Pak Tha, aliens, a bad back, and an end of year break

See you on the other side

Hi everyone!

As you may (or may not have!) noticed, I haven’t sent out a Couchfish in two weeks, and this is just a quick note to let you know Couchfish will be returning in early January.

I’m still having a lot of problems with my back and spending more time horizontal than vertical. While it is possible for me to type while laying down, I tend to just sleep or watch garbage on Netflix. On the topic of streaming garbage, this morning I watched Beyond Skyline, and just as a spacecraft full of brain-eating aliens was about to crash into earth, subtitles popped up noting the location as being Pak Tha in Laos!

About as close to an alien as I saw in Pak Tha. Photo: Stuart McDonald.

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According to the Wikipedia write-up, the closest to Laos they actually got in the filming was Yogyakarta and Batam, but I’m baffled by the mention. Pak Tha otherwise plays no role in the actual plot (what plot there is), and while there is no way I’m going to watch it again to double-check, I’m pretty sure it is the only location mentioned in the entire film. I didn’t think I’d ever see Pak Tha get a mention on the silver screen, but there you go—miracles happen.

On the topic of miracles, here’s to very much hoping next year is better than this one.

If you’re looking for something else to read over the end of the year, take a look at Pawkhrua: A Chef’s Life in Thailand and Elsewhere. The post below had my feet itching to get back to Thailand’s north.

Lunch in Phrae

I wish you all a merry end of year stretch, thank you for your support and for reading Couchfish—I really appreciate it.

Best

Stuart

PS: I’m turning payments off today, so what that means is paying subscribers will have their billing paused till I kick things off again in January. Those with annual subscriptions will have the period added to their subscription.