Vehicle back up alarms

[Captain]

Ever wonder how vehicle back up alarms were invented???
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[Thumper]

Ha! That reminds me of my home away from home. When I first lived in Thailand, all the rice paddy plowing and trailer pulling, etc. was done by water buffalo. Now when I go over there, those gizmos have taken over. The Thais call them "Iron Buffalo". They use them for plowing, hauling trailers of goods, as people haulers and even "school buses!" They even use them like a PTO to run water pumps to flood the rice fields.

[Thumper]

My buddy and I used to go to the buffalo races back in the day!




But, you can't stop progress I guess. Now they have Iron Buffalo races! The Modified Class is pretty cool.

[Chicken Dinner]

I need to get back to that area of the world some day.

[Thumper]

I need to get back to that area of the world some day.

You wouldn't recognize it. Heck, I used to live 10 clicks south of Udorn (Udon Thani). About all you saw back then was logging trucks (teak) using that 2-lane road. Elephants and water buffalo would walk along the shoulders.

Now that same highway is 8-lanes wide! Actually, 4 lanes with 2 additional lanes (service roads) on each side for access and parking. It's so wide, they have walk-overs to cross the road. When I was in Nong Khai, I couldn't even find my way around because it has changed so much. Heck, I get all twisted around in your old stomping grounds. I'd have to keep finding the Patuxai Arch to get my bearings. That's one thing you'd still recognize!

[Big Muddy]

I got 2 quershuns about Cap's pig pic:

1. What happened to that pig's corkscrew tail ???

2. Is the guy still alive, who slammed the tailgate shut on that trailer ???

[Thumper]

BTW Chick, in case you didn't know, there's now a bridge across the Mekong from Nong Khai to Vientiane. They now have 4 bridges (that I know of) crossing from Thailand to Laos. Who'd a'thunk it?

Here's the Nong Khai/Vientiane bridge. It's a lot of fun to cross. You know how the drivers are over there! Get this ... they drive on the left in Thailand ... they drive on the right in Laos! (use your imagination!)

[Thumper]

I got 2 quershuns about Cap's pig pic:

1. What happened to that pig's corkscrew tail ???

2. Is the guy still alive, who slammed the tailgate shut on that trailer ???

That's common at pig farms Muddy. Pigs tend to be tail-biters ... which leads to infection, etc. So they dock the tails as piglets.

No clue if the guy is still alive. That may be his surviving brother driving the iron buffalo.

[Thumper]

Here ya' go Muddy. I found a step-by-step guide on the net. I guess it would be easier than de-nutting bulls!

[BarryBobPosthole]

Angkor Wat in Cambodia. is on my bucket list of things to see before I die.

BKB

[Thumper]

Been there. We drove from Thailand to Siem Reap (a CRAZY venture in itself!), then spent the night on Lake Tonlé Sap in an old abandoned floating classroom. Spent the day at Angkor Wat, then took a fast boat (you have to have a death wish to do this) across the lake to Phnom Penh. We had a blast, but it's not for the faint of heart (I'm talking about our mode of transportation). Gots tons of pics around here someplace.
If you ever get serious about going, I have a pile of books here I can send you. (I just bought them to give the kids selling them a break) Oh yeah, I forgot about the time we spent eating and drinking on a floating "restaurant" on the lake. They had large fish "tanks" (wire fencing under the boat) and they'd just net out whatever you wanted to eat and cook it fresh.

Fast boat! (it's best to smoke ... errr, I mean, take a sedative first!)

[BarryBobPosthole]

I can relate. To quote some esoteric song lyric, its the getting there that's is where most of the fun is.

BKB

[Chicken Dinner]

One of my school buddy's father was a Lao Army Colonel and I crossed that river many times to visit their weekend place that was a working mango plantation. We just used those little boats in the foreground of your bridge picture. Much more my style...

[Thumper]

One of my school buddy's father was a Lao Army Colonel and I crossed that river many times to visit their weekend place that was a working mango plantation. We just used those little boats in the foreground of your bridge picture. Much more my style...

Yeah, when I was there in those early years, there was no bridge, so we had to take those long boats also. Of course, we had to sneak across at that time as (due to our clearances) we were automatically classified as a deserter if we left the country. For us, there was no such thing as AWOL, it was immediate desertion. That made our little journeys a bit sticky. Heck, my buddy and I once spent 1-1/2 weeks in a little jungle village in Cambodia ... Command thought we were in Bangkok.

Since there was a lot of fighting going on in those days, it kind of added to the excitement factor! I guess I've always had that "adventure tourism" bug.