Very tall, very white, very farang

So, um, I'm going to Thailand. I can't remember if I've told you or not. Have I? I'm sorry if I repeat myself, but I feel like I haven't said anything about it yet...

I'll be in Thailand for a month, taking a quick stop in Hong Kong beforehand and one in Singapore afterwards to visit friends. The whole deal is a UCLA program studying the ecology of the coastal mangrove ecosystems and looking at how the gender dynamic in various local communities (Thai Buddhist, Thai Muslim, Burmese Immigrant, etc.) plays a role in how the different groups decide to manage their natural resources. It's a mouthful, but it sounds fascinating -- to me at least.

At any rate I leave, well, tomorrow. Tomorrow to LA, Thursday to Hong Kong, and from there Southeast Asia awaits to be conquered by my blondeness. Attack of the uber-farang! I expect to stand out no less than I already do around the science/engineering buildings at UCLA, and much more than a sore thumb.

I'd promise to blog daily while I'm there, but I don't want to get your hopes up. We're going to have 'regular, but not daily' access to a computer lab, so I shall write when I can. Also, I'm going to keep an old fashioned blog, a.k.a. diary, while I'm there, so I may just update you with choice passages from that when I return.




And, lastly, because the BBC is great: Thai puppets under threat

Well, see ya later.