Dude with a keytar in a Thai rock bar

In a tuk tuk with PK!

Is Kim Jong Il sponsored by Dior?

Kim is obviously well ahead of the fashion game. He's been a proponent of oversized sunglasses for years.

Which brings me to the questions - could North Korea's famous leader be sponsored by a major label, such as Dior, Versace or D&G? And does he have any pyjama sponsors on his books?

Devastated

Despite perhaps dabbling in a little extra dramatic hyperbole with the above title, I am nonetheless unimpressed.

A couple of posts ago, I wrote about the best sandwiches in Bangkok, a rarity deserving UN World Heritage status. Today, my beloved bakery is being ripped apart, quite literally, by a band of marauding ninjas.

What will be the fate of my favourite house of Boulange? Will I ever find a Siamese sandwich to rival that of which I have loved so dearly? Will I be resorted to a firey hell of chilli and kaffir lime for the rest of my days???

Snorkel mania

I'm currently travelling well away from all the action of Bangkok, blogging this photo from a boat in the Gulf of Thailand.

About to go for a snorkel - can't wait!

Chicken salad?

There's a terrific little French place up the road from my work that makes arguably the best sandwiches in Bangkok. Good bread is hard to find in this part of the world, theirs is excellent.

Anyway, went in there today for lunch, feeling like something a little different. After sitting down, a young waiter brings across the specials board - I notice the Chicken Niçoise salad.

Not entirely sure what I'm getting myself into, I ask the waiter, "can you please tell me what's in the Chicken Niçoise salad?" To which he replied nervously, "um, chicken and salad".

I couldn't help but smile.

Good on the bloke though for having a go at another language - I'd have no hope in describing the ingredients of a complex curry paste in Thai language.

I ended up enjoying their delicious potato and leek soup, along with a selection of fresh crusty bread on the side. Reminded me of watching the Brumbies play in 1996 on a Canberra winter night - Mum used to pack a couple of thermoses full of soup, along with enough other treats to feed us until Monday.

Muse – Knights of Cydonia

Is this the most random video clip you’ve ever seen? Awesome song, classic clip.

Can Facebook make money?

I just enjoyed a delicious spag bol lunch and an inquisitive article from a recent edition of Fortune magazine.

Interviewing Facebook’s majority owner and the company CEO, the article asks a few questions about the business viability of Facebook, how marketers are currently using the site as a new consumer channel, and alludes to where Facebook will be in a couple of years time.

For those with no idea of how Facebook works, the article also provides a bit of a cheat sheet on the different components of the social networking site.

Check it out here!

Think you're tough?

Have a go at this bloke…

(From SMH online, courtesy of Clare)

'Ninja' kangaroo terrorises family in bed

Not a bird, nor a plane, but a kangaroo has crashed through the bedroom window of a Canberra family's home before terrorising its unsuspecting occupants.

The family, from the suburb of Garran in Canberra's south, were awoken in the early hours of Sunday morning when their pet dog began barking from the garden.

Moments later, a kangaroo burst through a three-metre high window of the house's master bedroom and onto the bed where Beat Ettlin, his partner Verity Beman and their nine-year-old
daughter, Beatrix, lay.

"My initial thought when I was half awake was [that] it's a lunatic ninja coming through the window," Mr Ettlin told The Associated Press.

"It seems about as likely as a kangaroo breaking in."

While the family took refuge under the blankets, the injured animal proceeded to jump on top of them, gouging holes in the furniture and smearing blood all over the walls.

The next thing Mr Ettlin heard was his 10-year-old son Leighton screaming from his bed: "There's a 'roo in my room!"

"I thought, this can be really dangerous for the whole family now," the 42-year-old said.

A chef, originally from the Swiss city of Stans, Mr Ettlin followed the thrashing and bleeding two-metre tall marsupial and wrestled it into a headlock before dragging it down the hallway and out the front door.

Left wearing just his shredded underpants and with scratch marks on his leg and buttocks, Mr Ettlin described himself as "lucky".

"I had just my Bonds undies on. I felt vulnerable," he said.

Website fever

I’m helping my main banking client reposition and redesign their website at the moment. It’s a bit of a mess - tough to navigate, overcomplicated language and expression, has no metrics and is cumbersome to update with new information.

On top of that, we need to do it in two very different languages and cultures.

It’s a tough job, as the bank is pretty conservative in its views, so ideas on how they can really smash the industry here from a web perspective are often difficult to get through. In a Buddhist country, it looks like I’ll have to be content with ‘the middle way’. It’s part of my job I really enjoy, and I can see some good things coming for the client…eventually!

Anyway, I’ve been checking out what other companies are doing with their websites. In my web travels, I came across ad agency Leo Burnett’s website. I may be well behind the eightball on this one, but with its unique and intuitive pencil navigation, this site is very engaging and underlines pretty much exactly what they want to tell prospective clients (and brag to their competitors about)…“We’re cool, creative, energetic people who work on big brands”.

So simple, but creative agencies so often overcomplicate their creds docs, alienating and losing the confidence of potential clients with fluff!

Cool. Obviously not something I'll be looking to do for the bank!

Bringing down the new maul law

Good news through about a rugby law that many readers of this blog won’t recognize, nor really give much of a ping ding.

For me, it’s great news – the rolling maul* looks like it will stay in its traditional form and won't be able to be pulled down. It takes skill and specialist pressure to build and sustain a well-formed maul, a team skill that should be rewarded. It also encourages more men to take up place in the set piece, opening up space out wide for the attacking side.

Read about it on the IRB's website here.


* Where players bind together in an impromptu fashion, keeping the ball above the ground and driving forward and around the opposition forward pack.

Can not

Clare and I were mooting a possible conversation she will likely be having as she goes to her bank to try and establish an internet banking account:

“Hello, I’m wondering if I could please register here for internet banking. I have all the relevant documentation and…”

“What? You want to be able to access your bank account online? CAN NOT.”

“Why?”

“CAN NOT” *smile*

“But it says on your website…”

“CAN NOT” *smile*

“But you’re the second-largest bank in Asia, you must be able to…”

“CAN NOT” *smile*

“But I thought being a multi-continental bank, with branches across the world, you’d have the technology to…”

“CAN NOT” *smile*

“Can you give any reasons for why…”

“CAN NOT” *smile*

“…or at least point me in the right direction?”

“CAN NOT” *smile*

My first international: The result

So Thailand has safely secured 61st position in the IRB world rankings, beating us 40-12 on Wednesday night. An enjoyable game, still feeling sore.

A report sent via email to my Dad earlier in the week...WARNING: tune out now if you're bored by rugby chat...

Ran all bloody night. Didn’t really feel like a game of rugby, spent a lot of time either in a scrum or defending. They were very good at turning over ball from our centres in the tackle (excellent back row), so I’d pop my head out of a dominant scrum, only to find the ball to be in their hands again!

Their backs we’re really good. Not big blokes, but amazing ball skills and ran some terrific broken play support angles. Also played a good territory game, so we tended to spend a lot of time in our own half.

Smashed their scrum, technically they were OK, but may not have the strength and size that we had. Their tighthead was not bad and was working a little angular curry, but my loosehead is pretty handy and we were able to split them a bit on their feed and win some ball as the game moved on.

Their lineout wasn’t too bad, a couple of uncharacteristically tall Thai blokes standing at 2 and 5, so made it a little tough with a slippery ball. I played OK, got a few good hits in, but didn’t play much forward stuff with so much defending to do.

Picture above - the team after the game.

My first international

I'm playing against Thailand's national rugby side tonight.

They're preparing for their Asian 5-Nations tournament and 2011 Rugby World Cup qualifier matches to take place next month on the Arabian Gulf.

Thailand is currently sitting in 61st place in the IRB world rankings list. That means if (when) we beat them tonight, we can viably say that we can own the 61st position, snuggled right behind the rugby powerhouses of the Niue Islands (buggered if I know where they are) and Slovenia (aren’t they still practicing socialism??).

And I don’t think it would be too far-fetched to request the IRB organize some other internationals in the lead-up to the World Cup. England, for example, clearly look like they need some Southerners schooling.

I'm rabidly trying to get through today...itching to get onto the paddock and smash some Thai national blokes.

It will be an epic match!

Thun-der-cats

Thun-dercats! "Thunder, thunder, thunder, Thundercats...HO!" Thun-der-cats are, on the move Thun-der-cats are loose! Feel the magic, hear the roar, Thun-der-cats are loose! Thunder, thunder, thunder, thun-der-catsssss! Thunder, thunder, thunder, thun-der-catsssss! *Queue guitar riff* Thunder, thunder, thunder, thun-der-catsssss! Thunder, thunder, thunder, thun-der-catsssss! "RRRrraaaaaaaaa" *Whispered* Thundercats!

Porterhouse or Peking Duck?

An excellent article from this morning's SMH online.

Peter Hartcher discusses the diplomatic wrestling between the US and China and the influence their differing economic and political ideologies are having on their respective superpower statuses.

See it here: China flexes, and the US catches a chilly reminder

On a jet plane

Mobile blogging rocks. Not only am I able to blog from a bar at stupid o'clock in the morning (last night), but I can flick off a quick one before taking off on a jet plane back home!!

Could be an interesting trip - four kids under four to my right, a young man with a penchant for picking his nose on my direct left. I'm also mildly hung over after early morning bangkok drinking shenanigans with Karla and her beau James.

Can't wait to get home! Lets get this bus moving!! Woo!

With Karla

Karla just flew into Bangkok for a rock star tour.

This is a picture of her and an elephant at a street bar on Sukhumvit.

Classic moment. God I miss my friends...

It's like Christmas

I've barely been able to sleep.

It's dawn now in Kanchanaburi, the morning of the big adventure race. I'm staying in a hut on the River Kwai and all night images have been turning over in my mind of scaling rock faces, downhill mountain biking and jungle running.

2hrs until start time...off to get up, shower and drink some more water...

I live in a fashion hub (3)

Classic Thailand hair-do.

Beached as, bru

Happy birthday Clare!

We're currently having dinner at the Shangri La on the banks of the Chao Praya river celebrating Clare's 26th birthday!

This is a picture of Clare with one of the many delicious attractions - three skewered Chiang Mai strawberries draped in liquid chocolate from the restaurant's resident chocolate fountain!

I live in a fashion hub (2)

I am so connected right now.

This is my first ever mobile phone post, so I thought I would mark it with some high fashion I was able to capture in the city.

It seems 2009 is all about the spandex space dancer look...

In training

I’m currently in training for a 5-6 hour adventure triathlon, just 2.5 weeks away from its painful reality.

The adventure race is happening on the 28th of February in the hills of Kanchanaburi Province about 2.5hrs NW of Bangkok and 1hr east of the Burmese border. I’ve visited the place a few times before – twice to commemorate the Aussie soldiers who worked there as POWs under the Japanese during WW2, and the other time to have a bit more of a look around at the national parks and nightlife with a mate from footy.

The race is basically a two-person team adventure with jungle running, cross-country cycling, kayaking, swimming events, as well as perhaps the odd muscle cramp.

My mate Brian and I are forming what could quite possibly be the slowest team on the circuit, and will race alongside a few other mates from my rugby club.

I can’t wait to get amongst it – see the website for it all here.

Cultural sensitivities (2)

A conversation with one of my heavily accented Thai colleagues as we walked back from lunch today:

Me: *Pointing to a street-side stall holder* "Wow...is that guy selling ice cream already? It's not even that hot yet."
Thai colleague (TC): "No, he is selling a type of Thai drink."
Me: Oh, right, what kind of drink?
TC: "Iced brain drinks"
Me: "Sorry??"
TC: "Iced brain drinks, like in plastic bags with straws"
Me: "Oh, right"

It wasn’t until I got back in the office that I realized she meant ‘Iced blend drinks’.

God bress Thai accents.