In front of PTT RMU.
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Raising a family in Thailand // Documenting Issan food, culture, music, and people
In the old gym at Rajabhat Maha Sarakham University.
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Nam left for Japan on a work trip yesterday, but we are keeping busy at home. Max and Mina’s dojo did a taekwondo expo at the old Sermthai shopping mall in town.
Max likes watching kung fu movies at home, and then forgets he’s studying TKD, not wushu:
Then, predictably, somebody set off Mina and she went all Dragonball on everyone:
Video to follow as soon as it finishes uploading.
UPDATE:
Summarized well at the Irrawaddy: Thailand’s Insect Farms Creating a Buzz
I still prefer bacon to fried grasshoppers, but not by much.
Taro came over a few weeks ago, and we stopped by a recently-opened music shop while the kids were at Tae Kwon Do. It’s the largest music store in Sarakham with possibly legit big brand stock, and also has 5 studio rooms in the back. The owner is super-friendly and let Taro try out the gaudiest German electric I’ve ever seen.
(I took this photo with T’s camera)
Somewhere between the Chiang Yuen and Sam Sung districts on a two-lane highway lined with rice paddies and stands of vines and overgrowth, there is a secret Jaeger base under construction.
When completed, this powerful addition to the Pacific Rim forces will boast three powerful weapons to fight the scourge of Kaijus: Tree Falling in Forest Kick, Cosmic Bodhisattva Blast, and Spinning Lotus Beam.
My friend Ben just bought a used 2011 Honda CBR250R w/ABS in Pattaya and brought it back to Sarakham. I helped him out a little with the details of the transaction and choice of bike, so of course, I got to try it out. Perhaps today wasn’t the best day since it was drizzling and quite windy out on the highway, but that did not deter us.
The bike was lighter and more refined than I expected – I would say it’s more tame than beast. The single-cylinder engine is very smooth and steady, and the bike is very quiet with the stock exhaust (even if it is wrapped with a faux carbon fiber sticker – which according to the internet, grants about 3 extra hp). In my mind, the CBR 150 is more fun at lower speeds, but the 250 is great for cruising on the highway (and probably even more fun when the wind isn’t kicking grit into your face at high speed).
Until this point, I had been riding the CBR around town and Ben was following on my scooter. When we stopped, Ben said he wanted he wanted to ride bitch to “see how girls felt,” so he got on the back and I pretended to be a twenty-something French guy on a glorious circuit around the Maha Sarakham bypass. Getting into the role of a racer-playboy, I recommended embedding a switch-activated vibrator in the rear seat cushion for increased high-speed thrills. For his part as a scared young Thai girl, Ben kept saying, “slow down, Ajarn, slow down!” (I was actually riding very slowly since I’m no longer invincibly young).
It was a lot of fun.