Category: Frank’ Blog

Sawasdee Khrap

Went to a friend of ours Grand opening of his new burger franchise shop located at “The Peak” in the Night Bazaar. Here’s a link for it (Night Bazaar) That’s a mouthful – Brian, a friend, has just opened his 3rd location in Chiang Mai. He started with the first site near the Thapae Gate and had such success he is now offering franchises for the new locations. So far 3 now with plans for several more in CM and some in Bangkok. I went down to get some opening shots and get ready for Loy Krathong’s first parade in the evening. Here are some shots of Brian, and the new owners:

Next are shots of Pong (Brian’s partner) and Patty behind the grill. Pong is on the right:

AND the first customers (actually the first to sit down – Jerry and I ordered the first burger and hotdog that evening – but we were sitting at the bar next door)

Then it was off to the start of Loy Krathong and the first evening parade – these are just some quick shots to give you an idea about what it looked like.

Of course there were a lot of boys there – in the parade

And of course the usual floats, dancers and girls

There will be another parade tonight (5th) for a krathong to go to the river and then tomorrow night will be the final larger parade – both Tasanai and i will be there and should get some great shots. I’ll try to get then in too.

I am also checking on some new web templates for the gallery and store – hopefully it will work and let me set it up quickly – stay tuned —– printer died – isn’t it always something.

Ciao

Frank

Sawasdee Khrap

No pictures – Just a note.

Today starts the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006 Expo near Chiang Mai. We won’t get a chance to see it until later in the month, maybe not till December – Make sure you take a look at the web site.

We are getting ready for Loy Krathong this weekend– Tasanai will do some video work in Lampang on the 4th & 5th and then we will celebrate together here on the 6th. Actually that will be the day of the parade here in Chiang Mai with the big lighted floats – I will try to get some unique shots.

Had to put new front and rear brakes on the Mira, Tasanai is going over the mountain to Lampang this weekend and we wanted to make sure that the brakes were in order – they were getting very thin and would need renewing soon – so why wait. 2,400 B – $60 US for the entire job – now try to get that done in the States.

Still having problems with the new computer – hopefully I can go to a operating system restore and get it working correctly again – If not I will have to wait until after the busy cool tourtist season to shut it down for a full format and re-load of all systems – Tasanai needs it working for his video projects and I am afraid that if I attempt to start from scratch and format the hard-drive and reload the operating system something may go wrong and leave us without a working unit. At least right now it will produce the videos and Photoshop is up and running – no video menus but we can use Titles instead and still make a good looking product.

Anyway that’s where we are now. Get back to you later

Ciao

Frank

Sawsadee Khrap

Can’t show you all the pictures here on the blog, I’ll try to get them in the Gallery. but here are some highlights. First we stopped at a Resort, Jarim Garden, for lunch before getting to Chiang Rai.

Wow, there they had this beautiful parrot and the bridge Tasanai took a picrure of last year. His pic is much better than this one. About 10KM outside of Chiang Rai is Wat Rong Khun – a great gleaming white new Wat, these were taken in the afternoon sun and suffer from straight down lighting. – Arriving in Chiang Rai, you first see the King Mehgrai Memorial: We went to several Wats here but those pics will wait for the Gallery.

Leaving Chiang Rai we headed North toward Myanmar (Burma) and the Golden Triangle:

This shot is looking toward Thailand (Mae Sai) from the border road – we were stopped several time for ID check of Tasanai, (they didn’t ask for my ID at anytime), apparently they wanted to make sure he wasn’t illegal. At the top of this mountain range was the King’s Mother’s Garden and Mae Fa Luang Park. Also here is the Oldest Northern Temple – Phrathat Doi Tung (Doi Tung Shrine) – one of the 12 Major Temples in Buddhism – Pig Zodiac – and Tasanai’s brith year Temple. And on the way back, in the late afternoon here is a shot again of Wat Rong Khun.

Ciao

Frank

Sawasdee Khrap

Just got back from a trip to Chiang Rai and the surrounding area. We stayed the night in the Red Rose Hotel in the Toon Inn Room — As you can see from the pictures this is a place you won’t want to miss – especially if you have kids or you are young at heart yourself. I really liked this room, but if you don’t like cartoons, they also have the Boxing Room, Space Ship Room, and many more to choose from – see the big sign in the picture of the front entrance. Prices range from 800 Baht to 2800 Baht – that’s $20–70/night US depending on size.. We thought our car felt right at home in the Toon’s Car Port -. $30 US/night Anyway here are the images:

We left the Red Rose visited the new Wat Rung Khun – beautiful white temple and then went to Chiang Saen and then to Do Tung Temple – I’ll post more pics on this later, this was a 2 day trip — But here’s the Red Rose website – enjoy

Ciao

Frank

Sawasdee Khrap

Went to the hospital today for my annual checkup – 4000 Baht, $100 US.   Checked blood (sugar, PSA, hormones, hepatitis, STD, etc ) , and urine, stool tests (complete), EKG, Artery Condition, body fat, chest X-ray —— Hows that for a full checkup and what a great price.

Tomorrow we leave for Chiang Rai – will get some shots there and present them next posts

Ciao

Frank

 

Sawasdee khrap

I’ll stick to BlogJet for the time being, but I will keep Qumana on the system, maybe the ability to add ads later will be worthwhile – right now not.  I really like the thumbnail and enlargement scheme used in BlogJet.  A restriction on font usage is not a problem – I will stick to a font that will present equally well in most browsers.  –

Anyway , just starting to get back to work on the Web.  I’ll start setting up the storefront using ZenCart now —– I do seem to be having some problem with the new computer – seems the USB recognition is not functioning correctly – several card reader slots are not showing up all the time – spotty, puzzled – but the rest seems to be working OK.

Frank

 

 

 

Sawasdee Khrap

Now this is a test for the new Qumana Blog Editor I installed -In addition to standard posting it will allow me to place ads in the posts in the future if I desire – we will see about that – possibility

First thing I see is that it will not allow changing font faces – it is restricted to the dropdown menu of basics fonts. That may not be a problem and will allow a more universal display with any browser. If I need to use special FONT I can make them as images and then add them – that way all browsers will be the same look – not relying on a specific font to be on the users system – or have to embed anything…….. just thoughts

Now for the images: This is the same image on I posted using BlogJet – doesn’t seem to have any thumbnails nor ways to click for a enlarged photo – at least to easily do it from the editing window. I’ll check to see if it is possible. The ‘Shift’ corner resize didn’t seem to work and reduce the image proportionally.

Well, this is just the first test.

Powered by Qumana

This is just a test to see if BlogJet is posting as it should from the new installation on the new computer. Here is a picture for the test

It’s a picture of John at Simon’s while he and Roy were here – it was shot in the dark so isn’t very good but it is a small file I can use and it’s quickly available.

Frank

P.S.   Seemed to work OK — picture and all – great now I can return to posting —–

Sawasdee Khrap

Just got our new computer – a Duo Core Intel 2.4GHz, 250 GB HD with a high speed and resolution graphics board – a GeForce 7600 GS —– [ what a fast machine,  we are going to need the speed for the video processing]   and tried to install Windows XP Prof. – Damn thing screwed up the whole thing – said I needed to call Microsoft because my Activation number was used 3 times and that was not allowed – and yet it was their own auto install that apparently activated it several times — what a piece of CRAP.   I did this so I would have a good registered operating system on board – that was a mistake I won’t make again.

I’ll have to take it back to the computer store I got if from tomorrow so they can re-format the HD’s and reinstall the operating system they installed – LINUX — this windows nonsense is just that – can’t wait till the Apple Operating system is sold to the general public – I think I will get it and then have the best of both worlds – run Mac and PC software – only problem is you have to reboot to switch – but what the hell it’s better than putting up with Microsoft’s crap.  I’ll set this one up now with UNIX and dual boot to my old Home XP —

Anyway – that’s the reason I haven’t added more pictures to the blog – got a lot from some local trips we have taken lately, but those will have to wait till I get the computers running up to speed.  Hang in there with me – retired you know so I don’t try to do more than one thing a day –

Ciao

Frank

Sawasdee Khrap

Having real problems with my Internet connection – sometimes it works – most times it doesn’t or is so slow I’m paying Broadband prices for dial-up service.   I started out using a dial-up while we were in the Lotus Hotel because it was impossible to run a private line or phone number into the studio room.  When we moved I started out getting the local phone Co.    TTT Internet ADSL service at 512/256 – spotty connections but mostly up and running, but it did have a slow speed.  Then I heard about True Cable Broadband Service 1024/512 and it was available in our building, so I signed up —– so far that was a mistake.

Almost a day after it was installed the d/l speeds dropped to almost nothing – I was better off with the 512/256 service. To see what was going on –  I have installed a monitoring program 

 (a great way to monitor your Internet speeds –   LineSpeedMeter from  www.tcpIQ.com  , it’s free and I set it to automatically check 48 times a day) 

 The program will run 11  down-load/upload speed tests every half hour.  I have clocked about a week of testing and the True Cable system is barely giving me a 256/256 speed.  I am trying to work this out with True and hope they can solve the problem.  Naturally they say it’s my computer that’s causing the problem – but I also have the laptop and it gets the same speed readings – so it’s back to their move.

Sorry for not getting to my email either – working on the Internet connection and try to get proficient with Adobe Production Suite has really taken up almost all of our time.  Hopefully I’ll have the Internet problems solved soon and will catch up with all my email – Please hang in there if I haven’t answered yours.

Thanks   Ciao

Frank

I suppose you are all wondering what is happening here in Chiang Mai – I have been watching CNN and BBC News and see there is little clear information about the present political situation.

Everything is OK – I think, as one government official said, a cancer has been removed from Thai politics and now the government can heal and resume working for the people.

Being in Chiang Mai – very little military action so no pictures to show – life here is normal.

I’ll post more when it’s available – I want to make sure I post links only to creditable sources

—– For Bangkok news Bangkok Daily Post

For Chiang Mai Chiang Mai Mail (Weekly eNewspaper)
Ciao

Frank