Today is what I call an auspicious day, for today is the day I pay homage to Frank.  I do this by riding my bike to Raman, where Frank was blown up.  As I cycle, I reflect on my life, and think of the ways that Frank has enriched my life .  As you may be aware I am not a religious person, but I do have a made up belief system, that is fairly malleable. In this system by making this homage to Frank, I will be absolved of all my sins, including, but not exclusive to, ******* that prostitute up the ***.

Many comments have be left here about how Frank came into my life, well let me tell you.

Several years ago, I think in 2012, I was touring around this general area and Frank was cycling north along the East Coast of Malaysia.  It was a very different time than it is now down here. There was a lot of bombings and killings going on.  I stayed at the C.S. Pattani Hotel, two days later it was bombed. I pass through Yaring, the next day two people are killed there. I pass through Mae Lan, and later that day two people are killed.  The building in which housed an internet café in Sungai Kolok which I had used in the past is bombed a couple days before I arrived in that city.  There was so much stuff happening here, and it felt so tense that I left the area and returned to Hat Yai, as I was concerned about my safety.

At some point in all of this I was in email contact with Frank.  I'm going to take a big guess here, but I believe I told him that it seems very dangerous here at the moment, and that I’m leaving, but if you come this way they have a brand new 7-Eleven in Raman, and you should stop there. Amazingly, Frank ended up at that 7-Eleven store in Raman, and as he was having a drink in front, a bomb went off in front of the Islamic Bank a few stores down, and thus, Frank was blown up.

On a subsequent trip, I passed through Raman, stopped at the 7-Eleven, and thought of Frank. And then came the most important decision in this entire saga, I decided to get some noodles at the restaurant next to the 7-Eleven.  It’s a Muslim owned shop so they don’t have pork, but they have chicken.  I got a bowl of the chicken noodle and oh my God! They were possibly the best noodles that I have ever had. There is a shop in Chiang Rai on the street with the Aeon Bank, that with their Khao Mok Gai gives a bowl of soup, that is the only competition to this place.

It has now been four consecutive years that I have gone to Ramen, to think of Frank, and to eat this bowl of noodles. Last year I contacted the International Organization for Migration (IOM).  They do a lot of work with refugees but they are also the group that certifies pilgrimage routes, such as 'El Camino Santiago' in Spain, or the ‘Shikoku Route' in Japan. My goal was to formalize a route to honor Frank. They were very supportive but they ultimately were unable to help as certification really requires more than one person having done the pilgrimage. Further, they requested a more permanent route, as each time I’ve arrived in Raman by different ways. Finally, they requested a certain number of waypoints along the finalized route, 'Stations of the Frank’ if you will, and it’s best if these stations have significance, such as Frank healed a baby at this spot, or maybe another spot Frank crossed a river without getting his feet wet.  The process will take time, but fortunately I have plenty of that.

Until the formalized process is complete, there is an interim homage process (I don’t want to call it a pilgrimage until I get IOM certification).  There are only three compulsory requirements: 1. It must be done by bicycle, 2. You must think of Frank, and 3. You must eat a bowl of soup afterwards.  Further, if you wish to lay flowers, the flower should pointed away from the point where the blast emanated (in front of the Islamic Bank); if you wish to sing a song for Frank, he liked early Beatles or later Kraftwerk; if you wish to leave a drink in Frank’s memory, be sure it is a latte.  

I cycled to Yala today.

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