Page 27 - MN

27
Bigfoot Hits the Golf Mall
This morning the alarm woke me at 5:20 and I got up, put water in the hot water kettle, and cut myself a half of a danish I got yesterday at Nana Bakery. When I first came to Chiangmai, baked goods were pretty sketchy. Apparently asian people like bread that is soft, sweet, and has a soft crust. I, on the other hand, am hooked on French and Italian bread, anything with a thick crust.
Two big things have changed in Chiangmai over the years. There are coffee shops everywhere and we have some good bakeries. Nana is located about four miles from our house at a shopping center called Kad Falang. That translates as "foreigners' market". Nana has croissants, danish, baguettes, dark rolls and everything else I could desire. Yippee.
So I woke up, put on the hot water and ate the danish. I can't drink coffee before golf because I have prostate cancer. Diagnosed 15 years ago and I went through the operation and then radiation when they found the operation didn't get it all. Exciting, right? Getting to hear an old fart talk about medical problems?
Wait, there's more!
For 15 years I've taken hormone shots to reduce testosterone, which carries the cancer. Every three months I get an expensive shot and as a bonus prize I get to lose body hair (I don't hang out in locker rooms), have hot flashes (Never, ever think a woman is exaggerating when she complains about them. Hot flashes suck), and, wait for it, mood swings.
I had mood swings before the shots. Ask any woman I've ever been with. Ask anyone I've played golf with. Ask anyone who's seen me after a bad show. I can go dark, and it's not pretty.
Digress much? Hell yes, I was talking about my morning wasn't I. So I put on two shirts and a sweat shirt, and head out into 15 degree darkness for a solitary round of golf. By the second hole the sun will be rising. I'm enthused, because yesterday at the range I found if I make a fuller turn on my backswing I can find an extra ten yards. I can't wait.
North Hills is a short drive and I pull up to the front entrance to drop off my bag. I park the car and put on my new golf shoes. There are no size twelves in all of Chiangmai, so I had to go on a family trip to Bangkok to find some. Jintana, a Buddhist, works at a Christian University and that's kind of weird but Thai people are much less strident about these things. The university has connections with a Christian hotel in Bangkok so we stay there when we go down. There are Bibles in