rice noodles: December 2006

we found a house! it took a while, mostly because we were both pretty sick for the better part of the last 2 weeks, but we're better now and we are set to move into a beautiful 2 bedroom house just outside the old city. we'll be staying here, (in chiang mai), for the next 2 months--maybe longer depending on the new thai visa situation, (they are much more strict about how much time foreigners can stay on free visas--it used to be pretty indefinate, provided you made a border run to burma, malaysia, laos, or cambodia once every 90 days--now it's much more tricky, they only issue a free 30 day visa, and only 3 of them for any 6 month period, and for anything longer than that you have to leave the country and apply at an embassy and pay lots of money... it's confusing for us too).
the house has a coconut tree in the front yard, bamboo walls, lots of open air, and an outdoor kitchen. it's pretty awesome. we can't move in until the 8th of january, so we're thinking about renting a motorbike and just taking off for a week to explore the northern region....

i was right about the outfits! (see dog review #3) i went by a few days ago and she was dressed in a red and blue sailor suit! amazing grace!

merry christmas from g and e

DOG REVIEW!!! by genevieve
this small dog lives in chiang mai--i'm not sure what her name is, but she's fat! her owner, a nice woman who runs a small restaurant and cooking school says to us, "pum pui! she eat too much!!" it's true, she does eat too much, and because of this she moves around like a beetle, scrambling about on semi-useless little legs.
her owner says, "she like baby!!! eat too much!" they sleep in the same bed, every night, and i imagine them sharing dinner by candle-light....

DOG REVIEW #3!!!!!!!!!!!

chiang mai is in the north of thailand, and it gets cold here this time of year--sometimes down to 60 degrees! brrrrr!!! so all of the thoughtful and concerned dog owners of chiang mai dress their pet dogs up in little warming outfits--sometimes they get blankets too.... it's funny to think of the poor wretched street dogs of moscow--scrounging out a living in the bitter cold of the russian winter, ala "heart of a dog", meanwhile the domestic dogs of chiang mai never feel the bitter nip of 65 degrees.

you get the feeling it isn't the only outfit in her closet

check out the sharp number she's got going on, shirt-sleeves, a sweater vest, and some nice jewelery....

i give this dog a 10 out of a possible score of 10, even though she is fat and spoiled. she is still completely amazing and squeezable in every way. actually, she's mesmerizing.

sleepercar--leaving malaysia emerson and i spent 3 nights on the train travelling from kuala lumpur to chiang mai thailand.

northbound....

fish from the aquarium in our guesthouse lobby--kuala lumpur malaysia

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the first night in kuala lumpur was spent in "rasta bar". this is the owner. he bought etta and i crappy drinks and tried to convince us to become herbalife representatives. there was nothing "rasta" about rasta bar. as far as reggae music goes, they seemed to have one bob marley record--which got minimum play. when we asked him why he opened a "rasta" bar he was at least honest--he said it was because backpackers like that sort of thing. we got the distinct impression that the owner and employees at rasta bar actually hate reggae, and all things "rasta".