Typical evening at the Anderson’s…Mam and I are upstairs in our bedroom watching T.V. Suddenly we hear a loud noise on our roof. Our roof is corrugated steel so even the slightest stimulus causes a loud sound.

Over the years, both of us have heard all sorts of things on the roof. We’re surrounded by a thick jungle of fruit trees, Sataw trees (very tall trees that produce a popular, edible stink bean), and Mangda trees (popular with Thai’s for their edible leaves).

Some evenings it’s rats. Other times a “widow maker” falls from high above, crashing loudly on the roof and jolting us awake or causing us to jump if we’re quietly watching T.V.

In the early evening and early morning, we hear the scritch, scritch, scritch of teacher birds on our roof. I nicknamed them "teacher birds," since one of their many, varied calls sounds just like they’re saying, “Teacher, teacher, teacher.” Upon looking them up in our well-worn “bird book “sitting on our dining room table, we’ve found that “Teacher birds” are what is known as the “Common Mynah,” here in Southeast Asia.

There are hordes of teacher birds all over the place. Similar to blue jays in the Northeastern U.S.

The sound we heard this particular night was different though. It was definitely an animal, but different than we had heard in the past.

“It’s a bird I think,” uttered Mam, both of us looking up at the ceiling as if we could somehow see through to what was causing the commotion.

“Nope. Too loud and too heavy for a bird,” I said.

“A rat?”

“If that’s a rat, we’re in trouble. That would be the biggest rat I’ve ever seen. It’s heavier than that. Listen…hear how heavy?” Mam turned the volume down on the T.V. and listened as it was actively scurrying across the roof and back again, nodding in agreement.

Then the noise stopped for a while.

Mam and I both were still riveted by the new sound though, so we both were lying in bed silent, waiting.

Three minutes passed…five minutes….nothing.

Mam looked at me and I at her, we both shrugged, and Mam turned the volume up on the T.V. when suddenly it happened again.

A loud scurrying across the roof. Something quite heavy scurried quickly across the roof to the opposite side. If I weren’t in Thailand I’d swear it was a raccoon.

Mam and I got out of bed and went into the adjacent room. Again, looking up at the ceiling we pinpointed approximately where it was, picked up a broom and poked the ceiling underneath the sound with the broom handle.

Nothing…Silence.

Things were quiet for some time and we finally turned off the T.V., settling in for the night. No sooner had we drifted off to sleep when suddenly we were jolted awake with another burst of activity on the roof.

Thinking what to do, I figured my only recourse was to go outside with a flashlight and climb the ladder leading up to our water tower…

We’ve got this huge water tower beside the house, which is approximately twenty feet (6.09 meters) high. The thing holds nine-100 gallon blue plastic barrels of water our landlady uses to irrigate the fruit trees during our dry season.

…to see if I could get a good vantage point in which to spot whatever it was on our roof.

I was as silent as I possibly could be. Eventually I reached a height where I had a fairly good view of the south-side of our roof. Positioning myself, I hooked my leg through one of the ladders rungs and hung myself outward, training the flashlight onto the roof.

There, on the lower back corner, was something that at first looked like a takraw ball, a small plastic ball of weaved plastic used to play “takraw” a game like volleyball, but only using one’s feet.

Then the ball moved.

“What is it?” Mam shouted up to me. “Damn-est thing I’ve ever seen,” I uttered.

Finally things began falling into place. I suddenly remembered seeing a picture of this thing somewhere…

And here it is…..


To a Texan like me, my first thought was, “Well I’ll be damned! An armadillo!” Having seen many armadillo’s in Southwest Texas, most of them road-kill though.

Then suddenly it moved. The thing unraveled, got up and in a sort of dragging motion, scurried across the roof to the other side. I quickly descended the water tower ladder and went to the opposite side of the house to see if I could find it, only to discover the animal had disappeared. Most likely it had climbed onto one of the many trees that brush the side of our house, coming into contact with the roof.

After searching the tops of the trees adjacent to the roof, shining the flashlight around to see if I could spot the animal again, I finally gave up and went into the house. Upstairs I had a box of newspaper articles I had clipped and saved, remembering an article I had cut out about the very same animal, which had been found hidden in a trucks cargo hold as the driver tried to cross the border, smuggling several live animals into Cambodia.

Finding the article I didn’t have to read much of it before I came to the name…Pangolin. Quickly scanning the article, it told of the animal being critically endangered, a delicacy in many Asian countries, primarily China, and commanding a hefty price on the black market since it was becoming scarce.

Then I turned to the Internet. A couple of quick Google searches and I was an amateur expert on the thing.



As it turns out, this heavily scaled animal is not related to either an armadillo, or an anteater, two animals it is often confused with. This thing on our roof was in fact, not related to any other animal at all, it’s species being fully unique.

The Pangolin has no teeth, and strikingly similar to an anteater, has an extremely long, sticky tongue used exclusively for reaching into termite mounds and ant nests to lick out its prey.

The Pangolin’s scales are somewhat different than an armadillo, in that they are razor sharp and if handled incorrectly will inflict severe, deep razor-like wounds.

It also has the capability to emit quite a noxious odor if provoked, leading one to understand that this animal is more than adequately equipped to protect itself. How ironic it’s most dangerous predator is man.

One entry on a Pangolin website said this:

“Should you ever spot one of these animals in the wild count yourself extremely fortunate as they are endangered and very rarely seen. If you are lucky enough, your view might be of it rolled in a tight ball; this is one of its main defense mechanisms.”

Well, I certainly do feel fortunate! But I do wish it would pick somebody else’s roof!


Just scanning the area around our home, you can easily see why a Pangolin would choose this area to live. Scattered throughout the area are several huge termite mounds popping up here and there among the various fruit trees and thick jungle vegetation.

For more information about this rather interesting, highly endangered animal, take a look here, or here, or here.

-Jeeem-

Hey Gang!

Got some ideas brewing here! Please tell me what you think.

I’ve been considering making this blog a collaborative work in progress.

This means I (as current administrator / author) authorize all of you authoring rights and anyone can post on this blog at any time about anything.

Kinda like we’re all at a small party, slightly tipsy, and mulling around chatting with one another…

What do you think?

Please either e-mail me your ideas, or leave comments on the site.

Thanks, the Jeeemeister

Hi folks,

The picture above has absolutely no bearing on the subject at hand, but it did come up in a Google Image search for “BUSY.” 

I figured I’d add it since it’s most definitely an attention getter if nothing else…heh, heh, heh...(Hi Bob!)

 

I really haven’t had the time to do much updating on this blog for one particular reason…

I’ve had a difficult time the past few months at school, having to deal with the new classroom assistant the school assigned to me, named Somkid…or as I have nicknamed her, “Somkid the Slug.” No doubt, one of the most lazy, stupid women I’ve ever met in my life.

 

Although I told the school before signing my last contract, “Please, please give me a good assistant. One, who speaks fairly good English, won’t talk on their damned cell phone during class, and who has a fairly good attention to detail.”  What I got was almost the exact opposite.

Without going into too much sordid detail, I began complaining about Somkid several months ago but naturally my complaints fell to deaf ears. Nothing was done other than someone telling her to please try to get along with me. 

The problems got worse and like many things in Thai society, were never dealt with until finally coming to a head, with my giving the school an ultimatum….”Either you get me another assistant or I’m gone.”   Yet another time in my life when I throw all caution to the wind and bet on my own odds.

Now Somkid is gone.  My own odds once again won out...

That, in and of itself, is a good thing.  But, (there’s always a butt) the school told me they could not furnish me with a new assistant, so I’d have to either learn to work with Somkid, or work alone.

I chose to work alone.

I cited that with Somkid in the classroom, she was never an asset of any sort, but yet a burden.

 

So now I’m working alone in my classroom with only the help of the “so-called” Thai English teachers, which is a stretch to say the least in calling them English teachers.   Even the term teacher is a stretch.  Most are excessively lazy or don’t speak even a lick of English…

The Thai educational system….what a farce!

Now my workload is heavy, but not so much I can't handle it.   I’m just very, very busy lately and have to bring my work home with me, something I swore I’d never, ever, do again after working in corrections some seven years ago.

 

But hey, vacation time (approximately one month of a semester break) is fast approaching and already I’m designing a streamlined method for tackling the extra work I have now, and lining things up so I can still deliver quality lessons and easily stay on top of things. 

-Jeeem-

If you're reading this, you're one of the chosen few whom I trust and whose friendship I value.

As most of you know, I've been tossing around the idea of going private with my blog for some time now. It was a tough decision struggling with my ego of getting a bunch of hits on my site and finally breaking the 20,000 hit mark, or deciding to go private and rid myself of some of the stalkers and weirdo's who were following my postings.

Another reason for going private is the rash of arrests and subsequent incarceration of individuals like me who choose to blog the truth. Governments here in Southeast Asia tend to get upset when the general public utilize the media to write about the truth, so they've begun arresting the offenders under the guise of said individuals being a threat to national security or some such bullshit.

Laws in Thailand, Malaysia, and other Southeast Asian countries are often archaic and set up to protect the government, not the people. But from what I've read in the newspapers and online, the general public is no longer taking these injustices in stride. Now they are speaking out against these harsh, antiquated edicts, and in many cases, pressuring the governments to either release those individuals in question or change their passé rulings.

It is said Westerners are more concerned with privacy issues than in other parts of the world.

Perhaps, but I've noticed many Asians simply have a different concept or definition of privacy, than Westerners.

An example is seeing Thai women bathing outside. They sidle up to a communal water barrel wearing a wrap-around sarong and manage to bathe in the thing without exposing any more flesh than is absolutely necessary. Or they hold one's hand up in front of the mouth to hide picking their teeth after a meal. Just a couple of things that immediately pop into my head.

Thai's are pretty universal about these things, but in direct contrast, they don't think anything of walking right onto your land to pick a flower, take a piss, check out something they are interested in, hang their birdcage on your electric line, or drive their motorcycle into your driveway to park it while attending an event nearby, all without ever asking permission.

Gossip is rampant in Thailand. Even more so than what I witnessed while living in China.

A FARANG (the disgusting noun Thai's use in a spiteful manner to indicate a foreigner) like me cannot leave the house, go into town, visit the local pharmacy for some antibiotics, and go back home without the whole village knowing about it within a few hours.

"The farang is sick!" transmitted in Thai through mobile phones, SMS messages, and word-of-mouth within minutes of the event.

Jesus! Get a feaking life why don't cha?

Even though I've had a few run-in's with Thai's due to privacy issues, their lack of appreciation for our culture's version of privacy doesn't hold a candle to the underhanded, evil deeds other nutso foreigner's pull against their own.

So, here we are! All private, snuggly, comfy and forming a nice little friendly community!

So without further ado....I'd like to welcome:

• The Skelchy sisters, Annie and Simone from in and around Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Annie is an accomplished writer, story teller and philosophical thinker, who speaks at least five...seven? languages, while her sister Simone is a truly wonderful, modest, engaging individual with an extremely interesting job that I hope she'll tell us about in a future posting).
• Chris Allen, (a.k.a. Mysterioso) from Belfast, Northern Ireland, is a sensitive, talented musician and one of the most intelligent, talented individuals I know.
• Jenni Kossack from Michigan, USA...crazy, berserk, beautiful, extraordinary, my sexy love muffin! She says it like it is and isn't the least bit afraid to do so. She's bold, brash, and turning over a new leaf in life recently. A cartoonist with an edge, her humor is exactly as I like it....In your face...down and dirty....and RUDE!
• Mr. Robert Watson and his wife Diane from Tilton, New Hampshire...an old, seasoned friend of mine and former fishing buddy. Bob and I used to work together, and we've seen each other go through many different phases of life. His life experiences are such that most people wouldn't want to ever have to experience, but which has no doubt strengthened him in ways I cannot possibly describe. While Diane calls a spade a spade, Bob is the laid back member of the family, chosing to pause and observe, saving his opinions for later, well thought out and often sarcastically accurate.

That's the score for now folks. Possibly more people to be added in the near or distant future.

But, I can promise you this....

I've got a lot of plans up my sleeve, like interviews with my followers, the addition of collaborative works by my blog members, short stories for submission and review, comments, and many links to more exciting blog links.

I hope you all will enjoy this experience and stick with me through the easy and the tough times!

Hail to you all!

-Jeeem-

Usually our tiny, obscure village is pretty quiet and nondescript.

Villagers lounge about, wash clothes by hand, visit neighbors, swim at the local river bridge, listen to their caged red whiskered Bulbuls, play takraw, dote after their babies, or snack on locally prepared morsels sold roadside.

Occasionally however, we get some real form of excitement around here that brings people out of the woodwork.

Very recently, that was the case when Mam was driving by on her motorcycle and saw a small crowd of villagers standing about, hunched over something near the road. She stopped to investigate and was horrified (she doesn’t like snakes) to see the largest snake she’d ever witnessed in the flesh.

She came zipping home shouting, “Where’s the camera?” Adding, “You have to come see this!” We grabbed the camera and headed down the road to Teem’s house, the woman who’s father died last summer.

“My son found it.” Teem said, pointing to a wet area near their outhouse where her son had discovered the snake, which appeared to be after their chickens. Within minutes, the area was crawling with villagers, many of them suddenly becoming ‘snake experts,’ giving advice on what to do and how to handle this monstrosity.

I watched the scene unfold as one brave soul approached the snake, which I identified as most likely a reticulated python (Although I’m certainly not an authority on snakes but can Google at blinding speed) and lassoed the snake with a blue electrical wire. My guess was the snake would have stretched out to be at least 15 feet (4.5 meters) long, most likely a conservative estimate.

The villagers drug the snake out to the empty lot across from Teem’s house, an area where ironically, several snakes including large poisonous cobras, had been found in the past.

After the snake was bound by the cord, somebody in the small mob suggested they kill it and eat it, which is precisely what they did, although I didn’t stick around for the gruesome details. They all seemed very upbeat, and Mam said they were proud that they had successfully captured it and had stated, “That’s the end of the killer snake!”

At least until I opened my big mouth and exclaimed, “Where there’s one snake, there’s more!” Seemingly bursting their happy little bubble.

I had to admit that although I’d seen snakes this large and larger before, I’d never seen one in the wild and was a bit unnerved by the fact a fifteen foot python was roaming around in our village. This snake could easily kill a small child, so I suppose that fact alone could justify the killing, although I wish they would have given it to the authorities, as perhaps a beautiful snake like this could have found a place at the Bangkok Snake Farm, or in a zoo somewhere in the country.

-Jeeem-

Today is the ninth straight day that I’ve been free of symptoms of Chikungunya fever.

I was a bit worried, as some people in our village have reported that the virus has been lingering for up to three or more months.  Luckily, that isn’t the case with me.  Mam, however, says she still has some ankle pain from time to time, but it’s not something that is incapacitating, just annoying.

Alas, all is not rosy in Jeeem’s life. 

Over the past two weeks I’ve missed a total of three days of work due to severe stomach cramps.  Last week I began passing coffee ground material (old blood) and shortly thereafter the stomach cramps started. The first day I didn’t go to the clinic, I just stayed at home and in bed.  But, the second day the cramps worsened and I was no longer passing old blood, but instead this yellow, watery liquid with a yellow mucous substance. (Yummy huh?)

I broke down and went to see the doctor, mainly due to my school requiring a doctor’s slip if an employee misses two or more days of work.  But, I was glad I did since he told me the pills I had been taking for the Chikungunya virus quite literally ate a hole in my stomach, causing the bleeding and then what compounded the whole shebang was Mam’s trip to Ban Khuag Niang, our adjoining village, to purchase some locally prepared delicacy which I ended up sampling.

The food was obviously tainted, which is a relatively common occurrence here in Thailand, and my stomach ulcer became infected with bacteria.  Not a good scenario, but I’m better now after having to take about a gazillion pills before and after every meal.

At last count, according to the Bangkok Post newspaper, it is reported that well over 32,000 people have been infected with the Chikungunya virus here in southern Thailand.

It is a terrible malady indeed.

-Jeeem-

Okay, now it is official.  I am presently infected with the Chikungunya virus.  

While Mam is in her last days of recovery from Chikungunya, I went home from school last Thursday complaining of increasing pain in my left wrist.  The pain became so bad that eventually I could not use my left hand.  At first I wondered if I had somehow hurt my wrist by hitting it or putting it in a compromising position, but I couldn't think of anything I'd done to hurt my wrist so bad.  

Eventually I began to notice that "all over achy feeling" like when you are coming down with the flu, except as the feeling progressed, all my joints began to ache, signaling I had been infected with the Chikungunya virus.  Mam and I live deep in the forest, where it is virtually impossible to avoid mosquito bites unless you walk around in a space suit.  

Thursday evening I spiked a fever and woke up shivering.  By Friday morning I could barely walk, my joints in my body sore and swollen.  I managed to get through the day at school and once I got home Friday afternoon, I was a wreck.  Luckily for me, Mam had overheard a woman at the local pharmacy complaining of having aching joints from the Chikungunya virus, noting the pharmacist gave her some special pills.  So Mam went to the pharmacy and asked the pharmacist what pills might help me, and they gave her two packages.  

One pill was a big, square, purple pill called Nabesac containing 500 milligrams of Paracetamol (same as Tylenol) and 35 mg. of Orphenadrine citrate.  The other pill was a small, round, yellow pill called Sefnac 50 containing 50 mg. of Diclofenac Sodium.  The most important thing is they worked.  I went from barely being able to walk to almost no pain or ache at all.  I have to take them every four hours along with Paracetamol (Tylenol or Acetaminophen) and some Tramadol pills I used to use for pain in my left lower leg after having surgery last year.  

As I mentioned in one of my recent posts, the symptoms of Chikungunya are severe joint pain, nausea, headache, high fever, rash and itching.  I have had all those symptoms except for the headaches, whereas Mam had all the symptoms except for the fever.  

I sure hope I get over this quickly, as it is a miserable disease.  I'll keep you posted as to my recovery process.

-Jeeem-

I'm the sort of guy who hates change.

One of my favorite sayings is, "If it works, don't fix it!"  When at an ethnic restaurant, I am often reluctant to order something new, sticking with the same old, same old and only occasionally sampling new cuisine.  If my employer makes too many drastic changes in my workday, I quit.  

I'm a creature of habit...big time.  

Contrary to everything I've just said, I've been thinking of changing my blog site template for many months now, but I was always a bit hesitant since I knew I'd lose many of the tweaks I've spent time and a lot of effort creating on my old blog template.  

Well, today I've taken the plunge!  

I hope you all like the new look, but just as I figured, I've lost many of the items that used to be present on the old template and I'm currently trying to figure out how to replace them in my new template.  It's not an easy task and I'm going about it in a rather blind sort of way since all the fact sheets and instructional guides are too difficult for me to understand.  So I hope you all will be patient with me through the next few months as I take some blind stabs at tweaking this new look.  

I've lost all the old comments from my old template, so I've updated my comment section to the newest format on the Haloscan site, which is now called JS-Kit. 

 

The main reason for my template change is the acquisition of Blogger.com by Google, causing a number of integration issues.  Let's just hope Google will get their ideas of change off their chest, and adopt my "If it works, don't fix it," method.  

-Jeeem-

I recently returned from Penang, Malaysia where I visited the Royal Thai Consulate for my second non-immigrant B visa.
 

I quit working for the Stairway English teaching agency and was hired privately by the school where I’ve been teaching for the past four years.  My school was sorely unprepared for the daunting task of preparing visa renewal paperwork for the foreigners working for them, dragging their heels for too long and causing my visa to expire.  I told them all along what they would have to do, but typically they didn’t listen and tried to do things their way, which didn’t work.  I suppose this is a pride issue with Thai's not accepting suggestions or help from a foreigner.

So, on Sunday the 3^rd of May, I headed for the border in a rented minivan bound for Penang, Malaysia and the Royal Thai consulate.  Giving Mam a hug, kiss and wave goodbye I zoomed out of town around ten o’clock in the morning.  Like most minivan drivers in Thailand, ours was an absolute maniac on the road arriving at the border a mere thirty minutes later.  I've often said that if I die in Thailand, it's going to be from an accident on a motorcycle taxi, a songtheaw, a bus or a minivan.  They all have no idea what it is like to drive safely. 

Everything would have gone well had I not overstayed my visa for three days.  I was pointed in the direction of the immigration checkpoint office on the Thai side of the border and made to wait while they prepared the paperwork for my overstay penalty of one thousand five hundred baht ($43.37 U.S.).

The minivan driver was pretty peeved at me for holding us up, but managed to bribe an official to put me at the head of the line after I paid my fine.  Soon we were off to the Malaysian checkpoint side, which is virtually across the street.  No holdups here, just a lot of people for a Sunday afternoon.
 

Once back on the road it was just a brief matter of time for the drive to Butterworth, Malaysia to cross either by ferry or use the bridge to get to Penang Island.  I was hoping our driver would take the ferry so I could get some nice pictures, but he took the bridge option instead.  We reached Chulia Street in Georgetown by 2:30 in the afternoon and I checked into my hotel by 2:45.  Then I suddenly realized there was a time difference between Malaysia and Thailand, but couldn’t remember if I’d gained an hour or lost one.  Eventually I figured out I’d gained an hour.

Almost everything was closed, which is much different than Thailand on a Sunday.  I walked down every street in close proximity to my hotel, looking for a money changer and found plenty but all were closed except for an old man advertising money changing from a tiny sign set out on a table, tucked inside an alleyway along side some food stalls.  I got royally ripped off, paying out six thousand baht ($173.50 U.S.) and only getting four hundred and ninety ringgit ($137.53 U.S.) in return.  I really didn’t have much choice but to take it if I wanted to eat that evening, so I took it with a grumble.

This is the view I had from my hotel window, which faced out on the front façade of the hotel.  I was pleased to get this room not only for the excellent view, but because the last time I was in Penang, they put me in a room facing the rear of the hotel where I was exposed to loud speakers blasting out prayer from the local mosque.
 

I did things a bit differently this time around, choosing to use the services of a visa agent and possibly pay a bit more rather than have to travel to the Royal Thai consulate myself and deal with filling out the necessary paperwork, standing in queue, and having to take a taxi there and back.  I’d done some research online and found many people saying it was a much better deal if you figured in the price of the taxi and the promise you’re almost guaranteed you’ll get your visa hassle free.

The agent’s fee was only twenty ringgit (200 baht or $5.61 U.S.), which is certainly the way to go when you figure a taxi is about twenty-four ringgit (240 baht or $6.73 U.S.) to and from the consulate and you have to go to the consulate twice, to deliver your paperwork and to pick up your passport and visa the next afternoon for a total of forty-eight ringgit ($13.47 U.S.).  Definitely a much better deal!

This is a picture of Jim’s Place, the visa agent I hired.  Jim Tachinamurthy runs the place and is a very pleasant, helpful, interesting man with a lot of character.  After traveling to and from Southeast Asia and China, and living in both China and Thailand for several years, I don’t trust easily, but Jim is the type of person I felt I could trust right off the bat. He just has a way with people that I’m sure he isn’t even aware of possessing.  He is truly kind and considerate of his customers, and goes out of his way to ensure everything goes well for them.
  

On Monday morning, after a terrible breakfast at the 78 Kafé across the street from my hotel, I ventured out to Chulia Street, the main drag in Georgetown regarding services for foreigners such as bars, pubs, liquor stores, restaurants, guest houses, hotels, visa agents, bookstores, etcetera.  After meeting Jim and handing all my visa paperwork over to him, he suddenly turned to me and said, “Are you aware that tomorrow is a holiday?”

“Huh?” I said, my heart sinking as I reached for my wallet to check on how much money I had to work with.

“Yes, tomorrow is a holiday, so you won’t be able to pick up your passport until Wednesday afternoon.”

“Oh crap!  I don’t think I’ve got enough money for an extra night at the hotel!”  I said, searching my brain for what to do.

“Do you know anybody who can send you some money?”

“Yes, well…my wife, but where would she send it?”

“Well, she could wire the money to a local bank...”

And so the conversation went…with Jim finally using his own mobile phone to call Mam and arrange for her to wire money directly into his Maybank account, which I thought was pretty generous.  But, after the initial panic began to subside, I delved back into my wallet and began to count my pennies, eventually figuring out I had just enough for one more night at the hotel, my visa fees, agent fee, the van ride back to Thailand and some loose change on which to eat.  So rather than risk getting Mam flustered, I chose to try and wing it on my own.

I called Mam back and apologized for having stirred her up in my initial panic, telling her to forget everything I’d said and telling her I had just enough money to make it through Wednesday.  Of course none of that did any good to ease her mind and I could tell from her voice that she was worried.

I had no doubts that had the situation proved to be more difficult, Jim would have helped me out in his reassuring manner, which is a godsend to a foreigner in a distant land.  He is just the sort of man who really makes a very sincere effort to help people out.

Once back at my hotel, I decided to pay ahead through Wednesday morning (My little quirk, as I don't trust myself very much and if the money isn't there, I can't spend it).  

I had already paid for my return trip via minivan to Hat Yai using Jim’s services, and now I was left with a paltry amount of chump change in which to eat for the remaining afternoon and next two days.  With roughly fifty ringgit (around $14.60 U.S.) left in my wallet on which to eat, I decided to venture out and search for places that sold cheap food.

Across the street from my hotel is the Kafé 78 Makanan Dan Minuman, on the corner of Jalan Sri Bahari and Jalan Penang roads.  There are a few of these types of cafe's in the area, each with a different name and each selling different types of food.  The concept of these restaurants is interesting.  They have tables in their central area, surrounded by small cooking stands or kiosks operated by different people, cooking different types of food.

At Kafé 78, one kiosk near where I was sitting cooks a fish set, a beef set, and a chicken set, whereas the kiosk next to them cooks up prawn noodles, fried rice and a couple of Malay dishes.

Upon entering the restaurant and sitting down, you are approached by a waiter or waitress who ask you what you would like to drink.  A sign on the wall tells you that if you sit in their restaurant you must order at least a drink, or you will be charged 0.40 sen (about 11 cents U.S.).

Each kiosk charges separately and most of the food is relatively cheap.  I found I could order a simple meal like a noodle dish, or fried rice dish and a nice juice drink for less than five ringgit ($1.40 U.S.).  Meals range in price from around 1.45 RM (40 cents U.S.) to eight RM ($2.24 U.S.).  Just don't order their Western breakfast!

Three or four blocks away on the corner of Jalan Penang and Lebuh Campbell, is another of these interesting restaurants, where I ate lunch Monday afternoon.  Their food is a bit pricier but the quality and selection is much better.  I ordered an iced tea and four egg rolls that were quite delicious for 3.80 RM ($1.06 U.S.), however, the waitresses who work there are extremely rude.

Monday evening I discovered the Jaya restaurant on Jalan Penang only a short walk from my hotel.  Jaya is an Indian restaurant, and the food they offer is not only cheap, it is fantastically delicious!  The only problem is nothing is in English and the waiters don’t speak much English. 

I ended up ordering an iced tea and the Thosai Masala Ayam, which translated, means chicken Masala.  I enjoyed the meal so much that this is where I ate for the duration of my stay in Penang.  I didn’t see any foreigners here, which seemed odd given they are everywhere in Georgetown, most of them either on holiday or passing through for their visa processing.  I figured it must have been because nothing is in English, which can be a bit intimidating for some.  Not me though, as I rather enjoy the challenge of trying to figure things out or practice my smattering of foreign languages (except for Malay, as I haven't a need to learn that language yet).

So, in retrospect, I’m sort of glad my school took too long to complete my paperwork for my visa, necessitating my having to go to Penang to apply for another non-immigrant B visa, since the school paid for everything and I got a fairly good mini-vacation out of the deal.

-Jeeem-

One of my first concerns upon making the decision to live in Asia was about the mosquito population here.  But, having lived in north-central New Hampshire for twenty-odd years, once I arrived here in Southeast Asia I was pleasantly surprised to find there were far fewer mosquitoes here than where I had been living in the U.S.

Thailand doesn’t hold a candle to the intense mosquito swarms in rural New Hampshire, but there is one tiny little difference…the mosquitoes here can be deadly.  

This is a photo of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito.

This photo is of Aedes Albopictus, better known as the Asian Tiger Mosquito.

The two mosquitoes above are the vectors for yellow and dengue fever as well as the Chikungunya virus.  Certainly most of you are at least familiar with the first two diseases, but Chikungunya?  Hum…try pronouncing that while eating a bagel smeared with cream cheese and lox!

Chikungunya virus or CHIKV as it is more informally referred to, is a virus transmitted by our two little buddies above, causing fever, severe joint pain, rash, and other less likely symptoms such as nausea and vomiting.  The name is Makonde, an East African language, for "that which bends up" referring to the contorted posture of patients afflicted with the severe joint pain associated with this disease.

So why am I writing about this? 

Well, I’m writing about it because Mam and I first heard about it on the news warning that the southern provinces of Songkhla (where we live), Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala, and Nakon Si Thammarat are experiencing an epidemic of Chikungunya virus, with many people clogging the hospitals and local clinics suffering from moderate to severe joint pain, fever, and rash.

 

Shortly after hearing about it in the news, Mam heard about people in and around our village who had been infected with the virus.  Then, about four days ago, Mam came down with the virus. 

Mam didn’t have a fever but on the first day her symptoms were discovered, she had intense joint pain that practically incapacitated her to the point of having to stay in bed all day.  Now, four days later, her symptoms are slightly relieved and she is able to get around a bit.  She heard yesterday that two women she knows in our village have come down with the virus and more are getting it every day.  It’s probably just a matter of time before I come down with the virus. 

We’ve seen teams of people out and about spraying and fogging our area for mosquito control, but I think it's a little too late as the incubation period for Chikungunya is two to five days.


As you can see, the red area in the south of Thailand is the most heavily hit with just a few sporadic areas in yellow where the disease has either migrated or has an incidence of short outbreaks. 

Luckily, the viral infection only lasts about a week in most cases, and once you’ve gotten it, you can’t get it again. 

Read all about Chikungunya HERE or HERE (in Wikipedia).

-Jeeem-