• Bangkok police wearing smiley masks to make delivery of the requisite Thai smile that much easier – " The new cloth masks, which hook behind the ears and cover the mouth and nose, will help “reduce the stress from drivers when they see the police,” said Mr. Somyos, the highway police commander. To that end, he said, some 200 police booths would also distribute small bottles of holy water, chewing gum and mints."
• Why is Dora crying? – Ridiculously manipulative full-page ad run by Viacom as they drew towards the deadline for a fee renegotiation with Time-Warner. Looks like (big surprise) they struck a deal.

Photos from my various travels depicting global cultural variations of the fundamental person icon.

Bali, Indonesia. They’re some pretty small people, so why does that first person seem so hulking and Cro-Magnon-y?

Taipei, Taiwan. Note the hip chapeau the stroller is sporting, and the protective headgear (?) worn by the worker.

London, UK. This fellow toils as above, but without the benefit of a helmet. Less chance of sunburn, maybe?

Tokyo, Japan. The Japanese cute aesthetic shows up in the large head and even larger cigarette.

Bangkok, Thailand. Who takes care of children?

Providence, RI, USA. Not just walking, but actively moving forward, dancing, and exuding joie de vivre.

And Karrie Jacobs has a nice example here.

I’ve finished uploading more than 200285 photos from Bangkok to flickr. Check ’em all out, but here are a few samples

It’s butter

Ronald does the wai

Crockery Flower

Detail: Shrine at a shrine at a temple

Working Boat

Thai Coke

Reserved for monks

Monk awaits

Soi Cowboy

Big Bowling Pin

Reindeer pair

Insane Thai beaten to death for destroying sacred Hindu shrine

A 27-year-old mentally disturbed Thai man was beaten to death by enraged onlookers at a world-famous shrine in downtown Bangkok after he destroyed a popular statue of a Hindu deity with a hammer, police said.

Thanakorn Pakdeepol, who police said had a history of mental illness, was killed after he broke into the Erawan Shrine and used a hammer to shatter a four-headed statue of Brahma covered in gold. Thousands of Thais and tourists seek good fortune at the statue every day.

We were just there in January. Here’s our pics.

I’ve begun to post pictures from Bangkok to flickr – there are tons more to come, but the set is beginning to accumulate some mass, so go check it out!

Hey, Anne’s got a flickr account!

Arun Wat, originally uploaded by Anneincal.

Hong Kong art museum, originally uploaded by Anneincal.

Excited to see a bit about Hong Kong in the travel section of today’s New York Times. Since we started planning our trip, there hasn’t been much coverage or advice of the places we’ll be going in January, as we travel to Bangalore where I’ll be speaking at the Easy6 conference. There are books and lots of web resources, but still always cool to see something in the Sunday paper as you plan a trip.

We’ll be going to
Hong Kong (obviously) for about 4 days
Bangkok very briefly
Bangalore for about 4 days
Mumbai for about 4 days

and then an unbelievable journey home – it’s just travel all the way back, we won’t be chunking it up as with the outbound portion. I can’t imagine how destroyed we will be upon our return!