Isaan Style!

Spago Italian Restaurant Ubon Ratchathani Thailand.

2012-01-07T10:44:00.002+07:00

The other night we made our way to Spago, Ubon Ratchathani’s genuine Italian restaurant owned and run by Franco and his wife. I hadn’t been for too long and had been craving a good feed. I had planned on going alone but the girls returned home early and decided to join me.

The girls, the older girls were frustrating being Noot and Ben. They looked over the menu too long and I waited as I wanted to get something different from what they chose. Then they changed their minds and so on. Noot wanted a Hawaiian pizza and Ben a lasagne but then the lasagne changed to above.

A spinach and mozzarella dish that I loved but Thais are not huge fans of melted cheese and I tried to change their minds back to the lasagne but to no avail. They did enjoy it but the lasagne would have been much better for them with the fresh pane bread to dip into it.

I had bruschetta, loaded with capers, olives and parmesan.

We ordered some French Fries for Ja.

Ja munched on some of the fresh pane bread and a few French fries waiting for the pizza. She was very keen for pizza.

And here it is. A half Hawaiian and half Italian sausage with chicken (love this sausage and especially the pasta dish Franco does). It was very good.

So Ja got busy with Knife and fork.

I had two pieces of my half a pizza and Franco finally had enough time to sit down for a glass of beer and a chat. So we chatted away while the girls tucked in.

In no time Ja had demolised two full pieces of pizza and the other girls polished off the rest. Soon Ja was reminding me we had to go to Big C to buy milk and we were on our way.

Again great food from Spago and was great to catch up with Franco. Spago is now open all day on weekends. If you want an excellent feed be it pizza or pasta give Spago a try as you will not be disappointed.

Brunty

Christmas Is Not Over in Isaan Thailand.

2012-01-07T10:22:00.000+07:00

Well Christmas in Isaan Thailand just cannot finish yet.

Nong Ja has decided that the top part our Christmas tree must stay up for Santa. Noot had pulled the tree down when Ja was at school but it wasn’t put away. After asking why the tree had been pulled down she decided to put it back up by herself.

So out with the box of tinsel and decorations and Ja went to work.

Ja is a laugh, Jay take a picture and then she does this with her eyes.

And Ja thinks Santa is coming back soon as she keeps putting biscuits, sweets and other things in containers under the tree. When you ask her who they are for, she tells you Santa.

I tried to explain Santa will come next year but was met with a “no” and he was coming at night.

So Christmas isn’t quiet over here in Isaan Thailand.

Brunty

Am I Getting Too Old?

2012-01-02T20:00:00.004+07:00

I hope everyone’s New Year celebrations went off well and you all had a good time. And if you made a resolution that you can achieve it.

Picture was taken by Wolter Peeters.

I didn’t make any as I am not sure if I have ever kept one I did make for longer than a few months anyway. New year’s eve is really just another day for me and as my father said to me on new year’s eve when chatting to him on Skype, “Are you getting too old?” when I said I was staying home even though there were many different gatherings happening about the place.

Maybe I am! The last few years I have happily sat home and watched TV, DVD’s or surfed around on the internet. This year I watched the Premier League Football and then watched what I will call the best TV series ever made (more on that in a minute).

I had breakfast at Pepper’s Bakery with a mate New Year’s morning, bloody good food as well, eggs benedict and we shared an omlette (No pics forgot camera but here is a link to an old post I did). If you want an excellent breakfast, lunch or dinner and great coffee get on down to Pepper’s and jump on the sofa and have a good chat to the Aussie owner John who is a top guy. (Sorry I got carried away and turned it into a plug) Oh! And try the meat pies as they are delicious as well.

Anyway, where was I? Right having breakfast with my mate and he asked, “Have you watched Breaking Bad, the one I emailed and told you about?”

I thought, emailed me. Geez that could have been in one of the ~~hundreds~~ few we exchange. Must have skipped it or maybe my brain was in neutral as I couldn’t remember. But when the plot or outline of the show was again explained to me I did remember reading about it.

Spike over at Pattaya Days had mentioned it back in September 2010 and that is where my mate had picked up on it from another post Spike had written called The Scourge Of Man Flu. If you haven’t read Pattaya Days head across for a great read, often funny and tongue in cheek and excellent pictures of horses can often been seen.

So by that evening I had acquired the complete first 4 series of the show and sat absolutely glued to the television. Until somewhere around 4.30am into New Year ’s Day.

If you haven’t seen Breaking Bad, do yourself a favour and go out and buy it or rent it. I wouldn’t suggest downloading it from online as this is illegal.

Nong Ja’s mother was back just before Christmas for a week from Malaysia and when she is here it is like a nonstop tornado. One day I arrived home Joom was setting up what you see above.

I asked, “What are you doing?” And a reply of a shrine was made and I enquired to why a Chinese style shrine and this couldn’t be explained.

I asked, “Are you turning Chinese?” This was met with a look of complete disdain before being told I ask too many questions.

So I couldn’t help myself. “Are you part Chinese, now?’ Why are there 5 bits of fruit and 5 incense sticks when there are only 4 people or figurines?”

“What is the figurine of the woman? What about the men. Why tea in the small bowls?

At one stage a small scream came from the girls as I kept on peppering them. I was told to go back into my room and work on the computer. So I did as I was told.

When Joom was heading back to Malaysia she informed me to make sure we lit 5 incense sticks every evening and make fresh tea. I couldn’t help it. “Every day, why? Thais only do 4 times a month.” I exclaimed.

But she did have a good answer, “it is good luck for me, Ja and family.” “What about me,” I asked.

“You too,” with a little bit of stress to it.

So now I am stuck making tea for some invisible beings and offering them fruit each evening. The flowers last about 4 or 5 days, and the fruit is removed and changed every couple of days but it isn’t wasted as we do get to eat it after the beings have had their fill.

Maybe a reader will have a better idea than I about all this Chinese looking shrine. Maybe it isn’t even Chinese but Joom told me it was meant to be.

So new year’s has been very good in Isaan Thailand, peaceful and quiet but this will change when the girls arrive home from visiting family and relatives tomorrow, so I must savour it (A few cold refreshing ales). Tonight is more Premier League Football and then the last couple of episodes of series 3 of Breaking Bad and may even start series 4 somewhere in the wee hours of the morning.

Brunty

Christmas in Isaan Thailand 2011.

2012-01-01T18:10:00.001+07:00

Sorry to regular readers as I have lost motivation to write as much as I used to. Many times I have sat in front of the computer with plans to rant and rave or share something about my ordinary life, but end up doing something else.

I wish all readers who read regularly or accidentally stumble upon Isaan Style a happy 2012 and may it be whatever you hope or wish for.

Christmas here in Isaan was great this year as little Nong Ja is so much more aware of everything now. The build up interested her and on Christmas eve we left out some biscuits and a drink for Santa and the reindeers.

Christmas morning I was up early as I put some presents under the tree from Santa and then sat down to get a little work out of the way on the computer. Ja, we usually always have to stir her from her sleep started to toss and turn in bed.

She opened her eyes and then tried to get Noot’s attention but she was cocooned in the duvet. I heard Ja mention Santa and when I asked if she wanted to see if Santa had been, she shot across the bed and jumped into my arms.

Ja was still half asleep as at first she refused to believe Santa had been even though the biscuits had been eaten and there were presents under the tree. After a couple of minutes she warmed up and wanted to open the presents but was told Noot had to get up.

So back into the room and Noot dragged out into the lounge room. Ja started with her presents.

Ja only got some small presents from Santa as she has so many. Toys are cheap here and we probably buy too many but they are given away every now and then when Noot does a clean up. But to a 3yo any present I am sure is great.

Ja had a lot of fun opening the presents and got very excited at times. It was funny seeing her get worked up.

My parents who are bloody champions, Nancy and John sent us all presents and Ja got this music box that had rings and also bangles or bracelets inside as well. It was met with confusion at first and Ja asked many questions about the girl, the music and why she was turning around.

A ten pin bowling set as Ja loves bowling. I have taken her a couple of times to Sunee Mall as they have bowling lanes there. But there are only two bumper lanes and no ramps for little ones to help launch the balls. The other problem is the music being too bloody loud. I had to ask and even get to the point of making sure they knew I was pissed off after a few times that the fool who was being the DJ could turn the music to half of what it was and it would still be more than enough.

Before long bowling was being played.

Noot went to open her present but Ja insisted on helping. She tore into the paper with enthusiasm. Noot had received a lovely makeup bag, brushes and other things. I had told mum to send soap and perfume as Noot ~~stinks~~ loves the products from the Body Shop. (Just kidding mum and don’t tell Noot)

Noot was wrapped in a light blanket as it was as an Aussie would say, “cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.” People laugh when they here cold and Thailand but winter can get very cold for us. We have a duvet and the light blanket on the bed and sleep in long PJ’s and socks on.

Ja and her music box and jewellery.

I had to explain to mum that when she thinks of presents for Benjawan that whatever she buys for Ja will suit Ben. Ben was trying to bargain and agreement with Ja for the music box but Ja was having nothing to do with it.

So that was Christmas Day in Isaan Thailand. Bloody fantastic.

Brunty

Sport Day Parade Outfits 2011 Isaan Thailand.

2011-12-18T20:17:00.000+07:00

The other week I was so lucky to witness another sport day parade here in Isaan Thailand and below are just some of the pictures taken.

Brunty.

Judges in a World of Their Own.

2011-12-18T10:45:00.000+07:00

I am going to rant, a quick and short one.

Judges! So many of them seem to live on another planet, their judgments are a joke. They don’t seem to be part of reality.

One judge Clive Wall, QC, who actually handed down a sentence that seemed to be fair (I thought a little lenient) has had his judgment deemed `patently manifestly excessive' by a halfwit, no common sense off the planet judge going by the name of Justice Debra Mullins.

District Court judge Clive Wall, QC, sentenced a piece of crap known as Ronald Anthony Neilson to an 8 year prison term (4 years for each crime to be served cumulatively) but eligible for parole after 4 years. (I thought this was too generous.)

Two groups of people walking through an area and apparently Neilson’s group started hassling some females in the other group. A fight broke out.

Neilson’s crime was he gets a metal bar from a shopping trolley and hits his first victim in the face. The victim had his skull fractured in three places and now carries ten permanent metal plates.

Neilson then knocks another victim to the ground and hits him in the chest and hand and robbed him of his wallet and mobile phone.

He claimed two of his friends committed the crimes but not him but was found guilty of grievous bodily harm and armed robbery in company with personal violence.

His legal team appealed the sentence was too harsh for someone Neilson’s age being 17 at the time of the crime. This is where Neanderthal Mullins comes in. She said, the sentence was “patently manifestly excessive", ruling that Neilson's age and lack of criminal history were significant mitigating factors. (Unbelievable)

She ruled the four year sentences instead be served concurrently, and that Neilson's parole eligibility date be brought forward two years to May 2013.

I hope Justice Debra Mullins that someone very close to you is a victim of violence, such as this case and that a judge rules a sentence and it is appealed and then the appeals judge says it was “patently manifestly excessive".

Brunty

Benjawan and Her Self Portraits, Isaan Thailand.

2011-12-12T14:47:00.000+07:00

I was getting ready to upload some pictures and came across below. When I was out and Benjawan was obviously bored as she decided to take some self portraits.

I have found videos of her, where she has recorded herself singing English songs and been tempted to upload them to my Youtube account but thought better of it as it could cost some skin and blood.

So if you have not heard from me after 3 or so months Ben has seen I posted these pictures and decided to kill me. But I doubt she will object too much. Maybe a funny look and a slap and that will be it.

Brunty.

Beautiful Thai Girls and Christmas in Isaan Thailand.

2011-12-10T15:56:00.002+07:00

I had complained the other day about my decorations and lights going missing, but my star for the top of the tree returned as did the reindeers. But that was it and I could not be bothered asking about all the other things.

Nong Ja, she isn’t into wearing girlie clothes but we bought her a nice dress from the Thai cartoon movie Khan Kluay and she happily wore it to the temple for Father’s Day the other weekend.

Ja couldn’t help but pose.

This is First, he is looked after by his grandparents and often comes over for a visit and to play with Ja. They get along well despite a big age difference. Often gives me a break as well.

Ja was in a picture mood and she had asked me to take pictures of her, and then she dragged Benjawan into them as well. After each picture she would cast her eye over the viewfinder and give her approval.

Then it was Miss Noot’s turn. She objected at first as she has a small problem with acne at the moment and said she wasn’t beautiful. But Ja is very persistent and eventually Noot had a couple of pictures taken.

I was then told I must Photoshop any of them I put onto the blog, so I did as I was told. A quick clean up and I was given the green light to use the picture.

One thing that caught Ja’s attention were the three small boxes I had wrapped and placed under the tree. A million questions and also telling me to open them were also made. But Ja has accepted they cannot be opened until the 25th. I am sure she doesn’t understand any of this.

They are just boxes with stuff jammed in them. I am not worried about Ja, but the other two larger monkeys in the house. One year they opened and then wrapped their presents back up thinking I wouldn’t notice.

So the countdown to Christmas is on in Isaan Thailand.

Brunty

P.S. Sorry about the heading as it is just a shameless grab for more hits. And that will happen for sure :)

Christmas in Isaan Thailand and a Qantas 380.

2011-12-04T19:40:00.002+07:00

Well not a lot to report as we run into Christmas. I do have a funny story to do with Christmas but to that in a minute.

There has been a festival going on across from our house all week on the road near Big C Shopping Centre. We have been across a couple of times to browse amongst the clothes and other bits and pieces on offer.

At these festivals there are always games where you can win fluffy toys or dolls and countless other things. I will often have a go on pop the balloons as I usually go alright. It used to be 20 baht for 7 darts and pop 7 balloons to win a prize. Now it is 20 baht for 3 darts, the odds are much better right? Well not really as they glue extra plastic onto the feather area and the darts don’t fly real well.

Anyway, I had a go and the first time didn’t even pop a balloon and was going to give up, Ja insisted I try again. First dart popped two balloons and the next another and we were winners. Ja had her eye on the prize and it wasn’t a fluffy toy but a large airplane.

We got home and I put it together and that was when I realized it was a Qantas Airbus 380. I laughed and thought what were the chances of that. It had the Qantas kangaroo logo and even the “Spirit of Australia” catch phrase.

Ja had also chosen a Santa doll as a prize, she is a lot more switched on now at three and a half. The year difference has made a big difference. She takes everything in and the questions keep coming non stop about everything she sees or hears.

Ja with her new toy of the moment.

Another thing I have noticed is how much Ja retains that you tell her. She still cannot tell all the alphabet letters apart by looking at them but she can sing the song and she can relate many letters to pictures already. A for apple and so forth. Same as her Thai, she cannot read the Thai yet but knows all the pictures and can tell you each one and sings this song with Noot and Ben that reminds the kids of each symbol.

Here is the funny story or frustrating for me that I mentioned before. I am looking forward to Christmas just because Ja is so aware and been excited since seeing the tree in Big C and Santa and all the decorations. So on the 1st of December Noot had gone to pick up Ja from school and I had planned to pull the tree down and get the decorations out and we could decorate the tree together, great idea right?

So the tree came down and then I scoured for the plain white box that keeps all the decorations and bundles of lights. Couldn’t see it anywhere. There are some very large boxes on top of the clothes wardrobes so I thought Noot must have put them into one of these two boxes.

I get the first one down and pull everything out, nothing. That goes back up and the other one comes down and that also comes up empty. Okay I thought, Noot has put the box somewhere else. I look in our room, Ben’s room and then scour the spare room again, nothing. Check under the bench in the kitchen but nothing. Look inside the wardrobes but again nothing.

Noot arrives home and I asked her if she knew where the box was and she of course replied, “on top of the wardrobe!” and I politely let her know this wasn’t the case and she of course trusted me and then made me pull the two large boxes down, even though I said I had been through them thoroughly. She searched the rooms and then came to the same conclusion as me, the box was gone.

While all this was going on, Ja was asking a million questions and then Ben arrived home from univeristy.

“Ben, have you seen the white box with the decorations and lights?” I asked.

“Yes, I took it to the village for New Years Eve last year.” She replied.

I might have turned a little red, maybe. I had already told them before they don’t leave the house but Thai people never listen or just think “mai pen rai” (never mind).

Then Ben came out with this. “You go and buy new ones!”

Now I am sure I was red. I mean there were 6 years of collections in the box. Heaps of decorations and six sets of lights.

I could have driven the 20klms out to the village and then tried to find the box and if everything was still together, but I knew the girls were going their tonight (Sunday) as tomorrow they are off to the temple for Father’s Day.

I told them I wanted the box returned on the Monday with them and especially the large star that goes on top of the tree as I cannot find a replacement. This was met with looks of, “what is the problem, just buy some more, don’t worry about it, take it easy, and I am a pain in the ass foreigner.”

Anyway, so Ja and I went across to Big C and bought new Christmas stuff, and we will see what comes back tomorrow.

Ja was very happy to help Noot with the tree.

One thing about new decorations meant that Ja got to open some packages.

The tree quickly took shape and Ja was more than keen to help.

On Friday Ja came home from school and told me I had to take a picture of her and the tree.

And again today. We were off to Big C to run the gauntlet of Sunday shopping. It means the centre is full of barn nawk (hillbilly villagers) and I dread going but we had a few things to do and wanted to kill some time. (P.S. It was dreadful, absolutely jam packed with clans and out of control kids). Ja loves Ben 10, Power Rangers. She used to watch a bit of Power Rangers but hardly ever Ben 10 but insists she wears when we venture out. We have tried girlie clothes and dresses but they get rejected.

This is our neighbour’s dog Café. He was bought for the youngest daughter as a present from her boyfriend. She now spends most of her time away from the house and her mum and dad don’t really look after him. I bath him, and we give him leftovers. He is a lovely dog, incredibly stupid but we like him. Ja was having her toast and she offered some to Café and he was more than happy to accept.

That is about all that has been going on of late. Looking forward to Christmas with my little girl.

Brunty

Loi Krathong Festival Isaan Thailand 2011.

2011-11-20T19:38:00.002+07:00

We had the Thai festival Loi Krathong the other week and there were some pictures on the camera that Miss Noot had taken so I thought I would upload them.

Miss Benjawan was going to lead the parade for her village. She won Miss Noppamas Queen a few years back for the village and was helping out again.

These are also past winners from the village and taking part in the parade. Noot and Ben’s village won the Noppamas Queen 7 or 8 years in a row. Noot won in 2005 and Ben 2007 from memory.

And another important part of the day and competition is Lum dancing.

Ben and her friend. I have always been of the opinion that the thick ugly white makeup they plaster on the girls takes away from their beauty. When I go to these things I never recognize any of the people I know. Thais think white is beautiful and an inch of makeup with red cheeks is beautiful. Where I think olive skin and no makeup if much better.

It was all too much for Nong Ja who needed a nap.

Some of the young kids in Thai dress.

Miss Ben the face of the village.

When I was browsing the pictures I thought this was a good shot. So I cropped it a little and fixed the colours and then uploaded it. I am lazy and couldn’t be bothered to Photoshop it. But the blue water pipe bugged the hell out of me so I had to.

To remove the pipe took without a word of a lie a minute. And I could have got away with some small details on the dress but cloned a few things and in under 3 minutes the picture was done. People think it is expensive but it isn’t as what you can do with Photoshop is pretty endless.

The Lum dancing started. The village didn’t win.

There is also a Krathong competition on a larger scale than the ones that people float.

Miss Noot looking like a banana for the evening events.

What the evening is about is the beauty contest or Noppamas Queen. All the surrounding villages will have a girl represent them. When Noot did it there were 26 or so.

This girl is Ban Tae Kow’s representative is doing the traditional Thai greeting and thank you. She receives pencils as part of the fundraising. Each pencil is 20 baht.

The winner of the fundraising.

And the overall winner.

Ben grabbed a picture with their representative who didn’t win but that is the way the cookie crumbles, as my mum would say. Ben looks so much better not covered in ghostly makeup if you ask me.

And the banana girl wanted to get some of the action as well.

Brunty

Cherish Every Moment of Every Day, Isaan Style.

2011-11-19T00:44:00.001+07:00

Well I am back, well not really and it has only been a month but seems a lot longer. The last month I have enjoyed spending a lot more time with my niece Nong Ja in the afternoons and limiting my computer work to around 3 or 4 hours in the evening.

Tonight I have an empty house as all my girls have gone to the village and I have wrapped up everything that needs to be done. There isn’t a lot on TV now and do have an amazing but sad post to share.

Where shall I start? At the beginning I suppose is a good place!

Wednesday just gone I dropped Ja off at school, went and played 9 holes of golf, returned home and did some work on the computer. Went and picked Ja up from school and then spent the afternoon playing games, reading books, a trip to the supermarket, pretty much what we do nearly every day.

Around 5.30pm Ja and I were having a bath and playing silly games, making pretend food, blowing bubbles (not the air or G I Joe kind). Ja is hard to get out of the bath and often I will have to top up the bath a few times with hot water as it cools.

We were making noise and laughing like fools when Noot appeared at the door with tears streaming down her face. I didn’t even get a chance to ask, “what is wrong?’ when she blurted out, “Ging’s fiancé is dead.” Ging is one of Noot’s 4 closest friends from university. She was one of the group that often came over to our house to study, eat, watch TV or just chat.

She wandered off as I am sure she was in a bit of shock. Ja was asking me why Noot was crying and I had to tell her Noot’s friend was sick.

Ja and I stayed in the bath a while longer and Noot came back once said that she had called Ging but she couldn’t understand her. I told Noot to just give it a little bit of time as I could not imagine what Ging was going through as she was only 24.

When Noot first said that he (Mai) had died I thought it had to have been an accident as he is only 22 (nearly 23 I now know). So when I asked what had happened and Noot said something to do with his heart I was speechless and thought it couldn’t be right. He was a healthy, non smoking and drinking kid.

We finished our bath and Noot was on the phone to other friends and Ja and I just went about our usual routine. Finally Noot got onto Ging and was able to talk to her. Ging was a wreck as you could only imagine and the worst was she was in her home village near Kantharalak about 80 klms away from Ubon and her fiancé was at his family’s farm 20klms away from Ubon Ratchathani in a different direction.

Noot filled on bits of different information as the evening went on and I asked questions that I should of known she would not have known the answers to. Did his family have a history of heart problems? Had he complained of feeling sick? Noot had said he had been out cutting rice all day and had not long returned home when he collapsed and died. Did he have heat stroke? All these stupid questions I asked Noot as I just couldn’t believe he had a heart attack.

I got Ja off to bed around 8.30pm and then watched some TV, Noot was on Facebook talking to her friends. Around 10.30pm Noot had a phone call from Ging asking if we could go and pick her up in the morning. I of course said that we could and the time of 5am was arranged so that meant we would leave about 4am.

I asked Noot why didn’t Ging get on the first bus from Kantharalak and we would get her from the bus station when Noot told me that they were having the cremation tomorrow at 2pm in the afternoon. Again my mind was blown.

“Why so fast? I asked. Noot said she had no idea. I finally hit the sack around 11pm and couldn’t sleep and Noot came to bed around 11.30pm and as I laid there thinking and not sleeping I said to Noot. “Let’s go get Ging now!”

Noot virtually jumped out of bed. Really! I will call her. She was on the phone in a flash and just before midnight we were on our way to Kartharalak. Ben had jumped into bed with Ja and she would be none the wiser unless she stirred through the night which was highly unlikely as she loves her sleep.

We were on the road and Noot asked me, “do you know where to go? To which I replied “Yes, of course.” Noot had no idea as she had never been to Kantharalak or around that area. One of the first stops just on the way out of Ubon was at a service station for a hot coffee and a few lollies.

We chatted on the way and I tried to get more information but Noot didn’t have a lot of answers and before we knew it we were 20klms out of Kantharalak. Ging had told us her village name and Noot even wrote it down in Thai but I couldn’t find it on the GPS but said it couldn’t be that hard to find, surely.

The girls agreed that we should wait at the PTT service station just outside of the city. We arrived around 1am and went inside the 7 Eleven. I got another coffee, a toasted sandwich and Noot a hot Milo and hotdogs and salad. We sat outside and waited.

Time clicked by and 1.30am came and went and Noot called Ging and she said she was on the way and they were stopping for petrol and would be there soon. I asked where she was and she asked if I knew the market in Kantharalak. Of course as it is a large market and virtually in the centre of town and could have met there but never mind.

While we were sitting there a 2 door Toyota pulls up in front of us, next to our car right outside 7 Eleven. The doors open and out falls a 50 plus Thai guy absolutely pissed to the rafters and then two young girls drag themselves out as well and are not in much better condition. They stagger off into 7 Eleven and I had a huge grin and a chuckle and Noot just said in Thai, “they are crazy.”

So we sat talking and agreed they were definitely karaoke girls and were having a laugh when a hacking cough, actually more like a dry retch came from the car. Next minute from somewhere in the back seat there was movement and a body fell out onto the concrete.

Well I couldn’t help but laugh, Noot was shocked and shaking her head. This girl was absolutely smashed. She continued to try and vomit and I kept of chuckling away. Her friends returned and tried to pick her up but failed. So they left her laying there and they sat down and ate their noodles.

The guy tried to get the smashed one back into the car but had no luck. He then told the other girls to get in but this also fell on deaf ears. He eventually started the car, the other girls got up and shoveled the hammered girl back into the car and they were off. Well nearly.

He reversed back and then stopped, then reversed back some more and stopped. Then finally went forward but stalled the car. I was laughing, it was bloody funny. He tried to start the car in gear and it bunny hopped forward. I wish I had my video camera. Finally they were on their way and to absolutely top it off, the smashed girl somehow had her head out the passenger side window retching.

The time had passed quickly and it was getting on towards 2am. Noot was going to call Ging again when a new looking 4wd pulled up and Ging and her younger brother got out. Ging asked Noot if she had some baht in change. I straight away saw red. Not at Ging but this driver. It was only after a few seconds and I pulled my head in that this woman was probably the local taxi for the village and available for rent, just like a real taxi here in Ubon and there are no free rides here.

There were no tears, but Ging looked spent. We were on our way before we knew it and I sat and just listened to the girls talking. One thing that Ging kept saying was ‘she was scared to stay at Mai’s house.” She never cried but sobbed a few times when talking about the conversations the last few days and right up to just before he died.

It was so sad hearing Ging talk about the plans to marry in January. They were hoping to do this earlier but he was getting the ‘sinsot’ or dowry together. It was 200,000 Thai baht. Bear in mind Mai was only 22, nearly 23.

He had graduated with a degree in art. He had been working with timber since he was a young kid. He made furniture for a shop in Ubon and the carved timber shutters on temples you see as well. He was doing well but he also helped on the family farm and still lived at home.

He had just bought a new Toyota Vigo pick-up truck, a down payment of 200,000 baht. Bought his mother a new 42 inch plasma TV, some clothes and other stuff. He was a worker she said, always worked hard.

As we got just outside Ubon I knew that his village was near a village called Ban Pa Ao famous for bronzeware and silk weaving. I have been there twice so getting there was easy and Ging said we actually turn into the road to Pa Ao.

So we turned in and then took the first left, the concrete turned to dirt and it was pitch dark with just trees of fields on each side of this small road. A small turning to the right and down more pitch dark dirt road and Ging started questioning if she had steered us wrong. We stopped and she made a call and we were on the way again. Another 500mtrs and we saw the light of the house.

It is hard to explain the tension in the car, and we had already agreed that Ging and her brother would stay with us overnight as that is what she wanted. We pulled up and was met by Mai’s younger brother who was 18 and with Mai when he died.

He also looked drained, no emotion just shock. Mai’s mother emerged and again no emotion just a very somber mood. I had said I would stay in the car and take a nap but Noot insisted I go inside.

Inside there were about 7 people, a couple of aunts and cousins. We sat down on straw mats and they started chatting. It was very surreal listening to Mai’s mother as she recalled the day and bits and pieces of it. Ging filled in parts and everyone else was quiet.

A few times the mother’s voice cracked as she questioned something was wrong. She talked about that morning before he had left to go and cut rice, he didn’t take a large bottle of Big Cola, a brand of soda here. She said he always took a bottle and she asked him as he was walking out but he said he didn’t want one that day. She said she can never remember him leaving without one.

Ging spoke about him at university complaining of chest pains but never going to the doctor and his mother said the same. I suppose it was them reflecting on what ifs. Ging said how he would call late some nights as he couldn’t sleep and they would talk for hours until early in the mornings and such.

The mother talked about how he had spoken to her that morning about their wedding and how it was going well. His family had given him 100,000 baht toward the dowry and he was working on the rest. It was heart breaking. She then said how a week before their 13 year old nephew had drowned not so far away and had only just had his funeral. It was numbing.

Time sort of stands still at times. Ging spoke to the younger brother and he explained how Mai had returned from the market after buying some scythes for cutting rice. He went upstairs came down and he pointed not 5metres from where we sat and said he just fell over there.

His brother said he couldn’t talk but was trying to reach his phone and his brother gave it to him and was trying to find out what was wrong when he died. His brother made a call to his parents at 4.38pm. Mai had text messaged Ging at 4.30pm saying he was looking forward to seeing her this weekend. They had spoken earlier in the day.

Ging asked for the laptop and I was thinking what was she doing and soon realized that it was photos. At Thai funerals they have a large blown up picture of the deceased on the coffin where people pay respect. She was looking for the right picture.

I am sure Ging was on auto pilot, she scrolled through graduation pictures and found one and cropped it. Started to Photoshop and then asked where the printer was. I quietly told Noot to tell her to take the computer or put the image on a handy drive. You could see she was just not thinking clearly at that point.

Finally we were on our way again, but not home. We were now off to the temple across the road from where we turned into Ban Pa Ao. We made our way toward the crematorium and Ging was obviously feeling so many emotions. We saw the flashing lights draped over the coffin well before we arrived.

We stopped and the girls went and paid their respects, it was heart breaking seeing Ging have to do this. While the girls were doing this I wandered not 20 metres away at the other end of the coffin where a group of men had gathered.

Thai funerals means, food, drink but what they love most is gambling. It is 24hrs a day gambling, cards to dice it is nonstop as long as people have money. The police allow the cards but try and deter the dice games and Hi Lo.

The old and tired faces greeted me with toothless smiles and I was invited to join them but I replied “no thanks as I didn’t know how to play.” An easy way to get out of it.

I was brought back to reality with Noot calling me and we were off home. I didn’t know but as we were driving home I asked what time it was all happening tomorrow and she informed me it was now going to be Saturday. Much better I thought, more time for people to travel and pay respects.

We arrived home around 4.30am and I showered and when I got out everyone was in bed, and asleep by the sounds of it.

It was just a surreal day and makes me think more about treasuring everyday and the people I love. I really don’t know if I would be back blogging tomorrow, next week or month or year. I really have no idea.

The last month there has been many times where I have taken pictures of Ja or other things have popped into my mind and thought of sharing but then time has just got away.

Before it was, “Ja, I am busy and cannot play now, read a book now, play dress up the dolls” and so forth. This all comes first now and always will. When I have spare time I will write as I do enjoy it and like sharing my average life with the amazing people that grace it in a beautiful part of Thailand.

I am becoming a Hallmark card. Cherish every moment, tell the people who you love that you love them and give them a kiss every chance you have. I have a few bridges to build and do hope to do that in the coming months or years with some people.

The next few days I should have plenty of spare time and I am planning on checking on the flood victims but will just see if that goes to plan.

Brunty

The End For Now, Isaan Style.

2011-10-18T13:09:00.000+07:00

To all the readers of Isaan Style, well the three or 4 people that sometimes drop by. I am happy to report that I will be taking a sabbatical for a while.

I don’t know how long it will be and it could be forever we will just have to wait and see.

To everyone who has commented over the past 5 years thank you and hopefully one day I will be back posting again.

I will leave with a picture of the most amazing girl in my life, Nong Ja. She is an amazing girl and I love her to bits. Here she is sleeping with her family of dolls.

Brunty.

Salil Shetty Amnesty International. You Are an Idiot!

2011-10-13T19:14:00.004+07:00

I am sure this could upset a few people but I am sure many others will support my views. It is something that many don’t sit on the fence on.

The other night I was watching Lateline, an Australian news show and they had Secretary General Salil Shetty of Amnesty International on for an interview.

You can watch the interview at this link though it is an edited version for some reason and not the full interview I watched.

First and foremost to Salil Shetty, go fu#k yourself. I sat and listened to this idiot bad mouth my country. How about making more of an effort and cleaning up your own country being India. India is a disgrace when it comes to human rights and listening to this asshole say,

“Australia's treatment of asylum seekers and Indigenous people is deeply disturbing and an international embarrassment,” pissed me off.

Asylum seekers, in Australia you are either for or against them. I am against.

I agree that people have the right to flee a country when their lives are in danger, their country is being torn apart by war and so forth.

What I do not agree with is the complaints from these NGO’s that claim Australia is wrong in housing asylum seekers in detention centres like Shetty did.

“Australia's treatment of asylum seekers and refugees is simply not acceptable and indeed illegal” he has said.

“Australia's simply in breach of international refugee law and there's no getting around it.”

“So the idea of detention is fundamentally against international refugee conventions. So it's fine to do an ID check and a screening but you cannot put people in mandatory detention centres. They can be put in the community and that's how it's done across the world.”

I am sorry but I do not agree. These people would not be easy to screen. I mean if they have no documents at all, and even if they do. How does immigration verify their claims of who they are?

Just put them into the general population, house and feed them, give them an allowance until they check out or are deported, you have to be kidding me.

So some of these people and families have been in detention for years, in one case a family has been in detention for nearly 5 years. I am sorry but so be it. If you stay there for 10 years, so be it. If you do not like it, then return to your country and take the cards that are dealt to you.

He said this, "Conditions are very bad there. Even for the very young people. Every day - they're having sleeping pills to treat depression. Mental health conditions are appalling with self-harm cases increasing and suicide."

And we are to blame, Australia. We as Australians shoved them on a boat or a plane and made them seek asylum in Australia. They choose to seek asylum in Australia, then sit down and shut up and in due process you will be either accepted as an asylum seeker or deported. It’s as simple as that.

When I have seen the protests in the detention centres and the detainees destroying property, I truly want to take a baton and beat the living hell out of them. Am I a racist? Am I inhumane? Maybe I am.

When I read that asylum seekers couldn’t be deported as they were hostile and made threats before boarding a plane, simple, bound and gag them, tie them up and throw them on the plane.

What I don’t understand are the asylum claims of people who come by air, they fly into Australia and one of the parts of getting a visa for Australia is, “you will not claim asylum”. That is pretty simple and shut to me.

So when someone does do this, cuff them, gag and hood them, inject them with a relaxant if necessary and remove them from Australian shores. Am I a racist? Maybe I am.

And then Shetty has a stab at Australia for the Aborigines. He travelled to a place called Utopia and said this.

"Devastating, I've been to many places in bad shape in Africa, Asia and Latin America but what makes it stark here is when you remind yourself you're actually in one of the richest countries in the world."

He was appalled at the lack of basics in the town, running water, electricity and so on. He went on about how wanting to move these towns into areas where all the things above were available, but then said that Aboriginals are part of the land. I understand that but if they don't want to leave what can we do, force them?

I worked for a company and we built housing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in remote parts of Australia. It was government expenditure and what I witnessed with my own eyes was deplorable, heartbreaking and baffling at times.

I remember one house that we had handed over just days before and we were called back to it (This is where you make big money) to repair doors that had been ripped off, holes in the walls and windows smashed. This happened a lot. We had a crew that virtually did maintenance on brand new housing.

I agree that what happened to the Aboriginals years ago by white settlers and governments gone by were wrong. I cannot ever put myself in their feet as I am not black. But I do know for years and years now, government after government have tried in many ways to make their quality of life better.

Anyway, back to Salil Shetty. I as an Australian am repulsed that you come to my country and then offload your verbal tripe. Especially when you own country of India is a disgrace, people who beat others to death as they are from a cast of the wrong level and married, burning people as they believe them to still be witches, the slums and poverty, the blatant corruption, the underage prostitution and the treatment of women.

So Shetty, go to India, and preach you drivel there, tell your country their failings and try to make India a rung higher on the ladder leading out of the sewer tank.

And I am not sure about an international organisation that collects donations and then pays the leaving secretary general £533,103 pounds or 4 times her yearly wage. And another ex-gratia payment to another person who resigned of £320,000 pounds. That is a lot of money and I am sure could have been used much better to champion fight for human rights that Amnesty International go on about.

I wonder for each dollar donated how much of that dollar actually hits the ground and helps the people it was intended for. I have read that between 50 and 80% of money donated can be eaten up before it reaches the people who need it the most.

That is my view anyway.

Brunty

Drew Noyes V Andrew Drummond, Great Reading. Thailand.

2011-10-11T20:40:00.003+07:00

I have been having a lot of fun of late reading about a foreigner living in Pattaya, who seems to be a huge scam artist from what I have read the last few days.

It all started when I was reading a website I really like called Pattaya Days. It is written by Spike who is quick witted very funny. He is also an excellent photographer and his site has a broad range of pictures when polo isn’t being played.

Spike shows that people do live normally in what most see as the seedy seaside city of Pattaya, full of go-go bars and corruption. Spike and his wife go about their days as normal folk do across the world every day.

Anyway, I am going off track here. Spike posted a blog titled, “More Noyes noise”

It was a funny piece about his wife finding him a job but he is happily retired. It was a position as editor for Pattaya Times Newspaper. The owner of this paper is Drew Noyes. And Spike had found some very interesting things to read about Drew Noyes at AndrewDrummond.com who is a very thorough journalist and leaves no stones unturned and is not scared of going after so called “big fish.”

Drew Noyes has threatened Andrew Drummond and his family, and at times Noyes comes across as bizarre.

Here are some links to Andrew’s site and some articles about Mr. Noyes.

Back on January 28th 2010 Drummond wrote a story “Ouch! First Salvo In Pattaya Newspaper War?”

It was about the owners of the English newspapers making accusations about each other and a very good read.

Then on July 18th 2010 Drummond published, “Peace Breaks Out in Pattaya – No War Say Media Barons”

This is also a good read.

But then it gets saucy. On August 26th 2011 Drummond published this, “Publisher Skips Father Christmas Libel Hearing For Judges Roadshow.”

It is about Noyes and his no show at a court hearing on a libel suit after Noyes claimed a well-known Dutchman in the Pattaya was wanted for drugs trafficking.

Apparently Noyes had to ‘Insight into the Criminal Proceedings for Foreigners in Thailand,” instead.

It also covers many of Noyes claims that seem to always turn out to be a little farfetched. He continually amends ads and other claims as he is challenged. All interesting reading.

But one very interesting part was a story he did called “Thailand’s Pornography Trade..Going..Going..Bong.”

Here he writes about well known porn producer American Tony Poer (I had never heard of him until reading this) He is one of the sex tourists that pray on upcountry Thai girls and video them and degrade them and post their images all over the WWW.

Tony Poer was arrested. They raided his apartment and found drugs, a loaded gun and an out of date Thai visa. Plus all his equipment for making pornography which is also illegal.

Then the story gets interesting as one paper claimed, “He faced 20 years in jail.” But apparently within 24hrs he was back on the streets and could be there today.

Apparently Mr. Noyes and his company of lawyers secured bail for Poer of only 200,000 baht.

Then all the newspaper articles relating to Poer’s arrest disappeared. One paper simply said “all newspapers were asked to remove online references to Poer.”

A good read the whole article.

Then on September 9th 2011 it gets more interesting. Drummond has excelled. “EXPOSED - Myriad Lies - An American Businessman - And Influential People”

An excellent read and goes back to a story in 1995 where Noyes gets himself into hot water back in the states and a myriad or lies just continue on and on.

And the articles just keep coming and they get better and better with more facts that just seem to dig a bigger hole for Noyes.

September 12th 2011, “The Strange Tale of Drew Noyes And The Icelandic Welsh Scot.”

A must read as things get interesting.

And it gets better, September 21st 2011, “US Charity Withdraws Charter For Its Thailand Branch - Outlook Pessimistic.”

And this is a diamond and you have to read. “EXPOSED - HOW AN AMERICAN BUSINESSMAN SOLD GOVT HOMES FOR THE POOR IN THAILAND.”

I couldn’t believe what I read and reread the story a few times. Is Noyes really this much of a fraudster? All these investors that have been ripped off cannot be lying.

It is in this article that Noyes becomes bizarre with a threat of “stop stalking and defaming him, and remove all references to him and his companies or he will talk to “influential people” and ask them to do whatever to stop all this once and for all.”

Then another ripper of an article, “Read All About It - The Great Thai Newspaper Fraud.”

Here Drummond reveals articles stolen in full form other publications and used in Pattaya Times, Noyes’s newspaper. They have been lifted word for word and a new name attached in most cases. Absolutely hilarious.

And totally bizarre is when Noyes prints in The Pattaya Times, Andrew Drummond Sought By Police on the 07/10/2011.

And then today was a ripper when Drummond posted, “Pattaya Publisher Wanted Me As His Mistress - When I refused He Slashed My Salary.”

This goes into two Filipina girls who were showered with promises and came to work for Noyes and it all turned to crap, again a great read.

I won’t go into all the other things I have read on social networking sites and the likes of Teak Door that who is referred to by Andrew as Eric or aka Dirty Dog. Dirty Dog seems to be rabid at times and some of his rants are bewildering and leaving you wondering if he is all there.

All I can say is this has been great reading, I have had hours of fun and look forward as I am sure there is so much more to come. I can only ask that if anyone has information or complaints in dealing with Drew Noyes send them onto Andrew Drummond as I am sure he would appreciate them.

Great reporting Andrew and I look forward of more to come.

Brunty

Don't Panic! 100 Friendly Crocodiles Escape Thailand.

2011-10-11T11:10:00.001+07:00

I always get a very good laugh from reading the Thai newspapers. I am often left shaking my head at stories but always put it down to, “This is Thailand” or TIT.

One such story was in today’s Bangkok Post, it’s a crap paper like the other English language newspaper The Nation but every now and then you get a gem of a story like this.

The heading was, “100 Escaped Crocodiles ‘Not Fierce’”.

Straight away when I read this I nearly fell off my chair laughing, but then I thought they were maybe freshwater crocodiles so clicked on the link and went to the story.

The crocodiles have escaped from a crocodile farm in Uthai Thani province; the floods have caused havoc across parts of Thailand.

When I read this in the first paragraph I again pissed myself laughing.

“The Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department has sought to calm fears that the animals may attack people.”

I was thinking “How” and when I read on next I just laughed more.

"It (WPCD) says crocodiles raised in captivity have no instinct to attack humans."

Haha, how bloody funny is that! No instinct to attack humans. These people are absolute bloody stark raving mad lunatics. Crocodiles are prehistoric creatures and I am sure they will take a chunk out anything their jaws can snap at.

Then Mr. Thirapat Prayoonsit, the department's deputy chief of WPCD said some of the following.

“Most of the escaped crocodiles are young and less than a metre long.”

“They prefer to live in still water and avoid strong currents.”

But his best quote is this;

"Please do not panic. The crocodiles are not fierce like
those living in the wild. On the contrary, they are rather scared of
people."

Great! So I will see Mr Prayoonsit wading around chest deep water with some beef in his hands trying to capture these non fierce and scared of human crocodiles.

What I am amazed at is that there was not a word of doubt in the article. It seems no journalist challenged Mr. Prayoonsit and asked, “Are you an expert in crocodilian behaviour and can you guarantee they will not attack a human?” Or Crocodiles have been around since the dinosaurs and have survived on instincts; don’t you think these instincts will kick in quickly?

The good news is this. The crocodile farm is paying a whopping 3,000 baht per animal captured and returned. I hope the people who find them barter a better price or kill them, eat them and then sell their skin for a much better profit.

Sadly three of five tigers living at the crocodile park drowned, two were evacuated but the other three were not so lucky. What I don’t understand is how this could happen as it had been predicted for at least a week the flood waters.

Anyway, so don’t panic, the 100 odd non fierce crocodiles will not harm you but may want to play roll around in the water or a game of fetch or something like that.

~~Amazing Thailand~~, opps now it is Miracle Thailand. I forgot!

Brunty

My Other Love, Black Caviar.

2011-10-09T17:27:00.003+07:00

I have to admit as I cannot tell a lie, I am in love with an amazing women and it isn’t Miss Noot or Nong Ja.

I have written about her before on this blog so she really isn’t a secret.

How could I love someone else? It is hard not to and I am not the only one that is smitten by her, she has hundreds of thousands of admiring fans.

How would I describe her? She is a work of beauty, absolutely breathtaking in full flight, she is so calm but confident, and she gleams after she goes about her job.

She is 5 years old and weighs about 575kgs. That is large I agree but she is all muscle. She is brown but goes black in colour when lathered in sweat.

Okay, I am talking about a horse, and not just any horse. She has captured the attention of the nation. There would be hardly a person who had not heard of her in Australia and also there are many that know of her around the world, she even has her own website.

Black Caviar is known a sprinter, the world’s best sprinter. And she is now in her third year of racing and has captured the hearts of a nation each time she starts.

Black Caviar was born on the 18th of August 2006 at 5.20am. Her name was chosen by a co-owner. Black Caviar’s grandmother was Scandinavia and apparently black caviar comes from Scandinavian countries.

You can read all about her breeding here. Her colours of salmon with black dots were designed by a co-owners daughter.

Then in 2008 at The Inglis Premier Yearling sales, lot 520 from Swettenham Stud had their horse in the ring.

Top Melbourne trainer Peter Moody had in his words, “I instantly fell in love with her.”

And this, “She just had a presence about her, an action about her, every time she took a stride every part of her body moves. It's like walking down the beach and seeing certain parts of someone's anatomy wiggle or that and you just can't help yourself, you've got to turn round and have a look.”

Moody didn’t have a client or owners in mind so he was on his phone making calls. Probably the luckiest and best phone call these clients have received in their lives.

She cost $210,000 and connections initially put in $35,000 each to cover the purchase fee and training fees for a year. That now is nothing looking at her prize money of $3,595,050 Australian dollars.

But what has captured the nation, is her 14 starts for now 14 wins. She is undefeated and on Saturday past equaled legendary horse Phar Lap’s record. You can watch above her win in the Schillaci Stakes over 1000mtrs and hear the crowd come to voice as she effortlessly strides up to tackle a Sydney raider and top sprinter Karuta Queen who was 5.5kgs lighter.

Karuta Queen’s jockey Tommy Berry said this, "I didn't think I could beat her. I just thought it would be a dream to beat her," "She's a freak (Black Caviar). I couldn't have been going any better and she cantered past me. That will be my biggest thrill."

And Berry said this about a possible rematch in the Group Two Schweppes Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate day. "I don't think there is any point in breaking her heart twice,"

Karuta Queen's trainer Neville Layt said it was a "privilege" to run second to Black Caviar.

"At the 600m I thought 'Tommy son you're in trouble'. She's a freak. She just cantered up to my filly and my filly still ran a great race," Layt said.

"I'm proud to run second to a mare like her. My little filly didn't let me down. She was travelling sweet in the run. That mare is just unbelievable."

Black Caviar racing career started with an explosion. She won her trial easily and people started thinking that she could be special.

Then on April 18th 2009 she had her first race start.

She won by 5 lengths and did it easily and Peter Moody thought, “How good is this horse and how good could she be?”

She then won her second and third races easily. Then onto the home of Melbourne racing at Flemington for her fourth start.

The barriers opened and she knuckled or blundered, hearts went into mouths as her nose nearly touched the ground. She still won the race. She ran a quick time of 1-09.96 for 1200mtrs or 6 furlongs.

Race caller Greg Miles said, “It was probably the first time a horse has got close to her and she looked a little bit vulnerable that day. She still won, but she wasn't right.”

And she wasn’t, Moody had thought something was wrong and was right, Black Caviar had pulled muscles in her chest, and when a horse gets an injury it can mean it will never be back to the horse it was, or may never race again.

Moody spelled her, she goes away to recuperate and heal. She is brought back to the stable ready to race again. Disaster strikes again. She injures her leg and again has to be put out to the spelling paddock.

In nearly a year she had one race start. From the 5th of September 2009 until the 20th of September 2010 she stepped out on the 22nd of January 2010 for a win.

Connections and trainer were worried that this horse with so much talent would never show her potential.

Thankfully this wasn’t the case. She returned to racing and has humbled all before her. Even the few who held the good old Aussie fighting character like trainer John McNair with top sprinter Haylist.

McNair claimed in May 2009 that Haylist would beat her but to date this hasn’t happened, in four starts has three seconds and a race to forget.

Their last race was in Brisbane the BTC Cup and again she lowered his colours in a sensational time of 1-8.85 for the 1200mtrs.

But McNair is a fighter and in September 2011 he again has said, "We've never had the chance to meet Black Caviar at 100 per cent and should that happen and Black Caviar was only a tiny bit off, I'm convinced she'd get rolled."

"She's always had the right barriers and little things have gone her way against us. That's not an excuse because she has won comprehensively. But if they ever get to the stage where we're at the top of our game and she's not totally 100 per cent in every way, then the tables will turn.

"I've had it said to me we should dodge Black Caviar because if she keeps beating Hay List, it would break his heart. But he is not that sort of horse. He never gives up."

Now, balls to McNair as many trainers have dodged races with Black Caviar nominated as they know they cannot win but John being a true Aussie never lies down.

One thing I do like are the level heads in the Black Caviar camp. With so many asking, “Is she better than the great Phar Lap.”

Peter Moody said, "Phar Lap kept the nation on its feet during the Depression. I think it's very unfair to him. Nothing will ever equal him."

Co-owner Neil Werrett said, "Phar Lap is in a league of his own but she's a good second."

And jockey Luke Nolen said, "I am thrilled to think they are put in the same company. Phar Lap is the best horse Australian racing has ever seen and had a record of a superstar, whereas she's got a long way to go.”

"If she continues to win like this, then yeah, we can probably start to mention her in the same breath."

She is the best going around today and the great horses of the past are just that. It is like comparing the best AFL football players of 50 years ago to today’s stars, very hard and many different opinions.

I look forward to her going on to her next start that will more than likely be on Cox Plate day at Moonee Valley on October 22nd in the Group Two Schweppes Stakes over 1200mtrs.

Then onto start 16 on November 5th in the 1 million Group 1 Patinack Farm Classic over 1200mtrs at Flemington.

I also look forward to the day she travels abroad and shows the loudmouths from Europe, Americas and such just how good she is.

She has her doubters and critics as she has not raced abroad against the supposed world’s best sprinters. But I like this from Saturday from British trainer Brian Ellison, his Melbourne Cup contender Moyenne Corniche had just ran third in yesterday's Herbert Power race.

He said ''I think everyone knows about her and we've got nothing at home that can beat her. 'The only thing that can beat her is herself.''

And with that not I will sign off. Tomorrow this super-mare will again be up well before the sun while most of us sleep.

Brunty

Chilly Nights Have Arrived Isaan Thailand.

2011-10-06T20:56:00.001+07:00

The weather has turned bloody cold here in north east Thailand, well it is cold. In the blink of an eye nights are crisp and the need for air-conditioning or even just a fan is not needed.

There was even a discussion on closing the bedroom windows as last night was a little frigid.

Many cannot associate cold and Thailand in the same sentence. But it does get quite cool this time of year, especially November and December. Some nights we might even get single digits.

I feel sorry for all the people sleeping it rough from the floods, all those who are in makeshift tents while their homes are underwater, I can only imagine how cold they feel.

Anyway, a good cool temperature food is this.

This is a Thai dinner roll. The shop in a straight line from my house is about 200mtrs. The guys opened about a month ago and have been doing great business, and not only from me.

They come with processed pork roll and grilled pork and salad and the sauce is a ripper, tomato, chilli and a mayonnaise and then it is whacked under a grilled and comes out warm and crispy.

The crazy part is this; 20 baht a roll or three for 50 baht. That is around $1.70 for 3 rolls. How can they do it so cheap!

Anyway, apart from that nothing else much is happening here in sleepy Ubon Ratchathani. I am going to go back and visit the flood victims this weekend and see how they are faring,

The water levels have dropped but not enough for many to return home.

Brunty

P.S. I forgot about the bottle of Sangsom Thai rum, that didn't come with the rolls but I purchased to have a nip of two as a nightcap and to warm my bones a little.

Outrage Again at Thai Students for Their Ignorance.

2011-09-28T22:26:00.005+07:00

Reading the papers online today and “the big” story is of some Thai students who dressed up in Nazi uniforms for their sports day.

In Thailand, sport days are huge. They take precedence over academics, well actually everything else takes precedence over learning, competitions, dancing, watching some touts pitch a promotion for some company selling products laced full of sugar, but this is Thailand.

Up country here in Thailand in Chiang Mai at The Sacred Heart Catholic School, the students had kept their outfits under wraps, apparently! I could believe this as I have witnessed it. While I was at Assumption College here in Ubon Ratchathani. I witnessed five sport days there and the students in charge of their team’s colour parade were very protective of their plans.

One year I was looking threw some drawings the students had when they were snatched away as I apparently could have been a spy for another colour or team.

But this isn’t the first time and more than likely won’t be the last. Back in November 2007 I blogged on another school in Bangkok, students from Thewphaingarm School also dressed in Nazi themed outfits for their sport day and there was an outcry then.

But how could this happen? How could students be so insensitive?

Well, they are not trying to be insensitive. To be truthful they are totally unaware of what all the fuss is about.

Ex-pat foreigners were appalled, obviously in Chiang Mai and when the problem was brought up with Thai teachers, they had “no idea” to why it was such a problem.

You are probably reading and thinking that this just isn’t possible, but it is.

I am not trying to be rude, but Thais are ignorant to nearly anything outside the borders of Thailand, but also inside as well. What do I mean?

Many of these students don’t even know that the Japanese fought the Thai army and won, forcing them to allow Japanese troops passage in 1941 through Thailand. And not one student I know of knows Thailand declared war against Britain and America. Luckily Thailand’s ambassador at the time refused to deliver the declaration of war in America, luckily for Thailand.

Ask them about the Death Railway, or The Hellfire Pass at Kanchanaburi and The Bridge over the River Kwai, many know of the place, have been but know little of what actually happened there. The death of soldiers beaten to death by their Japanese captors and around 16,000 people lost their lives at the hands of the Japanese.

When I was teaching upper secondary levels, years 10 to 12 or students from 15 to 18 years of age. Many of them had no idea of past events or history that shaped the world as it is today.

But they also had no idea of the “real history” of Thailand either. I was often gobsmacked when a class of 30 students could not identify past kings or influential people of Thailand. Ask about events like coups or even the tsunami and many had no idea at all.

Thais are atrocious at geography, and this isn’t just students. I remember being left speechless by year 12 students when they couldn’t identify the 7 continents, I was doing this as in their book we were learning passive voice and about where things are made or grown and so forth.

I introduced the countries by flags first, no idea! Then by word flashcards and some could read. Match the words to the flags and this was hysterical, for me. The US flag going with India and so on, it was comical.

After finally getting all the flags matched to countries, I bought out enlarged cut outs of the 7 continents. First I had students try and identify each one, and this was crazy. I didn’t know China, and America and others were continents.

Having identified the continents the students then matched countries to continents and seeing Thailand placed in North America made me nearly cry, from laughing.

But this isn’t just kids, ask adult teachers to show you where Thailand is, and many baulk as they don’t want to “lose face” by trying or will point in the Asia area.

After the shambles of this I had to have more fun, I blew up a massive Asia flashcard. Six bits of A4 paper together. A heap of countries names and flags and I had a few more hours of laughs on my hands. 90% of the 17 and 18 year olds had no idea, absolutely no idea.

I did a quiz on Thailand that was multiple choice, in groups of 4 people. Name the colours of the flag in order from top to bottom, around how many people live in Thailand (One group answered 6 million), Thailand’s first king and so on.

I am not sure, but maybe kids back in Australia are like this as well. They could be!

Anyway, so these kids at this school would more have likely seen the outfit on the internet, not read or understood what is was all about and just went on making them. A huge chance this is what happened.

What I don’t understand, and I asked my old students in class once about them learning about the World Wars, and they said that it was in their social studies book but they didn’t learn as the teacher skipped it. And I would believe this as the teacher would have to research and do some work then.

I agree that it is a disgrace seeing the students’ parade in the uniforms, but it comes back to the educators and how they can to an age where they should have been taught a little about the atrocities of World War 2.

Thai history is taught by what students need to hear and what teachers or the Thai government want them to learn. I remember talking to another foreign teacher as I was doing some classes on His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej, I had included the car accident that caused him to lose sight in his eye. I was checking that it wasn’t going to get me in hot water or a charge of that overzealous “Lese Majeste” law.

So I and another teacher were chatting when a Thai teacher said, “No! He didn’t lose his eye like that.” She went into a story and I cannot even remember what it was as I was a little gobsmacked and when we told her that he actually lost it in a car accident abroad, you could still see she couldn’t quite believe it.

I don’t expect Thai high school kids to know about Captain James Cook, Winston Churchill or Benjamin Franklin, But you think they would be briefed on the great wars that shaped the world in ways.

I once had a list of countries that were colonies of British Empire. And none of the students or teachers knew that a majority of America was a British colony. And many didn’t know Burma was as well.

I think back to when I was their age. Maybe I didn’t know all of this then but I had a good knowledge of things that shaped the world and the geography of the world.

Maybe I am being a little harsh, in saying Thais are ignorant to the outside world, but again to me I see it as this as I believe that so many of the population are never going to travel outside Thailand’s borders.

Anyway, just my ranting and views. I agree with the uproar it has caused but do believe it was through utter lack of knowledge, I am sure that the kids did not do it to incite hatred or show support for the Nazi regime and the slaughter of the Jews and loss of soldiers lives from the wars.

I just hope now, after the 2007 and now 2011 episodes that it may not happen again. Hopefully there might be a small awareness campaign. Thailand’s useless Ministry of Education can actually do something useful and insist that year 11 and 12 students be taught the importance of say World War 1 and 2, but again I am sure they have much more pressing matters, like getting the “one PC tablet” for every school child up and running.

Don’t even get me started on this atrocious idea from The Pheu Thai Party and Thaksin’s puppet sister. If I start I will be enemy number one of the red shirts, but again I really don’t care.

Brunty

Ubon Ratchathani Floods 2011 Thailand.

2011-09-25T20:17:00.001+07:00

I went for a ride to see how the floods were here in Ubon Ratchathani. Last weekend I went out and took a couple of pictures but this week I wanted to speak to some people.

This is a tent city. Small tents have turned into peoples’ homes along the edges of roads that snake their way close to the river. There are mobile toilets and also showers set up for all the people to share.

This is Nim and her family. Nim is the lady in the blue t-shirt second from right. They have been in the tent for nearly a month and up to ten people sleep here. Most years their house near the river will flood but only the bottom floor of their two storey home. This year it is completely under, the first time in many years she said.

They said the tents keep them dry most of the time, but they still get wet in the very heavy rain and it gets very hot inside. They have a fan and some roll out beds. I would say they are only around 8ft by 6ft at the most.

These houses I would say are about 200mtrs or a little further from Ubon’s river, The Moon (The Mun).

There are boats here to transport people back and forward. Some are still living in their houses on the second floors.

It is the same picture in another area. Tents are set up and some families are living in these small shelters.

Again I was met with smiling and happy faces. Plenty of people wanted to say, “hello” and have a chat. This is Ko who is only 18 and his partner. They have been in their shelter close to a month. They said they were fine and it wasn’t as bad as others were worse off than them. People had died in other parts of Thailand and lost their houses and land washed away. He is a young father and is working, so most days he is away from the tent but his partner stays with their child.

The boats are lined up for people to go back and forward to their homes. Most will sleep on the second levels of their homes at night but through the day come out for food and to watch TV as most have no power.

These men were all enjoying Muay Thai boxing on TV. Some were very merry and I had to happily decline the offer of having a drink of Thailand’s finest rice whiskey or Low Kaow. I escaped with the excuse of I had to ride my motorbike and couldn’t be drunk. Thankfully it worked.

I spoke to the guy on the right of the picture with one hand up. His name was Chitiya and he said 168 houses were flooded in the area affecting about 380 people. Most are living upstairs until the floods recede.

He said this was the worst flood in around 10 years, but the one about ten years ago was a lot worse. I found out how much worse later on.

The main road heading into Ubon City has tents lined all the way along it.

This lady and her daughter were being taken back to their house.

Everywhere I went kids were playing in the water, making their own fun. I am an old worry wart. The water was dirty in many places, littered with rubbish but what I worried about the most is the sewerage. There are no sewer mains but everyone has septic tanks. Maybe I just worry too much.

The temple and it’s large what are like an urn as they hold the ashes and bones of deceased are under water.

More houses under water.

This is down past Ubon Ratchathani’s prison. It is off Soi 9 and right near Wat Kut Kool วัดกุดคูณ. The man in the boat is called Bom.

Bom was telling me that 10 years ago, the last time in the big flood he couldn’t even stay in his house on the second floor. He pointed on the temple wall to a spot about a foot under the top and said that is where the water was back then.

Another family made their way to dry land and I had been wondering about the tyres in the water. I found out that they stop the longtail boats. And the older lady's face was priceless as the boat come to a sudden stop.

This is the golf driving range just down from Benchama School, if you know Ubon then you will know where I mean.

This is the road that hooks onto what I call the ring road or highway 231, it comes out at Ubon University.

Some rode in and quickly turned around when they found it a little too deep.

While others just didn’t seem to care for their motorbikes and pushed through.

They were just about to start pumping the water out from the flooded road, it is sand bagged but obviously is leaking in places.

People just went on with their daily life, here and mother and daughter strolled on by, off along the flooded road.

I had walked back to my motorbike and heard the sound of a siren and sure enough an ambulance was making its way through and thankfully did without any problems.

In Ubon there are plenty of people that have been affected by the floods. But what amazed me was their resilience and how generous they were.

I was offered food and drink, not only alcohol but water and soft drink by so many people. Most seemed happy and not too worried about not being able to return home for a bit longer yet.

There have been more warnings in the paper today of heavy rain and flash flooding for the north east of Thailand. Today was a beautiful day, cloudy but warm. I do hope they are wrong and the rain stays away so all the tent people like Nim and her family can move back into their homes.

I met some really nice people today and look forward to returning in a week or two and checking on their progress.

Brunty

There Looks Like Rain in Them Clouds.

2011-09-21T20:46:00.001+07:00

I was heading home on my motorbike this afternoon looking directly toward an evil looking sky. I was thinking I was going to get absolutely drenched and it had just started to spit a little rain.

I was not far from home and hoped for a clear run and it was pretty good, I made it home to the sound of thunder as sheet lightning shot through the sky.

The wind came up and the rain started, for about a minute and then back to a light drizzle. It was a real fizzer.

I was expecting a Noah’s Ark downpour; just have to wait for another time.

Brunty

Engrish (English) on Thai Products, Thailand.

2011-09-18T21:19:00.003+07:00

I have been going to write this blog for a few days now, but each time something happens and I end up writing about something else. Like my mate and his delusional hopes of making an AFL grand final and rabid dogs trying to attack me.

But finally some spare time, and this is about Thai products that have English translations on them.

The big international companies are no worries; they often have multiple languages on their products. It is the locally made products that I often get a good chuckle out of. At times I have absolutely no idea what they are trying to say as the English is so bad.

Above is a bottle of “Milk Vitamin” from a Thai company that I blurred the name out. Thai people are very vain and the amount of “defamation” cases I have read about in papers is laughable. Thai Hi So’s suing some other tosser because they called them a pea brain or something along those lines. So I am just being careful.

Thai beauty products are in a surplus, never have I seen a country that offers locally made miracles and cures for all sorts of things, from acne to enlarging your breasts. These are all curable by some sort of cream in Thailand.

The amount of Dr’s, which grace the product label for the miracle cream, gives me a chuckle. I cannot remember a Dr, back home claiming a product cured some ailment. I am sure there were but I never noticed.

Anyway, Noot’s older sister has been visiting for a week and her usual arsenal of products have been gracing the bathroom. Each trip the product changes to a new brand, the newest fad I am sure.

I would not lie; Noot’s sister would spend somewhere close to $10,000 baht per month just on product care, not including all the hairdressing appointments and so on. She just had rhinoplasty done. When they see me giggling at products they will often enquire to what I am laughing at.

Usually the price of the products. You can get cheap products in Thailand, but if you are ever at border crossing and even bus stations you might notice the posters warning of the dangers of buying beauty creams. Pictures accompany of women’s faces that are permanently scarred for life.

Anyway, the “Milk Vitamins” was 790 baht a bottle, around $24 Australian dollars. That is an outlay for most Thais, trust me. But when you look closely at the instructions, this is where it makes you laugh.

Here is a bottle of “Mineral water for showers” and also 790 baht.

Pure mineral water nourishing with vitamins for skincare. Making your skin brighten, softness, with herbal smell made you feel fresh relaxing and protected your skin from inflame, pimple, heat and reducing from body odore (odour).

And the directions to use it:

Using in shower, rinse the mineral water on synthetic fiber, with pure water, scrub its until the bubble.

I am not picking on this company as they are a dime in the dozen in Thailand. What I cannot understand is how they let such poor English onto their products.

Even if these companies had people with degrees, masters or even doctorates in English, this means shit. I met an older lady who has a doctorate in English, but she could not even have the most basic of conversation. I also have met many with degrees in English, some can hold a basic conversation but that is the limit of it.

I cannot understand how these companies don’t outsource to a native foreign speaker to check their product information. I am sure many of the company owners must have foreign friends, most are well off Thais and surely meet foreigners. How they don’t just ask, “Hey John, can you check the English for our product please?”

I think it is Thailand’s stupid “face” crap. The loss of face, asking for help. If they ask for help it means they are not competent or something along those lines. I think this has to be it.

They would probably be better off grabbing a bar girl with 10 years experience, she would have a better command of English then most scholars and graduates. Heck, head down to Nana or Patpong and buy a foreigner a beer and have the English checked.

But if this happens I won’t have anything to giggle at when I am having shower.

Brunty

My Delusional Mate.

2011-09-18T10:37:00.004+07:00

This is what Aussie mates are for. Last week I cheekily wrote about my team Collingwood playing my mate’s team, West Coast in a final in the Australian Football League.

Of course The Might Magpies (my team) won but he was lucky as his team had another chance this weekend. Last night they played Carlton and I sent my mate a little email to gee him up a bit. I received this comment and have to share. His comments are in green. In black is what I had sent to him.

For anyone who bothered to read this stupid post (see above link and his reply here) I thought I should provide an update.

You may have noticed that Brunty, the football expert said this last week.

"The sad part here is that his team will fight another day but will not make past next week, even though history shows his team should win I am confident this will not be the case. I think next week will be the end of their football year."

Well, the game he was waffling on about was today (Yesterday Saturday). At the beginning of the game he sent me this email:

"You will be in tears in just over a few hours from now :) There is always the next decade. You guys over achieved anyway."

The team he wanted to win got off to a good start kicking three straight goals in the first 5 or so minutes so he sent another email which said this:

The Subject heading was 'Bang bang' the message was

"Yeah let’s see more of them, not even a minute gone. You guys were $1.38 hahaha"

Now who do you think won? Of course, it was my team, The Mighty West Coast Wedgies.

I hope you pick horses better then you do footy teams!

Yes, it is true. I sent him the email telling him his team was going to lose and that he would be in tears.

The funny thing was this; until there was 5 minutes left in the game I received no correspondence. Then my mate sent this.

“See you in two weeks at the G.” (The “G” is the home of football, The MCG or Melbourne Cricket Ground.)

Now there was still 5 minutes to go in the game and his team had a 15 point lead.

I sent a reply, “15 in 5 minutes you are kidding.” Meaning this was nothing and he was counting his chickens a little early.

Then after the game finished, I received this, “Never any doubt.”

I replied again, “U guys will be dead next week. Geelong will tear you guys a new rectum :)” This is the team they are playing next week.

He replied with, “Sure sure. Can u get grand final tickets for us? Will meet u there.” Now this would be fine for me as Collingwood will be there, but his team is guaranteed not to be, history shows this.

I then sent this, “I bet you have skid marks, check!” This was referring to his team falling over the line by two points. In those 5 minutes 13 points were erased and I was praying (first time ever) that his team lost.

To which he replied, “Nah, never in doubt. Had it in the bag from the first minute of the first 1/4. :)-“

Obviously this is the ranting of a delusional man. He would have been shitting himself watching Carlton storm home and nearly snatch the win. But it is history now.

Carlton had to travel all the way to the Wild West, face The Wedgies on their home turf and all their two-headed supporters. Of the 43,000 strong crowd, only 1,000 were Carlton supporters. The umpires on the night were all over the place. Early on free kicks were being given away everywhere, then after halftime, the whistles were put away and many free kicks went begging.

But no matter what, his team won. I was wrong. But I do know this week they will not be $1.38, they will be lucky to be under $10. Geelong will be able to turn off the burner at half time as they will be so far in front. I would be confident in taking or giving a 39 point handicap. But knowing Geelong will cruise to the line to preserve themselves for the following week in the Grand Final against Collingwood the margin may be under that. I am hoping for a record losing margin in a final.

Anyway, just some friendly banter and ribbing between two Aussies.

I know today being Sunday. He would have been at church on bended knee, head bowed and hands clasped together in front of his chest. He would have been praying for a miracle to happen next weekend, for sure.

But as the famous old saying by a great Australian goes. “Well may we say "God save the Queen", because nothing will save The West Coast Wedgies!”

Brunty

A Brain Snap, Isaan Thailand.

2011-09-17T12:42:00.001+07:00

The crazy farang struck again. In Thailand I can put with a lot of things and just put it down to TIT (This is Thailand) but one thing that fuc#s me off beyond anything, are dogs that chase people or motorbikes. Thankfully near my house this doesn’t happen, well I thought.

Today Ben is having her motorbike serviced just around the corner at our local mechanic, maybe 200mtrs from our house. She asked me to drop her at her friend’s room while she waited. Her room is one street across from the mechanics and maybe 300mtrs from my home.

I never go down this street; it is full of student dormitories. So I dropped Ben at the dormitory block and then headed off. About two dormitory buildings down from where I had dropped Ben, I caught from the corner of my eye something coming out.

It was a big dog and it was going to chase me. It did scare the crap out of me at first. I never run from dogs. I always stop and confront them. I hit my brakes and then another two dogs came out, one small and a medium sized mutt, all barking. I got off my bike and started at them and then removed my shoe and said, “Lets rumble.”

The dogs took off with me after them. Well in this dormitory building there were no joke at least 8 dogs, so I retreated and the brave dogs followed. I got onto my bike and headed towards home, the bigger dog again wanted to chase me, so I stopped and it stopped. Then an old lady came out and called the dogs but they didn’t seem to listen.

I took off and arrived at home, opened my door and grabbed my aluminum baseball bat. I then headed back to the dormitory building and the gate was still wide open and went charging in with baseball bat in hand.

Well a couple of the dogs charged out from behind some pot plants and I was wide eyed with a big smile and screamed, “come on you cu#ts” like a madman. Well the dogs stopped dead and I charged at them. I was going to beat the living fu#k out of the big dog. If I could have got to it before it ran off like a cowardly piece of shit, I would have smashed its head in.

The old lady came running out from a small unit, she was “waiing” me, the way Thai people greet and also apologize to people. She must have thought what the hell was going on with an enraged foreigner screaming at some dogs with a baseball bat in their hand.

An old guy then emerged from the unit and also some girls from some of the rooms, they must have all been thinking, “what the fuc#!”

The old guy said to me, “Jai yen yen," this means have a cool heart and I replied that I will kill the dogs if they ever chase me again. Both of them were saying, “sorry.” Before I left I again told them that I will kill their dogs if one of them ever chases me again and added Jing Jing (true and that I was crazy.)

Well the faces on the girls looking on where wide eyed. I walked off and a few of the dogs again started to show their balls and move forward as if wanting to dance. So I thought, “let’s dance” and took a few quick steps after them and they ran off. The guy was trying to usher me off the property.

I got on my bike, and across and next to the building people were out the front looking on, I gave them a big smile as I headed off and they must have been thinking, “He is bonkers.”

I arrived home and was fired up and thought I would blog on it. Express my mind. I was home maybe 5 minutes and Ben turned up. She said, “You are crazy! You kill dog!” I said that I will kill the dogs, and she knows I will.

She said her friend came to her friend’s room and told them, they apparently know of me because of Ben, they all study at university together. The girl must have gone to tell the news of the mad foreigner.

I have no qualms about killing an animal, especially animals like this. I would actually like to beat the living shit out of their owners for being imbeciles, but they are old.

I have seen people chased by dogs many times, and the people where the dogs come from they do nothing. They stand at their gate calling the dog and when it returns do nothing, don’t give it a flogging. If my dog chased a bike, a person I would punish it, give it a flogging. But it won’t as it is trained. It knows it is wrong to chase bikes.

If I had a dog that chased a kid, I would kill it. No chances. I don’t blame the animals. It is the fools that own the animals. I wish I could euthanize them; I would love to be able to do this. They have failed the animals by not training them in what is right and wrong behavior.

So maybe I am a little crazy, the other week in peak hour traffic, a van cut off about four of us on motorbikes, right near Sunee Hotel here in Ubon Ratchathani. He just swerved out into the right hand lane where we were. I tooted my horn but was ignored.

I was back a bit but a girl in front of me had to hit her brakes hard. Well I saw red. It was peak hour traffic, I got beside the passenger side window and gave him a mouthful. I couldn’t see inside as the window was tinted. Suddenly the window came down and a young guy smiling at me gave me the middle finger.

Well I snapped. So I rode next to the van until the traffic stopped at Nong Bua lights. Traffic all around I reached for the passenger door and opened it, it wasn’t locked. All of a sudden the smiling little piece of shit didn’t have a grin. I put my stand down and hopped off my bike and told him to get out, I was speaking in Thai and screaming at him to get out. He could go nowhere as the traffic was stopped for the red light.

He said in Thai, I don’t understand you and I replied and asked him “if he was stupid.” I called him a piece of shit and told him to be very careful in Thai. I left his door wide open and rode off. Again people were looking on probably thinking I was mad.

I know and have warned people about being careful going off in public, or doing road rage as people get killed for it. People have been shot and killed for tooting horns, yelling, flipping the finger. I know this. But sometimes I cannot help it. If the person who does something wrong, gives an apology, a sorry wave to acknowledge they were wrong and an idiot, fine. Take the abuse you deserve and get on with it.

I have started to cool down, a little. But I am still pissed off. Was I stupid what I done. Yes! But sometimes you cannot help buy loose it and flip.

Brunty

A Thai's Thought on Education in Thailand and Tea Money.

2011-09-15T21:28:00.003+07:00

I was going to blog on something else tonight but after reading an excellent column written in The Bangkok Post by Sanitsuda Ekachai, an assistant editor there.

It is another article where a Thai person points out just one of the many things wrong with Thailand’s education system. Thais have written about it for so long but it never gets fixed and below is one of the things that disgusts me.

The article below is in its entirety and the link to the paper is here at, Education Ministry is the problem! I will print in the full form as often the links go dead from this paper, I don’t know why.

When my young co-worker was trying to enrol her child into a prestigious school, my first question to her was: "How much did you tell them you would pay?"

The figure was in the mid five-figures range. An exorbitant amount of money for her, but a necessary investment for her child's education and future, she said.

"I'm worried," she added, sighing. "I heard other parents would pay up to six and seven figures. I wouldn't have a chance."

Money is not the only channel to get a seat in the best schools, however. Connections count. Like other parents, she frantically started finding people who knew the school administrator who could help.

This is the stressful game all parents must play if they want to enroll their children into famous schools for access to academic excellence and work success.

Since "tea money" for school admissions is illegal, many schools in need of financial support to train teachers and improve school facilities have devised a system to avoid being targeted for misconduct, as well as to maintain quality control and the school's allure.
The system requires parents to overcome many hurdles.

First is the tough screening exam to ensure that the school still gets the cream of the crop to maintain brand reputation. Fierce competition then starts very early, forcing the kids to attend tutorial schools from kindergarten onwards.

But having good scores is not enough. Many schools require the parents of prospective students to be actively involved in the parent-and-teacher associations for a number of years, to heighten their children's chances of school admission.

Tea money is also no longer called tea money. It is pledged donations for school development.
When there are much more qualified students and engaged parents than available school seats, the pledged donations can make or break the parents' dream. Hence the fierce donation bidding game.

Education Minister Woravut Au-apinyakul is right when he says the law has failed to stem the "pae jia" or school admission tea money, and pushing it underground only fosters corruption.

But he is totally wrong to believe his plan to legalise school admission tea money is the solution.

As education minister from a political party that rode to election victory on the disparity ticket, Mr Worawut should know better than anybody else what education problems plague our country.

Amid the serious education gap, the Education Ministry's policy that equates rote-learning to academic excellence has enabled well-off kids who can afford expensive tutorials to get ahead, leaving the poor further behind.

Amid the rising popular frustrations against social injustice, the current education system still endorses the hierarchical social structure that perpetuates disdain for the poor and exploitation of the weak.

To defuse ethnic tensions, the country needs to embrace cultural pluralism and tolerance. Yet the education system continues to contaminate young minds with ethnic prejudice and ultra-nationalism.

Against the ever-louder cry for decentralisation, the education authorities still fiercely hold on to central power that prevents local communities from managing the education of their children.

The "pae jia" or tea money system is the byproduct of disparity and the education authorities' not understanding the value of learning. This problem will not end with top-down orders from the minister. Neither will it end when school decision-making is being monopolised by school directors.

Each community is different. With active participation in school management from parents and communities, they can choose their own different methods to manage the "pae jia" money.

Participatory education reform is the key answer. But this is a pipe dream when the centralised Education Ministry refuses to budge.

What we need is not the "opening up" of the tea money system as proposed by Mr Woravut. We need the "opening up" of the Education Ministry. The "pae jia" is not the problem. The Education Ministry is.

Tea money is illegal, but all schools do it as a donation now, Assumption College, my old school has this on the application form when you apply. You write a figure and then wait to see which class your child gets into. The new school I am at now also does it as well.

And it is “tea money” as simple as that. The money goes where, and how it is spent I shudder to think. An English programme at a school that is meant to be the best for secondary education here in Ubon Ratchathani. The school is not, it is the same fuc#ed up system like every other school and the teacher change over rate is high, last year they sacked the entire foreign teacher force. I met one of them and not a word of a lie, he told us he was a god, he could make it rain, snow and so many other things, and he was teaching there. He was an utter fruit cake, he had so many screws loose but he was teaching there.

I know a parent that paid a six figure amount to get his boy into the programme, I told him he was mad, absolutely mad. The money to this guy isn’t a problem but it secured his boy a spot, his son is useless at English, and that is being polite. He asked me to tutor him about 4 years ago, to prepare him for the entrance exam, his son could hardly read, could not pronounce basic words, no idea about basic grammar as so forth. A nice kid but spoilt and had no chance in hell of passing the exam on merit.

I was paid a stupid amount for an hour of tutoring, two hours each weekend, to try and raise his level of English to a passable standard. After a month I told my friend (a golf buddy) it was a waste of time and money. I told him the truth but we pushed on for the last three months and the poor kid still could not get his head around the basics of “verb to be”, subject / object pronouns and so on, to the hardest part on the entrance test being, describing a picture in detail.

Anyway, a few weeks after the test I played golf with the guy and he told me his boy was in the programme and I was miffed but when he told me how, I understood!

Where Sanitsuda says,

“First is the tough screening exam to ensure that the school still gets the cream of the crop to maintain brand reputation.”

I have not seen this, my old school was private and we tried our hardest to have entrance exams, the reason being the difference in students’ abilities in classes. I am not talking about young learners but secondary students.

Each year we would arrive back for a new year and you would be met by the old, straight and expressionless faces, but also scared to the bone new ones. I remember one student, a boy in year 10, so around 16 years old. After starting the first class of the year and students started their activity, it was time to mingle.

So I made my way around, small chat with some old students and then I arrived at the new fellow. Some basic questions, “What is your nickname? Where do you come from? Where did you study before? How many fingers am I holding up?”

One of my old students said, “He cannot speak English!” I of course enquired to why and it came out that he had never studied with a foreigner before and not really learnt English before at his old school.

So I arranged for him to be brought to my office at lunchtime and I gave him a basic test. I gave him the test I gave to all my primary 1 students (6 and 7 year olds) when we started each year.

I had laminated sheets with some basic words printed on them. Things like, cat, dog, boy, girl, one, two, the, it and so on. He could not read one word, not one.

I grabbed the other test I gave the primary one students, the alphabet. A sheet of laminated paper with the alphabet mixed up. So I started pointing to letters and he got two letters correct, that was it. I was pissed off, not at him, it wasn’t his fault. I was pissed at the administration. The administration who accepts these kids and cheat them out of an education. That is what they are doing! They are cheating the students as these kids have absolutely no hope in an English programme studying about perfect tenses, passive voices, adjectives order, reading and comprehension and the list goes on.

And we had a basic entrance test, a primary three or four test that these students had to do, but pass or fail they were accepted as they paid their school fees, paid their “tea money” and peoples' pockets were padded and they were happy.

Sanitsuda said,

“Amid the serious education gap, the Education Ministry's policy that equates rote-learning to academic excellence has enabled well-off kids who can afford expensive tutorials to get ahead, leaving the poor further behind.”

Again so true, rote learning saturates the Thai education system; I have seen it day in and out. I have never come across people who are meant to be educators that are plain selfish. I do not think I have ever met a Thai teacher that I can truthfully say gives 100% in their class to make it a student centred learning environment.

This is pure gold, Sanitsuda said,

“To defuse ethnic tensions, the country needs to embrace cultural pluralism and tolerance. Yet the education system continues to contaminate young minds with ethnic prejudice and ultra-nationalism.”

I like this,

“Neither will it end when school decision-making is being monopolised by school directors.”

School directors (principal) are seen as gods here. The masses bow and grovel to them. Thai principals are nothing of principals I remember from home, back home principals were so active with the running of the schools, most rolled up sleeves are got the arms dirty, kept all the parts well greased.

My old school, I never saw my first director (4 years he was there) once walk into my classroom, to say “hello” or just check that I wasn’t asleep, throwing kids out windows, belting the shit of students with small cane sticks or rulers, not once in 4 years. I think he walked past my classroom a few times but that was it.

I am horrified at the amount of classes that go unattended. Every day I have to endure students from other classes loitering outside the classroom I am teaching, some even enter to see what I am teaching, others run up and down the corridor and when I enquire to what they are doing, the reply is usually always, “The teacher didn’t come.”

Teachers are often in meetings, away at competitions, and the best are the ones that go the class ten minutes late, give some work and then leave, back to their office thinking that twelve or thirteen old kids will sit down and complete their work quietly.

I have been critical of the Ministry of Education (MOE) many times here. I have written my thoughts plenty of times and often scathing. I have at times emailaed them; I have written around 7 emails over the last 6 years and never had a reply.

I had people warn me about doing this, they said, “you could be refused a teaching licence, they won’t allow you to teach, you will be kicked out of the country,” and so on.

I don’t give two hoots if they refused a licence, didn’t let me teach. Go for it. People should be able to be critical of a government department that continues to fail in its duties as The MOE does.

I just wish they would retrench the entire MOE department and the majority of directors of schools across Thailand and replace them with people who are dedicated to their job, live and breathe it, want to improve the system for the better of the children.

I personally believe now that 90% of these people do not have the best interests of students in their thoughts. The students should come first, above all else in my book, but they are sadly so far down the rung on the ladder.

Thailand’s education system is in a shambles, it is the complete mess that is written about it, and the terribly low scores that are collated each year after national tests are true, this is because the students’ level of competence for their age for the majority is poor.

I do hope that people, like the above columnist continue to write about the education system and its failings as they have done for years, you hope that one day there has to be one person at a high level that takes a step to start to change things for the better.

I can only hope this for the children of Thailand.

Brunty

Just Letting The Parents Know, I am Looking After Myself!

2011-09-12T20:11:00.001+07:00

This is just to show mum and dad that I am looking after myself.

Spicy Beef Stew, I add a curry paste a lady makes from the market to the meat and it gives it some real kick.

Everything ready to go, I remember when I used to cook and not be prepared and would be stir frying something and the recipe would say, “add two teaspoons of salt” and I would just go, “Bugger that” and leave it out. Now I have everything ready to go and I just have to throw everything in.

This was very spicy, but bloody good (I thought so). The girls prefer the stew I make with pineapple. I have been told I have to make that this week.

I often make salads as they are so bloody easy to knock up! Noot’s younger sister Benjawan asked me the other night, “Jay, when you going to make a salad?”

“I don’t know, why?” I replied. “You make good salad.”

I did scratch my head and then said, “You could make, it is very easy.” But Ben replied, “No, the sauce (dressing) you make is delicious.”

Now sometimes I do make dressing from scratch but also buy some and then tweak them a bit. I have shown Ben the recipes for the different sauces but I think it must be daunting being in English.

Spaghetti bolognese is another dish the girls like but most of all is my little princess Nong Ja. Ja loves spaghetti and I actually knocked this up an hour after I had had my toenail ripped off. I don’t think the local had completely worn off but a little later on it ached a bit.

My parents have just returned to Victoria after spending a few months up north, in sunny Queensland. Each year they escape Melbourne’s cold winter and end up near Bowen. There they play golf whenever they like as the course is a minutes’ walk away.

Lawn bowls is another activity they have also taken to in recent years and really enjoy rolling up and having a bowl. The beach is also just a couple of minutes walk, mother can wonder up and down and dad can go fishing off the beach. Apparently this year it was very windy, much more than any other year, so not a lot of fishing was done.

They are now back home for spring, Melbourne is beautiful in spring. My brother’s dog, who adores mum and dad, as they completely spoil her. Each day my brother will drop her off with the parents on the way to work; there she has the run of the house.

Sleeps where she likes, apparently she even thinks she owns the bed at times when she stays over, some evenings my brother drops in to pick her up but she hides and doesn’t want to go. She sleeps in the bedroom and more than likely thinks she is a human and not a dog.

They will take her up to the Laanecoorie reservoir or Lake. They have a permanent caravan there and spend many weekends away there. Other mates have vans there and it is only a 2 hr drive from the city. You can water-ski and fish there or just sit around a fire and have plenty of cold beers while chatting to mates.

Also the grandkids will have missed them, well one for sure. He had already asked mum to go down and pick him up. He doesn’t get spoilt, of course not.

I thankfully have three weeks holiday on the horizon. And I can tell you I need a holiday after working so hard for the past 20 weeks.

Brunty

My Mates Right of Reply.

2011-09-11T19:38:00.003+07:00

My mate has dropped by and offered his thoughts on my little blog between our two teams being Collingwood and West Coast in the Australian Football league.

His comments are in green and following are my replies.

Boy you must have been having kittens during that game mate!

I don’t have cats, I hate cats so no idea what he is on about!

You got a real good scare and if it wasn't for missing two sitters with 10 minutes to go we would have upset The Pies!

The funny thing is Collingwood also missed many opportunities during the game and it a the team of champions that can stand the pressure in the big games and pull through, some are just not made for that.

Considering that the betting was at $1.20 for your team and $5 for my team then you should have been confident as you were the raging favourites. Just imagine the fall out if we had beaten you across the line.

Yes, my team was the short priced favourites but bookmakers do this to make the uneducated mob in believing the handicap odds on offer are worth taking and then cry when the team doesn’t run away and win by a mile. There would have been no fallout as we Collingwood supporters have faith in our team and you cannot always be at your best every game and we understand that some days are just not going to go our way. But we know that we will prevail many times.

As for a tattoo? Only people with short memories need them. I can remember all the premierships the Eagles have won in my life time. 1992, 1994 and 2006. How many have the pies won in your lifetime? Remembering of course that you are almost 10 years older then me. What's that you say? Only 1990 and 2010? Just two yet you still need to ink them onto your skin so you can remember!!

Tattoos are for short memories. No, it is to show loyalty to a team, people jump on and off bandwagons but for some we are dedicated through good and bad times. The West Coast had so many concessions and extra money when they joined the AFL that of course they had to be successful. You only succeeded when a Victorian took over as coach. I also have tattoos of Peter Daicos, Nathan Buckley, Darren Millane, "Jock" McHale, Bob Rose and more. The jibe of being ten years older, I will not bite at as I still have all my hair.

Collingwood has been the minor premiers 19 times and this is a record, won the premiership 15 times and been the runner up 25 times sadly but this means we have been in the mix many times. I do wish we had won more premierships during my lifetime but I have been blessed in watching them play many finals, something many others don’t get the chance to do.

Still, we live to fight another day and I can think of nothing better than to see you mob on Grand Final day.

The sad part here is that his team will fight another day but will not make past next week, even though history shows his team should win I am confident this will not be the case. I think next week will be the end of their football year.

Hope you are having a good day mate, did you watch the Wallabies kick some Italian butt? Please make sure you remind Franco of the score next time you see him.

Yes, I did watch the Wallibies (Australian Rugby Union Team) kick the Italians’ backsides, but the first half was tight even though we had all of the ball. I will let Franco know but I do believe I already know his answer and would not be able to print it here.

Brunty

My Niece Nong Ja, Isaan Thailand.

2011-09-10T22:30:00.001+07:00

This is my little princess and she is fast asleep. She complained yesterday after returning from school (daycare) that she had a tummy ache. There has been no temperature but the last two days complains of a tummy ache and a headache.

She hasn’t eaten much these last two days but is keeping her fluids up, has been sick a few times and a little clingy at times. There has been a terrible flu going through Ubon, adults and kids struck down and with some ending up in hospital. Ja’s class only had 7 or 8 students for a few days as the rest had fallen ill.

Ja has so many stuffed toys, they get accumulated and then given away and accumulated again. But these ones stay as they are her own little family. Ja is holding herself here.

This is her mum Joom.

This is her dad Jack.

This is her Auntie Miss Noot.

And this is me, Jay. I used to be a bear. I don’t know if this is worse or better being a frog.

She will often come into the bedroom telling me that one of the dolls is crying or sick and then we have to have a little chat and make them better. She gets medicine and food for them if they are hungry. It is absolutely priceless and love it.

Ja loves Power Rangers, Ben 10, Mr. Bean, Looney Tunes and so on. But her Rangers outfits are special and when we first bought her a matching outfit, we couldn’t get it off and bought another so we could alternate and wash them. Now her dad jack has bought her a few Ben Ten 10 shirts and she was very happy to model the new addition although not so well.

The girls have gone out tonight, so Ja and myself have been alone. Ja’s mum has arrived back in Ubon for a month’s holiday so she is here as well. Tonight Ja has been so quiet, a few times tears and complaints of a head or tummy ache. She has had some medicine and spent most the day sleeping.

I hope tomorrow she will be back to her normal little self soon and driving me completely crazy again.

Brunty

Actually just now she woke up and crying and has a bit of a temperature, so maybe it is the flu. She is not a happy camper as Noot isn’t here.

Collingwood V's West Coast AFL Finals. My Mate is Dreaming!

2011-09-10T09:48:00.003+07:00

Today in Melbourne, Australia the Australian Football League football finals are on. Aussie rules is the best game ever invented, I am biased but don’t care.

My team is The Mighty Collingwood Football Club, The Pies have a huge membership base and I have been a lifetime supporter since a little ankle biter.

Well today the east V’s the west of Australia. Collingwood play The West Coast Wedgies. A team from the west coast of Australia.

My good mate is a Wedgie supporter and ever since last weekend he has been crowing. Last weekend my team Collingwood was beaten by 96 points, an absolute flogging and The West Wedgies won by 95 points. So there was a massive 191 points difference.

So this week my Wedgie mate had been crowing, scratching the ground, and walking around with the chest stuck out for sure. He even mentioned a wager of some kind. I was keen if it be money, alcohol, a nudie run, walking around in a skirt, anything as long as there is an interest.

Well the lines of communications have gone cold. Apparently he is still keen as he is hosting his brother to watch the match and he said,

“Promised my brother a gourmet lunch for when he comes over to watch the Wedgies smash The Mighty Pies.”

(I may have edited the team names :)

Well in less than a couple of hours the game will start and a few hours after that we will know who are the pretenders and who are the real deal.

I am supremely confident and I am nearly ready to have another tattoo of my team added to my flesh to join the others that adorn my body.

Hang on, that is it. I challenge my mate to a bet. The loser will pay for the tattoo for the winner. I will go over now and get it started, nothing like a head-start.

I am that confident.

Brunty

Ingrown Toenail Fun, Isaan Thailand.

2011-09-08T21:25:00.001+07:00

Warning as there are a few pictures later on that some people may find distressing and if you faint, vomit or die, I am not responsible. As simple as that.

The other week I posted this picture about an ingrown toenail that was giving me a little grief. I had tried to remove it myself but it was too far gone or grown in and I knew this meant a visit to a doctor and having it cut out. That is coming soon but first some boring history.

There are people I have met that have never had broken bones, stitches, been in a car crash and so on, I am not one of those people. I have done all of those and more and I have had an ingrown toenail before as well, way back in the early 90’s, more on that later.

I can remember back to when I was a young fella, growing up in the sleepy country town of Portland in Australia. I wasn’t even a teenager and had my first encounter with a needle in my foot, way back then.

From memory I had cut my foot badly in the park right near our house (mum set me straight if wrong) and it meant off to the hospital. The gash needed stitches and I remember the doctor saying, “This will hurt.”

Well hurt wasn’t near what I remember. It felt like the doctor had jammed the needle in the cut and I remember swearing out loud, really loud (mum is this correct) and poor mother was more embarrassed than probably shocked from my expletive. The nurse had a good hold of me; otherwise I would have been running down the road. I was a wuss back then.

Fast forward to the early 90’s and I was living in Trinity Beach, about 20klms from Cairns. At Trinity Beach there was a small shopping centre called Coastwatcher Shopping Centre (wonder if it is still there), had an excellent fish and chip shop, an IGA style supermarket and Trinity Beach Gym that was run by a legend of a guy called Mike.

And of course there was a doctor’s practice there. This was run by Dr. Jack Dascalu. Dr. Jack is well known and was a minute walk from the house. My mate’s mother was the receptionist and nurse. So when I had my first ingrown toenail I had ventured to see Dr. Jack.

The good Dr, took a look and said that he would have to cut it out, so out of one room and into another. I remember the toe being cleaned and the needle prepared and then watching the needle plunge into my toe, and it bloody stung and at one time the local anesthetic shot out of my toe when the needle was pushed too far.

Then the good Dr took a pair of scissors and started cutting away at the side of the ingrown nail. Then with what were like a pair of pliers the nail was ripped out, roots and all. In all it didn’t hurt so bad after the removal from memory so I wasn’t so fussed about having another one removed.

This is where things started to get interesting here in Ubon Ratchthani Thailand. Way back on the 25th of August I posted the picture above. I had planned to have it removed the next day.

I dropped into a clinic I had been before and was met with a straight out, “no can do” and told to go to the hospital. I thought you have to be kidding and tried another clinic to get much the same response. So I decided to try a clinic closer in the city the next day, but there too I was told to go to the hospital.

So I waited and on the Saturday morning went to the private hospital 300mtrs from my house. I stopped at the nurses’ station that greets you on the right as you enter; I explained my problem by showing them and was then directed into the emergency department.

A couple of nurse came out and looked and asked if it hurt and I politely replied, “yes” while thinking “of course it does you bloody retarded idiots, look at it all red, puffy and inflamed and full of puss.”

The doctor in the ED popped out of her room, didn’t even look at me and the nurse came over and said, “cannot do” and then I understood something about it being done the next week and something else. A quick call to Noot revealed this was partly correct and a doctor would be on duty Tuesday evening who would be able to remove the nail.

I stood there listening to Noot tell me this while looking at some smiling faces like this was normal. I was thinking and wanted to say, “You cannot be fuc#ing serious, can you?” But I knew this would be no use at all. So I just walked out not saying anything and hoping they were thinking “what I was doing.”

So I then planned to go the government hospital, surely they have a hundred doctors just waiting for a chance to chop at a farang’s foot. So I thought I could suffer through until the coming Friday as there was an open day at the school and it meant signing in and leaving.

So that day came and I went to the hospital, told the wait was a few hours, went and visited a mate and then returned. Saw a doctor and was told that I could have it removed on the 23rd. Now I was starting to think it was a candid camera set-up and just waiting for me to go off and then everyone comes out laughing. So with a date fixed I left and will not return as I finally went back to the private hospital near my house.

We called ahead and there was a doctor there ready and willing to do the procedure. I met him in his office, he had a look and agreed the nail needed extracting and I was off to the ED again.

Ten minutes later the doctor arrived, I asked about filming and he said that he didn’t think the hospital would like that and he had never had someone ask him this before. So it finally came time for the needle. I knew it was going to sting, and it bloody did too. I still flinched and my foot pulled back, I think just from the needle prick, and the poor nurse wasn’t expecting this or wasn’t holding on very tightly.

So the needle was jabbed in the base of the toe, both sides. This was strange as the other time I had it done the needle was only on the offending side, but I found out a little later why this was.

A few minutes went by and the prick test was done, “Can you feel this?” No and we were right to go. I was chatting away to the doctor while watching and know he moved from Bangkok 2 years ago, will stay until his oldest boy is ready to go to secondary school in 8 years time and then will return to Bangkok. And there is more but not important.

The reason he had numbed the entire toe was because he was removing the entire toenail, I knew this when he started ripping it out and when I asked the stupid question, “Are you removing the entire nail?” I already knew the answer to it.

So I watched him pull the nail off my toe and blood flowed from my toe and the procedure was over in maybe 15 to 20 minutes. I have since read that this isn’t such a good procedure to have as apparently ingrown nails can become more common (I bloody hope not).

Anyway, that wasn’t the worst of it. The Dr bid goodbye and the nurse bandaged my toe up. I was then given instructions on caring for my toe the next few days and to change the bandages every day until the toe is dry.

I had asked to keep the nail as I wanted to photograph it and also show my mates (I am a sick man, I know) but when I asked for it was told it had been thrown out…..

But the worst came the next day. I prepared to change the bandage. I unwrapped the bandage and got down to the gauge to find they had not used a non stick gauge. I will not even go into the language I used over the coming five minutes as I peeled away the bandage that had stuck to my toe.

We had been to the chemist and bought non stick gauge and Noot had no idea what I was talking about at first. She did twenty minutes later witnessing me peel the gauge from my toe making my toe bleed again.

I can tell you I called the nurse every name you could think of and worse and when I ventured to the hospital alone as Noot would not come and I expressed my disappointment at their lack of insight that the gauge would have stuck to the wound.

I was met with blank, brainless stares and an occasional nod of the head and left, I accomplished nothing but felt better.

So now my toe is on the mend, it is sore but my biggest worry was reading that this procedure could cause worse ingrown nails in the future. I will be doing much more research on that.

The bandage peeled off with ease tonight, thankfully to myself. No ripping the surface on my toe again this time.

Anyway, that was the story of my ingrown toenail that is now history and I do hope it stays that way.

Brunty

Spago Italian Restaurant Ubon Ratchathani Thailand.

2011-09-07T22:24:00.000+07:00

The other month, my mate Memock from Life in Rural Thailand who lives in Australia and Thailand as has homes in both. He had returned to Isaan territory for a short and sweet visit and that meant going out for a beer and a good feed as well.

I had forgotten about these pictures, I don’t know how as the food was bloody good as always. Above is the bruschetta from Spago, Ubon Ratchathani’s authentic Italian restaurant. Franco is a mate but I am not biased and the food is bloody good.

I am sorry for the quality of the pictures as they are from my iPhone and in poor light but I have touched them up a little with Photoshop. Franco is great, this above was a starter he did for us and it was eaten with gusto.

What was new, were these! A pickled pepper that isn’t spicy and filled with goats cheese (Franco if you see this and I am wrong please tell me as it has been a long time), these were absolutely scrumptious I tell you. The cheese and the tang of the pickled pickle, bellissimo (I think that is Italian).

My mate can be a bit of a woman, no pun intended. He changed his mind so many times before ordering what is my favourite pizza from Spago’s, the calzone or ripieno. I had never had one until dining with Franco.

I had had gnocchi with Italian sausages before and this was superb but Franco didn’t have any gnocchi but said he would do it with spaghetti and it was great.

We had a couple of beers and my mate had 7 or 8 wines and it was a good few hours.

I have said it before and will again. If you feel like a very good feed, then don’t go past Spago. You will not be disappointed.

Brunty

Jetstar, Bad Customer Service and Funny Stories.

2011-09-07T21:29:00.001+07:00

I was just over at my mate’s blog and he wrote about absolute shit customer service he received from Jetstar. You can read his problem here and see just how pathetic the so called customer service was.

Jetstar is Qantas airline’s cheap love child, cheap flights with no frills and it sounds like also plenty of employees with no brains as well. I say that as I have been reading a website called Don’t Fly Jetstar and is a funny read.

It was probably started and is run by a rival airline, that would be a smart move on their behalf (No it isn't. It is run by a web developer who started the site with the first complaint as he dropped by and left a comment). People can go to this website and tell their horrible stories of bad service and so on. I have spent a good hour laughing and shaking my head at some of the stories. Many of the people who leave comments on complaints are hilarious.

If you have ever had bad service by Jetstar then Don’t Fly Jetstar could be the place to vent your anger and also reading my mates story about their unprofessionalism will reinforce what most people already know about subsidiaries of larger airlines.

Just thought some people might enjoy reading as I did.

Brunty

Home Alone in Isaan Thailand.

2011-09-03T22:30:00.001+07:00

I am home alone as my three girls have all gone to the village for a night. But that is good for me as I will be up late watching the horse racing and waiting for ex Australian champion So You Think run in the Irish Champion Group 1 over 2000mtrs at 12.15am Thai time.

Nong Ja loves her Power Rangers outfit, she loves it so much I had to buy another as she doesn’t want to wear anything else. I do miss all her interruptions that usually occur. But I can have a quiet drink or five and crank the volume of the racing up and just enjoy and relax.

Across from our house next to Big C is an Esan Trade and fashion fair. We wandered along for a look.

We bought Ja a helmet. It was solid and seems well made, as good as we will find around here. In a perfect world you would never take a little kid on a motorbike but in Thailand it happens all the time, heck little kids ride motorbikes all the time.

So anytime we are going our Ja puts on her helmet but it means I also have to. I never wear my helmet when I go across to Big C as it is so close and we don’t go anywhere near a major road but Ja insists I wear it.

This is classic Ja and Noot. Thai girls love to sleep and Ja often ends up with her leg across your chest, on your head and so forth. But the worst is she loves to grab your ear and squeeze and scratch. Apparently her dad used to do this when he was a baby.

So as I sit and wait for the So You Think to race I am watching some cycling and having a quiet scotch and coke.

Brunty

Good Food Isaan Thailand.

2011-08-29T21:15:00.005+07:00

Well now that we have Nong Ja in what I call daycare but Thais call kindergarten. Thais have three levels of kindergarten but I consider three year olds to be in daycare.

I have absolutely no faith in the Thai education system as it is shit, an utter cluster fuck, as Clint Eastwood said in character as Gunnery Sergeant Highway in the excellent movie Heartbreak Ridge. If I was asked by the Ministry of Education my thoughts, that would be my response.

Now Nong Ja goes to daycare, this is solely for her to interact with other kids. I expect her to be taught absolutely bugger all. I have already rolled my eyes at some homework sent home for her. Like free written alphabet letters in a notebook with no guiding lines for tracing and so forth.

But for something like 8,000 Thai baht for 20 weeks, what do I expect. Not a lot, it is Thailand.

So now Noot has free time each day, time she didn’t have before and after I gave her a little revving up after a few weeks of her sitting around and being a lazy ass, she is getting back into a sort of routine.

This means a lot more home cooked meals, she has time to travel to the market (don’t know why she didn’t before but don’t question a Thai girl) and prepare dinner mid afternoon and then whack it all together and as the saying goes, “Bob’s your uncle.”

I love the fresh vegetables from the market, and Noot is a pretty good cook, not as good as me but she can hold her own.

Fresh papaya and carrot.

Chinese Kale, people hate it or love it. I have heard people say it tastes like soap. I love it.

For 10 baht you get a big bunch of Chinese kale.

To make my favourite dish using it, you add garlic and stir fry.

Add the stalks of the kale and some carrot.

Then you add the leaves and the most important ingredient being oyster sauce.

Some water and steam on high heat and things are nearly ready.

Chinese kale, carrot, garlic and oyster sauce.

A typical Thai soup, and pretty good. Most of these soups are bland but not ours, Noot always gets some flavor in ours.

This is a bamboo dish with pork. The fermented bamboo we get from the village and is the best as it isn’t bitter.

And I was really spoilt as Noot made me papaya salad Dum Thai, my favourite type of papaya salad. Not a bad meal at all.

Brunty

National Tests Thailand. Are They Too Hard?

2011-08-28T21:52:00.002+07:00

The other day I was sitting in my office when an English teacher from primary 6 dropped in to see me. She has asked me to check some tests for her. Not tests she had compiled, but tests from NIETS (The National Institute of Educational Testing Service).

Each year students in primary 6 and also secondary 9 and 12 have to do these national tests in a range of subjects. And each year the results are atrocious.

If you look at the table above, the third column down are the results from the English test last year. 805,074 primary 6 students were eligible to sit the test. And in the first column you see what you think could only be impossible and wrong of 140,790 students getting a 0 score.

600,702 scored less than 30%, 13,374 scored between 70-80%, then 8,765 scored 80-90% and an amazing 7,038 scored 90-100%. The results are poor I agree but it isn’t just English.

The first row is Thai language. Only 2,023 students scored a 0. But 694,578 students scored less than 50%.

Let’s look at the other end for Thai language scores. 4,718 scored between 70-80%, then 593 scored 80-90% and an amazing 24 scored between 90-100%.

I have seen the test before and at times they have been ridiculously hard. The secondary tests the Thai English teachers cannot even complete and answer many of the questions.

If you look at the first question on the primary 6 test, it isn’t hard, is it?

I have taught in a privileged private school where many students (not all) get everything they want, from phones, games, and so on. To where I am now in a government school that has kids who comes from very poor to wealthy homes.

But one thing in common in any school is the huge range of ability of students. I have written before about having year 10 students, 16 year olds who cannot do the alphabet, little only read a basic sentence.

So it doesn’t matter how easy these tests are as many students, and I would put at around the 70% have a very limited vocabulary.

The above also seems so simple but for a student who cannot read, cannot fathom the use of comparisons.

The above the primary 6 teacher who has 30 years experience had this answer wrong. She had answered A1 but the answer was A2. So a teacher who can hold a pretty fluent conversation has difficulty answering correctly, what chances do the students have?

This “vocabulary” part of the test was untouched. The teacher didn’t try and for the majority of my primary 6 students, this could be in any language as they would not be able to read this and their vocabulary is not broad enough to cover these words. Like “speed limit” they would have no idea of this compound noun or any idea what it means. They cannot guess the meaning from the context.

Look I could go on and on but it is no point. Are the tests too hard? This primary 6 test shouldn’t be too hard, but I know the level of my students and a small percentage of my 350 students would do this with their eyes closed. Maybe 10 students I would say. One would pass the secondary 6 or year 12 exam, no problem. He can break a sentence into parts of speech and tell you what each word is and does. But he is very special.

What is the answer to improving the results as they are across the board in most subjects? It has to be the teaching, the administration and of course the curriculum.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) must have some of the thickest people with degrees, masters and doctorates in their ranks. There is a new government now and their one PC tablet for every student is absolute idiocy but I won’t go there now.

How the MOE don’t see that when the scores from national tests are not anywhere near a ballpark score of the school's scores and don’t do anything about this, it is plain and downright disgusting.

Schools tell teachers that all students must get a score of say 70%, some more and very few less. So when the MOE sees a school’s average score of say 80% for all students in English, how it doesn’t trigger a tiny little warning in their vacant brains is beyond me.

Anyway, enough on this as I am sick of the Thai education system and let it be what it is. I just make sure my kids are getting the best education I can give them.

Brunty

Pies, Pies and More Pies, Ubon Ratchathani Thailand.

2011-08-25T21:06:00.000+07:00

I am going pie mad sorry. I have had 4 pies in two days, one each day for lunch and each night for dinner.

Last night was just with mashed spud, I was going to gravy up but decided for just good old dead horse but to be truthful the pies don’t need any sauce. I ate my lunchtime pies without anything and they were superb.

I will have to have a word with the owner of Peppers Bakery, John. I mean having a love heart on top of a pie is just not on. Pies are a blokes’ meal. And we don’t (I don’t) want a ~~poofy~~ wussy bloody heart on top of my dog’s eye.

This little Thai girl didn’t seem to mind. Nong Ja was onto my meal as soon as I walked out of the kitchen. Ja loves mashed potato and also pie. She likes a lot of different foreign food.

Noot will kill me for this picture. But Ja was happily perched on her leg and had a good fill of mashed spud and pie.

Tonight Ja tucked in again with me and now I am sitting and feeling as full as a boot.

Tomorrow night I am thinking pie, chips and runny eggs. And that will be while I watch Collingwood thrash Fremantle, is going to be a very good night.

Brunty

My Toe, Isaan Thailand.

2011-08-25T09:13:00.005+07:00

Sorry to readers and I hope you ~~were~~ were not eating when you saw this picture.

I am suffering with an ingrown toenail and will be off to the doctor tomorrow to have it cut out. I am going to video it if I can and then Youtube it. Bet you cannot wait for that.

Last night I had the girls all digging away at it, I was biting onto a stick as the pain was about an 9.5 out of 10.

Just wanted to share my pain, I heard a problem shared is a problem halved.

Brunty

Peppers Bakery and Coffee Shop, Steak Pies are Back. Ubon Ratchathani Thailand

2011-08-24T12:28:00.003+07:00

This was lunch today, a steak pie from Peppers Bakery and Coffee Shop here in Ubon Ratchathani Thailand. They are back on the menu again.

It weighed a tonne, and I am sorry as I was planning on taking a picture of the inside but once I opened it up and sampled it, it was gone in a few bites of my large mouth.

Large chunks of melt in your mouth steak, the old owner Andrew started this recipe and the new owner John has started it back up. Maybe this is not good for me.

If you live in Ubon or near and are in town drop in and try a real meat pie, or one of the many other delicious items on sale, like the bacon croissants (above), mini pies, cakes and on it goes as well as the set menu and ripper all day breakfast.

I will put the map to the shop up later as I do have it at home, but it is easy to find as it is opposite the entrance to the air force base.

Increase Fines in Thailand, Would it be a Deterrent.

2011-08-23T18:59:00.002+07:00

This is how fines should be for idiots behind the wheel of a car.

A well known person for all the wrong reasons in Australia is facing up to four months in jail after allegedly being caught driving while suspended.

In Victoria, Australia with its new fine system the fines and punishments are good.

The charge for driving while suspended carries a fine of up to $4000 (120,000 Baht) or up to four months in prison for a first offence.

A second or subsequent offence carries a fine of up to $27,000 (620,000 Baht) or up to 24 months' imprisonment.

The chances of a gutless judge actually sentencing this person to jail is nil I would say, and I am sure the fine won’t really hurt him but hopefully he is caught a second time and then is locked up.

If only in Thailand fines were more like this, instead of 200 baht for no helmet, unlicensed, unregistered motorbike and so forth and made the fines like 10,000 baht, the morons you see riding and driving cars like buffoons may just improve, may but I doubt it.

Isaan drivers, especially in Ubon Ratchathani are nothing short of a fuc#ing atrocious, they seem to think they do not have to follow any law and just do as they please.

This doesn’t help as police do not enforce the road laws, only out in front of schools booking the same student for no helmet, license or registration for the 50th time.

I don’t understand how a person can ride/drive off without a helmet, license or registered vehicle in front of the police as this is illegal!

Many foreigners complain about the way Thais drive, it is their country and so forth but it also shows why their fatality rates are so high.

I am sure the Thais look at us foreigners and wonder why we drive as we do and why we shake our heads and actually toot our horns at times when some backwater retard decides to do whatever they like.

This is one thing that does amaze me, how you hardly ever hear a horn blown, I have seen some driving that would get people strung up by their short and curlies back in Australia, but here people just ignore it all but I am sure they must be saying under their breath, “you bloody idiot, where did you get your license? From a cereal box?”

When in reality they more than likely don’t have one, their license is 200 baht.

Brunty

Real Homemade Isaan Food Thailand

2011-08-22T22:18:00.001+07:00

I returned home and found Noot’s mother was visiting and was outside euthanizing some frogs by whacking them on the head a few times and then skinning them and ripping their guts out. I missed these pictures sadly as I was a little slow changing.

But this is what is left after skinned and washed, delicious Isaan frogs.

I am not sure what these mushrooms are called, in Thai they are "เห็ดละโหว Het Lanaw” and are a very sweet and delicious mushroom.

This is Nong Ja’s younger uncle and these two together is more than a handful.

The frogs cooking away on the induction cooker.

These are brown eggs or known as Kai Palow, they are boiled with meat bits from memory and are in a sweet sauce with congealed blood. Absolutely mouthwatering I can tell you.

And the mushroom dish is made with fermented fish sauce and was also bloody beautiful.

And this is known as “gang som” and can be made with any meat or even seafood and is best described as a sweet and sour soup with bamboo, another favourite Isaan dish of mine.

And the frog soup was superb, I love this soup and I used to actually spit all the tiny bones out but when it was explained a long time ago that you just eat everything, it is much easier now and the bones are very soft. They must have nutritional value as well.

This was complimented with the staple Isaan sticky rice, I wish I had a cold beer in the fridge to wash it all down, but water had to do.

Real Isaan food at its best. I cannot believe that the girls are sitting outside now in the porch eating what the call Korean BBQ, Thai girls have hollow legs for sure.

Brunty

Kebabs T.C Kitchen Ubon Ratchathani Thailand

2011-08-21T22:46:00.001+07:00

The other night I ventured to T.C Kitchen, this is the new restaurant / bar of the old owner of Njoy here in Ubon Ratchathani.

I usually get over to T.C Kitchen every Saturday night to catch up with a few expat locals, a few cold beers and a couple of kebabs.

Lance does an excellent kebab. Every Saturday night starting around 8pm, usually a little earlier you can indulge in a very good kebab.

And bloody cheap, 69 baht for one, or two for 100 baht. But I know a few people that will have three or even four.

So if you are in Ubon Ratchathani and feel like a cold beer and a chat, then drop on down to T.C Kitchen for a few hours.

Brunty

Dinner Time in Isaan Thailand

2011-08-16T22:23:00.001+07:00

It has been a hard day again in Isaan Thailand. I was absolutely buggered early on this afternoon and had a two and a half hour kip. I have a heap of stuff to do and will be up until who knows what time, I will be lucky if I hit the sack before the sun comes up.

I was awoken for dinner and it was good to. I have often complained about my iPhone and the shit quality of pictures it takes, especially at night time as there is always a lot of noise in the pictures.

But in fact I am a lazy bastard and as I will show below if I bothered to boot up my Photoshop and do a few minutes of editing, your pictures improve dramatically and it takes no time.

Would I recommend people to go and buy Photoshop CS5, not unless you are going to use it properly! When I first bought Photoshop it was a toy, I wasted a bucket load of money for a toy I didn’t know how to use or really wanted to learn to use.

It was a long time later and upgrades that I decided to actually learn how to use it. What you can do to your keepsake pictures is amazing once you have learnt to use the ins and outs. It is daunting to be truthful and when I was trying to follow the tutorials, Adobe TV, videos or books I had downloaded, there were times I was ready to throw the computer through a wall.

I am still green though, but now when I want to put a picture I think is special away on an external hard drive (I have two actually) and print a copy, I take the time to edit them.

What I done below is maybe just over a minutes work. It takes longer to boot Photoshop into action than it does editing the pictures.

In this picture there is a lot of noise, especially if you look at the larger sizes.

But with a few clicks in channels and some small adjustments the noise is reduced and the picture looks a lot better. My dinner was pig’s ears and sticky rice with a spicy sweet and sour dipping sauce, really delicious.

This picture is still blurry but the original that I didn’t upload and cannot be bothered was unusable. Again with less than 2 minutes editing the picture is poor quality but useable. It was a fish soup.

The chicken curry was spot on. Two older Isaan ladies have a stall not far from home and make many varieties of dishes. Their bamboo and mushroom dishes although often spicy are bloody good.

And for dessert was durian. People either love or hate it. Most cannot get past the smell. I love really ripe durian. When I first uploaded and looked at the picture I think my words were, “that looks shit.”

But with less than two minutes of editing you have a much nicer looking picture. I shouldn’t be so lazy.

So that was my very delicious dinner tonight, some poor little pig that lots its ears.

Brunty

Rain, Rain and More Rain. Ubon Ratchathani Thailand.

2011-08-16T10:48:00.003+07:00

It is the rainy season now in Thailand and most nights it rains but by morning it has stopped and at most a light drizzle with the occasional shower.

But last night it rained and rained, it did ease off this morning a little but has been pelting down for a good 2 hours solid and doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon.

Drainage is poor in Ubon Ratchathani, the roads flood easily even with a short 10 minute downpour, so the road is now covered in water and the moat that surrounds Thung Sri Muang Park is nearly overflowing.

If the moat floods the fish will be free and the fishermen come out collecting them. I will try and get pictures if they appear but eating the fish out of there is a risk if you ask me as the water is disgusting.

The traffic is driving down the centre of the road, the shallowest part o the 4 lanes. This flooding isn’t so bad yet, and places like out the front of Tesco Lotus on our main road here would be much worse and is a disgrace for the local government.

So I sit and listen to the rain falling and with no end in sight I could be swimming home a little later.

Brunty

Sunday Lunch Thai Style, Ubon Ratchathani Thailand.

2011-08-15T20:39:00.001+07:00

One of the big bonuses of living in Isaan Thailand is the cheap food on offer. There are so many small restaurants that offer all sorts of food to nearly suit anyone’s culinary tastes.

Nearly every Sunday at lunchtime we try and head out to eat. Sometimes we head to one of the many nice restaurants we have here in Ubon, also the chain restaurants like Fuji or MK get thrown in here and there. Dining out at these is expensive to most, say around 1,000 baht or $30 Australian dollars with drinks. Yes, still cheap as chips, I agree.

But we often jump in the car and go for a drive and when we see a restaurant the looks good we stop and give it a try. I was taking many pictures and do hope to get them all edited and uploaded one day soon, but time has not been on my side.

Where I live around 150mtrs in a straight line are the small ramshackle restaurants you see all over the countryside of Thailand. Bamboo framing might have some shade cloth on it and old tin as a roof with a rough concrete floor. Some fold out tables and plastic chairs and you are in business.

The cutlery is so flimsy that the fork bends when you stab a bit of meat or vegetable. I really love these places and it isn’t often you get a meal that is uneatable. Most the times the food is very good.

One thing I got used to very quickly was telling the people to not add MSG to the dish (Mai Sia Phong Churot khrap). Here in Thailand MSG is added to everything, it looks like they are adding salt but it is MSG. One of the first things I learnt was to tell the people not to add it into my dishes. The debate is always interesting on this subject as some people say it isn’t as bad as it has been made out to be, but with all the other crap I indulge in I just keep it out.

If we are not at one of our regular restaurants that know we don’t want it added we just politely tell them when we order. It is never a problem if you don’t want it added in your dishes.

On Sunday Noot was feeling a little lazy as she is coming down with a flu I think. Nong Ja has had a hacking cough that she is starting to finally see the better side of. Seeing a little three year old spit out thick chunks of green phlegm is not nice over 5 days.

So we went to a regular little shop that is maybe 150mtrs away from our front door in a straight line. We call the lady grandma, as that is what all the people call her. She and her husband and two of her kids run the shop and we always get a good feed there.

My two girls looked happy, even though Ja was running at 65% and Noot at maybe 80%.

Here Noot is feeding Ja some of my dish, Noot’s was way too spicy but more on that later. Ja had not been eating much the last few days. Some toast with a little bit of butter was her favourite but solid food was off her radar.

Hard to believe that she was sick, right?

But Ja was more interested in her drink, some orange Fanta.

Noots dish was Phad Prik Yuak, a sweet pepper but is pretty spicy.

We shared a suki soup and this was good.

And I had mixed vegetables and pork.

The entire bill with the Fanta came to 105 Thai baht or around $3.30 Australian.

Brunty

Dog Nappers Caught in Thailand, Why is this Big News?

2011-08-14T18:29:00.006+07:00

If you have lived here in Thailand for a little while and especially in rural areas, you would have heard of the “bucket truck.”

Photo courtesy of http://memock.wordpress.com

If you don’t know what this is, it is simply a truck that collects dogs while giving the owners buckets in return. My mate over at Life in Rural Thailand has written about it before, having seen the bucket truck many times and also has a short video of a dog truck in Laos.

Photo courtesy of http://memock.wordpress.com/

The dogs are usually collected by people in smaller pick-up trucks and then transferred to larger flat bed trucks that hold hundreds, up to thousands of dogs crammed into cages.

Photo from AFP.

Today I was reading an article in The Bangkok Post Newspaper titled, Three men charged with illegally transporting 2,000 dogs to Vietnam.

The above picture is of the truck they found in the Nakhon Phanom district carrying around 600 dogs, and later they stopped another truck in Si Songkhram district carrying around 1,200 dogs.

The dog traffickers have been charged with crimes such as, the illegal transport of animals, unlicensed trade in animals, the transport of dogs to an area under rabies monitoring, cruelty to animals, not having dogs vaccinated and lacking documents to certify their vaccination.

Photo courtesy of http://memock.wordpress.com/

Article 381 of the Thai Criminal Law states that a person “committing an act of cruelty or killing an animal by mean which inducing unnecessary torment shall be sentenced to one month in jail or fined one thousand baht or both.” But what is “cruelty” in Thailand. If the above picture doesn't constitute cruelty, then what does?

But what mystifies me is that dog trafficking goes on every day, of every week of the year here in Thailand. Trucks cross the Thai border into various countries while officials turn a blind eye as their pockets are being well padded.

Why all of a sudden have these three people been targeted?

Obviously they have not slipped an envelope under the table, or they stood on the toes of another contractor who is well connected or something along those lines for sure.

It isn’t illegal to transport dogs or cats in Thailand, but you need to have all the correct paperwork, but the trucks carrying these dogs each day would not have this for sure, there is no way known they would have and if they did it would all be forged.

Eating dog meat isn’t illegal in Thailand. It has been going on for decades, many say it is a small area in Thailand that consume dog meat but from what I have read it seems more widespread than a few remote districts in Isaan, amongst the poorest of the poor.

I don’t object to people eating dog meat, each to their own. But I do object to the dogs being stolen and treated inhumanly.

Way back in 2003 a then newly elected governor of Sakhon Nakhon, Panchai Borvornratanapran had promised in his campaign to rid the well known area of the dog slaughterhouses and sale of dog meat. But a protest by one of the most well known dog meat areas being Ban Tha Rae made him back peddle on his promises.

Back then it was estimated that between 300 – 400 dogs were killed each day in Tha Rae supplying around 4,000 kilogrammes of meat which the villages claimed they ate but in truth it was being shipped across the country to dog eating lovers and across the border.

But why are there so many stray dogs in Thailand, if these dog traders take thousands of dogs each day across the borders and also to Thai slaughterhouses. The answer is simple. In some villages the animals are virtually allowed to breed with the knowledge they will be sold to the dog trade. It brings a small income to poor villagers.

Dog skin fetches around 100-150 baht, but the people who have let the dogs breed, see maybe 20 baht if they are lucky or collect their buckets and then sell them on.

So after reading this article in the paper today and then seeing the outrage it has caused, bewilders me.

Have all these people just starting to cry foul and animal cruelty had their heads shoved so far up their ass they didn’t know this was going on before!

I again say, if people want to eat dog meat, best of luck to them but it needs to be regulated and the laws followed. Sadly it is known the dog meat trade brings a lot of money in to the hands of already wealthy pigs, who just keep building their sty bigger and bigger while the small players continue to wallow in shit.

All of this is what I call selective policing. This is something that Thai police seem to be good at.

It is like when they have the cameras tag along and they raid shops that have counterfeited goods, fake gear like the designers bags, shirts, watches and so forth you find all over Thailand.

They raid this shop for a reason; the owners have not played the game, as simple as that. Usually the shop next door, and across the road are all selling fake goods as well. So when I see a police raid and they plant the story in the paper I laugh and wonder what the shop owner did wrong.

The human trafficking of Burmese and Laos’s workers into Thailand, who are mistreated terribly, many times corruption at borders allow these people to cross into Thailand or village headman have ahandful of money jammed into their hands. They are sold onto people who treat them worse than a Soi dog. Everybody knows it happens and if the police and immigration really wanted to crackdown on all of this they could for sure, but there are big players at hand and the “mafia style gangs” that are often referred to in newspapers.

Like prostitution in Thailand. Make it a legal profession. Make the girls register, have regular checkups, pay taxes and so forth. Stop this idiocy of prostitution doesn’t exist. Sex tourism must be a massive money earner for Thailand. So tax it. Try and make the industry safer for the girls, get rid of the crime that is rife throughout it.

But back to the bucket trucks, tomorrow more trucks just like this will cross borders of Thailand with a load of dogs cramped in to small cages, many will die before reaching their destination but this will continue.

Tomorrow more dogs will die in the slaughterhouses of Tha Rae and other areas surrounding like Nakhon Phanom and Sakhon Nakhon. Will these places be stopped from doing this? No.

These three guys have stood on toes as simple as that.

A quote from a person who has seen these trucks many times on their travels in remote Thailand and through Laos.

"How can these idiots act on a tip off?"

said MeMock.

"Every day of the year at, at least three border crossings, trucks crammed full of dogs cross from Thailand into Laos en route to Vietnam. These trucks are not covered, they are seen by every immigration official and policeman in the area. To act on just one tip off is hilarious."

I couldn’t agree anymore. It is hilarious this is a “one off” and they needed a “tip off”.

Brunty

Thais Questioning the Education System in Thailand.

2011-08-10T21:47:00.001+07:00

Today I was reading another very well written column in The Bangkok Post about Thai education. I don’t claim to be a qualified teacher, never have and never will as I do not have a degree in education. I like many other foreign nationals are like this, with degrees in other fields, Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) certificates and so on.

Many of us may not be a perfect teacher, and we make mistakes, but I am sure even super teachers do, but I do hope that the majority of us foreign teachers try their best for the kids they are meant to be educating. Foreign teachers have a pretty bad name in Thailand, the bottom of the barrel with most other foreign nationals. And with the stories that have gone on in the past and continue to today, I can see why.

The confessions of what I call “tourist teachers” as they just want to finance their holiday or support a girlfriend are hard to believe at times but they have to be true as there are too many to not be.

I have heard plenty of blame leveled at foreign teachers over the years for the appalling levels of English of Thai students. But again many Thai students have appalling levels of Thai as well.

In the article I referred to and is worth reading, the author takes a swipe at schools only being interested in medals, and this is so true. Thai schools pride themselves in students winning awards. Over the last 6 years I have seen things that many would not believe. Schools see awards as success while in reality behind their beautiful and elaborate gates and fences, the system is a sham.

Each year the national testing of students returns abysmal results, this then entices a minister from the education department to jump on a soap box and preach reform, but it is all smoke and mirrors.

Over the last 6 years I can honestly say that the Thai education system needs a complete overhaul. From all the stone faced geriatrics in charge of the education system of Thailand to the teaching standards. I am not claiming I am an amazing teacher but what I have witnessed over the past 6 years of Thai teaching standards, have made me want to hang myself and I don’t sit in the classroom.

I am not trying to pigeon hole Thai teachers as I know that there are some amazing teachers out there for sure, but the majority I have seen are selfish. I have seen class after class of teacher centred lessons, the teacher talks and talks, tells them all the information, writes it all on the board and then the students sit and copy from a whiteboard.

So many Thai students do not have critical thinking, if the answer is not there in black and white, they can’t answer. They are spoon feed everything from day one and this mostly continues till they leave school for university.

I cringe when I see a Thai teacher sitting at a desk teaching, a book open and reading while students follow. Seeing the teacher sitting at the desk and correcting work or doing something else while students complete their task. It angers me as this is when you can connect with kids, personalize with them. Ask them content questions to see if they do or don’t understand.

In the article the author refers to her friend’s nephew and how his school selects the best students in the school to compete in competitions. This happens at every school in Thailand. The best are forced many times to do competition after competition, they spends hundreds of hours rote learning speeches written for them by teachers, attending extra math classes paid by the schools and so forth.

My mate whose daughter is obviously half Thai and English was one of these kids, in the end her father finally said no more to it and she could finally lead a normal student life. Thai parents cannot say no, they cannot tell the schools for some reason they don’t want their child to be brainwashed.

Each year the Thai education system loses so much time with mundane ceremonies, sport days that need to be practiced for a month and so on, teachers are continually absent from classes, attending meetings or training students, their classes are unattended with no substitute or even work left for them to complete.

Extra study, after school and Saturday and Sunday is full of kids, these schools get to do this tax free as it is viewed by the government as assisting them on a better path in their life, in reality it is a money printing factory. Thai teachers get to teach little of the curriculum in school time, so they do most of this in extra classes.

This is a huge disadvantage for those who cannot afford to study or don’t have the time. Come test time these kids cannot pass tests. But this doesn’t matter as all schools in Thailand fabricate scores. They blatantly lie about students performances. I don’t think young students should ever be kept back unless they are really behind the standard for the age.

But parents need to know the truth, Thai schools will insist on students getting a grade of at least 70% or something along those lines. My last year at Assumption College here in Ubon Ratchathani, they told us in a meeting just after the year started what our grade averages “had to be” for each class. That if we had 30 students then so many needed this grade and so forth.

I can tell you now and people reading this can testify that I told them this would not happen in my classes and didn’t as students would receive the grade they earned. I always kept my original scores that I submitted and then when the school changed the grades that was their choice. This happens everywhere in Thailand.

Drive past a prominent Thai school and see all the banners proclaiming their achievements, awards and outstanding success. These are the poster children, the brainwashed kids who spend a month rote learning 10 to 15, 3 to 4 minute speeches for an impromptu speech competition, or kids being given 50 words every day to learn for months for a spelling competition, missing so many lessons as they are being mentored by a teacher. These students are guinea pigs.

I cannot see this changing at all, not even in the distant future. The dinosaurs at the top of the chain won’t let it happen. There is too much money involved and also it would mean actually teaching at school, giving the children the education they are entitled to, for too long Thai schools have stolen this away from kids. They let kids go through the education system underachieving, they don’t contact parents and tell them the truth; they don’t want to create ripples in the glassy smooth water.

So when I see that Thai students have won gold medals at this competition or that, I know that tens of thousands have been neglected for those students to achieve this, so a very hollow victory indeed.

The sad thing is I know that Thai students can be creative, they can think for themselves. When I get a student who most would have given up on and just let sleep their lesson away, not do their work and hand it in, start participating in class, handing in work no matter how messy or wrong it may be, I am filled with joy, I feel like I have won.

These are the kids I am proud of, these are my poster kids. I push the best and the lowest for their best and I don’t let up. I consider these the success stories and while I admire the kids who win these medals and awards, I know what they have been through to achieve this.

Anyway just my thoughts on all this.

Brunty

Bangkok Weekend Trip, Chelsea v Thai All Stars. Isaan Style.

2011-07-31T21:38:00.004+07:00

The other weekend I travelled to Bangkok with a mate to watch Chelsea Football Club play a Thailand Premier League All Star team. I do not support Chelsea, I support Newcastle in the English Premier League, any sport across the world I support the team that is black and white the same color as my beloved Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League in Australia.

The other guy I went with, who I call big brother (BB) or “Horse” used to support Manchester United but now he doesn’t really follow anyone but has travelled the world watching football. The other mate who was meant to come and is a lifelong Chelsea supporter, I mean he went to games before I was born. He become unwell and could not travel with us.

So I and BB headed off to the concrete jungle on Friday evening on the Nakhonchai Air first class bus, and for 736 baht it is unbelievably cheap. It is the only bus service I will travel on if not flying. We left Ubon Ratchathani at 10.15pm and arrived in Bangkok just after 6am. I watched a few movies on my little screen and played a few games and then slept in a very comfortable chair that goes well back and has a massager built in that I utilized well.

We arrived at our hotel, had breakfast and then went and had a sleep for a couple of hours, well BB had a sleep as he is a little older than me and also he couldn’t sleep as there was a Thai guy just across from him that snored most of the trip, I luckily had my iphone and had music playing quietly through my earphones.

So I watched some AFL action and then we set off to Rajamangala National Stadium to pick up our tickets around 1pm. The taxi driver was heading the right way and then turned into Ramkhamhaeng University which is huge. And after driving about for a bit and then stopping to ask a few people how to get to the stadium, we exited the taxi and walked.

The stadium is big, it holds 65,000 people, and I was looking forward to the atmosphere of a live crowd again. The weather was overcast as per usual this time of the year. I usually don’t Photoshop most pictures I put on this blog, I do Photoshop many pictures that I think are special and I want for keepsakes or if I am taking pictures for someone. They are touched up and then backed up to external disks. Otherwise most are just uploaded as are. The above pictures I added the blue sky as the cloudy sky made them look drab.

To edit the above photo as you see it took maybe two minutes at the most. I was going to leave the white cloudy sky but I know my mate wants a few pics so I edited them, quickly and I will try and show you some pictures later on this week or so that have had major work done, a bit like what they do on magazine covers.

Above the blue sky is added and the seats colours darkened and the grass made a little more lush as well, in all lest than 5 minutes to do. This was a guy we had a good chat to and he was testing the sound system out so I gave him a hand and sang the Australian National Anthem, not!

Above BB was posing for another national stadium visited in another country.

The scoreboard that would go on and read Chelsea 4 – 0 TPL All Stars, the game itself was okay, but the atmosphere I was expecting wasn’t really there and the non stop, “bom, bom, bom” of a drum that was meant to get the crowd clapping along, I and many other foreigners wanted to find the drummer and stick his sticks right up his…, you know where.

BB had sat on this bench for a picture and it happened to be where Chelsea sat, he was pretty chuffed knowing this that players like Lampard and Terry who get in excess of £200,000 a week were sitting on his seat.

It was disorganized getting into the ground on the evening, kick off was 5.45pm and there were 10,000 plus people outside playing games around sponsor tents winning crap little prizes. We arrived at 5.20pm and made our way through 3 security checks where we were patted down each time.

We arrived at our entry gate and there was a single line going through a single gate, there were security guards again patting people down and also checking bags again. The single file line stretched way back, we walked a good 500mtrs and it kept going out of sight.

We eventually came across another entry gate and a line of people stretching miles back, we pushed through our line and went up to one of the guards and asked, “Can we get in this gate with this ticket?” after she looked it over she replied, “yes” and we were in. We pushed in, in front of thousands of others that were going to be stuck in lines for at least a good 30 minutes. An absolute fuc# up by the Thai Football Association. More gates open next time and maybe 4 security checks just a little over kill.

Anyway, on the Saturday after we tried to pick up our tickets we went in search of a beer. We walked and walked, down alleys, along small laneways but could not find anything. I then asked a guy in a shop where we could get a beer.

He replied, “No beer, this is Islam area.” So that is why I saw so many women wearing hijabs. Anyway we didn’t give up and we ended up walking down some tiny little paths and what looked like at times the backs of people houses or shops to which they got a good laugh seeing two farangs in search of beer.

We passed a laneway and as I glanced down I saw a sign with “snooker” written on it, we headed there, up a flight of stairs and inside was cool air-conditioning and most importantly a fridge full of very cool beer. So we sat down for a couple of ales planning our night ahead that turned out to be a classic.

It involved many beers and a trip to the infamous Soi 4, in Nana district. And that blog will be coming another day, hopefully soon.

Brunty

Lenten Candle Festival Ubon Ratchathani 2011 Thailand

2011-07-22T19:53:00.002+07:00

Here in Ubon Ratchathani we have just had the Lenten Candle Festival, and if you look above this is the biggest and best candle that was on display, well it wasn’t but it was something different and Noot liked it. She took all the pictures that you will see in this post as I did not go. There are too many people for me and I get too frustrated. Noot doesn’t have a great eye for taking pictures and I have tried to Photoshop them to an acceptable standard.

This is Benjawan and her Uncle Beer, he was scared of the candle float and the monster on it and wanted nothing to do with it or be anywhere near it.

And that was Noot’s view of the candle festival this year.

Brunty

Splinter Groups Need to Get a Life, Jumps Horse Racing Australia.

2011-07-18T11:33:00.002+07:00

I am sick of these splinter groups that cry foul all the time and then newspapers pick up their story and run with exaggerated headlines.

Today was one such time; I was reading the Herald Sun Newspaper from Melbourne in Australia and came across this headline, “Violent fall reignites calls for jumps racing ban.”

It is to do with horse racing, where horses run races and jump over hurdle or steeples.

As with any sport, actually every time we leave our house there is an element of danger involved. Things can go wrong and this means something or someone can be hurt.

In jumps racing, horses will fall at the hurdle or steeple and sometimes the outcome is the horse needs to be put down, euthanatized as many call it. And jockeys can be hurt and sadly but rarely a jockey will lose their life.

Australia a few years back had a minority get on a bandwagon and call for a ban on jumps racing. These small groups hollered and cried and of course for some reason people listen to them and at one time it looked like jumps racing would be gone. One such group called Horse Racing Kills has plenty of over the top, scare mongering plastered all over its website. Simply trying to shock people into believing them.

Thankfully this didn’t happen, the industry and powers to be put their heads together and used common sense. The left wingers cried foul but no-one listened.

These are the same people who call for duck shooting bans, stop the cull of kangaroos or koalas and on it goes. They complain everything is wrong and dangerous, or simply these people just have nothing better to do.

Look, everybody has a right to an opinion and view. That is freedom of speech, to say what we think and believe. I think these groups and people are full of shit.

If they call for bans on jumps racing because it is cruel and dangerous and other totally idiotic reasons, then let’s ban anything that might injure or harm an animal or human being.

Sadly a 21 year old man called Halley Appleby lost his life over the weekend playing rugby,a sport he loved. Something went wrong in a tackle and sadly he is now deceased. Do we stop all contact sports because of this death?

Motorbike and car racing, it kills people every now and then and is a waste of money and causes green house gases, should this be stopped.

All I am trying to say that there is a risk in everything we do each day. Horse racing is no different.

Horses are bred to run. They are bred to be pets, play sports like polocrosse (this is a real game not that limp wristed game called polo), for dressage and show jumping and of course racing.

If these horses were not racing they would be dead, they would be slaughtered like hundreds of thousands of other animals and made into pet meat at knackeries across the country.

And when you do the percentages of racehorse deaths, to the amount of runners and races held across the country, it is small. It is sad to see any animal be hurt, suffer or die. But they are doing something that is in their blood to do.

We humans do things everyday that could hurt, or even kill us. But does that mean we have to stop every activity that might be dangerous.

I just wish the media and journalists would stop dramatising all this, stop jumping on these bandwagons of small groups just to write a sensationalist headline in the hope a person will read their column. The media are trying to cause a furore and have their online comment boxes light up, as simple as that.

But they have the right to; it is a free country and freedom of speech. But thankfully there are many more normal people out there than the cranks, halfwits with their small agendas.

Brunty

Asana Bucha Day or Pan Sa at Nong Bua Temple Ubon Ratchathani Thailand

2011-07-15T22:31:00.003+07:00

Today is Asana Bucha Day or also known as Pan Sa or the Buddhist Lent here in Thailand. It is the day that Buddhists celebrate Buddha’s first sermon. In this sermon he spoke of the four noble truths to five chief disciples.

It is a big day for Buddhists and they flock to temples on this day. I was at my local temple, Nong Bua Temple midmorning today and it was a hive of activity with people coming to pay respect to Buddha. The main temple or pagoda is 56mtrs high and 17mtrs wide.

Nong Bua Temple is pretty famous and the past few years gone through a huge restoration stage and looks fantastic. The fence around the temple now is shipshape and hold the ashes of loved ones passed on. The temple is lucky as it has many I suppose what you call patrons that are fairly wealthy so they do have money to complete all this work.

White and gold coloured paint is everywhere you look, I do like the effect that you get from this though.

There have been many new additions at the temple and the beautiful manicured grass is one, lovely cared for grass is not something you see that often here in Isaan. I walked about bare feet on the grass enjoying the feeling I used to take for granted.

On the temple the story of Buddha is played out from his birth until his enlightening on tablets. I have taken many pictures and hope to have them all on my Flickr account in the next few days and if you click on any picture you will be taken there and see all pictures in larger sizes.

There are 4 small pagoda’s in each corner of the temple grounds, I was told years ago why and I thought I wrote about it, but I couldn’t find it. I am useless I know.

These creatures which I think are of Garuda surround the base of the main temple and look as if they are holding it up.

People inside the temple were paying their respects.

They then walk three times around the temple, and from memory it is once for Buddha, once for the sanga and once for the monks.

They then say a prayer.

They place their 3 incense sticks and candle into the sand.

Every temple has stray dogs, usually there are many as they will be fed leftovers from what the monks don’t eat. The food collected is also given to poor people who might attend the temple as well. Nothing is usually wasted.

So that is the holy day here in Thailand, I have watched AFL football and now the Tour De France has just finished. So that means it is now time for the British Open Golf, I am happy I bought a cartoon of beer yesterday as it is going to be a late night.

Brunty

Lenten Candle Festival Ubon Ratchathani Thailand 2011

2011-07-15T19:56:00.003+07:00

Here in Ubon Ratchathani we have the Lenten Candle Festival about to start. Each year at the start of the Buddhist Lent we have the largest parade of candle floats made by temples right down to small villages.

It is Ubon’s busiest time of the year and the foreign population skyrockets and you can play spot the Thai instead of foreigner, okay there aren’t that many but there is a large influx of tourists.

Below are pictures of my local temple’s candle float, the temple is about 400mtrs from my house. Nong Bua Temple is a very famous temple and on the must see list if you are in Ubon Ratchathani. I will blog on the temple a little later on tonight if I don’t have too many ales before then.

The floats from bigger temples are huge, I would say around 30mtrs plus long and around 15 to 20mtrs in height at times.

The floats are made from wax, they are big projects and the past week the temple doors have hardly been closed as local have helped the monks with the melting of wax and pouring it into templates.

The masters at the wax carving are good to watch as they use hot irons to smooth wax on the figures.

The float was nearly finished and they were spraying a palm oil all over it. I am not sure if this is to help protect it, or make it shine.

Underneath the wax is usually foam, the foam is shaped and then the wax is attached.

Naga serpents are a large part of Buddhism and are always included in floats.

I think this is an image of the mythical figure of Garuda.

Anyway, this is just one of the many huge floats from the temples that will be on display from tonight and then be in the parade tomorrow.

I do not attend the parades anymore as it is too crowded, uncontrolled or to be blunt just Thai organised.

The night before the parade is the best time, actually early in the morning as you cannot get pictures without being bumped, or having 50 people in the way. I am a whinging prick, I know.

Brunty

Report Stolen Content and Protect you Websites.

2011-07-15T10:10:00.002+07:00

The other day I wrote about people that steal content and then post it on their websites as if it was their own.

So I checked some other websites and was surprised at how many of them are the victims of content theft. Maybe they don’t care and could not be bothered chasing the thieves.

If you have a website do a search and see if you have stolen content, you might be very surprised.

I just had another website removed from host server, that site is now gone but another replaces it.

So a Whois search was done, contact the host server and very quickly I have a reply and another website owner that will soon be offline.

A quick reply and if they have no answer within 48hrs and all the stolen content is removed, which is the entire website, they will suspend the contract.

It is easy to have stolen content removed or stopped most times but wastes your time having to chase up the thief, the server and then file a complaint with Google but you need to protect your content.

Anyway, to the last two website owners who are dirty stinking thieves I hope you are hit by a truck.

Brunty

Dinner, A One of Those Moments and a Bad Joke, Isaan Thailand.

2011-07-12T23:25:00.002+07:00

Well dinner time tonight in Thailand was this, a good homemade spread made by Miss Noot.

There was papaya salad Thai style with smelly fermented fish sauce and plenty of chilli and then there was papaya salad Thai or known as “Dum Thai” that is made with commercial made fish sauce. Some sundried beef from the market fried in olive oil, omelette, spicy pork roll salad, and some Thai sausages. Of course served with the Isaan staple sticky rice.

Nong Ja had to get in on the action, she insisted I take a picture of her and when I told her to smile, this is what I got.

And this is Ja looking so happy with her own specially made papaya salad, green papaya, carrot, a little fish sauce, a smidgen of salt and a drop of lime and she gobbles it down like all Thai girls do.

One incredibly funny thing, well I thought it was bloody funny anyway. Above is a basic can opener that we have in the house. No fandangled opener for us.

I have used this many a times to open different cans and it works perfectly. The other night Noot came into the bedroom and asked me to open a small can of mackerel, she was making mackerel with Chinese Kale and oyster sauce.

Usually we buy the ring pulls, well I do for my sardines but Noot informed me that the non ring pull cans are two baht cheaper, or something like that. For the extra two baht , but never mind.

I told her to open it herself but she said it hurts her hand and takes too long. Now I thought that this was a little strange as the cans are small and take maybe five seconds to open.

So she handed me the opener and the can and went to walk off. I told her to wait a second, crimped the opener on and turned away and presto, the can was open.

Noot stood there at first with a stupid look on her face, and then she started pissing herself laughing. I sat looking bemused at her wondering what she had been smoking, or if she had been into my rum or whiskey supplies.

She then blurted out, “so that is how you do it!” I still had no idea what she was on about and then she told me that she had crimped the last can open, crimp by crimp making that tiny hole that is the starting point.

So I started laughing as I couldn’t believe she didn’t know how this opener worked. When I asked how long the last can took to open, she said a long time and her hand really hurt. So there we sat laughing, I at her stupidity and she at her embarrassment. Poor old Nong Ja stood staring at us asking what we were laughing at.

And that is the funniest thing that has happened around Isaan Style for a little while.

What is the silliest thing you have ever done? Have you ever had a brain spaz moment?

Don’t tell anyone this, the other day I went to an ATM machine, I popped in the card and tapped in the pin number and up come the message that it was wrong and try again. So I did it again, this time very slowly and made sure that the code was correct, again it came up wrong.

So I cancel the transaction, get the card, look at it, wipe the magnetic strip, swear under my breath at how stupid this is and the bloody machine is wrong and so on. Pop the card back in and with great concentration and purpose enter the code again.

“Please contact your bank! You have entered the incorrect code too many times.” Or something like that. I get the card back, fuming and mumbling under my breath. So I get another ATM card for a different bank out and that is when I realized that this was the card I was meant to be using the first time.

I had put the wrong card in the ATM, it isn’t even close to the right colour of the bank. I had a blonde moment, I was female for a moment! Okay, I can see I might be treading deep deep water, so I will leave it at that.

Brunty

Oh, I couldn’t help but have to share a good joke a mate sent me. It is a little rude so please don’t read on if easily offended.

The guys at the local footy club were having their shower after the game when Dave noticed Bill had a new tattoo.

Dave said, “Bill! You have a $100 dollar bill tattooed on your dick! What made you do that mate?”

“Well Dave, the missus loves to go shopping and with the tough economic times and all I thought I would just give her a hand and save some money,” Bill said.

Now all the guys are looking at Bill’s dick. Dave says, “I am sorry mate! But how the hell does having a $100 bill tattooed on your dick help your missus save money mate!”

“Geez Dave, that is simple mate. My missus can blow a hundred bucks whenever she wants, and she doesn’t have to leave the house.”

Boom Boom…..

A Thing of Absolute Beauty and a Lost iPhone, Isaan Thailand.

2011-07-10T18:43:00.003+07:00

Well below is a work of beauty, and on top of that work of beauty is the best sporting team walking the earth.

The Mighty Magpies or Collingwood Football Club are back where they deserve to be, that being on top of the Australian Rules Football League ladder.

And we even have a game in hand. You look at the points for and against and the huge percentage we have and it is all looking good for the finals. I am already designing my new tattoo for the premiership this year. Yes, I am getting ahead of myself but I am quietly confident.

At home I was without my phone for a day and a half, I have an Apple iPhone and it has done everything I expected, but I could have also achieved this with a phone a third of the price. I have a lot of applications (Apps) on my phone, meaning mostly games. Many of the games are for Ja, and of course some for the bigger girls being Noot and Benjawan. And I have three games I like to play when I have free time.

So each time I walk in the door, the first thing everyone is waiting for, especially Ja is my phone. She loves an App called Talking Tom Cat 2. Ja loves chatting to Talking Tom and all he does is repeats what you say. But you can make a dog fart in the background, hit Talking Tom until he falls down and the dog throws a bucket of water over him to name just a few things.

Often Ja gets under the doona or duvet and you can hear her chatting away with Tom who she calls “Nong”. Another game she likes is a remembrance game. Then there is Coffee Café but she just likes singing the tune over and over again.

Anyway, on Friday I arrived home and my phone was whisked away, Nong Ja, Noot and Ben at one time all played with it that night. The next day when I actually needed it, it could not be found. Fingers were pointed and poor little Nong Ja was apparently last to use it.

Now asking a three year old, “where is the phone?” can be a little tricky. After a few false hunts Noot decided to turn the bedroom upside down, but nothing. Then it was Benjawan’s room as Ja has often hidden stuff in there, but again empty. They searched the lounge room and all to no avail.

I couldn’t have cared less, it is just a phone but the girls were getting withdrawals from not playing the games. So Saturday there were spasmodic searches and Ja being continually interrogated and then she would lead Noot off in hot pursuit.

Saturday came to a close and still no phone, calling it would do no good, as the battery had died. So there was no play at all on Saturday. This morning being Sunday I awoke and stumbled out of the room and there was Noot and Ja sorting through her boxes of toys, all out on the floor being reloaded into their boxes.

The sofa was pulled apart again, the bedroom was pulled apart, and then the search started through the lounge room again. I had done two loads of washing and was hanging the second one out with the help of Ja, when Noot came outside pointing an accusing finger at Ja with the phone in her hand.

Ja had placed the phone in the shoe cupboard, into a bad that had shoes in it, and the phone was in one of these shoes. So she had hid it well. The phone was placed on charge and since then I had Ja asking every two minutes if it had finished charging.

Right now it is safely in the hands of Noot who is playing Angry Pig Daddy, which she is terrible at. Ja is visiting her father and when she returns there will be fights over the phone for sure, but Ja always wins.

I need to play Contract Killer, this is the game I usually play every day. I need to keep my contracts up to date and my informants happy. I love shooting all the scumbags of the world and at one stage had a great run of 22 continuous head shots, no easy feat. I have all the top weaponry and even get to take my targets or missions alive at times, sometimes I only am allowed to shoot the boss and other times shoot the whole cartel.

Again all good fun and a good way to waste an hour a day. As you can see things are very busy here in Isaan Thailand.

Brunty

Scumbags Stealing your Work from the Internet.

2011-07-09T22:34:00.002+07:00

Many people who write and then post it to the World Wide Web will have had their content stolen. I am not talking about websites that run a paragraph of your text and it links to your actual website. I am talking about the scumbags and pieces of shit who claim that the work you have done is actually theirs.

They copy your text word for word and in a very rare occasion change some text or ad some extra links here and there.

These people are fuc#ing dogs. As they steal content that you create and then try and profit from it. It is very hard to stop people doing this. On my main website that has nothing to do with Thailand, and is not a Blogspot, this site is a registered in Australia and hosted there.

It has taken six years to build it to what it is today and I have been offered to have it bought out, a part share and I would still be a partner and such, but I am not selling.

The reason is I have very good advertising revenue from this site now, I make much more per month from this site than I do my job teaching. I make very good money from referrals from larger companies when people click on one of the many widgets and join their company; it is more money in my pocket.

So I have to protect these people who pay good money to advertise on this site from fraudsters who steal the content created by me. I use Copyscape Premium on this site, have disabled right click, made it so you cannot highlight text and more, but these are just to stop the internet users that are retards when it comes to the W.W.W as it is so easy to get around all this and copy whatever you want.

I have a warning that pops up and alerts the person who is trying to copy the text, that using the text without permission of the site owner is illegal and so on, but again it is all just ways to try and stop the layman of the internet.

In the past year I have had to contact so many people who have copied text to their own sites, usually hosted for free like this blog, ask them to remove the content or I will contact the hosting site and alert them.

Most times there are no replies, sometimes abuse and others taunt you. What they don’t understand is that once a host has been alerted and all the evidence presented that you are the owner and the person that is using their hosting service is a thief, the host closes them down.

This has happened a few times this year and one guy with some Asian name who lives in Australia was a little irate. He left a few messages on the site he was stealing from and I then alerted the police as the threats were funny to me, but as you can imagine a little over the top.

I am alerted by email when there are possible copyright infringements and then I can go and see if this is the case, if so I start the whole process of contacting the person, asking for removal, contacting the host, and then Google and a last resort filing a Digital Millennium Copyright Act complaint.

The problem is it all takes time, time I do not want to waste on assholes, I would rather bash the fuc#ers over the head with a baseball bat a few (hundred) times and dispose of them in some acid drums. Okay I would never put them in acid but I know a man who owns a few pig farms.

So when an alert is emailed to me, I do dread it, thankfully many times the person removes the content or links to the original website correctly. They made an innocent mistake. They are new to the web and so many other reasons.

But it is the shitheads that make you work, they ignore your warnings, your polite threats and then you have to go through the process. I hate wasting that time.

Anyway, that is just my rant on all this and only because I just had to report another wog named Australian registered with host Australian Domains after he would not answer my requests, so emails sent and will now wait for a response from Aust Domains with hopefully good news.

Brunty

Kindness or Tough Love, Which Should Be Used, Thailand.

2011-07-03T14:11:00.003+07:00

I was reading an interesting article in the Bangkok Post today and you can read here titled, IF Kindness is a Crime. It is about a subject that has been written about and also discussed to death for years but continues to be a problem.

The article starts with a passenger in a taxi (who sounds like the Dalai Lama) and they stop at a traffic light. A small girl approaches the taxi with flower garlands but the driver waves her away.

This is when the good hearted passenger says, “Don’t do that” and rolls down the window and asks her how much for one of the garlands.

The little girl tells him forty baht, but the passenger queries politely that aren’t they usually 20 baht but purchases one for forty baht anyway. The little girl flashes an amazing smile and gives a polite Thai ‘wai’ and wanders off.

And the lesson then continues.

The taxi driver apparently tells the passenger he shouldn’t buy from these kids as they are mostly run by mafia style gangs and the kids are mistreated. He also says, that the girl will probably buy drugs with the money anyway.

The passenger queries this and asks how he knows this and is answered with, “everybody knows,” and the passenger replies with, “everybody thinks they know.”

The driver says, “It’s a fact” but the passenger asks “where is the evidence” and then asks a very interesting question to the driver. “What do you think will happen to the girl if no-one buys from her?”

He replies with, “She will probably get a beating.” The passenger then asks another very thought provoking question. “What will happen to her if all people stopped buying from her, period?”

The driver answers, “She will be forced to steal, deal drugs and maybe even forced into prostitution.” (Prostitution doesn’t exist in the kingdom!)

The passenger then talks about her bleak looking future and that neither he nor the driver is going to rescue her or anyone else for that matter. He then talks about how a small amount like 40 baht can make the girl so happy.

The driver protests saying that 40 baht is a lot for many Thai people and the passenger then tells the driver this is why he bought the garland and not the driver.

The driver then states about how the girl was probably not even Thai, (most are from Cambodia) and the passenger replies with “but all are still human beings.”

The column then gets interesting, as the taxi stops at another red light a young boy approaches, the passenger winds the window down and asks what he was selling (nothing), did he have some cloth to clean the window (no), and then gives the boy a hard earned lesson on life, “Do you expect people to give you money for nothing.”

The article then goes into the figures of where police arrested 241 Cambodian beggars between the 19th – 26th of June. It talks about how a beggar can make between 300 – 2,000 baht per day and the ‘begging industry' generates 20 million baht per month. The writer does ask if these numbers can be trusted!

This next paragraph taken from the article is very interesting.

Experts say begging rings are run by human trafficking gangs. They kidnap the victims and put them on the street. But many also choose the work. A mother with a small child can be rewarded up to 120,000 baht for an 18-month service in the streets. A child aged five to 15 can get 80,000 baht. A handicapped person can make 70,000 baht.

(What experts?)

One of these so called experts is quoted to say, “Thai people are too kind-hearted”.

The columnist says this is just part of it and that Thais being Buddhists also contributes as Buddhists spread kindness to make merit for a good life this and their next. (I won’t go there but bite my tongue).

Then a brief summary on the writer’s thoughts, he doesn’t agree with kids dodging cars at intersections, but Thais shouldn’t be blamed for being kind to them, and he again raises the question of what will happen if each and every person stopped their kindness.

Would these gang members become good people, the children would be freed to go to school and live a normal life?

He says the gangs would just resort to worse measures, and the kids forced into worse crimes and perils.

But then he raises the biggest problem and the only one that will stop this begging industry.

“Perhaps the gangs pay too well in bribe money and have connections in high places?

My thoughts on all of this. Hand on for the ride! I do not even really know or believe this conversation took place but makes an interesting read.

Do not buy from the kids, do not give money to the mothers with dirty kids begging, be this tough love or not, it has to be done.

Yes, these kids, women and men (many handicapped) are mistreated by these scumbags running these gangs. These lowlifes need to be eradicated from this earth.

But there are people in power who have a monopoly in all this; money is paid to many departments to turn a blind eye. Look at the illegal taxis at the airport. Every person knows about them, they have tried to stop them but the powerful people running them cannot be stopped, it is pathetic.

The government of Thailand and governments abroad need to invest more money in assisting and repatriating these beggars when found.

People in the remote villages need to be educated that the lies told by the people smugglers are just that, lies. The promises of work in a factory and a monthly income is all a hoax.

Any person caught stealing a child, this does happen a lot more than you think, it has been written about where the gangs go into remote areas and kidnap kids in vans.

These people if caught need to be executed, put a bullet between their eyes.

What Thailand needs to do is stop the corruption, the police, immigration, government officials and so on, who receive money to turn a blind eye, have to be stopped.

The indebted acceptance of corruption amongst Thais needs to stop. There needs to be an uprising where all Thais just start saying “no” to all corruption and reporting it to media outlets across Thailand and the world.

Corruption is the biggest disease in Thailand, and until people make a stand to stop it, it will just keep going on for years and years to come.

Thailand needs a huge anti corruption taskforce (hard to find honest people), with unrelenting powers and start with the biggest fish, smashing corruption at the top and working down. Jail these people, sentence them to death or whatever it takes to stop the epidemic that is corruption or at least slow it down.

Thailand is lawless for the big players; they snub their noses at it and laugh. The everyday Joe isn’t so lucky. The small people suffer the fate of the law, often unjustly but cannot fight as they are scared or do not have the means.

Will the new government that will be elected to power after today’s election change this, no!

Will Thailand make changes and reel in corruption the next ten years, no!

The very people running the country are some of the most corrupt; time and time again papers report on conflicts of interest, skimming of money, jobs for family and it just goes on.

So what chance does Thailand have of ending corruption until the majority of politicians are clean and above board?

The political dog-fighting, street protests by blinkered sheep take up too much time and do not allow governments to do what they are employed to do, run the country for its people. Serve their constituents that voted them in.

These are just my thoughts on all of this.

Brunty

Nong Ja, Fish, Elections, Thai Lottery and Temples Isaan Thailand.

2011-07-02T22:52:00.001+07:00

Well the week has gone by too quickly. It has been a boring week, mainly involving getting up and going to bed. This is good though I suppose, better than pushing daises.

I have been spending many hours in front of the computer but also plenty of time with the amazing Nong Ja. We have done a lot this past week together from watching Mr. Bean, Winnie the Pooh, Power Ranger DVD’s to name just a few, last night we watched Madagascar 2, a funny movie that Ja loves.

Ja has a few chores she has to do, one is sweeping the floor which she is terrible at but she does, the other is picking up her toys which she is terrible at, but the one she loves the most is the fish tanks. She has to feed the fish, maintain the water levels and every now and then we do a water change.

Today I was met with in a barrage of Thai and English mixed together that the water was not full. So we were off to get a few bottles of water.

We fill empty bottles with tap water when we have a bath and then it sits for 48 hours and capped. This water is then used in the tanks. Ja loves to do this chore and the reward is 100 baht every week. This gets spent on all sorts of crap but we also have a bank account for her that we put money into every month and at times she wants the money put into the bank. Ja comes to the bank and the tellers love her and when she is 21 she will be able to access this money and hopefully will give her a good head start in her life.

We played in the bedroom, Ja jumped around and danced and I tried to do some work.

The girls were showering and preparing to head to the village when Ja ran into the room and asked me to go out into the living room. When I arrived I was met with a where is the camera! So the camera was out and pictures taken, they were scrutinized by Ja and approved before they headed off.

I am home alone again as this weekend Thailand is in election mode, again. Noot has returned to the village to vote tomorrow. She can pick from one liar to the next and the only difference between them is the colour of their supporters. It is deadly silent outside now at 10.48pm, usually the small street near Big C that is full of food shops are alight and music playing, motorbikes going up and down but there is nothing, it is like a ghost town out there.

I am sure that by tomorrow evening, and when there is a rough idea of who is going to win the morons who lead the masses of mongoloids that follow the leaders in trances (and of course money paid into their pockets) will be crying foul and out protesting in the Bangkok streets calling for a new election.

Anyway, I am looking forward to a quick trip to the ‘City of Angels’, this name apparently comes from the Ayutthaya Kingdom period hundreds of years ago. I think they should update it to something much more appropriate and truthful as there are not many angels in Bangkok they are mostly …, oh you can make your own decision.

On the 22nd I will head to Bangkok with a few other expats and we will attend the Chelsea V Thailand game on teh 24th. I do not like Chelsea at all, detest them more than Manchester United. On top of my most detested teams are Liverpool and Arsenal followed by the other two stated.

I am going for the atmosphere and camaraderie between fellow football lovers…. Do you believe me? I will return home on the Monday evening hopefully recharged, feeling incredibly worn out from drinking too much alcohol and staying out too late. Sounds good to me.

Today while I was bored and watching some crap Australian Football League games (AFL)(one game was good between Geelong and Essedon) I browsed the Thai toilet papers. In Thailand if you live here you know people go batty over the lottery that is drawn twice a month, on the 1st and the 16th. I have laughed often at the ways and extent people go to see lottery numbers.

One that has always baffled me is the use of temples or holy images to predict the numbers. Now I am no expert on Buddhism but I am sure that his philosophy of living a simple life did not include gambling. I have heard the most ridiculous stories, and I marvel at how stupid these people can be.

Today in Thailand’s Bangkok Post there was a story on a temple called Wat Phrammanee, it is apparently popular with Thais and apparently foreigners (if this is true there should be a person outside with a bat belting them across their heads as they leave).

There is a Buddha image there with red lips, no-one knows how the image got red lips but I could take a guess!

The rabid punters arrive believing the image has magical powers and blesses those who worship it with very good luck. What a croc of shit!

Word of mouth, Thailand’s best news spreader said, “the image can transform a penniless villager into a millionaire overnight." I wonder what the odds of that happening are?

But of course one testimonial from a barn nawk villager who struck it rich after visiting “red lips” was printed, he said that after praying he received ‘hints’ for the numbers. Oh, please!

A monk performs a ritual where a candle is melted onto the surface of holy water (sure this is what Lord Buddha wanted holy watered used for).

The wax hardens and the cracks and shapes are formed so the delirious lottery players can make these into numbers and win their millions. My god people are fools.

So I have decided to start my own little religion. I don’t worship any god or higher being I just predict Thai lottery numbers. Each morning my faithful can arrive early and after I take my early morning dump they can then examine it for the lucky numbers.

Do you think it will catch on? Or maybe I am up shit creek in a barb wire canoe without a paddle.

What are some of the silly lottery antics you have witnessed, be it in Thailand or abroad?

Brunty

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

2011-06-26T13:27:00.002+07:00

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.

2011-06-25T15:00:00.003+07:00

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.

2011-06-25T13:05:00.004+07:00

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.

2011-06-24T18:59:00.002+07:00

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.

2011-06-19T20:13:00.005+07:00

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.

2011-06-18T22:50:00.000+07:00

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.

2011-06-13T23:03:00.000+07:00

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.

2011-06-08T22:04:00.001+07:00

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

T C Kitchen Ubon Ratchathani Thailand.

2011-06-02T20:44:00.003+07:00

Lance formerly of the N-Joy and Tom who also ran a tour booking service there have teamed up and opened a new business together right next door to The Laithong Hotel here in Ubon Ratchathani.

T C Kitchen is on Pichitrungsun Road, if you turn off the main road at the market known as Talat Noi (small market) then head toward The Laithong Hotel, T C Kitchen is right next door, cannot miss it.

Lance has set the bar up well; he has worked his ass off the past few months getting this place up to scratch. The pool table is in place and the beer nice and cold.

There is seating inside, out the front and also out the back as well for dining.

One thing new is this, farang goodies. If you are a pasty white whinging pom, you will probably get all excited in a minute. There were many brands I didn’t know but apparently from the land of fish and chips and rain, they are very popular.

There was also some stuff I did know as well, and that got me a little excited as here in Ubon we don’t get a lot of the farang brands we used to love back home.

Here are a few things available to purchase from T C Kitchen. Crosse & Blackwell a brand I had never heard of before have, Branston pickles, marrowfat peas, mushy peas, carrots, new potatoes, mushrooms, Picalilli, spaghetti Bolognese and macaroni & cheese.

The legendary Colman’s and its famous mustard but also tartare, mint and apple sauces as well.

There are Branston baked beans, spaghetti and spaghetti loops.

From Heinz there are the real condensed soups, the one can of soup with another can of water or milk, Big Red, Pea and Ham, Vegetable, Chicken, Vegetable and Beef and mushroom all available. Also beetroot, I cannot wait to have a beetroot and cheese sandwich. Also the spaghetti and baked beans and salad cream as well.

There is Tulip pork luncheon meat, John West corned beef on offer.

Sharwood's sauces, sweet chilli, spicy tikka masala, Rogan Josh and black bean.

Dix pickled relishes, salsa and jalapenos. Bisto instant gravies and granules, Oxo stock cubes as well.

Also Walkers crisps, McVities Digestive buscuits and Hobnob's. Also Hartley's rhubarb, HP sauce and Del Monte fruit in a can.

But there is more but I am tired. Cheese, you can get Red Leicester and a New Zealand cheddar.

Drink wise you can get Magner's Irish Cider, Olde English Cider, Nutch Cider, Murphy Irish Cider, Blackthorn Cider, Beer Lao lager and dark. There are King Valley, Yali, Blue Moon and Egun Egun wines availabe as well.

I am tired, linking to all the stuff has made me bloody thirsty so I am going to have a ice cold beer and then hit the hay for the night. Ja wanted her picture taken and I had to oblige as she is adorable to me.

On Wednesday nights T C Kitchen is doing a buffet, above is a little of what is on offer this night. Friday night is a roast, it changes week to week and then there is also a regular menu as well. There are plans for curry and kebab nights.

Homemade Cornish pasties and steak pies and the list goes on and on.

If you want any information you can contact Lance on 085 494 3040 and ask him anything you like.

Also Tom is doing car and motorbike hire, taxi service, air tickets, hotel reservations, tours and tour information is available and you can call her on 085 410 7191.

So T C Kitchen is a new place to try out, plus the bonus of the farang food available as well to buy if you are missing tastes from home.

Brunty

Excellent Comment and Information on Education in Ubon Ratchathani Thailand..

2011-05-29T21:42:00.007+07:00

A few days ago, I blogged about educating your kids in Thailand after a reader had dropped by and left the comment below.

Brunty in four years my wife,children and I will be moving to Ubon. The location we choose to live in will be directly related to schools for the kids. I have concerns about education plans for the kids. Could you recommend/explain the educational opportunities available and costs from age 5 up to University available in Ubon. I will be retired and will not be able to afford International schools. Thanks Mike.

Then David Peters has come along with an excellent reply, full of information about schools in Ubon. I thank him for this, it is very helpful for Mike.

The schools in the city are okay but as parents you will have to do a lot of educating yourself. I know. My two children went through primary and secondary schools in Ubon. From there they went to university in Bangkok. Both graduated with top grades and now have jobs in International companies. Believe me, the job opportunities for graduates with fluent Thai and English are fantastic in Thailand. So many of my friend’s children who live back in their home countries are finding it difficult to get a good job. Asia is where it is happening.

A good choice Mike to decide to bring your children back here to get educated.

State schooling is zoned in Ubon but you can get in to the school of your choice if you know someone or pay money-a donation.

David makes a great point here; you have to live in the area (zone) of the school to attend it. There are people who register kids on their house papers and also teachers do this, for a fee so that the child will be accepted into the school they want.

Primary schools. Anubann Ubon has always been regarded as the best but these days it is very crowded. Plus you are unlikely to get in if you live outside the central city zone. Also the children that go there on the whole are little shits. Ubonwit further up in Kilosoon is a private school but always seems to fairly well regarded. Then there are the four catholic schools. Ave Maria is solid, Assumption seems to teach dropouts who can’t get in elsewhere, Yaowawet is a girls school but now takes boys and the one near Makro I don’t know anything about.

Again David makes another good point. Anuban the classes in the regular programme are large, usually between 45 to 53 students. In the English Programme some classes now have 30 students and I think a few more in some cases. In the Advance Programme, new this year there are around 35 a class. I teach in the regular programme there, so the kids that get thier education for free and I can honestly say that 99% are fantastic for me, very polite but again they do know my rules to a T. As for the English Programme kids I have no idea what they are like but most do come from well off familes at 60,000 baht per year.

Ave Maria I have heard good things about it from people, but personally I have never been there. David hits Assumption hard with “seems to teach dropouts who can’t get in elsewhere” but in some cases this is so true.

I worked there for 5 years, and some of the children admitted into the English Programme were just ridiculous. We fought as teachers to try and have an entry exam and set a standard so classes would be strong, but this was always ignored in favour of money and profit.

In many classes of high school level there are kids in the English Programme who cannot do the alphabet, cannot read lower primary level and have a very limited vocabulary. Then there are a lot in each class that are of below average and struggle. It makes it very hard for the teacher to try and put a lesson together for a class.

These days a lot of children of better off families, government officers and mixed race children are going to the YES school on the bypass road. Children seem to like it there. And Baandek in Warin seems okay.

YES or Youth Exchange School I have only heard things from people who used to teach there, so it was mostly bad things, but as David said many of the Hi-So Thais send their kids there. They do win a lot of the competitions in the Ubon area when they compete.

When deciding your school remember that Ubon now has massive traffic jams in the morning and afternoon. Children have to be at school at 8 am and finish at 4 pm. A long day. Try to buy a house as close as possible to the schools.

Traffic in Ubon city from just after 7am until 8.30am can only described as frustrating. Remember Thais drivers pretty well do what they want. If I leave my house before 7am I am at school in under 10 minutes. If I leave after 7.15am it will double the time at least. This is on my motorbike. In my car the other day it took me nearly 40 minutes to get home from school.

Be prepared to be a taxi driver on weekends taking your children to special classes. I am afraid you have no choice because at school they only get taught about half the syllabus. I recommend you don’t send your children to the commercial tutoring schools but seek out a teacher who teaches at their home and have a one on one tutorial. With my children, we paid for a university student to come in every week night for one hour to help the children with their homework. This was because in the first years their Thai language was not good enough.

David hits the nail on the head here; teachers hardly teach in their class and make “big money” teaching special classes and the rest of the syllabus to the kids that study with them. I will also state that so much time is lost each year because of ceremonies and anything else deemed more important than studying.

Now for secondary schools. Only two in the city worth considering. Benchamat is the former boys school that now takes girls. Bursting at the seams. Nearly 60 in a room, over 5,000 children there now. If your children are bright they will do okay. But if they are average they will fall away. However, Benchamat seems to get children into university and once there they do okay. The other school, Nareenakoon is the former girls school that now takes boys. Good teachers. But I forgot YES. They are teaching up to high school level but again I don’t know their success rate in getting students into university. Assumption is a write-off as far as science majors go.

Benchama for some reason does get kids places in good universities, all parents in this area strive to get their children in there. I have seen nothing but trouble with teachers there over the years. Last year at one stage I think they were all dismissed. Nareenakun has an international programme that costs well into the hundreds of thousands of baht. Its regular programme I have no idea about. I do know a couple of excellent teachers there, really good teachers. Assumption is definitely not for science majors, the labs are pathetic and this is being polite.

Then on to university where it is the Faculty that is important. Ubon Ratchathani University has 2-3 faculties that are solid but others are not very good. The local Radjaphat university is like a community college. Good on social skills but lacks any research depth. The private Ratchathani University I know nothing about but I would never recommend it.

David is right here, Rajabhat is like a community college, it takes all students and cranks them out in the thousands. Students cannot be failed there. English majors leave there after 4 years with many not able to hold the most basic conversation, and some with virtually no English at all. Ubon Ratchathani University (Mor Ubon) has the best name for the area but as David said it is definitely better to send your children to Bangkok to university for sure. There is also Chang Mai and Korat that could be considered.

My choice. Send the children to a top university government university in Bangkok. But let your children decide this.

At the end of the day it comes now to networking in Thailand. You have to know people to get anywhere. Children who are educated overseas often find it very difficult to fit back into Thailand society.

Any university graduate from a top university with strong bilingual skills will have no problem at all in finding a top job in Thailand.

But as parents, who will have to do a lot of teaching at home especially during the primary school years.

Anyway, good luck with the move to Ubon Mike. My family and I made our choice to come here 30 years ago and it was the right one.

A heap of information from David that is very useful and gives a wrap up of the education possibilities in the Ubon area.

Thanks mate for helping Mike out.