Not in Chattanooga anymore..

I know this may not make much sense given that I've been here 3 weeks but last Monday I was driving back from Central Chaengwattana, my local upscale shopping mall. Central is the name of the anchor department store and Chaengwattana is the main road that it's on. Anyway, I'm headed home in the middle of traffic and I realize - I'm in Asia. OK I know intellectually that I've been in Asia almost three weeks (at that time) but this was like a slight shift of consciousness. I am in Asia - I'm here. I'm not visiting. This is my world now. And you know what? That was pretty cool with me. No big deal, no added sense of excitement, no sense of dread. Just that I am here and it's different and it's Asia. Specifically Thailand of course, but definitely Asia.

The images were all taken in downtown Bangkok at the time of my interview visit in early March. They are a street sign near Lumpini Park, a temple seen from the river at night, me in front of the  statue of Rama VI at Lumpini Park , and one of the protector shrines of the type seen at nearly all buildings here.