty minutes (that rapid onset coming after the critter incubates in you a little while).

We were told at that time (ten years ago) that there were four strains of Dengue and that having one of the strains did not cross-immunize you from the other strains: don't know about the current status of that in the world of Dengue research: do you ?

By the way, the Lady is a Killer: it is the female of Aedes Aegyptus who carries Dengue.

best, ~o:37;

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun CMX,

Curious: when you speak of the value of an educated population: are you referring to any Thai theorists of education, or any specific person in Thai history, perhaps King Vajiravudh ... or ... well ... who are you referring to when you say "theorists" ?

But in my own nation, nominally "well educated" people are easily swayed by TV and other outlets for propaganda and have supported the greatest of sins - starting a war in the names of patriotism and loyalty.

Ain't that the truth; same things happens in the nation my human came from. A lot of LZ-Boy reclining chairs and lawn chairs get busted from the stress of the continual swaying.

Thai history and culture are unique. The nation's solutions will be too, and I am far too close to the situation (and far too ignorant - true of farang in particular, even those with 20 years of experience here) to be able to issue even a wild guess as to its future, near or distant, unless I'm willing to be a fool.

We're with you there; the main thing we've learned by reading Thai history (in English only, or in English translations of Thai original texts) in some "amateur" depth over several years is a little more about the nature and structure of the "model" of "history" which our human internalized in his native country, and how very different that model is from the Thai model: of which we think we see "into" only shallowly. Of course the Orang in us doesn't know history from banana.

We're on our third reading of Thongchai Winichakul's book [1], and with each reading: it gets deeper, and better. If you accept Khun Thongchai's thesis: the "invention" of Thai history in its modern form is quite recent and involves a very significant "fudge factor" motivated by the need to create a new narrative following the humiliation of King Chulalongkorn by the French sending their gunboats up the Chao Phraya in 1893 to enforce demands for territories formerly tributary to Siam in what are now Cambodia and Laos. Thongchai asserts that Rama V believed the British would back him up against the French since Siam had been "liberal" in acceeding to British interests in the Malay Peninsula, in Lanna; he was told, brusquely, by Curzon of India, that the British were not getting involved. King Chulalongkorn lost forty pounds during this crisis and became very weak mentally and physically. The real possibility of his death was salient at the Court. Fortunately, with the help of Prince Damrong, and others, King Rama V recovered: but, according to Thongchai, this discontinuity forced the creation of a new "mapping" that was both geographic (in the western mode) and historical.

And if I am tempted to say how Thailand "should" behave, it is almost always the case that I am selecting a path for the nation that is convenient to my own personal (selfish) interests. Spinning my wheels in the mud as the rains come harder.

Oh, eloquently said, Sir ! How many times do we forget we are guests here, and forget the seductions cultural and social that made it so easy to forget we are ... "farang" ? And how dangerous it can be to forget

best, ~o:37;

[1] Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-body of a Nation. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-body of a Nation. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994, also published by Silkworm Press here in Chiang Mai

... snip ... Nowhere has democracy popped into existence at once, perfectly shaped (if perfection exists at all). Many seem to forget that all roads to democracies - including our own from whichever nation we come, if we call our own government that, were long roads, very long, and hard, very hard.

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun CMX,

Indeed, as you, to our minds imply: popping to perfection is a metaphysical question. We don't consider our own human's nation of birth (America) a democracy in a "pure" sense. We think democracy is more often plopped into existence than popped.

Seems many farangs we've met here hold Thailand "up to judgement" by some mythical standard of "democracy" that their own home countries do not meet.

Here are a few statements on democracy by some of the people considered "founding poppers" of American democracy we find curious :

Thomas Jefferson : "A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine."

Thomas Paine : "The first duty of a patriot is to defend the citizens of a country from its government."

John Quincy Adams : "Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide."

Benjamin Franklin : "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."

In any case, we can relax because: ThaiVisa is reporting that AFP is reporting that PM Khun Abhisit said on television the country's back to "normal" now. We farangs can all bask in normalcy a while like reptiles sunning themselves on rocks.

best, ~o:37;

DO NOT TOUCH SOY. IT CONVERT TO ESTROGEN VERY EASILY. Trust me I am a powerlifter and Strong man. Soy is not what you want. Stick with the Whey.

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun TexasMike,

Do you have any scientific evidence that a possible increase in estrogen related to soy milk intake is harmful ? Produces a different effect in women than in men ?

Do you have any evidence that a given quantity of soy milk will produce any quantifiable change in measureable estrogen levels, and what the physiological effects of that would be on men and/or women.

We are sorry, but the fact you can lift heavy objects is not a reason to accept your statements in matters of science and nutrition at "face value."

We had one post on TV CM a few years ago about this: the person claiming soy was not good for you, based on a hypothetical increase in estrogen, gave as his reference the site of an Asian born Canadian chiropractor and naturopath who at one point in his site made the frank admission that he had no evidence for any negative impact of soy.

best, ~o:37;

... snip ... A curfew is a curfew. Period. Whether you agree with the legitimacy of the current gov't or not...it is the law of the land.

Disrespect for law, and its enforcement in this country, is why we seem to have a dysfunctional society here.

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun McGriffith,

We like these words very much, and agree double-whole-heartedly with them. We are obeying the curfew, and that doesn't bother us a bit.

But, we look back at where my human came from, Corporate Occupied Mallburgerland, aka "America," and we see a dysfunctional society there, too. In fact, we can't think of any society that hasn't been "dysfunctional" except in utopian fiction, and since we see grotesque and monstrous dysfunction within ourselves (at rare times of being inadvertently, or by accident, truthful with ourselves), we wonder how any society can ...

But here's a thought: a "curfew" is a punitive measure in a way : how much better it would be to have a permanent curfew, but require every one to be out of their house at 6am in the morning for mass calisthenics, or tai chi, or yoga, or whatever, while at the same time listening to lectures on physical and mental health, and avoiding the dangers of smoking and drinking alcohol, and lauding the benefits of wearing motorcycle helmets. We think they've tried this in North Korea with some success, but too bad about the mass starvation.

We like the idea of mass-internment camps for resident farangs which they cannot leave until they can speak Thai to a certain level, know how to transplant a rice seedling into paddy land, and requiring a "license" for farang long-term residents based on passing an exam in Thai, and a physical test, such as not being able to walk in a straight line for more than twenty meters.

Think of the pride and glory with which such "licensed farangs" could stroll among mere tourists, perhaps wearing a special armband or insignia !

best, ~o:37;

FOR SURE THIS WILL END UP LIKE THE SOUTH,,TIME TO LEAVE I THINK.

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Chrisll,

Well, yes, with your mind in this all-capital state, it probably is a good time for you to leave. "Bon Voyage," and please do send us a postcard.

It fascinates our minds to consider the many levels on which a "perceived freedom to leave" might be such a powerful force ... a kind of "magnetism" as it were ... in shaping our perceptions (what we choose to perceive, the selective editing of sensory perceptions), and the mental reality we construct.

Last night our human form was riding his bicycle: the usual outing for soy-milk: saw armed soldiers around the railway station and the Kawila military barracks for the first time.

We watched a movie in our human's head as it temporarily played a video interview with someone dressed all in black ... a shapeless black bag not unlike the voluminous burqa recently outlawed by some European countries ... not sure if it was a man or a woman ... the person spoke through some kind of voice scrambler so their voice had a robotic saw-tooth wave tinge to it.

Essentially, the person was saying: they wanted the freedom to destroy the idea that other people had that they were "free to leave." This movie had a noire quality to it, and this statement seemed ominous. When the whoever in black said: "the ultimate freedom to leave is suicide:" we just bicycled out of the movie

We kept on bicycling, wondering if "freedom to leave" was emotional, mental, spiritual, or something else: or was all this mentation just a fantasy: with the only thing that mattered was whether you had the passport, and the money, to take the physical meat-package outside a country.

Then, like sudden heat-lightning illuminating far-away clouds: the thought that if a truly voluntary compromise of "freedom to leave" were made ... is such possible ? ... that "freedom to leave" could not be diluted: it would be like the the "purnagatha," the ever self-refreshing pot of flowers that was one of the symbols of the historical Gautama the Buddha (along with an empty "teaching chair," a conch shell, the dharma-chakra wheel, a deer, etc.) during the three hundred years or so following his physical death when visual representations of said historical Buddha as "person" were not made.[1]

Which led to the thought of how, then, of "how" to ... have ? ... attain ? ... surrender to ? ... such a freedom to make a purely voluntary choice to give-away some of your freedom, which led to a certain darkness that ached for more heat-lightning: because we know we are so far from that freedom.

It is good to keep on bicycling. The feeling of the hot soy-milk passing through the black back-pack, warming the spine.

best, ~o:37;

[1] The first major representations of the historical Gautama the Buddha (formerly Siddhartha, Prince of the Sakyas) "in human form" were made in what are now areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, in what was, then, the Kingdom of Gandhara, by descendents of the conquering armies of Alexander the Great whose visual vocabulary was shaped by Hellenic culture: hence the first images of the Buddha often look like ancient Greeks, have long hair and mustachios, etc. Here, have an eyefull:

Gandharan Buddha Images

Sawasdee Khrup, TV CM Friends,

A kindly TV CM person sent us an interesting private message about Fox News, listing a long number of people who appear on it ... we believe with the intent to expand our awareness of the variety of views and opinions presented there ... and, quite fairly, asking us about our off-the-cuff negative reference to it on this thread.

Well: confession time: my human component pulled the plug on his television sixteen months ago, and very rarely watches video on the web. So, kindly TV CM person, thank you: you are quite right to question whether we are in any position to have any valid opinion about Fox News: we ain't got one. We do not know if the fragance of its video garbage reeks less or more than CNN or Al Jazeera.

That does not mean, however, we have gone completely "cold turkey" on "talking heads:" we enjoy reading the weekly transcripts of the American news program "Meet the Press," for example, usually skipping the "featured guest(s)," and going straight to the round-tables that occasionally have such illuminati as Doris Kearns Goodwin, the Pulitzer-prize winning scholar of Presidential history in the US.

Nor do we have any "global opinion" re Al Jazeera: our critical remarks were directed at only this one piece of "radical chic" videography.

We are sitting at the same campfire with Khun UG, wondering about all the reporting and analysis.

In this interesting piece Khun Somtow (novelist, musician) gives an interesting view of CNN and Dan River's reporting : Khun Somtow's pieces are often linked to on the Nation home-page. By the way, Khun Somtow's novel, "Jasmine Nights," (written in English which was his first language), is quite tasty.

http://www.somtow.org/2010/05/dont-blame-dan-rivers.html

Is "big trouble in Chiang Mai city" coming soon to a screen near you ? Stay tuned.

So let's say good morning with this happy thought from William Blake:

“All futurity seems teeming with endless destruction never to be repelled; Desperate remorse swallows the present in a quenchless rage.” from The Four Zoas, ‘Night the Eighth’

Have a nice day, best, ~o:37;

Sawasdee Khrup TV CM Friends,

Unfortunately, yes, we did watch the linked to Al Jazeera video: a complete waste of time. An example of sensationalistic irresponsible journalism designed to tittilate and exploit emotion by juxtaposing unconnected images and themes while making statements attributed to un-named sources, or sources who refused to be interviewed. In short: video garbage worthy of Fox News.

Khun Hachi wrote:

A leader of the red shirts announcing the future plans for their upcoming underground movement.

There's no evidence this young man is a "leader" of the Chiang Mai Red Shirts, that he is typical of Chiang Mai Red Shirts: there is an assertion he had a radio program on a "Red" radio station; it appears he has a coffee shop; it appears he likes big pictures of Gandhi, Thaksin, and Che Guevara. The only thing missing, to our eyes, were pictures of Marlon Brando (in "On the Waterfront"), James Dean, and Elvis.

There is no "plan" discussed, just vague innuendoes. The interviewer states that young man will go "into hiding," but there's no indication he was a participant in the events in Bangkok.

Khun Hachi wrote:

By the statements of that person there will definitely be worse arriving on our own doorstep in the near future.

It is the reporter who brings in images of the south of Thailand, and tries to imply that similar things could happen here in Chiang Mai, completely ignoring the fundamental differences between the historical/cultural/racial/linguistic background of what's happening in the south, and the nature of Lanna's own complex historical/cultural relationship to the modern Thai nation of which it is, now, an integral part.

As to the analysis made that because some protestors used weapons, home-made bombs, etc. similar to those used in the south that it suggests a connection: well, guess what, terrorist bomb-makers all over the world get their recipes or whatever from the internet: no surprise devices should be similar. And weapons stolen from the Thai army depot are going to be probably the same all over the country. Ditto weapons smuggled in from Myanmar or wherever.

Now if the weapons and devices used in the south could be traced reliably to Hezbollah, or whoever, and those same types of weapons and ammunition, or devices, could be traced in use here, or in Bangkok: that would be a story.

By the way, anyone with any sensitivities to Chiang Mai Buddhist culture would have immediately recognized that in order to photograph the red shirt protestor framed in the entrance to the Wat, obviously facing the main shrine area: the camera person would have had to have his or her back turned to the main Buddha image.

What is true, ioho, is that in times of chaotic cultural change, random acts of violence, and crime, will increase in frequency. More juvenile delinquents will do destructive stuff, etc.

If you want to be paranoid about something: look in the mirror.

best, ~o:37;

... snip ... What days do Oosukatour runs from Udon to Chiangmai? And is it okay to buy on the same day there or should I buy earlier? I rather not have to spend a night in Udon...

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Yunnie,

Suggest you go to Arcade bus station, and ask the company directly since schedules may change.

Also, we booked our round-trip on Oosuksatour two weeks in advance: even booking that early the bus already had many reservations. We know two people who went there to book two or three days in advance, and the VIP was completely booked. Believe us: you do not want to take the so-called "first-class" bus unless, of course, you are a masochist or broke.

best, ~o:37;

On my trip down I went to the window that should have been (based on o37's previous post) Oosuksatour, the one all in Thai next to Chrakrapong. I was sold a ticket on Chakrapong with no mention of different companies on different days. I speak a little Thai and had my GF with me so language wasn't an issue.

I would be interested to know if there are still 2 companies. I didn't notice any other buses marked CM-UT, but I didn't really look that close.

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Crgram,

All we know is that in April this year, and for two years prior to that, there were definitely two companies. They are right next to each other in the Arcade. We definitely booked on Oosusksatour. Oosuksatour's headquartes in Udon Thani appears to us to be only for their company.

Hypothesis: you wanted to go on a day when Oosuksatour did not have a bus: so they sold you a ticket on Chakrapong ?

However, in LOS things can change in less than a moment For all we know both companies are simply tentacles on some vast subterranean web of interlocking transport services.

Please do post a review here of how the bus was, and the service after you travel.

best, ~o:37;

Do they sell Soy powder here? The kind that just makes milk... not the protein one. I do miss my chocolate protein shakes though.

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Yunnie,

fyi : Thailand is a net importer of soy beans (from Brazil), as are China, Taiwan, etc.

To our knowledge there is no local manufacturer of soy powder in this area. Wish there were !

But, you can get delicious fresh-made, home-made soy-milk at many street vendors in Chiang Mai. Typically they are out at night, after 6PM.

The best we've found : two vendors on Thanon Charoenmuang near the intersection of Thanon Teewee Utit (on the north side of the street, past the 7-11, about a kilometer (as you are driving west) before you come to the the railway station.

Ones we don't recommend : the one in Talat Nong Hoi. the vendor selling (6 baht per pack) inside Talat San Pak Hoi.

good luck, ~o:37;

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Yunnie,

You are probably already travelling by now, but, fyi, there has been a lot of discussion here on TV CM regarding the two bus companies providing "VIP" service from CM to Udon Thani and back.

The consensus, in the past, ioho, was that Oosuksatour provided a much better, more modern, bus, but, think it was in late 2009, someone commented here that Chakrapong had upgraded their buses.

Our experience riding a Chakrapong bus once to UT, in 2008, was terrible. Our experience riding Oosuksatour buses in the last two years has been good.

Hopefully, people will continue to report in here on the state of the two company's buses and service.

Our last trip was in early April using Oosuksatour. The problem being that they alternate days for buses to and from CM to Udon: we left on a Monday night, thus arriving Vientiane early Tuesday: we had our Thai visa in hand Wednesday afternoon, but had to wait until Thursday to catch the Oosuksatour bus back from Udon Thani to CM.

We chose to wait the extra day in Vientiane since there is nothing appealing at all to us about Udon Thani, and it has obnoxious air pollution in the central city. And Udon Thani, like Vientiane, is full of the giant full grown adult form of the "tuk tuk" with brakes that screech like fingernails on a blackboard.

The first time we went to Vientiane, we realized that most of the tuk-tuks we see in Thailand are the larval form: they swim the Mekong in order to transform to final adult phase, and then I guess some swim back to infest places like Udon Thani.

best, ~o:37;

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Hulot,

Bon Voyage !

Sorry we did not get the chance to meet up with you for a menage a trois (mental).

best, ~o:37;

... snip ... I think the rain gods have forgotten about us this year...... probably glued to the telly trying to figure out whats going on..

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Gonzo The Face,

We think it more likely that we have forgotten the rain gods, and the local demiurges, tutelary spirits, ghosts, etc.

Consider that the two vampires, Pu Sae and Ya Sae, who inhabit Doi Suthep, who required two personal visits and "reprimands" from the Buddha himself to neutralize them from their blood-drinking habits, have not had their required yearly sacrifice of a water buffalo for years (that was the compensation they were promised for giving up their taste for human blood).

And, in Thailand, the systematic purging of a more diverse Buddhism that included Tantric, and what are now called "Mahyana" forms, in the last two-hundred years, have deprived us of intermediary figures, like Nagakanya, the daughter of the Naga King Muchalinda, who not only is serpentine in her lower half, but has wings: She has the power to travel in all three realms, earth, water, sky (to find rare bronze representations of her in Thailand you need to go back to the Srivijayan period).

While Kwan Im (the female vahanam or shakti of the Dhyana Buddha Avalokitesvara) survived in Thai Buddhism in synergy with formal Theravadan cosmology, and Lu See, the hermit figure, the ascetic yogi who lives in the forest (Sanskrit: Agasthyamuni) survived ... the elementals and many other intermediary figures such as the little-known northern Thai fertility "goddess," Ypur (represented as a woman squatting with her private parts exposed), were pushed underground.

"Global warming," and Chiang Mai's lack of rainfall, are just two outcomes of what we have forgotten.

While our human component is too stunted, emotionally and spiritually, to sense what may be necessary to re-balance Chiang Mai's spiritual ecology, we hope we can apply the collective wisdom of the farangs of Chiang Mai (by "collective wisdom" we mean more than rankings of bar-beers and restaurants), to use "crowd-sourcing" of our collective wisdom to come up something we can do to help.

Hopefully the solution will not involve blood, wandering around as "penitentials" scourging ourselves with bougainvilla branches, St. Vitus' dance, etc. We think a human chain of two-hundred naked farangs marching up Doi Suthep singing over and over "We've Only Just Begun" in the style of Karen Carpenter might be an appropriate sacrifice: or something like that.

best, ~o:37;

Sawasdee Khrup CM TV Friends,

Whilst contemplating the absence of water falling from the sky in Chiang Mai, and trying not to think about the current horror unleashed in another city, we picked up the road-map and tried to find where we were. We know where we are, we thought, but the road-map changes frequently, and it's on-again, off-again, to the point we get topsy-turvy.

How did the road-map get illegible when it has not rained !

We began to formulate a hypothesis: the problem was that every single official in a certain country, in the government, and the military, the police, people in one color shirt, people in another color shirt, and people in multi-colored shirts, had all completed their complete denial of an astronomical number of acts of commission, and omission, with which they have been charged/indicted/named in numberless lawsuits, criminal warrants, various legal torts in diverse and sundry courts, etc., etc., Oyez, Oyez.

Then, like the surface of a frozen lake cracking at random, a second wave of denials began in which first-wave deniers denied they had denied the charges. A further complex (fractal ?) form of denial then also spread like swine flu: those who had made charges, filed suits, etc., denied they had done so irregardless of whether there was still a warrant, or a writ, or a mandamus, or lawsuit pendulous.

Which then led to fresh accusations (by the original accusers) of lack of "showing responsibility" by not maintaining the first, ab origine, denial on life-support. And, au naturel, fresh accusations that a withdrawn denial of the first accusation then becomes, prima facie, evidence of culpability, and guilty as charged even though the power went out.

But the beauty of a retroactive denial of a denial is it that tosses the grenade back in your opponents hands, and its hazard is that the last person who catches it may have more than their hands blown off. This is actually a form of the old "hot potato" game.

And thus, its energy sucked away by a vortex of an infinite regress of denials and accusations, the "road map" became so soaked in tears and blood: it became indelible, illegible, and no one could remember who had promised what to whom, or which tit was required to reciprocate for which tat.

Some claimed the people in one color shirt "split down the middle:" others denied there had ever been a middle to split.

It was just as Jonathan Swift once wrote:

"A flea hath fleas that on him prey, and so on, 'til infinity."

Meanwhile watermelons abound, and durian season is here, and it's damned hot in Chiang Mai.

What, we ask ourselves, can we do to get the Nagas to make rain ?

If you laughed while reading this you are doomed, but you are also doomed if you didn't, but that's not the same thing as "Catch 22:" ask Yossarian about that: he lives, you know.

Is to say: "nothing is funny," when you experience nothing funny: unreasonable ?

wearily and sorrowfully, with parched throat, heart, and thirsty garden, ~o:37;

Khun PeaceBlondie, our thoughts and good wishes go out to you: hope you are better real soon.

best, ~o:37;