“The Rounds,” Sunday, November 27, 2011 (Okay. Plus a day!)

Yeah, yeah, I know — I’m late! I had planned to start writing on Wednesday, but woke up with both a headache and upset tummy, and stayed in bed much of the day. But I wanted to crank something out, even if it is late!

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Thanksgiving was good, though I ate little Turkey Day food until mid-evening, when I came back out after having gone home to nap awhile. Grabbed a bite at the Moonshine over in Queen’s Park Plaza. It was packed, as were Silver Dollar and Bourbon Street when I was at them earlier in the day. Lots of folks were out, I was glad to see.

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Saw Ed F.  from down Phuket way for the first time since sometime last year. He doesn’t get up this way as often as he used to, but is in town for business on a trip he decided to mix with a bit of visiting around the Square catching up with various Squaronians he’s gotten to know in his three decades in the Kingdom. We mostly just reminisced about days — and people — gone by, especially regarding the Texas Lone Staar, which was one of Ed’s favorite haunts when he would come up before. Took a snapshot of him:

"Phuket" Ed F. in the Silver Dollar, Friday, November 25, 2011

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Looks like a couple of new places are about ready to open up.

One is Cheers Grill on the ground floor of the Regency Park Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 22 opposite the Soi 22 entrance into Washington Square. I don’t know the exact date it will open, but they’ve been working on it for months, and it looks as if they’re very near to done. More about it when I learn it.

Cheer's Bar&Grill, Regency Park Hotel, Sukhumvit Soi 22, Monday, 28Nov2011 -- Opening Real Soon! (I guess, anyway.)

The other is what used to be Larry’s Dive, also on Sukhumvit Soi 22, on the same side as Regency Park Hotel but closer to Sukhumvit Road. I haven’t been by there since the “construction curtain” was taken down a week or so ago, but English Paul told me about it, as he and his Father had strolled along taking in the sights a few days ago. He told me it appears it will be two floors, open-air style. I keep thinking surely they’ll enclose at least part of it — but perhaps they won’t. We’ll see. (Went over and took this photo after writing that):

No Idea Restaurant (formerly Larry's Dive) on Sukhumvit Soi 22, Monday, 28Nov2011

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There are still a lot of folks with water in their homes, though none in this neighborhood. And they include some Squaronians. I haven’t spoken directly but with one of them, but apparently it’s going to be awhile yet before they get all the water drained out and away.

Though it hasn’t rained in about three weeks now, there is still a LOT of water to the north of Bangkok that needs to be drained, and some people in certain northern districts of Bangkok and in neighboring communities have been tearing down sandbag barriers and demanding the dismantlement of the “big bag” one. While it’s easy to understand their frustration, apparently all they’ve really succeed in doing is flooding the next poor folks down the way — but remaining partially submerged themselves anyway, as the water can’t drain fast enough.

There’s also potential flooding from one of the main dams to the north, which was at 137% of its rated capacity, according to TV news reports.  There reportedly was some concern the dam might break under the strain, but it’s holding so far; don’t know if the authorities have begun draining some of the excess off, but I sure do hope they do so — ASAP.

Now, if the “Khlong Maintenance and Construction Corps” will just hop to it and start cleaning the trash out of the khlongs, dredging and maybe widening them — at least dredging them — in an effort to prevent a repeat of this year’s flooding come next rainy season.

It’s true that the rains this year have been extraordinary, the heaviest in decades. But it’s also true that every year there are damaging floods around the Kingdom, if not as bad as this year’s. So, no one is surprised by the fact of the flooding itself, only its scale, in this year’s case.

Most temporary walls I’ve seen in my neighborhood are gone now, though one neighbor in my complex put up a wall just a week or so ago, perplexingly enough. Maybe they’re getting all set for next year already!

I know Burma Richard says he’s not getting rid of the sandbags he was able to buy this year, as he has enough outside space to store them, just in case.

Which reminds me that Ned told me the fine, expensive pump he bought for 9,000 baht (about US$300) burned out after just a couple of days, so he was planning to take it back to either get a refund or replacement. Fat lot of good it did him in the lurch!

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Now, I don’t want to get Squaronians scattered afar all worked up, but I noticed some surveyors in the Square yesterday and today. I hasten to add I have absolutely no idea who they are nor why they’re around, but they are, and what all with all the never-ending rumors about the Square’s ultimate fate (no new ones of late), it does give one pause.

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Saw Captain Dave has made it back from Libya. Well, from Malta or Europe somewhere, that is — he still couldn’t actually go into Libya himself, because his company wouldn’t let him, but they do have Libyan pilots ferrying back and forth when they can get NATO clearance, which apparently is a real pain in the neck — bureaucracy, and multinational at that.

Didn’t get to talk with him much, as there were a bunch of the guys around visiting, so more later when I get a chance to get more details about when he’ll actually be on an actual flight into Tripoli, or wherever it is he flies to. Maybe Libya has its own Area 51 — which somehow would be a most fitting destination for The Good Captain ;-)!

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Burma Richard and his lovely Missus, Junko, will be off to Sri Lanka soon for a combined business and pleasure trip. I keep telling him he ought to buy himself a shovel if he really wants to get into the nitty-gritty of the mining end of the gem business, but he’s not enthusiastic about that idea — nor would I be!

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Last edition, I ran the graphic of the Silver Dollar’s Thanksgiving menu without noticing a little funny on it. Here’s the relevant part of the original graphic — see if YOU can spot the mistake, Tonto!

But later that night I got an SMS from Tobin “The Robot” from the Northern Capital — Chiang Mai — asking to to ask Ned if “Cranbury” is a town.

For the spelling-challenged, the traditional purple goop sauce we eat as a traditional Thanskgiving and Christmas side dish is “cranBERRY sauce,” not “cranbury.” I waxed rather eloquently about it on my Facebook page.

I asked Ned about it next time I saw him, but just got a baleful glare in return! 🙂

(Speaking of those brain “mishaps” . . .)

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While I remember to mention it, Tobin and his Missus, Jeab, and their new son will be passing through this coming week en route to the U.S. Tobin does consulting work, and actually got a week-long contract in Dallas, Texas — just a few miles south of where his family lives. So, he’s taking the wife and kid along to spend Christmas there — and so his family can meet the kid, who Tobin calls “The Mighty Inthanon,’ “Inthanon being the Thai part of his name. It’s taken from Doi Inthanon for the ambitious among you, that’s ” ดอยอินทนนท์” in Thai! — the tallest mountain in Thailand. Which doesn’t put it in the Himalaya class, mind you — it’s 2,576 meters/8,451 feet tall. Still, it’s a quite respectable mountain. (I don’t have one of “The Mighty Inthanon,” however!)

Doi Inthanon -- the Highest Mountain in Thailand. It *Is* Majestic.

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Saw English Paul last night, along with his father and their buddy Alistar. (It’s now Monday morning — ran into some problem with this column’s file, and after an hour of fooling around with it fruitlessly, gave it up. Figured out a work-around this morning, i.e., Monday. Another day late. Sigh . . . ) Anyway, they had spent much of the day at Paul’s Dad’s place, on Soi Thonglor, where Alistar had never been. Come to think about it, I’ve never been either, and will have to correct that sometime soon.

Paul and I left the others and headed over to 52 Bar, where we had a nice, quiet chat. His rash on his upper chest is gradually getting better, though he still has some pain. But he has remained surprisingly chipper, at least when he gets out, and the fact that he was out for hours on end yesterday was a good sign, I hope. Nothing special about our visit, other than usually there are other people around, but at 52 bar, except for the owner and staff, it was just the two of us. Paul’s one of the White Hat Guys well worth getting to know, if you haven’t already.

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Got an e-mail from Dick Herkert, much to my delight, since I haven’t heard from him in a good long while. He kept it short, saying he’s moving to Las Vegas soon.

He also reports that an Squaronian who left not long after I got here named Fred Reeve passed away from The Big C in Maryland, U.S.A. around two weeks ago, and said Charlie Brown will know who Fred was and who to let know.

I don’t remember Fred, though Dick did add that he introduced us way back when. In any case, R.I.P., Fred.

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Got word recently from Art Crocker that he’ll be coming to Bangkok, though I can’t remember just when, nor can I find any e-mail or Facebook message about it. Paul and I were talking about it last night, and he couldn’t remember, either, though we both think it could be as early as any day now — like maybe even tomorrow, Tuesday?

Just not sure, but I’m quite confident he’ll sweep into the Square in his usual inimitable style, entertaining Squaronians — and terrifying our Thai hosts — with his unusual — even unique and unparalleled — rendition of a Maori War Dance. (He’s particularly gifted in artistically performing the dance early of a morn — if he has been roaming Washington Square, Queen’s Park Plaza, and Soi Cowboy since, oh — noon the day before!)

Art's Dream Version of Himself in His NEXT Life!!!

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I posted a picture of this friend recently, and since it drew favorable comment, I thought I’d post another I, um, “borrowed” from one of her Facebook photo albums. I’ve already put it on my own Facebook page, but that some here might enjoy it as well. Not posting it for any particular reason other than she’s quite lovely (and I do like her, of course!):

Ae Two Looking Impish!

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Speaking of pictures, take a look at Stickman’s latest column, in which he wrote about a walk he and a friend took along the river and on out a bit away from it. Not only does he offer both useful commentary for anyone wanting to explore the area, but he has a bunch of really good photos he took along the way.

http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/StickmanBangkokWeeklyColumn2011/Bangkok-Walking.htm

I especially got a kick out of the picture of the “street preacher” — you will too.

The rest of the column was excellent too — as usual

Thanks, Stickman!

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This has absolutely nothing to do with Washington Square, Bangkok, Thailand, or even Asia. But it’s just to astounding not to post:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4arnATc04U&NR=1

The last 40 seconds or so, from about 1:05 on, are close-in, so really good.

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Devotees of the gone and missed Texas Long Staar can get all teary-eyed watching this video that focuses on the stuff that was mounted on the walls:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JV61ngEuco

And this one, a recording of the final party:

Last Day of the Lone Star.wmv

Damn, I wish that place hadn’t shut down. . . .

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Oh goody goody! Thailand’s finally going to get digital television and radio!!!

But no need to rush to your nearest electronics store to buy new TV’s and radios.

The Nation story “NBTC gives agencies a year to work out spectrum” that I just read says “maybe.” In a few years.
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I have an idea for a new “bar attendant” around the Square and environs:

The red spot is where you have to breathe into the breathalyzer before you can order a drink. That long thing sticking off to the right is a giant cattle prod to herd you out the door! 😉

Just think! No more having to leave tips or buy lady drinks. It won’t change the music to Thai folk music or the TV over to some inane Thai soap opera or game show! No more having a bar lass call you “Cheap Charlie” and “Buffalo” when she’s p.o.’ed at you! No more having to worry about Mia Noy* No. 2 getting all jealous and calling Mia Noy No. 1 to blab all about herself to Number One!

😎

*(For those unfamiliar with the term, a “mia noy” is a “minor wife” — a mistress.)

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Enough for one go —

Mekhong Kurt

“The Rounds,” Friday, November 18, 2011

A quick note to point out that I rarely check the gmail account I set up specifically for anyone wanting to submit material for possible publication in “The Rounds,” for other e-mail. The submission e-mail address is:

squaronians[at]gmail.com

My personal e-mail address remains:

mekhongkurt[at]gmail.com

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Nigel the Trucker has been in and out over the past few days, and sometimes, ah, “out of it” a bit — not as in “asleep,” but as in “having a senior moment.” So to speak.

He told a group of us a tale on himself the other day — which he kindly said I could share here — about a particularly festive evening he recently had. About dawn, he decided the particular premises is which he had been esconced for a happy evening that went on (and on and on and on), and announced to the few brave souls who had seen him safely through the dark and dangers of night that he was off to see George. When someone present asked which “George” he planned to grace with his early morn presence, he said, “George Pipas at the Lone Staar, of course!”

Understandably, since everyone knew George, they looked at Nigel as if he were from Pluto or some such, no doubt thinking, “He can’t be serious, can he???”

With no further ado, Nigel indeed struck out and really did hike over to the Texas Lone Staar — and it wasn’t until he saw it that he realized that it was out of business and George, sadly, is long departed.

Not that the rest of us in the ranks of the Squaronians can laugh too much, since most of us have had our own spells of being “lost in space,” as it were, when our friends will say, “Earth to Kurt! Come in, over!” Or whoever is adrift.

Everyone chuckled at Nigel’s self-deprecating tale if, perhaps, a wee bit nervously!

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The American Thanksgiving Day is rushing right up, and this year will be next Thursday, November 24th. Around this neck of the woods, I know of three venues that will be offering traditional Thanksgiving fare. Here they are, in no particular order:

The Silver Dollar [www.dollarbangkok.com] will be offering turkey and all the trimmings for 390 baht per person. I got a list of what all will be on offer, but promptly misplaced it, and the menu isn’t up on the Silver’s website, so I can’t check there. Anyway, I think glazed ham is also on the menu for the day. The food will be available from early afternoon until it runs out, so get there early (or too bad for you! ;^)

Late edition: I got the graphic of Silver’s menu:

Next up is Bourbon Street[www.bourbonstbkk.com], which will have its Thanksgiving food available both Thanksgiving Day and the evening of Friday. On Thursday, it will be available 12:00 noon-10:00 P.M., while on Friday the hours will be 6:00 P.M.-10:00 P.M.

The price is 899++ baht for adults, and 450++ baht for children under 12.

You can see the complete Thanksgiving menu online here:

http://www.bourbonstbkk.com/thanksgiving_2011.html

Across over in Queen’s Park Plaza, the Moonshine (no website) will be offering free Thanksgiving Day food from “late afternoon” until the food runs out or closing time — 1:00 A.M. or so — comes. Further, for those who love post-Thanksgiving cold turkey sandwiches, if there’s any turkey left — and they’ve already bought several, so there well may be — they’ll offer turkey sandwiches until the turkey runs out from the day after Thanksgiving.

Note: if you do want a turkey sandwich, you better be there at 1:00 o’clock sharp come Friday afternoon, when the restaurant opens, or Burma Richard may beat you to it and gobble it all up! That man just looooooooves his turkey sandwiches!

So there you go — three of our regular haunts all offering up great food, friendly service, and plenty of beer, booze, and fun!

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Lovisa, who wants to be Queen in her native Sweden (but decided she had to settle for something a bit less regal and become one of the rare-as-hens’-teeth-lady-Squaronians) is back in town, though so far, I’ve managed only to have a ships-passing-in-the-night sort of hail and farewell with her, as the one time I’ve seen her thus far she was busily blabbing away with some guy the other evening in the Silver Dollar.

In the pleasant 38 words or so we were able to exchange, she sounded as if she’s okay — and certainly delighted to be back in The City of Angels, the new Atlantis of the East, on the seductive banks of the Chao Phraya River, the River of Kings. And she looked fine, but that was before she decided to share a liter of vodka with another Squaronian, who shall remain unnamed to protect his reputation; after all, it’s not like he pinned her down and poured the potato juice (the fermented kind) down her throat against her will! ;^)

I suppose she’ll recover in a week or so, then perhaps we can have a proper visit.

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If you’re not in Thailand but expecting to come anytime soon, please do check to see what the flood situation is if it’s anywhere in the affected areas, which is 50-something of Thailand’s 76 provinces, all told — including down in the Deep South, though those areas haven’t been hit as badly as has been a place like Ayutthaya, where World Heritage sites are in serious danger of structural damage.

Checking includes Bangkok, since yesterday the government announced (in yet another change in the news message emanating from the authorities) that those areas already flooded will remain so until the end of the year east of the river — and into next year on the west side (Thonburi), which is largely below sea level and has far fewer khlongs (canals) and water catchment areas than on this side of the river.

Unsurprisingly, tourism has been hard hit, as has business in public places of just about every sort. Stopped by Monet Bar last night to see Khun Noi and Khun Nok, two of my favorite Sweetie Pies, and they told me that in the past full week they each had gotten only six lady drinks — and counted themselves luckier than their colleagues, none of whom had gotten even that many. Last time I was on Soi Cowboy 2-3 weeks ago, you could have cut loose with a machine gun from either end and not harmed a soul! And I hear it’s that way, not just in the night entertainment areas, but in the fancy-dancy (and vastly overpriced) shopping malls, hotels, etc.

But if you can come — please do. The Kingdom is suffering mightily, and never mind that past governments have failed to do enough to avoid the problems: common Thais and foreign investors alike are suffering, as much of the world knows from the disruptions in vehicles from Japanese auto makers, who source a bunch of stuff from here. No, I’m not suggesting you come here to buy your next Lexus, but you’re visiting, whether for holiday or business or a mix, you’ll be staying in a hotel, eating in restaurants, and the like. Unless you decide to camp on a beach or sleep under a bridge, and buy food from a 7-Eleven or Family Mart — but even THEN, you’ll be giving business to Thai franchise owners!

Note: I DO NOT get any commission for writing this. Dadgummit all.

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Good news from The Minnesota Mob. It’s my understanding “Chuckling” Charlie and Bubba “The Enforcer” will be here again come next March. I got that second-hand, but will be checking with the lads directly to make sure (1.) they really aren’t joking, and, (2.) to keep them on the rails so they don’t get distracted and decide to go to some Buffalo Turd Tossing Championship in North Dakota instead. (Sometimes suburban Minneapolisites have to pinch pennies these days, you know.)

I imagine the lads are getting all fired up for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. The two of them are significant consumers of the approximately 45,000,000 turkeys raised in Minnesota each year, consistently winning “Turkey King of the Year” awards each year, complete with a crown fashioned from turkey wishbones. (The crowns’ “hatbands” — they each receive one — are fashioned from a turkey’s — well, never mind; you really don’t want to know.)

In any case, Turkey Kings or not, we’ll be looking forward to their next arrival come spring turkey migration.

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The Bangkok Post ran a nice interview with me headlined “CONFESSIONS OF AN ORDINARY CITIZEN:
A foreign nobody” conducted by a couple of Chulalakorn seniors in the Faulty of Communication Arts International Program, who tracked me down in the Square some weeks ago, which I had completely forgotten until Burma Richard called me right after reading it. And I didn’t remember it even then — until I pulled it up online.

The piece is one in a series of 12 such stories the newspaper is running.

The guys did a good job of it; unlike so many many stories about the Square, Squaronians, and expats in general — it’s not a hatchet job. (CNN retains the crown for running that kind of crap.)

Not quite sure why they changed my name to “Robert,” but never mind. I mean, it’s not as if the authorities can’t find me in about 17 seconds should they be so moved. Anyway, if you’re of a mind to read one Squaronian’s bemused musings and wandering ramblings, you can find them here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/feature/people/266124/a-foreign-nobody

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While I’m not the least bit interested in getting off into the cesspool that passes for American politics these days, I would like to comment about my Governor’s — presidential candidate for the Republican nomination — Rick Perry’s — “brain freeze” in a recent debate when he plumb forgot the third of three federal agencies he would eliminate the moment he took office, were he to manage to make his way to the White House.

Though I personally still have some questions for the Governor before I’m willing to endorse his request for the keys to the Oval Office, I do, and publicly have, defended him for this lapse.

I started off this column with Nigel’s own tale of his own “brain fart” — which is the more earthy way we refer to such moments in both Texas and around Washington Square. So the Guv suffered his own brain fart.

I mentioned in writing Nigel’s tale that those of us present when he spilled the beans about himself laughed — nervously. Anyone out there who hasn’t also brain-farted along somewhere back along the line also, undoubtedly, also walks on water, turns lead into gold, and the like.

Okay, I’ll ‘fess up. It did give me a certain evil satisfaction to know that a candidate leading the field in terms of the amount of campaign money raised, and therefore [presumably] well-tutored and prepped by advisers brain-farted. For the high and mighty to fall — well, okay, stumble — does give some small measure of comfort to us miserable little nobodies! ;^)

Of course, Governor Perry has a ways to go if he hopes to catch up with his competitor Michele Bachmann, she of great fame for her continuous rewriting of American history . . . which — I hope — he doesn’t hope. LOL!

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Went to Coyote Mexican Restaurant yesterday to give it a try at lunch yesterday, the first time since I went there a couple of times immediately after it opened. I ordered a bowl of chili con carne and tortilla soup. They wer just fine, but not as good as the food I had had there before was. Considering I had nothing to drink except a (free) glass of water, I felt my bill of something over 500 baht — somewhere in the range of US$17.00 — was considerably excessive.

No, I wasn’t blindsided; the prices were on the menu. While I normally don’;t spend anywhere near that much for what was, after all, a simple meal, I decided that since it had been a couple of years and since I had loved the food previously, I would splurge.

Again — I enjoyed the food, took home half of it and got another complete meal out of it (making the high price more reasonable, two meals for the money spent) — but it’ll be awhile before I go again. That’s just a bit much.

Otherwise, the decor, atmosphere, and service are all excellent, so if your on a corporate credit account and like Mexican food, by all means, have at it. Taste-wise, you can do a helluva lot worse than to splurge on Coyote’s food.

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I know, I KNOW — no pictures. But, hey, gimme a break — no ADS, either! About 2,100 words of “The Wit and Wisdom of Mekhong Kurt”! (Mom, would you please pipe down and stop laughing hysterically???)

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Enough for one go

Mekhong Kurt

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“The Rounds,” Friday, November 11, 2011

Today is Veterans Day in the U.S. and Remembrance Day throughout the Commonwealth, so I thought it appropriate to start this week’s edition of “The Rounds” with a heartfelt tribute to all of those who have fallen, been wounded, served, and are serving in our various nations’ armed forces.

I happened to run across a particularly appropriate photograph of a U.S. Marine serving in Iraq at the time on his third tour in that unfortunate land as a bomb disposal expert.

Gunny Burghardt is one HELLUVA Marine, isn’t he?

Here’s another photo I ran across, this one of a pin-on button. I love the message:

No Comment Needed!

I’ll close this with a special salute to all those who fell in war.

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On a happier note, today is Wedding Bells time for Khun Howard and his long-time Lovely Missus, Khun Kemmatsiri. I happened to take this photo of them in the Silver Dollar on Halloween Day — though I’ve known Howard for several years, it was the first time I had met her; Howard wisely keeps her away from the Square! 😉

When I say “wedding bells,” in this instance I mean they’re going to the government office that officially registers marriages. Socially, this formal step is far less important in Thai culture than is the religious ceremony conducted by a Buddhist monk (or monks). However, legally, even after the Buddhist ceremony, a couple may as well have had nothing more than a one-night stand, in terms or each partner’s legal rights in the eyes of Thai law.

Unfortunately for the Happy Couple, they won’t get to go on a honeymoon just yet. Howard is scheduled to have surgery tomorrow, so he’ll be out of commission awhile recovering from that.

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By the way, returning to the subject of Veteran’s Day, the U.S. Embassy’s ceremony was yesterday, and as I understand it, the VFW took part. However, I didn’t get the VFW announcement until after I had posted last week’s edition, so didn’t mention it there. Sorry for letting that fall through the cracks. . . .

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Regarding the flooding, at least one of my regular ports of call is all ready to go should we find ourselves here in the scenic Washington Square area wading in crocodile-infested water — a number have been caught or killed.

Of course, there aren’t any life-jackets nor — more to the point — any oars:

Of course, given that Ned’s Ark is all of 10 feet or so long, he won’t be able to save two of all the creatures in God’s creation.

He struggled mightily with this weighty question.

But he finally hit upon a resolution: he’ll take three bar ladies and three cases of Heinekin and three liters of Jack — hey, why worry about his heart at that point??? Then they can weather the storm! 😉

More seriously, Ned’s house has waist-deep water, despite his getting truckloads of sandbags to try to avoid this fate. Not funny. Not funny at all. . . .

I didn’t know about the flooding when I started this story — he walked in and I asked. Offered to pull down the Ned’s Ark part, but he said to run it anyway.

Good luck, if anything remotely resembling “good luck” is left now, Amigo. . . .

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Time for a quiz. Multiple-choice style:

1.__ The government has saved downtown Bangkok and we all can sing “The Hallelejuah Chorus” now.

2.__ The government HASN’T saved said region, so we can either run for our lives or cast voodoo spells on the government.

3.__ The situation is uncertain, considering that new rains in Bangkok or to the North will completely negate all earlier predictions.

4. __ The Sun will turn into a giant disco ball tomorrow.

(Answer: 3 for full credit, 4 for double credit.)

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Speaking of which, we remain dry in this particular part of town. News reports say that waters in some areas around the capital are going down. On the other hand, other reports say new evacuations are going on hither, thither, and yon, though none have happened in this immediate neighborhood.

In fairness — who, really, can know? It has been at least 50+ years since Thailand has had this degree of flooding.

Also in fairness, consecutive governments ever since the last time it was so bad, despite a few reminders since — such as the, let’s see, 1983 floods, when traffic cops were directing BOATS down avenues meant for cars and other land vehicles, and 1995, when I personally was forced to wade in as much as thigh-deep water from Sukhumvit Soi 1 to my then-home on Sukhuvit Soi 36, to name a couple, though not all.

The khlongs (canals) are vegetation- and trash-infested, and they all need dredging and in some places, widening. Ditto the Chao Phraya River.

Oh, mind you, the powers-that-be have consistently acted in the same manner as my own, these-days-largely-despised, U.S. Congress has acted on stuff: VOTE to take care of a problem — then let it die a quiet death, unfunded, unheralded, and unremarked. (When I was in graduate school and was also a Teaching Fellow in the early 1980’s, my office and every other one in the basement flooded TWO years in a row — no governmental entity could be bothered to fix a problem that dated back to the 1940’s. So before my fellow Americans or other Westerners smirk TOO much, we need to remember that cr*p, too.)

Oh, well . . .

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Here’s a photo of me I had one of the gals take late Halloween Night, just for comic relief. No commentary requested nor necessary!

Silly Mekhong Kurt Living Up to the Silly Part!

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Had the truly exceedingly pleasant experience of running into another Squaronian, a genuine Old Thai Hand in his own right, Ken Barnes of Australia.

Ken’s been back in Oz looking at The Bottom of the Sky for awhile whilst sorting out some personal matters. I haven’t seen him since at least late last year, and had heard he might not be back for a good while, so when I was sitting in Silver Dollar earlier today blabbing with a couple of the guys, not looking at the door, and heard the door open and a voice boom out, “Hello, Kurt!” I was delighted, since I recognized that kangaroo-accented voice immediately.

He even allowed me to snap a photo of His Superiorness (just kidding, Ken — put that damned switchblade AWAY!)”

Ken Barnes, a.k.a. "The Kangaroo King"

I think I’ve written about his next bit before, but it merits repeating, though it requires a bit of background.

I was raised in the colonial version of the Anglican Church, i.e., the American Episcopal Church. (We ungrateful colonials couldn’t very well acknowledge the British Monarch as head of the Church, could we???)

In that church, when a kid is baptised, he gets god-parents. In the case of boys, we get two primary ones, almost always a couple, who pledge to take over our care should our parents, um, “depart the scene prematurely.” We also get a secondary one, a man for a boy, a lady for a girl.

My secondary is a Brit, my deeply beloved, though unseen for many years, John Doncaster. John was single he found himself roped into being my Godfather # 2 (not to be confused with the Marlon Brando charactger, by the way). He was also my headmaster, Eton-style, at the private school my parents helped found. Bet when he took the boat to New York City then bought a clunker of a car car, struck out across America, landed a job as a lecturer at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, only to be recruited away to be Headmaster, he never dreamed that he would end up spending the rest of his life (so far — he’s in his eighties, residing in New England, and still leading MOUNTAIN HIKES, for God’s sake!) in TEXAS.

Sh*t happens.

Anyway, he eventually married Robin, born in Kiwiland but whose family emigrated to Oz when she was but a mere slip of a lass, still bound in diapers, so despite her penguin-ish roots, she grew up, for all intents and purposes, a cultural Ozzie. Hence, my fondness of Things Oz from an early age. Compounded by my parents’ once-intent to emigrate there, a plan that fell through for reasons unrelated to this tale.

Now we come back to Ken B. One night many years ago, we were sitting with some of the usual suspects in the late and lamented Wild Country Bar and somehow or the other, it became approriate for me to make the comment (after fulsomely praising Oz and “Ozzians”) that any Australian would always be welcome in The Lone Star State, given that non-native speakers of English often confused the two of us, we Texans and Ozzies, and Ken remarked maybe it didn’t work the other way around. So I came back with, “You mean if I were to go to Oz today, you wouldn’t grant me at least honorary Australian citizenship???

Ken’s reply? —

“NOT ON YOUR LIFE; MATE! YOU DAMNED YANKS NEARLY KILLED ME IN VIETNAM!!!”

Well, that set me right back on my heels. I was already aware that Australia had stood beside us in Vietnam, and proportional to the population of Kangaroo Land at the time, had paid a far heavier penalty than any other combatant nation did in the misbegotten war. But I hadn’t known that Ken was a vet.

Short version is this: his unit was in deep dookey on a combat mission, and called for American artillery cover. Only problem was, somewhere along the way, where the GOOD GUYS were got reversed with where the BAD GUYS were — and my fellow Americans began raining down the artillery version of “Rolling Thunder” (Google it if you don’t know the reference) — on the Good Guys. That would include Mr. Barnes.

He was joking, of course, about my going to Oz and being welcome — but it took me a few seconds to falteringly reach that conclusion.

Jeez. Friendly fire comes up in the pub in BANGKOK — years after the fact! Between allies. (We’re getting ready to establish a permanent presence at one base, at least, in the north of Australia, coincidentally, even as I type. And maybe at another in the Kangaroo southwest.)

Anyway, Ken has spent his time in Oz in some little burg of 2,000 souls, where the entertainment consisted of the following options:

1. Walking along the river, if you’re in a “John Muir” or “Ansel Adams” sort of mood.

2. Going to the beautiful local golf course and seeing just how many ‘roos you can bean on tee-off.

3. Admiring the tarmac highway running through town, which at the northern outskirts introduces you to the 3,000 kilometers of nothingness before you FINALLY arrive at Darwin.

(This sounds to be like being consigned to the splendors of, say, Hooker, Oklahoma, in the Godforsaken pandle of that state.)

But he loved it. Primarily because of Australian wine he could buy on the cheap, which is another story in its own right that I’ll save ’til later. And Aussie beer. I think even Aussie Holy Rollers have to have their pints now and then! And he likes beaning poor, innocent ‘roos. (Don’t tell the SPCA, please.)

He came bearing good news about Doug East, who remains, for the moment, stuck (or blissfully ensconced — I’ll have to ask him), in Oz taking care of personal matters (I think her name is “Sheila”), but who may be descending upon the Soon-To-Be-Atlantis-Of-The-East. Ken and Doug had dinner together last week, and Doug was doing fine. Another great Squaronian and Old Thai Hand.

It’s been a nice past few days around these parts. . . . old friends are always wonderful to see. . . .

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Enough for one go —

Mekhong Kurt