Just another day in Paradise, with a few more to go here in Phuket. We had another great dinner last night, but the Thai spices are hard on my digestive system. I think I’m ready for a steak, but instead it looks like Italian tonight. My wife is making the reservation as I write. I sometimes think that the first thing she thinks of every morning is where our next meal will be, while I’m contemplating another “Tums for the Tummy.” A run will help, so as soon as she gets ready we’ll take a stroll by the beach and around the lagoon. Swamp does not seem like the appropriate term for Paradise, but it did have a stinky, damp smell. We did not see any strange creatures, just a pack of black dogs romping on the beach.

There were no thunderstorms yesterday, unlike our narrow escapes from heavy afternoon rains the previous two days. We spent the day at the pool, and I have the skin color to prove it. “Red Man,” my wife called me last night, despite the use of a 30 sun screen. I did run back and forth to the Renaissance to watch the game in the morning, but other than that I spent about 6-hours on my back reading the Girl of Venice – in and out of the pool to cool-off. This morning I’m already quite sweaty after 4 miles of hot, steamy roadwork. My wife, of course, had to stop and read a restaurant menu. We did find a third Marriott property along the main road, just beyond Micky Monkey Beach and the Renaissance. Maybe the beach got its unusual name because there’s a full-sized flying trapeze and a school where they teach the basic aerial arts? It does not have anything to do with Mickey Mouse.

Regular season Major League Baseball starts at just past 1 a.m. Phuket time. I doubt that I will see the opening pitch as I traditionally try to do. By the time I get up tomorrow morning, the full slate of Opening Day games will have been completed and the Sweet Sixteen will tip- off with Florida State playing Gonzaga at 6:09 a.m. Both Oregon vs. Virginia and Purdue vs. Tennessee follow. All three of these games will have a strong bearing on my bracket standings. Up until this point, I’ve been surprisingly competitive in both friendly pools, with pride more than money at stake.

It will be in the 90’s again today with rain later tonight. It’s time to head to the pool with a new book, Swimming Lessons, and a quick dip wash off some of this lagoon odor. My cousin is meeting us for drinks at 3 this afternoon after his Thai language class. Maybe he’ll teach me a few new words besides Wat (Temple), Nahm (Water), and Hong (Room). Put two of these together and you get Toilet or Water Room. The Temple throne is inside. Outside is simply Paradise.