Saturday, May 26, 2012

Celebrating in Sakon Nakhon

 Visakha Bucha celebrations in Sakon Nakhon

Sakon Nakhon has hosted the annual celebrations of Visakha Bucha Day since 2003 Bangkok Post
The next major Buddhist Holiday is Asalha Puja August 2, celebrating Buddha's first sermon.
The following day is Wan Khao Phansa, the beginning of the Buddhist rain retreat (Buddhist Lent) 
Keeping track of Buddhist holidays can be a bit of a problem.  These holidays are based on the lunar calendar and change every year. 
Many websites have erroneous information regarding these holidays.
The 2012 Sakon Nakhon Wax Castle Festival is a typical example.
One website lists the event dates October 8-12.  Those dates were the 2011 dates.
  

2012 Royal Long Boat Races and Wax Castle Festival 

Haven't seen any official dates for this year's events, so I did a little math based on previous celebrations




Year
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Full Moon
Oct 26
Oct 14
Oct 4
Oct 23
Oct 12
Oct 29
Celebration Dates
Oct 22-26
Oct 10-14
Sept 30-Oct 4
Oct 20-23
Oct 8-12
Oct 26-30

 Photo Album Update

After a disk crash last year, and almost loosing thousands of photographs (over 50,000), I've made multiple copies and am in a long process of sharing them on the web. 
It's been quite a surprise to many of my friends and Thai family who are seeing pictures of themselves taken over the past ten years.
Of course it's also quite interesting to see changes that have taken place here in the city.

I.T.U. was unpaved for a number of years and was soaked almost daily to keep the dust down


Strange animals

Recently added albums

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Sakon Nakhon Highways

 Watching traffic go by


. 

Truck collision kills two


Husband and wife were  in a fierce argument when they left their business, according to witnesses.
Further details at Thai Chanel 3 online

 Anton reports on Facebook:

 Mein erster Unfall My first Accident.

 From what he writes I can only add that
 he's very lucky that it did not reminiscent the O.K coral.

 Why did the fish cross the road?

Officially the rainy season began on May 5 in Thailand, according to the meteorological department.   
Locally, we've had rain here and there, but nothing really to call it the start of the rainy season.  In fact as late as last week there were media reports that drought conditions prevailed in some parts of the province. 
Of course that all changed yesterday, when it rained most of the afternoon and overnight.
At times the rain was heavy enough to inundate the road in front of my house.
Fish were  jumping in the street.
This morning we have a bucket full of fish.
We had to place a lid on the bucket with some heavy weights to keep the fish from jumping away. 

Weather outlook "Soup's on"

Weather is moving from west to east

 Who is next

  • First the Thai government bought rice from farmers to raise their standard of living.
  • Next the government is buying rubber from other producing countries to raise the price of rubber to enhance Thai rubber farmers standard of living.
  • Then the shrimp farmers made their plea to the government 
  • Now it's the pineapple growers demanding that the government buy their fruit
                  Pineapple farmers protest, block road


Grandfather watching his grandson, had to go to the toilet, grandson went for a drive through heavy traffic. Survives unscathed.


Babysitter's prank nearly turned tragic


Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Rain Retreat

English teachers needed 

at Ban Muang Pitthayakhom School
Ban Muang is 120 km north of Sakon Nakhon (city)

Job details at  Ajarn Job Space posted on May 19




Robin Gibb dies at age 62

Visakha Bucha Day June 4

commemorates three Buddhist events:

  • the birth of Buddha,
  • his enlightenment,
  • and his passing.




Funny Mail

Sunday, May 20, 2012

The Football Grinch at Mukdahan

Grinch:  a person who ruins the pleasure of others. 
 กรินช์:   สถานที่ปรักหักพังคนมีความสุขของผู้อื่น 
Sakon Nakhon FC is experiencing one of their worst season since their inception in 2005. 
12 games, 10 losses and 2 draws.  Attendance to some games is less than 10% of stadium capacity. 
Sakon Nakhon FC visited Mukdahan Saturday.  Mukdahan is not faring much better: 8 losses, 2 draws, 2 wins.  The stadium was, at my estimates, at 25% of capacity. 
Within minutes of arriving at the game, an official confronted us and advised us that bullhorns used by cheering fans are not allowed. The official came across as a real ahole, no tact, very unprofessional.
He stated only drums were allowed for cheering. 
Surprisingly a stereo to the right of the stands blared music throughout the entire game. The type of music you'd expect to hear at a nightclub. 
To the left of the stands a band cheered on the Mukdahan team.


At 55 minutes into the game, the official seemed to decide that band music was also not allowed. 
This time he sent in the police to stop the music.  At first the cops seemed confounded and somewhat reluctant to carry out the order of silence.  They did follow orders, they talked to one of the cheering team members in a very polite manner


After that, at times there was a deafening silence from the crowd.  Had it not been for the nightclub music, the stadium could have been mistaken for a library on Sunday. 
The bullhorn has been used by the Sakon Nakhon cheerleader for over a year without incident.

From the looks of the official he didn't enjoy the game.

Frequently this official assumed the duties of police, removing people who wandered past the field gate.

The refereeing at the game wasn't that good either.  There should have been a couple of yellow cards and even a red card.



Sakon FC next hosts Nakhon Phanom, Sunday, May 27, 5 pm
The game will most likely be another loss for Sakon Nakhon FC

Emergency repairs underway at Collapsed River Bank

Memories in the Wild



1974 Washington State, North Cascades National Park

Friday, May 18, 2012

Sakon Nakhon New Road Proposed





  Motorcycle stunts performed at Tha Rae

 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

 Sakon Nakhon FC at Mukdahan

 Saturday, May 19 4 pm