Fun in Thailand

I had a last minute trip out of town in a rental car over the weekend. (an ant infested rental car which had no working radio)

In the news lately has been accidents related to the common practice of using any available pavement, or even not available pavement, to dry harvested rice on.
They lay down what looks like common blue tarps but I keep hearing them called 'mesh', on the pavement, INCLUDING public streets and roads, and pile freshly harvested rice on it, to dry in the sun.

I'm talking sometimes 100 yards of the pavement in one lane is covered with this stuff.

There have been some serious accidents due to drivers not paying attention, doing some last minute, inept lane changes or sliding on the rice.

I saw a lot of that this weekend on back roads, heading to Surin province. You really have to pay attention.

The police are supposed to crack down on this, but like any police effort in Thailand, it's mostly Talk, Talk a little more....and forget.

The rental car was dropped off at my apartment two hours late, which meant the last minute itinerary fell to pieces pretty fast.

We did get to attend one important cultural event.




I also maintained my patron of the arts status by purchasing a Painting, that was painted, live, as we watched, by a pregnant elephant. (Baby needs shoes...and BIG ones!)


elephant.jpg


elephant3.jpg


Made the 9 year old daughter of my friend very happy. I only thought of the happiness of a small child.

(OK, her mother is cute....and divorced...)


:)
 
I noticed a similar group near a large high school sports field 1 KM away, this is a group from a local College, junior college....something. Beauty Queens, no band, but a sound truck.

 
OK, turns out to be a 'school' sports day, which explains why some of the ladies were dressed up in beauty pageant type clothing, and some wore thai traditional clothing?
:)

I think I see a group wearing witches hats, also.

Never was a sports fan.

:)
 
I'm not much into sports either. I was never good at any of them in school and about all I watch on TV is an occasional baseball game if I'm really bored and the game is good. But even with that little interest, sometimes strange things happen...

Waaay back in the years I did industrial shut-down and factory building work. Not too many guys in that business around here at that time so after a few years you at least knew them all by sight. So I went onto a new job that was about halfway done and when I saw the toolroom clerk I knew I'd worked with him somewhere else. I asked him and he said "You've never worked with me." I said "I know you from somewhere" and he said "No you don't". I thought he was messing around with me, so I kept thinking about it every time I saw him. Like most crews we'd party together after work and sometimes it was at his place. I always said to him that I knew I knew him and I would remember oneday, and he always said I wouldn't. So one Wednesday morning I walk into the toolroom and said "I remember now". He said "BS, you've never seen me before this job". I said "Pirates. You pitched for the Pirates." (The Pittsburgh Pirates are a well-known USA baseball team). He said "Well you figured it out. Come by after work and I'll give you a beer for that". So I did...

Turned out that he had been a third-string Pitcher for the Pirates beginning a sports career about 5 years before this, and that he'd pitched just part of one inning before his shoulder blew out and ended his days of pitching. I happened to be bored and watched just a part of that inning on TV by chance, just a few minutes time. He said I was the first person outside of friends and family who had ever recognized him. I could see how the subject matter pained him, and he said it was his only dream in life and now it was impossible. He'd never learned any other work skills so he ended up as a toolroom clerk by chance- a simple job that anyone can do. Not wanting to extend his pain over the loss of his life's dream I never spoke of it again, and he moved away after the job was done.

Years later a subcontractor came to the Superintendent's office as we were starting one morning to let him know he'd be a couple days late starting his part of the job. He explained that a friend had died suddenly and that he needed to be at the funeral. After we all offered our condolences, he said his bags were packed and in his truck, and he was leaving for Dawsonville from here. Larry was a carpenter who worked with me said "Wait- Dawsonville, you mean..." and the guy cut him off and said "Yeah- Bill and me grew up together and we were close friends". I was trying to figure it out as the guy left when Larry said "Phil, I know you're not into NASCAR. He was talking about Bill Elliot". Then it clicked- Bill Elliot, a champion race car driver, had just been killed in a crash and everyone had been talking about it.

Strange who you run across in construction work sometimes which is a business totally unrelated to sports, but it winds up there anyway.

Phil
 
My family was originally from Pittsburgh, and an Aunt was an executive secretary to one of the big shots at US Steel. I wasn't a sports fan, then, either, but as a kid you're happy to go anywhere somebody will buy you food you don't normally get at home,....and we got free tickets to the Pirates. :)
 
I think they are putting some piping in, the other night this street was blocked off, today, open, with 3 foot trench they are excavating.....and 'other' obstacles.

 
Fiber optic internet going in :eek:
 
I guess they don't have to bury pipes very deep in Thailand to avoid freezing. I'm happy to be living in a similar easy-winter climate :cool: I'm no fan of snow and ice at all!

I spent Thanksgiving dog-sitting for a friend in the hills while they were away. It was only a few years ago that they got slow-speed DSL out where they live. Before then there was only dial-up available up there :p It was really nice to get away from the city life for awhile, and I may end up there myself when I'm no longer able to work.

Phil
 
I would for sure prefer to live so remote that me having fun with all my guns ( assuming i am American ) all day, and not bother anyone, or tear around my property on a UTV or a 4X4
Just forwarded this to my friend, as it sure is something else than off-roading in Denmark.
But of course in the US my property, mean something else than in Denmark where my property really just mean the piece of land you are granted the right to pay tax on.


What a nice way to see the mountain :cool:
 
The trenches are mostly left without any protective barriers on the narrow street. There are a few random stretches of plastic tape. There doesn't seem to be much work going on now, they dug the trenches....left to do something else.




Yesterday was a holiday, didn't notice much traffic on one side of town, thought I'd pop over to the supermarket I like for a few things. Parking lot so crowded....I just motored through and got the hell out of there.......and then dealt with traffic in town.

 
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@
dash riposki

Those trenches you refer to are monsoon drains and is left uncovered in most of S.E Asia. Monsoon season will hit Thailand soon and you will have have lots of celebrations, festivals and flooding. Incidentally, How are you adjusting to the weather? You should be adjusted to the heat and humidity of Thailand by now.
 
47F this morning. I even had to adjust my exercise schedule due to not wanting to deal with 50F weather at 0500 on the trike.

Neighbors confirmed they are storm drains, but i think will be covered, or protected,somehow, since they are very deep Even Thailand wouldn't do something that......well....you never know?

Landlord warned me there would be a party in the pool area last night, I was more or less invited, free food, dancing girls.

I dug out my parachute pants and Hai Karate, and checked it out.

Not what I expected.



This was connected to some minor Buddhist sect in region, and from what I saw in the 'dancing' later, it reminded me of some of the stranger, rural Christian sects in the US with some speaking in tongues and trances stuff.
At least I think it was speaking in tongues, but one lady kept screaming at me what sounded like 'Hey, jerk, stop looking at my butt', but she was bumping and grinding at a level worthy of a steel mill area strip club, and the only thing interesting in sight.

Oh yes, started like 0700, finished at 2200, with a break from 1200-1700.
 
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And they are storm drains, and it looks like they are pouring the concrete covers on the job site. There is a stack of steel forms. A generator running, one guy in the trench wearing sunglasses, and welding rebar or something, and assorted guys leaning on, or dragging shovels around.

From another street in the area, this is what it look like when finished.

IMG_20191208_102256.jpg
 
The picture of the drains i took are on the street around a small lake with adjacent small park. The lake is maybe 3 or 4 meters lower elevation than the street circling it, or at least the current water level is.
I'm afraid to ask if the storm water is channeled somewhere far from the lake, or into the lake?
 
FWIW, switched to an A119 a few weeks ago. I think the vibrations on this thing destroys cams. I was having trouble with the A119V2 starting up. Switched to A119, no problems, so the viofo hard wire kit is probably ok, but the power socket on the A119V2 maybe messed up.

On the A119, in the few weeks I've used it on the trike, the lens flops around in the side to side adjustment range. I have some electrical tape on it, now.
 
Near miss with an angry man/child who apparently wanted me to stop and fight him, or argue in thai, or god knows what else?

I have my right turn signal on before the oncoming pickup passes, you can hear it over the rattles and rumbles if you listen. Not sure where 'speedy' came from, but he overtook me on the right, as I was making a right turn, with the turn indicator on. (Factoids that don't mean crap in Thailand,)

The side street I turn onto is fairly narrow, you have millions of more things to watch for on public streets in thailand, than you do in the west....water buffalo, idiots driving any kind of vehicle on the wrong side off the road, chickens, snakes, monkeys, drunk white guys....







I took a slightly different route home in case he followed me, through a neighborhood with a lot of other angry old white guys and a couple of expat bars.

I doubt there is a better audio solution for this vehicle, just too much vibration...rattles...but I'm always surprised nothing has fallen off.


UPDATE: what he yells at me is 'kwai', 'water buffalo', meaning 'stupid', and an insult. I'm not the one who was passing a right turning vehicle with an indicator on, on the right.
 
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Near miss with an angry man/child who apparently wanted me to stop and fight him, or argue in thai, or god knows what else?

I have my right turn signal on before the oncoming pickup passes, you can hear it over the rattles and rumbles if you listen. Not sure where 'speedy' came from, but he overtook me on the right, as I was making a right turn, with the turn indicator on. (Factoids that don't mean crap in Thailand,)

The side street I turn onto is fairly narrow, you have millions of more things to watch for on public streets in thailand, than you do in the west....water buffalo, idiots driving any kind of vehicle on the wrong side off the road, chickens, snakes, monkeys, drunk white guys....







I took a slightly different route home in case he followed me, through a neighborhood with a lot of other angry old white guys and a couple of expat bars.

I doubt there is a better audio solution for this vehicle, just too much vibration...rattles...but I'm always surprised nothing has fallen off.
Well at least your friend is safer on the road now, so good job (y)

I read somewhere years ago that on the island of Jersey in the English channel, the minimum size requirement for motorcycle taillights was 1 square inch :eek: I saw that and a pic of a chopper which had that tiny taillight on it- crazy AF to think anyone would see it; might as well have none :p I always figured that it was up to me to handle whatever was ahead of me, but I always had a very good taillight knowing that it was all which was covering my backside where I wasn't always focused on ;) If I were still riding today, my taillight would be the maximum allowed and more if I thought that wasn't enough.

Phil

You've just learned turn signals don't mean much in Asia. :giggle: Even when you shoulder check before to change lane. You signal,look back, there's nobody there, you start to turn and suddenly it's right beside you. :mad: Another thing to watch out for is traffic court. You'll need a Thai Lawyer to defend you. Whatever the outcome, you pay a lot.o_O
 
You've just learned turn signals don't mean much in Asia. :giggle: Even when you shoulder check before to change lane. You signal,look back, there's nobody there, you start to turn and suddenly it's right beside you. :mad: Another thing to watch out for is traffic court. You'll need a Thai Lawyer to defend you. Whatever the outcome, you pay a lot.o_O


I knew the turn signal thing, since it is pretty common for vehicles to overtake in an intersection when you are trying to turn.

I think I know somebody on that short street where the angry guy stopped, and I think wanted a confrontation. It would be interesting to see what he thinks happened. I miss that turn occasionally, it's kind of a short cut to another road. I usually slow down and signal in advance, and since it's a shortcut, you have high speed traffic cominng at you, often cutting the corner.
Saves one block, and a much riskier intersection. (New acquaintance explained roughly where he lived, and it has to be that block.) Would be funny if it turned out to be a neighbor or relative of his.

Temps up to the low 60's, overnight.


Oh, doesn't matter how often you check the mirrors or turn your head. They come from any direction......legal or otherwise, with not evidence of brain function by the driver.

I'm hoping next month to have the nerve to set up permanent 'front/rear' cams. I'm about due to take the trike in for oil, check over.
 
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