In an Alley by the Road

Bangkok again. This place is becoming something of second home for me. Recently I made a trip back to the capital of Thailand in order to renew my Saudi Arabia Business Visa. Much of the city is a sprawling maze of Sois (side streets) and highways. Every visit to Bangkok is different from the time before, but there are a few things that remain the same.

My favorite part about being in Bangkok is having the ability to walk outside and venture down any giving Soi and find numerous food vendors with their homemade hawker carts. My ability to speak the Thai language is almost non existent except when it comes to discussing prices and getting what I feel is a good deal. Mostly I just point and order.

About 8 months ago I fell in love with one of the morning staples: uncured pork belly placed on a satay stick and then roasted over an open charcoal fire. There is a slight glaze of sweet spices coupled with the smokey flavor of the fire that makes this dish so enjoyable. These pork sticks are served with sticky rice. It is a common breakfast food for people on the go.

Whenever I am in an alley by the road looking for a morning treat, I find myself gravitating towards this delicious treat. As I sit here in the melancholy office of my job in Saudi Arabia, my mind drifts to the sights and smell of Bangkok's sois.

Life Clock

Tick Tock

So says the clock as life slips 

quietly 

away

We are but a collective collection of 

shared events

The moments spent 

alone

Less real

Less tangible

Than those 

spent in the company

Of others

Tick tock

The remaining number of days in constant shock

Dropping by one with each morning breath of air

Dropping by two with those cigarettes

Dropping by 10 with high cholesterol

Dropping by 6 with this cheeseburger and fries

Dropping by 2 with this glass of beer

Increasing by 4 with this hour a week spent in the gym

Increasing by 12 with the love of a good woman

Increasing by 1 by taking the stairs

Increasing by 20 because I can afford medicine

Dropping by 18 because of that time in the desert

Increasing by 30 because I look forward to seeing you

Dropping by 11 when I fell alone

Tick tock

Time won't stop

If you let it

Life will be good to you

If you let it

We are merely a collection of moments

Centered in an individual and collective

Consciousness

Drifting on planes

In space in time

Every intersection is an opportunity

To make a good moment

To experience the joys

Of waking life

Life will be good to you

If you let it

Never regret

Or worry about missed opportunities

Or broken dreams

Focus on the next

Focus on making better decisions

Life will be good to you

If you let it

Shades of Pale

Sand and stone

Dust and debris

This is my home

Next to the sea

Elusive calm

Fills the air

Home of Islam

And camel’s hair

This life is severe

In fact, extreme

Hope disappears

Leaving only regime

Nothing can explain

The desolate scale

Or certain disdain

For these Shades of pale

Drink More Water

She sends me a message

Every morning wishing me a good day

A selfless act that shows the consistency

Of new love

Her concern for my well being

Is only exceeded by her thoughtfulness

“Drink more water” she utters

As though I am on the verge

Of being consumed and destroyed

By this desolate desert

My provisional home

I know that she really wants to say

Please take care of yourself and

Don’t let that place change you

Stay hydrated and uncontaminated

Keep your youthful spirit

Return to me the same or better

Than when you left

I message her back-

“I’ll drink more water”

Victoria

Her presence – angelic 
A visual representation of music
Every subtle move
A note worthy of Beethoven
And my thoughts are woven
Between the fabric of her dress
And the texture of her smile
She has the hands of a woman
Who has worked hard 
Her life is not
And was not her own
Always the writer of
Another’s song
Sung deep and low
A note held long

That Time I Moved to Bangkok

The June heat of North Carolina had just started to kick in. Humidity was on the rise. Grass needed to be cut. Mosquitoes were swarming, and the call of the road was beckoning once again. I was only in NC 3 weeks since my job in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia ended. Yet it seemed like a lifetime.

I love almost everything about Charlotte, NC. But being back home and not working proved to be somewhat difficult for me. I missed life as an expat like a puppy misses its owner. My time in NC was divided between visiting friends and family and looking for the next adventure. Before long, I was offered a job at Saipanya Rangsit School in the suburbs of Bangkok. 

On July 2^nd, I boarded a Singapore Airlines flight with a final destination of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Anyone who has traveled in SE Asia has probably passed through Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. It is the regions cheapest international hub and offers reasonably priced flights to most corners of the globe.  The airport handles around 53 million passengers a year.

After navigating my way down endless corridors and moving sidewalks, I exited customs with my bags and grabbed a taxi for the city. My first week or so in Thailand was just like all of my other visits here. I spent time in the “foreigner ghetto” area of Sukhumvit. 

The area is a mix of expats from all over the world and resourceful Thais who are skillful at making a buck from these foreigners. There are bars, night clubs, street markets, western food places, and numerous hotels from 1 to 5 stars. By American standards, the area is super cheap and exciting.

 However, the following week I started to learn what true Thai life is like. I found an apartment a few km beyond Don Meaung Airport and only 5 minutes from my new job location.  This was my inductions to living in a true Thai lifestyle, albeit with most of the conveniences that locals could not afford.

My apartment was rather simple. There was a queen sized bed, two windows, a bathroom with a shower, a small balcony, lcd tv, a few small tables, a mini fridge, and a breakfast table and chairs by the window. The building is brand new, so everything was in nice working order. My place was on the 6^th floor.  On the first floor there was a 24 hour 7/11. Very convenient.

Just outside my apartment there were about 20 or so food vendors offering the most delicious items I could imagine.

This is a look down my street or Soi in the suburbs of Bangkok.

 I love the Thai use of plants and water.

 No shoes in class!

 Endless supplies of exotic fruits.

 I even had a chance to eat scorpion.

 And I was always eating grilled squid!

Hitchhiker 히치하이커_11(ELEVEN)_Music Video

10 things you have to adjust to when living in Saudi Arabia

Four months in to my contract in Saudi and I am still adjusting. Of course, some things are easier to adjust to than others. I can’t honestly say that I like it here. I don’t really hate it either. I feel a sort of total ambivalence towards living here as there are no real highs or lows to report. There is just the persistence of being. I imagine minimum security prisons are the same way.

That being said, here are some things that are different compared to other places I have lived.

1. Total segregation of the sexes in public. Men and women who are not married or related are prohibited from interaction except for the act of shopping. Since no women work in retail, the employees of every store and mall are male. In restaurants there is a separate counter for women and men. While I have gotten used to the segregation in many ways, there is something strange and unnatural about only being around men 24/7.
2. The concept of a national dress code. Saudi men wear a white garment called a thobe. It looks like a long sleeve button up dress. It is often accompanied by red and white checkered head scarf. In a world where men and women are kept apart and the men wear a garment that looks a lot like a dress, I often find my western awareness confused and uncomfortable. It doesn’t help that some of the softer Saudis often play with their headscarves and flip them in a way that a woman might flip her hair in the mirror before going out or the way she twirls the ends while engaged in a flirtatious conversation.  It is not just the Saudi men who have a “dress code.” The women are not allowed to leave the house without wearing a hijab and an abaya. These two pieces combine to totally obscure everything except a woman’s eyes and shoes from sight. Some even wear a veil that covers the eyes.
3. Lack of public entertainment. Movie theaters, live music, bars, clubs, and other typical meeting places are banned here.
4. Lack of music. For the most part, one does not randomly hear music in Riyadh. Shops don’t have a soft music background, cars don’t usually have the radio on, and tv and commercials are devoid of music. No jingle and no jangle.
5. A desire to be first. Driving or being in a vehicle is a daily risk in Riyadh. There are traffic rules, but they are more often broken than followed. It is not uncommon to see a car speed to overtake another car then brake to make a right or left turn. The need to get in front of another person outweighs the need to make safe and legal traffic decisions.
6. Arrogance. Here is one where Saudi and America have a lot in common. If you ask any Saudi what the best country in the world is, they say Saudi. Just like Americans often say ‘Merica, fuck yeah.
7. Imported work force. I am only here because I teach English to Medical students. I am thankful for the job and opportunity. The rest of the workforce is just like me, imported. It is rare to see a Saudi doing some sort of work. The doctors, chefs, teachers, drivers, cleaners, nurses, construction workers and others are all from other countries. In fact, except for my students, I know more people from Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, or Bangladesh than I do Saudis.
8. Shaking hands. It is a common Saudi cultural practice to shake hands every time you see someone. Maybe I am overly sensitive, but I don’t like that much physical contact with people. Every day at the start of class, my students shake hands and attempt to shake my hand. Well, they used to until I told them that I don’t like shaking hands every day. Now a few of them will offer a fist bump, which I find much better, but I still don’t want to do that every day either.
9. Prayer times. Saudis are Sunni Muslim and therefore pray 5 times a day. The first prayer happens just before dawn. I can live with this. However, the last 4 prayers are throughout the day. Every business shuts down for 30 minutes at each prayer. This makes accomplishing anything during the afternoon virtually impossible because things are closed around noon, then again around 3, and again around 5 and again around 6:30. It is amazing that anything gets done at all.
10. Things not getting done. There is no concept of customer service or efficiency here. Things just take a long time and when they do happen, are not always done correctly. And since no one wants to take ownership of a mistake, it is hard to get anything fixed.

Palace of the Pleasure Seekers

I took prodigious pleasure at

The palace of the pleasure seekers

Plotting for a point in the present that

Penetrates the past with pure precision

People perk up at the thought of pursuit

Plentiful and plain

Pervasive and petulant

The power persists

Pause

Please please me

Play proudly with paradise

As we approach the precipice of the profane

Pick between passersby and passing away

Proudly

I procured pleasure and not possessions