Guilty dog video

I love this video. I forgot that dogs can exhibit guilt. I want a dog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8ISzf2pryI

hanging

Some of the best times i have here in MS is just hanging with Cate and taking pictures of random dogs. We've come up with a classification system of the thai dogs: Burger, BFF, and Polio Dog. How many degrees of separation are they away from these 3 dog types? we ask ourselves. Then we dash for the dogs and take numerous photos. It's raging fun. Then we go and look at random T-shirts.
This one is definitely 1 degree away from Burger with his scruffy factor. It was so sad, why was he eating poo on the road? I didn't know dogs eat poo.

Then we came across two little puppies. They were many degrees of separation from the 3 dog types, but their puppiness still warranted a pull over and oogling.

vomiting

The only reason I know that Valentine's Day is coming up is because all the toy stores along the main drag are vomiting oversized stuffed animals out their doors in the shape of hearts and teddy bears and flowers, in very conspicuous colors like red and pink and hot pink, hot red! Red Hello Kitty heart-shaped dolls, heart-shaped pillows, pink non-descript shaped-somethings are spilling onto the sidewalks. I zip by these stores on my bicycle, with absolutely no reason to stop. As much as I would love to meander into one and peruse all the knick knacks they sell (which I actually enjoy doing if I have a few minutes to procrastinate), I've got more practical things to shop for - 2,500 small plastic medicine ziplock bags, some string, a bed net, toothpaste...On other occassions, when I have more free time and I do get a chance to take a 'brain break', I like to look at the endless quantities of either fake Lesportsac wristlet clutches or coin purses or cell phone doilies that cost a dollar or so. This activity makes me very happy. Sometimes on a hot day, I'll indulge in a bowl of Thai jelly dessert served over crushed ice or I'll get real Thai iced coffee brewed with a sock, served in a plastic bag and stroll the aisles and just buy something. Shopping here does not break the bank. Shirts cost a few bucks, a pair of jeans can cost 5 bucks. Other times, I'll go over to the store next to the air-conditioned coffee shop in town because there is a miniature pomeranian there and go over play with the dog. The store owner probably thinks I'm a little coo coo because I squeal just a little too loud every time I see the dog, but it's pretty darn cute. When it was a puppy, it fit in the palm of my hand. And my hands are small.

aizawl, textiles and pineapples

this is aizawl. for those of you who have heard me talk about this city, i make it sound really just gross and unpleasant, but it's all part of the grand plan to counter any tourism efforts made by the the government of india, because i want to keep it my little secret. this last trip was the longest i'd stayed in india, an entire 30 days, and i managed to channel the powers of an ashram into our hostel room every morning. and it worked. it also helped that we brought yoga mats and the awesome yoga shakti dvd by shiva rea.....during the rest of the 14 hours of the day, we did the usual international health stuff.

you never know who you're going to meet when you're doing a little pretesting in a developing country. we ended up meeting b------ migrant village full or textile factories, and the women were making the most vibrant fabrics. a lot of the traditional textiles in the mizo culture have actually been adopted from the b------ textiles since so many of the weavers migrated to india. the pens with the thread are shot through across the big old textile loom like contraption, all powered by women textile workers pedaling of their feet.


of course, i had to take another picture of a dog with gigantor mammaries. this is not uncommon but still, something about this dog's boobs intrigued me enough to send this out in the information superhighway thinking it might intrigue someone out there as well...




...and in another village we went to i came across the most wonderful thing! wild pineapples! wild pineapples!!

bugs and polio dog

here in a place somewhere in b----, bugs are the size of my hand...



and there are dogs with polio.


the cardboard box is his bed. people throw trash in it. i tried to take him home with me, and when i went back to find him, they said he left. i'm not quite sure where he could have gone with his wobbly legs.

lek & yai

I just found out that my friend's dogs were poisoned. It's a really sad day for me because I loved Lek and Yai so much. Strange things happen in MS, I don't know why anyone would do such a thing...

What I'll miss about Thailand

Typical for dogs to travel in this manner. And typical that the raw meat stand is right next to the boiled corn and hair ornaments stand in the marketplace.

beaver fever

• I had beaver fever back in the day. Sorry, I just learned what this word meant and had a compulsion to share that.
  
• I was reading a poem in Harpers about a dog in a bus station written by an Indian poet and there I was, waiting inside a bus station, watching a dog get comfortable and fall asleep in the middle of a crowded walkway, halfway between the stairs and snack stand.