Sweater weather ahead

North-North-Easterly winds are expected to cause a few cool nights, with feels-like temperatures dropping to 14 (Tues.). After a few nights of sweater weather, temperatures are forecast to return to normal. High humidity could raise feels like temperatures to near fifty degrees the following week.

The tourist are coming

While the government is painting a rosy picture:
Tourism situation improved The Nation

Foreign media tells a slightly different story



The Ultimate Thailand experience so far has not been the success story hoped for. Barely two hundred applicants. One could only hope that the the winners can put on an award winning show.

Locally there should be a noticeable influx in the coming days. Mostly returning visitors.

Thai drivers license renewal

A four hour endeavor.

Dealing with any government agency, no matter what country, requires patience. There are certain routines and procedures which must be followed
Not speaking the language is of course disadvantageous, but with the right attitude, and an understanding Thai friend, the mission can be completed.

My first visit to the drivers licensing office was as expected. We were given a list of documents required. Everything in duplicate, since I was applying for renewal of both a car and motorcycle license.

The requirement of a doctors note is a bit of a farce. I paid 60 baht for two doctors notes, indicating I am in good health. The note was signed by the receptionist, and the fact that I was standing seemed enough to certify my health. I'd been to that doctors office in the past, and I suppose you can say they had sufficient information about my health without an examination.

A document from the immigration office was also needed. This required a twenty minute waiting period while my files were being audited.

Back to the drivers testing office with all necessary documents submitted, the next step is watching a one hour traffic education video. There is both a Thai version and an English version of this film. I must admit, I did learn a few things from the film, but many times found it amusing comparing the rules on the film with actual every day experiences.

After the film was a color test and a reaction test. Explaining the procedure of the test was a bit difficult, but that was overcome with a bit of humor and the help of onlookers.

The final step is the photographing were I misunderstood instructions. The young lady motioned me to look down, which I misunderstood and slouched down. We both had a chuckle when I realized my mistake.

At times things seemed a bit unnerving to me, but every person along the process was pleasant, friendly and helpful.

A big sigh of relief when I finally had my licenses in my hand

The best place is still Home in Sakon Nakhon

No matter how well you plan a trip, you always need to make allowances for Murphy's Law.
I was a bit apprehensive when the overnight trip to Udon Thani began.

My apprehension was unwarranted, things actually worked out better than expected.
The folks who drove me to Udon went shopping with me when we arrived and took my purchases home. I avoided having to carry all that stuff on the trip home.

Stayed at the N-Dee Guest house located two blocks from the Center Plaza also two blocks from the rail station and the night market. In the evening we walked around and stopped off for a few drinks.
I had made up my mind that I wanted to eat a wiener schnitzel.
It's been a few years since I had one of those. Just as I was ready to give up on that quest, I stumbled into a German restaurant. Besides having a schnitzel, I also had Hungarian goulash.
Two cravings fulfilled in one sitting.

The next morning, the purpose of my trip, an application for a new passport.
I was a bit worried about the photograph taken in Sakon Nakhon for that purpose.
The local photographer knew exactly what was required (sizes, background, etc).



The guest house where I had spent the night also has limousine service.
A trip to Sakon Nakhon for 1,500 Baht. Another pleasant surprise since I had expected double that price.

Only unusual experience on the return trip we encountered five roadside checkpoints.
The Thai driver joked: "Police bank account is running low."
You can expect one or two road checks, five was just a bit out of the ordinary.

Of course a stopover in Phang Khon is a must for the best free range chicken and eggs.

I still haven't figured out how they put those eggs on a stick !!

Saturday "-Live" Party... and more !

Sakon Nakhon Air Service

The downtown office of PB Air was still closed today.
Their website has a new schedule posted and flights can be booked online.
The present schedule ends October 31 flights after that date can not be booked. This is generally the date when the new seasonal schedule goes into effect.

Internet television

Still in it's infancy, still under five years old.
Of course they are up against pay services such as cable and satellite, so it will be a rocky road ahead. But it has made great strides. Many networks now supply movies and series on the net.

I watch more Internet TV than the expensive satellite service.
To date I consider TVU still the best deal for westerners in Thailand.
Thai Internet TV is best at tv.thai4promotion.com

Saturday "Live" Party at Toon Army Bar.

Free drinks till the money runs out.
Some booty shakers should liven the party.
Local Expats and their families (girlfriends / boyfriends) are especially invited

It may be oldest tree in Isaan ?

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By Mr Martin

Possibly the oldest tree in Isaan is this 300 year old Rubber tree located in Ban Dong Luang.
Cared for by monks of the local temple. A gold band is wrapped around the base, designating it sacred and to stop anyone from cutting it down.

Free drinks and more

Sweater weather approaching

If you have checked out Thai Meteorological Department website, then you will have noticed that the sun and clouds have been replaced with a mannequin dressed in a heavy sweater and baggy pants. An indication that local temperatures are starting to drop. The weather pattern from the East and South-East is changing to North East, causing cooling temperatures.

Never expected to approach this milestone, but here I am.
Survived three near drownings, friendly and enemy fire in Vietnam.
I've walked away from car and motorcycle accidents
Probably my craziest survival story is surviving swallowing a bottle of Amyl Nitrate, thirty years ago. I tried to kiss my a.. goodbye that time.

Busy week ahead: drivers license renewal, passport renewal (in Udon), a birthday party (not mine) , a wedding party,
and then my birthday on November 1.


I'll be celebrating my birthday on October 31 (Halloween) evening at the Toon Army Bar. Hope I'll see all expats and visitors in Sakon Nakhon.
Free drinks etc. etc.

Recent - "Flood Pants Season" - in Pattaya

Received this picture in email and asked Ken for permission to post his pictures.
They were taken earlier this month. Ken will return soon to Sakon Nakhon .

chick here to see more pictures from Ken

Sakon Nakhon Air Service suspended

PB Airline has suspended all flights to Mae Sot, Buriram, Roi-et, Sakon Nakhon effective October 20 until October 27.
Almost three months ago PB Air terminated it's fleet contract for Embraer ERJ 145 LR, switching to leasing ATR 72-500 turboprop aircraft from Bangkok Air in order to reduce operating costs.

As told by a local airport employee (rumor), PB air has unpaid bills with Bangkok Air, subsequently Bangkok Air suspended all flights.

At this time the nearest airport to Sakon Nakhon is in Udon Thani.

Birthday celebration season

With the beginning of October quite obvious, there's an increase of birthday celebrations in the neighborhood. At least one celebration, sometimes two or three per week.

Made me count back nine months.
January, February: The cold season.
I guess that's one way to keep warm.

I do enjoy the family gatherings tremendously.
Neighbors get together. Each bringing a dish they prepared.
Within minutes after my arrival my table is laden with plates of food to choose from.

If a Thai tells you it's not spicy, don't take them at their word.
What they are telling you it's milder than fire hot.
When I decide to call it a day, all food remaining on the table is bagged for me to take home.
Had jumbo shrimp for breakfast.

100919 Sakon Nakhon Immigration office is open

Sakon Nakhon Immigration

A Muang, Sakon Nakhon 47000

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Phone 042-715-219 Fax 042-741-318

Hours 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday

Located adjacent to the Sakon Nakhon Main Police Station. and across the street from the multipurpose field.

H1N1 knows No Seasons

Unlike most flu viruses, H1N1 is not a seasonal virus,
but tends to survive throughout the year.
That according to Sunday's CBS 60 Minute report.

A four page text can be found at www.cbsnews.com
Some interesting facts in the report:
H1N1 is related to a virus outbreak of 1918, but is not as lethal.
The 1918 virus killed millions
Persons born before 1950 may have some immunity to this virus,
as there were similar viruses in the 30's and 40's.

Hiatus almost over

It's been brought to my attention that the frequency of this blog fell drastically in recent days.

Watching free television on line has occupied much of my time lately.
It's also vacation time for local school kids. There's a daily crowd around my pool and at the PlayStation. It's been so busy, I had to establish "NO VISITOR" days, just to have some quiet time.

What's taken up most of my time is a new GOOGLE service in their PICASA software.
Picasa (photo album) now has facial recognition.
I have spent countless hours adding names to all those faces.
I'm really horrible at remembering names. Thousands of pictures, lots of memories.

More about Television online

I've been avoiding pay services mostly because they don't tell you what you get before you pay. They offer thousands of stations, beyond that they are not very specific. I suspect lots of garbage.
There's plenty of free stuff.
Recently installed Rocket Torrents toolbar onto my web browser.
It offers multiple live TV services from the US, UK, Germany, Holland, Spain and Italy. Rocket Torrents also has plenty of movies that can be downloaded free.
To view live TV you must have a high speed connection

When you install new software BEWARE !

Most newly added software will install into your start-up folder. It slows down your computer and takes up memory. Empty out your start-up folder as much as possible. The only software in mine is virus and system maintenance software. Any other software I start as needed.

GOOGLE

As most of you know I have switched my e-mail to gmail some time ago. They offer free services which other providers charge for. They also offer a multitude of other services.
I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of GOOGLE WAVE now in beta testing.
If you are interested in a free gmail account, drop me a note luanghans@gmail.com, I'll send you an invite.

Sakon Nakhon Web Site

Recently spotted a local website www.sakon-nakhon.com
It's all in Thai, but can be viewed in GOOGLE TRANSLATE
Plenty of useful information and the start of a great photo collection

Three Persons hospitalized after boating mishap

Sakon Nakhon - Nong Hahn (Lake Hahn), October 13

A longboat on the way to honor monks at an island temple capsized when encountering waves apparently created by another boat.
Up to fifteen passengers were thrown into the water.
Three persons required hospitalization.
One of the three, a minor child is being treated in the ICU.

Chance of heavy rain diminished

October 12 & 13

The weather system anticipated to bring us possible heavy rains this week has tuned north, creating cloudy and cooling local weather locally.
The center of the storm is moving into Hanoi.

Feeding the plants

With most of the nutrients in my garden soil washed away during the rainy season, it's time to fertilize my garden.

Over the years I've tried a variety of fertilizers until Tony told me about a fertilizer his family is selling. Been using it for a three years and am extremely happy with it. My garden harvest has increased noticeably.

The rice fertilizer is prized by many local rice farmers. I've heard lots of praise.

Local rubber tree growers also praise the product.

I had shown Tony a preview of this blog entry, asking if he wanted to mention his phone number. Here is his reply:

Yes please. I have some of the lads from (Saka) give glowing reports of there rubber flowing better then ever and are willing to talk to anyone interested.
My wife speaks proficient English and can be reached at 0895722904

The fertilizer apparently is the result of university research.
You can read further about the product here Fertilizer Literature

First rain, then cooling trend anticipated

Possibility of rain this weekend and next week.
The slow moving storm which has been almost stationary over the Philippines for a week is creeping west. Animated satellite weather map

Even more noteworthy is a cooling trend forecast within 10 days.
Night time temperatures are expected to drop into the teens at that time.
15 day forecast

Watching TV online

Satellite dishes I had for the past few years have been hauled away.
With the exception of True-UBC, most other satellite services available locally tend to be pirated. If reception is interrupted and you need repair service... good luck.

Lately I've spent quite some time researching what's available on the net.
There's plenty available, but you have to wade through tons of junk.

Of course a major problem is internet connectivity.
It gets quite slow from noon till early evening, when demand is high.
Demand is increasing, but apparently service is not keeping up.
An there are plenty of disconnects.

By doing continuous maintenance on my own computer, I've been able to watch television with limited interruptions.

Just about any web-page you visit will attempt to deposit cookies on your system. They gather your information and tend to slow you down.
This can be prevented with your firewall settings. Delete all unnecessary cookies.

Removing spy-ware, cleaning the registry, deleting junk files, and defraging your hard drive, need to be daily chores. There's plenty of free software available to make things easy.
I've been using Advanced System Care. I use the software whenever TV reception seems to deteriorate. It improves reception. Cleaning the cache also should become part of the maintenance routine.

I've installed a second screen to my computer.
This way I can watch television and continue with other tasks.

I've mentioned TVU previously. There are plenty of channels to choose from.
But of course you have to wade through the junk. The software is free and allows you to set your favorites. To save your favorites you have to log in and log out, otherwise your favorites are not saved.

TikiLive can be viewed from your browser and offers CNN and Fox News among others.
There's plenty of other FREE software, which I'll mention at a later time.
I'll be collecting a list of television links onto the sidebar, and update it as time allows

Sakon Nakhon Wax Castle Parade 2009

A bit of a humorous event occurred when one of the dancers, a middle aged gentleman, got so entranced in his dancing, he did not realize he was 20 meters behind the rest of his dance troupe. It looked like he was dancing all by himself for some time holding up the next float.
From appearances he looked like he may have been intoxicated.

I wasn't the only one who thought so. A police officer stepped in and quite politely put his arms on the mans shoulders as if they were friends. His trance interrupted, the man rejoined his group of dancers. From appearances, he was not too pleased at having his dance interrupted.

Sitting in the grandstands was not the best place to view the parade this year. Crowd control seemed to be lacking. Countless people with cameras repeatedly walked in front and blocked the view from the stands. I had to severely crop my photographs. Editing my videos may result in a hack job.

What was missing this year were any spot lights, so photographers had to get right into the parade to get their pictures.

A block down the street there seemed to be no crowd control at all.
Crowds had moved into the street, narrowing the parade route from four lanes to two lanes.
Those stands were now one lane behind the crowd and pretty useless for viewing.

Sakon Nakhon Wax Castle Festival Food Fair

Decided to head to the fair grounds early (6 p.m.)
Streets leading up to the fairgrounds where doubly busy.
Besides the fair going public, the streets where also used to move wax castle floats to the parade starting point.

Some of the floats where moved onto the fair grounds for public display.

Plenty of food, drink, friends and entertainment.

Tomorrows parade starts at 4 p.m.