Thai Society/Culture
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ngu singh
There’s a meter-long snake that’s been run over in the street in between our house and the next one. It looks like a fat rat snake, the ones they call “lion snakes” here. Too smashed to be much fun taking pictures, though. There have been a lot of smaller snakes run over around the neighborhood recently. I guess they come out to warm up on the road more now that it’s getting colder.
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Cool season
Last night was the first night it felt a bit chilly since last “winter.” From now through January is the best part of the year in NE Thailand. We start the new term at Rajabhat Maha Sarakham University on Monday. I teach weekend classes all tomorrow; today’s class was cancelled because we were locked out of the building. Nobody complained, because my students are also teachers preparing for next week.
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Visa Run 2010
I’ve been living overseas for half of my life and applying for visas regularly throughout that time. It never gets easier. Hell, now I have to report every ninety days to immigration (in person or by mail-in form) just for the honor of living here. At least tomorrow’s visa run is just an hour away, in Khon Kaen. It used to be in the border town of Mukdahan (famous for peppery pork sausage and a shitty Indochinese market), and before that, the border town of Nong Khai (famous for a “friendship” bridge that Japanese engineers would scoff at, plus a shitty Indochinese market), but I suppose they got tired of…
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Giant Thai Lady Bug
Those are my nasty fingers, not Max’s.
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T-shirt of the day 9/21/2010
I am never lonely when my darling is in sigh Amen.
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Boy (?) Scouts
I know that boy scout leaders in other countries wear khaki uniforms as well, but it’s just too common of a sight in Thailand. They take their scout positions very seriously here, and the thing that gets me is that the scout leader uniform is just a giant version of the ones worn by the scouts themselves. So sometimes I’ll be attending some official function with school presidents and deans and other demigods-in-their-own-mind and some poindexter in a half-length khaki uniform and clip-on tie will amble up on stage and start presenting awards or whatever… It’s really quite trippy. I guess the moral of this story is that if you…
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How to defeat a breathalyzer test in Japan 5 years ago, or Thailand today
Put your mouth up to the apparatus and make a show of drawing a deep breath. When you exhale, do it through your nose instead of your mouth, but obviously not in a way that will be noticed by the people administering the test. Basically, you are aiming to make a sound like you are exhaling into the apparatus while not actually doing so. At least, that’s what I hear. The best way to avoid trouble at all is of course to avoid drinking and driving entirely. But hey, work drink-ups are a bitch, I know.
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Chris Pongpitaya’s Supercar Knockoffs
…Because nothing says genuine 911 like a spoiler the size of a Cessna wing (and judging by the height of the hood, front wheel drive as well). (thx Mark) This video intrigued me so much, I had to dig around a bit. Here’s the juicy bits: When looks alone matter – A Bangkok Post article on Chris and his shop, Schönes A thread on a Phuket message board with sweet replica Aston Martin pics An online gallery with photos of the old factory in Ekamae According to this Danish article, this is the contact info for Chris Pongpitaya / Schönes in Bangkok, Thailand:Tel: (+66) 81 674 4950schones_2000@yahoo.com UPDATE:Here’s some alternate…
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Deleting Gmail Trash
Today is Mother’s Day in Thailand since it’s the Queen’s birthday, and the Queen is mother to all Thais. Nam and Max went to Khon Kaen with my mother-in-law and I spent the day watching Mina. She basically slept on me all day, only waking to feed and put everything within reach in her mouth before throwing it on the ground. While she slept, I trashed several thousand mailing list messages in Gmail that I’ve no longer got time or interest in keeping up with, and hit the Empty Trash Now link. The following message ran across the status ticker thingy up top: Oops… the system encountered a problem (#793)…
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Mawlum Mawkhaen Farang
It was bound to happen sometime. Check out his YouTube channel.
