Greg to Differ

Christmas is a special time for everyone who grows up in a western country. For me, it’s a time of chilly nights, warm fireplaces, heavy snowfall and quality time with family and friends. I love Christmas; it’s my favorite time of the year and has been since I was wee. But when you’re living overseas, it’s not as easy as simply jetting back for a few days; plane tickets are expensive and in many places, such as Thailand, December 25th is simply a regular workday in a regular week. So, what’s the best thing to do? You want to avoid overloading yourself with reminders of what you’re missing but still get a taste of home. With that in mind, I picked five of my favorite Christmas movies that give you a healthy dose of Christmas cheer but distract you with other movie goodness so as to avoid leaving you a wine-soaked lump of homesick wretchedness. Keep Reading…

The longer you live overseas, the bigger the chasm between ‘normal’ in the motherland and ‘normal’ in your new adopted home becomes. The things that seemed crazy, strange, unique, weird or even offensive when you first moved here eventually become normal, and it’s often hard to remember which aspect of your new life your friends back home would find odd. I was struck with this feeling today when I read a Wired.com article on an MPAA press release instructing people how to detect counterfeit DVDs. How cute. Keep Reading…

It’s the classic image of paradise – blue water, swaying palm trees, and white sand stretching back into a gorgeous sunset. Throw in a couple of ladies massaging your feet and/or cooking you freshly-caught seafood and you’ve got pretty much any beach in Thailand… well, most of them, anyway. But I saw a picture about a year ago – not specifically about Thailand, but beaches in general – and it’s been bugging me ever since. It cropped up again today and I had to vent, so please excuse the release of a little bit of steam. Keep Reading…

As a foreigner living in Bangkok, there are certain things you can do that Thais can’t, and certain things you can’t do that any Thai can. Similarly, there are things that Thais see everyday that we never do; it’s just part of the charming tug-of-war between cultures, personalities and egos that make Bangkok such a badass place to live. I usually try and keep the tone on this here blog fairly light and enjoyable (dare I say ‘fluffy’?), but there are times when I have to comment on the darker side of things. Unfortunately, I saw something today that has me thinking in a dark and ponderous fashion about the things we, as foreigners, see in Bangkok, and the things we never do. Keep Reading…

As a guy who’s considered big in Canada, it’s no wonder that many people in Thailand think that I’m freakishly huge. This really hit home for me a few years ago when I was hanging out with my buddy Conan, who happens to be 7 feet tall (214 cm), and I actually had to look up to talk to him. I suddenly realized that I’d never had to look up at anyone in all the years I’ve lived here; it was pretty strange. So, yes, I’m big. But where’s the line between small, normal and big drawn? And who draws it? Clearly, the person who made the below ad needs to hang around with Conan and I for an evening. Keep Reading…

Every place has rules – from your school to your job to your girlfriend’s apartment, there are just certain tenets you need to follow if you don’t want to get a boot to the curb. Countries work the same way. Some rules are legal, some are moral, and some belong to that long and growing list of unwritten rules that govern different parts of our life (such as the one saying that male friends can’t touch knees in a movie theater). Below are some of the rules that you need to live by if you plan on staying in Thailand for any length of time. Of course, my list is by no means comprehensive, but it’s a start. Keep Reading…

The good thing about having ambitious friends is that you often get dragged along on trips you wouldn’t ordinarily take on your own. This was the case last week, when my good friend Scott arranged a bike/train/boat weekend out of the city and into Amphawa, a few hours southwest of Bangkok and a hundred years behind. While I do like staying in Bangkok for the sheer, joyous laziness of it all, it’s great to get out and remind myself that there’s more to Thailand than bad traffic, tourist traps and concrete love. Keep Reading…

As I get older, I start to wonder about my past. Not because I forget what I did yesterday (although that’s a bit hazy thanks to tequila); I mean my PAST – my genetic history going back thousands of years. Ever since DNA (more commonly known as deoxyribonucleic acid… or is it the other way around?) was isolated in 1953, it’s given us an incredible tool to do everything from trace lineage to clone steak. My curiosity might have been piqued because I live in such a racial melting pot, where discussions of nationality, race and ethnicity come up all the time. So, I decided to head over to the National Geographic Genographic Project to see what they could tell me about me. Keep Reading…

Thailand often writes checks its body can’t cash, putting great emphasis on plans and initiatives that, on the surface, sound pretty good but actually have very little chance of developing into anything useful due to lack of support and/or mismanagement. The disastrous Elite Card program comes to mind, as does Bangkok being the fashion capital of Asia, and Thailand being pushed as the ‘Detroit of Asia’ (have you seen Detroit lately? No thanks). The latest is PM Abhisit’s declaration that Thailand should be a creative ASEAN hub. It’s catching a bit of flack, but there have been several examples where Thai artisans have shown that they can be outstandingly creative – as in the example below. Keep Reading…

I’ve written about this before, but every once in a while you’ll see something here that makes you wonder just how in the name of Jebus it can happen. Usually it’s something quite innocuous like kids running around the city with no shoes, or bar girls at 3am praying at Buddhist shrines and the like. But a lot of the time, it has to do with the rather lax regulations regarding safety, usually on construction sites. At work the other day, I glanced out of my office cubicle window and was a bit taken aback when I saw the  scene below. Keep Reading…