Nat wonders why Asians like to take photographs of themselves whilst sightseeing. What is it about the pointing at signs and peeping around corners? Could it be that the experience is more important than the sights?
This Sunday was a day of mixed emotions for Nat as he spent the afternoon immersed in one of his favourite pastimes: being glued to the television watching tennis. There were two aging players on court at the Australian Open: Andy Roddick who is 28 and Francesca Schiavone who is 30.
Standards of personal hygiene and practices to maintain it vary from country to country and culture to culture. So Nat asks the all-important question: Does cleanliness really prevent cooties?
For all his efforts at the gym, Nat finds himself weighing almost 10 kilogrammes more than he did at this time last year and at the lowest level of fitness in his life. What happened and how does he plan to fix it? He turns to CNBC and rap music.
Nat shares his favourite recipe for chocolate cake, refined over years of trial and error. Because it is rather complicated, he only makes it once a year, serving it as a special treat to all his loved ones on Christmas Day.
The concept of personal space is one that westerners guard ferociously. An invasion of it is more than an insult, it is an incursion into personal autonomy. No one in Thailand feels this way.
I recall a summer visit back to Thailand from overseas when I was younger, perhaps 10 or 11-years-old. I was sitting at the table with my vast number of relations and asked for the ‘chicken kebabs’. In my traumatised recollection of the event, it was as if the whole room became silent and all...
With all the security checks, immigration lines and airline budget cutbacks, it’s very much the thing to complain about air travel. But Nat still thinks it’s better than any of the alternatives.
