Ok, it’s really not that hard to grok.

OK, I’ve been back forever and still haven’t posted all my photographs … I’m going to try to get them all posted this week so that I can start posting some new stuff (like news about my return trip to Tokyo).

Thai people seem endlessly curious about what I manage to do when I go back to USA every year. There is about one week per year when the weather in BKK drops to 65F (18C) or so (well only until 7am) and during that time, people get colds, fevers and generally freak out. I think that the concept that someone could function in in weather that drops to 30F(-1C), or even 10F(-12C) is a bit beyond many people.

The short answer is that I don’t do much, which is about the right thing to do when the ground is covered in snow. I generally sleep in until 7 or 8am, have coffee, do my yoga practice, and then in the afternoon try to get out and do some sort of out-door exercise. This year I was lucky in that the weather was generally pretty mild. You can go outside dressed properly and go snow-shoe or cross-country ski for a few hours and not really get cold … of course, after two or three hours you start to get cold. After a few weeks of it every day, you really start to crave humidity.

This first set of photos is all from Niskayuna, NY, Vermont will follow. All were shot with my Rolli on Kodak Trix400 B&W film, scans made from the negatives.

Things constantly happen in BKK which I am totally unable to understand.

Coming into work on Friday, I found the mall that my yoga studio is in surrounded by monks along with people coming to make offerings. Now, the Buddha was clear that monks and lay-people have a symbiotic relationship; monks provide a spiritual example and lay-people provide financial support. For this reason, monks are generally requested to live near lay-communities. There’s just something about the juxtaposition of a McDonalds along with praying Buddhist monks that stands out in my mind as strange … that being said, I’m sure nobody else does.

Jimmy and Mme on Halong Bay

Hanoi

So this is what traffic looks like when it’s slow, meaning nowhere near rush hour.

View from our hotel in the old .25