Ultimate shot

I don't have too many good photos of myself playing Ultimate, but here's one from our resident photographer, Johan, who comes out occasionally and just takes shots with a massive camera. I hadn't seen this one before, but it was taken back in July. Nothing dramatic about the picture, it's just a well-taken shot. You can see more at Johan's website: http://www.pbase.com/carljohansvensson/
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War Cemetery

Several thousand of the British and Dutch who died working on the railway during WWII are buried here. Quite a nice cemetery, a plaque says the Commonwealth Graves Office funds it and dozens of other war cemeteries like it around the world.

Bridge over the River Kwai

Dung and I took the long weekend to head over to Kanchanaburi, site of the famed Bridge over the River Kwai. Allied POWs built the bridge and about 300 km worth of railway through Thailand and into Burma, losing about 15,000 lives along the way. About 100,000 civilians from Thailand and other countries lost their lives, too. How can 115,000 people die building a railway for a little over a year? Disease and malnutrition, I suppose, those were pretty lousy working conditions back then. The bridge isn't so much to speak of, just a metal bridge across the river, and I think the movie was more legend than anything else. Nevertheless, Kanchanaburi has used the movie to build up a decent little tourist industry. Not too much else around there, but we ate good river fish at a couple restaurants along the river, hung out by the pool at our place, which was also right along the river.

Jeff in Bangkok

Jeff swung through town on a Singapore-Thailand trip, spending a week staying with Keith Schulz and hanging out with all of us. We only got to see him a few times but got to catch up a bit before he headed back to the States. Interesting having him, Keith and us all in the same spot here. Keith used to live in Vietnam the same time Jeff did, but both lived there after us. We all know each other through Vietnam connections but we never knew them there.

Team Pink and the 007 Bangkok Hat

The Bangkok Soidawgz held our annual Ultimate Frisbee hat tournament last weekend. Instead of coming as teams, we had about 180 individuals from around the region come to Bangkok and get more or less randomly assigned to a team. I ended up on Team Pink, including a few Soidawgz from Bangkok, a few players from up north in Thailand and others from around SE Asia and China. We went 2-2 the first day, good enough for a late start on the second day. We went up against a 3-1 team and beat them barely, then took on the only 4-0 team from the first day and knocked them out, too. And suddenly we were in the Finals. Oddly enough, it was our easiest game (though we were already completely exhausted) and we took the victory 13-8. We all got medals and golf towels from one of our sponsors for the victory, and bragging rights until next year. Our annual hat is something we spend a few months working on every year and it came off without hardly a hitch this year. With any luck we even came out ahead on the finances.

Jim Thompson House

I took a trip over to see the Jim Thompson house with Lori, visiting from Kabul. Jim Thompson was an American who came to Thailand just after World War II and helped revive the Thai silk industry. While here he built a classic Thai house that's still considered a model of Thai architecture and is a popular tourist site. He died mysteriously in Malaysia back in the 1960s, went for a hike and just never came back. Lots of conspiracy theories about whether somebody had it in for him, but most likely explanation is he just got eaten by a tiger. The company lives on, however, and I've got a number of great Thais from the Jim Thompson Silk Co.

Quan An Ngon

This is a shot at local lunch hot spot Ngon, which means delicious. It's a big place, outdoors, and serves nothing but traditional street food, but in a nice setting. And not much more expensive than the usual street food, either.

John McCain

This is the lake where John McCain was shot down during the Vietnam War. He broke both arms ejecting out of his plane and would have drowned when he hit the water, but a local jumped in and dragged him to the shore. Lucky break, but then he got to spend the next few years in the Hanoi Hilton. After he was elected Senator he came back to Vietnam and they found the guy who'd saved his life, just a guy who lived by the lake.

More shots from Hanoi

Huyen took a set of great shots with her new Canon that she got for Christmas. This one's on the second day we spent in Hanoi, renting some bikes and driving around town. I do miss my motorbike.