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Diary of a farang in Isaan


owl sees all

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9 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

 

Our new leccy three wheeler got something of a puncture last week. The tyre simply came off the rim. Bought an inner-tube the week before, but the man told Mrs Owl it wasn't needed; and put everything back as it was.

 

Still non the wiser why it came off.  Making me think going to Udon on it is not such a good thing.

 

No pics as I was in the farm when the tyre fix man came. 160 baht fee.

I’d only expect a tyre to come off the rim if under inflated Owl ?

I have spotted a couple of ev motorcycles, today, I’m not so sharp on picking out the cars though. 
How is your 3 wheeler going otherwise ?

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, HighPriority said:

Mrs HP’s father was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2019, a matter of days after she had arrived in Australia. 
A week after arriving she returned to Thailand and nursed him for 3-4 weeks until his death… and then returning to Australia. 
 

Suddenly a global pandemic appeared and it’s now 5 years later ! 😳

 

Today was time to go and say goodbye to dad at the little village temple. 
Of course trying to be on my best behavior meant that I didn’t take any before/during pics 🙄

 

Mrs HP having a yak yak with monk after the ceremony. 
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Eating what the monks didn’t 

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Then a look around the grounds

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My wife says these old tree trunks are sacred because they come from water ?

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Great pics HP.

 

Make Mrs HP right about those underwater logs. Mystical and mysterious they are.

Edited by owl sees all
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2 hours ago, HighPriority said:

I’d only expect a tyre to come off the rim if under inflated Owl ?

I have spotted a couple of ev motorcycles, today, I’m not so sharp on picking out the cars though. 
How is your 3 wheeler going otherwise ?

It's doing great. Although only goes on 250 metre there and back trips. Not been to the farm on it for over a week. Only been charged up twice since we got it.

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Owl, your long post is sensational!

It’s surely worthy of more than 6 reposts though…? 🤣🤣

 

I showed some of your pics to Mrs HP and her sister Pakhapai and they say the fish you pic’d were “boy and girl” fish, Pla Nin.
I however assume you didn’t get a pic of the fish you didn’t know ?

As to your statue, I zoomed in and to me it looks like Rama 5 the butterfly guy…

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the sisters agree, which may mean not too much… 😎

 

Did you actually miss the rain last night ?

It didn’t pour but was a steady drizzle from about 7pm until dawn, at least here anyway. Brother says it was a good drop to get the rice to germinate. 

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22 hours ago, HighPriority said:

Owl, your long post is sensational!

It’s surely worthy of more than 6 reposts though…? 🤣🤣

 

I showed some of your pics to Mrs HP and her sister Pakhapai and they say the fish you pic’d were “boy and girl” fish, Pla Nin.
I however assume you didn’t get a pic of the fish you didn’t know ?

As to your statue, I zoomed in and to me it looks like Rama 5 the butterfly guy…

IMG_2978.thumb.png.4ee8f0af96fcf144f8ef536dc61b5e11.png

the sisters agree, which may mean not too much… 😎

 

Did you actually miss the rain last night ?

It didn’t pour but was a steady drizzle from about 7pm until dawn, at least here anyway. Brother says it was a good drop to get the rice to germinate. 

 

Don't know the difference between the sexes of Pla Nin. At least not when they are tiddlers. when they grow bigger it's easy to tell.

 

Rama 5 eh? One of the most famous of the long dynasty. Should have recognised him. Shame on me.

 

Got a very decent downpour earlier today.

 

 

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2 hours ago, HighPriority said:

Congrats on the soccer tipping Owl, never an easy task.

Thanks for that HP. I did good with that competition.  Did OK with a couple of others. Scottish Prem and Spanish; made top 10. But the EP???!!! finished outside the first 1000.

 

TBH, it was the earlier rounds that won it for me in the Ch Lg comp. One week I got 5 correct scores out of 8 matches. At semi and final stage I only got the result; no correct score. But I had a good lead by then.

 

I've had a couple of messages asking me to join their private leagues for next season. That's fame for ya.

 

 

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2 hours ago, HighPriority said:

Mrs HP says you’re on the money with the Pla nin being impossible to sex until larger Owl.

Good rain after we left the temple that wasn’t a temple today.

We were at the “Rainforest Island” in your country.

Mrs HP did a lot of kneeling and praying for my poor tortured soul and I did a lot of reaching into my wallet, but all for a good cause… 😎

 

On Sunday night a big stormfront came down the Mekong, very windy but only 10-15 mins of welcome rain

IMG_2982.thumb.jpeg.1e0844d15758d9c231b108769c997676.jpegIMG_2981.thumb.jpeg.527d54b70fbe53b527b2f79e7a72f8f9.jpeg

Rainforest Island, “offerings” sale, reminded me of our once a year fireworks night in Darwin 🤣

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Mrs HP doing some heavy lifting and aunty having a yawn 🤣

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We leave on Wednesday morning, along the way giving my brother Green and his son Leo a trip to Bangkok by plane, a first for them both.

We fly into Don Muang, travel over towards Swampy, hopefully meeting Mrs HP’s other sister somewhere before getting to Swampy and sending brother and Leo back to Udon Thani, then we head to Phuket, arriving almost midnight, I am SO looking forward to this… 😎

Its also likely the LAST time Mrs HP gets to travel plan…

Keep warm you guys, I’m going to entertain the family by doing another farang raindance that worked a treat last night 👍🏼

🤣🤣

Great pics.

 

What I recall about the front, at Phon Paisai was the 'Buddha cave'. Did you visit it HP? Very lucky spot.

 

Ah yes!! Kham Chanod. Been there a many of times, but not in the last couple of years. They come from all over to visit. Seen plenty of Chinese there in the past.

 

Heard the monks were looking for some cats a few years back. Bit of a rat problem on the island. We looked after 40+ at that time. We took 10 to the site. Went back there a few months later and one of the cats recognised me and came over for a big 'hi there' stroke. Beautiful moment.

 

Where you visited today has a dark secret (perhaps not so secret now-a-days) history. A big massacre took place there a while back. There is a film; ''Ghosts of Kham Chanod(t)'' Think I've got that right. Eerie film all right.

 

There was a fish pond there many moons ago, with absolutely  thousands of fish. I'll dig out the vid and post it.

 

ps --- great place to buy a lottery ticket. Towards the draw dates there are sometimes 100 sellers. Can't go wrong with thousands of numbers to choose from.

 

 

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Mrs HP sent her youngest one to guide me through the cave in 2018 prior to our wedding, she is still traumatised from the scary farang 🙄🤣

I didn’t go in this time but I did lob 10 Baht into the lucky for some water feature.

 

Todays location, yes Mrs HP “explained” the history to me… clear as mud… 👍🏼🤣

Someone came with a truck to show outdoor cinema, many people came and enjoyed, but in the morning, people gone and money, not money, just paper and the water like dis and like dat. 👍🏼

”Yes Tirak” scratches head, again…

I will make some effort to find the movie/understand what happened because my wife describes the place as lucky but it sounds anything but…

 

Yes, we were lucky enough to purchase the winning lotto ticket today, I do feel for everyone who will be buying for the coming weeks.

 

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7 hours ago, HighPriority said:

Mrs HP sent her youngest one to guide me through the cave in 2018 prior to our wedding, she is still traumatised from the scary farang 🙄🤣

I didn’t go in this time but I did lob 10 Baht into the lucky for some water feature.

 

Todays location, yes Mrs HP “explained” the history to me… clear as mud… 👍🏼🤣

Someone came with a truck to show outdoor cinema, many people came and enjoyed, but in the morning, people gone and money, not money, just paper and the water like dis and like dat. 👍🏼

”Yes Tirak” scratches head, again…

I will make some effort to find the movie/understand what happened because my wife describes the place as lucky but it sounds anything but…

 

Yes, we were lucky enough to purchase the winning lotto ticket today, I do feel for everyone who will be buying for the coming weeks.

 

The whole area has a murky part.

 

A couple of hundred people were on the island hiding away from the rampaging arms. Unfortunately for them they were spotted.

 

I have some pics of the bridge in the early days of construction. Could do a special on Kham Chanod. Interesting place.

 

Hope you didn't drink any of the water from the lucky pool. Not known anyone to have a swallow and not get ill. Although the wife says it is lucky water.

 

 

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, owl sees all said:

The whole area has a murky part.

 

A couple of hundred people were on the island hiding away from the rampaging arms. Unfortunately for them they were spotted.

 

I have some pics of the bridge in the early days of construction. Could do a special on Kham Chanod. Interesting place.

 

Hope you didn't drink any of the water from the lucky pool. Not known anyone to have a swallow and not get ill. Although the wife says it is lucky water.

 

 

Yes, I’ve been googling this morning.

What I have learned is that it’s very hard to find any information beyond the Naga legend, frustratingly so !

I did find this entertaining review of the place:

 

https://www.giunca.com/EdWorld/2019/10/30/wat-kham-chanot-and-the-legend-of-the-giant-serpents/

 

Which contained this link to possibly the movie you mentioned Owl ?

A 2007 Thai horror movie trailer:

 

https://youtu.be/4Aly6kAtZIg?si=vfyAvDznzrQsOMhP

 

Looks like it might be worth an hour or two to watch the full movie.

Wiki had no information about the place 🤔

When I was there what really struck me was that it felt like a military operation, I didn’t see any monks on the island (we didn’t comb the place, it was a relatively quick visit) but plenty of “paramilitary types”

When we entered the island there was a guy chanting away like a monk but when I located him he wasn’t robed ? EDIT: “Monk” was decently attired 🤣
The above link says it is a temple and a monk blessing, but my wife when I questioned her (I know… I know… 😎) told me it wasn’t a temple and they were just security… 🤷🏼‍♂️

I came to the conclusion it was a military cashcow 😎

I assume the Naga offerings all get put on a truck and sold back to the vendors to touch up and resell…?
So many questions 🤔

 

Maybe farang tink too much, geez I hope I didn’t miss the lucky numbers.

Cheers

Edited by HighPriority
“Monk” was decently attired 👍🏼
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18 minutes ago, HighPriority said:

Yes, I’ve been googling this morning.

What I have learned is that it’s very hard to find any information beyond the Naga legend, frustratingly so !

I did find this entertaining review of the place:

 

https://www.giunca.com/EdWorld/2019/10/30/wat-kham-chanot-and-the-legend-of-the-giant-serpents/

 

Which contained this link to possibly the movie you mentioned Owl ?

A 2007 Thai horror movie trailer:

 

https://youtu.be/4Aly6kAtZIg?si=vfyAvDznzrQsOMhP

 

Looks like it might be worth an hour or two to watch the full movie.

Wiki had no information about the place 🤔

When I was there what really struck me was that it felt like a military operation, I didn’t see any monks on the island (we didn’t comb the place, it was a relatively quick visit) but plenty of “paramilitary types”

When we entered the island there was a guy chanting away like a monk but when I located him he wasn’t robed ? EDIT: “Monk” was decently attired 🤣
The above link says it is a temple and a monk blessing, but my wife when I questioned her (I know… I know… 😎) told me it wasn’t a temple and they were just security… 🤷🏼‍♂️

I came to the conclusion it was a military cashcow 😎

I assume the Naga offerings all get put on a truck and sold back to the vendors to touch up and resell…?
So many questions 🤔

 

Maybe farang tink too much, geez I hope I didn’t miss the lucky numbers.

Cheers

Thanks for the reply HP.

 

The times we are talking are long gone. Northern Isaan was a mix of Isaan people and Laoans, Chinese and Burmese. On the whole they got on well together, mixed, bred and generally got on with life. The Thai powers back in Ayutthaya didn't seem too bothered by it all. But a member of the royalty, Prince Prajak - brother of Rama 5 - got an army together to drive the Laotians back across the Mekong. The massacre at Kham Chanot was part of that drive. This era was the founding of the city of Udon Thani. Prince Prajek called it the 'City of the North', and it gradually grew to what is is today; helped, much later, by US dosh; post WW11.

 

A visit the Museum in Vientiane seems to depict a different story. One of great victories. As with most history; complicated, confused but non-the-less very interesting.

 

I'm pretty sure you will be 6 million baht better off come the 16th of the month HP.

 

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Now I’m worried again Owl.

The other day Mrs HP was in the dentist and I was waiting with her 20yo daughter. The news was on tv with lots off cctv footage with arrows indicating the bad guys, on constant repeat… 🙄

Just now I was having breakfast with her and the news had a follow up, it seems the wife paid Baht300k to have her hubby bumped off 😳

I told her I wasn’t worried because her mum not have Baht300k 🤣

 

But if it’s Baht6M I could be in a spot of bother… 😎

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Posted (edited)
29 minutes ago, HighPriority said:

Now I’m worried again Owl.

The other day Mrs HP was in the dentist and I was waiting with her 20yo daughter. The news was on tv with lots off cctv footage with arrows indicating the bad guys, on constant repeat… 🙄

Just now I was having breakfast with her and the news had a follow up, it seems the wife paid Baht300k to have her hubby bumped off 😳

I told her I wasn’t worried because her mum not have Baht300k 🤣

 

But if it’s Baht6M I could be in a spot of bother… 😎

Have to sort these things our beforehand.

 

When I win the 6 million, 5 of those are already spoken for. But I will have a new house to live in, a new car to drive and lots of gold to look at.

 

I'm quite content to keep things as they are. But might change my mind after a few whackings.

Edited by owl sees all
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6 minutes ago, HighPriority said:

I must admit that whilst quickly checking a few shops for the electric Thai bbq cooker in Ban Dung,  my eyes did stray in search of a hat shop, to no avail… 😎

 

The hat lady is now just a dream. A fantasy.

 

People ask me if I'm an anti-vaxxer. I say; I've had over 50 jabs this year. Hope the wife don't discover the right cross, or left hook.

 

Better for my health if I forget that lovely bit of stuff. She said she was saving herself for me though.

 

 

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14 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Yup, another great round up of the weekly log Owl, thanks for the time and effort taken to keep this going and keep us up to date with your antics.

 

Had a shock when I first saw this photo, thought you were cleaning up in your speedos !!!  
 

IMG_4120.png.15f018a030d16c1260d008a4d50a8db5.png

 

My bad, “ should have gone to Top Charoen !! “

The horror was real… 🤣

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On 6/2/2024 at 6:28 PM, owl sees all said:

 

Been a good week. No whackings from Mrs Owl.

 

 

 

 


 

On 6/4/2024 at 12:27 PM, owl sees all said:

 

 

 

People ask me if I'm an anti-vaxxer. I say; I've had over 50 jabs this year. Hope the wife don't discover the right cross, or left hook.

 

13 hours ago, owl sees all said:

 

 

Me poorly. And the wife has not been at her peak this past week. No whackings for me. A result that, but, strangely quiet. She says she is a bit better this morning though. So I can expect a few jabs later.

 

+++++

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 recent references. Time to take action or are they jabs and whacks in good fun. That don't hurt. Hope you are feeling better. 

Edited by Fat is a type of crazy
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