Hello folks! We have now been in Thailand for a full, solid week: the man is at work, the kids are in school, and I am learning the city, little by little.

I’d forgotten the glaring differences between a small town and a big city, the most glaring of all being, uh, l’odeur. The combination of car exhausts and drainage grates is amplified by the heat. And man, I tell you, it will take a while to get used to that.

Another huge difference is the people. The people are so interesting to look at! If you have to sit and wait somewhere, there’s no need to read a book or pretend to be engrossed in your cell phone (or mobile, as they call it here). You are completely entertained by the folks walking by, or waiting near you. People of all shapes and sizes, people of all nationalities, with their clothes and shoes and hairstyles; and my favourite so far, people whom you can’t tell if they’re a man or a woman. It’s an exercise in physical discipline, covert eye movement, and poker face-ism, to try to examine him (or her?) long enough to determine the gender. And even in the end, I’m sure I’ve come to the wrong conclusion, anyway.

We’re lucky enough to live in an apartment building that is both on a quiet cul-de-sac, and just five minutes’ walk to the noisy, busy Sukhumvit Road. Alaric takes the sky train and subway to and from work (faster than taking a car). We’re a short walk away from Emporium, the posh mall where a pair of shoes can cost a month’s rent, but also where you can have a cheap snack while you dream about said shoes…

The kids are both delighted and taken aback by the lack of seatbelt requirement. Funny, they’ve never ridden unbuckled in a vehicle (with permission, that is.) And you can see fear and exhilaration in their faces, when riding in the tuk-tuk, that funky four-seater, open-sided, three-wheeled vehicle.

More to come…