good ideas; bad habits

our town only sells instant coffee. it's tragic, and probably the source of all the recent political turmoil (it's happened in other countries). so we went to chiang mai last weekend pretty much just so i could find better coffee, and i came back with this: an organic arabica coffee company started as a development initiative to help opium farmers find a different cash crop.

it's good coffee, and a good idea. love good ideas.

like this one:

con and i got thai massages at the chiang mai women's prison last weekend, through a program helping women gain marketable skills and save some money to ease their transition back into society. i love ideas like these. love them. love them. there are a like a billion massage parlors in chiang mai, so we figured we might as well get ones that meant something.


problem is i'm wildly ticklish and sometimes have difficulty understanding instructions in thai english. so... as result of a series of misunderstandings and feather-like foot massage maneuvers, i spent the hour tense and giggling and clapping like a one-handed swan (which i understand is an insult to both the king, queen and buddha all in one, and, of course, is punishable by foot massage).

and then there's this idea:

i'll admit, i'm not a smoker, but i love smoking. the smell, taste, feel.. all of it. but from what i've seen, smoking seems a bit taboo in thailand. here's why... check out the surgeon general warnings on all thai cigarette packs:


it seems very very effective. click the picture for more information. between smoking and alcohol laws, thailand seems pretty progressive. ok fine.. it's just gross.

here instead is a pretty picture we took in india: