When I first arrived in Thailand several years ago, a number of people warned me about a certain dangerous lizard.  The tukay (or “tokay”) lizard, they told me, has a lock-jaw so if it bites you it is unable to let go, and you will need to have it surgically removed.  For quite some time, I never saw this creature and began to wonder if the tukay was just a big joke to scary new missionaries.  These were the days before you could just “google it” so I lived in uncertainty about the tukay for quite some time.  But then I caught a glimpse of one in the shadows behind a refrigerator and became a believer.  Not long there after, I was surprised by one scurrying over the doorframe of a darkened bathroom as I walked into it.  Concerned that it was a dangerous creature, I recruited a friend (another new missionary) to help me get rid of it.  With a large Super Soaker water gun, we blasted it off the wall, across the tile floor, out the backdoor, and off the balcony.  The tukay plummeted four stories and landed with a thud on the corrugated tin roof of the kitchen unit on the ground floor.

Our our recent vacation, Karl & Joshua went to a nearby science park where they had a fun dinosaur garden for the kids.  I don't know if they were supposed to be ridden but we did.  Here's some pictures.

 

 

One of the more colorful aspects of living in Thailand is geckos.  On our walls. On our ceiling.  On our table.  Scurrying across the floors.  Converging upon the porch light in hopes of getting some yummy bugs for dinner.  However, geckos seem to have an uncanny ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, meeting some rather horrible deaths.   I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have opened up a door or window only to see a dried up, quite flat, gecko skeleton fall out of the space between the window/door and the frame.  Apparently when I had been closing up the house at some point, a poor little gecko didn’t move in time before getting caught in between a closing window/door and the frame.  Normally, geckos are extremely quick but unlike flies, they don’t have those compound eyes to anticipate what’s coming from behind them.  So, they get squished.  Regularly.  In anyone were to do some research, I wouldn’t be surprised to find “squished in door frame” to be one of the top causes of gecko death.

I am convinced that I no matter how long I live in Thailand, I will continue to run into strange new creatures that I have never seen before.  The other day when I was bringing groceries into the kitchen, I saw on the floor what looked like a scorpion.  However, on closer inspection, it didn't have the telling scorpion-tale but rather a long needle tail.  I got down on the floor to take some pictures, hoping it was not too dangerous.  Eventually I scooped it up in a dustpan and threw it out the front door, not wanting to upset nature lovers who were saddened by my blog about killing the snake that got into our house.  Today, I learned from a fellow missionary that my scorpion wanna-be is actually a vinegar bug.  It has a better sounding name in Spanish, but my friend could not recall what the name was.  Apparently, the long needle on the rear of the bug shoots out a smelly vinegar type spray when the bug is upset or scared.  Fortunately, getting scooped into the dustbin was not disturbing enough to get shot with vinegar.

 

I am beginning to think that I should just look at run-ins with snakes as part of life here. Sun had just finished some language study and left her notebook and MP3 player on the desk in our office/guest room while I finished bringing some laundry in from outside. Leaving the reading lamp on the desk turned on, Sun and Joshua went across the street to the community center where there are some exercise machines and neighbors to talk to. I went into the office to finally do some reading for language study and catch up on email. Walking up to the desk, I jumped back in fright at the sight of a snake sunning itself under our reading lamp. The snake then quickly slithered off with a start, likely just as surprised as I was.