Author: Justin

Monkey Time at Kosamphi Forest Park

A few weeks ago we decided to go out for a drive. It was time to take Max for his first visit to the monkey park in the nearby town of Kosum Phisai, so we put his car seat in the trusty old Kujira and were on our way. We took the Kujira instead of the Cefiro because:

  1. Monkeys are little bastards that scratch up cars for fun
  2. Max sleeps really well in the Crown with its worn suspension and lulling vibration
  3. It’s a proper cruising car!!

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Max spots some fellow monkeys!
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To a normal person, this might just look like a bunch of monkeys sitting in a row, but this sight reminded me of cruising by a red light district in Osaka at night where house after house had an old women standing in the doorway, beckoning passers by to come in (I suppose old women just remind me of monkeys).
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Check out the ghost reflection of the key in the ignition!
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In the rearview
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A discerning mommy wondering whether tthis sun-dried banana is organic or not (it is).
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This is why we took the old car.
The Kosamphi Monkey Center (AKA Kosamphi Forest Park, also spelled “Kosumphi”) is a great place to visit if you are tired of seeing giant catfish, and indeed, I think they should just call it a “monkey sanctuary.”

smell my armpit

I forgot to post my instructional photo on how to harvest bananas, caveman style:
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Unable to hold the clump with one hand while chopping with the other (the clump was hanging over into the neighbor’s yard in an awkward position – don’t worry they got their cut!), I instead used E. Honda power to rip it off.
This was taken a couple months ago in our backyard. We pretty much have the best tasting bananas in the world, and they are the perfect food for babies. We even sun-dried some and made chips. Yum!
P.S. That’s an empty bird’s nest constructed in between the fruit. We’d spotted it before but never saw what kind of birds made it – I made sure it was vacant before starting the harvest.
P.P.S. After harvesting bananas you cut down the tree (actually a “pseudostem”) because it only bears fruit once. Ours get quite thick by the time the fruit is ripe, around the diameter of a basketball, or larger at the base.
P.P.P.S. I bought this bad ass thick brush knife, about 18″ long, maybe carved from a leaf spring. It’s fun as hell to concentrate and try cutting down banana trees with one stroke, although it’s kinda cramped in our backyard so I have to be really careful not to cut my own leg or get crushed by a vengeful felled pseudostem.

Where do stolen Japanese bikes go? ????????????????

Well, many of them end up in Thailand:
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One of two bicycle stores in town selling only stolen bikes from Japan that we visited this week (we’re looking for a Japanese-style child seat). This shop is the bigger one and has perhaps 50 bikes in stock. They park the merch on the dirt in front of the shop (a townhouse across from Big C Mahasarakham) during the day.
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Anybody in Japan want to call Mr. Makino and tell him where his mountain bike is? He can have it back for 3,500 Baht plus shipping. I should get an award from the police or something for doing their jobs.
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It’s been a long trip from Yamazaki.
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A Saitama mama(chari).
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Another defector from Saitama.
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From what I could see, the majority of bicycles were from Saitama, Aichi, and Osaka, but seeing the registration stickers (sorry – officially they’re known as “Anti-theft Registration Decals”; LOLZR) is a bit like reading all the passing license plates when on a road trip in Nippon – a smattering of place names that either bring back memories or inspire further wanderings.
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I saved the best for last; this bike has an intact warning issued by the bicycle parking enforcers that this bike is parked illegally and will be taken away… It doesn’t specifically say that Osaka city workers will load it on a flatbed and that it will eventually end up for sale (2,500 Baht) in Northeast Thailand, but hey – times are tough all over and at least someone got something out of it.
This is by no means a new trend overall, but it’s interesting that there’s such a number of these stolen bikes here now for there to be ample supply even hundreds (thousands?) of miles away from their port of entry. It’s also the same for motorcycles here. Sometimes you come across these shops where they sell big rice burners that all start with a screwdriver because their ignitions have been pulled.
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I apologize for my photos being so blurry. I was holding squirming baby and trying to take photos discreetly. I actually really want to find out where these bikes are sourced from, but somewhere down the supply chain the answer is “bad people,” so I’ll perhaps go ask sometime with a savvy Thai pal.