Ko Samet

While Dung was off with the ladies in Hong Kong for the weekend, I went down to Ko Samet with some other friends. This is a shot of Irish Paul and Michael Newbill out Saturday night late. Michael used to have my job at the Embassy, he stopped into town on the way to India. Not only did I end up with his job, I ended up with a lot of his friends, too, ironic.

Hong Kong

A couple weekends ago the ladies took off for a quick weekend trip to Hong Kong, just the girls off shopping and staying up too late.

Hua Hin golf

While in Hua Hin we took in 18 holes on one of the many golf courses in the area. This was Dung's first crack at doing a full round of golf so we went on a Monday when we figured it might be slower. It was, we only saw a few golfers the whole day and none caught up with us despite both of us hitting into the woods way too frequently. In the end the caddies never gave us the scorecard and we have no idea how we did. Not the point anyway. Dung got better and better on each hole and more confident of her swing. She nailed a few seriously long putts, too. I picked up a birdie on a par 3 and that made it all worth it for me, even all the lost balls.

July 4 in Hua Hin

We took Monday the 3rd off and spent a long weekend in Hua Hin, a beachtown about three hours southwest of Bangkok. This was the first vacation we took where we drove the whole way, lots easier and more convenient than flying which is what we usually have to do. I managed to get us lost immediately after getting on the highway out of Bangkok but we made it fine after that. We stayed at the Marriott, a pretty nice resort right on the beach. It's low season right now so reasonably priced for what we got. We hardly left the place except to go golfing on Monday. Hua Hin's a nice little town, but we just couldn't be bothered. Hung out on the beach and by the pool and ate lots of buffets. We got back into town on the 4th in time for a 4th of July barbecue at the Great American Rib Restaurant with a bunch of other Yanks.

Front Page News

A few weeks ago I went up to Chiang Mai with a speaker we brought in from the U.S. to talk up our FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with Thailand. Turns out I made the front page of the local English-language paper (though you can barely see me in the background).

Modern Dog

Dung got to pose with top Thai band Modern Dog when they came in this week for visas to go to the U.S. Every once in a while someone famous comes in to get their visa and the price is always a couple photos. Last week the Thai candidate for Miss Universe came in, too, lots of photos there......