Geektastic

There comes a time in every young man's life when he must prove his worth by creating... his own PC. I need a new machine "for work", and the ready-built options round here are often nasty, so it's a DIY job. Have been furiously educating myself on the merits of such things as Serial-ATA and the LGA775 socket, and consulting with uber-geeks such as Deebs and Jules. So at least if it all blows up I'll have someone to blame...

Bumble in the Jungle

Khao Yai NP

Sara's school has a second campus set in the beautiful Khao Yai National Park, and everybody headed up there this weekend for an open day. I make a star appearance for the Bangkok Staff football team, dazzling everyone with my silky skills. On the Sunday, we go for an all-day trek into the park, kitted out in natty leech socks, which don't protect everyone from the blood-suckers. It's a nice place; you'll have seen bits of it if you've seen The Beach. We stumble into elephants, gibbons, crocs and a nasty looking scorpion. I'm assured that if it's on the top of your arm, it's body mechanics mean that it can't sting you. I survive the experience.

The househusband life...

...is pretty good, really. I've adapted to a life of leisure pretty easily. One of my neighbours, Scott, is in the same boat as me, his wife having also come out to work at St Stephens. Mornings are generally spent on errands or exploring random parts of Bangkok. Afternoons inevitably involve a bit of time at the "office"; househusband slang for the pool.
Scott's not entirely happy with the situation, but then again, he's used to doing an honest day's work as a plumber. For me, however, those years at Nortel provided an ideal training ground for my current role (only joking, Mr Gale!)

Easy on the chillies, thanks

Dinner is served
(and no insects!)

Sara invites a few of the Thai staff from school round, and we cunningly get them to cook! Picked up a few handy hints on the old Thai cooking. Also learned the Thai word for "pumpkin", which tragically is unrepeatable on a public site such as this...

In pole it's Ferrari, followed by the number 52...

Buses are always tricky when you don't know the language and there's no route maps available. But we're just about getting the hang of them - there's a number of key things to learn. Firstly, Bangkok bus drivers are drawn from Thailand's pool of Formula 1 hopefuls; their high-speed cornering abilities are impressive. When it comes to traffic jams, you'd have thought it would be just the motorbikes that weaved through to the front of the queue, but somehow these bus drivers feel it's their job to attempt it as well, despite their 30-foot wheelbase. And oddly, for bus drivers, they absolutely detest stopping under any circumstances. If you want to get off, he'll fling open the doors for you, and if he's feeling generous, even slow down to jogging pace; but there ain't no way he's ever going to stop.

Some snaps

Number 47

The rain having cleared for a bit, we take a few photos in and around our place this morning - feel free to have a look!!

Monsoon Soon

Moving into monsoon season over here now. The rain's just mad - we had a 48-hour period this week when it didn't really stop. And it's heavy stuff; the place just floods. The motorway near us has storm channels that are about 30 foot across and 10 foot deep, and even they were overflowing. So you're kind of stuck inside, and the rain's that heavy that it blocks the satellite TV trasmissions. On with the cleaning, I guess.

Pub Quiz

We go along to a local pub quiz with Sara's friends who have been out here a while. Now, I always thought I was quite good at trivia, but my confidence is soon shattered. These ex-pats obviously have nothing better to do than amass arcane knowledge, and the quiz is tough. Now I know what Andy Winsor must feel like! Out of 15 teams, we come last. But happily the wooden spoon turns out to be a free round of drinks. Cheers!

It's freezing out here

So I'd bought myself a digital thermometer and stuck it up downstairs to keep track of what the temperature is. And for the first month, I didn't see it drop below 30°. But we're moving into the "colder" season, and this morning it's down to 27°. And get this - I actually feel cold, and am looking round for a jumper. Weird.

Geckos are our friends

So Sara recounts the story of how she got a shock yesterday when a gecko jumped out of the toaster as she was about to make breakfast. I go over to check, and find that the gecko's friend wasn't so lucky. We've been trying to create a nice home for them, as they eat the mossies, but Sara's gone and toasted one of them.
On recounting this story to Thai aquiaintance, we are asked in all seriousness "So did you eat it then?"

The Skype's the Limit

Another phone call in Thai, not sure what is being said, but I hear the magic phrase "ADSL". And sure enough, we're connected! Broadband! Fantastic. Hey, go get Skype everyone, and you can chat to me for free. But then again, I was never very good on the phone...

What d'ya call an elephant with 3 heads?

Met up with a friend of Sara's who's been teaching here for a year already. And her bloke who's been bumming around for a year. Good effort, bloke! We all climb inside a 100-foot tall three-headed copper elephant. Bizarre. Never having been inside an elephant before, I'm surprised by the hardwood decor.

Wireless Technology

Yet another trip down to the telephone office to see about getting broadband connected. This time, I've aparently got all the forms correctly filled in, and all the right types of ID with me! Result!
To be fair, it's amazing how patient the people down there are, given my lack of Thai. If anything, it was they who appeared to feel bad at not speaking English, rather than the other way round. Imagine the situation reversed, and the response a non-English speaking customer would get in your average UK office. They're nice people here.
Overcome by the joy of the moment, I recklessly splash out an extra 1,000 Baht to upgrade to a wireless modem. For those vital moments when you need to surf from the bath.

And how would you like your insect larvae, sir?

There's this great local market that sets up about 50 yards from our house every other evening. We just got our dinner from there. They've got everything you want - poached chicken feet, barbequed pig's face, roasted insect larvae, live frogs... you name it.
Plus a fantastic custard doughnut stall...

I think I over-ordered on the technicians

Well, we weren't going to get a telly, but for those moments when you just can't be bothered, it seems like a good option. However, it's not as straightforward as just buying a TV - English language stuff is only on cable or satellite, so I had to get us connected. Now, given my Thai is still at a rather basic level, you can understand that things like this aren't totally simple. But after several phone calls to various people, a few of which even got past the exchange of confused 'hellos', I believed I had arranged for connection the following day. In fact, I'd excelled myself - at 10am, the cable guy arrived in his truck, and went off to look for the access box. Meanwhile, two further satellite trucks turned up outside within 10 minutes of each other. So I have a total of 6 UBC technicians, somewhat confused at each other's presence, and I'm completely unable to communicate with them. But after an extended game of charades, they whack a satellite dish on the roof, and get me set up. So I can now happily watch 'classic' episodes of Ready Steady Cook on BBC Prime. Fantastic. Oh, and I also seem to get live coverage of all Premiership matches thrown in. Just a shame that I'd rather chew my own arm off than watch a game of football...