Heading North

I printed out 100 business cards and have been handing them out like they are week old steaks. I had an informal job interview at a café today that may lead to some intermittent design work. This evening I went to a neighborhood party and was the center of attention of about 20 gay Thai males. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Everyone was really friendly and helped teach me some more Thai words. As the Pixies would say, “it’s educational.” One of the few girls there said that the structure of my face and my earring and dress make Thais assume that I’m gay. I told her there isn’t much I can do about my face or earring, and that the clothes I wear are a sign of respect. There are two ways I don’t want to disrespect the Thais: through dress and through language. In third place is disrespect through murder. I don’t not want to be another slovenly, cargo pant and t-shirt wearing Farong tourist. There are plenty already. And I also think that it is deferential to at least try to learn the language of your host country. Plenty of Thai people attempt to speak English on my behalf and I want to extend the favor to them as well.

I’m heading north by bus to Chiang Rai and Mae Sai and the Burmese border town to renew my visa. I hope to get some decent photos if there is anything to take decent photos of.