Side note: I’ll never forget my first Thai funeral. It was in the North. I was living in Mae Hong Son province. One evening, while hanging out in what had become my regular restaurant, the owners of which had befriended me, this minor acquaintance asked me if I wanted to go to his sister’s funeral. I barely knew the guy and didn’t know he even had a sister, let alone that she had died. But I didn’t want to appear to be rude – new guy in town and all that – so I said yes, and he took me on his motorbike to a temple near the airport. (We were both wearing regular street clothes.) We go inside, and it’s a PARTY! The sister, who had died from some sort of liver disorder, was laid out in a coffin festooned with blinking Christmas lights (a common feature at Thai funerals – really). Drinking and games of chance was going on everywhere, in every nook and cranny. One group “let” me play this card game with them. They tried to show me how to play. They looked at my cards, told me how much to bet and which cards to discard. Then I lost. After two hands, I decided that was enough gambling. In fact, I began to suspect that my “easy mark” status may have been a prime motive behind my invitation. But no matter; I chugged a few with the “mourners” and then headed home. I think it went on for some days.