Entering the New Year with a Smile

"Happy New Year! And I hope you enter with a smile!" I welcomed a lot of my friends and family into 2019(2562 in Thailand) this way. Do you believe that the way we enter a new year determines the setting and story for that following year? I haven't come to any conclusions about this myself. I'm still experimenting with having entered the new year with a smile.

And what would a smile be without good friends to share it with? I celebrated my second new year's eve here at the same place. It's the restaurant of a friend I made here. His name is Num, so I call him Pi Num. Pi is the word for older brothers and sisters in Thai. You refer to those who are older than you by Pi(พี่) followed by their name. The same culture exists in Turkey as well but it's a bit more relaxed in Asia Minor.

With my Turkish older brothers and sisters, the word(seperated into male and female words ağabey and abla) isn't often used when the age gap is only a couple of years. It can be but here in Thailand it's almost always used even when the age gap is by one year.

The word Num (หนุ่ม) means young or youth. And it's an excellent word that suits Pi Num very well. We just celebrated his 49th birthday a couple months ago yet he is ageless. He is often happy, drinks like a fish, and hangs out with all ages. 

The story of how we met is interesting. I was living in Phattalung which is the next province north of Songkla (Hatyai is the economic capital of Songkla). And Phattalung didn't have an immigration office so we were routed to go to Satun province's office. And there are no bus lines between Phattalung and Satun. So anybody wishing to travel in between the two provinces need to transfer through Hatyai. This is the case for most provinces with smaller populations surrounding Hatyai. Anytime I had to go to Penang, too, Hatyai would be the first destination to reach. And so I was transiting through Hatyai quite regularly. 

One night I was getting back to Phattalung from Penang. It was dark out and I had thirty minutes to eat. I found Pi Num's kitchen and sat down to eat a bowl of seafood noodles. I ate quickly and chatted with him in between bites. Then I raced back to the bus station down the block to catch my bus. And so anytime I would be transiting through Hatyai, I would always eat at this restaurant near the station. I remember visiting the place a handful of times before actually moving to Hatyai.

Once I moved here, I visited again and again. This time I chat longer with Pi Num who sat peeling Sato (สตอ). Eventually we began hanging out. 

One interesting piece of angelic information is that the numbers 44 are the numbers of the unit exactly across the street from the restaurant. I noticed this long after I moved here. The numbers 44 represent the presence of Angels among us. And with the interesting story of how I discovered this place, maybe it was an angel who guided me there. 

An angel continues to guide me there as often as the opportunity comes up. And more angels continue to remind me to smile this year. Thailand is often called the Land of Smiles but I'd like to call it the School of Smiles. 

This is taken from NYE. Di(far left) and his punk-rock posse were about to go to a concert.

We took snapshots with them before they went off.

This is the restaurant Num's Kitchen (ครัวคุณหนุ่ม) .

This is from Pi Num's birthday in November.