There may not be a disease out there in this bacterial breeding ground that is our world whose virulence and sheer nastiness causes more distress than Rabies.

Much as a mother may favour the least- freckled of her red-headed children, so the residents of Chiang Mai hold a certain affection for the month of March.

All of Thailand may be a stage — to paraphrase and completely butcher Shakespeare’s metaphor — but very few of us are actually players.