A sign at a pharmacy (chemist) at River City Shopping Center in Bangkok. In Thailand, prescription drugs can be purchased over-the-counter.

Dispatch from Hong Kong: Odds and Ends
November 19, 2001

Like the Bangkok subway and Singapore subway , the Hong Kong subway will soon have platform doors. These will prevent accidents, make it easier to cool the stations, and stop chemical agents from spreading from station to station in the event of a terror attack.
(BTW: Good unofficial Singapore subway info is here. Also see the new tall building planned for Hong Kong--it is being developed by the subway company.)

Blast from the Past: The End of the Western Cemetery
November 12, 2001

Early one Sunday morning in January, 2000 I was on the Chong Nonsi Skytrain station and noticed workers "removing" the Western Cemetery in downtown Bangkok. Bones, clothes, and wooden coffins were being burned and the headstones were being broken up. Oh well, this world is for the living. How many of us even know where our great-grandparents are buried--much less go and visit the graves? Interestingly, this is similar to my home state of Indiana, where whoever owns the land a cemetery resides on also owns the stones and bodies buried on them and can dispose of them in any way they want.
Update: My mother emailed me to say the facts concerning Indiana are WRONG, but I got the Indiana cemetery info from an online article in the Indianapolis Star. Unfortunately, their archives are "off-line for restructuring," but as soon as they are up, I'll try to track down the relevant article.

Kao Seng and beyond
November 5, 2001

At the south end of the beautiful beach in Songkhla is an ancient Muslim fishing village and an outcropping of rock. The rock formation is topped by Kao Seng, a weather-beaten boulder perched on a ledge over the sea.

Local legend has it that for some reason a rich merchant placed 900,000 baht under the rock. Only the merchant's true heir (thaiyat) will be able to push the stone off the ledge and retrieve the cash (somewhat like the sword in the stone). I have also been told that, in the past, the rock was called Kao San (which means "900,000 baht" in Thai). Every teenager growing up in the area will eventually climb up to the rock to try to push it off.

South beyond this point is mile after mile of empty beach covered with the flotsam of fishermen (netting, fishing line, beer bottles, shucked shellfish, and styrofoam). As you near Pattani, the beaches become cleaner and the population is predominantly Muslim.