Superman And Lois Lane?

The other night, I noticed some strange marks on our bedroom window. Upon closer inspection, I identified them as two sets of finger prints one above the other. I thought this was a bit odd because Nuch and I were told that we were the first ones to live in this room, and we certainly had not put them there. I think I would have remembered.

But that is nothing compared to the current mystery - when I tried to clean the prints, I discovered that they are not on the inside, but on the outside of our 20th story window.



Here they are in the daytime.

Cash For Clunkers

I found this For Sale ad in one of the Thai Forums I read. The foreign-owner used it on his duck farm, but has since sold the farm and no longer needs it. Aside from general transportation, this truck is specially designed for sucking water out of one pond and putting it into another, or irrigating a field.

And it's all powered by a 12hp motor.


Here's the actual ad:


This is the vehicle No. one of Isaan, the "Lot Itan", The Thai Farmer Truck. I had a Duck Farm, 50km out from Korat City, but I had stop this farm, 1 1/2 years ago and sale now my Farmer Truck. Now I not use this vehicle and I not like, some other family people use it and damage it of time.


Of the Photo is my Lot Itan with a special irrigation Structure for suck water from a lake and bring water with a 1.500l Tank on the back to the farm. The structure suck but also press water for irrigation.

The Lot Itan is special buildet for a Farang , most "Thai Lot Itan" are very small buildet for the driver Cab.

Curb weight: 1.850 kg
Max weight: 4.500 kg
Length: about 4m
Wide: 2m
Transmissions: 5 gear
maximum speed: 45 km/h
engine: Standart engine Kubota 110 (550cc diesel engine with 12 HP)

The Vehicle cost me brand new, 2 years ago with engine about 240.000.- Bath. Now I sale the vehicle for 110.000.- Bath ( about 2.400.- Euro)

Here are some more pictures.

18 Years

How much do Thais love their king?

This lady is going to jail for 18 years because she said some malicious things about him (French Revolution/ Czars of Russia type stuff). I won't repeat exactly what she said because one guy did and he was arrested - just for repeating it (but currently out on bail).

From The Nation:

Daranee, 46, made a series of inflammatory speeches at the red-shirt rallies, notably the demonstration last June at Sanam Luang. Her remarks were against the 2006 coup but laced with offensive references to the monarchy.

The court said in its verdict that Daranee had maliciously offended the monarchy as per Article 112 of the Criminal Code.

She was penalised for three counts of lese majeste, each carrying the punishment for six year imprisonment.

Just imagine if the US had similar laws to protect its leaders from malicious criticism. After 8 years of Bush and 6 months of Obama, there would be no one left to vote.

Miss Thailand - Miss Photogenic 2009

Congrats to Miss Thailand, Chutima Durongdej, who was voted Miss Photogenic at this year's Miss Universe pageant.

She was also 3rd in the Best National Costume Contest with her long-necked hill tribe get-up.

Panda-monium II

Thailand's new-born panda is already a couple months old, but still getting all the attention. This past weekend, the princess and her son, the future heir to the throne, visited the Chiang Mai Zoo to pay their respects.

Feeling the neglect, this water buffalo says, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.


Where's PETA when you need them?

Land Of The Missing Sun

Ever wonder what a nearly double digit GDP growth rate over the last 20 years (along with 8% growth during the current global economic crisis) looks like?

This is the view outside my hotel during a recent visit to China - Massive construction projects, covered by a warm and ever present blanket of industrial fumes.

Altogether, I've probably spent close to a year of my life in China, and in those nearly 365 days, I'm only slightly exaggerating when I say that I've seen the sun twice.

Stone Manor

During my recent trip, my company was nice enough to put me up at some country manor's with a little character opposed to the typical business hotel along the highway.

This is Stone Manor, located in the countryside outside of Birmingham, England.

This is the breakfast atrium at another inn called the Fallen Knight that was in downtown Ashby De La Zouch (real name).

Huge

While on a business trip to the UK, I visited our customer's distribution center. This particular customer is one of Britain's top retail outlets and everything that is sold goes through this building at some time or another. Needless to say it's enormous.

This was just one of 4 similar warehouses connected to each other.


Each rack was about 10 rows high



and about 300 yards long.

It reminded me of the last scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

It's A Small World

The other day, I was in a bar off Sukhumvit Rd, which is run by an American guy. The place is quaint and friendly and decorated with American paraphernalia like baseball cards, military insignias, and license plates... I think he had one from every state, so I wasn't surprised to find one from Florida.

That it was from Clay County was a bit of a shock.

Home Sweet Home

Finally, got around to taking some pictures of our new place.

Here's a brief tour.

This is the small street where our building is located. It's lined with Thai vendors who have all the local delicacies and cheap eats. There is also a Starbucks, Subway, and Western restaurant called Charlie Browns for the times when rice just doesn't cut it anymore.

This is the other side of the street where there are some more serviced apartments and an international school. I took this picture because unlike the rest of Bangkok, this sidewalk is in good repair and two people can actually walk side by side instead of single file while dodging open sewage holes.

Here's our building. I'm standing at the first guard gate. There's another guard post just ahead that takes a photo of your car as you enter.

Here's the view from the front of the building looking back. All those other buildings are condos or serviced apartments, so the area has a fairly residential feel.

This is the lobby entrance.

and just to the left is the Nara Cuisine restaurant where we get our breakfast.

Here's our place. This is taken from the door.

This is taken from the balcony-side of the living room. On the right is the front door, then the kitchen and the guest bathroom to the far left.

Gotta love the fact that you can still watch tv while in the bathroom.

This was taken from inside the kitchen looking into the living room.

No oven, but a nice stove and microwave.

Here's the other side of the kitchen. Around the corner and to the left is a pantry, and then, a door out to the laundry room (open area) where you can hang clothes to dry or use it as storage.

Here's the guest bathroom.

and guest bedroom.

Master bathroom.

and finally, the master bedroom.

The front wall of the master bedroom is all glass and looks out over Eastern Bangkok - unfortunately, it's a great view, but of Bangkok's least attractive district.

The room is all nice, but the big attraction for me were the facilities. Along with daily breakfast, daily made, complete furnishings (including towels, linens, and kitchenware) free Internet, free cable , and free utilities (not really free, but included in the the monthly fee), there's are also...

Two pools.

This is the big one that is shared with the neighboring condominium.

The fish water fountains are a nice touch.

This is the 2nd pool, which is only for residents of my apartment. It's partly covered for all the Asians that value light skin opposed to a healthy tan.

This is where I usually spend a couple hours each weekend. Because the area is surrounded by 20+ story buildings, there's only a 3 hour stretch in the late morning when you can catch direct sunlight.

Here's the fitness center

which I've used for exactly 60 minutes over the past month.

There's also a sauna and steam room. The best part of all is the apartment provides towels and lockers for swims or workouts.

Here are the tennis courts.

and a resident's lounge that serves coffee and has two full-body massage chairs.

Throughout the building are little gardens where you can rest outside and enjoy some fresh air - as long as you don't mind a full-body sweat.

There's also a roof top garden with picnic tables, where you can have parties or have lunch.

Southern view from the rooftop garden

Eastern View. You can just make out the river in the background. That patch of green on the far side of the river is where Aunt Linda, Uncle Doug, and I took our bike tour.

Finally, the Northwestern View - where most of downtown is.

To finish off the tour, here's a short video. Enjoy.