"Waan" = Day,
"Deg" = Children or Child.

The second Saturday in January is Children's Day in Thailand.
Every year on this day we have open house at the military bases and Prime Minister's office.

This year we took the boys to the air force base which is adjacent to the old international airport in Don Muang.

As expected many people also went there.   We saw lots of airplanes, weapons, and smiling soldiers.   There were more than one rounds of 4 F-16s air show.   There were other interesting air shows, too.

After the show the four F-16 pilots went on a stage and talked to the audience.   They told the children what basic education they should finish and which military schools they should apply to in order to join the air force and if possible, to fly F-16 just like them.  

I believe the shows and the talk made many young boys want to become pilots.  

Unfortunately most of them will have to give up their dream some day due to their bad eye-sight, which is likely the result of too much time on PC games.

* In October 2019, I added these photos to my Google Album :   2008 Jan : Children's Day.

We took some videos, too, but I am not posting any here as the planes flew too fast for us the amateurs to capture the best scenes in a very short time.   Sorry!
Anyway, we had a great time and were exhausted due to the heat on the runway.
* In October 2019, I changed my mind and decided to post them here:

Meanwhile, on this day, a giant water slider
in a very well-known amusement park
in Bangkok collapsed and many children got hurt.

On this day, the insurgents in our deep south
also killed some innocent people.

I felt so sad and angry!

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This morning I saw a joke that helped me forget about my anger for a while.
Here it is, from "Clean Laffs" :

You've all heard of the Air Force's ultra-high-security, super-secret base in Nevada, known simply as "Area 51?"

Well, late one afternoon, the Air Force folks out at Area 51 were very surprised to see a Cessna landing at their "secret" base.   They immediately impounded the aircraft and hauled the pilot into an interrogation room.

The pilot's story was that he took off from Vegas, got lost, and spotted the Base just as he was about to run out of fuel.   The Air Force started a full FBI background check on the pilot and held him overnight during the investigation.

By the next day, they were finally convinced that the pilot really was lost and wasn't a spy.   They gassed up his air- plane, gave him a terrifying "you-did-not-see-a-base" briefing, told him Vegas was that-a-way and sent him on his way.

The next day, to the total disbelief of the Air Force, the same Cessna showed up again.   Once again, the MP's surrounded the plane...only this time there were two people in the plane.

The same pilot jumped out and said, "Do anything you want to me, but my wife is in the plane and you have to tell her where I was last night."

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TODAY'S UPDATE:

Bomb kills 8 in southern Thailand.
(*Note: This link is outdated.)

Fog Hits Aircraft Visibility At Bangkok Airport.
(*Note: This link still works in Oct 2019.)

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Back to angry and sad mode...