Bangkok

Tuesday

Hello, 

I am back home in Bangkok, hoping for the best. #  

My trip to Hua Hin with my friend Noy was quite restful and even productive. 

In addition to beach time, we made a short bus trip north to Phetchaburi where we visited the Wat Mahathat Worawihan and the Khao Wang Palace.

I read all or parts of three books.*  Noy read a novel translated from English to Thai.  Apparently, in one scene of the book, one of the characters went to a psychologist for help.  Noy questioned me about this, since this type of counseling is almost unknown in Thailand.   It's not "Thai style."   

I know I also need to see a "doc" for coming back to Bangkok at this juncture, but I wanted to get back to work, writing, editing and planning.  Sometimes I am so busy that I remarked to a friend recently that I am thinking about "retiring" from Retirement.   

Please excuse me now.  I need to scoot over to the morning market and stock up on fresh fruit and vegetables.  

Keeping busy, 

Jan 

#N.B.: This week's Parashah: Noach 

* Ron Suskind, The Way of the World. Suskind, is a Pulitzer Prize winning political reporter.  He uncovers shocking information about the G.W. Bush years.  But in my opinion, Suskind is overly optimistic about our future. 

Michael Chabon, Werewolves in Their Youth.  This collection of short stories is both serious and hilarious.   You can check with Noy; I was really "cracking up." 

Simon Winchester, The Man Who Loved China.  Winchester is a great non-fiction writer (Krakatoa, The Professor and the Madman). This book is about a British scientist who travels through China in the 1940's and learns that in many fields of science and technology, China was centuries ahead of the West (e.g., the big three: printing, gunpowder, the magnetic compass).