Home Alone and Bored, Not a Good Combination, Isaan Thailand.

Last night I was bored, well because I was home alone and no Nong Ja to play with and keep me occupied I decided to have a couple of beers and watch the Australian Rules Football.

Next week is the Thai election, Thais will vote for one of the useless parties that are not worth a pinch of shit, but the Thais will return home to their villages and vote, plus get their money from each candidate. Vote buying is in your face and everybody knows about it.

Early voting was this weekend so that meant no clubs or pubs are allowed to sell alcohol. This is also the same next weekend. Apparently some incredible bright spark (not) thought that banning the sale of alcohol many years ago, would mean all Thais would vote and not get incredibly drunk with their vote buying money. So above is what shops do. They wrap the bottles in newspaper so no-one knows that it is beer in your plastic bag.

Anyway a few beers led to a few more and maybe even a few rums thrown in as well. This meant waking up with a dreaded thumping going on in my head.

I thought a big brunch would fix everything, but I seem to be wrong as I still feel like I was beaten around the head by a metal pole.

And all I feel now is a swollen stomach, maybe I cooked too much. Even the two paracetamol haven’t kicked in and worked, yet.

But never mind as I am crawling back into bed to watch AFL all afternoon and hopefully the odd nanny nap or two as well. Things are bad as I am watching the Adelaide Crows, one of the worst teams to grace the AFL, it doesn’t help they come from South Australia, Crow-eaters are a breed in their own. They play Geelong where most ferals and criminals live. There you will find plenty of stolen cars and other household goods on offer and nearly all will have flannelette tops and tracky daks and even a beanie on.

Coming up are the West Coast Wedgies from Western Australia, Sandgropers are a step above the Crow-eaters but still a strange lot.

I am off to bed.

Brunty

Racism, Front and Centre in Thailand.

Good old Thailand. I had to block out the name of the school but if you really wanted to find out you can find it easily enough with a Google search.

The funny thing is this ad isn’t too bad, I have seen much worse and actually witnessed blatant racism by prospective employers. I can truthfully say that any dark skinned person, another words a black person is pushing shit uphill in most schools to get a job.

It doesn’t matter if they are a native English speaker, have a degree in education or they are a fantastic teacher. Because they are black, Thais for some reason think parents will not accept them and the black thing seems to scare them for god knows why.

I have witnessed black people come and leave resumes at schools and once left they have been ridiculed or laughed at by the Thais because they are black.

I really do not understand it; maybe someone can explain it to me.

Can you imagine printing this in Australia, America or another country with strong equal opportunity laws? “Note. This is for native speaker only with white skin.” And “preferably female.”

There would be an outcry. The splinter groups would be calling for blood; heads should roll and so forth.

I am one for, if you are an employer you should be able to advertise and choose who you want. So “if” I wanted a large breasted, slim waist, long legged girl for a bar," I should be able to ask for that, but you cannot.

So you advertise the position, have people send in resumes with up to date pictures and start screening. You interview and say, “We will let you know if you were successful,” already knowing they have no chance and the “I am sorry you have not been chosen for the position” email ready to be sent.

They are the laws of today, so you cross the t’s and dot the I’s, and just keep doing what we were many years ago.

I remember young guys coming onto jobsites and asking for work, and I would just shake my head and say nothing was available. In all the years we never advertised a position. I can tell you now that I turned guys down when we needed workers because of the way they looked, too puny, surfy, or old. I mean we are in the building game and the guys we had were rough and ready.

We had some very interesting characters, the co-owner was an ex Sergeant of Arms of a Hells Angels chapter in New Zealand. He was and still is the best boss I have ever worked for by a mile.

Geez, I sacked labourers and also tradies on the spot at times, no written warnings, a few verbal ones and then down the road. Tradies, some of the best are guys who have no tickets but know their trade. And others are absolute cowboys.

At times guys would arrive, you give them a start and within a few hours you know if they are the real deal or pretenders. A simple, it is not going to work and they are on their way. None of this 3 warning letters and mediation and other shit required in many places.

Maybe in many years to come Thailand will also enforce the political correct madness like some of our native countries do, but for now you can still witness the good old 80’s stuff from days gone by.

Brunty

Planking Offends the Old Prunes of Thailand.

I am going to have a shot at a Thai government ministry, again. It is one that I have mocked before and I am sure I will again.

It is the Thai Ministry of Culture or the Culture Watch Centre (CWC). It is about something I don’t like and think that it is for absolute wankers, idiots and people who need to get a life, that being “planking.”

Planking is this new fad where wankers lay flat on something, a young person in Australia died when he fell from a balcony trying to plank, a senseless death and just what can happen to people who engage in such moronic activity.

Okay, you get my take on planking. Well the CWC also do not like it, well nude planking that is. Apparently some nude planking pictures have made their way to the WWW and the CWC have taken offence.

It is not illegal to nude plank in private places but people could be charged under the ridiculous Computer Crimes Act 2007 the director of CWC said.

I have not seen any of the nude planking pictures (tried to find them in the name of research) but cannot imagine them to be overly explicit. They would not be worse than the pictures of Thai prostitutes (sorry Thailand doesn’t have prostitution and the pictures I came across trying to find "Thai nude planking pictures"), of Thai girls who meet men in bars, have these men pay them money and then have sex and make videos that are plastered across the internet.

How about the CWC hit the newspapers and other publications that seem to think that pictures of death need to grace the front pages of every Thai publication, but again this is Thai culture, to be insensitive and have no respect for the privacy of families that have lost loved ones.

The CWC seems to be filled with old and outdated prunes that need to be thrown out as they have gone well past their used by date. The CWC often makes the news and is ridiculed by Thai reporters and their conservative ideas.

Not long ago there was a small uproar about tattoos, foreigners having Buddha images and other religious images in inappropriate places. When first reported in newspapers it was said that tourists that had such tattoos in the wrong places would not be allowed to enter Thailand, but this was just sensationalism.

But the CWC do want foreigners to stop having these images tattooed on their bodies, especially in places deemed inappropriate. I agree with the CWC here and tattooist need to stop placing these images in disrespectful places.

But when the CWC start to threaten to report people to the national police office and ask the Information and Communication Technology Ministry to block websites that display such images, they have again gone too far.

A young 20 year old from the Netherlands in Chiang Mai wanted to do some planking when pissed, she decided to climb into a car rental place, but as she was climbing across the roof some tiles broke and fell hitting cars. A security guard who was amazingly not asleep or drunk detained her until police arrived.

This girl is an idiot, no doubt about it, but she offered compensation to the company but they have refused. They want her charged and dealt with by the courts. Geez, this is so un-Thai. Thai people can forgive murderers (this is a link to a story of a 26yo who murdered an 8yo girl for a 500 baht phone and the parents forgave her), rapists and other such scum but this company and its foolish owner cannot give this girl a break. Please pull your head out of your ass.

And the latest story of wanking, I mean planking is of a man in monk’s robes, so most likely a monk, whose image has been posted on the internet. A Buddhist university assistant rector has taken offence and offered 5,000 baht reward for identification of this man and if he is a monk then the abbot informed.

If this is the worst thing monks can do, then I am pretty happy compared to many of the stories on the saffron robe wearers are usually much more juicy.

All in all, plankers are wankers and as long as they are not hurting anyone, destroying property, endangering the public I could not care less about them. If they break laws and endanger people then kill them, okay maybe not kill them, just beat the living shit out of them, okay maybe a kind word in their ear about being appropriate.

Holy crap, I have an idea. Send them on a month long community service programme at the CWC, I am sure that would be enough to straighten their life out until the day they are buried in the ground or burnt at the stake.

I must go as I am going to email the CWC with my idea.

Brunty

Ben 10, Spaghetti and Mashed Potato, Isaan Thailand.

Well life has been so exciting of late, not. The most exciting thing to happen this week was have Nong Ja wander into my room and ask me to cook spawetee or something like that, how she pronounces it.

I think the larger two monkeys had put her up to it, so spaghetti was on the menu. So Ja and I were off to the market to buy some freshly ground beef, some fresh onion, garlic.

Back home Ja insisted on helping me cut up the onion and crush the garlic but I finally got her out of my hair and she went and played with Noot and Ben. Here Noot and Ja are scribbling in her Ben 10 book.

Dinner was served, some mashed spud with pumpkin, a little bit of mayo, butter, milk and salt and pepper. The spaghetti the girls really like, I like to have fresh bread with it and make sandwiches.

Ja didn’t want to eat but keep drawing in her book, Ben wanted to eat and finally we convinced Ja to eat.

Ja and her new chair, it cost 80 baht or just over $2.60 Australian, because they were on special where you bought one and got one for free.

Ja wanted to still play a bit and was pulling faces at me.

As always with Ja and spaghetti, plenty makes it onto the floor or her.

And each picture she would make her way over so she could make sure it was up to standard.

Ja made a spaghetti with sauce, mashed potato and bread all jammed into her bowl.

And she tucked in, she eats a lot of western style food but also loves her Isaan food. She loves somtam, fermented bamboo, and bitter green mango to just name a few things.

So that was the most exciting thing that has happened all week.

Life is hard in Isaan Thailand.

Brunty

Golf, The US Open 2011. A Champion in the Making.

If you are not a golfer then stop reading right now. If you are a golfer then read on at your own peril.

The game of golf has to be the most skilful sport that has been invented but it also has to be the most frustrating. If you are not a golfer and have never swung a golf club you just do not understand how hard the game of golf is.

I was introduced at a very young age by my dad and would tag along to the Portland Golf Club in Victoria Australia. I grew up on golf and I have played all sorts of sports and they all have levels of skill needed but golf the different scenarios thrown at you over the course of 18 holes is so wide and ranging.

Where am I going with this long winded blurb. Well I am going to talk about the current tournament being played in America, The 111th US Open at the Congressional Country Club in Maryland. See if you are not a golfer you are saying who cares.

I love to watch golf and play, now I do not play anywhere as much as I would like to but I do watch the tour events in Europe and also America every weekend. Some people say watching golf is like watching paint dry or grass grow, but these are people who have never played.

When you see a professional player, play a shot that is so hard and makes it look so easy, you appreciate their skill level. I still sit and marvel at some shots played by golfers like Phil Mickelson who probably has the most amazing short game I have seen. The long hitting of the young guys who constantly hit the ball 300mtrs plus off the tee but also keep it straight.

There are 4 major golf tournaments in the world, The Masters, The US Open, The US PGA and The Open (British). These are the grand slam events that every professional golfer just wants to win one of. Winning the four of them over a career is a monumental achievement and doing this is a calendar year is colossal.

This has never been achieved in modern golf, Tiger Woods won all four straight but it was over two calendar years. The legendary Bobby Jones the co-founder of The Masters in Augusta did the grand slam in 1930 winning the US Open, The British Open, The US Amateur and The British Amateur.

Only 4 other golfers have gone on to win all 4 majors over their career, apart from Bobby Jones and Tiger Woods. The legendary Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen. What a list of golfing greats there. But it also shows how hard it is to do as there are so many excellent golfers that have not won a single major.

When I was a kid I used to pretend to be playing a major tournament, Brunty has 130 metres to the pin, he needs to get it over the water and stop it before the ridge and one putt to win The US Open, and of course I would flub it and knock it into the water or over the green into a bunker but these tournaments made you dream.

The past three nights I have sat up watching The US Open, known for how hard and tough The US Open courses usually are. A score of around even par or even over par can win you this major championship. Last year was even par, and in 2006 and 2007 +5 won the championship.

So Thursday night from 10pm Thai time until just before 7am Friday I watched the opening round of the US Open, then the same on Friday night and again last night. And I have sat pretty well glued to the TV watching fantastic golf.

One young golfer, Rory McIlroy is only 22 years old and golfing beyond his years. Early this year I sadly watched him implode at The Masters tournament earlier this year after taking a 4 shot lead into the final round and losing it and shooting an 80.

People who follow golf would know of Greg Norman or The Great White Shark, the great Aussie golfer that helped change and popularise Australian golf back through the 80’s and 90’s. Greg Norman lost a 6 shot lead to Nick Faldo in the 1996 Masters Tournament finishing 5 shots behing Faldo and so many asshole journalist and Joe Blows started calling Norman a choker. Not just for losing this tournament but others as well. To these people you are all armchair assholes and are not a skidmark in Norman’s jocks. (had to get that off my chest)

Anyway, the great Greg Norman rang Rory to have a chat after the young golfer had lost the tournament. That is the mark of a great man, I am sure he had some positive words for the young bloke.

Well Rory McIlroy has shattered so many US Open records over the last three days, he takes a massive 8 shot lead into the final round starting at 1am tonight here in Thailand and there is no way he is going to lose this tournament. There will be no implosion here. He looks much more comfortable and is making the other top professionals look like amateurs.

Rory is so talented and is another golfer that has an excellent chance of being a grand slam golfer over his career for sure. He has the game to win all of these tournaments on the different types of courses.

And an Australian, Jason Day who also did very well in his first Masters Tournament finishing 2nd with the lowest score of 12 under par has played himself into contention to fight out second at this years US Open. He shot 65 yesterday and sits in equal fourth and at 23 I will put my hat on the line and say he will have a major before he is 27, he has come so far in a short time.

Anyway, if you are a golfer, watch the US Open tonight and see this young 22 year win his first major of what should be many more. Marvel and enjoy his stroke play from tee to green and that of the other players.

Golf is the greatest game invented to me; it is such a good way to spoil a 4hr walk by hitting that little white pill in all directions and chasing it until it falls into a tiny hole on the green. Doesn't that sound like fun.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Brunty

Why I Changed Schools Part 3, Isaan Thailand.

Well, I have written two previous posts on why I left Assumption College Ubon Ratchathani. You can read them at this link or this link if you like to catch up on what happened before.

I am not going to recap what happened before and just start from where I left off. So after the head of the department couldn’t get our esteemed brother in charge to understand why they could not deduct (steal) 5,000 baht from my bonus I had no choice but do it myself.

After waiting a week for things to be sorted out and then still being told they were deducting the 5,000 baht I saw read, who wouldn’t especially when it was plain as day that what they were doing was wrong.

I was prepared, I had a copy of the contract, a record of our holidays taken last year and most importantly my diary that I had kept a record of every meeting we had in the department. I wrote everything down that was ever said and dated it in the diary as in Thailand Thai people forget what they said when it is convenient.

So after being told, “I am sorry and I would pay you the 5,000 baht myself, if I could” by the head of our department and she was sincere as she always has been. She tries to make all happy and this is near impossible when you have head strong foreigners who will not be puppets with sticks stuck up their ass and say yes to everything asked of them or just accept being fuc#ed over when they know the school is in the wrong.

So armed with all my stuff I headed off to see the Brother Fern. I was lucky as he was in his office and didn’t have anyone with him. The secretary went in and informed brother I was there and then I was asked to go in. I said good morning and then the first words out of my mouth were these, word for word.

“Brother I am not happy, I am very angry.”

To this he asked, “why?”

Now this made me even angrier as if he didn’t know from the week before when the head of the department had been to see him and tell him I wasn’t happy and present all the information I had in my hands now, but again I was not in those meetings so do not know what happened.

I replied, “I am not happy as the school has taken 5,000 baht of my bonus they shouldn’t have, that is why I am so angry and I cannot see why you don’t understand as it is so simple and any smart person could see this looking at all this paperwork I have.”

Brother Fern then went into a spiel, “Jason, I want to treat all teachers the same, the foreign teachers have to be treated like the Filipino and Thai teachers. The Thai and Filipino teachers came to school the week the foreign teachers didn’t. If they did this I will deduct their bonus as well.”

I sat bewildered and bemused. I have never ever expected to be treated differently to any other person in race or creed. I have never thought I am better than a Thai teacher and I am not blowing my own trumpet but I work harder than 80% of any other Thai teacher, for sure.

I expressed this to brother, I didn’t think I was special and no foreigner should. We get paid more and longer holidays and also leave 30 minutes earlier at the end of the day, but this is all in the contract.

I handed him my contract and I had highlighted the 11 weeks paid holiday’s clause in it so he couldn’t miss this. I went over this and he agreed that we are given 11 weeks holiday each year, this doesn’t include public holidays.

I then handed him the breakdown of the holidays we had had the previous year, when and how long each holiday break was for. I had a running tally beside each one. And then I had our break up date at the end of the school year and the date that we would return, the date our 11 weeks holiday went to.

He looked at all this and I didn’t say anything. Then brother spoke and again reiterated about all teachers being treated the same.

I had to again try and emphasize the point of the date we returned to work was correct as the 11 weeks went until 1 week after the Thai teachers returned to work. It was in black and white in front of him.

But still he wanted to stick to his guns, he was on this everyone is equal pedestal thing.

So next was my diary. I had the original and also photocopies. I gave him the original and a photocopy and then asked him to look at the highlighted part. In a meeting the week before we broke for school holidays, we all sat together with the Thai teachers and also our department head who chaired the meeting.

After the return date had been agreed, I wrote this in my diary. The head of the department asked that teachers be prepared for the first day of school as that was the day we were due back.

I think that all teachers would be prepared and we still had a week before we broke for holidays.

So I pointed this out to brother, this is the date agreed to return to work, in the meeting in early March. So know one knew “you” wanted us back a week early.

And if you did want us back a week early then we only had 10 weeks of holidays, so would have the school compensated us. And also that week the Thai teachers worked, there was a public holiday. In our contract we do not work public holidays and in the Labour Laws act, I had a copy in Thai and English in which I gave him I flipped to the page where it states that any work outside contracted hours must be paid at penalty rates.

Now, I could tell brother wasn’t happy, before him was the Labour Laws, parts of it highlighted and then I hit him with the knockout.

Brother, I will go to the Labour Office and lodge a complaint about the school and then if need be I will take the school to the Labour Court. You have breached the contract, the school has done wrong and what you are trying to do is steal money that isn’t yours.

I then handed him a sheet signed by all the teachers who had attended the meeting in question agreeing that the date we were told to return was the week after the Thai teachers and this was according to the contract.

That was it, he remained calm, and said he would look into it but he was not happy.

My 5,000 baht deduction was cleared the next day, and from that day on I didn’t acknowledge brother in any shape or form, nor did he to me.

But what come after this made me think of him as a coward. I will write about this soon and was about my renewal of my contract. Did I expect a new contract? Well, yes as my contract was already expired by a few weeks and I was teaching without a contract.

But more on this on another day. As this is also interesting as well.

Remember, I am not sugar coating this; this is what happened as if I lie I could be sued for defamation, in Thailand big wigs try and sue people all the time when they are called a nasty name or a so called rumour is spread about them.

I stick to the truth, this way there is nothing to complain about as it did happen. As simple as that. Part 4 coming soon, well maybe soon.

Brunty

Happy Birthday to Nong Ja, Isaan Thailand.

Well today is my amazing little niece’s birthday. Nong Ja has turned three and we headed across to one of our favourite restaurants in Ubon Ratchathani being Krungtep.

I arrived a little late and the girls had already started the birthday dinner. The birthday girl was the centre of attention for me.

Ja munching into a prawn.

This is a deep friend tilapia that is battered and is just so delicious, we ended up getting two of these between five of us.

This is prawn bread and is another favourite of mine.

Prawn and vegetable dish that was good.



In the outside seating area there is a fishpond that holds some large carp, Ja loves watching the fish and we usually end up making a lot of trips out to watch the fish swimming about.

Ja of course got bored pretty quickly and was having much more fun playing hide from the camera.

Krungtep is beautiful and always spotless; the food is excellent and not expensive for such a good quality restaurant.

After the fantastic meal we headed home, with a stopover at Swensens to get one of their delicious ice cream cakes.

Now poor Ja wanted to rip into the cake but she was told to wait as her dad and Benjawan were not here yet. It is hard trying to explain this to a three year old.

Then I started to get angry at the grown up fools and told them to pull their heads out of the butts and call Jack and Benjawan to get home or miss out. Then I was in the doghouse.

Ja was in tears at one stage and I went and took her from the baboons, being Noot and her mother Joom and we came into my room and I put on her favourite cartoon Mr Bean and she was soon asleep.

Noot crept in and also fell asleep waiting for the others to show.

Ja was woken up and was not a happy camper for a good ten minutes. When she finally settled down the cake was ready to go.

Ja helped mum Joom light the three candles.

Ja blew one candle out and two to go.

Another candle was out and the other was quickly blown out.

Time to cut the cake.

And then Ja sat with Noot and tried her green tea ice cream cake. Now if you are saying what the? So was I. Apparently the only small cakes they had were green tea and mocha flavour. When I asked if they had big cakes and better flavours the answers was ‘yes’ but they didn’t want to waste it.

I did tell them we had a freezer but it was a little too late. So it was green tea cake for tonight but on the weekend Ja and I will sneak off for something more to the liking of a three year old.

So my little princess is another year older.

Brunty

Eating Out and Beating the Heat, Isaan Thailand.

We went to try a new grill restaurant and also Jaew Horn shop that opened in the street that runs parallel to Big C here in Ubon Ratchathani.

They have these electric grills that you can buy in the supermarkets and electrical stores about the place, usually you would do over coals with a domed grill.

This was a small mixed meat that the girls had ordered; they spent a good ten minutes deciding what to order and many discussions with the waitress.

This is the meat for the Jaew Horn, a very popular meal in Thailand, it is virtually a soup and usually also cooked on coals in clay pots, this was being done in a hotpot.


Miss Benjawan and Noot were waiting eagerly for the food to arrive.

The vege for the Jaew Horn.

Then it is simply add the meat and vegetables and let boil for a bit and add a little sweet and spicy or very salty and bitter sauce.

On Sunday we headed over to the weekend market 400mtrs from our house. It has been bloody warm at times as it storms up here and there over the coming months. The oppressive heat builds and when it finally rains there is relief for a little while.

We wandered about the market for about 30 minutes but it was just too hot and we decided to head to Big C Shopping Centre. Weekends at Big C is just bedlam. The Clampetts and every other hillbilly heads to Big C with every family member, relative and neighbour they can fit into their pick-up trucks. It is a big day out.

Big C was packed, many like us had probably decided to beat the heat and enjoy the air conditioning. Noot was feeling peckish for ice-cream but Swensons was packed full and people waiting for tables to empty.


So we headed into MK Restaurant. We didn’t have the hotpot, just the duck, a seafood soup, some rice and noodles.

It didn’t take too long and Ja wanted to up and explore. She wandered about for a bit before dragging me along outside where we wandered here and there until Noot exited MK.

We went upstairs to Big C and it was busy, families were flocked around a single trolley, kids rode bikes chaotically between people and parents laughed and didn’t seem to care in the least.

We were not in any hurry, so we just wandered about browsing at this and that before picking up te few things we wanted, heading to the mostly vacant checkouts, lining up in slow moving lines listening to an annoying ladyboy announce which checkout didn’t have that many people over the P.A system so people could rush off to a traffic jam of trolleys.

We headed off home for Ja to have her afternoon sleep and I could get some more work done on the computer while she and Noot slept.

This is a great feed that we have been having a lot more of, of late. I really like fish, especially grilled fish that has been stuffed with lemongrass and other spices.

To complement the Pblaa Nin which is Talapia, was of course somtam Thai.


The shop we buy the fish from that comes with the salad and noodles is a bargain. The tilapia on its own at the market this size would be at least 80 baht and that would be pushing it, more than likely 100 baht. The salad and noodles with dipping sauces it comes to a measly 159 baht or just over $5 Australian dollars and that feed 4 of us and there was left overs, but we did have a few extras.

There was some dried and grilled beef, delicious and they are Thai sausages or Sai Gorg, sai gorg can be really tasty or absolutely terrible depending on where they are made and the ingredients.

The elderly couple I buy from make great Thai sausages, he makes his own and I have been buying from his shop for a couple of years now, they are not just filled with fat and crap. I don’t know when they sleep as they are at their stall each night until around 10pm and arrive early afternoon.

He said he usually makes them three times a week. I have no idea if he actually has a sausage making machine or does it some other way. But for 10 baht a piece there cannot be a massive profit margin per sausage.

I have wanted to do many things of late but time is lean. I haven’t had a chance going out to the village and taking pictures of the Noot’s mother’s house. I spent 140,000 baht giving the house a facelift; I went out a few times in the early stages but just got too frustrated with the builders so ended up staying away.

I haven’t seen the finished product yet, but for the money had a lot done. It is just under $5,000 Australian dollars and we had some rooms built, doors changed, the entire house tiled, the roof fixed, the kitchen done up with a bench and sink and other odds and ends. I am hoping when the upcoming public holidays come along I can whiz the 20klms out and get some pictures and pick the work to pieces.

My Thai brother in law and myself are opening another little business so that has been taking up a fair bit of time, getting all the things in place. Thais seem to do things without too much thought a lot of the time.

I always marvel at the turn over of the small shops about the place. They open another hairdresser shop, internet shop, photocopy shop, corner store and within a few months are long gone. Another comes along, refits the vacant shop and in a few months they are gone too.

Also for some reason of late the internet has been slow, TOT here in Thailand have been bearing the brunt of my anger. When the internet slows down I take regular speed checks and print them out. I have the fastest internet available here in Ubon, it used to be great for 5 years but just the last few months it has been all over the shop.

But I have received credits and last month I didn’t have to pay my bill. I have been thinking of trying 3BB but have heard good but also many bad things about them. Better the devil you know.

I have one computer that virtually downloads 24/7; it is hardly ever turned off. And it is frustrating when you are an hour or so into a download and the internet craps out or slows to a walk but it isn’t the end of the world.

That is about it for me of late, nothing exciting at all. I missed the fireworks festival, Noot went along but I had too much to do and with her and Ja out of the house for a few days I got a lot done. At night I could relax with an ice cold beer and enjoy the AFL football or watch a movie.

So that is all from Isaan Thailand at the moment. Just an ordinary boring life in a sleepy Isaan.

I do have an interesting story about a falling out I had with an expat Australian that I will have to blog about in the near future. After years of putting up with the guy things came to a head not so long ago.

I might have to entitle it, The Amazing and at Times Far Fetched Life of Barry White (not the singer). I will have to see if I get inspired to write about it, in truth I couldn’t be bothered wasting my breath but again I don’t have much else to write about at the moment.

Brunty