C h a w e n g

Entrance to Chaweng main st.



Papaya lady & Samui Thai boxing stadium.



Chaweng Beach.



Chaweng walking st.









How high is your corn?

B o P h u t t II

Ibis: Patio, Pools, Beach and Ocean...........






13

U S M II S a m u i

Did You Know?

• There are over 161 domestic flights per week from USM.
• There are over 7 long haul flights per week from USM.
• There are over 19 international flights per week from USM.
• The longest flight from USM is 1,270 miles.
• The shortest flight out of USM is 125 miles.
• USM has 166 flights departing per week for short haul destinations.
• The smallest commercial aircraft flying out of USM is a DH7 with 48 seats.
• USM has 68 medium sized aircraft departing each week.

New terminal.........



Colonel

Transporter 7

Thai style.....






Cockroach

D u m n o e n S a d u a k

Floating Market








Kinchloe?

what about fries?

Hey guys, sorry for my long absence from posting but I've been working really hard getting ready for the Air Sex World Championships -

"you know, like air guitar but f**king" - video

C h a o P h r a y a R i v e r

View from the old Shangri La hotel looking towards the gulf of Thailand.



Sathorn station all day pass recommended....



Wat Pho Bang O.....



Temple of the worlds largest reclining Buddha.



Wat Phra Kaeo....... Grand Palace. Dress code strictly enforced!



Gr a n d P a l a c e ...



And Grand Palace......



Wat Arun and



Happy Birthday King.







Goldilocks.

Taiwan Tip

How do the Taiwanese encourage fathers to attend ballet performances in the park on Saturday mornings?

Make sure to have 40 minutes of adult female belly dancers first.

AWESOME.

B a n g k o k

One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster



One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble



I can feel the devil walking next to me.......





The Iron Eagle

For Karl

Poker Report

Lower Spades,
Bigger boats,
Higher rushes,

Night life
It's all right
No big pussies

table two
11 shoe
no Aaron


* Big and pretty hand, "200 hold'em", Angus plays four tens.

* Most painful has to go to Jeff, "In Betwen" J went for whole pot of 1800, hit the post and added 3600 to the pot (Pot quickly whisked away by a Texas tornando).

* Surprised. "5 card draw,2 draws of 2, 5's wild,max 100" after taking 2 draws of 2, Drunken Danger Dave beat my beautiful Ace high staight with 4 of a kind, he had 3 wild fives. (boo hiss)

Fei Yu-Ching Concert

Last night while you dumbasses were all playing poker, drinking beer, and joshing around, I went to see the famous Taiwanese crooner Fei Yu-Ching. 

Here's his wikipedia page.

Basically, he's Chang-Fei's gay little brother. He can sing pretty well, but even my wife, who bought the tickets and forced me to attend, fell asleep numerous times as he sang soft ballads from yesteryear, back when Taiwan was in the UN. (Yes, this was mentioned in the concert actually.)

Mean age for concert goers: 65

Number of Foreigners Attending: 1

He did tell two pretty funny jokes. I will see if I can translate them and keep them funny.

C M U H

Freedoms just another word for nothing left 2 loose......

Since 1980


I know nothing?

Summer vacation is nearing and the annual end-of-the-school-year rituals are in full play: signing yearbooks, creating final grades for 800 students and ducking all supervisors. The last one is most important to me and one that I try to be faithful to year round. It's made easier because my supervisors are doing the same. However, given time to make a decision - whether one needs to be made or not - they inevitably make one that is wrong, stupid, repetitive or all three. This is where I must step in and show them that even after eight years it is still possible for round eye to be completely ignorant of, and completely disregard the concept of indirect criticism.

I teach at a combo junior high / high school / vocational school. Similar schools in Taichung have foreign teachers numbering in the teens. At my school, we number in the upper twos - three to be exact. The senior teacher is Paul. This is his 9th or 10th year there and even though he does not have a teaching certificate, he has been grandfathered in and is safe. Before, a college degree was good enough. A couple of years ago, the government got stricter about the requirements (having a teaching certificate) and sales of Photoshop and tickets to Bangkok soared. I have my certificate and permanent work and residence visa. I too, am safe. It is our third teaching position that has given us problems. We have rotated this position like drummers for Spinal Tap. The last one before the current teacher was my good friend Jerry. Our school declined to offer him a new contract because he did not have a teaching certificate. I was not happy. The school said sorry, that's the way it has to be and we will never hire another teacher unless they have a teaching certificate. Until they did.

The new, current, teacher is a very good teacher who gets along with the students and other teachers. So, our school decided enough was enough and decided to not offer him a contract for next year. When the contracts were distributed, we noticed there were only two. Nothing for Andre. Andre told us the school had already informed him that he wouldn't be coming back. He then handed me a printout of a news story (in Chinese) from Yahoo Taiwan news which had been given to him by the number two guy at our school. Andre was told it was about a crackdown on unlicensed teachers that was starting in Taibei and moving south. He was told the article said that the penalty was severe and teachers would be deported within two days. He was told the school was very sorry but they had to protect themselves. I said, give it to me.

I read the article. I took it to my Chinese teacher to let him read and see if he concurred with me. I then showed it to four Taiwanese teachers in the Junior High department. We all agreed. The school's version was complete bullshit. Yes, two licensed foreign teachers in Taibei were caught working at another school. They were not deported. There was no crackdown. They were turned in by the school they were under contract to. The news article was about the behavior of the teachers when coming out of a meeting after being fined (the teachers, not the school). The teachers reacted rather unpleasantly upon seeing some of the media there. They responded with the finger, cussing and assaulting a reporter. I took my knowledge and black hat to confront Numbers Two and Three. I told them they lied. I also added that I would not sign my contract until they settled this. Not really a huge threat, but we would only have one foreign teacher and our so-called Foreign Language department would collapse. They have since offered Andre a contract, but he can only teach in the morning or in the afternoon. Why? Because the Immigration Police who are not cracking down on unlicensed teachers will only raid our school in the morning or the afternoon - whichever time Andre is not working. Yes, they really said that. Number Three supervisor has told Andre and Paul to tell me to please not talk to her directly. I am too upsetting. If I have something to say, tell them and they will tell her. So I scheduled a meeting with her and Number Two next week.

Andre recently got a visit from Number Two a disgruntled parent. The issue? An 85 for disgruntled's child. The result. Number Two said that the students in that class could only get a score of 95-100. Change it. Now. This is a class whose tuition is being covered by the school and guaranteed admission into the high school of their choice. I told Andre to change Precious's grade to 95 and give everyone else in the class 100. Hope he does it. Were are also told to adjust (never lower than 85) any aboriginal or underprivileged student's grade. We have no idea who they are and have never adjusted their grades. The other Taiwanese teachers in the Junior High department do not adjust either, and no one has ever been spoken to about it. I guess the Free Ride class is a little more equal than others. Just two more weeks and then I'm home for about 5 weeks. Get your requests in now.

Crackbook

Now I know many people, led by our Grand Poohbah, Less than Intellectual John, rail on about Myspace and Facebook, and all the other networking sites, but they do serve a purpose.

I, like everyone else, has gotten that friend request from that chick that your brother once nailed and now she wants to be your friend. But I have got back in touch with some people that I am glad to have heard from. Being in Taiwan, maybe more so than normal people, people come and go from your life, best intentions notwithstanding. It can be nice to get that "blast from the past", someone you were once friends with, and you just lose touch with. It happens. It happened to me tonight, an old friend that I once rocked with and, I don't even know how, a day turns into a week and before you know it, it's been years. I, for one, am glad to have it. It has given me the opportunity to talk to some people I really like and miss. Like Angie, and Rye, and PIMP, and a host of others

Here's a HOWIGATI, for the Big Man.

Aye aye, Captain