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An innocent 9 year old boy was fatally shot on a public bus on his way to school here in Thailand. On a crowded bus in the Bangkok area, the boy whose nickname was Nong Thian was riding a bus he takes everyday with his elder brother to their school. This picture I cannot credit anyone for. I could not find who took this saddening picture.

One of the best things about living in Thailand is the food. It is not only delicious, but it is also plentiful and cheap. In fact, you can find it on almost any street corner at any time of day or night. I guess we are spoilt in Thailand in having such easy access to Thai food.

Just over a week ago I ventured out to watch a muay Thai fight. One of the guys, Phillip who trains are Legacy Gym here in Ubon Ratchathani, owned by Ole “Iron Fist” Laursen was having a fight. This is Ajarn Kong one of the trainers at Legacy.

Here are some more flood pictures around my house. The water is staying pretty well put at the moment. It hasn’t risen or fallen over the last few hours. The rain is still steadily falling, and hasn’t stopped for a minute for the last 12 hours.

Last night I was sitting at the computer and playing about as I had fixed the problem that had popped up a few days ago. I was checking everything out, making sure all my files were still there and also watching some AFL (Australian Rules) Football. It started to rain, around 9pm I suppose and I thought, “Isn’t that nice.” As it cools everything down and makes sleeping nice.

This is a review of what happened in Thailand during the last week based on topics that I tweeted. You can follow me live for latest news about Thailand @RichardBarrow . Friday 20th August 2010: US Presses Thailand on Extradition Case for Merchant of Death (VOA) http://is.gd/epjSa # Red Shirt v Yellow Shirt: Thailand’s political struggle (The Independent) http://is.gd/epkiv # WikiLeaks still available in Thailand & now at dedicated website http://www.thaileaks.info (Straits Times) http://is.gd/epk8l # Ayutthaya, Chon Buri & Petchburi are shortlisted as host city for World Expo 2020 (The Nation) http://is.gd/epkOG # Interior Minister Chavarat suffers food poisoning after going to Banharn’s birthday bash /BkkPost # Obituary for Allen Quicke, Editor-in-Chief of Asia Times Online, who died in Hua Hin on Tuesday night http://bit.ly/dAcZ2s # Appeals Court rules to extradite alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout to US to face terrorism charges /BkkPost # Thailand: 2.3 million pay tax

The good news and bad news, so let’s start with the good news. Nong Ja, my Thai niece who lives with us had been sick with a flu. After seeing the pediatrician at the hospital we finally got her back to her normal self. Some nights we didn’t get much sleep as she coughed through the night

Last night I ventured to watch a local Muay Thai fight involving a young fighter from Legacy Gym, I will blog on this in the next few days after I have the video up. After the fight, Ole “Iron Fist” Laursen invited me back to his gym to have a cold beer or two as it was his birthday. It was great sitting around having some cool beer and hearing some great stories. I then mentioned about Japan, and when I travelled there and then thought that it would be a good blog to do

The other day I blogged on the local Muay Thai and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) gym here in Ubon Ratchathani Thailand called Legacy Gym . I had mentioned that there were 4 fighters travelling to Singapore and fighting in the Martial Combat Fighting Championship 7 and 8. There were two fighters fighting on the 18th of August, being Alex Niu, who is a Chinese fighter and trained for about a month at Legacy Gym and Nick “Hooligan” Mellor a Legacy Gym resident.

This is a review of what happened in Thailand during the last week based on topics that I tweeted. You can follow me live for latest news about Thailand @RichardBarrow . Friday 13th August 2010: Pregnant woman, who the Queen praised for chasing car thieves, gives birth to baby boy called Hero – http://is.gd/efllk # I am on my way to Ancient Siam to meet the “The Thailand 2010 Citroen rally” at the finishing line http://bit.ly/aE8lMn # The Thailand 2010 Citroen rally at Ancient Siam in Samut Prakan.

The latest museum to open in Bangkok, called the Rattanakosin Exhibition Hall , is probably also one of the best. Located on Ratchadamnoen Road, it is not your traditional kind of museum. It is very much interactive and hands-on and uses modern techniques to teach you about the history of Bangkok in an entertaining way. The name of the exhibition hall comes from the original name of the capital before it was changed to “Krungthep Mahanakorn”.

Tonight I ventured over to a newish tattoo shop here in Ubon Ratchathani. The shop is near Big C shopping centre, but on the smaller soi where all the food shops are. If you know where the toilets are on this soi, then straight across the road is the tattoo shop. Right next door is an internet shop.

Darkest Isan (where decent thais fear to tread), Part Three Thailand’s greatest ancient monument, the 900 year old Khmer temple complex sitting on top of a volcano with a panoramic view stretching to Cambodia’s plains and mountains. After Buriram where watching paint dry is better than the town’s day life (don’t mention nightlife) tiny Nang Rung with absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever is a step up in the world. If the word ugly could drawn, planned, paid for, a gang of labourers hired to build it and me forced to go there to see it, it would be called Nang Rung, and I’d still be there going thank God I’m here not in Buriram anymore

The other day I went to Legacy Gym, it is owned by Ole “Iron Fist” Laursen and there you can train Muay Thai or Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). I blogged a little on this gym the other day at this link if you want to see pictures of the trainers and some of the session.

As I blogged the other day, my two girls were feeling under the weather. Noot has recovered but Nong Ja still isn’t back to her normal self. Ja started with a little temperature and then a cough came on. The cough has seemed to get stronger and yesterday.