Tour de Soi ... Our apartment building is situated at the end of a very long, very narrow road that is called a "soi." Friend, I invite you to accompany me on a wondrous photo tour of my soi ... it's a very special soi and I think you will agree with me once you see all the wondrous sites and meet all the special people and doggies who make it such a hoot to walk down every day. Except when I'm running late and can't be bothered to notice anything or I end up hopping onto a motorcycle taxi and speed past everything on my way to the Sky Train. But other than that, it's wondrous, truly.

Above you will notice the cutest. dogs. ever. They are a pair of soi dogs who like to hang out by the giant pile of gravel that big scary machines dredge up from the khlong (or canal) we live on. All day the big scary machines dredge and rumble and big scary trucks come speeding down the soi to pick the gravel up and cart it away to one of the 23 million construction sites popping up all over Bangkok (yeah I counted). Walking up my special soi requires lots of split second, hair raising decisions as one encounters these trucks, various out-of-control motorcycles and giant sedan cars that like to play chicken with each other. And the occasional police beating of Indian immigrants, but that's another story for another time, no?