.
After exercising in the horrid humid heat, marching over the whole of my regular walking route, I made it home to shower and sit in front of a fan with an iced drink. At dusk it finally started to rain hard. We brought in our laundry and battened down the hatches for a real monsoon blow. Standing outside under the eaves, we relished the cool wet air as the storm raged. Simple pleasures, gratefully enjoyed.
.
It has been a week of intellectual upheaval for me, trying to read my impossibly long reading list of books and websites, trying to meditate and integrate all of my life’s adventures and insights. This last Full Moon was a celebration of the Buddha’s First Discourse, when he announced the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. Meditating on this discourse does give me profound peace.
.
But there are political considerations too. These are notoriously non-peaceful. Thinking back over my life’s many experiences, I remembered some young friends whose lives were cut short by the unintended consequences of government tyranny. On my Zenwind blog I reminisce about Nixon’s War on Drugs and the fatal collateral damage.
.
-Zenwind.
.
17 July 2011
10 July 2011
My Thai Neighborhood
.
We have settled into the rhythms of Rainy Season life. This means carrying an umbrella whenever going out. At home we try to estimate how much non-rain time is in a given day in order to dry laundry outside. When the sun is out, it cooks, and the intense heat and humidity saps one’s strength. Evening rains are welcome relief from the heat.
.
In my regular walks in our neighborhood, I have many acquaintances although language is usually a barrier to full conversation. But there is one taxi driver who is often standing about chatting in our neighborhood and he speaks very good English. There is also a guy on the corner who speaks good English and who sells various foodstuffs with his wife and whose sister is the best outdoor fruit vendor on the block. They are friendly and naturally curious because I’m the only farang (i.e., foreigner) in the neighborhood, and they ask me many questions on my background. I am slowly integrating myself into the neighborhood, but it is very slow due to my hermit nature.
.
There is the guy who sells popcorn from his three-wheeled cart with a mounted popcorn cooker. In the morning he sets up by the bank, and in the afternoon he is by the police station. Nearby is the guy who fixes shoes (and who did an excellent job repairing my sports sandals). I have communicated to him some of the rather long marches I’ve taken in the city in the tropical heat, and he just smiles and shakes his head (crazy farang!). There are many other snack vendors and sidewalk restaurant owners that I see on every walk.
.
The other day I was walking near the river and I came across a very old Thai man in a wheelchair whom I have seen often and have always nodded to in greeting. On this day he gave me a genuine military salute. Although surprised, I returned it. I am wondering if word of my military experience has been spread in the neighborhood.
.
A small vacant lot along my walking route is being developed for some kind of building. The lot is a very small wedge-shaped one, and they are still preparing the ground. (Bangkok soil is unstable silt and mud, thus things sink, and so strong foundations are a major project.) The handful of workers involved now live on the site, and they have been building their own temporary living space – a tin shack, or rather one built entirely of thin corrugated steel sheets. Can you imagine how hot these will get in the tropical sun? Before they even had the walls finished, they put up a satellite TV dish. After all, there are priorities.
.
I took an express boat ride down the Chao Phraya River last week, which I always enjoy. I saw a monitor lizard crawling up out of the river on some old concrete steps then over a low wall into someone’s front yard. Just tonight at dusk I was standing outside under the eaves enjoying the blissful cool of a hard rain, and I saw a monitor lizard (a 3-footer) slithering from our outdoor faucet to our sheltered butane cooker. They are extremely well camouflaged and hard to see, but my eye for them is getting better. They are also smart and quick, so I lost track of him when he retreated back into the dense foliage. They look like surviving dinosaurs.
.
-Zenwind.
.
We have settled into the rhythms of Rainy Season life. This means carrying an umbrella whenever going out. At home we try to estimate how much non-rain time is in a given day in order to dry laundry outside. When the sun is out, it cooks, and the intense heat and humidity saps one’s strength. Evening rains are welcome relief from the heat.
.
In my regular walks in our neighborhood, I have many acquaintances although language is usually a barrier to full conversation. But there is one taxi driver who is often standing about chatting in our neighborhood and he speaks very good English. There is also a guy on the corner who speaks good English and who sells various foodstuffs with his wife and whose sister is the best outdoor fruit vendor on the block. They are friendly and naturally curious because I’m the only farang (i.e., foreigner) in the neighborhood, and they ask me many questions on my background. I am slowly integrating myself into the neighborhood, but it is very slow due to my hermit nature.
.
There is the guy who sells popcorn from his three-wheeled cart with a mounted popcorn cooker. In the morning he sets up by the bank, and in the afternoon he is by the police station. Nearby is the guy who fixes shoes (and who did an excellent job repairing my sports sandals). I have communicated to him some of the rather long marches I’ve taken in the city in the tropical heat, and he just smiles and shakes his head (crazy farang!). There are many other snack vendors and sidewalk restaurant owners that I see on every walk.
.
The other day I was walking near the river and I came across a very old Thai man in a wheelchair whom I have seen often and have always nodded to in greeting. On this day he gave me a genuine military salute. Although surprised, I returned it. I am wondering if word of my military experience has been spread in the neighborhood.
.
A small vacant lot along my walking route is being developed for some kind of building. The lot is a very small wedge-shaped one, and they are still preparing the ground. (Bangkok soil is unstable silt and mud, thus things sink, and so strong foundations are a major project.) The handful of workers involved now live on the site, and they have been building their own temporary living space – a tin shack, or rather one built entirely of thin corrugated steel sheets. Can you imagine how hot these will get in the tropical sun? Before they even had the walls finished, they put up a satellite TV dish. After all, there are priorities.
.
I took an express boat ride down the Chao Phraya River last week, which I always enjoy. I saw a monitor lizard crawling up out of the river on some old concrete steps then over a low wall into someone’s front yard. Just tonight at dusk I was standing outside under the eaves enjoying the blissful cool of a hard rain, and I saw a monitor lizard (a 3-footer) slithering from our outdoor faucet to our sheltered butane cooker. They are extremely well camouflaged and hard to see, but my eye for them is getting better. They are also smart and quick, so I lost track of him when he retreated back into the dense foliage. They look like surviving dinosaurs.
.
-Zenwind.
.
24 June 2011
Ron Diethrick, R.I.P.
.
We just lost a wild and wonderful guy.
.
He was my best friend from my youth. He mentored me and others on our climb to Eagle Scout. He taught many of us to truly enjoy life.
.
-Zenwind.
.
We just lost a wild and wonderful guy.
.
He was my best friend from my youth. He mentored me and others on our climb to Eagle Scout. He taught many of us to truly enjoy life.
.
-Zenwind.
.
08 June 2011
Rock and Roll Music in Bangkok
.
Last night, 7 June 8, 2011, was a great night for Rock and Roll in Bangkok. Peter Driscoll and The Cruisers played once again at the Wine Bibber Sangria, aka, Club Bibber, on Soi Thong Lor between soi 9 and 11 and across from the Pet Hospital. If I seem repetitious by mentioning Peter’s gigs many, many times over the last year, it is because I’m a major fan and this music is an invigorating experience.
.
Or, as Chuck Berry put it in the definitive statement:
.
“Just let me hear some of that Rock and Roll music,
Any old way you choose it,
It’s got a backbeat you can’t lose it,
Any old time you use it.
It’s gotta be Rock and Roll music
If you want to dance with me.”
.
It was another night of foot-stomping Rock n Roll music, with a focus on early Rock n Roll and Rockabilly with Peter’s excellent historical comments on the songwriters and the singers who covered any one song. Because 1950s songs were of such short duration (because that was the radio norm in those days), The Cruisers play a lot of songs in one evening.
.
Among the songs covered last night were ones sung by: Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Dion (“The Wanderer,” one of my personal favorites), Eddie Cochran, and many more.
.
-Zenwind.
.
Last night, 7 June 8, 2011, was a great night for Rock and Roll in Bangkok. Peter Driscoll and The Cruisers played once again at the Wine Bibber Sangria, aka, Club Bibber, on Soi Thong Lor between soi 9 and 11 and across from the Pet Hospital. If I seem repetitious by mentioning Peter’s gigs many, many times over the last year, it is because I’m a major fan and this music is an invigorating experience.
.
Or, as Chuck Berry put it in the definitive statement:
.
“Just let me hear some of that Rock and Roll music,
Any old way you choose it,
It’s got a backbeat you can’t lose it,
Any old time you use it.
It’s gotta be Rock and Roll music
If you want to dance with me.”
.
It was another night of foot-stomping Rock n Roll music, with a focus on early Rock n Roll and Rockabilly with Peter’s excellent historical comments on the songwriters and the singers who covered any one song. Because 1950s songs were of such short duration (because that was the radio norm in those days), The Cruisers play a lot of songs in one evening.
.
Among the songs covered last night were ones sung by: Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Dion (“The Wanderer,” one of my personal favorites), Eddie Cochran, and many more.
.
-Zenwind.
.
01 June 2011
Hot
.
1 June 2011: Our weather is still the transition period between the Hot season and the Rainy season. When the sun is out, it sizzles. The clouds and occasional rains are very welcome, and good breezes often catch one by surprise.
.
The other day at dusk, the wind suddenly picked up dramatically and the sky got very black. As we brought in the last of the day’s laundry, it was obvious that the temperature had dropped significantly in a very short time.
.
Just as it does anytime that this temperature drop happens, I thought of my father’s weather wisdom. He would say, “It feels like it has rained somewhere.” And it had. Within 40 minutes the skies opened on us with a hard rain.
.
Blessed coolness,
Zen delight.
.
-Zenwind.
.
1 June 2011: Our weather is still the transition period between the Hot season and the Rainy season. When the sun is out, it sizzles. The clouds and occasional rains are very welcome, and good breezes often catch one by surprise.
.
The other day at dusk, the wind suddenly picked up dramatically and the sky got very black. As we brought in the last of the day’s laundry, it was obvious that the temperature had dropped significantly in a very short time.
.
Just as it does anytime that this temperature drop happens, I thought of my father’s weather wisdom. He would say, “It feels like it has rained somewhere.” And it had. Within 40 minutes the skies opened on us with a hard rain.
.
Blessed coolness,
Zen delight.
.
-Zenwind.
.
05 May 2011
Fifth of May Revolutionary Communiqué
.
Cinco de Mayo, 2011. I am now re-reading – after several decades – the great libertarian science fiction novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein (1966). Hence the revolutionary consciousness.
.
I have been, and plan to continue to be, offline a lot more than usual for the foreseeable future. It is the Hot Season now, our summertime and holiday time, and the hot humid weather does not encourage me to sit in front of a computer for long stretches.
.
I’m feeling very well, and I resolve to keep on feeling that way. In the past few years, I have had major illnesses during the slothful days of the Hot Season, so I’m allotting my prime time to exercise and healthy pursuits. Jump-starting a new fitness program, I marched 7 klicks in 100-degree humid heat the other day, and I feel great (after major re-hydration).
.
I hereby am liberating myself from mundane technological bondage. This is consistent with my personal history, as I liberated myself from the Boob Tube (TV) back in the ‘70s and never missed it. Today I must limit my time in front of the modern, wired, www version of the electronic teat. Being thus weaned is a wonderful release. Ah, Liberty!
.
I am practicing my meditation with new resolve, i.e., in accordance with the Buddha’s last words of advice: “Strive on with diligence.” I am adding Hinayana/Theravadin simplicity of focus on the original fundamentals (Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Noble Path) to my decades-long practice of Ch’an/Zen daily aesthetic mindfulness. I haven’t known such clarity in meditation since my teens, in ’67 and ’68. I feel very young.
.
-Zenwind.
.
Cinco de Mayo, 2011. I am now re-reading – after several decades – the great libertarian science fiction novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein (1966). Hence the revolutionary consciousness.
.
I have been, and plan to continue to be, offline a lot more than usual for the foreseeable future. It is the Hot Season now, our summertime and holiday time, and the hot humid weather does not encourage me to sit in front of a computer for long stretches.
.
I’m feeling very well, and I resolve to keep on feeling that way. In the past few years, I have had major illnesses during the slothful days of the Hot Season, so I’m allotting my prime time to exercise and healthy pursuits. Jump-starting a new fitness program, I marched 7 klicks in 100-degree humid heat the other day, and I feel great (after major re-hydration).
.
I hereby am liberating myself from mundane technological bondage. This is consistent with my personal history, as I liberated myself from the Boob Tube (TV) back in the ‘70s and never missed it. Today I must limit my time in front of the modern, wired, www version of the electronic teat. Being thus weaned is a wonderful release. Ah, Liberty!
.
I am practicing my meditation with new resolve, i.e., in accordance with the Buddha’s last words of advice: “Strive on with diligence.” I am adding Hinayana/Theravadin simplicity of focus on the original fundamentals (Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Noble Path) to my decades-long practice of Ch’an/Zen daily aesthetic mindfulness. I haven’t known such clarity in meditation since my teens, in ’67 and ’68. I feel very young.
.
-Zenwind.
.
23 April 2011
April is the cruelest month
.
April is cruel for us, although not for the same reasons given by T.S. Eliot. April is the hottest and most humid time of year here (although we have had many unusually rainy days lately which block the sun and cool things off a bit). It is also the month when I must complete my work on my annual visa renewal by the last week of the month.
.
I just posted a couple of very short book reviews my Zenwind blog, one on With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge and one on the Earthsea novels of Ursula K. Le Guin.
.
I managed to get into town a couple of times for US Embassy paperwork visits, to talk with friends, and to see a couple of movies.
.
Winter’s Bone, an independent film that was nominated for an Oscar for Best Film, was very good. It featured a strong teenage girl who must be the care-giver for her younger siblings and also stand up to the threat of death to protect their impoverished Ozark home. The young actress also was nominated by the Academy. It is a low budget film and is a bit of hillbilly noir, dark and ugly at times but ultimately redeeming.
.
If I survive the coming ordeal with the Immigration Bureau, I will post again.
.
-Zenwind.
.
April is cruel for us, although not for the same reasons given by T.S. Eliot. April is the hottest and most humid time of year here (although we have had many unusually rainy days lately which block the sun and cool things off a bit). It is also the month when I must complete my work on my annual visa renewal by the last week of the month.
.
I just posted a couple of very short book reviews my Zenwind blog, one on With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge and one on the Earthsea novels of Ursula K. Le Guin.
.
I managed to get into town a couple of times for US Embassy paperwork visits, to talk with friends, and to see a couple of movies.
.
Winter’s Bone, an independent film that was nominated for an Oscar for Best Film, was very good. It featured a strong teenage girl who must be the care-giver for her younger siblings and also stand up to the threat of death to protect their impoverished Ozark home. The young actress also was nominated by the Academy. It is a low budget film and is a bit of hillbilly noir, dark and ugly at times but ultimately redeeming.
.
If I survive the coming ordeal with the Immigration Bureau, I will post again.
.
-Zenwind.
.
09 April 2011
Pit-Viper in Our Kitchen Tree
.
Last week I saw a pit-viper at close range, slithering up a tree in our courtyard which supports our outdoor kitchen’s small tin roof over the propane stove. A beautiful light-green in color, it crawled with reptilian leisure and disappeared between several tin sheets making up the roof. One look at its triangular head told me it was a poisonous snake.
.
I was sitting outside in my lawnchair reading in the shade of this tree, and I only noticed the snake because one of our cats alerted me to it. This cat, Silly Willy, also alerted me several years ago to a huge monitor lizard who was basking in the sun about 10 feet behind my chair. Willy may be silly, but he is a good hunter, and I can always tell by his eyes if he is looking at either prey or predator.
.
Willy was sitting high on the wall on the other side of this tree, and I noticed him looking quite attentively at something with his look of apprehension. Following his gaze I saw the pit-viper move slowly up the tree at a height of about 7 feet from the ground, camouflaged very well against the underside of the leaves when one looks upward. I got up and stepped closer to look at it, and all my old Boy Scout training told me it was venomous.
.
After it disappeared between the layers of the kitchen roof, I went inside to consult my Guidebook to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Thailand and Southeast Asia. That and some web searches narrowed it down to a couple of pit-vipers: The white-lipped tree viper or the large-eyed pit-viper. I didn’t have a long enough look to tell if its lips were white or its eyes big.
.
I alerted my wife and her family, but no one seemed to be impressed. I’m sure they believed my sighting, but it just didn’t seem to be a big deal to anyone. Although living here for 5 years now, plus doing a year’s tour in next-door Vietnam 40 years ago, I guess I’m still a bit of a boot to tropical life. But I’m still watching my every step and every branch above me.
.
-Zenwind.
.
Last week I saw a pit-viper at close range, slithering up a tree in our courtyard which supports our outdoor kitchen’s small tin roof over the propane stove. A beautiful light-green in color, it crawled with reptilian leisure and disappeared between several tin sheets making up the roof. One look at its triangular head told me it was a poisonous snake.
.
I was sitting outside in my lawnchair reading in the shade of this tree, and I only noticed the snake because one of our cats alerted me to it. This cat, Silly Willy, also alerted me several years ago to a huge monitor lizard who was basking in the sun about 10 feet behind my chair. Willy may be silly, but he is a good hunter, and I can always tell by his eyes if he is looking at either prey or predator.
.
Willy was sitting high on the wall on the other side of this tree, and I noticed him looking quite attentively at something with his look of apprehension. Following his gaze I saw the pit-viper move slowly up the tree at a height of about 7 feet from the ground, camouflaged very well against the underside of the leaves when one looks upward. I got up and stepped closer to look at it, and all my old Boy Scout training told me it was venomous.
.
After it disappeared between the layers of the kitchen roof, I went inside to consult my Guidebook to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Thailand and Southeast Asia. That and some web searches narrowed it down to a couple of pit-vipers: The white-lipped tree viper or the large-eyed pit-viper. I didn’t have a long enough look to tell if its lips were white or its eyes big.
.
I alerted my wife and her family, but no one seemed to be impressed. I’m sure they believed my sighting, but it just didn’t seem to be a big deal to anyone. Although living here for 5 years now, plus doing a year’s tour in next-door Vietnam 40 years ago, I guess I’m still a bit of a boot to tropical life. But I’m still watching my every step and every branch above me.
.
-Zenwind.
.
08 April 2011
Express Boats on the Great Chao Phraya River
.
Again I sing the praises of my favorite transportation in the tropics. Sorry if I’m repetitious and have written this before.
.
Taking express boats to downtown Bangkok is slower than going by taxi and much hotter, although sometimes river breezes give a bit of relief. But the boats are much cheaper and are an adventure in themselves. One gets to see Bangkok at water-level, at its roots.
.
Sometimes the boats are so crowded that there is standing room only. If that is the case, I like standing in the back squarely in front of the engine-box. Let me explain:
.
An express boat is about the size of a bus, an aisle going up the middle with pairs of seats on both sides. The pilot is up front. The forward two-thirds is seating; the aft third is engine-box plus steps up to the deck in the stern where folks embark and disembark as the boat briefly hitches to the piers along the way.
.
If I have to stand during the voyage, I prefer the times when the standing customers are not too packed together, so that I can pick my spot, standing squarely in the center, just in back of all the rows of seats and immediately in front of the engine-box. To me, that is the boat’s center of gravity, its very soul. Standing there, I can feel every bit of the boat’s flex as the wooden structure twists and bucks with the waves. Looking up the length of the vessel from this spot, I can watch the pilot turn his wheel and then feel the slight delay of the craft’s response. It is the organic center of the ship.
.
On those days when it is not too crowded, this standing spot is also the coolest place on board because the breeze funnels right back to you.
.
Blessed coolness. Zen delight.
.
-Zenwind.
.
Again I sing the praises of my favorite transportation in the tropics. Sorry if I’m repetitious and have written this before.
.
Taking express boats to downtown Bangkok is slower than going by taxi and much hotter, although sometimes river breezes give a bit of relief. But the boats are much cheaper and are an adventure in themselves. One gets to see Bangkok at water-level, at its roots.
.
Sometimes the boats are so crowded that there is standing room only. If that is the case, I like standing in the back squarely in front of the engine-box. Let me explain:
.
An express boat is about the size of a bus, an aisle going up the middle with pairs of seats on both sides. The pilot is up front. The forward two-thirds is seating; the aft third is engine-box plus steps up to the deck in the stern where folks embark and disembark as the boat briefly hitches to the piers along the way.
.
If I have to stand during the voyage, I prefer the times when the standing customers are not too packed together, so that I can pick my spot, standing squarely in the center, just in back of all the rows of seats and immediately in front of the engine-box. To me, that is the boat’s center of gravity, its very soul. Standing there, I can feel every bit of the boat’s flex as the wooden structure twists and bucks with the waves. Looking up the length of the vessel from this spot, I can watch the pilot turn his wheel and then feel the slight delay of the craft’s response. It is the organic center of the ship.
.
On those days when it is not too crowded, this standing spot is also the coolest place on board because the breeze funnels right back to you.
.
Blessed coolness. Zen delight.
.
-Zenwind.
.
21 March 2011
St. Patrick’s Day 2011
.
St. Patrick’s Day was also the day of our monthly libertarian meet up, and I got a late start, getting on an express boat in late afternoon. It was the coldest daytime temperature I have yet seen in Bangkok, in the low 60sF. Everyone was bundled up against the cold wind, including me. It was the only day and night I can remember here when I did not sweat.
.
The meet up was great, with very good conversation and camaraderie. By 01:30 there were only me and a longtime buddy left. We closed down the Bourbon Street bar and walked to the nearby Dubliner Irish pub to see if their St. Patrick revelries were still going on. The Dubliner was quite empty and not serving any more drinks. There were still bottles breaking on the floor, and the whole place looked as dysfunctional as a battle zone, so we exited the back door. Once outside we had to carefully push our way through a crowd of milling, staggering, wild-looking fellows – most certainly all Irishmen.
.
We walked to another venue where we could talk some more. Our conversation covered all topics from Man and God and Law to movies and books. Finally we closed down that place and went down the street to find some munchies at an all-night store. We stood on the street eating and talking until we could barely keep our eyes open, then parted ways.
.
I arrived back in my home neighborhood at 04:00, and the streets were quiet and empty. Must be there are no Irish here. The only one showing any holiday spirit was a local soi dog who spotted me and trotted along with me to my gate. I threw out some food to her, making her very pleased. It was a great day for the Irish.
.
-Zenwind.
.
St. Patrick’s Day was also the day of our monthly libertarian meet up, and I got a late start, getting on an express boat in late afternoon. It was the coldest daytime temperature I have yet seen in Bangkok, in the low 60sF. Everyone was bundled up against the cold wind, including me. It was the only day and night I can remember here when I did not sweat.
.
The meet up was great, with very good conversation and camaraderie. By 01:30 there were only me and a longtime buddy left. We closed down the Bourbon Street bar and walked to the nearby Dubliner Irish pub to see if their St. Patrick revelries were still going on. The Dubliner was quite empty and not serving any more drinks. There were still bottles breaking on the floor, and the whole place looked as dysfunctional as a battle zone, so we exited the back door. Once outside we had to carefully push our way through a crowd of milling, staggering, wild-looking fellows – most certainly all Irishmen.
.
We walked to another venue where we could talk some more. Our conversation covered all topics from Man and God and Law to movies and books. Finally we closed down that place and went down the street to find some munchies at an all-night store. We stood on the street eating and talking until we could barely keep our eyes open, then parted ways.
.
I arrived back in my home neighborhood at 04:00, and the streets were quiet and empty. Must be there are no Irish here. The only one showing any holiday spirit was a local soi dog who spotted me and trotted along with me to my gate. I threw out some food to her, making her very pleased. It was a great day for the Irish.
.
-Zenwind.
.
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