Down and Out

For the first time in a long time I have been down and out for over a week. When I lived in Bangkok it was referred to as "Bangkok Belly". Now that I have moved up country I guess the name should be changed to "Thailand Tummy". In any case, it has kicked my ass and left me as weak as a kitten. I have not fully recovered but did manage to pull my sorry ass out the door today and take my morning walk, th0ugh at a somewhat slower pace.

The Olympics start tomorrow and that is somewhat exciting except for the fact that it is only offered on Thai T.V. and as I understand it they will rotate the daily coverage from channel to channel so that all stations get a shot. I sure hope they do a better job that their 2004 coverage which was somewhat limited. My first complaint is that even though all stations have dual language capabilities that feature wasn't used 4 years ago. The regularly broadcast were talked over in Thai thus not understandable for us Farang's. The second big problems was the event coverage. Naturally, they covered the sports of interest to Thai's like table tennis, tennis, badminton, ladies weight lifting and of course the ever popular football. Not much aired in the way of athletics, basketball or gymnastics which I enjoy. They did get in a good bit of swimming if I recall correctly.

During my down period I did manage to read one book. Farang written by Dr. Iain Corness which is advertised as "Thailand through the eyes of an ex-pat". On a scale of 1 through 10 I rate it at about a 4 in my humble opinion but remember that is a review by an ex-pat that has been here for sometime. Someone new in country or with no prior experience may find it more revealing. I will get around to doing a full book review in the future.

Yesterday was another birthday, 64 of those suckers so far. Cake with the family last night and their good wished for a healthy future. Also, received a phone call from Pia the teacher that I worked with for so many years during my school teaching gig. Was nice to be remembered. Thanks Pia.