We happened to be in Chiang Mai for the King of Thailand’s birthday. If you haven’t been to Thailand, you can have no idea how big a deal this is. The Thai’s really love their king!
bangkok traffic hazards
Bangkok traffic is legendary. 16 million people in a relatively confined metropolitan area inevitably leads to some problems, but there’s a whole lot more to it than that.
not same same
It’s a long way from Chiang Mai to the island of Ko Samui, in the Gulf of Thailand. We’re 9 degrees from the equator – roughly the same as the tip of Cape York, but along with all the differences there are all the similarities.
Tuk-Tuk No.73
After our experiences with the demon tuk-tuk drivers of Bangkok, we were more than a little cautious about engaging the services of them again in Chiang Mai. So, when we needed a hand getting around and the first driver quoted us 100B, we moved on to look for other options.
settling into thai life
Well, we’ve been in Thailand all of two days now – been ripped off in Bangkok, found ourselves in a ‘one star’ guest house in Chiang Mai and it seems we’ve finally landed on our feet.
forests and our precious water
I was delighted to read on the Google Earth blog about a fantastic initiative of the Victorian Rainforest Network to create accurate and educational overlays for Google Earth that clearly illustrate a range of threats to our precious forest environments.
Of particular interest is the maps of logging in catchment areas. Organisations like the VRN get a bit of a reputation in the ‘mainstream media’ as a rag tag bunch of dreadlocked hippies… associated with great TV news footage of chains, bulldozers etc. So, sadly, to a lot of ‘middle Melbourne’, they are not relevant or even visible.
Now that we’re facing increasing water restrictions, however, the forest message is getting stronger. These overlays highlight the issue graphically with Google Earth. You might think as you drive through some of the roads in these areas, that the forest looks great – thick and unspoiled, but just a little way off the road it’s a very different matter. It’s one of those ‘Awful Truth‘ moments, one that is starting to get relevance in the gardens of suburbia.
Download them, check them out, be appalled… then vote accordingly next saturday!
my $20,000 bicycle – for sale
this is my bike – I’ve had it for about 6 years now and I reckon it’s worth about $20,000, would anyone like to buy it?
What? too much?!? don’t be so hasty, let me fill you in on the details:
Initial cost $250, maintenance and accessories $400. I’ve ridden it the 7 km. to work almost every working day for six years. Conservatively 210 days per year.
If I had paid for public transport that would be $5.50 per day (it’s now $6.10, but six years ago, it was about $4.50, so I’m making a bit of an average here) – that’s $1155 per year – for a total of $6930. True, if I had purchased period tickets, I might have cut the figure by $1000. So if you’re currently a zone 1 public transport user, I’ll let it go for just $5,000.
… but what’s it worth to you if you drive a car? Well, the figures can get pretty rubbery, but lets say you went with the RACV’s 2006 RACV vehicle operating costs, even the smallest car is going to set you back $111.20 per week. Do the six year average guesstimage and come up with around $100 per week to be kind. That’s $4,800 per year, or $28,800 over six years! and they haven’t even counted the cost of parking! The cheapest street parking around here (if you can get it) is $4 per day (another $5000 over the 6 years!).
I get to my desk at work in 25 minutes. By car it takes at least 40 – that’s 15 minutes at each end of the day that I get for free. If you’re on flexi-time, that’s more than a day off per month! So, not only are you saving money – you’re getting extra time to enjoy it – could it be any better?
So, you’re convinced now – the bike has many useful operating years ahead of it, so I reckon it’s worth at least $5,000. If you currently drive a car I’ll let you have it for a shade under $20,000 – come on!! it’s still a bargain! I guarantee, you’ll be SAVING MONEY!
Oh, wait – I forgot about the 20 minute’s exercise I get twice a day. I probably should add in the cost of a gym membership… 😉
The KFC face from space
Michael Castellon writes about the KFC stunt that saw them launch a new logo by building one big enough to be seen from space.
Actually, being seen from space is almost certainly not their concern – space has a relatively sparse population and probably few of them visit KFC stores.
What they’re really hoping for is to be included in the satellite imagery of one of the big mapping tools.
At the moment, Google’s imagery of the area is only low res now high res and the logo is there!, but both Yahoo and Microsoft have got the jump and already have high res of the area. All three maps correctly identify the area as ‘Rachel, Nevada’, and the location as the corner of Groom Road and Old Mill Street – just off “The Extraterrestrial Highway”!
Crikey!
Steve Irwin’s number finally came up. It wasn’t one of his beloved crocs, or a shark or any of the spectacular, glamorous and lethal animals he’s so often photographed with, but a Stingray. Apparently a spike through the heart dealt the fatal blow.
The Wikipedia page about stingrays even mentions the possibly fatal effects of a sting to the chest.
There were plenty who didn’t agree with him, there were plenty who couldn’t stand his style, but there are also plenty who saw him for what he really was – a man who loved and understood animals. So long Steve, we’ll miss you!
China is our friend…
Lucky really, with the Olympics and all, China is really becoming part of the world community. I’m glad they no longer seem as willing to expand their borders through military means. Hang on a minute, what’s this?
Aksai Chin is a region between India and China and is one of the main areas of dispute between the two countries. This hasn’t spilled over into significant action since 1962, but recently a German Google Earth user ‘KenGrok’ spotted an amazing scale model of the region tucked away in what looks like a military base in northern China.
Most agree, it’s unlikely to be related to any direct military plans, but it’s sure unsettling, and great fodder for the conspiracy theorists.
Check out this Google Earth (kmz) I’ve created which overlays the two areas for (startling) comparison.
Now, I wonder where their scale models of Taiwan are 🙂
drops of kindness
Hasn’t rained much in Melbourne lately, so when I parked my bike yesterday I made the classic mistake of leaving my helmet open to the elements like some big bucket. Of course, it poured!
However, when I got back to the bike I found that some wonderful passer-by had spotted the potential problem and used an officeworks plastic bag to waterproof my helmet.
Fantastic, eh?
Whoever you are, thank you and may karma be with you.
there’s nothing right about this
The news is making me sad. Rockets launched, bombs dropped. So called leaders standing up in front of cameras spouting pointless rhetoric.
There is no easy answer. I’m not going to venture into who is right or wrong, because when it comes down to killing and injuring children, smashing people’s peaceful lives apart, destroying beautiful countries – there is no right.
Take a few minutes to visit flickr – look up photos tagged with lebanon, then look up photos of Israel. In both cases you’ll see people sharing moments with families, proudly holding babies, protesting against war, enjoying the beauty that surrounds them. Next, get yourself a copy of Google Earth, then use this kml file to zoom in on the mountains in northern Lebanon and scroll slowly south down to the coast, cross into Israel and continue down the coast or the mountains. In fact, enhance the experience – turn off ‘Borders’ so you don’t know when you’ve crossed into Israel, because that’s how it looks best. I have to admit, I didn’t know Lebanon had ski fields and such incredibly beautiful rural areas. There are plenty of things I didn’t know about Israel either.
Once you’ve seen the photos and ‘flown’ over the countries, I’m sure you’ll be sad too. Nobody deserves a war.