Toyota Hilux Champ: The USD 15,314 basic truck.

Today I got to see it for real at the Toyota dealership. The 2024 Toyota Hilux Champ, out the door for USD 15,314, plus however much you need to pay a third-party company to put whatever you need on the back.

The biggest downside of the truck pictured here is that it has a diesel engine. Diesel sucks. I have lived in diesel fumes for the past 2.5 years. But it is available with two different gasoline engines (2.0L, 2.7L) as well for use in countries with competent governance.

Of course, you can't have it in the U.S. But this basic truck is going to get a lot of work done around the rest of the world.

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Pink rose.

As I remember, I'm supposed to be able to smell the rose fragrance of this one (maybe it was the white ones instead...). Nothing yet, but it does look nice.

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Note: Full rose fragrance as of 20240323.

Who's going to miss pinball? Me...

Who's going to miss pinball when the pinball machines are completely gone? I will.

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They finally removed the two broken pinball machines from the game room floor at The Mall.

Toad Frog Pond serenade.

I do not, without looking it up, remember the science behind what happens to toads and frogs after the first significant rain of the season. But I can report that it wakes them all up, and they are very loud, and some of them appear to engage in hanky-panky.

Herewith, the video with audio soundtrack:

Note:  
You still have to press Play twice to play a video: Once to load the video and then again to actually play it.

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Joho Lake after the rain.

Location: สระครก จอหอ / Joho Lake

Very nice at Joho Lake after the best rain yet of the not yet rainy season. Lots of people came outside to the lake. I did one loop around the lake (clockwise, of course) in motorcycle boots.

After that it was over to Joho Lake Market, my local market, for some tasty treats. Fried chicken (leg and thigh pieces), sticky rice, bananas, oranges, and maybe that was it. What can I say about my local market? I like it.

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Thank you, Saint Mary's Hospital, for your public health efforts.

I salute your public health education efforts, Saint Mary's Hospital. 

Summary: scary stuff!!!

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Nice little first rain.

Maybe not the first actual precipitation of the season, but one that I got to experience while out and about on the motorcycle. In fact, I had to wait quite a while at St. Mary's Hospital for the rain to stop so I could ride home. Not a bad place to be stuck at all on that day. Rather enjoyable actually. Thank you, early rain.

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March continues dirty...

Topic: Southeast Asia field-burning season

I remember this day. It was not a good air day.

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I watched a dinosaur run across our front lawn today...

But I did not take any photos. I could have, especially during the hour or more that I watched him on the trunk of the rose bush. At first, it seemed like he may have been waiting for the 16:45 sprinklers so that he could take a shower. But, as it turns out, he didn't like the water. After a few minutes of being sprayed, he jumped off the rose bush onto the lawn. 

I neglected to mention his name. He was กิ้งก่า / Ging Ga. As an English name, let's call him the Oriental Garden Lizard, as Wikipedia does. Color-wise, Ging Ga has some chameleon-functionality. Camouflaged a gray color to blend in with the rose bush trunk, I nevertheless saw plenty of red on his back. Noted, too, was the Mohawk haircut (not really hair...) running down the back of his neck and lower back. 

He hit the lawn, and he took off running--standing up. He looked like a small-scale dinosaur as he made great time to the safety of some other bushes. I should like to see Ging Ga run again. It is very fun to watch. I'm sure there are other creatures out there, not just Ging Ga, who think the same of me. 

Photo of กิ้งก่า / Ging Ga on a private website about Thai national parks. 

US$ 225 to breathe safely indoors.

Most days, it's not possible to breathe safely outdoors for three or four months every year (December, January, February, March), but it's often not safe to breathe indoors either. Hence, the need for air purifiers. 

Sure, fixing the root cause of the problem would be the way to go, but that's not how it works here. I believe the idea is that if you deny the existence of a problem strongly enough, it will cease to actually exist.

At any rate, we just paid US$ 225 in order to breathe safely indoors. This is our first air purifier, but not our last. In addition to this one in the living room, we'll need at least two more for bedrooms.

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