Just a quick note, with more thoughts on Thai Wi-Fi yet to come. My buddy Steve and I sampled the Sheraton Krabi Beach Resort, last night, and this afternoon we have found ourselves in paradise.

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Since my arrival in Thailand, friends have been offering up suggested “soundtracks” for the visit. The most frequent, probably pretty obvious, “One Night In Bangkok.” But one friend dug a little deeper, back to the days of vinyl and mentioned “A Passage To Bangkok” by Canadian power trio Rush.

I concur.

Briefly, I quote Rush, in Ferg’s honor:

“We’re on the train to Bangkok
Aboard the Thailand express
We’ll hit the stops along the way
We only stop for the best.”

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War Of The Roses

On New Year’s Eve in Bangkok, my buddies and I felt a little more secure when we saw a huge police presence throughout the city, particularly in the downtown area, where — with a cast of hundreds of thousands — we would ring in 2012.

Ha! We now know that there were terrorist rumblings about a NYE plot in the city, but it fell through.

Then yesterday, I received a forwarded e-mail from my buddy Steve. He was sent a direct e-mail from The United States Embassy in Bangkok warning him that a more credible, specific threat now exists. In summary, two terrorism suspects have been tracked into Thailand and are said to be planning to target western tourists at Thai attractions.

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My first two weeks in Thailand were NAS-TAY … No, not like The Hangover Part 2, nasty … like filthy, muddy, oily, wildlife killing kind of sludge nasty. That, as you may know from previous blogs, is why I call that part of my career — The Dirty Gig.

In the first Thailand installment of The Dirty Gig, I found myself working with guys that were over-qualified yet threw their hearts into cleaning machines with pressure washers, rags, and steel brushes … even tooth brushes. Normally, on a Dirty G, I supervise day laborers off the street. This time, “my workers” were employees of the factory itself — guys with some of the best jobs in the country … upward mobile, comfortable, well-paid … successful.

For several days, my team and several other teams hustled to just clear furniture and trash and moldy supplies from the aisles of the factory. You name it and the Thai flood waters had deposited it — whatever, wherever.

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Boba-teers?

IF you know me or read the PingWi-Fi blog, you know “we luvs us some boba tea.”  Hmmm … it is pretty scarce here in Thailand … even more scarce than Wi-Fi. I finally found some boba vendors — in this case, maybe boba-teers — in Ayutthaya on the sidewalk, in the outdoor market the other day. Trouble is, you are advised NOT to drink the water here. I wonder if the the bobas — those tiny tapioca balls floating in the tea — will kill all the little beasties in the water. Hmmm? Anywho … a great example of two young entrepreneurs (pictured … nice hat). I guess this is the Asian equivalent of running a snowcone stand in the summer back, in the U.S. Ha … the kid is wearing a snowcone …

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New Year’s Eve has never been a big deal for me, even back in the day when I was more fun. Ha … one year I decided to play it safe, and sat around a table with friends playing a board game. Then, all of the sudden, some guy kicked the door in at the friend’s apartment.

Ha … didn’t see that coming.

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The first time I started a blog about Wi-Fi back in ’03, most people thought it was pretty interesting — especially this new thing called “Wi-Fi.” So, I explored … found a hotspot here and there … shared anecdotes … blah, blah. blah.

My passion continues today — seeking out wireless and mixing in tall tales — but I admit I hear lots of naysaying. “What for? Isn’t Wi-Fi pretty much everywhere now?”

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When I signed up to help with flooding recovery in Thailand, my thoughts immediately went to the bright lights of Bangkok — the modern, international city and the well-known seamy dark side as well — an adventure … mystique.

However, as I got more details, my assignment was actually in Ayutthaya City, an hour and a half north of Bangkok. Today, Ayutthaya is a bustling, sprawling mid-sized city, crawling with a million motorbikes and almost as many factories … major electronics and automotive players that opened shop here for an affordable, skilled work force and a fairly central location for distribution purposes.

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Sawasdee!

If you were to visit the headquarters of PingWi-Fi, you would find an eclectic setting — a tale of two reality TV shows … a hybrid somewhere between “Pickers” and “Horders.” We collect it. We stack it. We do funny things with it.

The first sign of this condition is a tiny scale model of a Thai Airways 747 dangling in the air on a piece of translucent fishing string, near the door, above the banister between the first and second floors. It is a memento of an old PR assignment. When Thai airways moved its North American headquarters from the Seattle area to Los Angeles, I did PR.

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Hmmm … can I write a blog in the time it takes Toyota of Fort Worth to inspect my Toyota Highlander? You know, one of the vehicles deemed unsafe by the Chevrolet/Obama administration, publicized all over page 1 in the press and then exonerated in the back of the newspapers a few months late … after Toyota was dealt a huge financial blow for being a good, competitive product.

… I digress.

Ha … I just got back from a three-month blitz to California, New York and Pennsylvania for The Dirty Gig … then shuffled off to Amarillo to see the family and watch it snow.

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