The Honorary Royal Thai Consul in Kansas City (yes, would you believe there is one here?) is an outgoing and intense middle-aged woman with strawberry blond hair.  When I arrived at the Consulate, I discovered that it is an ordinary suburban Johnson Country house near 103rd Street and Mission Road in Leawood.  The only thing distinguishing it as a Thai Consulate was the Thai flag (below the US flag but above the Kansas flag) and the Royal Government crest hanging near the front porch.

When I rang the doorbell, the Consul popped her head around the door and invited me in, explaining that there was a bit of a crowd inside.  The crowd was composed of her five strawberry blond children ranging from two in diapers to perhaps six or seven years old, and a docile golden retriever who also seemed strawberry blond in color.

The process of getting my non-immigrant business visa for the next year took all of five minutes and the Consul worked at a standing desk in the living room which contained her official government stamps and logs.  She reviewed my application while shooing the children from the living room and apologizing for one’s stinky diaper. 

On the wall over the sofa were portraits of His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen.  A statue of a traditional Thai angel sat on the desk and the third wall had framed copies of the royal decrees proclaiming her to be a consul, all signed by the King.

Curious, I tried to broach the subject of how she had become an Honorary Consul.  She answered, vaguely, that she has been doing business in Thailand for many years and knows the royal family.  As she finished preparing the visa, she asked whether I had seen the King recently (on the television at the recent ceremony to install the new giant swing in front of Khrungthep’s city hall) and how did he look (pretty well, given that he is eighty this December).  She enquired after the Queen and the Crown Prince as well, which was funny because she asked in a way that made it sound like perhaps I ran into them on a regular basis.

In less than ten minutes I had my visa and was on my way, a much easier and more interesting process than if I had FedEx’ed my passport and application to the Houston Consulate.