Korat House Party

A couple weekends ago I headed Northeast to visit some friends in Korat. My first stop was Stewart's house. On my previous visit in February, he had just moved into a new house and while showing me around, I stepped through his deck, which is made out of a kind of cement-wood material.

When I showed up this time, the first thing he did was show me the hole I had made and said just watch your step this time. Seconds later, I stepped through it again. Now he has matching holes.


I never posted these before, but here's the inside of Stewart's house.

and a picture of Stewart.

That same night a neighbor of his had a New House Party. As is typical in Thailand, the neighbor prepared a buffet, cases of beer and whiskey, a full-size stage, dancers/ singers, and a speaker system that could be heard in the next province.

Here's a video

Cow Wash

They need to make these for humans.

First Class

Nuch took a big step in her career a couple a weeks ago when she completed Thai Air's First Class training course. She said the most difficult part of the course was waking up every morning and making an hour long commute to the office like the rest of us earth-bound fools.

Here are some pictures from her graduation ceremony.

Accidents Happen

The other day while driving into the Industrial Estate where I work, I came across this little mishap. If it's any consolation - apparently, he's not first driver to misjudge the height of his truck.

Bludeck Hybrid Sports-Social Club

A couple weeks ago I saw a huge billboard for an Italian restaurant called Bacco near our new place. I was so excited to see some Western culture in the nether-regions of Eastern Bangkok that I took Nuch there for dinner that very evening.

It turns out that Bacco is part of a fitness center called "bludeck", but as you can see from their logo below, "bludeck" is more than just a gym - it's a "Hybrid Sports-Social Club".

Whatever that means - we joined the next day.

Here are some pictures from their website.

After you work out, you can have a fat Italian dinner at Bacco's next to the pool.

Here's the gym

Bacco's again. Nuch and I have probably spent as much time there as we have working out. The guy on the left is Sergio, the executive chef.

Here's the social part. During the day, they have a DJ by the pool playing mixes. In the evening, apparently, they have regular parties that you can attend.

This was the opening night party with a handful of local celebrities.

This was held before Nuch and I joined, so we weren't invited. (not that we would have been...)

This is kinda cool - the guy below is Paradorn, the former world #9 tennis player. He had a few great runs in some majors, but has since retired due to a series of injuries. He now spends his time running tennis camps at bludeck...

and being married to Miss Universe 2005

Reliving The Glory Days With Green Day In Bangkok

This is old news, but thought it was appropriate since my 20 year class reunion will be held this coming Saturday.

Back in January, a couple friends and I went to the Green Day concert in Bangkok. The tickets were way overpriced, and the venue was on the opposite side of town from where I work - not to mention it was held on a school night! All that being said, it was a great trip down memory lane and well worth the time, money, and headache the next day.



Later that week, I was reading a Bangkok-based website called Not The Nation that is a spin-off of the The Onion. If you're not familiar with The Onion, it is a very dry, satirical publication that does spoof reports on daily news events.

On that particular day, Not The Nation's headline read:

Green Day Concert Briefly Lets Bangkok Expats Pretend They’re Not, Like, 40 Years Old

I usually get a good laugh out NTN, but this one hit a little too close to home. So, remind me to stay home when Guns 'n Roses comes on their reunion tour.

Here's the actual article.

MUANG THONG THANI – Bangkok’s aging, predominantly male population of foreign Gen-X expatriates were treated to a brief respite from their downwardly spiraling, nihilistically detached lives through a live performance Tuesday night by US-based neo-punk band Green Day.

The concert, which lasted over two hours, featured loud renditions of the band’s biggest hits from their multi-platinum 1994 album Dookie, bringing back memories of past glories and long-lost feelings of optimism and energy associated with the youth of the audience members, who on average stopped being young around 1999.

“This is the best concert since the (Red Hot) Chili Peppers came in 2004,” said Josh Hrbek, a twice-divorced 41-year old tech support manager from Toronto. “Makes me think of the summer after graduation, with my first girlfriend…” Hrbek than trailed off and stared into the distance, and began self-consciously picking at a sore on his lip. “Anyway I hope they play ‘JAR’. That song fucking rocks!”

Standing and dancing throughout most of the band’s set, thousands of near-middle aged men from the US, UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and western Europe sang along enthusiastically to mid-1990s hits like “Basket Case,” “Longview,” and “When I Come Around,” shaking their fists and jumping as high as their sagging, alcohol-ravaged bodies would allow.

“These guys totally were the soundtrack of my senior year at Ohio State,” said Travis Mcnair, a 37-year old legal consultant and father of two. “I feel like I could dance all night!” McNair then grabbed a chair for balance before taking a seat to catch his breath. “I need a break now.”

Many of the high-spirited but out-of-shape attendees chose to take long smoking breaks while the band played new songs from its 2009 album 21st Century Breakdown, which none of the fans interviewed had actually heard yet.

“Don’t know the new stuff, but my girlfriend likes it,” said Calvin Fitz, a 40-year old dive instructor in Pattaya, referring to his 24-year old companion, Nat, who later told NTN that Fitz was not her boyfriend.
“I didn’t even know Green Day was still around, tell you the truth. But it’s great. All my mates are here.” Fitz then proceeded to attempt to chat up a group of younger, trendily-dressed Thai university girls nearby, who edged away from him nervously.

Green Day, formed in 1987 by vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool, were pioneers of the California-based US punk revival of the mid-1990s, but suffered steady declines in sales as the band attempted to move forward to more mature and progressive styles of music with albums Nimrod and Warning. Despite a revival of the band’s fortunes with the politically-themed 2004 Grammy-winning album American Idiot, Green Day continues to get its biggest response when performing the melodic youth-pop from Dookie.

“We’ve moved on, really, but I guess a lot of our fans still like the old stuff,” said Armstrong. “especially in these Asian venues. It’s like 70% dudes in here, and I swear I recognize some of them from the Dookie tour in ’95. Guess they’ve been here a while.”

After a second encore and a prolonged standing ovation, the band exited the stage for good around 1 a.m. and the house lights brought harsh illumination to the exhausted, aching crowd of over-exerted mid-lifers now drenched in flop sweat. “That was awesome,” said McNair, while checking his mobile phone for missed calls from his wife. “Just…awesome. Hold on, I have to make a call.”

“Has anyone seen my girlfriend?” asked Fitz. When informed that she had left the concert half an hour earlier with some colleagues she had run into, he cursed and said he was going to Nana Plaza. “Guess I should stop at home and change first,” he added, looking at his drenched t-shirt. “Smelling like this I couldn’t even buy love.”

Hrbek seemed the most enthusiastic of them all, continuing to hop up and down in front of his seat after the show was over. “I’m so pumped. I could go all night. Who’s up for something?” But after conferring with his friends about the after-hours pub options, Hrbek opted instead to go home and listen to his Smiths CDs alone in the dark.

and some videos

No Fly Zone

On a recent factory visit to Malaysia, I noticed something unusual on the desks of the sales staff. They each had a tray of paper filled with raisins.


Upon a closer look, it turned out that they were not raisins, but flies. Apparently, they have built their new factory on a huge pile of doo doo.

Jaan Paa Seafood

One advantage to living out in the Boonies of Bangna is that you're about 30 minutes closer to the beach.

A couple weeks ago, Nuch and I visited a popular restaurant called Jaan Paa located in Bang Saen.

I'm always so hungry that I don't remember to take a picture until we're halfway through our meal.


Here's the view from our table

After lunch we headed down to the Bang Saen boardwalk. The last time we were here was one of our first dates almost 5 years ago.

Before heading home, we stopped for some of Bang Saen's famous yellow/ orange grilled chicken.

Joe And Nuch's Day Off

I guess it's time I get around to posting these pictures from my visit to Chicago.

We started off with Uncle Jim. Here we are at the Wheaton train station. The train blows its whistle as it is pulling in, so we were warned to plug our ears.



Our first stop was Uncle Jim's office building where we could take in the view of the Chicago skyline.



in Uncle Jim's office, which is soon to be vacated when he retires at the end of the year.

and a view of the Chicago river where we would soon start our architectural tour.

On the tour boat, we sat in the front row - right next to the tour guide. As the tour started, Nuch took about 10 pictures of the two of us (ignoring the buildings), and then, promptly fell asleep. I could have used that 35 bucks to buy BP stock.

Here's our guide and the building formerly known as the Sears Tower.

Growing up, I always wanted to live in one of these two apartment buildings. Parking Lot, Shopping Center, and Room all in one building, and you could park your boat in the river. What more could you ask for.

Nuch thinks they look like two ears of corn on the cob.

The Donald's Tower

The Chicago Tribune building

and a view of the skyline from the mouth of the Chicago river.

After the tour, we walked to Millennium Park. On the way, we came across some window washers.

Here's the Bean

It's mystical design makes your bald spot look bigger than it actually is.

Then, we came across this odd piece of Modern Art

When she smiled and water squirted out from between her teeth, it all made sense.

After the park, we jumped on the L (or is it El?) to Anne and Bob's place on the Northside.

First some snacks....

and then, some beers... This must have been early in the night, as we're all looking fairly fresh.