Around Mahasarakham
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Engrish Baby Products
ACT FAST WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!! GET YOURS TODAY!!! @ the baby store conglomeration on the third floor of SermThai Department store, Maha Sarakham, Thailand (link to hp removed due to malicious script warning).
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Friday finality
I think I’ve finally got this blog up and running the way it should be, so I feel great. — Woke up this morning, went to buy a traditional Isan breakfast of sticky rice and skewered BBQ pork, as well as some fried doughballs and a bag of rice porridge. Brought it all back home, got Max ready, and took him to school. Found a roadside vendor selling fresh durian and had him break down a small (~.75 kgs whole) one for Nam – she loves them (I merely tolerate them). Came home again to Mina babbling and scooting around madly on her baby walker. It’s been a perfect start…
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Around Mahasarakham: The Saengcharoen Theater (4711 Theater)
Across the street from our friend Tong’s house and cram school is a massive old theatre that’s been converted into a church. I’ve never taken photos of it or been inside, but I’ve admired it from the outside and parked in its shade many times. I stumbled upon an excellent write up of the church (posted just two days ago) by a blog called The Southeast Asia Movie Theater Project, which is a “photographic archive of derelict or converted movie theaters in Southeast Asia.” Reading it makes me yearn for the days when many blogs were works of passion written about specific subjects… I think I’ll ask Tong’s father about…
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Around Mahasarakham: The Cowboy Barber
Today Max turned two and when he fell asleep in the car, we took him to a barber on Srisawat Road famous for dressing like a cowboy (and cutting with shears instead of clippers). Nam held Max on her shoulder as cowboy barber man snipped away. Meanwhile, I was busy inspecting his shop, an older two story townhouse decorated with photos of him posing with other cowboy enthusiThais, Marlboro man swag like ashtrays and posters, a decommissioned muzzleloader, and a photo of Tom Selleck in cowboy attire! This last detail ensures that daddy will also be going back for a cut there sometime, with camera.
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Cornershop Kway Chap
Last week I visited at a noodle shop that I thought was new, but my coworker said it’s been around for a few years. This is mainly what they sell, standard kway chap noodles served Vietnamese style in clear chicken stock with rice noodles of medium thickness (you can also get instant ramen served in kway chap stock). This is opposed to the other style of kway chap popular in Thailand, the Chinese kind in brown stock with blood cubes, bamboo shoots, and spiral flat noodles (this Chinese kind is usually done very poorly in Thailand IMHO, but when done properly, with fresh ingredients and duck meat, can be very…
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Blue kapom (Calotes versicolor) (correction: Calotes mystaceus)
It took me three years to find one of the blue ones after I heard about them (and possibly ate them as well). This lizard is known in standard Thai as ginka and in Isan dialect as kapom. It has many names in English, including Oriental Garden Lizard, Eastern Garden Lizard, Changeable Lizard, Bloodsucker Lizard, Crested Tree Lizard, Garden Fence Lizard. They are Agamids, from the family Agamidae, commonly called dragons or dragon lizards. Here’s an informative passage from this page: Changeable Lizards are related to iguanas (which are found only in the New World). Unlike other lizards, they do not drop their tails (autotomy), and their tails can be…
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Thai Inter Hospital Mahasarakham aka Thai International Hospital Maha Sarakham
Having now experienced a C-section at both hospitals in Mahasarakham, my wife and I spent today comparing them and we’ve come to a conclusion: The government hospital is better for childbirth, and in a couple years (when construction of the new children’s wing is supposed to be completed) will probably be on par with anything Khon Kaen can offer with the exception of Khon Kaen Ram (which is on a different level than other hospitals in the region in many aspects, because of much deeper pockets). Background: Our first baby, Max, was born a month early and as a breech baby, which necessitated a C-section (In Thailand, a Caesarean is…
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Around Mahasarakham: The OTOP Marketplace
Note: With this entry, I’m starting a new category of posts called Around Mahasarakham (AKA Around Maha Sarakham). People have been asking exactly what the town we live in is like, so I’ll try to document it better in the future. ////////////////////////////////////////////// Built to fail just last year, the OTOP marketplace is already sliding into moldy disuse, and the unmistakable stench of broken loser dreams permeates the entire area. It’s one of my favorite places to hang out as its right down the street from work, it’s always deserted, and my old rusty car just belongs in the parking lot. Also, I buy bottled water in bulk there for half…
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Big C Mahasarakham
In November 2008, Thai superstore Big C opened a branch store in Maha Sarakham, just a few minutes down the street from us. Life hasn’t been the same since, mostly in good ways since we pay less for more and no longer have to venture downtown to the small Tesco with shitty parking inside the SermThai department store. Also, there were certain things – such as sporting goods and bicycles – that were only sold at ridiculous markups at small stores until now, so watching said shops close up forever is satisfying on some very small, very human level. On the flip side, traffic on the main street in front…
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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:
