English teachers; Rice Planting; Sakon FC

English Teachers on Parade

Rice Planting at the edge of the City A recent article on line suggested that rice planting, as it's done still today in Thailand will drastically change over the next decade.  Thailand's Facebook generation is not interested in backbreaking labor with a low profit margin.  Possibly in a decade it will be all done by machinery owned by big corporations.   Time will tell. Until then, it's still done the old fashioned way. These pictures were taken on Serithai road, the southern edge of Sakon City. Most likely these fields will give way to new construction, as soon as the price is right.

Sakon FC hosts Mahasarakham this Sunday Mahasarakham is fifth in the league. They defeated Sakon FC on their own turf on March 18. Of course we are looking forward to see some of the Mahasarakham fans here in town. Expect some changes in the Sakon FC lineup, some old faces returning

Funny Mail     Comment from a reader The reviews said it had a plot and wasn't half bad.  I disagree.  My review is:  Save your money.

Weather If you are looking forward to cooler temperatures, wait... Possibly next Thursday or Friday according to Meo Weather and Thai Meteorological Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon AccuWeather 32 33 34 33 33 31 32 32 32 32 AccuWeather Feels Like 41 42 43 43 44 41 38 38 40 40 MeoWeather 31 32 33 33 33 30 26 Thai Meteorological 31 32 33 32 32 28 * * * * The Weather Channel 32 33 33 32 32 31 31 31 31 30 Wunderground 31 34 *34 37 30 31 30

Apple Restarant presents menu

Play Pool at Apple's

Sakon 'OTOP Lampang & Lanna Fair 2012'

This is one of the best OTOP fairs in Sakon Nakhon Seen plenty of these fairs over the past ten years. Ho hum, always the same products, nothing new.   Not this time  !! Yes of course they had a few of the usual fares under the 'big top.' The big surprise was an extensive display of Thailand fine art. I love seeing such things Worn out from all that shopping and browsing.  Then you can stop off for a relaxing massage Last day of the fair is July 15

Pool Table at Green Apple restaurant Not a standard size pool table, but apparently just the perfect size for the restaurant. All Dan has to do now is teach the ladies what end of the table to shoot from

Sakon Nakhon 2012 MX, missed it

Sakon Nakhon OTOP Fair July 9 through 15 at the Municipal Grounds (across the police station)

No Hurry Heavy winds during yesterdays evening rainstorm knocked over an advertising sign at GLOBAL.  I pointed it out to employees when I stopped by this afternoon. They all knew and chuckled about it. No one seemed concerned about repairs

Sakon Nakhon 2012 MX (motocross), June 29, 2012 Unfortunately missed it this year.  Had no advance knowledge of the event.

Heavy rain yesterday, early evening Lasted only half an hour, missed my favorite TVshow of the day Strong wind gusts at times   Today:  Mostly sunny, hot and humid Expect 32C/91F feels like 43C/110F, clouds at times, t-storm possible

Funny Mail    The Barbershop A guy stuck his head into a barbershop and asked, 'How long before I can get a haircut? The barber looked around the shop full of customers and said, 'About 2 hours.' The guy left.. ... A few days later, the same guy stuck his head in the door and asked, 'How long before I can get a haircut?' The barber looked around at the shop and said, 'About 3 hours.' The guy left. A week later, the same guy stuck his head in the shop and asked, 'How long before I can get a haircut? The barber looked around the shop and said, 'About an hour and a half . The guy left. The barber turned to his friend and said, 'Hey, Bob, do me a favor , follow him and see where he goes. He keeps asking how long he has to wait for a haircut, but he never comes back.' A little while later, Bob returned to the shop, laughing hysterically. The barber asked, 'So, where does he go when he leaves?' Bob looked up, wiped the tears from his eyes and said, 'Your house!

Sakon Monk Commits Suicide

Pardon me !!   I realize suicide by a monk is a tragic event, not to be made fun of.  It's the translation which caused me too fall out of my chair: Google translate: The abbot of Nakhon neck tie die. You Tube video by Mr Smith PNS

Expect Flooding in 'Some' Places

Youtube upload by  djmzaa July 6  Meteorological Department Warning of heavy rain in the Province Housing is built, blocking all natural water flows. Lacking proper drainage, street runoff at times takes hours or days to dissipate. Here in the city we've been avoiding the heavy stuff for the last couple days.

Best Sakon Nakhon Website (in Thai script) Turn down your volume before you go there !! The website has a local radio station broadcast embedded. To turn off the radio, scroll to the bottom of the page to the radio control   Best map of Sakon (in Thai script) Highlight the desired text (see photo). Copy and paste it into Google Translate

Ubon FC trumps Sakon FC  Watched the game on my TV linked to the Sakon FC website broadcast. T.i.T. Start-time was changed from 4 pm to 5:30pm Halftime Ubon was leading by 2-0. After Halftime for a while the game was 2-2. Game ended 3-2 Sakon FC hosts Mahasarakham, July 15 It's all but obvious: Sakon FC will sit out a one years suspension in the coming year

Funny Mail

Wait till it blows up, then we'll fix it

Happy 5th er 4th Watched the Boston Pops and the Boston fireworks display 'live' this morning, July 5, 9 am local time. You have to remember we are 13 hours ahead of US east cost time. The fireworks display was promoted as the biggest in the U.S. The San Diego fireworks display was a total bust.  Everything blew up in under a minute.

Weather alert Issued 11 am, Jul 5, by the Thai Meteorological Department "...heavy to very heavy torrential rain  in some places..."

Amazing Thailand It's very apparent that regular maintenance is lacking.  Electric, phone and TV cable have been overgrown by trees and weeds. In many instances nothing is done until there is a power, phone, or TV cable failure. Preventive maintenance does not seem a high priority concern.  This was very obvious during last years floods when it was determined that many of the Bangkok canals were blocked by vegetation and an accumulation of garbage. Reminds me of a quote by that fictional Mad Magazine character, Alfred E. Newman: "What Me Worry?

Anyone up for a game of Pool ? Dan at the Apple restaurant is making plans for a pool table.  It's still in the preliminary stage. First thing, he's looking for a handyman with a cement saw to remove a wall in the back room

Sakon City in July

You remember?  Scanned through my photo album to see what happens during the month of July in this city. I use the album frequently to remind myself of birthdays and other events. 2003 Parade in the rain 2004 First SBAC Graduation 2005  Water Rocket Fest 2006 Parade 2007 Funeral for JAN 2007 Expat gathering 2007 Martins Birthday  2008 Wedding 2009 Funeral  for Andy 2010 First annual Car Show 2010 First time I ever saw  the tourist police in this city 2010 Parade 2011 Parade 2012 Fair

Isaan Tom sets up residence in Sakon Nakhon Tom, who had been living in Khoen Kean, moved here recently.  He travels throughout Isaan and reports of his travels on his blog Isaan Life. His latest postings are of his recent encounters at Thai Watsadu and his trip to the post office. I wont reveal were he lives, but you can figure that one out really quick by visiting his webcam.

AGAIN? Thai to launch regional budget carrier in 2013 It was just a years or so ago when Thai attempted to start a regional budget airline in a joint venture. That venture failed when the government declined approval. Thai Smile, budget airline, begins operation this month. The proposed, still unnamed budget airline, would be a joint venture of Thai and NOK airline. Thai is a 39% shareholder of NOK air.

It might be slow season, but not where I live If you look at any Thailand calendar, there's not much happening during July.  No public holidays. Of course not it's the rainy season. With heavy rains late yesterday afternoon I was contemplating a quiet evening at home.  My plans changed suddenly. Right during the heavy rains they started showing up. Motorcycles, most with two persons, a couple with three persons on board, all soaked to the bone. All my towels where used up.  No one stayed dry for long, as soon as one person discovered coins in my pool, they all dove in. They brought their own food and drink, I only had to furnish the dishes. As suddenly as they had arrived, they disappeared at 8pm to continue their party elsewhere.

Storm Alert

Thai Meteorological Department at 4;30 am, today,  issued an alert advising residents of North and Northeast Thailand of impending torrential rainfall.

From my own observations, heavy rains will most likely begin sometime this evening, with very heavy rains overnight. Expect thunderstorms  to persist through Saturday night

References

• accuweather animated weather map
• weather.com animated weather map
• Thai Meteorological Department weather alert
• Bangkok Post