Korat In The Good Ol' Days

Here's a blog I made almost 3 years go, but never posted.  It's Korat related, so it fits with my and Nuch's recent excursion.

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Even worse, now that I have a moment, I'm just going to post some pictures of Korat I found on the web a while back. They were taken some 50 years ago. Things have certainly changed since then, but not that much.

Here's the King and Queen during a visit to the Phi Mai temple ruins.

One of the many old gates that mark surround the walled city of Korat.

The Grandmother Mo monument in front of the Eastern Gate.

Here's the same gate, but many years before.

The ancient mote that still surrounds and protects Korat

Korat Excursion

Here are some quick photos from a recent trip to Korat. excursion

Jim Jum at Koratburi restaurant.

Introducing Stewart and Pitchapa's son, Scott

Here's Stewart espousing the joys of fatherhood

and the benefits of cheap Scotch.

The next day we visited the statue of Ya Mo, the patron saint of Korat.

In the afternoon, we stopped by the noodle shop.  I had not been there in almost 2 years, and they still had my double-stacked blue chairs.  It took me breaking a few of their flimsy white chairs before they realized I needed something sturdier.

After the noodle shop we had dinner at a country shop not far from the factory.

While Stewart, Adisak, and I solved the problems of the world

Nuch had her fortune told

and then we went home.

Was That Wrong?

I came across the photo below on the Thai Photo Blogs website and it reminded me of some of the blindfolded fights I saw when I lived in Chaiyaphum.

Seeing it again, I find myself asking the same question - was that wrong? 

I hope not because it's pretty good entertainment considering anything else Northeast Thailand has to offer.  I mean, no one really gets hurt.  That is - unless you're unfortunate enough to walk blindly into wild haymaker, which I suppose is the reason why everyone is watching in the first place.

Chinese Semantics And Spelling

The Chinese are very particular when it comes to the correct way to refer to its two "special administrative regions", Hong Kong and Macao, and it's "rogue province", Taiwan.  Although they are all independent - especially, Taiwan, the Chinese still consider them under Chinese sovereignty.  

Based on this logic, you would think that a flight from China to Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan would be a domestic flight, but that's not the case. 

So, if it's not a domestic flight, then it must be an international flight, and that would imply that you are going to another country that happens to have it's own government, currency, and passports, but that's not the case either.

The Chinese have found a clever way around this paradox. 

They are not as particular when it comes to correct spelling.

Planking Comes To Thailand

When it comes to communication and bringing the world together, the Internet is perhaps the greatest invention since the Gutenberg Printing Press, and it gives me hope for humanity (at least its sense of humor), when its power can finally be put to proper use.  Planking.

The Planking below was taken by one of Nuch's friends who owns an Orchid Farm.  Apparently, the obedient farmhand in the picture, although a semi-willful participant, had (and still has) no idea what planking is.  In fact, I'm not really sure what it really is - except that it gives me a good chuckle.

Not everyone is laughing, though.  A senior monk in Thailand recently issued a statement that monks should refrain from planking.