Sweating My Ass Off in Thailand

So my first impressions of Thailand? HOT. Seriously - it's 7pm and here's what I'm feeling (remember, it's May - still "chances of snow" in Minnesota I'm sure)



And as I'm typing this, Monsoon season arrives.... downpour for the past 10 minutes like I've never seen rain before in my life. Tomorrow will be extra humid!!

So for anyone wondering - no, I did NOT feel the earthquake yesterday. Not to belittle the devastation that it had in China and the loss of lives... I'm a little disappointed as I missed feeling my first earthquake:( Not sure about back in Taiwan if they felt it or not. Hopefully the natural disasters in this area are over with. No, I'm not worried, but still a little "different" than life back in the Mid-West.

Good news of the day is that my Cell Phone has arrived in Taiwan. Bad news, I'm in Thailand and can't enjoy it. But starting Friday upon my return, I can be reached at the number to the right (with my other digits).

Thoughts so far on Thailand:

• The writing here is kind of weird. It almost looks like backwards handwriting at times (like if you put it in a mirror, you could read it... like in The Da Vinci Code. Here's an example of what I'm talking about.
• Lots of translations into English. Pattaya was setup as a port during Vietnam War for soldiers.... that could be part of it.
• Thailand used to be called "Siam" (pre-1939)... which sounded familiar from my ancient knowledge of history. Siam means "Land of White Elephant" but was changed to Muang Thai or "the Free". But now you know where Siamese cats originated!!! Bet you didn't know that off hand either!
• Very Buddhist area here. Saw a guy bow as he walked past a mini shrine on the street a little bit ago. I still like my Buddha that's on my mantle in Rochester much better.
• Nobody here has heard of the song "One Night in Bangkok" that I've asked. I might go sing it in Karaoke before I leave.
• I'm about 100 yards from the beach and the "Gulf of Thailand". Technically I guess it's the "Bight of Bangkok", which goes into the Gulf of Thailand, which goes into the Indian Ocean??? Something like that. Here's a map, look for the word "of" in "Bight of Bangkok" and Pattaya is to the East of the "f". You can see in real little letters.
• Normally being this close to the beach is cool.... but with the 30 minutes of a downpour like I've never seen before, I'm not laughing. Mother nature is much meaner over here!!!
  

Go RedWings.... up 3-0 and looking strong after winning 9 straight! I'm still looking for complete games online - not much luck so far.

And one last update for today.... It's been 50 minutes and it's STILL pouring outside. Amazing.... Send a life boat if there's no blog tomorrow.