The first few days in Thailand are always a bit of a shock to the system. Yes, the weather is warm and sunny in winter. Yes, the food is amazing. Yes, you can buy dinner for the equivalent of $2 U.S. (and a fancy dinner, at that).
But, it's gritty, smokey, and the sewer gasses could drop a grown man to his knees (regardless of this, tourists insist on sitting in bamboo chairs set right over the sewer channel at the edge of the street). You can smoke anywhere, and you might as well, given the air you're breathing anyway.
After you've been back a few hours, you remember why you came. It's the people. Thai people are gentle, kind, giving and happy. Yes, happy. Where I live most of the year, about half of the population seems to be on antidepressants. I think they just need a little loving kindness, the kind that Thai people give you each day, all day.
My little man (because I left my big man at home) has been loved up one side and down the other by every man, woman, and wandering teenager that he's met. He's confused. Americans just don't stop children on the street (that's total strangers) and caress their cheek, ask their name, and tell them they are handsome. He's already like family at the noodle shop where we eat breakfast every morning. For Thai people, if there is an opportunity for joy, no matter how small, it doesn't go by.
Americans could learn a thing or two from Thai people. And, this is why we have come back, after a long, long spell in the U.S..
