One of the 24 rides I picked up and delivered today was Thongtod.  I was truly inspired by Thongtod, a young college student from Thailand who attends Boston University.

Back in 1977 I backpacked through Thailand… hiked up in Chang Mai which is in the North of Thailand where I went up to hike with the Hill Tribes who grow Poppy and sell to make Opium… There was an Opium war at the time with neighboring Burma now called Myanmar so there was a bit of danger here and you could hear gun fire as we hiked… my guide needed to carry a Magnum 357, just in case we ran into trouble… not sure that would have helped though… so, I was very happy to chat with Thongtod.

I was inspired by Thongtod because he was at BU to get a degree in Technology.  Thongtod lives in Bangkok but, his family has a Shrimp farm outside the city.  Shrimp farming is an aquaculture business that exists in either a marine or freshwater environment, producing shrimp or prawns^[Note1 for human consumption.

I asked Thongtod if he will stay here and take a tech job after college or go home… he plans to go home and work on the farm… But what about the Tech degree? I asked.  With a big smile Thongtod says he will bring the technology back to the farming business.  Right now they have to sell their shrimp to middlemen who distribute them all over the world… including here in the US.  He says the technology will help with marketing, eliminate the middlemen and grow their business… This is what I love to hear from young people and he soooo inspired me!  I need to go back to Thailand someday.