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Brief update September 2008: Wow, this is getting bad. Two years since my last update. We've been really busy as usual. Last year started building
the Big House. We contracted a builder in Bangkok called Wise Consultant (Thailand) to do the design and construction. That was well over a year ago.
The design is quite nice, thanks to our creativity (of course) and a nice job by the Wise Consultant Thailand architect, which is the last thing that
they did right. More about that later. When it's done I'll add a section with photos. Construction techniques here are vastly different than
those in southern California. I was a framer when I was young and not much of those skills apply to the steel reinforced concrete construction
used for homes in Thailand.
The house is getting close to completion now, despite some serious issues with the home builder Wise Consultant
(บริษัท ไวส์ คอนซัลแทนท์ (ประเทศไทย) จำกัด in Thai). If anybody happens upon this page who is planning to build a house in
Thailand be sure to talk to me about Wise Consultant (บริษัท ไวส์ คอนซัลแทนท์) first. Wise Consultant Thailand has a web site on the .th top level domain.
It would be pretty interesting if this page shows up in searches for their company name.
Well that was pretty quick. After only a few days this page is in position number three if you Google for Wise Consultant Thailand.
Now I need to create some more pages, maybe on subdomains, and see if I can dominate the first page of the search results. And I want to
do that for searches in both English and Thai, and for key words like Thai homebuilders, contractors in Thailand, anything related to residential
construction in Thailand.
Here's a subdomain to get things started, Wise Living Home.
Brief update September 2006: Time for my annual update I guess. I consulted for a solar energy company in Bangkok
for the first half of the year, rewrote their business plan, did some marketing presentations to government
and business leaders, developed cost models...like a real job even. Very interesting
technology and situation. Not solar cells, this is concentrating solar power (CSP). Twice the efficiency and half
the cost of solar cells. I can't say much because it is all private at this point. That's a picture of the system
below. It produces 25kW and should cost about the same as a midsize car to manufacture once it reaches volume
production, with no consumables and no emissions. Interesting technolgoy and very compelling business potential.
Brief update October 2005: We spent most of our time in the mountains through hot season (March to June) and rainy
season (July through October). Still lots of details to finish before we call phase one complete. But its quite
comfortable.
We have some new pets - I'll post photos in the future. Also, I removed the blog link. Blogs serve a purpose. But
after seeing so many "mommy blogs" I realized that writing daily minutia about one's life is a waste of time,
disk space and bandwidth, even if they were all free. I'll just post when there is something significant or
interesting.
Wow! It has been a year and a half since I last updated the website. Where has the time gone? After my
ordination I became very busy with several new projects. The one that received most of my time
and attention over the past year was the building of a house in the mountains northeast of Bangkok.
Click on the Saeng Kham button for details and photos.
Sunset over Saeng Kham Mountain
In June 2003 I was ordained as a full fledged Buddhist monk in Thailand. I joined 20 other
international ordinants at Wat Phra Dhammakaya's first International Dhammadayada Ordination Program.
Newly ordained Phra Mark Khantiphalo with his supporters
In February 2003 we supported the meeting of Education For Peace Globalnet held in Bangkok. This
is an international organization of educators promoting peace through youth education. I was the editor
of the daily digest of minutes.
Minutes takers at the Globalnet meeting held at the Thai senate
More to come about this great event...
In September 2002 we had an extraordinary visit to one of the most famous monks in Thailand,
Venerable Acharn Maha Boowa (Luang Taa Boowa). Luan Taa Boowa is one of the few living disciples of
Venerable Acharn Man, founder of the Thai forest tradition. Click on the Thai Forest button for photos
and details of our trip.
Since moving to Thailand we have had some wonderful merit making opportunities. Recently I was invited to do
the English voice over for the video of the cremation ceremony of Khun Yay, founder of Wat Phra Dhammakaya.
Click on the Making Merit button for photos and details of this and other merit making events.
In the sound studio at Wat Phra Dhammakaya
Raila and I were married on April 21, 2002 in a traditional Thai wedding ceremony.
Click on the Wedding button for photos and details.
Placing the ring on Raila's finger at our wedding
I spent a month in Thailand from mid-December to mid-January. Highlights included visits to a number of temples of
famous monks of northeast Thailand as well as a visit to Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Siam.
Click on the Travels Dec 2001 button for the photos.
In front of Phra Nawn at Wat Doi Dhamma Jedi
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