Sakon FC 1 Udon FC 1

First half ended scoreless.
Sakon FC scored early in the second half and seemed to have control of the game.

Udon scored with only one minute left to play.

Final game of the season will be held Saturday, October 1, when Sakon FC hosts Kalasin

The sky is clear, the sun is shining: Let's have a parade

It's still officially the rainy season. Lately though, sunshine has demanded more time over clouds and rainfall.
Time to restock the sunscreen, check the sun umbrellas and brimmed hats.
No one told me in advance of this parade. Heard the drums and ran like hell up to I.T.U.

.

 Thaksin lectures...  Sydney Morning Herald 

 Sugar Falls on Asia Output Gain, Slow Demand   BusinessWeek
  Coffee, Cocoa Fall

 No sugar imports from Thailand this year  Business World MANILA

Thai style dinner delicacy

 Fried Wasp Larvae 

There were two quite large wasp nests on the property adjacent to my house.
They haven't bothered me, so I haven't bothered them. Besides, they eat a lot of other insects.

Very simple way to harvest the nest. Wait till it rains.  Wasps generally won't fly in rain!
Knock the nest out of the tree... let it fall into the water. Leave submerged for a few minutes.

For the nest higher up the tree, the tree branch was cut with the same effect:   Nest falls into the water.

Two wasp nests with rice: dinner for a family of six.

Collecting the larvae from the honeycomb type nest is a time consuming process. 
The larvae sell for 1 baht (3 cent) each at the local market

Sakon Nakhon Fast Forward

by 5472270540

Sakon Nakhon Royal Longboat Races

and

Wax Castle Festival

October 12 through 16, 2011 

   Sakon Nakhon Business directory    

183 listings

 Emergency Operation Center for Flood, Storm and Landslide 

Report dated Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Honey marinated garlic 

Had some the other day.  DELICIOUS.  Next day I immediately searched the net for a recipe.

Very simple.  Blanch garlic drop into honey.   

Wait from two months to seven years.   

It's like a fine wine, gains in maturity with age.

Bummer

Nothing but sunshine was forecast beginning October 1. 

Checked back two days later and found the update... rainy season continues.

Well !!  I never !!  

Waiting for a traffic light, I heard a truck ambulance siren.  

Generally ambulances tend to have to wait in line till the light changes.
Not this time:  Waiting vehicles inched out of the way  to let the emergency vehicle pass.  I think they are becoming more civilized.  Or was it because there where eight policemen standing at the intersection ?

Blacky is continuing to recover.  Still feels like skin and bones.  She eats regularly.
In fact if the dish is not served in time she sits down in the middle of the kitchen floor and smacks her lips.

Enough strength to jump up stairs.  But not enough to jump on the couch... YET !

Sakon FC loses "Water Follies" to Korat 0 - 1

More pictures at  110918 Sakon FC

It may have been billed as a football game, and there was some resemblance to the game, but with two to three inches of water in some areas, it was more a water folly.

Players frequently outran the ball, expecting it to bounce the distance, not expecting it to be "dead in the water" a distance away.

Sakon FC had plenty of close calls.  They were playing a lot better than in a previous game.
I'd venture to say, had it not been for the waterlogged field, the score could have been a lot different.

Plenty of slipping and sliding by both teams.
Drinking water had to be replenished as it was frequently used to wash the mud from players faces.

The loss drops Sakon FC to number eleven in the North Eastern league of division 2.
Sakon FC next travels to Udon Thani for a game this Saturday, starting at 4 p.m.

The crisis isn't over- but the prognosis is promising

Oh what a relief it is. A personal tragedy seems to have been averted.
One of my dogs, the female, Blacky, has been seriously ill for the past three weeks.
Physically she seemed fairly healthy and did not show any pain.  But she was eating little to nothing.
I thought it was most likely something stuck in her throat.  Possibly someone had given her a chicken bone.
The vet thought it was worms and gave her a series of shots.

After three weeks, the poor thing was just skin and bones and could not even climb the one step into the house.

Yesterday morning I had serious thoughts about 'putting her to sleep.'
I wonder if she sensed what I had contemplated.  At noon she started eating. And eating.
I was astonished,  I felt a tickling happy sensation.  Quite frankly I was overjoyed.
By evening she had regained enough energy that I no longer needed to assist her coming into the house.

The emotional discomfort I had been walking around with for the past three weeks vanished.
We shared a midnight snack, a bacon sandwich. She ate the bacon, I ate the sandwich.
When we were done eating she gate me that look: "Is that all there is?"

 Grandfather seeks justice  Bangkok Post

The grieving grandfather of a young boy allegedly shot dead after sneaking onto the property of a high-ranking Sakon Nakhon official to go fishing has come to seek Justice...
...the body of Anan (age 10) who had been shot four times...

 Rosewood trees in crisis   Bangkok Post

The forests under the most pressure are the Phu Luang wildlife reserve in Loei, Phu Payon and Phu Pan national parks in Sakon Nakhon as well as protected ...

 Thai Tiger Air plans scrapped

Thai Smile to start flying July 2012  Reuters

 Thailand Vietnam  Rice Summit  Bangkok Post

Price fixing
...raising export prices to more than US$800 a tonne from the present $550-560 a tonne...

 Ousted Thai leader embraces Cambodian PM  Voice of America

 

  Bargain Priced Breast Slapping lessons

a bargain at 8-million Thai baht ($263,504)
Do we really need this?  Isn't it a known fact that most body parts will swell (expand in size) when aggravated?

110911 Nile river fish very popular in Thailand

Pla Nin is one of Thailand's 14 most popular river Fishes

chiangmai-chiangrai.com  has  a complete list of the popular Thai river fish.
That webpage lists an interesting history how a river Nile fish: Tilapia, wound up to become a popular Thai dish.
The fish were apparently presented as a gift and Thais commenced "making copies."

Just finished stocking my freezer with seven of those copies.  The smallest weighed in at a kilo (2.2lb).

All for Bt500.  Roughly $1.15 per lb

What others say of Sakon Nakhon

Tom Isaan aka 'mekhongmud' recently came through town.
You can read about his travel adventures at Isaan Life  eat isaan  isaan bog blog  Isaan Live Podcast    isaan maps

You might say he's prolific on the net.  Besides his blogs and sites, he's also connected via twitter and facebook.

Tom stayed at the PLR apartments for BT 350 per night.
I caught up with Tom at the Sakon Nakhon Steak house and chatted with him over a beer.  Tom writes about his Sakon dining experience here. 


Anton reports in his Thai-German Blog: Martin´s Chern Chim shop has installed a glass front and air conditioner.  Haven't seen the shop improvements.  But I guess us smokers can stand on the 'Chern Chim bridge.'
On September 30 the Sunshine Garden is having an Oktoberfest

National Flood Report

Disaster.go.th publishes daily nationwide reports of the weather and related flooding (in English) The report dated Sept 14 states in part:

" The heaviest rainfall in the past 24 hours is at Sri Wichai Sub District, Wanon Niwat District of Sakon Nakhon Province at 135mm.
135 millimeters = 5.31496063 inches

Sakon Nakhon FC hosts undefeated Korat, Sunday

After the recent loss 3-0 to Mukdahan, I am reminded that Sakon Nakhon now faces undefeated Korat.
The only reason Korat (Nakhon Ratchasima) is not the division leader is because of a 9 point penalty for fielding an ineligible player."
With periods of rain and a thunderstorm in the forecast for Sunday, the playing field will be ideally suited for water sport version of football.  At least something to giggle about.
One can only hope that the local defense has recovered from their recent 'weakness' and keeps Korat's scoring to a minimum.
Most likely I'll be wanting to drown my grief at a local pub after the game.

Present NE division standings as posted at Wikipedia

Elsewhere in Thailand 

New Zealand Rugby Team Plays Elephant Polo in Thailand video by NTDTV on Sep 7, 2011	Miss GB Universe 2011: TOP 16 Most Beautiful National Costume video by DashboardJay on Sep 11, 2011
Dutch Ambassador to Thailand points out tourism problems in Phuket video by PGTVPhuket on Sep 2, 2011	During the Rainy Season Pattaya becomes     the Venice of Asia minus the gondoliers     video by timpawloski on Sep 11, 2011

Nakhon Phanom Illuminated Boat Procession - OTOP

• Missed The Illuminated Barges in Tao Ngoi on Sunday and Monday.

Had not heard of the event there in previous years.  Not much pre-event publicity.  Did find plenty of web pages posted on Sept 12.  Too late to make travel plans.

They are calling it the 'Fire boat Procession.'
They are not fire boats the way I've been taught.



Nakhon Phanom Illuminated Barge Procession 
is held on the Mekong river each year.

I've enjoyed the barge procession  there a number of times over the years.

First time  from the distance I was convinced that they were neon lights.  Closer up you can see hundreds of small oil-pot lamps.
I'd imagine there are quite a few folk involved in lighting so many oil lamps.

OCTOBER 4 - 12, 2011
ILLUMINATED BOAT PROCESSION The Mekong River, Nakhon Phanom

Think there is something wrong with the dates listed at TAT NEWS.  Doubt very seriously that the procession is done for nine consecutive days

 

OTOP  Festival Starts Thursday 

• September 15 through 18 

at Sakon Nakhon Rajabhat University

NOTE:  Sakon city and vicinity are not experiencing flooding as seen elsewhere in Thailand



Sakon Nakhon Dining 

 

OPINION:  Recipe for  Inflation 

Main Ingredients

• Raise minimum wage to 300 Baht.

Considering the 2010 minimum wage (Thailand Blogs) this is an increase of nearly 100% to many Thai's.
Too much too fast, in my opinion.  Questions are already arising how the government will pay for this wage increase

The government may cut its contribution to  Social Security  THE NATION

• Flood conditions

With severe flood conditions in almost one third of the country, food prices will undoubtedly rise.
Even though the weather conditions may only be temporary, prices seldom retreat

Ayutthaya province Flooding   MSNBC   <<< Excellent Photography

Saraburi Building collapse   THE NATION