Favorite Posts of 2005

One of the best things about a new year is that it encourages me to take some time to think about what has happened over the last 365 days. Luckily now I have this website that keeps track of what actually happened (or at least some of it). It's memory is much better than mine!

Last year I made 110 posts to this site, or amost 1 every 3 days. Quite a few of the posts mentioned how I didn't have the motivation to write much (first part of the year) or no time to write (second half of the year).

But reading back over a year's worth of posts today, I see that it was a great year for me. I thought I'd link to some of my favorite posts here. Some talk about my adventures in Bangkok or on road trips, some talk about visits to the hospital, some talk of sadness, and some are ruminations on my new life in a strange land.

So, without further ado, here are my favorite posts for 2005:

Bangkok Adventures

• Inter-Park Bike Path: A happy find: A bike path between the Queen Sirikit Park and Lumpini Park.

• Election Day: My first national election in Thailand, where I saw the voting process up close and personal.

• Honeymoon in Bangkok: My friends Brennan and Deb spent part of their honeymoon in Bangkok, and here's a description of some of my favorite places that I took them.

• Trial By Fire: I bought a motorcycle and had a very scary first ride home down Sukumvit.

• A Thai Day: "Today was one of those days that I can look back and say, 'Now THAT was a real Thai experience'."

• Street Cooking: My opportunity to stir a big pot of duck sauce on the side of the road.
  

Road Trips

• Underwater World Pattaya: Needing to get out of Bangkok, I take a quick trip to Pattaya and visit the surprisingly cool Underwater World Aquarium

• One More Province Down: A random road trip to Uthai Thani, a "place that no Lonely Planet backpacker will ever have the chance to visit."

• Muang Ngoi Neua: A trip to a very tiny, very remote, but amazingly scenic village in Northern Laos

• A Lao Loy Kratong : Celebrating the Loy Kratong festival in Luang Prabang, Laos
  

Hospital Visits

• Needle in the Eye: An especially painful doctor's visit

• Late Night Bumrungrad : An emergency room visit to the amazingly nice Bumrungrad Hospital
  

Sadness

• The Destination is Meaningless: Struggling to deal with the death of my friend Roen.
  

Ruminations

• We're Famous!: Piyawat and I get some Thai press for our research trip to the USA.

• Nam (Water): Where I get philosophical about water.

• Seeing the Forest or the Tree? : An interesting look at some differences between East and West.

• Balcony Before and After: A few plants and some wood and rocks turn an ugly balcony into an oasis.
  

P.S. Thanks to Nick Gray for the idea to do this post!