Thai Society/Culture
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Hin Suay Nam Sai Resort, Rayong
I’m in Rayong with 110 students and 10 teachers on a business English education project. It’s hot and sunny here, but these are some of my favorite beaches in Thailand. For me, Rayong is the perfect mix of convenience, desolation, and value for money. You can eat fresh seafood under the tall shade trees running almost all 12 kilometres up the coast, then run down to the water and pretty much be alone for hours, if you’ve chosen a good spot. The one hour separation from the fleshpots of Pattaya keeps most farang away, and Rayong is primarily a resort town for Thais – this fact in itself makes Rayong…
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“…credible and meaningful in foreign cultures.”
The university where I teach, Rajabhat Maha Sarakham, used to be a teacher’s training college. My uni is just one Rajabhat institute of about 40 spread all over Thailand, that were turned into universities by the king with something called the Rajabhat Act in 1995. Therefore, when we clean up, move, or renovate offices and I see asset tags with “teacher’s college” or the like, I know I’ve found something at least 17 years old, and sometimes much older. The last time somebody cleaned out a storage room on the 3rd floor, above my office on the 2nd floor, a bunch of cool old stuff was put out to be thrown…
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Walking Street, Pattaya
Last night we were rolling with five-0. More on this later.
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Highway eyesore
Buses painted like these are a common sight at highway rest stops in Thailand, but this just might be the worst I’ve ever seen.
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Isan X-mas 2011
I haven’t been home for Christmas for so many years now, I only miss it in theory. Living in Japan and Thailand, I work on western holidays if it falls on work days, and often forget about many of them. Christmas is celebrated (read: utilized for marketing purposes, just like in the west) just enough here that I’ve never forgotten about it, but we don’t celebrate it really. At most, we go out as a family, as we did today… which is of course the most important part of the holidays, anyway. I’ll be going on a trip to Chonburi and Pattaya from 5 AM tomorrow for a few days,…
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Like bugs
Nam took the babies to see their old nanny. Her new house is almost complete, but is out in the sticks. At night, the house is apparently crawling with all sorts of bugs, frogs, and who knows what else. Max brought back a couple to play with at home.
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I’m still alive
Almost fucking died today. My car saved me. My reactions saved me. An inept mechanic almost killed me, and is now lying to save his job. — At about 10:00 this morning, I dropped off my car at a local garage called Prasertyon to get brakes on my just-restored Crown fixed. The brake pedal lost pressure yesterday and the brakes were locking on one side this morning, so it needed to be done. Prasertyon had overhauled the entire brake system for me a couple years before, so I thought they would be familiar with my old car and do a good job… Nam and I piled the kids in her…
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B-boys in Phuket
MAx and Mina got a real kick out of this. As you can see, the guy performing started out right next to us. UPDATE: Their floor routines were super tight, too. I think this is one of them performing solo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=C3J1jkYZNwE
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Dragon Wing
It’s never too rainy to make fun of other people’s rice. Here’s an Isuzu Dragon pickup with multiple rows of covered subwoofers and a rear spoiler worthy of a Red Sun’s RX-7:
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Fresh honey
Yesterday I bought some fresh honey at a friend’s house. I have different samples from roadside stands all over Thailand; they’re sold in recycled whiskey bottles. The prices generally range from 150 to 200 baht per bottle. Yesterday was the cheapest I’ve seen it in a long time, 120 baht. Update: Yes, the seller is filtering out debris and drowned bees out with a fish net.
