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Digg it UP - Hanging Around in Thailand
Imagine a sweetener with zero calories, and no harmful effects. If that was the case than everyone could consume all the artificial sugar they want without gaining weight right? Than that would mean that everyone would be slim right? Unfortunately this is not the case. Sometimes you have to listen to the old saying which goes like this. “If something sounds too good to be true it usually is.” Researchers from the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center in Italy has linked aspartame the main ingredient in Equal and NutraSweet to numerous of health disorders in laboratory rats such as lymphomas, tumors, and leukemia.The StudyIn the study rats were compared by feeding them different dosages of aspartame all the way until their death. They started feeding the rats aspartame starting when they were eight weeks old. The study concluded that the more aspartame a rat was feed, the more malignant cancers they died with.ReflectionsI have never been an advocate of artificial sweeteners since I had a bad experience with one. Several years ago I purchased a bag of candy that contained sucralose, the artificial sweetener that is used in Splenda which is 600 times sweeter than table sugar. It was on sale so I decided to purchase some. After I ate a couple my stomach was acting funny,
Thus it came to pass that I was doing balloon traffic reports over the city of Bangkok with the deputy Prime Minister on board and a film crew and five TV crews following through the traffic. We flew two days doing four flights. The flights themselves were pretty exciting to the point that I wouldn't rush to do them again. The tallest building is getting on for 1000' and we flew right betwee
Most people think that when they have chosen a path that's it - that's the path to follow. This is far from the truth according to leading Business Coach… Brad Tonini who has just released his latest book "Make It Happen Now!"I asked Brad to share his thoughts on why we don't get started to "Making Things Happen". Here's what he had to say:"Procrastination is paralyzing to peak performance, it comes out of 5 key reasons:-The task is just plain overwhelmingYou may have a fear of failure or fear of successYou seek perfection and so never get startedYou fear a lack of controlYou haven't associated sufficient pleasure or pain to the task to get you moving.It is amazing how we talk ourselves out of things, we create self-doubt in our mind and we then translate this to negative self - talk.The more often we make decisions and get started on a new path or one that we have desired, we begin to feel empowered, excited or enthused about making the goal come to fruition.Get Started Right NowTo get started right now on the path to your ultimate goal, beat procrastination and hours of indecision by:-Getting leverage on yourself - tell enough people what your goal isUnderstand your standard excuses and don't listen to them.Break the goal into bite size chunks and rewa
Jon's interest in Thailand comes from several commercial tours he's probably had the most experience of flying in Thailand. Sky balloons agent in Thailand managed to sell one of the first balloons to roll off the production line to a pair of business men who wanted to learn to fly and fly advertising banners in I come again, this time to train and point them the right way.
So after a fantastic summer passenger flying in England, it was off on a Quantas Jumbo from a snowy December Heathrow. We caught a connecting flight from Bangkok to Chaing Mai, a city in the North which was hosting the South East Asia Games, ( SEA games ) our first port of call. Jon, returning from SAGA, was there for three days to ease us into things.
Our hosts had managed to find sponsor's a cell phone company and we had a busy schedule ahead. The city was humming with activity related to the games and it was great fun to be there. We generally flew across the city in the mornings and over the main stadium in the evenings.
The stadium itself was about 10km from the centre of the city and lay under an east facing slope which of course moved into shade in the evening allowing us to fly over the stadium and away into open countryside, the mornings had the ability to take us up the slope and away to the west which was not a good idea as there was about 50km of forest and national park before the next road.
It was always fairly calm and finding places to land was not a problem. We were not alone in the air a Carlsburg balloon had been shipped in from Europe and a Cameron Gas airship from America. Strangely neither thought to visit or call the international airport 8km south of the stadium. This caused some amount of trouble as Thai's love complicated permissions to fly and neither had any. As we did have permission we were contactable and received some amount of flack from their CAA. We smoothed the path quite well for them, prison was mentioned on more than one occasion!
The airship did a fantastic job seemingly never out of the air and carrying a TV camera beaming live pictures from the stadium. During the evening we tethered next to the stadium and the airship still plodded around dropping leaflets.
Thai's are football fanatics and the Asian cup was also held during the games in the evening. Our tethers coincided with all the home team games. As Thailand progressed through the ranks tickets sold out and it started to get ugly at the gates. For the semi final the fans burnt down the ticket tents in protest and several thousand extra tried to get in causing an outbreak of police brutality.
We tethered high allowing us to see the matches and carried PR people, they tended to want to stay up a while as we had the best view in the house!
On the first and last day of the games we flew into the stadium itself, the first flight by Jon, with me on board and the last by myself. What a fantastic feeling when you drop over the edge of the stadium roof and come to a dead stop amid all that noise and then pile out again, really good fun, it comes highly recommended!
The flights over the city were also commendable. The airport required us to stay below 1000' and if we required to fly higher then we had to call them on VHF. It worked well and of course flying across temples at low level was fascinating. Chaing Mai old city lies within a square canel and contains some 300 temples in total. It was here that we aimed to overfly every day. The River Ping winds it's way to the east of the old city and was very handy for big direction changes. As a rule most wind directions could be found and staying over the city centre for an hour or so and then climbing and departing was fairly easy.
I have to say that Northern Thai's seemed more fun loving than their Southern countrymen. To this end they enjoy letting off fireworks and tissue balloons carrying balls of burning rag to keep them aloft. Not uncommon to see 10 or so cross the night sky glowing red when drinking a beer. They climb quite high as well I flew with some at 3000'. On a couple of occasions, on landing villagers let off tissue balloons in our honour. They also flew bigger ones with strings of fireworks blasting away underneath. All good stuff for balloonists to watch. The last night of the games saw the launch of in excess of 1000 of these balloons in about 10 minutes from all around the stadium, and as it was a calm night it was the prettiest balloon thing I've ever seen.
So once that was all over it was off to Bangkok eight hours South by road. Unbeknown to myself we had come to the notice of the Prime Ministers office and were sought out for a job!
The deputy Prime Minister, Thakasin Shinawat, had said on coming into office early in 1995, that by the middle of January 1996 (or 2539 as it is over there) he would sort out Bangkoks traffic problems. He has been pouring millions of Baht of his own money into what is basically an impossible task. He has also been doing all sorts of stunts to show the people that he is trying to remedy the situation.
We were asked to fly him over Bangkok to observe the traffic from the air, this being in their words, a low cost solution. Permissions obviously had to be sought. We were summoned for our first meeting with the CAA on Christmas Day, at 10 O'clock, everybody apparently finding it amusing that I was missing my Christmas day. On arriving it transpired that they didn't really want us to fly as it is a military state and they didn't want me to see anything I shouldn't. The Kings Palace is a no no to fly over as you should never have your head higher than his! However the civilian run Prime ministers office had put big pressure on and they felt they had to relent and by the way, what could we tell them about the other balloon and airship in Chaing Mai ( are you getting the picture that this is a warning). It transpired that we held the winning hand but they really had to tell us they did not like it first. There one and only request was that I didn't fly higher than 500'. Now what! a pleasure. Royal helicopters fly at 800' so that was that. I walked away on Christmas days with a piece of paper that ordered me to fly not above 500 AGL wherever I liked! A trip then to the tower at Bangkok International to let them know what was happening and pick up an air chart. They already knew all about us and wouldn't give me an air chart: military secrets and all that. If I'd known I could have brought them in England before we left!
Thus it came to pass that I was doing balloon traffic reports over the city of Bangkok with the deputy Prime Minister on board and a film crew and five TV crews following through the traffic. We flew two days doing four flights. The flights themselves were pretty exciting to the point that I wouldn't rush to do them again. The tallest building is getting on for 1000' and we flew right between
As a relationship specialist over the past 15+ years I have coached lots of people in person and on the phone to have better intimacy and communication in their personal, as well as in their business relationships. Here are some of the most common ways I have found that you may trigger each other in your relationships today. In the next issue I will share with you what to do differently so you do not cause upset.1. Starting a conversation by pointing the finger at someone and accusing them of something.2. Using “You” Language to blame someone. For example: “You told me you were going to be home at 7:00 p.m. and what happened? You made me scared and you were not very respectful to me.”3. Shouting in a loud tone across an office or household someone's name (remember our parents did this to us…it didn't feel good then and it doesn't feel good especially now!)4. Using a loud angry tone, along with negative body language…rolling your eyes or letting out disapproving sounds5. Interrupting someone while they are talking to you with what you have to say, instead of listening to them till they are completely finished talking6. Using disrespectful or offensive words to describe someone else, or the person you are talking with7. Using threatening physical, hand, or body gestures as a joke or for real8. Lac
The stadium itself was about 10km from the centre of the city and lay under an east facing slope which of course moved into shade in the evening allowing us to fly over the stadium and away into open countryside, the mornings had the ability to take us up the slope and away to the west which was not a good idea as there was about 50km of forest and national park before the next road.
It was always fairly calm and finding places to land was not a problem. We were not alone in the air a Carlsburg balloon had been shipped in from Europe and a Cameron Gas airship from America. Strangely neither thought to visit or call the international airport 8km south of the stadium. This caused some amount of trouble as Thai's love complicated permissions to fly and neither had any. As we did have permission we were contactable and received some amount of flack from their CAA. We smoothed the path quite well for them, prison was mentioned on more than one occasion!
The airship did a fantastic job seemingly never out of the air and carrying a TV camera beaming live pictures from the stadium. During the evening we tethered next to the stadium and the airship still plodded around dropping leaflets.
Thai's are football fanatics and the Asian cup was also held during the games in the evening. Our tethers coincided with all the home team games. As Thailand progressed through the ranks tickets sold out and it started to get ugly at the gates. For the semi final the fans burnt down the ticket tents in protest and several thousand extra tried to get in causing an outbreak of police brutality.
We tethered high allowing us to see the matches and carried PR people, they tended to want to stay up a while as we had the best view in the house!
On the first and last day of the games we flew into the stadium itself, the first flight by Jon, with me on board and the last by myself. What a fantastic feeling when you drop over the edge of the stadium roof and come to a dead stop amid all that noise and then pile out again, really good fun, it comes highly recommended!
The flights over the city were also commendable. The airport required us to stay below 1000' and if we required to fly higher then we had to call them on VHF. It worked well and of course flying across temples at low level was fascinating. Chaing Mai old city lies within a square canel and contains some 300 temples in total. It was here that we aimed to overfly every day. The River Ping winds it's way to the east of the old city and was very handy for big direction changes. As a rule most wind directions could be found and staying over the city centre for an hour or so and then climbing and departing was fairly easy.
I have to say that Northern Thai's seemed more fun loving than their Southern countrymen. To this end they enjoy letting off fireworks and tissue balloons carrying balls of burning rag to keep them aloft. Not uncommon to see 10 or so cross the night sky glowing red when drinking a beer. They climb quite high as well I flew with some at 3000'. On a couple of occasions, on landing villagers let off tissue balloons in our honour. They also flew bigger ones with strings of fireworks blasting away underneath. All good stuff for balloonists to watch. The last night of the games saw the launch of in excess of 1000 of these balloons in about 10 minutes from all around the stadium, and as it was a calm night it was the prettiest balloon thing I've ever seen.
So once that was all over it was off to Bangkok eight hours South by road. Unbeknown to myself we had come to the notice of the Prime Ministers office and were sought out for a job!
The deputy Prime Minister, Thakasin Shinawat, had said on coming into office early in 1995, that by the middle of January 1996 (or 2539 as it is over there) he would sort out Bangkoks traffic problems. He has been pouring millions of Baht of his own money into what is basically an impossible task. He has also been doing all sorts of stunts to show the people that he is trying to remedy the situation.
We were asked to fly him over Bangkok to observe the traffic from the air, this being in their words, a low cost solution. Permissions obviously had to be sought. We were summoned for our first meeting with the CAA on Christmas Day, at 10 O'clock, everybody apparently finding it amusing that I was missing my Christmas day. On arriving it transpired that they didn't really want us to fly as it is a military state and they didn't want me to see anything I shouldn't. The Kings Palace is a no no to fly over as you should never have your head higher than his! However the civilian run Prime ministers office had put big pressure on and they felt they had to relent and by the way, what could we tell them about the other balloon and airship in Chaing Mai ( are you getting the picture that this is a warning). It transpired that we held the winning hand but they really had to tell us they did not like it first. There one and only request was that I didn't fly higher than 500'. Now what! a pleasure. Royal helicopters fly at 800' so that was that. I walked away on Christmas days with a piece of paper that ordered me to fly not above 500 AGL wherever I liked! A trip then to the tower at Bangkok International to let them know what was happening and pick up an air chart. They already knew all about us and wouldn't give me an air chart: military secrets and all that. If I'd known I could have brought them in England before we left!
Thus it came to pass that I was doing balloon traffic reports over the city of Bangkok with the deputy Prime Minister on board and a film crew and five TV crews following through the traffic. We flew two days doing four flights. The flights themselves were pretty exciting to the point that I wouldn't rush to do them again. The tallest building is getting on for 1000' and we flew right betwee
Recently, the lottery in NY -- the state I call home -- reached a record jackpot, larger than ever before. When I penned these words, the grand total of funds just waiting to be won was over 340 million dollars. As you can imagine, this got people talking. Almost every local newscast covered the huge jackpot. People were lining up at convenience stores across the state, hoping against hope to cash in and win big.This got me thinking about the two types of people: gamblers and planners. Both would like to have the big bag of cash, but they take different routes to achieve it. A gambler might plunk down a dollar -- or two, or twenty, or two hundred -- in hopes of winning big in a lottery, while the planner follows a less exciting route of saving and investing. At the end of the day, who’s more likely to have the big bucks? Chances are, it’d be the planner.Tradeshow exhibiting works the same way. You can gamble on having a good show, approaching it in a frenzy because ‘everybody’s doing it’ and you’ve heard there’s big money to be had, or you can approach it methodically, making a plan, doing your research, and making those actions that are prudent and improve your bottom line.Some gamblers win. That’s what keeps lotteries going, after all. Some exhibitors show up with only half an idea of what they’re doing, a horrible exhibit and
We tethered high allowing us to see the matches and carried PR people, they tended to want to stay up a while as we had the best view in the house!
On the first and last day of the games we flew into the stadium itself, the first flight by Jon, with me on board and the last by myself. What a fantastic feeling when you drop over the edge of the stadium roof and come to a dead stop amid all that noise and then pile out again, really good fun, it comes highly recommended!
The flights over the city were also commendable. The airport required us to stay below 1000' and if we required to fly higher then we had to call them on VHF. It worked well and of course flying across temples at low level was fascinating. Chaing Mai old city lies within a square canel and contains some 300 temples in total. It was here that we aimed to overfly every day. The River Ping winds it's way to the east of the old city and was very handy for big direction changes. As a rule most wind directions could be found and staying over the city centre for an hour or so and then climbing and departing was fairly easy.
I have to say that Northern Thai's seemed more fun loving than their Southern countrymen. To this end they enjoy letting off fireworks and tissue balloons carrying balls of burning rag to keep them aloft. Not uncommon to see 10 or so cross the night sky glowing red when drinking a beer. They climb quite high as well I flew with some at 3000'. On a couple of occasions, on landing villagers let off tissue balloons in our honour. They also flew bigger ones with strings of fireworks blasting away underneath. All good stuff for balloonists to watch. The last night of the games saw the launch of in excess of 1000 of these balloons in about 10 minutes from all around the stadium, and as it was a calm night it was the prettiest balloon thing I've ever seen.
So once that was all over it was off to Bangkok eight hours South by road. Unbeknown to myself we had come to the notice of the Prime Ministers office and were sought out for a job!
The deputy Prime Minister, Thakasin Shinawat, had said on coming into office early in 1995, that by the middle of January 1996 (or 2539 as it is over there) he would sort out Bangkoks traffic problems. He has been pouring millions of Baht of his own money into what is basically an impossible task. He has also been doing all sorts of stunts to show the people that he is trying to remedy the situation.
We were asked to fly him over Bangkok to observe the traffic from the air, this being in their words, a low cost solution. Permissions obviously had to be sought. We were summoned for our first meeting with the CAA on Christmas Day, at 10 O'clock, everybody apparently finding it amusing that I was missing my Christmas day. On arriving it transpired that they didn't really want us to fly as it is a military state and they didn't want me to see anything I shouldn't. The Kings Palace is a no no to fly over as you should never have your head higher than his! However the civilian run Prime ministers office had put big pressure on and they felt they had to relent and by the way, what could we tell them about the other balloon and airship in Chaing Mai ( are you getting the picture that this is a warning). It transpired that we held the winning hand but they really had to tell us they did not like it first. There one and only request was that I didn't fly higher than 500'. Now what! a pleasure. Royal helicopters fly at 800' so that was that. I walked away on Christmas days with a piece of paper that ordered me to fly not above 500 AGL wherever I liked! A trip then to the tower at Bangkok International to let them know what was happening and pick up an air chart. They already knew all about us and wouldn't give me an air chart: military secrets and all that. If I'd known I could have brought them in England before we left!
Thus it came to pass that I was doing balloon traffic reports over the city of Bangkok with the deputy Prime Minister on board and a film crew and five TV crews following through the traffic. We flew two days doing four flights. The flights themselves were pretty exciting to the point that I wouldn't rush to do them again. The tallest building is getting on for 1000' and we flew right betwee
The obscure little rabbit. He is food for many of the predators of the wild. He reproduces at an alarming rate. He can be found in most areas of the country. He tastes really good if prepared by someone who has had experience preparing and cooking this little delicacy. He can be hunted alone or with dogs. Shotguns and rifles can be used to hunt him. Some brave souls even use the pistol to take the furry little creatures. They live in varied areas of desert and heat in the South to the frozen waste lands of the North country. Hares and rabbits are all good hunting. From the Texas jack rabbit to the swamp rabbit which lives in watery environs the result is always predictable. Rabbit hunting is addictive and tremendously enjoyable.For those of us used to sitting motionless in deer stands the rabbit offers a viable alternative.Action abounds in this sport. The jack rabbit is usually hunted with rifles of the appropriate caliber. They are long distance runners and are sometimes observed at ranges that are well beyond the distances where cotton tails are harvested with shotguns. Accuracy is the number one objective in hunting the Jack. Running targets are not out of the question and can add tremendous sport to an afternoon of hunting. The rabbit and its cousins usually are observed right
So once that was all over it was off to Bangkok eight hours South by road. Unbeknown to myself we had come to the notice of the Prime Ministers office and were sought out for a job!
The deputy Prime Minister, Thakasin Shinawat, had said on coming into office early in 1995, that by the middle of January 1996 (or 2539 as it is over there) he would sort out Bangkoks traffic problems. He has been pouring millions of Baht of his own money into what is basically an impossible task. He has also been doing all sorts of stunts to show the people that he is trying to remedy the situation.
We were asked to fly him over Bangkok to observe the traffic from the air, this being in their words, a low cost solution. Permissions obviously had to be sought. We were summoned for our first meeting with the CAA on Christmas Day, at 10 O'clock, everybody apparently finding it amusing that I was missing my Christmas day. On arriving it transpired that they didn't really want us to fly as it is a military state and they didn't want me to see anything I shouldn't. The Kings Palace is a no no to fly over as you should never have your head higher than his! However the civilian run Prime ministers office had put big pressure on and they felt they had to relent and by the way, what could we tell them about the other balloon and airship in Chaing Mai ( are you getting the picture that this is a warning). It transpired that we held the winning hand but they really had to tell us they did not like it first. There one and only request was that I didn't fly higher than 500'. Now what! a pleasure. Royal helicopters fly at 800' so that was that. I walked away on Christmas days with a piece of paper that ordered me to fly not above 500 AGL wherever I liked! A trip then to the tower at Bangkok International to let them know what was happening and pick up an air chart. They already knew all about us and wouldn't give me an air chart: military secrets and all that. If I'd known I could have brought them in England before we left!
Thus it came to pass that I was doing balloon traffic reports over the city of Bangkok with the deputy Prime Minister on board and a film crew and five TV crews following through the traffic. We flew two days doing four flights. The flights themselves were pretty exciting to the point that I wouldn't rush to do them again. The tallest building is getting on for 1000' and we flew right betwee
If you’re from Illinois and having problems in divorce situations that resulted to a child or children custody battle, better read this.When you are about to put your marriage in separate directions, you must expect that it’s a long way to go. Certainly, ending your marriage in divorce can cost you to have the task of the equal sharing of properties and as well as you’re most prized possession - your child or children.It’s very difficult to understand how to cope in a child custody battle. A marriage that ended in divorce can be the start of a legal battle on whom to keep the child or children. Since the couple is separated, the issue of bitterness is still very much alive on each part when they are about to have the custody of the child or children.For in part of having the custody of the child or children, divorced parents are looking for experienced individuals with regards of child custody. In the state of Illinois, there are lots of good lawyers that can help you fight for your rights. It’s your way to find a good lawyer that will suit your needs.Precisely, a lawyer must be consulted before any action is taken so as to keep respect regarding to child custody. You must consult your lawyer about all the issues including jurisdictional options and requirements. Your lawyer will base the action intended with respect to th
Thus it came to pass that I was doing balloon traffic reports over the city of Bangkok with the deputy Prime Minister on board and a film crew and five TV crews following through the traffic. We flew two days doing four flights. The flights themselves were pretty exciting to the point that I wouldn't rush to do them again. The tallest building is getting on for 1000' and we flew right between a bunch of them of course stopping all the traffic as we went. For those that know we launched from just above Siam Square and flew across generally towards the Queen Siriket Convention centre and then over the river. The 500' level became a real pain in the afternoons as the OAT was some 37C and thermals were popping off all over the place I may or may not actually flown quite a bit higher at the beginning of these flights and came down when it cooled down, but perhaps I'd set the altimeter incorrectly!
So after all the fun and games it was off to train three people in total: our agent and the two business men. To start with we went off to Rayong a Province to the SE of Bangkok renowned for it's beach resort Pattaya. The guys for some reason where keen to train there. Unfortunately it proved too coastal and the sea breeze knocked out the evening flights and the land breeze in the mornings. Our permission was only for a 25 km square so we couldn't go any further inland.
Not a problem as one of the guys had relatives with a farm near Kanchanaburi, home of the bridge over the river Kwai in the west of the country. It was here that most of the training was done. It was an ideal area for ballooning, being generally flat with occasional 5-600 foot hills popping up like islands. The fields are mainly of Sugar Cane roughly three quarters and the rest are rice paddies. Everything went fine and after three return trips to Bangkok on business the guys where ready. They will be travelling to England to take their PPL's shortly.
One more surprise lay in store. Seeing as the flying into the stadium in Chaing Mai had gone so well I was asked to fly into another with a football to start The Thai football league. Not such a big deal but the stadium as 500 metres from the sea with houses all the way to it. Luck was on our side once more and after two days of strong monsoon winds on the day in question it was calm. We inflated behind a five story building which was right next to the stadium and bang on for the wind direction. The signal for us to launch was a series of fireworks the ninth being our go. At the practices which we couldn't fly into because of the wind we made sure that the marching bands had left and we had a clear stage. You know whats coming next.1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 Go, we rose from behind the building to see that everybody was still stood there,down between them all I came our official hopped out with the football and handed it to the President of Yamaha and we quickly deflated the balloon,! no way was I going to fly out of that one!
So thats briefly it, I haven't touched on the really infuriating stuff, the stuff thats supposed to add character afterwards. I'll let you find out all those bits for yourselves.
If you are interested in going out there then the man to contact In fact the head man of the brand new Balloon Club Of Thailand is:-
YUTAKIT WANICHANOND
125/135 CHANGWATANA ROAD
PAKRET
NONTABURI
11120
THAILAND
FAX 584 0042
To update the story in June 04, the deputy Prime Minister became the Prime Minister and is poised to buy a share of Liverpool Football club in the UK. I have since flown in Australia, Kenya and am now back in South Africa with my own ride business. http://www.airborneadventuresafrica.com
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