Category Archives: Words

It’s been almost five years since I came to Thailand and I’ve finally grown sick of it. The things I miss have become more important, and the things I used to find exotic or endearing I now find irritating. I want to buy a house, grow some vegetables and live somewhere clean.

I made a list of the things I was looking for in a city last summer and polled my friends. A few friends suggested Portland, Oregon. I remember loving Oregon while on the US cross country trip I took, so I gave it another try this summer and still loved it. So it’s final – I’m moving out there!

Here was my list, in case you’re interested:

Requirements for a City

• liberal, intelligent and worldly people
• green city
• bike friendly
• not too cold
• interesting music scene
• good beer
• inexpensive and fresh fruits & vegetables
• food people
• reasonable drug laws
• fast internet
• decent public transportation
• non-smoking city laws
• not super expensive
• friendly & happy people
• does not have to be large
• does not have to be English speaking

Now that I’ve decided I’m going to leave, things are a bit bittersweet. I have been eating at my favorite veggie restaurant daily, and trying to acquire all the recipes I can before I go. I’ve also been doing a lot of thinking about Thailand. I’ve been compiling a list of things I’ll miss and things I won’t miss. I’ll share that with you all too:

Things I’ll miss

• the rainy season
• the food
• orchids blooming everywhere
• how inexpensive some things are
• the beach and ocean
• soi animals
• my friends
• geckos: both jing jok and tookay
• vegetables & fruit
• thunderstorms and night rains
• big crazy tropical plants
• noisy birds
• Thai temples
• Thai trains
• artist kids
• night markets
• street food
• water gardens
• water taxis and klongs
• Suan Phai veggie restaurant
• the cleanliness of the bts, malls, houses
• Kanchanaburi
• night swims and phosphorescence
• Koh Samet
• $1 lunches
• dingy, delicious roadside country restaurants
• spices, herbs
• mango season
• elephants
• amazing clouds
• frogs
• cats with broken tails
• ginger, my apartment cat
• having so many international friends
• speaking Thai
• how nice people are

Things I won’t miss

• lack of good taste & style
• clackity high heeled shoes. everwhere
• the heat
• people staring at me
• “you speak Thai so well”
• lack of forethought and sense
• the politics
• the pollution
• plastic whistles
• skeevy taxi drivers
• Thai beer
• lack of sidewalks and difficulty walking
• lack of stuff to do other than shopping
• those scary garden ornaments
• lack of care for the environment
• mosquitoes
• sand flies
• dual pricing
• strict gender roles
• Thai music and the same fucking 5 songs over and over
• THE VOLUME OF EVERYTHING!!!
• crossing the road
• Thai walking speed and lack of spatial awareness
• taxis and motorbike taxis honking at me all the time
• people not getting out of the way for ambulances
• the Ministry of Culture deciding what websites I can and can’t look at
• corruption
• no screens on windows. hello, dengue?
• attack umbrellas at eye level
• hovering store clerks
• ditsy Chulalongkorn University accents
• loose sidewalk tiles in the rain
• traffic
• little pink napkins which disintegrate when wet
• wet stinky bathrooms
• kamikaze bus drivers
• fire ants
• commercials on the skytrain
• constant construction and the resulting dust
• sexpats

I love lists. And I’m excited about trading the heat for some rain.

I bought 6 antique pocket watch movements at the Zürich Sunday flea market about a month ago. One of which still had it’s casing which was completely covered in rust (see picture to the left). I bought it with intentions of making a necklace out of it. I realized that rust stains really well and will ruin my shirts so figured I should try to get it off.

Thanks to google, I found out that alka-seltzer will take off rust so I soaked the whole thing in it for a few days and used an old toothbrush to scrub it off. It all came off beautifully (pic on right). It unfortunately tarnished the brass movement inside, but if I can figure out how to get the movement out I can polish that back up no problem. Oh and bonus, now that the rust is gone the gears wind. So I may even be able to get the thing to run again!

Hey everyone!

This is the new version of 00ff00. I’ve combined diary.00ff00.com and the old 00ff00.com together, as well as added a bunch of new stuff. Let me know what you think!

We arrived in Southwick MA around 3am last night. Yesterday we went through London, Paris and Amsterdam (Ohio and New York). We’re currently driving to Mel and Anne’s house, after dropping off Katie. She seemed very happy to be home again, though not so excited about starting school next week.

We should be going home to NYC tomorrow. I’m excited for some real food again. Where should we eat first?

I’ll put some photos up when I get home and unpack everything.

The drive through Colorado was very beautiful. The mountains are huge, and being at that high of an elevation is exciting. It’s fun to drive to the top of a mountain and back down again. It’s also neat to be able to look over the side of the road and see a valley a half mile below!

Once we reached Denver our drive started to suck. See, Denver’s at the base of the Rockies, so once we got there, it was pretty much flat from there on. About an hour later we were in boring flat corn and wheat fields. That lasted until tonight.

We stopped somewhere in Kansas for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The owner was so freaked out by us asking for tea and chopsticks, that he asked us where we were from. It was strange, when I later asked him where he was from, he told me Washington. I pressed, recognizing the fact that he was speaking Mandarin to one of the employees. I said, “What part of Washington?” He replied with “Northern Washington, but not Seattle.” I said, “Oh, near Vancouver?” and he said, “Yes, in Vancouver.” I was so shocked that he was afraid to say that he lived in Canada, that I didn’t even bother to ask what part of China he was from. Yikes! What would make this nice family from China move there? I can’t imagine what prejudices they’ve had to put up with to be afraid to say where they were from.

Anyway, we got the heck out of there as quickly as possible and camped overnight about 30 minutes from the border between Kansas and Missouri. There were a million cool bugs at the campsite, ranging from huge cicadas, crazy spiders with round pill-like bodies, huge grasshoppers the size of my hand and a ton of other random bugs. We took outside showers amongst the bugs and went to sleep. I awoke at about 4am and saw a huge deer grazing a few feet away from the tent.

Today we drove and drove and drove. More corn and wheat and corn and wheat and corn and cows. Did I mention the corn?

We’re now in Illinois. Or is it Indiana? No, definitely Illinois. We should be home tomorrow or the next day. I’ll add more photos when I get home!

We arrived at Bryce Canyon about 3 hours before the sun went down, providing excellent light for photographs and viewing. Bryce is a really amazing place — huge pillars carved from stone, standing very close together. We checked out a few viewpoints and set up camp in the park for the night.

The next morning we hiked down about a mile into the canyon to get a better view. We took much needed showers (the desert dust just sticks to you) and then headed out towards Arches National Park.

Arches is pretty much the other side of the state, so we spent about 5 or 6 hours driving through ever changing desert wasteland. One hour we were on the moon, with pure white rock and sand dunes. The next was Mars, with orange and red rocks, cliffs and canyons. Later the ground was yellow and flat, with scrappy bushes and dead grass. It was a hot drive — the temperature was about 100 all day. It’s way too hot in the desert to mess with the air conditioner, so we used our natural cooling method and drank tons of water. We’ve been filling up our 3 gallon water jugs about once a day, and going through all that water. Imagine drinking a whole gallon of water a day and not going to the bathroom! That’s how hot and dry it is. Because you sweat so much, and it evaporates so quickly, your skin becomes very salty. You can taste it when you lick your lips.

We drove through Capitol Reef and Grand Escalante National Parks on the way to Arches. We saw some 1,000 (est) year old petroglyphs in Capitol Reef, which was pretty neat.

Thunderstorms are an entirely different thing out here in the desert. Well, first of all, since it rarely rains in the desert, when it does, the ground can’t absorb it quickly enough, and it runs off into the canyons and creates flash floods. We had to be very careful when exploring the canyons to watch the weather. Rain you say? Strangely enough, it’s rained every day so far in the desert. We must be very lucky. Or maybe it’s the super short rainy season.. I’m not sure. It’s defiantly made the desert more bearable. We look forward to the rainstorms, and try to catch up with them while driving. You can see them from miles and miles away because it’s so flat. I think the lack of humidity in the air also provides better visibility. Another thing which is different about the thunderstorms in the desert — there are no trees. You are the tallest thing around. So when a thunderstorm is near, there is a very good chance of getting struck by lightning. You have to stay in the car — no playing in the rain! It’s a bit scary to be out so vulnerable like that, watching lightning strike all around you.

We reached Arches about an hour before sunset, and did the 1.5 mile hike up to the Delicate Arch. That’s the famous arch which you may or may not have seen — it’s on most of the Utah license plates. The walk was cool — through a desert trail, then onto a huge rock, which must have been a mile long itself. At the top was the arch, bigger and more awesome than I had imagined. We waited there until it was almost pitch black, and walked back on the trail by starlight. The stars were the most impressive that we’ve seen so far. There was very little (no) light pollution, and the milky way was so bright. We were able to find a few constellations, and watch the heat lightning on the horizon. We laid on the car for a while watching the stars before driving to a campground to camp. We chose a nice shady spot to set up camp.

The next day we drove into Moab (mow-ab) to have some breakfast and ice cream. Around noon we left to drive more through the desert and into Colorado. We finally reached the mountains around 4:00 — and the temperature was much more reasonable — in the 80′s. We drove all the way into Aspen and had some dinner. We spent an hour or so walking around downtown, and then drove out and camped at the Maroon Bells. The Maroon Bells are some big mountains with a nice lake at the base. The lake was probably 40 degrees, and the temp outside was about 65. We made a fire for no good reason at all, other than entertainment. Then we went to sleep. It was a bit chilly!

We woke up this morning and it was probably 40 degrees out, for I could see my breath. We broke down camp and drove. We stopped at the continental divide, along Independence Pass, at elevation of 10,095 feet. We could see snow just around the corner. It was Tundra — too high and windy for trees to grow. Neat. I remember stopping there when I was younger with my brother. He used to live in Aspen.

We continued to Leadville and had lunch. I think this town has changed a lot since I’ve been here last. I remember it being a bit more ‘Wild West’ — now it’s more more ‘hippy’. I had a veggie burger while listening to the Grateful Dead loudly on the speakers.

We’re now driving East on rt. 70, almost in Denver. We will drive today until we get tired, probably stopping for the night in Kansas (yay, corn). We’re pretty much driving back straight from here to Massachusetts, nothing exciting left on the itinerary. I’ll post photos when I can.

We left Nevada, and drove to Arizona, then into Utah. We stopped at a small town, St. George, and had some Mexican food. We felt that we had entered Mormon country as soon as we got into the restaurant. Everyone was very friendly, cleanly dressed, and white. It seems like they spend more time on appearance than others… for they all seemed very well kept, and very few were overweight. The Mexican food we ate was excellent.

We continued on to Zion National Park, and set up camp there. We then hung out for the rest of the day in the canyon valley and then went to sleep. The next morning we took the park tour on the bus. Zion has started a bus service around the canyon, to lower the traffic and pollution, and it seems to be very efficient. We stopped at the last stop on the bus, and took a walk for a few miles up a trail and down the river, at the bottom of a narrow canyon. The trail itself was the river, and it was very interesting to walk down. There were many other people on the trail, and it was clear who has good balance and who doesn’t.

After Zion, we drove south to Arizona to see the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon has two viewing points, only 10 miles across from each other, but over 4 hours of driving distance between them. We’ve had different suggestions as to which is the best to view the canyon (about equal for both sides), but the guidebook’s mention of the North Rim’s 90% less visitors than the South’s, and the less driving was a good reason for us. We crossed the desert and into the mountains, with tons of Ponderosa Pines, and much much cooler. We reached the canyon around an hour before sunset, perfect for viewing. The light was beautiful, as the sun was setting, the colors changed and the tips of the peaks were glowing. We drove about 20 miles away to camp high up in the forest, where it was cold! (A welcome relief from the heat).

Today we spent the day checking out the Navajo reservation, and trying to see this tiny canyon called Antelope. Unfortunately, the Navajos wanted to charge us something like $60 to see the canyon, so we decided against going. It was too bad too, because I’ve seen some beautiful photos of that canyon, and really wanted to try my luck at getting a nice photograph. I did get to hear some Navajo language spoken, and that was very cool.

We left Arizona and are now back in Utah again. We’re driving north to Bryce Canyon now, with about 2 hours of light left.

We left Washington on the 10th, and drove to Portland, Oregon. Our friends Susank and Erik live there, and we stayed with them. They took us out for a yummy dinner and suggested a great breakfast place too. Portland is a nice city. It’s very green, and clean. The weather seems to be great, and the people were friendly.

We left the next day for the coast, and stopped in the forest on the way. I was very excited to see the super mossy bright green forests of the Pacific NW, and it was just as nice as expected. The forests there get enough rainfall to classify them as rainforests. The little spot that we stopped at was very lush and full of big ferns and moss. There was also a crystal clear river flowing through it.

We reached the coast, and spent the rest of the day on Cannon Beach. What a beatiful area! Huge rocks sticking out of the sea, with misty rainforest mountains behind you. It was just like Hawai’i, or Barbados, yet colder. Pippin and Katie went swimming in the water with all their clothes on, and I was stranded on the beach holding the cameras and cellphones! The water is much warmer than the Northern Atlantic.

We slept overnight at the beach, then drove down rt. 101 (the coastal highway) for a few hours, checking out the scenery. We then drove inland to check out Eugene. The guidebook mentioned that Eugene was a town where the residents have not yet realized that the 60s have passed.. We found that it was mainly annoying hippy kids asking for change — nothing radical there. We had lunch at a Thai restaurant who’s owner misses Thailand — I don’t blame her!

some hydrangea for my dad.

We left and drove south into California, and slept overnight about 1/4 of the way down the state, around Chico. We stayed in a state park campground. They had secret codes for the bathrooms, which they neglected to tell us. They started cutting down the grass at around 8:30am, a few feet from our tents, and they ran a super loud generator all night. Yuck.

The next day was spent driving and driving. We made it to Yosemite around dusk, and decided to brave the bears and camp overnight. All along we’ve been camping in “Bear Country”, but it hasn’t been a problem. We sometimes see various signs suggesting to keep your food in your car, etc, but nothing too stressful. When we entered the park we received strict instructions on bears, with graphic photos of bears sitting on cars! We met a friendly couple from South Carolina who showed us a place to set up camp, and shared the bear proof metal food box that the campground provided with us. (I think we essentially shared their space.) They told us how the night before a bear had visited them at camp three times, and had stolen their trail mix! They also showed us the hole it had torn into their bag looking for food. Needless to say, I slept a bit lightly! (Actually, I would have slept fine, but I was having a bit of elevation sickness, and was freezing — it was about 40 degrees out.)

We awoke to a beautiful forest, with super tall pines and large granite rocks. There was a tiny little stream which was nearby. We saw a deer, but the bear never showed up. I was looking forward to it too! We’re sad that we didn’t get to see a bear in either Yellowstone or Yosemite. Maybe in Colorado?

We drove to Mariposa Grove, where the Giant Sequoias are. These trees are BIG! We saw the “Grizzly Giant” — the largest tree in the park, which they estimate to be over 1,800 years old. We also got to walk through a tree. I found it interesting that the pine cones take 2-3 years just to grow, and can take anywhere between 20-30 years just to fall off a tree. Wow.

The rest of the day was spent driving through the park, over the mountains and into the desert. We reached Death Valley around nightfall. I sympathize with the emigrants who crossed this desert on covered wagons! I know now why it’s called Death Valley. It took us about 3 hours to cross it, and we went down to sea level from about 5,000 feet. The temperature rose and rose, the closer to the bottom. The peak temperature was 109F, at around 11:30pm! I’m glad we got there at night, I can’t imagine what it would be like around 1pm. The air was so hot and so dry. We left the vents on in the car (no A/C), and it actually felt like the heat was on, coming out of the vents. Same super dry heat. We opened the windows and the sunroof (nice stars!) and experimented with getting our hands wet and seeing how long it would take to dry. (less than 10 seconds.) We kept drinking water and went through more than a gallon in those three hours.

We kept driving past yucca mountain and area 51, and reached Las Vegas around midnight. We drove down the strip to show Katie, and tried to find a hotel. 2 hours later, disgusted with the place, we slept in the car about 50 miles away on an Indian Reservation, which is where we are now. They were very friendly to us too. Las Vegas is disgusting, and I am reminded why I hate the place so much. Please remind me to never go there again.

Today we will see the Grand Canyon. I can’t wait! I will add some photos soon. Hope everyone survived the blackout!