Sakon Nakhon New Road Proposed

Motorcycle stunts performed at Tha Rae Video by DJ M

My residence is about to change    from a house on a 'Dead End Soi'    to a house on a 'Highway,'  and I'm not even moving Heard about a new proposed highway some months ago. At that time they were talking about tearing down houses across the street from me, including an apartment building which was built in 2007. Had not heard much about it since and considered the matter as just a rumor. My heart almost skipped a beat when I saw a map at Facebook - Sakon Nakhon Daily  depicting the "new red road. The map is quite small, so it's impossible to tell the exact route.  No one in the neighborhood seems to be aware of the latest developments.  No one is packing. It's going to be interesting how this unfolds

EU to Lift Ban on Imports of Fresh Poultry Meat from Thailand Census system crashes around country Sakon machinery, dredging canals, flood response Thai food export to decline on higher costs

Sakon Nakhon FC at Mukdahan  Saturday, May 19 4 pm

Sakon Nakhon Teaching Jobs

Sakon Nakhon Rajabhat University  full time foreign teacher positions    applications accepted through May 22

Donna Summer    Dead at age 63 (1948 - 2012)

Sakon Nakhon avoids heavy rains

Santol Apricot look and feel, (except for the long stem). Extremely tart (sour), probably the reason why it's also called sour apple. Probably would make an excellent wine wikipedia

Weather System to the north of us (Sakon City). System to the south of us. Been like that for over a week.  Storm hits North, Southeast; one killed in Chonburi - MCOT Ocean temperatures are heating up with the first thunderstorms of the season in the East Pacific

Worth reading  Artist's rendition of Nong Hang Park development  SAKON NAKHON-City of Beautiful lake, Beautiful Mountain and Beautiful Girl Page 229

Isan red-shirts grumble - We're being ignored - Bangkok Post Rising food prices hurting Thai workers' wallets - Channel NewsAsia

Overnight travel to Nakhon Phanom

The reason for this trip I had been asked to attend a school event.  I'm taking a guess that is was a student activities day. The invitation came from the same person who welcomes me into his house during the Tha Rae Christmas and Easter celebrations. The musical entertainment was worth the trip in itself. Students and teachers were just super friendly, all the makings of a very pleasant day.

Overnight stay at Nakhon Phanom Stayed at what used to be called Grand View hotel. Now it's listed as View Kong, but I did not see any oversized guerrilla. The Mekong river water level seemed quite low Protected by a wall of sand, they were busy scooping up truckloads of sand, possibly to improve the river's shipping capability.  The sand is being used at constructions sites. Something became very obvious on this trip: Driving at night I was going much slower than the 100+ on the return trip during the day. I used twice as much gas going at high speeds

A must read for all Expats living in Thailand A word of warning for those farang who may occasionally have a drink or two  Thailand-UK.com  Now there's an alternative Finally, a Spray That Gets You Instantly Drunk for Just a Few Seconds Time.com

Heavy rain expected throughout Thailand,    Except Maybe... The National Warning Center advises heavy rain is  expected throughout the country.  "... also heavy rain in the country’s northern, northeastern and eastern regions as well as the western coast of the South from now until May 18th." A weather warning posted May 16, at the Thai Meteorological Department makes no mention of the North East, but extends the warning until May 19

Too Much Hullabaloo

The making of a Temple  Statue Very ceremoniously, dignified ritualistic event

Nakhon Phanom F.C. clobbers Mukdahan F.C. Very seldom are football games from the Thai Division 2 League North Eastern Region broadcast live on television. Sunday, the game between Nakhon Phanom and Mukdahan was the exception. It's of local interest for a number of reasons: Sakon F.C. travels to Mukdahan for it's next challenge on May 19. The following weekend (May 27) Sakon F.C. hosts Nakhon Phanom. The Mukdahan game next weekend is winnable by Sakon. Mukdahan is in 14th place, while Sakon is in 16th (last) place, in the league. Nakhon Phanom is in third position in the league.  A number of their players are former Sakon FC players.

At the Edge of a storm May 14, 5 am     May 15, 4:20 am A storm had been growing just north of us for the past three days. Hasn't moved very much, just been growing in intensity. Weather services seem to be at odds what's going to happen locally. Some predict 75% chance of rain, while others are at a low 20% today. Chance of rain seems more likely in the coming days. 5 am this morning temperatures dropped to a very pleasantly cool.

Blinded by the light Up to 90% of Asian Schoolchildren Are Nearsighted - TIME

Naga Hullabaloo  Months after the sighting of the phenomenon on Nong Han, claims continue to surface that Naga has appeared. I'm more of a believer of the scientific explanation, especially since no sighting to the dragon head have been reported.  A standing or stationary wave. It is created when two opposing waves meet

Crystal Ball Vision? Bank of Thailand: Inflation risk increasing - MarketWatch

Funny Mail

Sakon F.C. hosts Amnat Charoen F.C.

Looses 2-1 With both teams wearing blue uniforms, you had to really pay close attention to the game to discern which team the player was on. It was a well played game.  The team seems to be improving, but...!!! During half time I somewhat got the impression that the team is suffering from financial woes. Giving out calendars almost half way into the year, seems like "they've reached the bottom of the barrel." Previous half time prizes were football shoes, team rings, team shirts, and such.  Personally I prefer a halftime show rather than a prize lottery. Most of the time defending the Amnat Charoen goal seemed all to easy The surprise of the game came at the very last minute, when Sakon F.C. scored.

Sakon Nakhon Media multiplies

Sakon Nakhon Media Growth    Sakon Nakhon Live started out as a website in 2007 with hardly any competition The provincial website was up and running (Thai Script), but updates were very sporadic. There were a few Sakon Nakhon oriented website start-ups, but they soon disappeared.  Regular Sakon Nakhon (Thai script) posts began appearing at  Skyscraper city in April 2008 under the heading  SAKON NAKHON "City of Beautiful lake, Beautiful Mountain and Beautiful Girl"  Sakon City on facebook had it's (Thai script) first post on May20, 2011  Sakon online is the latest (Thai Script) website.

Worth reading   City of Beautiful lake, Beautiful Mountain and Beautiful Girl    Recent newsworthy photography, includes Robinson construction photos   A warning from voters in Europe to Thai populists - The Nation    problems are a result of the kind of spending policies we are seeing now in

Anti Hair Fall You may think this is trivial criticism, but shouldn't it be Anti Hair Loss? It's been my favorite shampoo for a decade

Funny Mail

Locals gone fishing

Thai Silly Made me giggle, made me chuckle, made me laugh. If laughter is the best medicine, then take your medicine, watch this video !!

Cost Cutting Seems local schools are bent on cost cutting. Most of the English teaching jobs I'm hearing about are all part-time jobs at Bt10,000.  Of course there's not much interest by 'native English speakers with a BA' in part-time employment.  I've always thought if the Thai government would change their policy and let foreign retirees become *teaching assistants,* without having to change their retirement visa, there would be an unlimited supply.

Floods and Droughts and a heatwave in Thailand Ten provinces in northern Thailand have been warned of possible flash floods, while some southern provinces are experiencing extreme drought.  Droughts and floods have been regular events almost every year. Little has been done to remedy those problems. Bangkok swelters, sparks debate on city planning in Asia - Reuters Australia Network News-Stories-Heatwave hits flood-hit Thailand

The Price of Rice  Government destroys Thai rice  THE NATION India Set to Pass Thailand as Top Rice Exporter  businessweek Government set to make Thailand largest food trade center in Asia  Thailand News

Ploughing Day 2012 As in all previous years, the ceremony was telecast 'live'. I watched some of it, but after seeing this event year after year, ...I quickly lost interest ... I went grocery shopping. Really obvious was the meat section, plenty of looking, but no purchasing. The recent price hike was the second spike in pork and Beef prices in the last 12 months. Bought some fish to stock my freezer. Taking the shortcut home I came across  locals taking advantage of the 'NO WORK DAY' by going fishing.     The entire ceremony is preserved in seven videos at You Tube

Sakon Nakhon places to see      Map by isaanlife

Funny Mail

Sakon Nakhon Magic

Wednesday, 9 May 2012 Royal Ploughing Day    Marks the traditional beginning of the rice-growing season Wikipedia:  "...oxen are offered plates of food, including rice, corn, green beans, sesame, fresh-cut grass, water and rice whisky. Depending on what the oxen eat, court soothsayers make a prediction on whether the coming growing season will be bountiful or not..." Televised Live on most Thai TV

Shrimp farmers protest seeking higher prices May 8 MCOT The article mentions recent price hikes in Sakon Nakhon: Pork from Bt 105 to Bt130  per kilo. US$1.90 per lb  Chinese Kale price doubled from Bt 20 per bunch to Bt40 Further price hikes are expected with the start of the new school year (May)

Sakon Magic  A nice selection of local 'Traditional' music by  Vienchai on You Tube