They drive on the left in Thailand. They, of course, are very good at it.

My brain, however, is not very good at adjusting. Fortunately, I’m not driving anywhere, only riding. The what-side-of-the-road part of culture has been baked in since I was very young, I’m sure well before driving. It affects our thinking in many ways, not just driving.

Walking on the sidewalk, for example. You could tell if it was a Thai person walking toward you as they drifted to your right as they walked towards you. Americans and others would drift to your left. Given the narrowness of the sidewalks, it was something you had to pay attention to.

The lights were beautiful over the city. The city that didn’t sleep. The city that would be the death of me.

Ok, not really. And that would be the bad start of a good story. Still, the lights were beautiful.

I’ve always loved stouts. Ever since someone introduced me to Guinness years ago, it has been my go to beer choice. The only exception the occasional lighter lager-type that I drink on hot days or when I am splitting a beer with my mother-in-law.

I’ve never been a hoppy beer fan and am glad that trend has passed. The deep flavors of a stout are delightful.

Also long ago, someone handed me an Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. Mmmmm. I also found TenFiddy, another good one.

This one came from Bangkok. It was a homebrew and was excellent. The chocolate wasn’t overwhelming and the beer flavor came through. I hope to enjoy it again someday, but that seems unlikely.

My daughter’s wedding had music afterwards as they ramped up to the reception. I wasn’t really noticing the music until Free Bird came on. WTF?

I expected to be listening to young peoples music all night, but there was a surprising amount of classic Rock. This continued into the after-party at some hip bar with a real DJ, although there they started mixing in classic disco.

It could be that the DJ was just seeing what people were reacting to as us old farts weren’t dancing. After a dozen songs (or partial songs), they segued into modern dance music. At least presume it was modern as I didn’t recognize any of it. The younger crew were all dancing so it must have been good stuff.

Yes, I had McDonalds on the trip. While the flavors were a tiny bit different, it was clearly a McDonald’s burger.

And before you get too snooty about going to Thailand and getting McDonald’s consider if someone from Thailand visited the US and, after being there two weeks, asks if there are any Thai restaurants around. We wouldn’t think twice about helping them.

I think the local variations of the menu are interesting. Here, there was a lot of pork on the menu. And there wasn’t any plain hamburgers. The sauces looked interesting, too.