The Return of Phuchit (ภูชิต) to Thailand

After 30 some odd hours of flying and waiting in airports to get on the airplanes to fly again, I made it Thailand safe and sound. Most surprisingly is the fact that all my luggage also made it to Thailand – no questions asked. What was I carrying? Well, apart from clothes and books and the regular, biodiesel supplies. If someone had opened my luggage, they would have thought one of two things a) that I was selling drugs (titration supplies I brought included plastic syringes, jewelry scales and balances, and little vials to store chemicals) or b) I was a some kind of weirdo chemist/terrorist (I also brought pressure valves, big plastic gloves, fuel filters, etc) . But since I had no problems, this makes me question how well the baggage screening system really works. Ohh well, at least I didn’t have any problems.

So it feels great to be back in Thailand. Other than checking in to see Farrah my girlfriend, I’ve been eating. And eating. And eating. Man I love Thai food so much. I also tried to stay awake for all the World Cup Games (2 am here in Thailand), which has done nothing but make my jet lag even funkier. I’ve also been watching Thai soap operas on TV (yay!) in hopes of picking up a bit more Thai, along with getting my daily dose of melodrama.

In other news, I’d like to give a big ขอบคุณครับ! or Thank You to my good friend Joey Marra. Joey’s a junior at UNC who studied last summer in Thailand and returned this year to be an English teacher at a school here. Right now he’s traveling on vacation in Malaysia, but I’m staying at his apartment. We had to beg the guard for a pass and keys to the place, and frankly I’m surprised he gave me access. In gratitude for Joey’s generous actions, I’m going to buy him a lifetime supply of mango sticky rice once he gets back.

Tomorrow I’m planning to visit the PDA headquarters and meet with Ajarn Kavi, the science advisor for the PDA. We’ll be discussing the biodiesel plan and getting down to business. After purchasing some crucial components in Bangkok, we’ll be heading down south to Krabi to get started, probably sometime next week. I can’t wait to get started.

By the way, my Thai nickname is Phuchit, which means “The Steep Mountain.” Given to me a few years back by a good friend, I’m not sure why I ended up with the name but boy do I love hearing my friends back home in the states trying to pronounce it.