Check out this photo gallery of posters in a public restroom in Thailand: LINK

I'm really curious as to where this is located. Are these Cialis ads, or what?

Thai fishermen have declared they will no longer intentionally catch the Mekong Giant Catfish, in honor of their king: LINK

Granted, this only covers part of the problem as the river runs through/is boundary to multiple countries. Plus, I can just imagine the rush of people cutting up nets to collect on multiple $500 payoffs. But still... It speaks a lot for having a monarchy that is respected and revered.

(via Magnoy)

Dave just sent in this article regarding the King of Thailand's love of jazz. (I hereby refuse to use CNN's pathetically retarded titles as links anymore.)

No denying the king seems really cool, but it must be pretty damn hard for him to get an honest opinion of his music.

Nam was in Bangkok this weekend and she said there were more yellow shirts than Ojibagaeri (it's a Tenrikyo thing, baby) in August.

Nam called me up in a panic yesterday because she crossed paths with a snake in the yard of our house (in Thailand). She told me it was about a meter long and light green, and she asked what she should do so I said LEAVE IT ALONE, because all I could think of was:

Behold the awesome glory of the White-lipped Pitviper.

Of course, it might have been the Toothless Leaf-eating Snake of Northern Thailand, but I wasn't about to ask her to see if its head was shaped like a diamond or not (and I'm sure Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin would have agreed with that decision). Meanwhile, the snake decided to escape - up the storm drain of our house and onto the first story roof. Cool!

I told Nam to go get help, but just then a university kid happened to walk by, so he helped her somehow knock the snake off the roof and over the back wall into the adjoining forest. So all ended well, because I had heard before that Thais immediately kill any snakes that come near their homes, but Nam assures me that people in the Isaan region (where our house is) think it's bad juju to wantonly kill shit, so they just try and get along with nature. That makes the Discovery Channeler in me so goddam happy to hear...

Thailand is not the best place for those squeamish about snakes and crawly things - a large portion of the cobra family (including the King Cobra), krait family (including the beautiful Red-headed Krait), as well as several kinds of waterbound and sea snakes can be found pretty much throughout the country.