First Trip Nostalgia

[sceadugenga]

A friend from New Zealand is currently in Chiang Mai on his first trip to Thailand.

He has a Thai wife and her family came and picked him up from the hotel this morning after he arrived last night and he rang me tonight to tell me about it, somewhat excited.

“YER NOT GONNA BELIEVE THIS MATE, NUT’S NEPHEWS PICKED ME UP THIS MORNING IN A UTE (New Zealandish for truck) AND IT HAD THESE TWO BIG DRUMS OF WATER ON THE BACK AND WE DROVE ALL OVER THE CITY AND THREW WATER AT PEOPLE ON THE STREETS AND IN OTHER UTES AND THEY THREW IT BACK AT US, IT WAS BLOODY FANTASTIC FUN IT WAS THE BEST DAY I’VE HAD IN ME LIFE JEEZ I LOVE THIS COUNTRY IS IT LIKE THIS HERE ALL THE TIME?

No, thank God, it’s not.

[gotlost]

NEWBEE. Glade his having a great time.

[kandahar]

I'm a bit surprised that this thread hasn't seen more action. What an opportunity this one is. When I first read it, I thought that many other posters, with many other anecdotes, would share some of those humorous stories. I think we all have some. Maybe they have all been told here already, before I started visiting this thing.

We are funny animals and we do funny things. Maybe some of us are just too shy to tell about it.

Where I came from, people drive on the opposite side of the road. It took some getting used to here, for me. When crossing the street, on foot, I came pretty close to being run over, several times. If the wife was with me, (not my wife then, we had just met) she would just take my arm and say "crossing" and lead me across the street. She KNEW I was going to get killed before we ever got to know each other. But she wasn't always with me. She spent 9 hours a day at the office and I was on my own a lot. It was hard to break the habit of looking left before I crossed. Looking right seemed so wrong.

I remember thinking that I would never be able to ride a bicycle in this town, let alone attempt to drive a vehicle. I would cause an accident for sure.

These days, I drive, bike, whatever, without even thinking about it. And maybe once every two months or so, I'll revert to my old self and attempt to get into the car on the wrong side when I want to drive somewhere. I'm always glad nobody is watching when I do that.

Now, my worry is that some day, I'll go to the old country for a visit. I'll rent a car. East will meet west, violently, head-on. And in my last nanoseconds of life, I'll be blaming that OTHER idiot for driving in my lane.

Edited April 17, 2010 by kandahar

[jubby]

No Swedish Vikings mentioned I guess Khandahar

We (I'm being optomistic but I guess there are perhaps 5 of us here max at anyone time) need a catalyst some spark, I guess it just wasn't there or everyone was waiting for sparks to fly on the other threads.

I've done more than my share this week so I'll be quiet for a week or so. Thankfully

[kandahar]

No Swedish Vikings mentioned I guess Khandahar

We (I'm being optomistic but I guess there are perhaps 5 of us here max at anyone time) need a catalyst some spark, I guess it just wasn't there or everyone was waiting for sparks to fly on the other threads.

I've done more than my share this week so I'll be quiet for a week or so. Thankfully

You haven't exceeded anything. And your contributions are appreciated. If it was important to post this week, it is equally so, next week.

So, what story do you have for THIS thread?

[sceadugenga]

I'm a bit surprised that this thread hasn't seen more action.

It's funny how it works, some days you can dash off a two liner that will run for weeks and a dozen pages and then you will post a carefully prepared and well researched opus that will sink without a trace over night.

After more than 5000 posts I'm no closer to working it out.

[jubby]

No Swedish Vikings mentioned I guess Khandahar

We (I'm being optomistic but I guess there are perhaps 5 of us here max at anyone time) need a catalyst some spark, I guess it just wasn't there or everyone was waiting for sparks to fly on the other threads.

I've done more than my share this week so I'll be quiet for a week or so. Thankfully

You haven't exceeded anything. And your contributions are appreciated. If it was important to post this week, it is equally so, next week.

So, what story do you have for THIS thread?

Khandahar, Whats story do I have with this thread. My storys tend to be repetitve, quite negative and have a hint of Deja Vu.

I just been to the garden as we call it. 40 or so rai a few kms away to check wether last nights rainmaking attempts had destroyed any of our trees again. I was met by my Sister in Law , a woman I very rarely say anything to, maybe because I'm ignorant or due to her Insanity. Anyway, she utters the words . Mai Sabaii , now I'm not very good with Thai language but I figured someones not well. The Balls and the Dog story, spring to mind instantly. he's not well, well theres a surprise, has he been consuming ethanol or methanol perchance over the festive period besides touching my balls. or was his Illness a direct result of fondling my balls. Should I feel sorry or humane towards his suffering or just Ignore it. The local hospitals going to be full of 30 year olds with that very perculiar smell . A mixture of death and alcohol. Do they really need another one who has been having so much sanuk. We've buried or burnt two in the last year , maybe its that time again.

I decided to let the wife deal with it. She's seems somewhat put out, maybe we're just bad people. She seems to be getting Lazy these days. I suspect we would both act quicker if the said Dog was suffering.

[villagefarang]

I don't have any newbie stories. My memory doesn't extend that far. I can say that Jubby was right on with the weather forecast, however.

There was just enough wind and rain to bring two of my three pollution markers back into clear view and eliminate the dust on the trail. So Cookie and I eluded the rest of the pack and did our 7k to the dam this morning. We hadn't been up there since the last time the rain gave us a break from our oppressive heat and unrelenting pollution.

Definitely a good day for a hike.

(and thanks for the comment scea )

[villagefarang]

I'm a bit surprised that this thread hasn't seen more action.

It's funny how it works, some days you can dash off a two liner that will run for weeks and a dozen pages and then you will post a carefully prepared and well researched opus that will sink without a trace over night.

After more than 5000 posts I'm no closer to working it out.

I am a mere novice compared to you but I do have one topic to my name that is at 34,000+ page views and counting. Not sure how that happened.

[sceadugenga]

I don't have any newbie stories. My memory doesn't extend that far. I can say that Jubby was right on with the weather forecast, however.

There was just enough wind and rain to bring two of my three pollution markers back into clear view and eliminate the dust on the trail. So Cookie and I eluded the rest of the pack and did our 7k to the dam this morning. We hadn't been up there since the last time the rain gave us a break from our oppressive heat and unrelenting pollution.

Definitely a good day for a hike.

(and thanks for the comment scea )

No problem, I lacked the intestinal fortitude to post it here.

No rain in this neck of the woods, not a drop... must have been pretty localised. I think jubby said they got some as well.

Edited April 17, 2010 by sceadugenga

[kandahar]

I don't have any newbie stories. My memory doesn't extend that far. I can say that Jubby was right on with the weather forecast, however.

There was just enough wind and rain to bring two of my three pollution markers back into clear view and eliminate the dust on the trail. So Cookie and I eluded the rest of the pack and did our 7k to the dam this morning. We hadn't been up there since the last time the rain gave us a break from our oppressive heat and unrelenting pollution.

Definitely a good day for a hike.

(and thanks for the comment scea )

No problem, I lacked the intestinal fortitude to post it here.

No rain in this neck of the woods, not a drop... must have been pretty localised. I think jubby said they got some as well.

Well, somehow, we got back on the topic of the weather in this one. But I ain't gonna fink on any of you for committing this foul. I'm not a fink.

Now, I'm not sure I understand this post of sceadugenga. But if he is saying what I think he saying, then I have a solution. You can always tell your story as if it happened to ANOTHER guy that is way less smart than you. We'll never know if you don't tell us it is you.

Edit: And VF, you can always tell a newbie story from another newbie. Just because you don't remember( selectively) yours, doesn't mean you don't know some good ones.

If you make it to town tomorrow and consider having coffee with me, I can tell you now that I am covered up all day. Too many appointments in the little book. But enjoy the trip and the day, guy.

Edited April 18, 2010 by kandahar

[sceadugenga]

Sorry Mr K, VF was thanking me for a comment I made elsewhere, it could have annoyed some people if they had seen it here and taken it out of context.

That's my story anyway, red hot pliers will not extract another word out of me.

[kandahar]

Sorry Mr K, VF was thanking me for a comment I made elsewhere, it could have annoyed some people if they had seen it here and taken it out of context.

That's my story anyway, red hot pliers will not extract another word out of me.

Tough as nails, you are. And your single malt days are behind you, so that's out. I guess this thread, no matter the original promise that I saw in it, is hopeless.

I'm off to the hospital. I can always count on a story there.

Edited April 18, 2010 by kandahar