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Captain Ahab: The Man Who Brought Us Lizard Salad
Yesterday provided a chance encounter with a local character which has forever changed our culinary lives. WE HAVE EATEN LIZARD, SOME KIND OF IGUANA. Specifically, this kind of iguana, although it might have been a blue-colored one since those are apparently bigger and tastier. There are so many things I want to say about this experience, it’s all just a jumble in my mind right now… I think I’ll tackle the explanation chronologically. So yesterday, Nam and I were in front of our house taking photos. I set up a tripod in front of the pond and we started taking a long series of shots in the hot sun. Along…
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Is MeFi being blocked in Thailand?
I noticed this first a few weeks ago; at that time I read somewhere on the Thai Visa forums that TTT was blaming YouTube viewing difficulties on a broken optical trunk and figured it might be the same reason. YouTube has been back up for a while, though, and MetaFilter is still down. I can view it by using proxies, so it isn’t a huge problem for me, but I wonder if it’s really being blocked, and for how long? (and as a side note, I wonder if this thread had anything to do with it?) Anyway, the reason I was trying to visit there today was to see the…
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Ford Escort Mk1 1300 De Luxe
I took a few photos of Nam’s uncle’s Escort this morning. It’s from around 1971 or so; check out my favorite features including the “dogbone” front grill, the recycled 1500cc Nissan engine, and transplanted (Toyota + Mitsu???) steering/dash/gauge assembly with permanently lit “TURBO” indicator. (Oh also – this is not the Escort we had in the US from the 80’s, it’s the European model.) The absolute coolest thing about this car is that even though I can’t find online records of these early Escorts being assembled in Thailand, the VIN plate clearly states it was so:
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Isan News Update
It has been raining the past week, which is a rather curious development for this area this time of year. In fact, there was a pretty serious storm a couple nights ago and it rained fairly hard last night as well. The huge tract of land (future housing lots) behind our house has been filled in with shallow ponds (kind of returning it to its natural status of swamp, except elevated a couple meters with fill dirt), from which many noisy amphibians have emerged. This sudden spate of precipitation is in stark contrast to the first year I lived here, when I saw no real rain from October 2006 all…
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Ancient Photo Generator
Use this ancient photo generator (in JP, but a cinch to use) to give your photos that certain Edo look. Here’s the results using a photo of the plot where we built our house from my post the other day:
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Nailed twice
Couldn’t find the original source for this one, but it earned a place here for giving me a good laugh: My dad’s Shih Tzu would hump on command: Jak! Humpy-humpy! It was awesome. (thx to FBO for the pic)
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Al Jaffee for President
If you were ever a fan of Mad magazine, you must check this out: Al Jaffee’s fold-ins for Mad magazine, from the 1960s to the present, in interactive form. //////////////// // //////////////// (Need a login for the NYT site?)
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Why you never question a drunk
Via osaka bill: I was shopping at the local supermarket where I selected: a half-gallon of 2% milk, a carton of eggs, a quart of orange juice, a head of romaine lettuce, a 2 lb. can of coffee, and a 1 lb. package of bacon. As I was unloading my items on the conveyor belt to check out, a drunk standing behind me watched as I placed the items in front of the cashier. While the cashier was ringing up the purchases, the drunk calmly stated, “You must be single.” I was a bit startled by this proclamation, but I was intrigued by the derelict’s intuition, since I was indeed…
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Thai Baby CM
“Accept no imitations…”
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Our New Thai House Part 1 – Picking a Plot
I’ve put off posting proper photos of our new house since we decided to build it, that is, for the better part of a year. What can I say? We were busy getting it finished (this is a home builder’s joke – a new house is never finished). Getting this house built took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears… We really honed our powers of persuasion, pleading, and cajoling. I learned how to effectively threaten someone in Thai, and Nam learned that being visibly pregnant is a great way to have people do things for you. We both learned that government officials in charge of the positioning of power…
