Smooth as Silk

I made it to Chiang Mai, Thailand, my semi-permanent home for the next few months. It is sprawling, congested, green, noisy, dotted with dazzling temples and friendly. Evan and I departed from LAX on Wednesday night, after a couple relaxing days visiting The Getty Center, reading by Phoebe's pool, saving a baby bird, eating more cheeseburgers and visiting Santa Monica for some last minute price-jacked headlamps from REI.

As if from a time warp filled with delicious airplane food, friendly service, and personal on-demand video screens, a group of 17 Kalamazoo students and about 13 more kids, mostly from Colorado, stumbled out from the benches of our red mini bus and into The Mountain View Hotel on Friday afternoon. The Mountain View Hotel could more accurately be named the Mountain, Ford Retailer, Bustling Highway, Channel, Crumbling Temple, Shiny New Temple, and Crowded Market-View Hotel, but for some reason they didn't go with that.

Everyone seems friendly and excited to be here. We are all trying our best to speak the first few phrases we need in Thai, though almost everyone we've met seems to speak at least basic English. I tried to order a $2 plate of Basil Leaf Chicken in Thai, and when I thought the waiter couldn't understand me, it turns out he just wouldn't allow me to order anything that spicy. He told me the basil is too hot for my white little tongue. I'm just going to assume that they have some kind of 'roided basil here, but the Cashew Chicken ended up tasting very comforting. After I ate that, I slept for 13 hours. I have resolved to overcome the 11-hour time difference by sleeping as much as possible. I don't know if it will help, but I do know that it's 7:40am TOMORROW morning here, and I feel great. If any of you want stock advice, better send me an email before Wall Street opens there.