Quote of the Day

There are matters in the Bible, said to be done by the express commandment of God, that are shocking to humanity and to every idea we have of moral justice.
- Thomas Paine

Vegetating

Since becoming more or less alone in this country I have vegetated into a state where I now spend most of my waking hours slumped in a chair in front of the TV. Every now and then I pop outside to have a quick dip in the pool or a trip to the supermarket. I also spend some time surfing the net. Today I finally wrote down three paragraphs, the first stuff I've written in ten days. Sigh.

On the other hand, I stuff face like a champ. Behold my favorite meal; apple pie and ice cream:

Looks tempting, no?


I thought so too.

Purdy sunrise

Some purdy pics of the sunrise at my villa... from the one time when I couldn't get to sleep and stayed awake all night to take them... I then promptly fell into a ten hour coma, and in the evening I went to the supermarket and bought sleeping pills. I'm nothing if not modern.

Quote of the Day

Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication - after that it is only an account of something which that person says was a revelation made to him; and though he may find himself obliged to believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me to believe it in the same manner; for it was not a revelation made to ME, and I have only his word for it that it was made to him.
- Thomas Paine

Quote of the Day

Arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe and preserve order in the world as well as property.
- Thomas Paine

Quote of the Day

My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
- Thomas Paine

Quote of the Day

Accustom a people to believe that priests, or any other class of men can forgive sins, and you will have sins in abundance.
- Thomas Paine

Quote of the Day

Tom Paine week! Wheeee!

When the government fears the people, it is liberty. When the people fear the government, it is tyranny.
- Thomas Paine

Quote of the Day

I don't know why it is that the religious never ascribe common sense to God.
- William Somerset Maugham

Quote of the Day

The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic, and self-complacent is erroneous - on the contrary, it makes them, for the most part, humble, tolerant, and kind. It is failure that makes people bitter and cruel.
- William Somerset Maugham

Quote of the Day

I would sooner read a time-table or a catalog than nothing at all. They are much more entertaining than half the novels that are written.
- William Somerset Maugham

Quote of the Day

Art for art's sake makes no more sense than gin for gin's sake.
- William Somerset Maugham

Quote of the Day

Impropriety is the soul of wit.
- William Somerset Maugham

Quote of the Day

The unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones.
- William Somerset Maugham

Quote of the Day

Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.
- William Somerset Maugham

Market village

A fixture of my stay here are the trips to Market Village, a big shopping mall in town. It has lots of western brands, including a Tesco supermarket, Starbucks (shudder), KFC, Haagen-Dasz and an English language bookshop. Nice and cool inside and at least half the customers on any given day are Europeans.

When I was there yesterday, they were putting on some kind of dinosaur exhibit, complete with a sandy area for kids to get all mucked up in.

A very, very silly looking dino.


Sandy area, not for use of children.


"Night at the museum" type of dino.


Close up.

Train station

The train station in Hua Hin is actually one of the country's main tourist attractions. I think it's the oldest station in Thailand, and getting your picture taken in front of the royal pavillion is THE thing to do for the natives down here.

The royal pavillion, a handsome if smallish building. To the immediate right of where I stood, was a big sign that said "Hua Hin", and it was crowded with Thais getting their pics taken.


From a different angle.


The train station itself, very busy on the Sunday morning we were visiting.


Outside.


The ticket area.


The surrounding area, complete with old trains and stuff. Ish nice.




They have a small permanent exhibition on the king inside the station; more on his majesty in a separate post.

My hood

A few pics from the 'hood, yo. So y'all know where I roll.

This is the gate area, whence we go to grab a taxi or a tuk-tuk into town or wherever.


The taxi stand right across from the area where the guards doze all day.


A strange towerlike structure that stands alone from all the houses in the area. It seems empty.


The only weapon the guard has - a slingshot. I kidd you not. It's probably more for chasing away dogs than humans.


The road to town.

Quote of the Day

I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life, I absenteed myself from Christian assemblies.
- Benjamin Franklin

Dinner in town

Went into town today to stuff face with my brother, Keow and Massimo, a Norwegian friend of mine who's just here for three nights. Got off some pictures of one of the main streets for drunken debauchery during the nights... things sure look different in daylight.

They don't horse around when you ask 'em to smile in this country.


A relatively mild duck & curry soup. Still strong enough to clear out the ole' sinuses.


What my brother had. Also relatively mild. Keow was eating something that would have made us both curl up and cry, I'm sure.


A very classy napkin holder.


Some more or less random Thai buildings. I think some of them are heathen Buddhist temples, but then again they may also be restaurants... Go in and ask for flied lice, I dare ya.






Unless heathen Buddhist temples have begun to serve pancakes, I know this to be a restaurant.

Stwange animal

Does anyone know what this is? Newt? Lizard? Chameleon? Dragon?

I'm as bad with reptilians as I am with birds and flowers and fish and... well, I guess I'm not a hardy outdoorsman after all...

Pictures from a travesty against mankind (aka a party at the villa)

Belatedly, the all too few pictures I took from the (in)famous party I had at my villa on Monday. My brother's Thai gf had her birthday party at my place, since I have a poooooool, and lots of space. She and a couple of friends came early to prepare food, although this being Thailand, nobody showed up at the appointed time...

At the most, there were about a dozen Thai girls present, plus moi, brother, a Briton, a Bulgarian and a South African guy. Ah, what bliss to talk to a native English speaker... especially when one of the first sentences out of his mouth was "you sound like an American".

My brother looking his usual, retarded self.


The table with lots of food, glorious food.




The leetle womenses were making ze food, ja?


The grill where the dead animals were turned into cinders.

Quote of the Day

Nobody understands anyone 18, including those who are 18.
- Jim Bishop

Quote of the Day

The mob is the mother of tyrants.
- Diogenes

Quote of the Day

It's all right to hold a conversation, but you should let go of it now and then.
- Richard Willard Armour

Quote of the Day

East is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet.
- Rudyard Kipling

Quote of the Day

Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp-post how it feels about dogs.
- Christopher Hampton

Quote of the Day

It is very easy to forgive others their mistakes; it takes more grit and gumption to forgive them for having witnessed your own.
- Jessamyn West

Quote of the Day

A mystic is someone who wants to understand the universe, but is too lazy to study physics.
- Unknown

Quote of the Day

Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense.
- Unknown

Quote of the Day

All I ask of life is a constant and exaggerated sense of my own importance.
- Unknown

Quote of the Day

Today is the International Women's Day. The quote, of course, is a pure coincidence.

"If you can read this, the bitch fell off"
- Unknown, back of a motorcycle jacket

Quote of the Day

Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
- Unknown

Quote of the Day

Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.
- Unknown

Quote of the Day

I have had more trouble with myself than with any other man I've met.
- Unknown

Woe was me

This is how sunburned I was when I'd been here a few days. My shoulders were a lot worse, skin was peeling off like leaves in October.

Quote of the Day

The scientist who yields anything to theology, however slight, is yielding to ignorance and false pretenses, and as certainly as if he granted that a horse-hair put into a bottle of water will turn into a snake.
- H. L. Mencken

Quote of the Day

It’s inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for any public office.
- H. L. Mencken

Quote of the Day

Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable … A man full of faith is simply one who has lost (or never had) the capacity for clear and realistic thought. He is not a mere ass: he is actually ill.
- H.L. Mencken

Quote of the Day

The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost invariably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And if he is not romantic personally, he is apt to spread discontent among those who are.
- Henry L. Mencken