It's only blog-believe.

Having not made it back the other evening, I find myself with a reflective 15 minutes. It still continues to rain and therefore Bangkok is scandalously sweaty and steamy, but I have a nice unnatural breeze blowing on my back, so who cares.

I was pleased to hear good news about a plant I have feelings for. 'Olive', or 'Oliver', not sure if Stonewall has had it gendered, is apparently over a metre tall now. Brings a tear to my eye to think he/she was a mere sapling when I brought him/her home as a little bundle of joy to add to my herbacious border, just over two years ago.

Sigh.

Those were the gardening times.

So, day four comes to a close. An interesting day for me but not for those who would surely be appalled by what I consider interesting. I would describe that day for the benefit of myself, so I might compare it with other days, to help me define interesting, but this isn't that type of blog.

Perhaps I should keep a work blog, too.

I see a bad blog arising.

Boggedy blog - don't blog back.

Just a quicky this gloriously sunny morning. Best time of the day in Bangkok before the heat rises.

Felt I ought to pop in before work but actually I've no time to write anything!

Have to blog me and leave me till this evening.

Life's a Blog ...

So incidentally, the place where I stumbled was Kanchanaburi, a place of recent infamy due to the gunning down of two British tourists. Here's an eerie thing. They were staying in the same bungalow - B12, at the same resort - 'Sugar Cane', as we were, when on our little peregrination into the countryside this May.

I also got myself into a little bother with a local Bobby, too, that evening while riding our hired motorbike back to 'Sugar Cane'. The 4 large bottles of lager after 47 days of abstention inexplicably cause me to go the wrong way up a one-way street. Fortunately, aforementioned Peeler did not feel that taking out his revolver and pumping three bullets into my stomach and head was appropriate admonishment for my malfeasance. In fact he found the stupid Farang rather amusing and waved us on to weave back into the night.

I shall certainly think twice before complaining about my eggs on toast again, though, which is one of my numerous proclivities. The usual jeremiad is that either the albumen is aqueous or the yolk adamantine. The perfect fried egg can be onerous to appropriate. I shall be less fastidious in future.

Anyway, as usual, I have great intentions about this blog and shall be back again tomorrow.

Bye bye Blog. Bye bye happiness. Hello loneliness. I think I'm going to blog.

I'm not a Blog, not quite a Blogger ...

Well, after such great intentions of continuing my Blog in order to curb the indisciplines of life, I then proceed to not blog for the past three months.

Ah well!  Here I am, back again and so soon will the footie season and the COB.  Hurrah!

We've moved.  To a small wooden house at the end of a lane on a junction of a road on the junction of a road known as Sukhumvit.

The house needed a lot of doing up in the way of cleaning and painting but its now looking quite nice.

The area is certainly very interesting and I shall document the various going ons of this bustling, yet diverse community in the weeks to come.

Blog this space!

We're Blogging. We're Blogging. Hope you like Blogging, too.

Well, Blogging seems to be quite a nice thing to do from time to time so I thought I'd carry on, post-war.

We, Jeam & I, have just been to Laos after our trip to Kanchanaburi and Sanklaburi, near the Burmese border. It was very nice. Very slow, very nice scenery, very friendly people and all in all a splendid change from the traffic, heat and orderly disorder that is Bangkok. I'll put the photos on the photo album on Panaya Park when we get the film developed and I program in the photo album. Been looking at a few but they seem rather complicated. Others that are not just don't have enough features. Nevertheless, I have to do one for another site anyway so I might as well do it today.

We're off to Ranong tomorrow. There are a couple of islands that look just right for five or six days of doing very, very little, although isms & ics seem to cling to me so I'm taking my laptop so I can do some work/hobbies in the evening and we can also watch DVDs while sitting outside our bungalow. Also hope to watch the Arse win the Premier League tomorrow after Newcastle beat Chelski and the Gunners humiliate Sp*rs.

Blog to me later ...

All I needed was the Blog you gave.
All I needed for another Blog.
And all I ever Blogged.
Only Blog.

Well, I reached 47 days of no alcohol consumption and then succumbed on the first evening of my holiday. No real surprises from me and no real big disappointment. It was an anticlimax as I thought it would be but nevertheless the beer was pleasant.

We were having a meal on a restaurant that also happened to float on the River Kwai so I am afraid that it required the presence of my old friend, Lager.

Anyway, a very enjoyable evening was had by the both of us. Jeam was particularly happy as she had never been on a 'floating restaurant' before and come to think of it, neither had I.

News:

Floating restaurant
Seeing Jack Fruit growing on a tree - bloody big things jack fruit. Poor tree.
Seeing Pomelo growing on a tree. Big grapefruit shaped things. Taste like grapefruit, too.
Eating 'Man Keaw' a type of fruit. Pretty tasteless really and looked much more delicious than it actually was.
River rafting. Enjoyable but would have been less hard work if the old bugger we were alocated had pulled his weight a bit more with the bamboo stick we used to propel ourselves along the river with.
Crossing a river on an elephant. Damn versatile things, elephants.
Swimming in a Thai lake. Very nice after a run in the morning.
Eating so-called 'Burmese curry'. Tasted like dish water and was probably something similar to what the poor sods building the railway were given by the Imperial Japanese Army all those years ago.

So.
Where do we go
Where do we go now
Where do we go
Sweet Blog o' mine?

Blog a little bit. Blog a little bit of your blog to me.

54 days to go. I must say that for anyone who likes a beer as much as I do - and I do like a beer, when you're counting the days till your next one it can usually be done on one hand. I'm looking forward to that day.

The summer is upon us in Bangers and the heat just cries out for a nice thin stemmed but gradually rising to a cresendo of fizzy, effervescent froth, dancing in the shadows of the just-set sun, topping the condensation forming just-off freezing-chilled amber delight called .... Lager.

They don't even sell the crap non-alcoholic version here like they do in Spain so there isn't even a placebo but I suppose it wouldn't really be one as I'd damn well be able to taste the difference between bottled urine and the real thing. Unless of course one likes to embibe Heineken.

Well, will I make it? I am of course posing this question to myself as it is me who has to decide these things. It is certainly the longest I've been without a drink for twenty years, so I'd be quick to offer excuses for not lasting the course and still be satisfied; but which one of me am I kidding?

It's easy when I'm working as I have a good incentive in staying focussed but now I have 25 days holiday.

I give myself a 40/60 chance of making it to the end without crumbling on a balmy evening in Vientiane.

Blogger and out.

I was blogging as a blogger in a blogtail bar. That much I know.

April the 4th. 58 days to go till the hundred days war is over. Well, what can I say? I've ran 5 mornings this week but not much weight coming off. Got up at 6:00 am every morning and went out 'on the road'. It made me feel better but I'm not geting any nearer the half-way 5000 gram point.

I shall try a long run tonight and tomorrow night and see what happens. I'm busy at work and it's quite difficult to do regular exercise at regular times.

Played football in an indoor court the other day. Air-conditioned. Cool. Literally. I did notice the good effects of being a little lighter and perhaps not drinking for such a while. I wasn't as abjectly knackered after five minutes as I would normally have been.

I'm eating meat again - chicken and stuff but I'll try to avoid fried and stuff in sweet sauce. Quite difficult as Thais love fried food in sweet sauce.

As I mentioned to myself at the beginning of this blog, it's going to be one of the most uninteresting Blogs ever, so for those coming in via Panaya Park, you won't be disappointed.

These were the blogs my friend I thought they'd never end, these were the blogs, these were the blogs my friend.

It must be a week since I last sat down and blogged. Indeed it is. Well, nearly. 6 days since I reported anything at all and that makes this day 64 and counting.

As usual, my life is packed with social events and happenings so I'll just document them in bullet points below:

:: Went for a coffee on Friday night then 'out' with some 'friends'. I had my eye on the clock as I had to work the next day so I was glad in a way that the evening was excrutiatingly boring as I needed to get home quite early.

:: That's it.

One full week to go before our trip to Laos. Not sure if Vietnam will be on the itinery as it might not be possible to cross the border. Might come back and then find a nice beach to settle on for 5 or 6 days.

May be meeting Carmel and 'Sharon' who I knew from Tokyo tonight. I hope James is there! Although James being there would be nicer if I was drinking.

Seem to be see-sawing between the 2000-2500 gram loss in weight and I was hoping to stay on course and reach 5000 before the 50ieth day.

I need another plan.

Blog you later.

Blog for Blog's sake, money for God's sake.

A few new's. Ate some 'Mon' food and used an industrial strength hole puncher. 'Mon' is the name of a group of people who originate from around the Burmese border area and I was treated to some snacks of theirs at a school I visited the other day. Fairly tasty. The hole puncher needs no explanation, should anyone be reading this, but it was the' mother of all hole punchers' and could probably enable one to file a steel plate in one's folder, should that be a necessity. That might mean around 94 news to go. Hmm. Difficult.

Anyway, it being March the 23rd, I am now into day 30, or day 70, whichever way I look at it. I ate meat yesterday but am not over-concerned about that. I shall just add another day to my 30 so as to acheive this goal. It was more of there not being anything else available on offer at the MOE in the lunch they put on rather than my 'breaking' as there is usually plenty of fair around that keeps me more than satisfied.

It's strange in a way that I am now even turning my nose up at some of the meat dishes that one sees on offer around Bangkok in the sort of irritating way a 'born again' non-smoker might be 'disgusted' at the whiff of cigarette smoke after he's finally got over the critical stages of quitting his ones extremely pleasurable habit. At least I'm keeping it to myself though and not turning into a complete wanker. Note the adjectival clause. Wanker!

14 days to the steak including the extra day for bad behaviour.

Not much going on in my life except work, domesticity, sleep and again again. I love the work, love domesticity and love sleep so I am happy.

Not sure whether it'll be an ice-cold lager in 70 days time or a large glass of fine Cognac or perhaps a Long Island Iced Tea. I don't really mind what it is and I now know that it won't seem anywhere near as pleasurable as a glass of cold beer would have done after a week of abstinence as that's the way the brain works. Not sure if I was an alcoholic or just had what the doctors or experts refer to as a 'drinking problem.' Not sure I even had that but I do know that the brain will act as a small child if the body doesn't get what it wants in the short term. If you deny it what it wants for longer than it can keep up the histrionics, it'll soon forget what it was even creating about in the first place.

Strange that as it's me who's tellnig me this at the moment. How close we are to clinical insanity.

Bye bye Blog.

March 18th. 3 days later makes it 75 days to go which is 7 fewer than the start of the European Championships so I'll be able to watch the first game over a tall thin glass of ice-cold lager. Might even extend till then - it won't seem that much more.

No meat is good for you. Official. Providing you don't go all Vegan, there's plenty of great fish and seafood here to enjoy. I'm 3/4s the way through the hundred days war and I weigh 2,500 grams fewer than I did at the start, including clothes, so I'm on target on most fronts.

Any news? Hmm. Need to think about this. Not off the top of my head but there'll be loads in the holidays to catch up with.

See you blog!

Hello Blogness my old friend,

It's been another few days so I'll catch up with what been and what's not been going on. Today is March the 15th so by all accounts this is day ... er ...78. Hurrah! 21 days for the T-bone and about the same amount till my holidays.

Nothing to report here. Must get off to Panaya.

Hello Blog,

It's been a while and here I am at my desk at work, hoping to add a few notes to keep the thing ticking along.

Today is March the 10th so that probably makes it 82 days to go. Fairly flying by! 95 news as I have never gone more than a day without meat. Thank Buddha for seafood, that's all I can say.

One more in that as I am approaching the big 4-0h rapidly, and I know you ladies and transexuals going through a similar stage will sympathise, I thought I'd start giving myself a bit of pampering. Apparently it is now 'OK' for blokes, geezers, lads and the like to care about themselves a little more these days.

It's known as 'Metrosexualism'. So, in the good tradition of the phrase, I am 'coming out' before Aree 'outs' me!! Yes, I am a 'Metrosexual' and happy with it. I use 'moisturizer' and I am planning to have a pedicure and possibly a 'Spa'. Panaya are in virtual talks with Nivea. I am not, however, but have no problems with those who choose to be; heteroflexible.

Not drinking alcohol at all and now no meat seems to be having an effect on me. I am thinking strangely but I am getting things done. I seem to have 'energy' when I wouldn't normally have had.

I think it will be for the better when I can welcome back friend 'lager' into my life and my mates 'cigar' and 'cheese and bacon sandwich'. I miss you chaps.

I shall ask for spiritual advice from my mentor, 'The Gift' and I shall hope that he may deliver me.

It's going to be Hanoi in April via Vientienne in Laos and I'm looking forward to a bit of a change of scenery. Hope the seafood's good.

26 days of vegetarianism (well, not exactly, but who cares).

Elvis lives ....

So, 96 news to go and 86 days. Hmm. I have decided to take new drastic action to see if I can encourage a few thousand grams to shed themselves from me.

30 days and 30 nights of no meat to add to my misery. I really felt like a beer last night but resisted. I am glad I did as as pointless I do feel this whole exercise is, more pointless would have been the last 14 days.

So it's a healthy, fishy month to come followed by an enormous, rare steak at the end of it to celebrate. Roll on April 6th and I'll be on my hols after that but it's Easter so I might keep the fish thing up till the Monday after.

Pah! Feels like one of those Japanese challenge shows that I like to watch on channel 37 from time to time.

Jya ne!!

Day 88. Today is 'Macha Bucha' Day so it is a holiday for all.

P'Yong was cremated yesterday and his ashes cast over the Moon river. A good resting place. Now his ex-wife and family and wife are fighting over his property. A global post-death scenario, I guess.

Went out on the town last night. Another excellent Ruby in a different restaurant this time. Thought I'd risk the chicken for the first time in over seven weeks and it was well worth it. For anyone ending up here via Panaya Park and lives in Japan, the Indians in Bangkok are simple in another league. This is UK Indian quality if not better. Chicken Jalfreizi was 'awesome'.

Visited a few bars including one in Soi Zero where the music is excellent. They have a great idea of coming around the bar with a karaoke style menu and asking you to select your favourite tracks. Excellent stuff!

Came home in a taxi and lucidly recall all of the journey. That I will count towards my tally.

Another good thing happened to me yesterday and earlier in the week. First I learned that I would be asked to go back to Sydney in May for a regional meeting and training session. Bummer!! Then I was told that I'd have to go down south to train some schools in ICT & professional development. Catastrophic! Finally I have been asked to organise a Fantasy Football tournament for 16 schools in Thailand to take part in as part of a 'learning through sport and ICT' initiative. Money for what I do in my precious little spare time. Unfair!

Not missing the booze much. Not losing weight or feeling much better (not that I don't feel great, anyway) but I've started so I'll finish.

I think I'm in the 89th day if I'm counting backwards so that means it's been over ten days since my last drop of lager. Don't feel any fitter but I shall try to remedy that in the holidays which are a mere 5 weeks away.

I thought there would be tests but today takes the biscuit. My best friend - only friend in Thailand who is from this country, died yesterday. P'Yong was killed in a car crash. I don't know the details but I do know that one of the nicest guys I will ever meet has been taken from his new wife and his family and friends way too early for logic to have played a part.

I dedicate the rest of these few blogging days to you Yong and by God I'm going to say goodbye to you properly when I next go to Ubon Ratchathani.

I will miss you, mate.

This is Yong's wife Bee, P'Yong (he is actually a few months younger than me but he's P'Yong to everyone else so I call him it too) and me in one of our trips out to the stunning countryside of North-East Thailand.

Day 91, I think. Difficult to keep count. Anyhow, the no drinking thing is getting easier, if anything. Wore a suit I had forgoten I had today to visit the MOE so that's a Thai first. I'm kind of scraping the barrel so anything will do as long as it doesn't breech my own unwritten 'gentleman's' rules.

For example, I didn't eat chicken at all last month but that's because of the bird flu and I bought a pair of shorts but that doesn't count either and in fact I am just going to over-rule the suit thing so it's still the same as before. 97, I think.

Went for a run yesterday and it was my best for a long while but I'm just too knackered to bother today. Tennis tomorrow so that should make up for that.

Well done to the unpopular Boro as well for wininng their first ever significant trophy. I'm sure the British lads in the team will all be off to the nearest passport office now to prepare themselves for the UEFA cup next season. Big up the Boro!!!

Day 93 was yesterday and it was a Saturday, so work all day of the kind I'm leaving behind, but still enjoy. Teaching English. Two classes of nice people once a week is the kind of English teaching I can handle. I sympathise with my colleagues on seven, eight or nine classes at awkward times of the day plus the endless meetings, administrative duties and general company policy of nit-picking. Still, they do have the 45 days-year holidays and as I still do, which I'd be loathe to let go of.

Hmm, what shall it be this April? Unspoilt tropical island in the South or a trip to Hanoi to see James and Carmel. Decisions.

Anyway, the lack of alcohol part of this 'war' doesn't seem to be a problem. I get just as excited watching Arsenal go two up in the space of 4 minutes only to end up needing the post to prevent them from blowing the two points needed to go nine points clear at the top, although the Man U game hadn't yet finished, without 3 or 4 litres of lager to wash it down, as I do with.

I can also concentrate on the running more seriously although I suffer from a few isms and work is another of them. Trouble is I won't feel I can 'relax' until I secure a better position and therefore salary and can take the foot off the pedal. The chances are though that something else will come along after that to give me yet another carrot to chase. I hope not.

Anyway, let's move into day 92 so I can be done with this blogging for today. Jeam (my long suffering girlfriend (as most of them have been) and I are going to J.J. Market to have a wander around the throngs and get a bit of a late breakfast. Late breakfast or early lunch will do for me, by the way. No need to clutter the English language with Americanisms.

I aim to try and pick up a few 'firsts' as this part of the 'war' is a little more difficult to follow, as is the weight thing, (as the food's so damn delicious and I 'don't smoke, don't drink what do you do?'). Shouldn't be too much of a problem in one of Asias biggest outdoor markets,but I shall see.

Bolton V Middlesbrough later today in the Tin Pot final at Cardiff. I know a man out there who will be right behind 'the Boro' and hope that he doesn't have too arduous a day at the office tomorrow, whatever the outcome.

I am afraid, as a pragmatist, my money is on Sam Allardyce's men to prove too strong for the erratic perennial mid-tablers.

Day 94. An uneventful day. Nothing to report. I'll see this to the end but I'm not sure I'll see the point when I get there. I know my attitude will change and there will be brighter moments along the way. Day 94 isn't one of them.

Goodnight.

Day 95 was yesterday, and as I once memorably heard from a Japanese bus driver in Yamanaka-ko, yesterday was yesterday, today is today.

However, the reason for not writing to myself in this blog wasn't because I had fallen by the wayside, so no trips to William Hills yet, please. No, the reason was that my Internet connection at home was playing up so I abandoned last night's blogging for today.

97 firsts now because I went into a few bars and didn't imbibe alcoholic beverages. I was due to meet my mate Roy, but was earlyish leaving the office so I first went down to the Arabic quarters for a Pakistani. Yes I am aware that Pakistan is nowhere near Arabia but there happens to be a nice cheap place for a Ruby down there and I hadn't been there for some time.

So, mutton Masala and mutton jasmine basmati with a vegetable samosa with a glass of mango lassi, I was set up for a nice 40 minutes of people watching, as this resaurant is 'al fresco' or al jazeera, or whatever.

It almost seemed that I wasn't still in Bangkok with the folk around who frequent this Soi (small street that is a branch of a big street). Little African kids playing chase with their little African mates and Thai mates and little Arab mates from their international school. No hint of indoctrinated racist hate between 5 & 6 year olds and very refreshing to watch. Is it age or fatherhood that allows a man to enjoy watching children play?

Blokes in long robes smoking Hookahs and a general buzz which is alien to anywhere in Thailand except here. You can feel it in Little Arabia in Singapore and to a certain extent in Penang where the Indian and Pakistani grub is top drawer but its certainly a nice place to spend a quite contemplarary period.

I next went into a bar on Soi 7. A newish place with, either Thailand's ladies' under-25 olympic pool team practicing for Greece this summer, or more likely, too early in the evening for the punters. Whatever the case, not having had a few lagers in one's blood stream certainly changes one's perspective of things.

Whereas most of them could certainly hold their own with me on the pool table, 70% were now not so attractive whereas that might have been 30% with beer goggles. The ones that were beautiful, and mark my words the Thai girl at her best is certainly one of the most beautiful things you'll ever set eyes on, I found myself studying from a different angle with my glass of Diet Coke replacing the Singha. I found myself wanting to compliment them on their shoes or ask them where they got their hair done, rather than 'chat them up' in what may be a customary manner for them.

Anyway, I did neither. I got talking to a bloke from Adelaide who works for Quantas. All bars but a few will be forced to close from middnight as of the 1st of March in a 'clampdown' on underaged drinking and drug-taking, according to Thailand's incredulous prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra. A few 'entertainment complexes', such as Pat Pong, RCA and Panaya Park, will be granted special licences, but it seems that the tourism industry will be hit.

Good thing or bad thing? A matter of opinion.

Got to write day 94 later, so I'd better go. Was 500 grams lighter than the start yesterday morning, so on target there.

Day 96. Still not much to blog about. 98 news still to go and still very much the picture of unhealth. Should be a few news tomorrow but that will give me reason to write.

I'll catch me then.

Day 97. Not much to blog about today. No news, no highs, no lows. Am now the same weight as on the first day, so still 10,000 grams to go.

Had some bananas after my dinner today which gave me an idea for a first this weekend in Thailand. Banana custard. I can hardly wait.

Told thee it'd be a fascinating blog.

98 firsts to go. 97 days.

I'll see me tomorrow!

Good evening Blog,

Day 99. Went for my first run last night for a long, long time, due to a very inconvenient leg ailment known as 'shin splints'. Any avid jogger will know that they are extremely irritating in that they aren't particularly painful, but painful enough to prevent one from doing any serious running. Anyway, after a long lay-off, I finally put my procrastination to bed and started off, eager to give my new Nikes a road test.

Jolly comfy they were too, as Tarquin mentioned while we out and, although I was extremely careful not to put my right shin under any unnecessary duress, I returned to Panaya a fairly satisfied person.

It was while I was out running, in fact, that I came up with the 'hundred day' idea and the reason why I am writing it all down in a blog is for my own sake. I have started many crusades that have sadly, only too easily fallen by the wayside after a couple of days. I have wanted to run a marathon and I have wanted to improve my overall health for a couple of years, but I just needed that flash of inspiration that would actually focus me enough to do anything about it.

Well, whether it was because I had been updating one of my websites and having a check on a friend's blog while at it that stirred me, or whether it was Tongdee the Travelling Teddy Bear, I'm not sure. However, I feel that by using a blog to keep an eye on myself and to motivate my lazy fat arse to go and do something different for a while, then blogging seems a good way to do both.

On to the various equations involving the figure 100.

Last night I weighed a certain amount. Now I weigh .... 500 grams more than on the first day (yesterday) so I guess this side of things will be a little difficult.

I went out this morning, (something I rarely do first thing in the morning on my day off but not never), and bought some small, round, potato balls. I know 'ball' should qualify the shape of said potato snack but there are such games as rugby so I added round for sake of clarification. Anyway, these deep-fried tuberosum morcels came in two varieties: sesame seed-covered and icing sugar-dusted. The vendor explained to me that they were 2 baht each so I bought five of each kind, thus making this the first time I have ever bought this item in my 1 year and 5 month stay in this Land of Smiles,(!) despite passing by on numerous occasions, numerous small, round potato ball sales people who would have been more than happy to furnish me with 20 baht's worth. The fact that they tasted pretty rotten - sort of like papier-mache made with cooking oil then dipped in syrup for a day, is irrelevant.

Mission accomplished for day 1 and also day 2 as I bought a packet of green tea-bags from the local mini-mart and that was also virgin territory for me in Thailand. I am seeking a healthier caffein-enriched option to my coffee habit.

Hopefully, some of the things I do for the first time ever over the next 98 days will be slightly more interesting. I just hope that I will be able to divulge them all in this wee blog.

I'll see me tomorrow.

The 'Hundred Days' War' will include my abstinence from alcohol and training to run my first half-marathon, which will precede my attempt on a full one in Bangkok this Novemember.

I will also make an attempt to do 100 things over this period that I have not done in Thailand so far, or better still, ever.

I don't care who reads this or whether or not anyone reads it at all. I certainly won't be referring to anyone as 'readers' although it would be nice to refer to some as 'readers' wives', as that would be something I have never done, and would help to acheive my goals.

I shall also be aiming to reduce my body mass by 10,000 grams, as that would amount to 100 grams per day - another 100, and that would certainly be of benefit to my slobbish appearance of late.

OK ... here goes!