My grandmother is 88 years old. That’s her, above, with my late grandfather in 1942. I spent the evening with her today and always enjoy our time together. In addition to being a voracious consumer of newspapers and magazines, she’s more proficient at using the internet than many people I know who are half her […]
My mom and step-dad arrived in Bangkok yesterday for a visit from the US. Here’s how their visit has shaped up, numbers-wise, so far:
Thai Foot Massages
Hour-long Thai foot massages enjoyed in the last 24 hours: 2
Combined hours of full-body massages planned for them for tomorrow: 4
Thai Cuisine Consumed
Approximate number of individual Thai dishes we have […]
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Also tagged family, Food and Drink, foot massage, Funny Products, kimchi, lot chong, mbk, sim cards, songkran, thai food, Thailand, vacation
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If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger. — Frank Lloyd Wright
A gave me a supremely cool gadget for Christmas: The Asus Eee PC. I’ve been using this most compelling toy subnotebook productivity tool for over three months now.
Here are 10 things you need to know about […]
I generally like using iPhoto, Apple’s default image management and editing software. But with nearly 8,000 images in my library and limited RAM and hard drive space, opening the application and its accompanying 20 gigabytes of data was taking an eternity, and even basic tasks were becoming unwieldy.
I’ve now figured out a better way to […]
Many months ago, Newley.com reader Paul D., who lives in California, asked me for advice on learning Thai. While I’m not an expert and certainly not an advanced speaker, here’s a slightly expanded version of what I told him based on my experience as an enthusiastic — but far from talented — student. I invite […]
Remember the french fry-coated hot dog that I photographed in Seoul a while back? I mean, seriously, given the international acclaim that followed, how could you forget?
Well, in my ongoing quest to identify and consume hot dogs encrusted in all manner of incongruous snack foods, I bring you the waffle-coated hot dog.
In a feat […]
Happy Thanksgiving, folks. To those of you in the US of A: Eat some turducken for your old uncle Newley in Siam. (To mis amigos y familia in South Carolina, Oregon, and all along the eastern seaboard: tuck into some deep fried turkey in my name. And to my aunt Cee Cee in Beaufort: my […]
I recently purchased the excellent Nikon D40 camera. And a trip down to Koh Chang and Chanthaburi last week afforded me the perfect opportunity to put my new toy photojournalism tool through its paces.
You can see all 40 images in the set here.
Following are some of my favorite pics:
A ferry sets off for […]
I get a lot of questions about Skype — people ask me how it works and how I use it. So here’s a description of my setup. I’ve found Skype to be enormously helpful in communicating with friends, family, and colleagues all over the world. And I’m amazed that so many of my friends — […]
My cell phone rang at 2:41 a.m. today. I had been in a deep sleep and was more than a little confused when I answered.
Me: “Hello, this is Newley.”
Woman with an American accent: “Oh, Hi is this John in…?”
Me: “Sorry, no. I think you have the wrong number. This is Newley in Bangkok.”
Woman: “Oh, wow, […]
Last weekend we ventured up to Loei Province, in the far north of Thailand, to witness the annual Ghost Festival (or Pee Ta Khon). Below are some pics. And here’s the full photo set.
In short, Pee Ta Khon involves the local people marching through the streets of a small town wearing ghost and monster […]
Podcasts. Would life be worth living without them? Here’re some of my faves:
– NPR: Shuffle. A daily compilation of the best stories from Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and other shows.
– NPR’s World Story of the Day. Same concept, but limited to foreign dispatches.
– ESPN/Soccernet Extra: A bunch of English football journalists discussing […]
A and I recently spent a long weekend near the town of Udon Thani, in northeast Thailand. Here’re some pics.
The countryside.
The house and pool.
A with the friendly ladies who cooked our meals. Cuisine from Isan — this region of Thailand — is particularly flavorful and spicy, so every meal was an absolute delight.
Whole fried fish […]
I am very conspicuous in Thailand. I’m very tall. I’m white. And I constantly do silly farang (foreigner) things — like sit on the ground and eat my lunch.
A captured this excellent 30-second video of me today at an outdoor market about 500 meters from my apartment. (Click on the image above or go […]
A few of you have asked me to weigh in on the US national soccer team’s dismal performance at the World Cup. The American squad, it pains me to note, lost two games, tied one, scored only two goals (one of which was an own-goal gifted to them by the Italians), and generally stunk up […]