Sanitarium Trip: There is no way to explain it, really.

I'm currently on a one month Sanitarium Trip in Korea. I have shocked my family and friends, so please allow me to attempt a brief explanation. I live in Thailand, where it is hot or extremely hot year-round. It is also humid or extremely humid much of the year. There is also plenty of air pollution, especially for me in the form of diesel fumes. Overall, Thailand is a wonderful country, but the weather and the diesel fumes are not part of that wonder. Well... Maybe the weather is part of the wonder. If so, it proves the maxim that too much of a good thing can be bad.

I can do hot and humid weather. I grew up in 18 hears of hot and sticky Ohio River summers. I did 11 years of oppressive rainy seasons in Korea. I can handle this weather for two or three months.

Thailand is different. Near the equator, the sun is not your friend, but rather it's like being inside a large microwave oven. You have to hide yourself from the sun--always. The heat is relentless, with little to no relief at night. In the lengthy rainy season, the question is: How many showers today? Three or four on a slow day, and up to four or five per day when you try to be active. (Hyperbole warning: Actual numbers are less.) There is no relief whatsoever for most of the year, with the exception being October through February, when conditions change from intolerable to tolerable for nearly four blessed months.

It was the Covid Years when I made my deal with the devil. I went to him, and I said: "Devil. I got this hypothyroid thing going on, and my hands and feet are always cold. I mean, when other people are out in T-shirts, I'm dressed for a winter trip to the Sierra Mountains. I just get cold." The devil, he looked at me with what seemed like just the hint of a sly grin, and he replied simply: "Deal done." That was it. That was when I made my deal with the devil to never be cold again. 

To his credit, the devil has kept his end of the bargain. Since I got to Thailand, I have never once been cold. You might even say that the devil under-promised and over-delivered. When I go swimming, it's like being in a warm bathtub. Touch any metal object exposed to the full sun all day and you'll burn your hand. Chocolate? Thailand can fix your sweet tooth. Imagine being hot and sweaty and treating yourself to a liquid mess of what once was a chocolate bar. Good riddance to chocolate, anyway. 

In the end, all the above descriptions of Southeast Asia's hot weather are destined to fail. It cannot be described, only experienced. For me, I got there in December, enjoyed a couple months of tolerable weather, and then held on until mid-August, when I simply couldn't take it anymore. As they say in mixed martial arts bouts, I tapped out. 

I tapped out of the hot and sticky rainy season for a month. When I go back to Thailand in late September, we'll be almost to tolerable weather, and life will be good again. The biggest problem for me is being locked inside by the heat. I can take it for a few months, but this year, my first year, I couldn't take it for the full eight months. Other people can. City slickers who don't mind being locked indoors all the time are fine. The Thai people can take it. Forged in the fire, they are incredibly tough. But for nature boys and girls, the people who have to be outside a lot, I don't know. Even if you could do it, the question would remain: Why would you do it if you didn't absolutely have to?

The Much-Beloved Fat Dog Syndrome

Veterinarians often write of the Much-Beloved Fat Dog Syndrome. These are cases where people love their dogs (and cats) so much that they feed them nearly to death. You have seen these fat dogs just like I have. You know as I do how very much these owners love their dogs (and cats).

But did you know that the Fat Dog Syndrome applies to humans as well? I know a guy who lives in a country where eating delicious food all day long is a national pastime. His partner loves him, and she feeds him all kinds of delicious foods all the time. I mean all the time. And I mean large amounts. I mean to the point that when he stops to think about it, he says he feels like The Fatted Calf. He's not complaining, mind you. Indeed, he is grateful for having someone who loves him. But still... There is a line. On one side is eating, and on the other side is gluttony and its associated obesity. To be clear, there is only one person he blames for his overeating, for following a clear path to an early death: himself.

The fat dogs (and cats) you see are going to die early. Their owner's love is, unfortunately, a sentence to an early death. Granted, these dogs may enjoy their eating greatly, but might they not also have greatly enjoyed being athletic, running and playing at their optimum physical condition? Ask the dogs, and they'll give you whatever answer you want to hear. Dogs are so agreeable. Ask my friend in another country, and he'll give you whatever answer you want to hear. Born in the Year of the Dog (1958), he is so agreeable.

Let's play ball? Nah. Maybe next time...

Mission accomplished: Healthy food scored.

It cost me at least five kilometers of walking and some time, which I have in abundance. But the mission was accomplished. I finally scored some healthy food. If you know anything about me, you know that I am too stupid and too stubborn to give up--even when it's the most reasonable course of action. It could have been sixteen kilometers and the whole day. I guess I got lucky.

Note that my failure to buy a Maggi-like sauce for the eggs was a deliberate, albeit now-regrettable choice due to backpack weight limitations. Not having any salt and pepper packets in my backpack, however, is a crime against travel planning. That wonderful lightweight item should be on every packing checklist.

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P.S. The bananas were not tasty at all. I have been spoiled by a variety of fresh, delicious bananas in Thailand, often purchased at fresh fruit markets.

First time in the pool at the new housing complex

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Sunset at the new housing complex

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Plastic Horseman

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A day in the village

We went up to the village the other day. It was still cloudy with a bit of light rain, and cool enough to go for a short walk. It's quite beautiful there. Always has been.

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First rainbow at the new house

As usual, photos taken by me don't do it justice, but here's the first rainbow at the new house. Lots of rain today. Flooding there will be. But we won't leave the house until the roads are mostly clear. There are some very good things about being retired.

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I hope Cactus Jon is proud of me.

We were moving stuff out of the old house when I spotted the snake on the garage door step. At some point, I realized that the snake wanted to move, but it could not. The lower part of its body was stuck to some adhesive left behind from tape used to fasten down a now-removed extension cord. In order to figure all this out, I had to get closer to the snake. The snake did not approve of my closeness. It took a striking pose and stuck its forked tongue out at me. That's what snakes do when threatened. Fair enough.

How to get the snake free? I mean, I couldn't just leave it stuck there to die. I grabbed a kind of shovel with a meter-plus handle. The goal was to scrape the adhesive from the concrete without damaging the snake. I believe I was quite successful. The shovel stayed under the adhesive.

Upon removing the adhesive, I got the snake on the shovel blade. I took it over to an empty house's overgrown yard, where I thought the snake would slither right off into the grass. But slither off it could not because the adhesive was still snuck to the snake and now to the shovel blade as well. But with just a bit of shaking and some helpful thrashing by the snake, free at last it was, and it quite eagerly disappeared into the tall grass. I admit that there may have been a small amount of adhesive still stuck to the snake, but I expect it to wear off quickly, kind of like the way glue and paint and such wears off your fingers after a while.

Poisonous, deadly snake? Possibly. Or it could have been completely harmless to humans. At any rate, it eats critters, which are myriad and diverse here. I am not about to upset the natural balance. Go in peace, snake. I don't regret reading D.H. Lawrence's "Snake" poem. And there's always the possibility of being reincarnated as a snake. Something to consider. I'm just saying. But most of all, there's that good old nature boy, Cactus Jon. I hope you're proud of me.

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You don't just move in. You have to ทัมบุญ / tambun the new house.

So we moved out of one house into another house. But you can't just move in. Oh, no. First, you must ทัมบุญ / tambun the new house. And so we all did on Sunday 20220724-1019. Some photos below:

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