Flaming Lips Disease

After nearly a week of living here I'm finally able to stay up a little later than 10 without getting overly tired. The jet lag is wearing off. I'd like to blog to you today about a disease I discovered and very quickly contracted upon my arrival here in Thailand. I call it flaming lips disease although in reality it's just a syndrome involving the consumption of normal Thai food under the impression that it is like normal American food.

Normal Thai food is defined to be a fairly typical East Asian dish like rice with pork, chicken, or beef with the important addition of approximately 30 flavors of the most intense peppers thinkable. A popular theory among my co-workers is that the extraordinary release rate of endorphins heightens the subjects' happiness level and therefore causes addiction among Thais and farangs alike. Whatever theory you like, there is definitely something exciting about food that causes one to sweat and grunt in a heavily air conditioned room.

The second point on my agenda is that song tao's are a display of Asian ingenuity. The simple phrase, song tao, means "two row" which is exactly what it is: a pickup with two bench seats and a roof overhead. Of course you can't forget the handrails standard to most public transportation, and of course the platform in back for tall farangs like me to stand. I once rode on a song tao with 21 other people, not counting the driver. Another time there were only 16 people but six of which were hanging off the back. Probably the best way of getting to work!