Open flame grilling and well done meats may be hazardous to your health

Having pan fried sirloin for breakfast.  I'll be checking in on my blood pressure a few times today. Used to be I had to wear suspenders to keep my jeans from falling.  Then I stopped smoking.  Pretty quickly I realized I no longer needed suspenders. Had not worn jeans for over a week.  Wore one yesterday, quite painful considering it had shrunk by nearly two inches.  I now have a fear of weight scales. I suppose I'll have to stop that fistfull of mozarella as an afternoon snack.

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It's a zoo out there

Blue Gold Map50 km from Sakon Nakhon Airport to Phon Chan, Amphoe Phon Sawan Received this message from Paul and consider it worthwhile sharing Hi Hans, just a bit of information for you, near my village Phon Sawan, about 7 km away there is a place called Blue Gold. It is a coffee shop with a zoo, restaurant, gift shop.  The zoo is fantastic, with 2 lions, kangaroos, lama, chipmunks and many more animals, they also have donkeys and about 40 horses, you can have horse rides or horse and cart rides, they have flower gardens, fruit trees etc.  They have about 90 staff. They are in the process of clearing land to build a big water park , which will be ready early next year.  I think it has only opened in the last 3 months or so and are expanding the area . It's really is a fantastic place to go and is free to all. It is about 5 km from main road.

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Cool pleasant temperatures through the weekend

Followed by a warming trend middle of next week.   Real temperatures and feels like temperatures are distaning due to increased humidity.  Thu April 12 Fri April 13 Sat April 14 Sun April 15 Mon April 16 95 - 105 95 - 103 91 - 99 92 - 102 91 - 100 35 - 40 33 - 40 33 - 38 33 - 39 33 - 38 Increased humidity also increases the chances of locally generated thunderstorms.  Expect at least one rainy period over the Songkran holidays Summer vacation has begun. A visit to the local canals is a unique experience Map location previous visits

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Thai Baht remains strong (updated GBP added)

Bank transfer US$ to Thai Baht

I hear a lot of Brits groaning, so I thought I'd compare

What me worry ?? It's just tiny plastic particles.

Video published on Mar 15, 2018

Video published on Mar 16, 2018

Video published on Apr 9, 2008

Those microwavable plastic bowls I have aren't that safe either.  The plastic gets discolored and the surface deformed. 

Thunderstorms likely overnight and Tuesday

Change of weather direction SW colidest with strong East  22 km Gusts

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Songkran Sakon Nakhon

The Thai New Year, Songkran is normally celebrated on 13, 14, 15 April. If any of those holidays fall on a weekend, additional days are added.  At other times days are added purely for economic tourism purposes. Hours before the parade a stop at the assembly area is worthwhile Waterproof bags for mobiles and wallets highly recommended, are readily available. If your phone gets wet, remove the battery and stick everything in a small bag of rice. Dry rice absorbs moisture. For good pictures you want the sun behind you. Best stand in an open restaurant or store.  As a rule water is not thrown into a building 2015 The long (6:45) Version

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I have not confirmed the dates of this year's easter parade in Tha Rae

Base on previous years most likely Saturday  Photo albums 2011 Saturday April 23 2014 Saturday April 19

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It's not my kind of fun

reminded me of my own experiences: survived the real thing, some friendly and enemy fire unscathed.  The amount of protective gear on a hot and humid day (feels like 40C / 104F)  has to be exhaustive. Should be a cool season event. These shootouts were timed. The episode I watched was over in less than three minutes.

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