It is 2007, and R.P. Salazar is living in Waco, Texas. His email username is rpsalazar. One day an email arrives addressed to another rpsalazar, meant for someone with the same initials and surname but a slightly different email address. He sends it along to the right person, an R.P. Salazar living in Bangkok. Before clicking Send he adds a p.s.: "How's the weather in Bangkok?"
Before the end of 2007, Ruben Salazar and Rachel Salazar are married.
Storycorps and NPR report the whole story. (The text is good, but the audio is even better. Click "Listen to the Story.")
posted by mark7570
on May 13, 2011 -
21 comments
If you've ever been to Bangkok you might've run into
one of them and not even known it. They are a ubiquitous fixture on the
bar scene and can be found in the
Nana Plaza area. If you're asking yourself the same question that I was then
this maybe your answer. Although they enjoy a certain amount of acceptance, they still have a
long way to go to be recognized as full citizens with equal rights. Of course, this hasn't
stopped them from staking their claim to the
spotlight, and trying to become as much of the
mainstream as they can. But, if you thought that they were pushovers, well then,
think again.
[previously mentioned here]
posted by hadjiboy
on Apr 13, 2008 -
21 comments
Elephant Polo. Alf Leif Erickson is the Captain of the American Screw Tuskers Elephant Polo team . Alf is a retired attorney and former law professor from Florida. This alone doesn't make much of a post, but, you guessed it, there more, sometimes NSFW, inside.....
[more inside]
posted by HuronBob
on Apr 10, 2008 -
19 comments
Two girls, three wheels, 10,000 miles travelled: their epic overland adventure from Bangkok to Brighton comes to a successful end. Previously discussed
here. The two girls (women, really) and their pink
tuk tuk arrived home in Brighton on September 3rd. Many were skeptical that they would be able to make it; at least one poster seemed to be putting down a monetary wager against their success. Perhaps now is the time to stand by that bet and
donate some money to the
charity they are raising money for?
People interested in the details of their journey should check out their
blog; more than just a log of their daily activities, they add some interesting details regarding the culture and history of some of the places they visited.
They aren't the first to have made a ridiculously long journey in a tuk tuk; a
german couple drove around Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe last year (although there were apparently some ferries involved).
Tuk tuk appreciation appears to be wide-spread in England; a
"motorised rickshaw service" recently started up with compressed natural gas vehicles.
posted by giantfist
on Sep 5, 2006 -
2 comments
Thailand launches national "Bust-Boosting" campaign - "In an almost surreal scene, rows of women in shorts and T-shirts massaged and squeezed their breasts in front of the crowd of officials, media and onlookers on a busy Bangkok street....The health ministry said the idea was to show Thai women that there was another, more natural way, of boosting their breast size than plastic surgery. ...Cosmetic surgery is an extremely popular and lucrative business in Thailand....Bangkok is renowned for its inexpensive, but not always reliable, plastic surgeons." (via BBC) Here's a history of the slogan
"We must, we must, we must increase our bust"
posted by troutfishing
on Feb 12, 2003 -
13 comments
