Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

TAT short fuse

With less than three weeks till the Wax Castle festival, TAT just posted the event on their website. That's fine if you are still in the planning stage of your trip. Unfortunately many tourists spend more that three weeks in deciding on their itinerary.  
Sakon Nakhon Wax Castle Festival 2017
Other events in major tourist destinations get up to year long advance notice. Local TAT office seems to be sleeping at the controls.

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Sakon Nakhon Royal Longboat Races Opening Day looks like this

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Building a castle
updated


Building materials, mostly candle wax are donated by the community.  Most of the early preparations are done during the cooler evening hours when wax is melted and poured into forms. This work is done mostly by novice monks and volunteers.

 
 
 
 
 
 


Most of the assembling is done during the day by artisans and apprentices.

  
 
 


Wax castles are on display at the city grounds (across from the police station) the evening prior to the parade
 
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Bring Earplugs


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Change your passwords


The most recent major hack appears to be Equifax.  As told in the media it affects US information.  If you're not a US citizen, it's no reason to sit on your laurels.  Hacks are a fact of life.  You may have the best security system on your computer, but your information is stored all over the world.
 Equifax hack rumors fact-checked - Sep. 11, 2017
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Monday, September 11, 2017

The changeover is easier said than done



Quality tourists, tourists with money to spend, tend to avoid large crowds created by the quantity tourism campaigns of recent years. 
Unless of course quality tourists receive preferential treatment over bus tours. That most likely will mean pay more for the privilege.   
Crowd tourism has proved not to be as profitable, requires more maintenance, and may have reached it's peak.
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