Category Archives: Traditions

Ganden Sky Burial

August 26, 2021 – 12:53 am

A mango tree shaded our old house in Sri Racha. Birds roosted on the branches. Our next-door neighbor hated the tree. Its leaves fell into their yard, even though the tree’s spread of shade cooled down both houses. My neighbor only saw the leaves and the other week she called up the electricity office to […]

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Friday The 13th

August 13, 2021 – 8:43 am

The number 12 symbolizes completeness for numerologists and 13 has a reputation of a prime number steeped with irregularity. Thirteen is further tarnished by being the number of people at the Last Supper of Jesus. The Turks went so far as to ban the number from their language and the Vikings feared that if thirteen […]

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Cover Boys of the Taliban

July 10, 2021 – 2:40 pm

As the Endless War comes to an end in Afghanistan, the Taliban are taking control over large swaths of the mountainous nation. Their troops are primarily comprised of Pathan warriors, whose tribal territory straddles the Afghani-Pakistani border without official delineation. Kandahar is the de facto Pathan capitol, although their fierce loyalty to clan lineage has […]

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Noblesse Ne’er-Do-Wells

February 20, 2021 – 6:10 am

Ten years ago Thaksin’s red shirts of targeted Bangkok’s luxury shopping malls of their political rivals, the elite yellow shirts. The riotous schism between the two classes was a mystery to most foreigners who regarded their adopted country as the land of Smiles, but a restrictive way of life to the majority of Thais. I […]

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Thai Hair-Cut No No

February 18, 2021 – 6:01 pm

Several years ago I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge to a party in Nolita. The city skyline shimmered under a sky dotted by the few stars brilliant enough to pierce New York’s light umbrella. Tourists flashed photos in the dark and the bridge hummed with the passage of cars and trucks. The night was bitter […]

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