T.I.T. Podcast Episode 58: A Siamese Summer!

• Welcome to episode 58
• A summer in Siam
• From Siam to Thailand…a brief history
• On enjoying the summer
• Being in Bangkok feels like a vacation
• Movies and more movies
• Back to the gym!
• Tom’s holiday insomnia
• Have always been more nocturnal anyway
• River cruises and costumes
• Getting to old to greet the dawn
• A 10 year reunion
• The same faces with a few more lines
• Fond memories and food
• Thais and Japanese food
• A culture of eating out and why?
• Thai restaurants in the States and abroad
• There are 2 Thai restaurants in my hometown
• Waiting tables at the Thai House
• Tom got a condo in Pattaya from Craiglist.com
• Good deal for a balcony with a sea view
• Facebook woes and thoughts
• Sarah Palin is just a loon!
• She’s like a squeaking dog toy or dripping faucet
• Why she bothers Tom so very much?
• Arrogant ignorance with a sprinkle of narcissism
• On claiming to speak for everyone when we hate you!
• On a brighter note…Tom finally got a new voice mail
• A voicemail from Jens in Munich
• Germany is on my list of must visits
• Email from our long lost Forrest of the Lonely Ice Floe.com
• Tom is excited that Forrest and Jay are coming to Thailand!
• Comments from LM and Andrea
• Mark suggests a Radish cake?  J
• Huge shout out to Dylan…a new listener!
• Lurve to all my listeners!
• Tom begs for more comments
• The usual rambling closing remarks

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T.I.T. Podcast Episode 57: No Cake This Year Please!

• Welcome to episode 57
• Yet another podcast from ‘Issarn’
• The 9 hour journey to the NorthEast of Thailand
• Avoiding the rain during Monsoon season
• Being beyond tired just from sitting for hours
• A post birthday show
• Thanks sooooo much for all the well wishes!
• Facebook is amazing
• What did Tom do for his birthday?
• Summer break as a gift this year
• A 5-star cinema experience for Prince of Persia
• A Bangkok must do!
• Birthday dinner ‘faux pas’
• Joined the gym….again!
• Tom has just lost it….or at least that is how I feel!
• a long struggle with the weight issues
• on a lighter note….Pride month in the US
• Pride in Thailand is in October
• Tom and gay pride
• Tom’s own coming out story
• Coming out to my folks from abroad
• Not an easy road, but better for it today
• The World cup frenzy in Thailand
• Tom doesn’t care for most sports
• Soccer vs. football
• World cup dispute prompts axe murder
• The myth of the gentle Thai
• Sudden intense outbursts of anger
• Lack of self control and rules of war
• Thai rules is about 20 vs. 1
• If in doubt….always walk away!
• Interesting discussion on the way to Issarn
• Feeling more alien the longer I’m here
• More intense outside of Bangkok
• Integration not possible in Thailand
• Why not move home??
• Life would be easier if I were British or Australian
• Life in purgatory
• Making lemonade when life gives you limes!
• Go check out Tigger’s new vidcasts
• Check out Cocktails and Creampuffs!
• Lurve to my listeners!
• The usual rambling closing remarks

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T.I.T. Podcast Episode 56: Hot Fun in the SummerTime

• Welcome to episode 56
• A Sunday morning in Bangkok
• Personal catch up episode
• Hooray! No more weekends in Rayong
• Almost summer break
• No down time at all
• More activities than teaching
• Tom’s summer plans
• Someone has a birthday coming up soon!
• I like birthdays less and less the more I have them
• Last birthday was atop Central World
• A friend’s 40^th
• Brits and their ‘theme’ parties
• The World cup just isn’t Tom’s thing
• Just don’t enjoy sports…never have
• American College football being the exception
• More fast paced in my opinion
• A visit to Chang Mai?
• The Rose of the north
• Different dialect of Thai spoken
• Different ethnicity evident….more Chinese influence
• Doi Intanon, the highest peak in Thailand
• Stunning beauty in rolling mountains
• Mountains vs. beaches in Thailand
• The summers of my youth
• Family vacations = mountains or beaches
• Always big ‘to dos’ in my family
• No big travel plans this summer though
• Moving expenses are HUGE here!
• Pattaya bound for sure
• Hopefully only one more year there
• New room, new class, new neighborhood
• Not much of a peep out of the RedShirts
• The calm after the storm
• Considering doing an episode on Thai flaws
• Tom doesn’t like to ruffle feathers
• Fundamental flaws in Thai culture keep it down
• Do I keep quite or speak up cause I care….
• A video link from my friend Ken
• Hello to a new listeners: Tom, and Arizona Chris
• Go check out Tigger’s new vidcasts
• Rambling closing remarks

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T.I.T. Podcast Episode 55: We Come in Peace!!!

• Welcome to a very somber episode of the T.I.T. cast
• First of all I’m Safe and a HUGE thanks for all the concern
• Sadly to say….Tom was hugely mistaken
• Thailand’s Darkest hour
• The quite after the storm
• On being speechless in the face of disaster
• Arson and looting depicted on TV not random violence
• Premeditated destruction
• More like a cult than a political movement
• Hundreds of I.D. cards found in sewers below former camp
• Stockholm syndrome/indoctrination of hatred
• Will try to collect some photos and put them up
• So close to home yet so surreal…is this really happening?
• Watching from afar and building paranoia
• My “adventure” in getting back to Bangkok Friday the 21^st
• I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again…Thai police are useless!
• Bangkok owes the soldiers a great debt
• Misrepresentation on CNN and BBC
• Why not hire staff that speak Thai…understand the culture?
• Not a battle between Rich and Poor!
• Excellent blog article from a Thai that explains the situation
• Huge arsenal of weapons found at the Temple next to the camp
• Bad feeling that this is far from over…
• The man behind the chaos
• Spotted last Wed. traveling under different name in Paris!
• Denials in English vs. feeding the flames in Thai
• Leaders spent 2 months preaching hate
• Many videos ordering followers to burn the city to the ground
• Stores and shops in the area robbed and looted before burned
• City still under curfew, but supposed to lift tomorrow evening
• Property damaged extensively in my neighborhood
• The Thai spirit is hard to beat
• Voicemail from Sean that moved Tom to tears
• heart warming encouragement from Facebook
• Rambling closing remarks

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Thailand’s Darkest Hour…

Hey guys!  I know it has been ages, but I thought I should at least sit down and write a bit down tonight and share with you…at least in writing.  The tragic events have transpired on the past few weeks culminated today with the leaders of the protest/terrorist/cult surrendering to the security forces after holding the commercial heart of Bangkok hostage for the better part of 2 months.  The Thai army initiated a massive operation this morning to take back the area rolling over the makeshift barricades with armored personnel carriers.  They engaged the militant arm of the protesters and effectively pushed them back towards the heart of the staging area, where the leaders where finally apprehended and removed from the city entirely.  Then, to put it simply….the remaining protesters then divided up into two groups.  One group seemed relieved to be liberated and the government proceeded to enable them to return to their homes in the provinces.  However, the militant/terrorist side of the group went absolutely berserk with anger and proceeded to demolish, loot, destroy and torch EVERYTHING in the surrounding area.  Firefighters were prohibited from entering the area by armed gunmen and thusly some of the fires burned uncontrollably and raged far out of control.  I just came across an excellent up close video of Central World shopping, the 2nd biggest shopping center in Asia, center as the fires just started to get out of control and thought i would share them with you.  I find it personally disturbing as our condo is just a bit down the road from here, but the reports i’m getting is that our place there is safe….thus far.  Anyway, just wanted to check in with all you guys and let you know I’m safe.  I’m extremely thankful for the first time in many months that I’m miles away from Bangkok now, but my heart and prayers are definitely with everyone i know and love there in the Big Mango.  I”m going to try my best to get my thoughts together and sit down to do a proper podcast episode in the next couple of days and in closing, if you’ve a spare moment in your day….please say a little prayer for the wounded both in body and mind.  The healing process will take a long time.

T.I.T. Podcast Episode 54: A City Under Seige

• Welcome to episode 54
• Bad news from the Land of Smiles
• Red shirt protests turn violent
• 20 dead and over 800 injured
• Tear gas, molotov cocktails, rubber bullets, Bamboo clubs
• Extreme violence from anti-government protestors
• stolen riot gear and body snatching
• They set up shop in my backyard on the 3rd
• worst violence in high tourist areas
• Khao San Road became a war zone
• Tourist caught in the middle
• Tom’s experience yesterday afternoon
• situation started to look grim
• BTS sky train shuts down for 1st time 10 years
• Surprised at lack of coverage on CNN and BBC
• Leaving the city Tuesday for Hong Kong
• Always wanted to visit
• Why do we buy Lonely Planet guide books?
• Tourist sights i want to see…
• Disney here i come….special thanks to Joe!!!
• Computer crashed….AGAIN!
• Why oh why didn’t I back up my files
• shout out to Walter from Austria
• How I podcast….
• Moving to Pattaya update for Taylor
• heart warming encouragement from Facebook
• Rambling closing remarks and lurve for Joe!

Email me at tominthai@gmail.com, please go Comment on my page or call my voice line at 1-206-426-2152 and leave me a voice comment for the show!

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T.I.T. Podcast Episode 53: The Red Storm in a Tea Cup…

Goooooood morning, afternoon, evening and night depending on where and when in the world you happen to stop by and read this.  Firstly, I realize that it has been ages and ages since I did a T.I.T. cast and I’m really sorry to have kept you guys waiting for so long.  Secondly, I decided to sit down today and try my best to rattle off a podcast without any show notes, so if this episode ends up sucking then big sorrys again.  I catch myself rambling on a bit, a few times as i went through the episode but i was trying to cover so much information in a very limited time frame.  Anyways, hope you guys enjoy and will try to be more organized with notes and such next week!  IN the meantime, i wanna send out much MUCH love from the “Big Mango!”  Enjoy!!!!  P.S. Ignore the episode number in the artwork….it was a bit of a mistake!

Email me at tominthai@gmail.com, please go Comment on my page or call my voice line at 1-206-426-2152 and leave me a voice comment for the show!

Download Tom in Thailand: Click Here | The Freak Network | The RainbowPodSquad

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T.I.T. Podcast Episode 52: Live From Issan…

• Welcome to episode 52
• Tom’s visiting Udon Thani this weekend
• On a much needed break
• Insane activity schedules at work
• Burn out
• Shop talk:  accreditation malarkey
• Minor car trouble
• “Free flight” to Udon
• What is Issan?
• Issan sometimes gets a bad rap in Thailand
• Thais are so classist
• Monday is another National Holiday
• What is “Makha Bucha” day?
• Embassies jumped the gun yesterday with travel warnings
• Ex-Premier’s court date yesterday
• Thai Supreme Court seized 46 billion baht (1.4 billion dollars)
• Tom wonders what they will do with seized billion?
• A few ideas that I doubt will transpire
• I wish Thailand could put this wanna be dictator behind them
• Tom has done a little Pattaya exploring
• A lot more developed than I remember
• Saw the Wolfman movie there
• Surreal moment coming back over the mountain
• I wish there were more of those “moments” in life
• Comments and more comments
• Taylor, Ernest, and who is Little Bit!
• Email from a listener…Hey Brendan!
• Facebook friends
• Rambling closing remarks and lurve

Email me at tominthai@gmail.com, please go Comment on my page or call my voice line at 1-206-426-2152 and leave me a voice comment for the show!

Download Tom in Thailand: Click Here | The Freak Network | The RainbowPodSquad

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T.I.T. Podcast Episode 51: Is This My Year?

• Welcome to episode 51
• Tom’s got a cold
• V-day and Chinese New Year in Thailand
• Valentine’s day is cute
• An ode to love
• Love doesn’t always translate
• What is your concept of love?
• Love should never “complete” you
• not a good cure for loneliness
• How open are you with your heart?
• Happy lunar New year!
• Chinese New Year definitely trumps Valentines
• Tom is a tiger….grrrrr!
• Discovered his students really are monkeys!
• The Chinese descend on Bangkok to party
• To hot and crowded for Tom
• Looking more like another year in the countryside
• The nearest “city” Tom is considering
• A 30 minute commute?
• Pattaya here Tom comes…
• Summer gears up in Thailand
• Comments and emails from my listeners
• (Sorry Taylor…only got your comment after i’d recorded the show)
• FB wars over games?
• Rambling closing remarks and lurve

Email me at tominthai@gmail.com, please go Comment on my page or call my voice line at 1-206-426-2152 and leave me a voice comment for the show!

Download Tom in Thailand: Click Here | The Freak Network | The RainbowPodSquad

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T.I.T. Podcast Episode 50: No Place Like Home…

• Welcome to episode 50
• Apologies for the absence
• Being busy when you thought you wouldn’t…
• Meetings and more meetings
• Tom’s Alabama Christmas
• Cold and wet
• Comforts of home
• Food, food and FOOD!
• Christmas shopping rage…
• Picking up where we left off
• Bonding with my sister
• How much alike we are
• A Thai’s take on Bama
• A week is to short
• Getting to meet my nephew
• The smallest male in the family
• Mexican margaritas and getting carded
• Nights by the fire with red wine
• Jet Lag and ancient flight attendants
• Between a baby and a fat man
• Wishing things were different
• Scammed right off the plane
• What else can go wrong…
• Moving 2 doors down
• Next stop……Hong Kong?
• Hello new Facebook friends and Tigger!!!
• Finally got me some Taylor on FB
• A new year and a new decade
• 10 years in Thailand
• Post holiday blues
• Another Year in Rayong?
• Encouragement from Facebook
• Rambling closing remarks and lurve

Email me at tominthai@gmail.com, please go Comment on my page or call my voice line at 1-206-337-9958 and leave me a voice comment for the show!

Download Tom in Thailand: Click Here | The Freak Network | The RainbowPodSquad

Subscribe to Tom in Thailand in Itunes: Click here