AOB Jan and Feb 2005

I was sitting in a restaurant by the river on Saturday night. It was about two days after the full moon; but the moon was low in the sky and rising over the State Tower.

A quick poll of just about everyone else in the restaurant confirmed that in Thai folk-lore there is a rabbit sitting on the face of the moon.

If you look at the dark shadows you should be able to see a sitting rabbit facing to your left; his or her head and ears at the top left.

This is probably due to the different angle of the earth to the moon closer to the equator. The visible face of the moon has light and dark patches, which people interpreted in different ways, depending on their culture. Europeans see a face and talk of "the man in the moon" while children in China and Thailand recognize "the rabbit in the moon."

More on the Rabbit and the Moon:

The Rabbit and the Moon

If you go out into the fields, in the still, grey hour before the dawn, you will find that the grass is wet.

One day, at the beginning of time, in that still, grey hour, Rabbit stepped out into the field, and he, too, found the grass was wet. As he stood there, wondering where the water had come from, he heard someone crying - and he looked up and found it was the Moon, his tears running down his round, yellow face and falling to the earth and making the grass wet.

"Moon, Moon, why are you crying?"

"I am crying because I want to be like man."

"But why should you want that?"

"I want to be like man because man never dies."

"But man dies, come, I'll show you. Come with me."

And the Moon stepped down, out of the sky, and Rabbit took the Moon to a hut. There, through the window, Rabbit showed the Moon an old man lying on his bed, the last breath rattling in his throat.

"See, man dies."

"Oh, no. Look there."

And the Moon pointed through another window, he showed Rabbit another bed; and on that bed lay a woman, her newborn baby in her arms, by her side a man.

"See, they are together, so there will always be birth. But I am alone, when I die there will be no more moon. That is why I cry."

And the Moon climbed back into the sky. And there he is crying still; as you can see in that still, grey hour before the dawn, when the grass is still wet with his tears ...

27 February 2005

150 balls at the driving range last night. And another 18 holes today at Subraphruek.

My left wrist and the last two fingers of my right hand are hurting quite badly.

I had to play the last 4 holes with the old grip today.

I could not hit the long irons today and my woods were mostly poor. I don't seem to be able to get the club head back square to the ball.

25 February 2005

My second golf lesson last night; and I am beginning to feel more comfortable with the new grip and swing. Instinctively I am now picking up the club with the new grip.

One good discipline was to try and hit a big, high draw; this forces me to swing the club from the inside. It is an exaggerated movement but it is closer to how the swing should look and feel than my old steep out to in swing.

I enjoyed the lesson.

**********************

Slight hangover this morning from an office dinner last night. We are a small company but we do have good parties !

*********************

Just a thought: Heidi Fleiss, the Hollywood Madam, was busted for running a highclass call girl operation. She also kept meticulous records. Her #1 client was actor Charlie Sheen, who had spent more than $50,000 on her services. Sheen later went on the Tonight Show. Host Jay Leno asked him, "Charlie, you're a good looking guy, you're a movie and tv star, you're rich, why do you need to pay women to be with you?" Sheen looked him in the eye and answered, "Jay, I don't pay women to be with me. I pay them to go away."

**********************

This week's specials in my apartment buildings restaurant include "Deer fried stuffing chicken wings."

***********************

And a golf shop selling copy everything opposite the flower market near the Lufthansa Center in Beijing proudly calls itself: Liangma Golf thing Direct sale store.

23 February 2005

A progress report on my golf:

I practised yesterday at the local driving range. I told my favourite local teaching pro what I was doing - and he said he would not recommend changing my swing. The implication being that old dogs cannot learn new tricks! He also said that such a radical change will take three months and that I should not expect to play well in that time.

I hit 200 balls - far too many disappear right - I must be hitting the ball with the clubface still open. But it did at least feel like my hands were working together - the grip still hurts but I seem to take up the grip fairly naturally.

Then today I played 18 holes at Chuan Chuen golf club. One moment of glory; an 8 iron par three tee shot that finished less than an inch from a hole in one. It looked good all the way.

The rest was pretty ugly. I am losing many shots out right; have lost about 10% of my distance; jarred the fingers on my right hand where the little finger overlaps; cant hit the driver - although the 5 wood was just about OK. Shot 100; with a 9 and 8, and a couple of 7s.

Another lesson tomorrow. I keep telling myself - no pain, no gain !

*******************

WOW - Watford won at Ipswich last night. Ipswich currently lead the Championship and are favourites for promotion ! Cool !!

21 February 2005

So busy last week that I found little time to write and little that inspired me to write !

Matchplay golf yesterday at Mountain Shadow GC. I was 4 down after 5 holes and was thinking about how I could at least salvage respectability.

Instead after an eagle and two birdies in the last 11 holes I ended up winning 2 and 1. 38 shots for the last 9 holes helped.

A Houdini Act.

13 February 2005

There I was in one of the world's great food cities. But on my own for five nights and working quite hard. So what did I eat in the evenings; room service twice; MacDonald's chicken fajitas one night (not too bad when you add the hot sauce); a tuna salad from Subway one night; and for my only evening out a liquid early supper, and gossip, with our local audit partner.

Its a bit pathetic really; but in a fairly sociable city the idea of eating on my own surrounded by happy couples and families had little appeal.

Work wise; it was a good week and a lot was achieved. But I am ready to go home.

I lost a day heading back from Vancouver. It is 14 hours from Vancouver to Hong Kong, a fast transit in Hong Kong and another 2 hours 30 minutes down to Bangkok. It is a long haul; plenty of thinking time.

But firstly a few thoughts from inflight;

Airline washrooms are perhaps the most unpleasant places in the modern world. The are all designed for midgets. The first airline that installs decent washrooms with room for a good dump, a tv for distraction and maybe a small library of reading material will get my vote !

Air Canada's new colours are so awful it is hard to imagine that they actually paid a design consultant. The maple leaf emblem stays on the tailplane but the fuselage is now a nasty shade of lightish blue which looks like a primer colour; ready for someone (anyone!) to come and apply the finishing coat.

Why do people take their shoes and socks off on the airplane. I am typing this while my neighbour's bare feet are stretched out on his seat rest; this is not the beach.

It was movie time on the flight from Vancouver; I started with Being Julia, followed by Shall we Dance and wrapped up with the older What Women Want.

I did enjoy Being Julia. Annette Bening looks wonderful and she has such a great laugh. Smart script and a good cast.

Shall We Dance was movie making by numbers. Totally predictable; easily watchable because Richard Gere usually is. It was a feel good movie about living your dreams. Everybody in the film is a better person than they were at the start of the film. If only real life were that simple.

12 February 2005

Parting thoughts from Canada; the air is so good there. As I was leaving New Westminster I could see across the Fraser Valley to snow covered Mount Baker down in Washington State in the USA. It is up to 3 hours drive from Vancouver. Imagine that sort of visibility in Hong Kong or Bangkok.

In fact it was a fabulous early spring day. Stunning blue sky and mild temperatures.

9 February 2005

A happy Chinese New Year to you all. Kung Hei Fat Choy !

***********************

One thought on CNN - is Richard Quest the most irritating TV personality since the Teletubbies?

8 February 2005

The Vancouver Skytrain is definately not the place to see the beautiful people of the city !In a city ruled by the car this is the travel choice of the don't haves !

I walked into the mall at New Westminster this afternoon for lunch. There is a food court and a vast plate of Chinese food to celebrate CNY.

But walking through the mall I have never seen so many zimmer frames in one place!

7 February 2005

It is 3C in Vancouver tonight. Cool.

And dinner came from the local macdonalds - a chicken fajitas takeaway ! Another exciting night out in Vancouver !

6 February 2005

A tough day on the golf course at Bangsai yesterday. I was almost playing well but too many mistakes ruined the game. I hit the green on all four par threes; and promptly three-putted them all.

Then two quadruple bogies on 4 and 13, where I hit dreadful wedge shots from good positions and put myself in terrible trouble.

Am off to Vancouver this morning.

2 February 2005

I was reading this and chuckling away:

Subject: Qantas Airlines "Gripe Sheet"

After every flight, pilots fill out a form called a gripe sheet, which conveys to the mechanics problems. The mechanics read and correct the problem, and then respond in writing on the lower half of the form what
remedial action was taken, and the pilot reviews the gripe sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews and engineers lack a sense of humor.

Here are some actual logged maintenance complaints and problems as submitted by Qantas pilots and the solution recorded by maintenance engineers.

(P = The problem logged by and written by the pilots.)
(S = The solution and action as taken and written by the engineers.)

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on backorder.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're there for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget
pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

31 January 2005

The weekend's golf report: Voyage Panorama can be avoided at weekends. Golf yesterday took over 6 hours - worse still it was hot and I was hungover.

The resort is spartan and the restaurant (a generous description) closes at 8pm. There really is nothing there except the golf course!

The course itself is a good design. It is just badly managed and not welcoming.

Friends drove me up there for the weekend. One thing you cannot do in a friend's car is change their choice of music. They had replaced Barry White with Boney M. By late Saturday most of our group (of 40 plus people) were singing "Brown Girl in the Ring" !! It was that sort of weekend....

28 January 2005

Today's big finance story - Procter & Gamble Co. is buying razor and battery maker Gillette Co. for about $57 billion in a stock deal that would create the world's largest stable of consumer products. Imagine the legal fees !

Lunch on Friday - everyone in the office has gone out - but farangs were not invited. There will I guess always be an us and them in a Thai office which however friendly we all seem means that there are two worlds which never inter connect. The farangs will always be the outsiders.

Very out of sorts this week. Have not been sleeping well.

23 January 2005

A day late in wishing my mother a happy birthday !! How do I forget the important things !

Back in Bangkok - it is nice to be warm again!

Matchplay golf today - its a great format - you can have a disaster hole and it really does not matter - all you have to do is score better than your opponent - par ceases to matter! And winning helps !

21 January 2005

I am curious whether today's opinion pieces written after a few momentous days in China can actually be read in China. Let me know!

18 January 2005

There is a headline on the BBC news feed stating that :China stands firm on Tianenmen.

One catch - here in Beijing I cannot access that story. I assume that is due to the Great FireWall of China; the massive censoring filter that restricts access to parts of the internet. Sad.

13 January 2005

The third in line to the British throne is an idiot. Wearing a Nazi uniform and a swastika armband; albeit to a private fancy dress party, shows poor poor judgment. Cant Britain just do away with this embarrassing family of misfits?

**********************

Liverpool 1 Watford 0. All to play for in the second leg at Vicarage Road in a couple of weeks.

**********************

Did I mention that I bought myself an i-pod mini as my Christmas present. These little devices will become a design classic. The mini stores up to 1,000 songs and has an eight hour battery life. The sounds is great and once you have figured out the pc connection i-tunes is very easy to use.

It is the pc connection that is the only problem; working out how to make the i-pod compatible with a two year old Sony laptop was frustrating.

Now I wonder how I ever lived without it !

11 January 2005

Tune in to ESPN at 3.00am Thai time tonight for the first leg of the League Cup semi final between Liverpool and Watford from Anfield !

Watford FC on TV around the world !

10 January 2005

The biggest shock of the weekend's football did not come in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. Instead in the first leg of the Tiger Cup Final played in Jakarta on Saturday little Singapore beat Indonesia 3-1.

Golf yesterday with the foreign correspondents club of Thailand (FCCT). Was going well until a 10 at the 16th hole!! And I had to sink a twelve foot putt to save the 10 !

6 January 2005

The need for video replays in football was never more obvious than at Old Trafford yesterday; Roy Carroll drops a fifty yard lob backwards over his goal line; the ball falls at least a yard into the goal; he dives back; scoops the ball out of the goal; and the referee and linesman criminally failed to see the goal and waved play on.

In cricket video replays can have a batsman run out and in rugby a try given or disallowed. In football video evidence can earn a player a three match ban and result in a red card being rescinded, but it is not used during a game and in this case Tottenham were robbed of the winning goal.

It's time football woke up Firing the match officials for gross incompetence would be a good start. It was a shocker !

5 January 2005

Every morning I walk through the office complex next to Potash Towers. This building has the misfortune to be home to the evil empire.

It is also still playing Christmas carols on 5 January. I was assaulted by the Chipmunks version of Hark the Herald Angels Sing this morning.....

Someone should tell them - no more carols for another 340 days!

3 January 2005

Did you see the rain in Singapore yesterday? There was a football match on Star TV from SIN's national stadium. The players did not wear football boots; they wore flippers!

No wonder half of Singapore seems to be in BKK for the new year !

2 January 2005

This is a great weekend to be in Bangkok. Many people are still away so the streets are quiet. And the weather is exceptional. It is actually a little cool at about 18C in the morning and evening. Perfect!

Alex (my 7 year old son) went back to his home in Hong Kong this afternoon. Life is always quiet after he leaves.

We had a good Christmas. It has been two years since I last went to ski; but I remembered more than I had expected to and enjoyed being on the slopes. Did not try anything too difficult and after some new snow on Christmas Day conditions really were ideal.

To be honest skiing is something that I wish I had started when I was young; not when I was in my forties !

1 January 2005

Back in Bangkok after a long haul on EVA Air from Vancouver via Taipei. I cannot sleep on planes.

Taipei airport maybe one of the dullest places on the planet.