Spectacular skies continue...

Spectacular skies continue here. As a chronicler of sunsets and rainbows (and the occasional sunrise), I continue to observe and report.

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I see green and blue and white.

Spectacular skies of late, with wonderful shades of blue and fluffy white cotton candy clouds. Everything here is green in the rainy season. Complaints? None to report.

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I am confident that even I could catch some fish here...

Of late, my skills as a fisherman have been called into question. Something about too many trips of catching zero fish. Something about my being unable to thread living, writhing earthworms onto a fishing hook. There is something to it. I used to catch more. I used to thread worms onto the hook without a thought.

Still, while not the fisherman I once was, I am confident that even I could catch some fish at the pond shown in the video below.

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Sunday, July 23rd. Vincent Flagg Memorial Day.

Did you ever have a friend who was a really great person, and you kind of knew it, but you kind of took it for granted, and then one day that friend was gone from this earthly plane? How to honor that special person? How about an annual memorial day on their birthday? Sounds good to me.

I don't think I have to report, Vince, that we did a little bit of earth shaking on Sunday, the 23rd. I felt like you were right there with us.

Vincent Richard Flagg - Born 1956 July 23rd
Will live on as long as we remember him. Didn't you see the movie Coco?

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Random Bangkok photos.

Just some random photos from the recent trip to Bangkok to meet an old friend. Making new friends is great, but I cannot deny the validity of the Chinese expression: 老朋友最好!!! Old friends are best!!!

Note: Although my brain remembers 老朋友最好 as a Chinese expression, it's possible that it's not. But I'm a somewhat older guy now, so humor me, please.

20230721-0651 Bangkok sunrise

Back in the day, they used to walk home from school here too...

You know how years later you revisit places you've been before?

View from our Bangkok hotel window...

From the hotel we normally stay at, we have a good view of planes landing at ท่าอากาศยานดอนเมือง / Don Mueang International Airport. But we stayed in a different hotel this time in order to be within walking distance of a BTS Skytrain station. Don't think you can't teach an old dog to learn new tricks. In this new hotel, we had a good view of planes taking off from Don Mueang International Airport. And a very nice sunset/moonrise as well.

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BRANDS Essence of Chicken: Accept no substitutes.

When you're on a road trip in Thailand, and you're feeling kind of rundown, well, there's only one solution. Get yourself to a 7-11 and buy some BRANDS Essence of Chicken. Drink it in one shot, without tasting it, like you're drinking some nasty whiskey. Within an hour, you'll feel much better. (Shouts in a Charles Barkley voice...) I guarantee!!!

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Jinglen, much bigger than Jingjok...

Here's a photo of a จิ้งเหลน / jinglen / skink. These are much bigger than our constant house companions, the จิ้งจก / jingjok / gecko. For the record, we bought a little net, and three or four jingjoks have been captured and relocated recently. 

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Unidentified possible bird nest.

Sighted an unidentified possible bird nest in the evergreen tree next door. The access hole is quite small. If this is, in fact, a bird nest, then it must be for a very small type of bird. Observation continues...

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Wat Sala Loi, where the trees were there first and the white-tailed squirrels dwell.

A little visit to วัดศาลาลอย / Wat Sala Loi today.

Chop down the old tree? Nope. Never.

All you have to do is leave a hole for the tree when you build the roof.

Not just the main trunk.

The smaller branches too.

Let them grow!!!

My first sighting of a white-tailed squirrel.

You might think a man-made waterfall would suck.
You would be wrong. It is surprisingly nice.

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Chronicler of sunsets: On the job...

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Lazy old retired guy accomplishes a single task. Hallelujah!!!

I finally got around to showing some love for the Trek bicycles. I had a little washing and waxing session.

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A hard rain did fall...

In the photo below, you can see the storm approaching. The wind was blowing and vendors rushed about, battening down the hatches. We had a dream of maybe making it home without any significant rainfall. That didn't happen.

We weren't even a kilometer from the market when the skies opened up. How hard did it rain? Hard enough that pulling into a gas station and waiting it out for thirty minutes seemed like a pretty good idea. With nowhere they have to be most of the time, that's how retirees roll.

Regarding the lack of water in ลำจักราช / Lam Chakkarat, where they have the boat races, that has been addressed at least a bit. It was a hard rain, a good rain. Count me as very grateful for it.

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I never set out to be an observer of snails and slugs...

It just happened. I mean, you take the wildlife you get. And here in นครราชสีมา / Nakhon Ratchasima, we get snails, slugs, and toad frogs in abundance. Of course, that's a buffet for snakes, so we've got those too.

"I'm not a slug.
I'm just a piece of poop."
(Do you believe me?)

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After someone crosses over, you see things...

A month or so after my dear mother crossed over, she appeared to us one day as a beautiful red cardinal. There we were sitting in the car, and there was the cardinal, right near the car, not afraid of us in the least. We spent several minutes together. Then finally she flew away.

Things like that happen after someone passes away. In my most recent case, a family member's mom passed away. I attended her funeral, dressed in black like Mr. Johnny Cash.

That evening, the most beautiful full moon I've ever seen in Thailand lit up the sky. I wasn't surprised. Like I said before, after someone crosses over, you see things.

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The Man in Black

I readily admit that I'm just a pretender compared to the real Man in Black, Mr. Johnny Cash. Still, I wear those black clothes for the funerals. People keep passing on. Always have done. Always will, I suppose, including me and you one day...

All the more reason to live life to the fullest each and every day. Despite no direct communication between myself and those who have crossed over, I am confident that is exactly what they would encourage us to do.

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พิมาย / Phimai abides...

One can never visit พิมาย / Phimai too often. It's still there, and they're still doing their own thing like they have been for the last however many thousands of years. Need some rain up there, though. 

ลำจักราช / Lam Chakkarat, a tributary of แม่น้ำมูล / the Mun River that is used for the annual boat races, is lower than I've ever seen it, not that I've seen it all that many times. Still, it could do with a lot more water, especially with the boat races coming up in November. That gives us four months to get more water in there. Should be okay... สาธุ

Disclaimer: It's possible that rather than being a tributary of แม่น้ำมูล / the Mun River, ลำจักราช / Lam Chakkarat might be an irrigation outlet from แม่น้ำมูล / the Mun River to farming areas. I would have to check the direction of flow in order to know for sure. Maybe next trip...

ลำจักราช / Lam Chakkarat

ปราสาทหินพิมาย / Phimai Historical Park

Amateur archeologist Jerry saw this as an ancient Khmer monument to the rising sun, which comes up directly behind this monument. Wrong as usual, of course. But I still go there at sunrise because there is a nice lady selling early morning treats. And it's near the clock tower. I'm sure we all agree that one must always visit the clock tower in every town in Thailand.

• Tim's Thailand
• Lonely Planet
• Thailandee
  

So many of these items are good.

Maybe order some of each?