A Day in the Life of Chaos

One night I was out to dinner with my now thankfully departed former-former boss.   It was his goodbye party and he chose the restaurant.  The food was excellent and speaking with him I told him how delicious I thought it was.  He responded by saying it was one of about six places in Chiang Mai where you could find good food.  At the time I had only been living in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for two weeks.  "Are you kidding?" I thought.  I wanted to vomit on his shoe. Thailand is a nation obsessed with food.  Food is everywhere.  Before I arrived, my Thai teacher told me that if they raise the price of food staples in Thailand the response is wide spread social unrest.  This is a country that feeds itself and does a good job at it.  In Thai a greeting saying "Hello" is literally "Have you eaten?"  If you say no they will find you food.   Most Thais don't even cook.  There is a network of family run food stands on the sides of the roads that cater

Everyone defines Shangri-la differently.  One of the first films I came to love was a 1937 epic by Frank Capra called Lost Horizon.  Despite being one of the best and most thoughtful films of its time ever produced not many people know about it.  The movie contained a message of peace and pacifism at a time when the world was gearing up for war.   In it, actor Ronald Coleman escapes the violence and turmoil of China to find the mythic Shangri-la lost in the Himalayas.  Shangri-la for Coleman was a peaceful place filled with beauty, thought and contemplation, yet for others it might be something completely different.  We all have our own definitions for everything in life.  Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously replied in 1964 when answering the question what is Justice Potter Stewart pornography? "I know it when I see it." In truth Shangri-la is a concept so intrinsically personal only you will know it when you find it.  It is very much like Buddhist enlighte

Every nation has their sports.  American's love football, basketball and baseball, the world loves soccer.  This said, Thailand and sport is something I am still trying to figure out.  I do see a lot of jackets emblazoned with the names of English Premier League teams.    Chelsea, Manchester United... the list goes on.  That said I am still not sure there is a true passion for the game.   I am increasingly becoming convinced however that there is an unofficial sport here, the art of scooter riding. Perhaps it is the same way around South East Asia but with only the Philippines and a brief time in Shanghai to compare I must say, Thailand is on the cusp of this emerging sport.  Okay, maybe it will never make the big leagues but if each commute is equal to a game how many athletes can say that they survived death in the course of their match?  As a current resident of Thailand I have embraced this life or death struggle with all the veracity of a shark feasting upon a helpless swim

What follows is an intensely personal entry.  I have asked myself many times why I am willing to expose these thoughts to the world. After much contemplating I decided it is because I want people to understand what is possible.  How a moment in time can give clarity to life in a way nothing else can. Despite living in Thailand, I spend my life with a work week like most others.  Monday through Friday I hop on my scooter and navigate the Thai traffic for my eight to five job.  I confess the monotony of routine is far less for me these days however, for the most part I live a normal working existence.  Weekends are my chance to be a tourist.  A chance to venture out on a path of discovery and find the hidden secrets that are all around me. This Sunday while many of my countrymen crowded the pews in their chosen churches, I ventured out of my house seeking a shrine of Theravada Buddhism that sits nestled upon a mountain behind Chiang Mai.  The mountain Doi Sutep looms over Chaing Mai