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Part 45 |
The View from Nongkhai |
Published |
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28 February |
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2007 |
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Breaking News |
The Prime Minister of Thailand
Surayud Chulanont
has announced that because of the problems at
the brand new Suvarnabhumi Airport, the old
airport Don Muang will reopen. Bangkok will now
have two international airports, he explained.
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To simplify matters one
airport will be used for passenger arrivals, so that
all aircraft will land there. Aircraft will then
take off from the other airport which will be used
for passenger departures. A further announcement
will be made as soon as it is decided which airport
will provide which service. |
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Arising from Episode
44 |
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via email from Rupert : I WAS
GOING TO TELL EVERYONE OF YOUR WEBSITE BUT CANT NOW
FOR FEAR OF LETTING THEM SEE ME IN IT. HA HA HA . I
DO HATE PHOTOS OF MYSELF. ESPECIALLY WHEN I LOOK
THAT GORMLESS. STILL IVE BEEN HERE IN VANG VIENG
CLIMBING MOUNTAINS AND TRYING TO LOSE SOME OF THAT
BELLY . BLOODY HARD WORK CLKIMBING THESE MOUNTAINS
YOU KNOW. THANK GOD FOR BEER LAO EH. |
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Apparently some confusion was caused last episode
when the banner on the opening page mysteriously
re-activated itself. For reasons not yet known to me
it stopped working sometime last year but
spontaneously started working again for part 44. I
have now removed it (I hope) and can confirm that
while Dott and I remain good friends, we are no
longer husband and wife. This may be self evident
later on when I write about the latest road trip
with Dan. |
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I was surprised by the
number of people who actually went to the trouble of
asking me "Did Glen really take everything when he
sold the Outback to Jim and Brad?"
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The answer is no. I
happened to have a photo from the time when Glen was
re-decorating which included Jim and Brad, and I
used it as a joke. |
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Funnily enough, nobody has yet
asked me if Brad really does have a beer bottle
permanently glued to his hand. Why is this? |
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Perhaps this would be a good
point to mention that the first item above entitled
"Breaking News" is only partially true. There is a
joke there. Hopefully you spotted it. |
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The last episode featured the Great Fire of
Nongkhai. This was the scene the following morning.
It also seems bizarre that scarcely three weeks ago we
were all wearing coats, whereas we are now all in
shorts and thin tops as the temperature is now in
the eighties Fahrenheit around 30°C. |
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The pictures of the fire and its aftermath were
kindly provided by Leigh (below right). |
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Dan and I had breakfast at the Friendship Guesthouse
with Leigh and Tim, and he broke the rather
disappointing news to us that their landlord has
declined to renew their lease, and plans to get a
member of his family to run it in place of Leigh and
Tim. |
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I have
said before that Leigh and Tim made it a lovely
spot to visit, (an oasis of tranquillity) and I have
some fond memories of time spent in their company,
so I am saddened that their tenure will cease at the
end of the month. |
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Its
not all bad news however as Leigh and Tim did
confide that Tim is now pregnant, so congratulations
are in order.
I look forward to reporting on their happy event
later this year, but clearly they did not heed my
warning contained |
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in
part 39.
The list of couples running bars who have had or are having
babies
includes Brendan and Noi, Giulio and Sangjun, Hasi and Joy
and now Leigh and Tim. Is it the beer or the Nongkhai air? |
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In truth it may be neither as
another couple who passed on similar news of an
impending happy event were Mia and Jens, below left.
My thought when looking at this photo was 'what a
nice pair'. Mia and Jens were visiting Nongkhai from
Denmark with Mia's parents Kathy and Anders (right). |
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I did enjoy having my daughter
and my grandchildren here in Nongkhai, so I imagine
that Kathy and Anders are looking forward to their
first grandchild. There is something special about
having babies and young children about the house.
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After an excellent meal
at Oy's restaurant, generously paid for by Anders,
we repaired to Chris and Nang's bar in Tha Sadet,
where Anders enjoyed a game of pool with TJ, a
friend of Chris, visiting from Alaska. |
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The result of the
encounter is not known, but my money is on TJ, as he
is holding a cue, while Anders is holding a glass.
At the time these photos were taken, (at the end of
January), residents of Nongkhai were wearing warm
clothing. It's not hard to see that both TJ and
Anders are visitors from colder climes. |
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While in Nongkhai, Dan and I
visited the Copenhagen Inn, clearly a name with a
Danish flavour. There we met Alan and his wife Jum,
but we were confused when Alan spoke English with a
strong Oz accent. It turns out that Alan is Danish
but has spent a lot of time in Oz. |
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Nevertheless, as well as enjoying
our meals, Dan and I thought that Tan was a
very good reason to revisit the Copenhagen Inn. Like
other bar/restaurant owners in Nongkhai, Alan and
Jum have also
had a baby very recently. Melissa, like my grandson
Ché was happy to be cuddled for some time by me. She
was a delight to hold. I said earlier that there is
something special about having babies and young
children about the house. I do miss my own
grandchildren, and at times am not a little envious
of those with youngsters.
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Someone
with youngsters in the house is John (below). It is not hard
to see that he was very happy to be reunited with his
young son after a 6 month spell working in Australia. Dan
and I
bumped into him at "Friday night is pig roast night at the
Outback" on Dan's maiden visit. |
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Clearly Dan and John were in
contemplative mood when they posed for this photo, or was it
just that were hungry? |
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I hadn't seem
Jimmy 'the Schmear' for some time, so it was great to catch
up with him, seen here below left in red with Trevor in
blue. Nick, centre in green, usually tries to hide from my
camera, but ve haf vays of getting your photo, as this shot
clearly demonstrates. Below right Denis helps himself to
just another slice of roast pork, while Derrick looks on.
When they first appeared in part 29, Denis and Derrick were
visiting Nongkhai with the lovely Tracy. Denis liked it so
much on that visit that he now lives here, and is a regular
visitor to the Friday night pig roast. |
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The English
language in
Thailand |
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I have to return to 'that menu',
as it offers so much fun. Here, not only is there a choice
of three different ways of preparing and serving sea bass,
but there are also three different ways of spelling it. |
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Rather like
the '3 Vikings in Thai style', you are left wondering what
was the intended translation. I suppose one way to find out
would be to order it. |
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That menu was at a hotel that in Korat
(Nakhon Ratchasima). I like Korat, it has some very
interesting features and things to see and do. On display at
the railway station I found this old steam locomotive. |
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It is at the
entrance to the station, on a short length of track, and
makes an eye-catching display piece from a bygone era. |
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I realised
that the Thai State Railway is not the only enterprise to
display old memorabilia in this way, so I plan to feature
some of the other offerings on display in future episodes. |
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However this
beautiful old Mercedes Benz in excellent condition was not
on display. Instead it was simply parked in the station car
park, and appeared to be in regular use. |
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O K I confess, I do have a thing
about Lot, or Rhose as she is also known, so I make no
excuse for publishing her picture again. |
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I took Dan
there to meet her 'in the flesh' (and to have lunch), but
while we were eating I spotted movement out of the corner of
my eye and saw this snake. |
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It was quite
long, if you look carefully it extends into the top left
hand corner of the picture. After talking to the erudite
Gordon on the subject, I believe that it may have been a
golden tree snake. Perhaps said Gordon can identify it from
this picture? |
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The
Mekhong water level falls |
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At the end of
October last year the Mekhong was exceptionally high (for
October). The picture on the left was included in part 41,
and there were 9 steps to the wooden decking. |
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The picture on
the right was taken this month, when there were 57 steps to
the wooden decking. It's not the going down that's the
problem, it's
the coming back up afterwards! |
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In similar
vein, when Dan and I were in Nakhon Panom last year, I took
the picture below left from my hotel balcony. I took the
other picture earlier this month from more or less the same
spot. |
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Not only can
you see how much the river has dropped, but you can see the
effect that four months without rain has had on the foliage
of the trees. Dan and I enjoyed our first trip to NP last
year, and had wanted to return, but were quite disappointed
this time. |
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However
Thailand is never without interesting sights. This guy had a
bicycle mounted sideways on the back of his motorbike, and
Dan photographed him through the open window as we drove
alongside. |
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More
Jokes |
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Something
tells me that
this is not a genuine photo, but there is nevertheless
something very appealing about the idea behind it. |
| My thanks to Barry (Chatchy)
for forwarding it to me. |
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Don't
journalists love those plays on words Ranger? Battering
opponents indeed! My principal reason for including this
item is that 'tosser' is a word frequently used by Dan to
describe other people, and I have often wondered precisely
what he meant. |
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Now I know
that he is referring to 'those who regularly toss a pancake
in a pan while running'. For those readers who are not
native English speakers, you can now add 'tosser' to your
vocabulary. And of course, should someone call you a
'tosser' you will know that they intend no offence, they are
simply referring to your ability to regularly toss a pancake
in a pan while running. |
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Oh
dear. I am running out of space, and I have not yet
touched on the visits that Dan and I paid to 'La La
Land' or Pattaya as it is known by some.
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I
include this picture of La La Land taken from the
top of a hill just to the south, and suggest that it
is a view rarely seen by most visitors, and I
suspect, even fewer residents. What say you Paul?
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It would be
churlish to end without any photos of the people we met, so
as an appetizer for the next episode, I conclude with a
photo of Dan and Yoot, one of Dao and myself, while
sandwiched between us are Joy who is a karaoke singer from
Nakhon Panom and Orange who works in a petrol station in
Khon Kaen. Orange's parting words to us were "I love you two
guys". |
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OK that's
enough for this episode. Clearly the next episode will
conclude Dan's current trip to the Magic Kingdom. This
weekend (the first in March) sees the start of the Prab Hor
festival, unique to Nongkhai. I reported on this festival
last year in part 31. If you
live in or around Nongkhai, it is well worth a visit.
Finally, where is this sign (right) to be found? |
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Best Wishes to you all
Tony |
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If you want copies of any of the
photos, or want to write, but you don't know
my personal email address, you can send email to :
mail@nongkhai.co.uk
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To view
all previous episodes move your
mouse cursor over this big
yellow button and left click |
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