The Noodle Curtain

Vitamin B12 deficiency recurs after long Thailand stay

 

A blood test here in Canada showed that yet again, I am deficient in vitamin B12. This comes after spending seven months in Thailand and Cambodia. Why is this important? It’s lack of red meat.

I thought I’d update this topic, which I reported on back in October, 2010. In this post, Keep eye on your vitamin B levels if on Thai food diet,  I said that a doctor would normally check for vitamin B12 if you’re over 50. He did and discovered that I was on the low normal side of the numbers.

This time I was lower in the low normal range. Not surprising because, again, I hadn’t had much in the way of good sources of B12. Also, adults over 50 are more susceptible and need to take supplements or fortified foods, the latter is a source of readily absorbable B12.

Specificially,  good sources of B12 are: shellfish (clams), red meats (lamb, beef),  fortified cereals, freshwater fish, fast-foods (believe it or not), each of which provide more than 30 per cent of the daily value of B12. Yoghurt, haddock, clams, tuna,  milk, pork, eggs, some cheeses and chicken breast provide the lowest daily values. (See the entire list  at the brilliant U.S. National Institutes of Health website.) The first two in the list are the top sources of B12.  

During my recent stay in Southeast Asia, I was occasionally taking a supplement, sourced in Canada. Maybe I wasn’t taking it often enough. It was a good brand but it didn’t seem to be doing its job. I was suspicious of its potency and wondered whether it was a poor knockoff, when I considered the segment of town I bought it in. It was cheaper than what I would normally pay for this brand. This is all speculative.

This time I bought a similarly respected brand at a legitimate health food store. And I will take the supplement (1,000 mcg per tablet) regularly. This regimen worked before after the first diagnosis.

Don't let Thai poisoning case turn you off street food

I have only had severe food poisoning once in Thailand in nine tours of the kingdom. I've had the very rare bout of mild diarrhoea the next day. So all in all, I have had little to complain about in eating street food in Thailand.

I can only suspect that the source of  my severe case was from a foreigner owned restaurant in a northeastern city. I'd only had noodle soup in the late morning from a busy shophouse kitchen. I didn't eat again until early evening. I had a steak hamburger sandwich. I awoke the next morning at 7 when I was forced to flee to the toilet. I was stricken for the next four or five days.

I can recall having more incidents of food poisoning back home in Toronto, Canada. After a series of newspaper articles on some poor sanitary conditions found during covert investigations,  the local health department enacted a new inspection program that's been very effective.

Based on my experience and those of long time expats, including writer Richard Barrow in a blog report this week, I would say you have little to worry about unless you have a particularly weak tummy.

Barrow, a prolific writer on Thailand topics and a Thai speaker, writing on Thai-blogs.com, rounds up the latest Thai and English language news on the tragic death of a young New Zealand woman who died from, well, something she ate. There's nothing clearcut yet in terms of the source of the food poisoning that struck her and her two young friends, Barrow reports.

He also has some good tips about eating street food in Thailand in his article: Are Thai street food stalls really dangerous?

 

PHOTOS: Top, fried rice stand on Sukhumvit near soi 22, but no longer there recently. Above right, som tam, the only Isaan Thai street food that has defeated me because of the extreme chilli nature. Som tam is available everywhere and has been known to be a bit dodgy as a safe street food.

 

 

 

Getting motorcycle fever again

If you can believe it, all I’ve been thinking about before returning to Thailand this autumn is motorcycles. I’ve got the fever again.

Motorcycles are dangerous anywhere in the world because you have to be 100% awake and sharp every second. There’s the fear of the car door; the sudden taxi u-turn; the streetcar tracks that become banana peels when it’s raining;  the absent-minded SUV driver (they act like kings of the road) that turns left in front of you despite your blazing headlight and high-viz jacket; the distracted mom who runs a red light; the expressway dolt who doesn’t look (or signal) when switching lanes because his mirrors look down the side of the car instead of into the adjacent lanes; the long-haul trucker at 125 km/h blazes by you in the rain, etc.

In Thailand, no one, and I mean no one, knows how to drive at all. And many don’t have a licence, or wear seatbelts or helmets (photo left of couriers who do wear helmets). Many don’t look when entering a road;  many motorcycle drivers will dive down your inside as you’re turning right or left; motorcycle riders will cut right across your bow because they have to get there RIGHT  NOW because they spotted a dried squid vendor; drivers will move over on you without signal or apparent reason; they will run red lights, green and yellow; sudden stops are mandatory if a 7-11 comes into view; they will park in the middle of a street or lane or doorway or sidewalk, etc.

So I must be crazy. Well, you could certainly certify me thusly if I was going to ride a bike in Bangkok. I’d have myself committed. No, I’m saving this blast of youth (ha!) for upcountry when I return. It’s a cheap, easy way to get around.

My dream motorbike is the BMW R800GS(top image). In Thailand, it’s a ridiculous mount of money, about double that in already absurd Canadian dollars. That’s about $12,500 plus taxes. With taxes, plus PDI, it would be very close to $15,000, about 450,000 baht. It’s 770,000 bt in Land of Smiles. The Kawasaki KLR650 would come a close second. But this is not available in Thailand, despite the fact Kawi has a factory making some cruisers, Ninja models, some trail bikes (see D-Tracker at bottom of article) and the E6Rn.  Apparently the Versys is (rumoured) due to arrive late this year, and this latter is definitely  closer to my needs. But it’s likely to be sitting at around 300,000 bt. Throw another 200,000 down and you can  have a Chevrolet 2-door Colorado compact pickup.

But if I were smart, I’d start out with one step at a time and go with a scooter. Yep, a little 125 cc  half-stepthrough or full step-through scooter (image right of Fino) , either a Yamaha Nouvo (image above) or Fino or Honda PCX. There’s also the Thailand made Boxer 250RS. Not a bad looking bike, sort of a dual sport, with high bars, decent clearance and apparently decent comfort. There’s lots of aftermarket and bike maker accessories. But, it has no sex appeal among Thais -- possibly because the reviled police use them? (small image below) Honda’s No. 1. The Boxer is  maybe a step and  a half above a scoot in terms of my preferences, and there are good reports about it. It is, after all, a more real motorcycle.

Big bikes in a genuine retail environment are not common, most of them could be classed as cruisers, of the Harley variety and I have no desire to try to keep a Harley operating or, if you really want to know the truth, be seen on one. I’ve ridden a couple and wondered how they could be passed by the department of transport. Some people love ‘em though, including some of my friends here in Canada. Other biggies do get into the country all right, but not all enter properly, which is to say, the owner brought it in using means that might involve a lot of money at customs.

Enough of that. It’s about 2 and a half months before I arrive and that will be in Bangkok. There will be a few times I will be out in the country and hope to rent some of my candidate scooters. In the meantime, I’ve booked a KLR and 800GS for some road tests in Canada. I don’t have a motorbike now because I sold my new BMW F650GS last autumn. Not long after it stranded me less than two months into ownership. Didn’t really like it anyway, especially when the 800GS was hiding in the shadows beckoning me with its sexy miniskirt fender, long legs, slim, svelt figure and athlete’s buns of a rear tire. Alas, the price of admission was too much for me.

After selling it and two previous bikes in short order, I lost interest, helped by high insurance costs too. Just didn’t care anymore. But over May and June, I made the mistake of going back to reading the ride reports on ADVRider.com and caught the bike bug. Again.

 

LINKS:

• BMW Thailand motorcycle division price list
• Kawasaki Thailand model lineup and prices.
• Chevrolet Thailand model pricing guide.
• Kawasaki Versys rumoured to be due in Thailand late this year.
• The Honda PCX, a little bigger scooter, is getting lots of good reports as a secondary road cruiser, a bit bigger than the Nouvo.
• Lots of Southeast Asian info for motorcyclists at Golden Triangle Rider forum.
• Get lost in ADVRider.com ride reports on some of the most beautiful, some of the most dangerous, some of the most challenging  trips in the world. Often stunning pictures. They're addictive.

Canada downgrades travel warning on Thailand

UPDATE JUNE 1: The Embassy of Canada has removed its warning against travel to Bangkok. It has also downgraded the severity of warning for the Kingdom overall to Exercise a High Degree of Caution. The warning against travel to the Burma-Thailand border in the northwest remains as Avoid Non-essential Travel. Canada retains its most serious warning against all travel for Preah Viheaer/Khao Phra Viharn  temple on the border frontier of Cambodia and the Thai  province of Sisaket, and the southern most provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala and Songkla.

UPDATE MAY 25: The Embassy of Canada in Thailand has now downgraded its travel warning to Bangkokl  to "Avoid non-essential travel" from "Avoid all travel." For the country overall, it is maintaining its "Avoid non-essential travel."

UPDATE MAY 20: The Embassy of Canada in Thailand, which is still closed, has upgraded all its warnings about the seriousness of the situation if  travelling to Bangkok, the Kingdom and all its regions. The Embassy website urges people NOT to travel to the Kingdom's capital, the temple area near the Cambodian border in the northeast near Sisaket, and the four provinces in the very south. The Foreign Affairs department uses the term, "Avoid all travel," the highest rating for danger.

For the country overall, it rates the second most serious danger warning, "Avoid non-essential travel". The northwest border area around Burma/Myanmar gets the same warning level.

UPDATE May 15: From the Embassy of Canada website: "Due to security concerns in the immediate area of the Embassy of Canada, the Embassy is temporarily closed to the public. In case of emergency, Canadians should dial 001-800-156-220-0142 or 02-636-0540 or contact [email protected] for assistance."

Canada has downgraded its travel warning to "Exercise  high degree of caution" if visiting the Kingdom of Thailand but maintains its "Avoid non-essential travel" level for the city of Bangkok.

The latter warning level also applies to the provinces of Tak and Mae Hong Son in the northern border area with Myanmar (Burma), Preah Viheaer/Khao Phra Viharn  temple on the border frontier of Cambodia and the Thai  province of Sisaket, and the southern most provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala and Songkla.

It's worth noting the Canadian embassy is in a commercial tower near Rama 4 Road, right near the intersection of Silom Road, the business district, where protesters have set up one camp and where several deaths have occurred due to shootings and grenade attacks.

The Foreign Affairs department warnings were updated May 13 here.

I don't write on political topics but if you wish to know more, just search for the terms "Thailand" and "red shirts".

Canada issues strong warning against travel to Thailand

Canada and other western nations issued a strong warning today (April 28, 2010) against travel to Thailand and within the Kingdom.

Here is the entire notice, which you can see here at the Foreign Affairs web site:

OFFICIAL WARNING: Foreign Affairs and International Trade advises against non-essential travel to the Kingdom of Thailand due to ongoing large-scale political demonstrations, which have been marked by violence, death, and injury. The security situation is very volatile with significant potential for further civil unrest, violent clashes, and attacks. Canadians currently in Thailand should avoid all non-essential movement, exercise extreme caution, follow the advice of local authorities, closely monitor local media, and, if violence erupts, remain indoors.
 
Large scale political demonstrations have been occurring in Bangkok since March 12, 2010, and currently large parts of Bangkok's central business district are occupied by anti-government protestors. A number of violent clashes with security forces and dozens of attacks involving explosives have occurred, resulting in deaths and injuries. The Thai government continues to deploy significant numbers of police and military forces and future violent clashes remain a real possibility. A state of emergency is in effect in Bangkok, Nonthaburi, and some areas in the provinces of Samat Prakan, Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani, and Nakhon Pathom. The state of emergency can affect civil liberties by limiting the right to assembly as well as the freedom of movement, and may include imposing searches, checkpoints, curfews, and other restrictions.
 
The principal demonstration area is currently centred at the Ratchaprasong intersection and extends down Ratchadamri Road to the Silom-Rama IV intersection, near the Embassy of Canada, as well as to the Siam Square area and to Wireless (Wittayu) Road. A significant security presence is currently in place on Silom Road.  Demonstrators have periodically taken their demonstration mobile and moved around the city in convoys. Previously, the areas of Ratchadamnoen Road, the Democracy Monument, Phanfa Bridge, and Government House were affected. On April 28, 2010, a clash between demonstrators and security forces just north of Bangkok killed one person and injured several others.  On April 22, 2010, a series of grenade attacks on Silom Road killed one person and injured more than 80. On April 10, 2010, violent clashes in the area of the Democracy Monument resulted in over 800 casualties, including more than 20 deaths. Water cannons, tear gas, rubber bullets, and live rounds were employed. Unrest and demonstrations have also occurred in Chiang Mai, Khon Khen, and Udon Thani.
 
The situation is very volatile and it is unclear for how long these protests will continue and which areas may be affected. Canadians are strongly advised to avoid protest sites, military installations, or concentrations of security personnel, as well as prominent government buildings, such as the areas of Government House, the Parliament Building, and the Supreme Court, as violence could break out without warning. Canadians should exercise caution, follow the advice of local authorities, remain informed of developments, monitor local media, and, if violence erupts, remain indoors. Public transportation, including the SkyTrain (BTS), Metro (MRT), and bus routes, has been disrupted and there has been unusual traffic congestion due to road closures and security checkpoints. Bangkok's main airport and train station are operating normally. Local information can be obtained from the Tourism Association of Thailand (TAT) via telephone at 1672.
 
In recent years there have been several waves of mass political demonstrations and anti-government movements in Thailand, which have led to significant security problems and occasional violence. Since March 2010, dozens of grenade attacks and other explosions have occurred, some of which have caused injuries at locations including government and military installations, protest gatherings, public banks, and key power infrastructure and fuel storage facilities. In April 2009, political demonstrations and civil unrest occurred in Bangkok and in many provinces throughout the country, which led to violent and fatal clashes between security forces, demonstrators, and private citizens. Mass demonstrations in Bangkok in 2008 included violent clashes and the use of explosive devices, which resulted in casualties and injuries and also forced the temporary closure of Suvarnabhumi International Airport and Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok. These events were preceded by a military coup in September 2006.
 
There is a heightened threat of terrorism throughout Southeast Asia, including Thailand. Canadians should maintain a high level of personal security awareness at all times as the security situation could deteriorate rapidly without notice. Canadians are advised to exercise caution, particularly in commercial and public establishments (hotels, clubs, restaurants, bars, schools, places of worship, outdoor recreation events), tourist areas frequented by foreigners, and on public transportation. Reports suggest that there is an ongoing terrorist threat in Thailand and attacks could occur at any time, anywhere, throughout the Kingdom. While we have no evidence to suggest that Canadians will be directly targeted, there is a risk of becoming an inadvertent victim of a terrorist attack.

Taste of Thailand may be in your own backyard

The Canadian flag hangs over the entrance of the Phadaeng Mansion hotel in downtown Ubon Ratchathani. The owner dreams of visiting British Columbia. Brand new place, charging 400 or 500 baht a night for well appointed rooms. Photo inset taken from second-floor balcony.

When you read this,  I should be on the bus to Nakhon Panom, after spending three, long days and nights in Ubon Ratchathani.  Probably my fault that I feel that way. How do you know what a Thai city has if you only spend a few days exploring it?

I was intrigued by Ubon from complimentary reports on online forums and blogs. Part of its appeal is that it’s far from Bangkok. Could be I find “real” Thailand  there? Is this desirable? Or is there any such thing? Another part of its appeal is low incidence of foreigners. Or at least low numbers of the kind of foreigners drawn to places like Pattaya. Yes, Pattaya stands for much that is distasteful about certain visitors to the Land of Smiles.

But as I discovered, Ubon’s just as Thai as Bangkok.

   
The Moon River in Ubon Ratchathani. First looking north, then back to way I came and finally toward the bridge, which I crossed in a "taxi" -- clapped out pickup -- from the railway station.

I was first looking to escape Bangkok’s din.  But Ubon’s got the loud motos and tuk tuks, constant traffic, barking stray dogs and yowling  cats. From the nearby park where a country fair is underway, comes thumping bass sounds and public address systems with too much treble and amplification. Loud-speakers hail customers for fruits, vegetables and whatever.

I hoped to be able to walk in a relaxed physical setting. But the Ubon streets are just as disorderly as Bangkok’s, with shops blocking sidewalks with their wares and some simply taking over a lane of street with furniture or food tables. Then there’s the customer motorbikes  and pickups parked so you’re forced to take to the street, too. Of course, there’s the high sidewalks as barriers to annual flooding.

I know because I was on foot most of the time. Folks driving and riding are not used to pedestrians so you are invisible. You have to check every direction twice or three times before you set out. Then you want to check over your shoulder as you reach each segment of your crossing. 

I thought a trip to the outer reaches of the town core might be in order. I took baht bus No. 11 to a big mall near a major university. I went considerably beyond my intended stop. It felt like I was in a North American satellite town. Car dealerships, fast-food joints, giant hotels, wide, busy boulevards with three lanes of traffic, heavy truck traffic, and never-ending lines of motorcycles with helmetless teens blowing by vehicles on the inside.

I finally got to the mall and inside were typically ill-designed retail floors in Thailand. It was filled with stuff girls would buy, plus the fast-food outlets. Outside and in were hundreds of students in their uniforms, looking for something fatty or sweet. Or maybe something cuddly to hang from their mobile phones or chemical to put on their lips.

Before I entered, I spotted a sign for a serviced apartment tower. The project was named Costly Place -- I kid you not. See the photo. Of course, Thailand is full of examples of Thinglish, where some Thai with a “degree” takes a literal translation and it comes out just the opposite of the intention. Maybe it was supposed to be Luxury Place.

Teenagers play a kind of mini-football (soccer) at a big park near my hotel. There might be a Thai name for it. It was six aside and pretty rough and tumble at times.

Getting around town in the evening is pain in the butt. There are no taxis in this  city  (provincial population of 1.7 million). Yes, there are tuk tuks. I waited around a major street corner for 15 minutes. Then gave up and walked to the country fair. There were about 15 tuk tuks drydocked, so to speak. They didn’t roam around, looking for customers but hung around the fair for hours. You really need your own transportation here, as you do in every town and city I’ve visited, including Korat (which was a little better for taxi availability but pricy), Chiang Mai (a few tuks tuks roamed the streets), Surin, Buriram, Kohn Kaen, Udon Thani and now Ubon Ratchathani. Some bars can call you a taxi but if you’re a tourist like me, you might not know that -- as I didn’t last night.

I grabbed a tuk tuk at the fair and headed off. We went for 2 klicks before I thought, what if I couldn’t get back? I turned him around and went back downtown. Cost me 140 baht. For nothing. I later learned at the Wrong Way Cafe bar that they could call me a taxi. I imagine other bars can do the same, but as a first-timer, you learn the hard way.  Now Ubon is not a tourist destination, still in a city of 1.7 million, couldn’t there be, oh, I dunno, taxis. I suppose there’s no great need for them if you live here and have a car or bike. But drinking and driving is not my custom.

People like to say Bangkok is not the real Thailand. But most of these towns appear to me to be not much different than Bangkok. Except Bangkok has a better transportation network. Also I have to say that I can get cheap food and drink there too. I paid 30 baht for a noodle soup here, same as Bangkok. I can get a quart of Leo for 45 baht on soi 36. That 2 km, 140 baht  tuk tuk ride (he wanted 200) in Ubon I can get for 40 baht in Bangkok. I’ve paid more for a massage in Thai cities than in Bangkok. The only thing that is very likely cheaper in other Thai towns and cities is accommodation, whether hotel or home.

Bangkok doesn’t sound so bad if you want a taste of Thailand.

More pictures of activity in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand:

Does the sign mean to say, Luxury Place? One of thousands of interesting uses of English in Thailand.

 

My "Go To" place for the duration of my stay, the Wrong Way cafe. Very decent food, good beer, nice setting and friendly boss, the Thai wife of the "owner."  Never met the man himself.

 

A night food market near the Hotel Ratchathani at Ratchabut and Khuanthani Rds., Ubon. Opens at 4 pm and closes 6 am.

And more pictures from the food market:

   

Singapore hottie blogger offers Christmas hangover cures

I couldn't help myself. I was cruising Xiaxue's fabulous blog site and came across her video of hangover cures. Particularly apt since I was, er, largely incapacitated. Since it's nearly the holiday season and the parties will pile upon parties, I thought the timing was perfect.  I don't know whether the cure or the hangover was worse. Xiaxue admits she's never been hung over. But who knows, these ideas, gathered from the Internet, may actually help those farangs from Songkhla to Chiang Mai to Udon to Trat immobilized by alcohol poisoning. Take it away Wendy (Cheng, author of the extremely popular Singapore blog). Warning: Colorful language ahead . . . Not for office computers, unless you have a headset.

LINK

• Xiaxue's Singapore-based blog 

BTW, earlier I posted that  I'd seen more than 200 comments on her posts. Well, she belted one out of the ballpark this week when readers posted almost 400 comments on a single post. In that one day, she trippled my year-to-date comment count. Sad, eh?

Bangkok toilets can be pleasant environment and sometimes unisex adventure

What is the bane of many travellers? Finding a toilet, especially if you've been drinking  like a fish or have eaten something fishy.

One thing you never lack for in Bangkok is good, clean, widely available and accessible toilets. They are  everywhere in malls, squares, bar areas, public buildings and shopping areas.

They seem to be always well kept and clean by one or more attendants. You usually, though not always, have to pay a couple of baht. I've paid as much as 10 baht in a hotel beside a street bar area. It was 10 baht well spent.

Some of the toilets are the squat variety. Doesn't work for me if you need more than a urinal. Some mall toilets have both squat and sit-down seats, seemingly oriented toward western visitors. And most have toilet paper, though not all. If no TP, then it's the sprayer. Frankly, I look for the sprayer variety. I'm told that TP is not well handled by the sewage treatment system.

One thing you never find in Bangkok toilets is hot water taps. Call it tepid water. But it's good enough. You'll also find hand dryers and occasionally paper towels. Usually though there's nothing to dry your hands with, except your jeans.

Oddly enough, bar toilets tend to be unisex. You'd be leaning into a urinal and a girl comes in and goes to the stall or touches up her makeup. Then you line up behind her to wash your hands. She smiles and heads out into the crowd. Or you walk in and a female attendant sits at a desk across from the urinals. You do your business and smile on the way out. Sometimes they hand you a paper towel.

Sometimes, the girls will joke with you as you're relieving yourself. "Need help?" "Can I hold?" "When you go?" "Take too long." Then she busts out laughing. Ladyboys sharing your private moments are even more entertaining, conversationally speaking.

I was at two bars recently in which staff behind the bar and anyone sitting at the bar can see you standing at the urinal, or there's some flimsy split curtain wafting in the fan breeze, giving many patrons a view of your activity. I remember in my first couple of visits to Bangkok being a bit squeamish about the openness of toilet facilities. Now, the whole issue is a yawner.

Many toilets though in bars and restaurants  will have this single towel hanging up, which you are meant to dry your hands on. Usually it's quite wet. Now, you ask yourself, did the toilet visitor wash his hands or simply swipe the towel? Here's when wiping your hands on your trousers becomes a viable option.

Some places will have stacks of dry, small wash cloths to dry your hands and face with. You toss it into the basket on the floor.

Most of the time, Bangkok toilets are quite pleasant facilities, with marble counters, potted plants and decorative bits between the urinals or statues of Buddha or deities standing on the floor. 

Things to look forward to in Canada after six months in Thailand

My days in Thailand are dwindling. Down to seven more after today. Thought I'd take a look at the positives of that, in other words, I am thinking of the things to look forward to in Canada.

One of the easiest positives is the coolness of the weather back home. I am ready for a break from the high heat and humidity. You don't want to be too active outdoors from about 11 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon. But in the evenings the humidity hangs really heavily. Still it's better than direct blazing sunlight of the daylight hours. And this is Thailand's peak heat season.

Consequently, one is going through shirts and other clothing at a fairly high rate, doing laundry more often and showering three, four, five times a day, if only to shower off the sweat. So it will be nice to get back to more normal frequency of all of the above.

One of the things I miss are the natural products, whether food or toiletries or cleaners.

I haven't really found products to replace what I have back home. I am thinking of the natural shower soaps, laundry detergent, deodorant, toothpaste, etc. Some of that may be available here but I have failed to find any, other than crystal based deodorant. There is a natural toothpaste but it is truly unappealing in appearance, looking like rolled up dirt and weeds. Still, last trip, I got used to it. This time I went with a commercial product when I ran out of the Canadian natural paste.

I have been using standard brand-name laundry powder and liquid detergents, which leave a chemical smell and often lots of white residue. The local commercial shampoos and hand soaps don't feel right. Although I did find an anti-bacterial soap, Asepso, that has been pretty good.

I  really look forward to food that is unadulterated by sugar. Juices are often heavy on added sugars, although I did find a couple of brands (Malee and Tipco) that have no sugar added. Still though, you often find the over-sweet grape juice as a prime constituent. Juices and just about every other food product are so heavy in sugar they are almost undrinkable or inedible. For example, 7-11 has a good variety of refrigerated prepared foods. But the spaghetti and chicken in tomato sauce is sickeningly sweet. Thai people love sweetness. I once saw a Thai spoon six heaps of sugar into his morning noodle soup.

I look forward to becoming relaxed pedestrian in Canada. You do get used to walking in the Bangkok traffic chaos. But it will be nice to go back to far more orderly traffic back in Toronto where the sidewalks are mostly free of dangers and you don't need to constantly weave around obstacles, duck under low overheads and step up then down all the time.

I also am looking forward to the mental stimulation of work. Being on vacation this whole time, I depended on my blog writing to simulate the mental processors. That was fun and very engaging because I tried to keep track of the details of everyday life and activities of both foreigners and Thai people. In the process, I started to understand a little better the Thai culture and appreciate it more.

I will also welcome getting back to an English-speaking environment. Whether shopping or eating out or just being able to read all the signs, it will be a bit of a relief, frankly. I do like the Thai langauge, but I have so much to learn yet and look forward to when I can go beyond the simple language of meals, taxis and shopping. Unfortunately, there are no Thai language courses in Toronto. I hope to find a tutor and raise my game a little while back home.

 And last, I am really, really looking forward to getting on my 800 cc motorbike, a real motorbike, unlike the putt-putts of Thailand. When I get home, the first thing I will do after dropping the bags is visit the garage and gaze upon (and maybe even ride) my blue dual-sport bike.

Walking around in Thailand can be challenge to life and limb

That is a sidewalk. In Buriram city. I made it through!

[Update: another image added.]

Safety is not a big concern here in Thailand and there's proof everywhere you look.

I'm reminded of the Santika Club fire in Bangkok that killed more than 60 people and left scores injured. Newspapers and forums published allegations of a horrific safety violations.

But there are other seemingly mundane but no less dangerous  challenges to limb and life in the country.

Taking an escalator you have to be careful. If you extend your head outward to look at some cool view or helpful sign, you could get a good knock from a ceiling, support or underside of mechanical things. I've had to pull my head away suddenly as some shadowy thing started to enclose my visual periphery. Upon looking back, I could see that were no safety deflectors or warning stripes.

You also really need to keep your hands within the boundaries of the moving handrail. On some Skytrain escalators, I've nearly had my hand crushed in the metal crook of the next upward escalator. At Fortune Town IT Mall, one set of escalators has a pole right in the middle of the landing. I suppose it's meant to prevent people from taking carts down the moving stairs but if you don't see the unmarked pole, on a narrow escalator stair, you could injure your man parts or thigh muscles as you step forward and downward.

At other times, my fingers have caught support flanges or ridges on the bottom side of stairway handrails. Stepping downward, as you support your weight on your hands, you can wrench a finger.

In many stores, they pile up advertising signs and displays at stair landings, such that they narrow the landing. You can knock them over (if they're not held fast) if you are looking toward your target and not  paying attention to extensions around the signboards, such as an exclamatory finger or price come-on.

On store floors, you'll find ankle-level displays, stick-out displays at shoulder level, extra products simply left on the floor around the full shelf display, signs blocking vital information, store directories or emergency exits (or NO emergency exits); maintenance items half-blocking stairways or hallways; unmarked electrical cords crossing floorways; mall displays outside boutiques blocking  a third to a half of the pedestrian hallways; and in-store displays  that narrow major walkways that lead to exits.

At the modern, giant mall, Central World near Chit Lom, Bangkok, the emergency exit signs are so small and so close to the ceiling that you'd never see them in a real emergency. And they're green, not red as westerner would think.

The fabulous food court on the  floor below ground is laid out like a maze. It's complicated, crowded and completely unfathomable -- and that's while you're simply trying to find the Burger King or KFC. I can't imagine what would happen in a panic down there. I have vowed not to go back because it's always so crowded.

I've already described some of the things that stick out on the street, such as awning poles, sign poles, ragged edges of just about everything, vendor tables and chairs, on and on. It's a minefield and why you should walk slowly so you can weave, bob and duck in time.

Images: first two are from Phra Kanong district where flowers, clean water machines and parked cars (and an abandoned one) offer just a variety of hazards to the pedestrian or driver/rider. Next is stairway from crossover to Huay Kwang market, where vendors block half stairway with cold cases and sidewalks with tables. Last is stairway from Pahon Yotin MRT leading down to  entrance to Central Lat Prao mall in northern Bangkok. Vendors rule again. And finally, another typically crowded street near Rama 4 Road in Bangkok.