Light Snacks Will Be Served

Cause it's Friday: Political Calculus Edition

On Sunday, I'm off to Nakhorn Si Thammerat and Sunday couldn't come sooner. Bangkok is awash in politics. Last night, a few servers at my favorite Isaan restaurant were decked out in red. On the television behind me a General chatted with reporters. Mid-meal, a friend left. He had lost his appetite. The worst part about all this is the expedient and cyclical nature of discontent. Without the yellows, the reds would have nothing to fight against. And as Democrats complain about Bangkok grinding to a halt under the pressure of demonstrations, many ignore the real reason that they're happening. Meanwhile, the silent majority suffers. 

Two nights ago I was wandering down Rama 4 in the dark, wondering what to make of all this. Would this be happening today, if the opposition party didn't shut down Bangkok, and its airport about 15 months ago? And as I walked beneath the elevated highway, I saw this scribbled on the concrete in chalk. It said Suvarnabhumi.

  

Sydneysideup: My First Downunder Installment

I have a friend who insists that strange things tend to happen to me very often, and that's what makes my stories better. My wife might replace strange with another, less flattering adjective. I think he's probably right. My travelling and writing life often seems like a series of strange coincidences, odd happenings, and great stories disguised as bad luck. 

Take this piece, for instance.  It's not everyday that you get invited to a food festival that is sponsored by a newspaper (The Sydney Morning Herald) and are then driven to your hotel by a driver who used to own a large restaurant and sued said paper for defamation for a critical review.  Life's quirky little details certainly make things interesting. 

They'll be a few more stories on Australia in the pipeline. Until then, click on the link and see what Sydney has to offer. Which, in my opinion, is some of the best Asian restaurant cooking on Earth.