My new Chiang Mai hotel, the Green Tiger Hotel, was a charming little place in the heart of the old town. My room was standard, but very nice. Attached to the hotel is a popular vegan restaurant, Reform Kafe. There’s a cute koi pond in the restaurant lobby, and a small swimming pool on the main floor of the hotel. …
This author has been getting a lot of hype, and now I understand why. An amazing novel. Poignant, powerful writing, with amazingly vivid characters. Set in Mississippi, it paints an unforgettable image of the south, the poor, jail, drugs, sickness, ghosts, and family dynamics. The writing is pure poetry. One of the best novels I’ve read in recent memory. I’m…
Friday, I arrived at the WVS Centre rested and ready. The surgery suite was already abuzz. A local cat rescue group was notified in advance about the week being focused on cats, and they contacted other rescue groups as well, supplying us with many cats in need of sterilization. Some were owned by people that couldn’t afford this surgery otherwise. …
The next morning, after a great breakfast, Ian took me to the Centre, where I finally met Dr. Miglio. He gave me a tour of the facility, including the clinic, the shelter, and the surgery area. The clinic was pretty modern, with state of the art x-ray equipment. Most of the animals in the clinic are brought there for obvious,…
I was met by Ian at the airport, and driven to the Narittaya Resort and Spa. This is where the World Veterinary Service houses their visitors. It’s about five minutes from the clinic. It’s a very peaceful, very quiet place. Instead of rooms, you are given your own little villa. Mine was very spacious, with two beds. The beds were…
I was given a copy of the CT report. I took a photo of the report, and then send an instant message to my friend Slobodan, a radiologist in Boston. I met Slobodan over 20 years ago, when we both lived in Baltimore. I would see him around at bars and parties, and we were friendly, but we never hung…
I’ve read all of Sedaris’s books (except his diary, from two years ago). He was on quite a streak, with Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. All were hilarious. Then he came out with Squirrel Meets Chipmunk and Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, and they weren’t very funny at all. They were…
The title of this book is much more compelling than the book itself. The author hails from Silicon Valley, and his philosophizing about the evils of social media, while they make sense, ring a bit hollow to me. Really nothing earth shattering about his list of reasons. Too much jargon, too much fake philosophy for me. I do think he’s…
Most veterinarians know Peter Singer from his books In Defense of Animals, and Animal Liberation. His interests, however, go beyond animal welfare, and he has written many books and essays on ethics, poverty, and morality. This book is a collection of essays that cover a broad range of topics, from vegetarianism and veganism to cloning, climate change, euthanasia, and religion. …
The third and final day of the Bangkok leg of my trip was to be devoted to the massive Chatuchak Market. I had visited it with Mark several years before, and the experience stayed in our heads for years. It was a total shopper’s paradise. The market is absolutely enormous. It is divided into sections (I’m not sure how many;…
An interesting novel, but a bit disjointed and confusing. Like the book All The Light We Cannot See, there are two parallel stories going on, with each chapter bouncing between two very different worlds. Eventually, we see how the two stories relate to each other. They don’t merge, but they come close. There’s a lot of symbolism involving cats and…
I always admired Barney Frank for his dedication, intelligence, and wit. This autobiography details very candidly the personal and legislative struggles, setbacks, and victories that Frank experienced in his long tenure in politics. An excellent insight into behind-the-scenes politics.
For Day 2, the itinerary was lighter: A visit to another temple (Wat Suthat), and then a local park, and then finish the day strolling through Bangkok’s extensive Chinatown. First, I chowed down at the hotel’s excellent buffet. I took a tuk-tuk to Wat Suthat, just north of Chinatown. Wat Suthat is one of the city’s most beautiful and biggest…
I snagged a great seat – a window seat in the emergency row, with lots of legroom – on the flight from Amsterdam to Bangkok. Bangkok has an Airport Rail Link, which is very similar to New York’s Airtrain. And the BTS train system is just like the New York subway. So rather than take a cab, I elected to…
A novel about a huge anti-globalization protest on the streets of Seattle that turns unexpectedly violent. I think it was written with millennials in mind, as it brings to mind the Occupy Wall Street protests from a few years ago. There are complicated relationships amongst some of the police officers, and between the chief of police and the protesters (one…