Damrongsak

"... He said that the Hmong man had postponed the payment until all the crops were harvested. ..." Maybe he didn't have enough money until the crop was harvested and sold to a middleman. But if he was paying piece rate, he should have paid daily or weekly. What a tragedy.

Some background on the Uber exit: The Real Story Behind Uber’s Exit from Southeast Asia https://knowledge.insead.edu/entrepreneurship/real-story-behind-ubers-exit-southeast-asia

Do an image search on "disc brake anti-rattle clip" or "brake pad retaining clip".

Oh for gosh sake, everything is "racisim" these days! I hate that word as it's so misused. In this case the cops may be using favoritism. I'm glad I grew up when there were only 3 races - black, white and yellow. And there were a few red ones that may have been yellow ones who got too much sun. (Look at migration patterns.) If we regard every ethnic group or tribe or local culture as a distinct "Race" then the word has little meaning. Some countries have 20 - 30 - 40 of these groups.

Years back I had a motorcycle endorsement on my Virginia, USA license, but lost it due to moving states and expiration. On a trip to Thailand last fall, I got an IDP to drive a car if I wanted. I told the issuer (AAA) that I had a Thai motorbike license, so they checked that box as well. No proof required. But I did carry my 45 year old Thai motorcycle license ("motor bicycle"). I paid about 100 Baht extra for a lifetime license. I toyed with the idea of going to the DLT to get an updated plastic license with a more modern picture, just didn't get around to it. I ended up letting my wife ride with me on the back, and I think she doesn't have a valid license. ????

I put labels on my passports to remind me of which agency I'm working for on a particular trip. ????

Yes, getting it jump started right here and right now. I was not a party to the politics, just a guy on the ground. I hope I behaved well and some of those folks appreciated it. That's all.

Back around 1969 (in the USA) we kids occasionally made pipe bombs. Maybe a little homemade black powder juiced up with flash powder squeezed out of regular firecrackers. Good thing we were careful, as a ragged piece of copper pipe at high velocity could have taken someone out. Circe 1990 a kid blew up my above ground pool with a substantial pipe bomb on Halloween night. He did prison time. Ping Pong ball explosives don't take much powder but can be very loud. But you don't want to be holding one when it goes off. As for Ping Pong shows, a tout at Patpong tried to get us interested (circa 1978). I said I wanted to see an elephant show, and the guy got really ticked off at me, LOL.

Print Mo' Money. What's all this "I", "I", "I" stuff? I dislike politicians. Now, if I was Emperor ...

If you are interested, there is a book. I know a couple names, though I was a peon. Good read about how boots on the ground can work around government ineptitude. There were some really dedicated people. Refugee Workers in the Indochina Exodus, 1975-1982 by Larry Clinton Thompson

I wonder if they'll have another "Yamaha Championship". I saw a video of a racewhich looked like a bunch of 150cc bikes ( like Exciters) battling it out and it was fun to watch and occasionally funny. It was sort of a hybrid of road racing and riding in traffic, LOL. This looks like it may be slightly bigger bikes at Bira:

OK, someone post pictures of the biker babes.

Taksin should build a new prison and donate it to the government. He could have a fancy penthouse suite for himself which would be for use by prison staff after he is released.

My Dad used to have an ice crusher with a crank handle if he wanted a lot of small ice. Usually he'd just whack a large rectangular cube with the back of a tablespoon.

How about working with the sugar cane buyers/processors to deduct a portion of the price paid as a penalty. Call it a pollution tax or whatever.

Lighten up. I had to look up that expression, which we didn't have 50 years ago when I smoked weed.

If you can get an insecticide containing dichlorvos (AKA: DDVP, Vapona) it should kill them pretty quickly. It's a contact/stomach/fumigant poison. I used a pest strip containing DDVP to kill wasps that were inside under my roof. I cut a piece of the impregnated strip and stuck it where they were crawling in. They were flying and dying within a few minutes and all dead the next day. It has a fumigant action that lasts quite awhile. (It's used in animal flea collars.) Here is something similar containing DDVP. (They should not be used in an enclosed living space unless you vacate for awhile and then air the place out well afterwards. Good for a shed or in the rafters of an open garage) https://www.lazada.co.th/products/garbage-guard-pest-strip-model-t800-terro-insect-killer-i3175818641-s11884370311.html?clickTrackInfo=query%3Apest%2Bstrip%2Binsecticide%3Bnid%3A3175818641%3Bsrc%3ALazadaMainSrp%3Brn%3A448b24de66fac0e3497523cd42067088%3Bregion%3Ath%3Bsku%3A3175818641_TH%3Bprice%3A1089%3Bclient%3Adesktop%3Bsupplier_id%3A100089265%3Basc_category_id%3A13876%3Bitem_id%3A3175818641%3Bsku_id%3A11884370311%3Bshop_id%3A120436&fastshipping=0&freeshipping=1&fs_ab=1&fuse_fs=1&lang=en&location=Chiang Mai&price=1089&priceCompare=&ratingscore=0&request_id=448b24de66fac0e3497523cd42067088&review=&sale=0&search=1&source=search&spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.i4.df425e15wcfyJ2&stock=1 Years and years ago I bought a small bottle of concentrated DDVP to use on a bean crop. An agriculture supply store may have it. Here's what I used. $7.50 (250 Baht) in the USA.

I mostly worked the Ban Vinai camp in Loei, but worked in Nan, Trat, Nong Khai and over by Surin and maybe another place or two. Funny thing was, I mostly worked the Loei camp and that's where I spent 2 years as a Peace Corps volunteer. One morning on the way to work in Loei, there were about 500 Hmong people who had just crossed the Mekong river at Pak Chom in Loei. They marched them back to Chiang Khan. I think they were forcibly repatriated to Laos ... one wonders how many survived.

At that age, I wanted a dirty girl. (Well, OK, most any girl.)

It is not. But they have to prove persecution or reasonable evidence that they will be persecuted if returned to their country. I'd say most illegal migrants in the U.S. are economic "refugees" or coming from some lawless/disrupted country. Back in 1979/80 I worked in Thailand with the U.S. refugee resettlement program, mostly with Lao/Hmong people fleeing the commies. (I liked some of those people more then some of the U.S. Immigration officers I worked with. ????)

" ... Dead at the scene from shooting and stabbing were a Hmong husband and wife and three children who had the surname of the father. ... ". The emphasis is mine, but I don't quite know what to think of this. I know Hmong can be hard-headed and a bit "out-there", but what is the deal with slaughtering a whole family!?

One rooster is particularly friendly, and another was getting there. And after a few weeks, a small hen or two would not be too scared of me. Less scared of me than the strong young roosters that, according to my wife, rape the hens. Always laugh at that. But there are plenty of tiny chicks underfoot unless local cats or dogs want a crunchy snack. So cute to watch them dodge the adults when they stampede at feeding time. Or watch mama hen show them how to scratch for insects and such. ... And that is how I spent weeks of my vacation last fall during my first visit in about 15 years. Loei never was very exciting, 555.

Owl, the farang/Thai friends down the way have a new kind of chicken. (Found this little poodle dog sweater at a thrift shop for $2 US. They said she just recently killed a squirrel. Good little hunter. I dog-sit occasionally. They have 8 gigantic laying hens, so I get free eggs now and then. Good deal now that even cheap eggs are $4/dozen and these are natural/free range.)

Maybe those were just Malcolm Forbes' old balloons. Or maybe Lawn Chair Larry is back.