speaking of sexy new bartenders

I dropped into Coyote Restaurant on Sukhumvit today; it’s a place where I have been a regular customer since they opened at the beginning of the year.

Of course I hadn’t been there for nearly two months. When I walked in I was greeted by the same chorus of “Hola!” that every customer gets, but as I reached my usual stool at the bar the manager looked at me and said, “You lost weight!”

Another server commented, “Maybe five kilos.”

It’s true. While I was upcountry I restricted my eating and drank very very little beer, and when I stepped on my scale at home yesterday I found out that I dropped 5 kilos (about 11 pounds) while I was away. Good new indeed.

“I found a dead girl in my apartment”

It’s early afternoon on Saturday.

I have a lot of things to say, not many of them of any importance, so I may ramble a bit.

First is to comment on the fact that while I was away I was relying on Bluetooth and my mobile phone for an internet connection. I would click on a page, go make a cup of tea, then come back just in time to see it finish loading. I actually got used to it after a while, and I guess a month is enough time for a person to acclimate to anything. I plugged my laptop in here at home a few minutes ago, pressed a button and the web page appeared instantly. Then it happened again. Then I remembered what ADSL means to me. Blissful.

Upcountry Report: Trekking in Chiang Mai

I was gone for forty-two days.

I worked for thirty days and had about 4 days or so devoted mostly to traveling between points.

My work days were uniformly boring; I was always working in upcountry areas away from people, facilities and entertainment, sleeping by myself in a room with a fan and a rabbit-ear TV. Breakfast was served at 7 am and dinner at 6 pm. In between I had a full work day, and the evenings were spent completely alone.

The worst part of my trip was the beginning. I left Bangkok on Sunday the 1st of June, and by the time I arrived at my destination a few hours later I had a terrible fever and I was sick and dizzy. I took some medicine and went to bed, sleeping for nearly 14 hours.

I got to work on Monday morning feeling like I wanted to die. I got progressively better, but I was sick every day for the first ten-day work period, then went to Chiang Mai for my holiday break.

the People Against Democracy

Sondhi Limthongkul, media tycoon and leader of the People’s Alliance for Democracy

Well, we’ve always known what the PAD was against; they’ve always been opposed to the government of the day if it was elected (but it did not oppose the government of Surayud which was appointed by the military).

It has always been difficult, though, to know quite what they stood for. IN 2006, prior to the military coup, they formed a political party, but said that they would not have any politicians running for office. WTF?! That’s not a political party, its a Tupperware party.

In 2008 the PAD has been back to it’s old tricks… protesting against the government, calling for resignations, dissolutions and re-writes, but refusing to say what system they wanted to use to replace the flawed democracy that keeps electing the ‘wrong’ people.