kandahar

So, a fire at Sinthanee. They have enough of my money, I'm sure they can afford to rebuild. Please keep us up to date. Then again I may have to drive past there tomorrow.

Sure no fires on this forum today. Had a thought, that perhaps we need an obituary section pinned for all the dead people we know. Of course in read only format. We don't want to overwork the mods. I was at another funeral last night.

I have often wondered why there isn't a permanent obit. thread, in every city section of this TV forum. That one seems to be a no-brainer, to me.

Concerning the fire, I probably won't offer any follow-ups. Maybe others will. I have some other stuff going on that I need to take care of.

My thoughts don't really stretch to Sinthanee as a whole but to those who may well find themselves out of work because of it. Fires often tend to have a much more devastating effect in a community than the obvious ruined structure. The ripple, ripples far, sometimes.

Yes, it is a quiet day on the forum today. I guess a strenuous Hash can really take a lot out of some people.

But, I had better get back on topic here. It is a BEAUTIFUL day in CR.

Maybe we got a little more than our share of smoke this morning. A local just told me that the Sinthanee complex by Big C burned and is still burning. That's the place that sells the TV's and appliances. Apparently, they lost quite a few trucks as well. Anyone know about this?

Edit: A Farang friend who lives behind Big C confirms that it did burn but he doesn't know if it is a total loss or something that can be reopened shortly. He hasn't seen it yet.

Lonnie Mack- Stop

Lonnie has a lot of good stuff. He is overlooked by many, undiscovered by even more and more valuable than most. Check him out. He's sincere and committed to his craft and it shows in his product.

Sorry it took you a day to write your letter. Slow or not, you did a good job. Well done.

As some of the others mentioned, the airline did do a pretty decent job with their offers. Some don't do much of anything without a long fight.

Maybe with another letter you can do better. Here's some things to mention:

You really aren't interested in what the IATA recommends or if that airline follows those recommendations. You expect your airline to:

1. Fully fullfill their obligation to you. Let them know that you did not enter into a gambling contract with them nor was a nice game of musical chairs in the deal. They promised the seat on THAT flight and took your money accordingly.

2. Make it up to you in such a way that you will remain a customer of that airline (even if you know you have no choice about that airline to that destination).

3. Provide you with a "club member" card or some other form of upping your status with the company so that it doesn't happen again.

4. Fully exceed IATA requirements, which are a minimum set of guidelines set forth to compensate passengers but more-so, to protect the reputation of the airline industry as a whole.

You arguments are:

1. While you appreciate their business acumen in trying to maintain full flights, you are NOT a number in their accounting ledger. The next guy might be just a number but you have been a dedicated customer of that airline and you will not settle for, nor do you deserve, the treatment given the herd. You chose, and have chosen for many years, that airline over others because of the exceptional service/value. If that airline has downgraded an especially devoted customer to "herd" status, then you will find another airline.

2. Compensation does NOT make up for the lack of service and care that you encountered. Compensation DOES say, "Something bad happened to you because of us and we are sorry". Compensation does say "We value your business enough that we are offering an apology in the form that YOU, the customer, has made clear will be sufficient". Compensation, such as I have suggested, does say "We offer this compensation, recommended by you, because we, the transgessors in this situation, aren't in a position to know what value you have assigned to our bad judgement and we DO appreciate your letting us know so that we can meet your expectations".

3. The airline has an opportunity to make you feel comfortable that future flights will NOT be a gamble. You are not one of those lackadaisical customers that has time for such nonsense. When you book, you fly. When you pay money, it is serious. You need to know that they are just as serious in meeting your requirements in the future.

4. IATA is NOT who you are. While it is fine that you choose to be a member, as there are benefits in it for you, to rely solely on THEIR criteria for compensation is below you. The WORST airline out there is expected to meet their minimum recommendations. That is why they have those recommendations- To offer some insight into the MINIMUM standards expected of International air-travellers and to encourage the WORST airlines to meet par. I have never considered your airline to be at the bottom of the barrel and I am dismayed that you would choose to fill a seat on that second-string bench just because it is offered. In my travels with your airline, I have often seen the ways in which you rise above the competition and I thought that is how you wanted to be perceived. If you have changed your business plan regarding customer satisfaction, please inform me immediately or, at the least, post a press-release in the trade and travel magazines. I'm sure that most of your customers and your competition will be interested.

I'm serious here people. I have been a long-time, dedicated customer. I have chosen you, over others, for many years and many flights and I have encouraged my friends to do the same. I would love to continue to do so. Over-booking and losing my seat has never been a part of my deal with you nor should it ever be. Make this right. Make me want to stay with you because you are an airline that does what's right. Lead the industry in your part of the world; don't become another member of the herd. Your airline wasn't founded on herd business practices.

As I have proposed before, here is what I expect from your airline in order for me accept that you do indeed value me as a customer: Blah, blah, blah, whatever you think they should give you

I realize that in a business sense, I am but one to you. I am much more than one. Where your airline is concerned, I am me, I am my friends, I am my family and I am at least hundreds of thousands who read my blog and who read my posts in the different forums in which I regularly post. I truly want to tell the good story in my writings, not the bad one. I can tell you, if you choose to put me in that 30 percent that you spoke of, it will cost you a lot more than the compensation that I have proposed. In the course of my future lifetime of travelling, your gamble with this customer will amount to a much larger loss than you wagered.

Sincerely, blah, blah , blah.

Okay. That's it dude. Get to writing.

Sorry about any typos here or grammar errors here. I'm in a hurry, as usual. Good luck. And let us know how it turns out.

kandahar

Edit: Others have posted some good stuff here since I started writing. Incorporate it in your writings. Cut and paste what you see here in the different posts and tie it together. The letter should get written a lot quicker that way.

Some Thais see them as a delicacy.

Is there something the Thais do not see as a delicacy? Hel_l I've even seen them eating McDonalds stuff .

Pain in the butt those bugs are but harmless.

Sorry Phil I was stating the obvious .

I find it helps to put a towel or something down to stop the gap under the door and use the lights to your advantage

I wasn't having a pop at you I just couldn't resist it having pataken of some of those Issan "delights"

Yes, the towel, wet is best, is a good idea. I'm not keen on kandahar's chemical warfare though, poisoned bugs get eaten by other more friendly critters. Let's apply a bit of live and let live.

They are termites, Phil. Kill them. If there is anything in Thailand eating termites, it isn't doing a very good job of it and probably won't be missed if it does eat a poisoned one. Thias excluded, of course, but a guy ought to know if he has a mound that is ripe for raiding by a Thai neighbor.

I recently lived in a house in the center of an orchard. That was a termite metropolis. I have never seen anything like it. Every place that I happened to dig a hole or trench was already halfway dug by the termites underground. My house was brick and concrete. The neighbor's house was wood. As much as he sprayed and sprayed, the things just seemed to prosper. That place was a buffet. There wasn't much left of his house. It looked good but the wood was a dry mush that you could poke your finger through. He finally gave up, almost completely tore it down, and started over. With wood. Go figure.

If you are keeping an eye on the yard, you'll see them pouring out of the ground from little holes that lead to their runs, usually in the afternoon and especially, but not always, after a rain. Feel free to shoot ant/termite spray into those openings as you witness the exit. You will get the majority of them in that run but there are LOTS of runs and lots of exits.

As soon as it gets dark, I close all of the outdoor lights and light large candles. I place the candles around the yard, in low tree branches and on the porch. They go straight to the candles and quickly meet their demise. I don't have problems with them getting into the house; they all head for the candles. Don't use candles that are very small because they will extinguish the flame as they hit it. The bloom should typically last only for a few nights and then it is back to normal life.

With the plan we have, 850 baht per month, there is NO download limit. They offer cheaper plans and those plans have limits.

The 8,000 included the hardware (dongle) and the software disk to load their program onto our computers. Again, it is cheaper now and they say the hardware is a little better. The last time I checked, the price was down to 6,500 with CAT. Other dongles are offered for sale in many places but I wanted to stay with CAT hardware because I didn't want to have to resolve any problems with other brands of hardware.

I suggest stopping by your CAT office. They will let you fool around on a laptop that is connected using this service and you can decide if it is fast enough.

For us, there just isn't a better answer out there. I felt very fortunate to discover it.

I have used it for over a year now. Works and travels well for me. From what I can see, if you can get a cell phone signal, you can get Internet. It works off of the same towers/signals that the mobile phones work on. Wife uses it for stock trading every day that the market is open, I use it for general web stuff plus e-mail. I watch a lot of TV shows and movies with it.

There are periodic outages that don't last long and don't happen often. There are periodic slowdowns that don't last long and don't happen often. When we first started with it, there were more problems but the last 8 months have been pretty good.

I'm in the north and they say it works just about anywhere except in BKK. There is a different service offered there that is not compatible with ours. Works fine in Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Mae Sai. Check with the company. They have maps that show their coverage.

Supposedly, they have better dongles available now. When we bought ours, it was over 8,000 baht but the price has dropped. I understand that the new dongles aren't improved enough to justify us upgrading, so we stick with the one we have. We are happy with it.

We do lose the signal sometimes in mountainous areas and have to wait until we get to a better position. We also notice that the mobile phones are off-line because of signal issues at that time.

UK guy doing okay. Looked good but a little tired.

Danish guy still battling. Needed some painkiller but I lost that battle with the nurse. She knows best, I'm sure. Bed sores starting to get him down. Doc promised a better mattress but it hasn't appeared. Nurse says they are very short of those mattresses.

He was hurting too much to bother with checking his e-mail again today.

He had requested a burger, so one was delivered today from Nice Kitchen. I hope he enjoys it.

He hasn't anyone to look after him full-time. Lucky for him, there is a man next to him with an ailment and that man's wife does quite a bit for Danish guy. So, she's looking after two people instead of one. Nice lady. I'm proud of her.

Anyone care to take something else that was listed and start a #3 and #4? Very in trend these days.

Well, I had been considering posting Time Travel 3 just to see how many people would search for the non-existent Time Travel 2 but I decided that wouldn't be very nice. But we are trendy here in CR, aren't we?

It was a nice invite, though, wasn't it?

Last week, when some of the......

UH OH!!! jubby just logged on! EVERYBODY STRAIGHTEN UP!!!!!!

I've been on since 4am mate. don't seem to need a lot of sleep these days. Its my Pub mate, a lot cheaper and closer than real pubs. I don't tend to take the forum or myself too seriously. Its probably the only communication I make in English these days, after I've been on a pub crawl I tend to lay off it for a week or so, so next week the Jubbmeister will be quiet and you intelectuals and other established higher forms of life can get on with . Hip Hip Horray

I'm gonna miss ya.

Hopefully, I'll be a LOT busier next week and not have so much time for this thing. I welded up roof trusses yesterday and that opens the way for the next steps of this project to speed forward.

No Swedish Vikings mentioned I guess Khandahar

We (I'm being optomistic but I guess there are perhaps 5 of us here max at anyone time) need a catalyst some spark, I guess it just wasn't there or everyone was waiting for sparks to fly on the other threads.

I've done more than my share this week so I'll be quiet for a week or so. Thankfully

You haven't exceeded anything. And your contributions are appreciated. If it was important to post this week, it is equally so, next week.

So, what story do you have for THIS thread?

I'm a bit surprised that this thread hasn't seen more action. What an opportunity this one is. When I first read it, I thought that many other posters, with many other anecdotes, would share some of those humorous stories. I think we all have some. Maybe they have all been told here already, before I started visiting this thing.

We are funny animals and we do funny things. Maybe some of us are just too shy to tell about it.

Where I came from, people drive on the opposite side of the road. It took some getting used to here, for me. When crossing the street, on foot, I came pretty close to being run over, several times. If the wife was with me, (not my wife then, we had just met) she would just take my arm and say "crossing" and lead me across the street. She KNEW I was going to get killed before we ever got to know each other. But she wasn't always with me. She spent 9 hours a day at the office and I was on my own a lot. It was hard to break the habit of looking left before I crossed. Looking right seemed so wrong.

I remember thinking that I would never be able to ride a bicycle in this town, let alone attempt to drive a vehicle. I would cause an accident for sure.

These days, I drive, bike, whatever, without even thinking about it. And maybe once every two months or so, I'll revert to my old self and attempt to get into the car on the wrong side when I want to drive somewhere. I'm always glad nobody is watching when I do that.

Now, my worry is that some day, I'll go to the old country for a visit. I'll rent a car. East will meet west, violently, head-on. And in my last nanoseconds of life, I'll be blaming that OTHER idiot for driving in my lane.

Anyone care to take something else that was listed and start a #3 and #4? Very in trend these days.

Well, I had been considering posting Time Travel 3 just to see how many people would search for the non-existent Time Travel 2 but I decided that wouldn't be very nice. But we are trendy here in CR, aren't we?

It was a nice invite, though, wasn't it?

Last week, when some of the......

UH OH!!! jubby just logged on! EVERYBODY STRAIGHTEN UP!!!!!!

Wish I could be there, sadly I won't be in the Kingdom until May 16th and up to CR on the 19th-21st before heading up to Chiang Saen.

Hope you all have fun in the sun.

If I was in the Rai I reckon I'd go for the more AC oriented activities, what with my pale blue East London tan and all!

I'll keep looking at this thread in case anything is going on when I'm in town.

Cheers,

Biff

Sorry to hear you won't make it. Maybe next time.

I'm all for the AC stuff. Whenever it gets figured out, I'll show up.

If you ever want to stop by the house here, then do. We are on the Google map and easy to find. Just give me a heads-up and I'll PM you with the info. We always have a fresh bucket of ice, hot coffee and usually, some Pepsi Max on hand.

Hard Wired certainly rings a bell with me. We've probably met already.

SpermBank & Missed period Would you believe

I would love to say I remember. But I don't. The names that you write are familiar but until I see you there, it won't click. I have a bad memory for things like that. But I'm sure we will both recognize each other tomorrow if you have been there a lot.

The only guy that really sticks in my mind is that dude that keeps asking me for money. For the first three or four Hashes, I thought I was loaning him money. After that first Hash, I would think "Man, that guy sure has some hard luck. He's no better off this time than the last. I sure hope things turn around for him." And I noticed that EVERYBODY was contributing and I felt so proud of my fellow Hashers for looking out for the guy. Finally, at a later Hash, I refused to loan him any money. It was obvious that all the help I was giving really wasn't helping him. His answer was to blacklist me at the beer cooler. I've got his number now.

I'll figure you out tomorrow, jubby.

Quoted from Brian:

"Hi!

I can not sleep and are thinking about,my short time in town and what there are happend,in this short time.

In the beginning I go in here, whit an open mind,just to see,whats happening around and so-but after a while,I was thinking-what kind of people are thise folks-are they just sitting here for fun..to have something to do duing the day.?

I became more and more confused,becourse of the way you speak to each other and so-and I was thinking-why nobody say,hi,when we meet a farang in Big C or so-are they arrogant and dont allow newbies around.?

Then I must say,that I have learn,that it is not so-fare away!

I had some problems,I put out here, and you guys took your time, and try to help me-and I have seen alot of kindness and understanding,from you-you are just great.

I am so happy,that I understand,that my woman was not happy,living in Nong Chang,down south-Uthai Thani-she missed her family,and I sayed,ok,we are going to Chiang Rai.this is no good.

All my freinds and so,told me-you are crazy,it is all gangsters up there, and they will kill you-even folks from Denmark, send me mails about, how dangerous it was here.

So I was worried,for sure-but it was a total misunderstanding-I have just found good and helpfull people, here in town,and I am so happy,that we went up here-this is the place, where I wont to be old,whit my woman.

I think,I just wont to say,Thanks to all you guys,for being there,when time have been rough for me-not to mention all the help and support, you have given my freind,Carsten.

I will look forward, to meet some of you guys, in the future.

Brian" End quote

Hey Brian. I hope to see you at the Hash tomorrow. It is easy to find. If you need guidance, let me know. You can follow me out there. It isn't so far away.

I'm glad to know that your wife is happier here. If she is happier, then you are sure to be.

I don't know about any gangsters here. That's the first I have heard of it. But that wouldn't have slowed me down had I wanted to come and I HAD heard that version of this town. I've been to bad places before. But now that you have mentioned it, I'll be keeping a closer eye on some of this forum bunch. You know, I only trust two people on this forum- You and me. And I wonder about you sometimes.

Just kidding, Brian. I NEVER wonder what kind of guy you are. If there are gangsters here, I guess I haven't sold anything on their corner yet. But I am expanding.

The Big C thing. That gets mentioned here now and then. I don't think it is limited to Big C. But we don't greet each other much, do we? I don't do it. Others don't greet me either but I don't often wear that "Greet me!" look. Others don't greet me either and I like it that way. I usually just want to mind my own business and I would guess my demeanor suggests that. Now, if I see a guy I know and can stand, then I'll have a chat. Other than that, what they are doing isn't my concern.

Here's a thought, Brian. You don't see the locals greeting each other in Big C if they don't already know each other. I'm going to guess that you didn't greet complete strangers in the supermarkets and malls back home. Why would you? You would be there talking all day if you did and they reciprocated. ( I DO have an aunt like that and she will talk to you until she finds at least one person in your life that she knows.) So, you live here now, you're one of us. You're a CR dude, just like about everyone else in the Big C (except the women, who are chicks, not dudes. Well, most of them). No reason to stop someone just because they look different from the Thais. Pretty much everyone is a resident and feels comfortable being one. And who wants to gab with just another resident?

Sooner or later, you'll have enough people to talk to and say "Hi" to. So, come to the Hash. You'll have a few new faces to recognize later. Until then, you're just another face and all of those other faces are just another face. Well, except for me. You'll recognize me and I'll recognize you and we will say hi and maybe, we'll take a break and have a coffee. And of course, I'm REALLY handsome and hard to miss and all that.

Brian, if you have troubles in the future and you need answers, put them on here. Somebody might have the solution and they might reply with that solution. Don't let the misunderstandings if the past make you shy about asking.

As I always say, this bunch is pretty special. And if they are gangsters, then they are pretty special gangsters.

Edit:

PS: And quit worrying! Get some sleep. Life is going to work out the way it is supposed to work out. It always has and it always will.

Nice post, good man. Always good to see a contribution as opposed to retribution.

I am sorry to say, I don't know London. I passed through an airport there once and found it a hel_l of a lot better than the previous stopover in an airport in France and that is about the end of it.

I agree, some of the past is better left in the past. I don't miss the bad stuff. I remember driving through a burnt-out section of a major city in the strife-torn 60's. Bad stuff happened there and lives were lost, families torn.

In my old homeland, metal detectors greet you at school doors now. Armed policemen roam the halls. And on and on and on.........

This place hasn't met that fate yet. Again, the family values are what keeps a smile on this face.

Yes, change is inevitable. But for some folks, the battle to keep it at bay is a worthy one, even if it is a losing one. In CR, I don't think it is a battle. At the moment, the good stuff is still the "present". I appreciate that. I don't take it for granted, nor do I think that this is just the way the world is. No, I see it as VERY valuable at this time in my life and I didn't see that value when I was younger. I didn't really know what I had.

Thanks for you input on the postings of VF.

And yes, jubby and his balls...... What kind of day would we have without a report like that? AND he makes us all a little more proud of our own in-laws while he is at it. I have an alcoholic BIL but he keeps his hands to himself.

Thanks, don't get me wrong, there's plenty about the past in my city, and the present come to think of it, which i wouldn't ever want to change. I think my main point was that time marches on and we often see that as a bad thing and can get caught up with what is wrong with how things are now by way of comparison.

People often comment about how bad violent crime is in London now, it's true there are many knife attacks and some of our young people have a very hard time just walking to scholl in safety. But it was always like that to a degree, maybe it wasn't reported as much at the time, I don't know.

As far as family values are concerned that is a very good point, nowadays so many people are living far away from their families. In my country in the late 70's early 80's there was a lot of what is called 'social mobility' this is often seen as a good thing, people getting better housing and better paid jobs further away from where they grew up. I think there is a side effect of that in that it can tend to unravel the fabric of the local community. For example, London has a static population of around 8 million, this swells every day to around 11 million, then sg=hrinks back to 8. This means that 3 million people travel for well over an hour, into London every day for work then go back home again, what kind of community does that develop? I hear people in my area talk of when they could leave their doors unlocked and pop round their neighbours house to borrow something etc. etc. whilst that is true one reason why they could leave their door unlocked is because they didn't have anything worth stealing!

I know material possesions can't replace community values but many people couldn't wait to move away from those communities as they wanted better housing better schools and some fresh air to breath.

London is, and always has been, a mixture of rich, poor and everything in between. I suspect that is true of many other cities in the world.

I don't think you need worry too much about Thai society, from my limited exposure, the values of family transcend any material gain. There are young people who appear, on the surface, to be wrapped up in the latest cell-phone or whatever but I think, deep down, they still have enough of the values of their society to continue having something that is worth so much more than any technological advance.

If you look at the youth of any generation you may well think you have cause to worry, I remember seeing a TV program about some of the young men in the US military serving in Iraq (whatever your views on that conflict are irrelevant for this example) and one of their commanders made a comparison with the same generation from the 1940's he said 'they would match up to any of them, I have no doubt whatsoever about that'

Praise indeed.

Thanks again for the OP

Biff

You are welcome for the post. Thanks for your observations.

I write stuff like this often enough. I just usually send it out to a mailing list of relatives and close friends. This particular one seemed more appropriate for this crowd.

Danish guy was hurting pretty good tonight. He hurt enough that he didn't want to fool with the Internet. I talked to the staff girls and they shot him up. He was feeling much better in minutes. He and I talked for quite a while. He spent some time reminiscing about the small things he missed from home. He mentioned a very dark bread that I have never had. Funny, the things we miss from the old days and ways.

I was late getting over to UK guy's room and he was already down for the night. I'll catch him a lot earlier tomorrow.

Hey Kandahar, you been to 6 hashes last year!?!?! I was the guy chasing everyone to pay (Hash Cash), I must have missed you ! Did not think I missed anyone of the 2 years I was HC. I even got money from some people just passing on the road!

I am happy that we can meet tomorrow with lots of other people. I have contacted the GM and Hash Beer that they stock up with extra drinks (water and some beer etc) tomorrow because it might be more people than normal!

Nah, you didn't miss me. In fact, I think you charged me twice, most times.

I'm Hard Wired, dude. The Wife is Short Circuit.

You can put us down on the Pepsi list for tomorrow.

Looks like I'll be accompanied by one good friend that isn't a part of the forum and has never been to the Hash. Nice fella. His Thai wife will be attending also. My wife may make it yet. She's shuffling schedules right now.

So, here's a challenge. Bring at least one friend. Let's shake up the CR hash this month.

It's only a one time deal and lots of you have been thinking about it for a long time. Do it tomorrow. C'mon folks, spend one day this year with some really good folks out on the trails in the bush.

Don't worry about me mate. I have no probs getting out without the Kids. Luckily they like School. I'm probably one of the easiest to accomodate.

Be it Bar, Coffee shop , gogo bar or brunch at the meridian or just about anywhere else. Quite a few flangs go the Rimkok to swim and generally chill out and with Kids this time of year.

I'm not that convinced that we're all really social animals though I don't get to town much these days, partly because of the distance, also trying to tighten my belt financially and also because some of the flangs I've been met recently seem to be nice guys and then turn out to be psychopaths I suppose I'm getting a little bit selectively reclusive

I suppose Ideally Thaivisa could organise one off there famous BBQ's up here. Everyone likes barbeques surely with a vegetarian option.

maybe Limbo or Mac whatsisname could shed some light on why we don't seem to haveybe because theres so few of us or something. Clearly some but not all are involved in some of the other activities mentioned and were free to join in I would think.

I have a feeling you're right: We aren't all that social. If we were, we wouldn't be in CR. I told you already, I'm not social. But I'll get over it for a day. It won't kill me and I've done it before.

I wouldn't count on TV for a BBQ. I think we're pretty short on sponsors here. Money, money, money.

Concerning VF, it isn't an issue. He takes care of himself quite well. Truly, I was just enjoying reminding him of his suicidal chicken adventures.

So there we have it folks. something for everyone.

And If your wifes more interesting than the others and speaks perfect central Thai rather than some other dialect or english for that matter she can hang around at the back for a stimulating conversation with the one and only .... VF

I'll be somewhere in the middle with the lower classes and other pondlife

Sorry folks... Couldn't resist it.

You know, jubby, you ought to give the guy a break. Personally, I give him a lot of credit. It isn't everyone that has the guts to live near expensive, suicidal chickens. And even when those chickens exit this world on his watch, he doesn't complain. He just starts typing the story and it gets posted here. I tend to see it more as an obituary or memorial than grumbling on his part.

There has to be some places that would be ideal. But I can't think of any right now. I really don't get out and about too much so I'm sure there are lots of places that I am unaware of. Another idea: There are several hotels that allow the public to pay and use the swimming pool and some other facilities. Maybe if a Hash is too hot for some, an afternoon at the pool would fit the bill. That is something that the kids could enjoy as well, if folks have a hard time getting out without taking the kids. (I'm talking about jubby here, of course. Somehow, I just can't picture him having much fun without that bunch.) Surely one of those places has an attached coffee shop and a place to buy "other drinks" for those that wish to have them.

Other ideas include any water-falls in the area that have places to swim or stay cool.

Lots of other options for the thinking/traveling crowd.

And maybe, the Hash group would want to attend as well, in order to meet new friends and recruit new members. In other words, maybe we need to pool our resources. Is it "the more, the merrier" or TV CR forum folks only?

Thoughts? Ideas? Arguments? Outrage? Indignation?

C'mon, let me have it. I can handle it.

Looks like the wife may not attend after all. A coordinated visit to an incapacitated friend is going to trump the Hash for her. That doesn't change my plan.

Be nice to see you kandahar.

lets hope this mad heat doesn't put too many off attending.

If I can handle the heat and I can talk my Thai partner into coming, I will be there. What is a SALAK?

I think a salak is a kind of pavilion thingy. A few uprights, a roof, open sides and probably containing some picnic tables, benches or something along those lines. If I'm wrong, we'll hear about it shortly.

Concerning the heat, if you choose to just stay back with the snacks and beverages, nobody is going to give you a hard time. Truly, some of those people go just for the socializing and to get out of the house for a bit. So, to limit the heat damage to yourself, just pulling security in the shade at the starting point is acceptable. And, as much as they might not wish for me to disclose this secret, the soda-pop drinkers often out-number the beer drinkers in a BIG way. Whatever it is, it isn't a drunk-fest. As Sven said, it is a family thing as much as anything else.

Looks like the wife may not attend after all. A coordinated visit to an incapacitated friend is going to trump the Hash for her. That doesn't change my plan.

Be nice to see you kandahar.

lets hope this mad heat doesn't put too many off attending.

Same here, man. I'm looking forward to meeting you. And others.