Beautiful pond, especially nice for morning coffee bird watching.

My partner happens to be a great trip planner and travel companion. In this instance, she chose a hotel in ตราด / Trat City. It was a newly built place with nice staff, and a very beautiful view from the back patio. I would happily stay there again. It's within easy driving distance of the Trat city lake.

I like my morning coffee. I like some bird watching. Kind of nice to combine the two comfortably from the back patio.

I think the photo below is of Trat's city lake, which is actually named อ่างเก็บน้ำสระสีเสียด / Sra Si Siat Reservoir.

20260802

Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid GR Sport: Worthy of the Corolla name?

I think so. Based on four years of usage in an extreme environment (heat, humidity, flooding), I believe our 2022 Corolla Cross is worthy of the Corolla name. So far, so good, and nothing to complain about.

Engine is running. Ready to embark on a 400-km journey to ตราด / Trat.

20260802

Lone dinosaur bird again.

20260801

Yard time.

These days, they let me out most evenings. I am grateful for that.

20260724

An interesting sky show this evening.

20260717

อุทยานแห่งชาติป่าหินงาม / Pa Hin Ngam National Park

I like ชัยภูมิ / Chaiyaphum. I like the people. I like the mountains.

How to post this fairly? We visited Pa Hin Ngam National Park. There was a nice view from the สุดแผ่นดิน / Sut Phan Din viewpoint. The rock formations were cool. 

For the Thai people, I'm sure the park was great. There was convenient diesel transport to the viewpoint. There were plenty of spots for photos. Plenty of food on offer at the parking lot area. Mission accomplished.

For me, it was like a well-delivered punch to the gut. I smelled the diesel fumes straightaway. It took me a while to realize that they have an entire fleet of six to eight shuttle buses with diesel exhaust pipes mounted high at the rear of each bus. I smelled them for the duration of our visit.

After the viewpoint and the obligatory photos, we spent an hour walking a well-maintained elevated trail through the forest. It looked nice. It was unbelievably sterile. I think I saw a grand total of two birds. No deer. No squirrels. No nothing. As a museum of what the forest once was, it served its purpose, I guess.

If you are reading this from Northern California or Southern Indiana, be grateful for your beautiful nature and clean air and clean water. There are millions around the world who have never experienced the Earth as it was meant to be.

20260710

อีกาที่ชัยภูมิ / Crows of Chaiyaphum

Wherever I've gone, there have always been crows. I will not criticize them other than to point out the obvious: They are not quiet birds.

20260709

อุทยานประวัติศาสตร์ศรีเทพ / Si Thep Historical Park

Si Thep Historical Park turned out to be a lucky choice. You may have heard me go on and on about the Khmer Empire and how I've got 900-year-old ปรางค์วัดปรางค์ทอง/ Wat Prang Thong watching over me. As it turns out, that is not so impressive.

I knew little to nothing of the Dvaravati Empire, which is what you'll learn about at Si Thep, which goes all the way back to the 700s.

20260709

Thailand needs more sugar!!!

I try pretty hard not to eat these treats, but I do enjoy looking at their bright colors.

20260703

Back in for second surgery on Dell XPS 17 9700.

Tried to convince the guy at PPP in Terminal 21 to replace my display cable. He wasn't having it. Now I understand why. The display assembly is a sealed unit all glued up. Nobody goes in there to try to replace those cables. Apparently, the replacement display assembly includes the lid. There is no separating the lid from the display without removing and replacing a whole bunch of glue/adhesive.

The good news is that re-seating the display cable (on the motherboard) is doing the job for now. I'm sure it won't last. But at least I know that I have to replace the entire display assembly next time it fails. Still, I did waste USD 30. Anybody with better skills than me can have my extra display cable (Part number: M5397 / 0PPK6X) for free.

20260627