Back in Asia. It didn't go anywhere while I was gone.

And thank goodness, I say. Although there was a bit of drama. I arrived at the lovely hour of "middle of the night", with a line in immigration more appropriate for a Starbucks with free PSLs. The airline did a wonderful job of losing not only my luggage, but everyone who connected in Detroit. So, there was quite a line at the office, and in the end, I had to go straight to work without sleep. And then back again after work to retrieve my luggage. Then home to die after about 48 hours without a night's sleep. But, as expected, Thai customs did not care that I was far over my limit for beer. Like always, I just walked out. SE Asia is funny like that, and they simply cannot be bothered to do their jobs when there are candies to crush and clans to clash. Nice to be home.

The beer was all consumed minus one bottle during a collective "beer tasting" sort of get together at our place. While all of the beers seemed to be big hits, Ella and Blueberry seem to prefer IPAs. I know they're getting a bit of a pushback in the states lately, but hoppy beers are not really a thing over here. So, Singha, if you're listening, put out a Leo IPA. It may be a big hit.

So, in Bangkok news a new night market opened in the middle of town called Neon. I thought the name was appropriate, especially that given this weekend Neon's in Cincinnati closed down. I have way too many fond memories for that bar, and I'm hoping this place could help to fill the gap. It's my favorite night market so far, with an interesting selection of food, lots of cute things, and probably the cheapest bar I have ever seen in Asia. They sell large beers for 60b, and they're 56b at 7-11. Not sure how they stay in business to be honest, but I'll be glad to help them out as best I could. The market has a mixture of tents and re-purposed shipping containers, which gives it a very unique and cool look. Combined with the christmasty-looking trees out front, I really like this place. I hope it does well.

Our awesome group made one more interesting stop the following day at Bounce World, a trampoline fun park. I've never done anything like that before, but since my phone was in my locker I don't have any pictures to share. Our friend Erofile brought her camera, and I'll have to wait until I get a hold of those photos to talk about it. But instead I'm going to talk about a day trip Ella and I took to Samut Prakan province, which is SE of Bangkok. It's along the Gulf of Thailand, and I've only been there once before - to visit the Ancient City. Oddly enough, right before the last Star Wars movie (loved Rogue One, btw). This time, we were going the opposite direction, and crossing the river to end up directly south of Bangkok. Aside from some very vague directions from a blog Ella found online, we weren't really sure how to get around. But what followed was one of the best days of travel I've had in Bangkok.

Despite being so close to Bangkok, Samut Prakan has that some phenomenon that Koh Kret and Ho Chi Minh has. It's just suddenly super rural. One minute your beset with 7-11s every block, markets packed with people, and then like someone drew a line in the sand, you have chickens and rice fields. Our first stop was to Fort Phrachulachomklao, at the mouth of the Chao Phraya. In the late 1800s this fort tried (unsuccessfully) to defend Thailand from the French in a thing known as the Pak Nam Incident. For a super quick summary sure to get historians angry: Thailand used to control a lot of Laos. The French wanted it. Thailand wouldn't budge. The French sailed a warship right up the river and aimed their guns at the Royal Palace. Thailand suddenly felt like budging. Fun fact - Thailand successfully took the territory back some 50 years later, and built Victory Monument to honor the occasion. That only lasted for 5 years until the French said they would block Thailand's entry to the UN unless they ceded the territory back to them.

That sucks. Sorry Thailand.


So this fort is actually on a military base, and you have to go through a checkpoint to get in. There are signs saying that you need to disembark and show ID to get in. In typical Thai style, nobody could be bothered to actually do that, so the songthaew driver just went on through. The fort itself is fine. Basically just a series of concrete bunkers connected by tunnels, full of bugs and probably stray dogs. The real star was a warship they had set up there that you could explore. It reminded me a lot of the naval museum in Qingdao, where they just set up this ship and said "go nuts". There wasn't too much that was off limits, and it was a really interesting look at what life would have been like aboard one of these. Also there was a cat with 5 kittens hanging out there, so this could've been the worst place ever and Ella would still be happy. After, we ate at a seafood restaurant that supposedly has some of the best food in Thailand. The shrimp was pretty good. Oddly enough I thought their chicken was great. It reminded me a lot of American Chinese food.

After hitching a ride back to town, the next stop was Wat Khun Samut Chin. Like the fort, this also has an interesting story. This temple used to be in a town. However, rising sea levels have made the temple into an island. The town itself is pretty much gone. The only people still there live on stilted houses, and use boats to get around. The streets are now canals, and you could only tell since they still have telephone poles sticking out. It's kind of a sad situation, and a poster child of sorts to the dangers of climate change. However for the present, it's an interesting trip. You travel along the one road in town, get off by a bridge in the middle of godamn nowhere, and suddenly under the boats there are speedboats. They take you to a pier, and from there is a very narrow causeway out to the temple. In typical Thai fashion, they have a songthaew that will take you there, that drives entirely too fast on an entirely too narrow causeway. The temple itself is pretty boring, although interestingly they never raised it to combat the water. Instead they raised the floor, which means the once tall doors are basically like little passageways. Next to it was a large Chinese temple which I thought looked beautiful, with a giant Buddha statue with his (her? its?) palms forward. They say this is to "hold back" the ocean.

Good luck with that.

Making our way back to town, we had one more destination. Baan Sa Khla is pretty much the last stop on this road. Past this, it's all land that's been lost to the ocean. I expect this village will be as well, which has likely been here for hundreds if not thousands of years,. But it will probably end up like Samut Chin and lose all of its residents aside from a stubborn few. Right now it's a neat looking town of perhaps a thousand or so, and most people commute by boat or bicycle. They were having a festival when we arrived, which just added to the list of surprises for today. Their temple was odd, in typical Thai fashion had a giant statue of the Incredible Hulk. This is one of my favorite wats in Thailand though, because inside they had a pond filled with lotus leaves. Also, one of the annexes had a Hindu temple, which I thought was really nice. Like, can't we all just get along? Why are there no churches in America with mosques attached?

They also had a Khmer-style stupa, which is only notable in that it has a pretty severe tilt to it. The pictures online made it look worse than it actually was, but as heavy as this thing is perhaps it will also fall one day. I hope that wherever we are in the world when it does, I'm still going to hear about it. Because it was a great little town, and a great little province. I remember the last blog I wrote about that a Chinese temple near the river, and how that would be a really popular tourist site if it were near downtown. I have no idea why what we did today is not listed as a day trip by travel agencies. I'm glad it's not, as I did not see a single foreigner all day. I've included a few videos below, and there are many, many more pictures on Facebook. But it was a super interesting, fun day that I can't believe no one has heard about - not even my Thai friends. Bangkok never ceases to surprise.

On the last blog (last last?) I teased about a project that I had been starting to work on. While it's probably not entirely ready for debut yet, I started another blog. This one resulted from the fact that when I was learning how to teach ESL, I was frustrated that there is so, so much bullshit that does not really help at all. "Sure, talking about theory is great. But I have to teach a class tomorrow, so how about something useful?" So, I started No BS ESL. It's still very much a WIP, but I like the direction it's going so far. Maybe one day I can turn this into something lucrative. Probably not. But it's a nice way to vent the frustrations of an industry that I love, but often has its head up its own ass.

Hello America!

So, for various reasons I found myself back in Cincinnati this past week. Which included a trip to Shanghai and Detroit inbetween. I appreciated the stopover in Shanghai if only for the chance to try some Chinese style noodles, something I've long missed. I didn't have a long layover, and the restaurants were ridiculously expensive, so I settled for some Family Mart microwave version. It was nice to be able to communicate with shopkeepers for once, and overall the noodles were pretty solid. I was making smalltalk with the girl working there while the microwave was going, when a group of foreigners came in and started speaking to her in English. She had no idea what they were saying, and asked if they could pay in Thai baht.

Seriously, guys?

So I translated and told them you could not, because I think that's pretty damn obvious. Anyway, good noodles. They also have karaoke (KTV) in the airport, in a little soundproof booth where you can indulge your voyeuristic/rock star fantasies. China, don't stop being weird.

Back in the US, it's been a time honored tradition to go to Gold Star for some chili, and that happened again this time. I also got to meet my nephew, who is surprisingly quiet for someone with half of my sister's genes. He more or less let me be, but started to warm up a little bit by the end of my stay. The next day few days of my stay involved visiting friends for lunch and coffee, as well as eating some old favorites. Mostly (fake) Mexican food, as it's quite uncommon outside of the US. There also was some (fake) Chinese food as well. Which, I don't mean to compare them to the real Mexican or Chinese. They're all good in their own way. The Chinese restaurant had "Little Buddha" beer, complete with a buddha shaped bottle. I had to think "Hmm, this would not fly in Thailand". But, definitely not there any more.

Continuing with the food and drink theme, of course being Thanksgiving there was a lot of turkey. I also brought some Thai beer with me, which had a destination. My friend Jack has a Youtube show called "Too Drunks" where he and his buddy sit around and rate beer. I suppose you could say I was a guest star on that, where we sampled Leo, Beer Laos, and Phuket Beer. If you'd like to watch it, it's here. But let's just say that I will not be making a big screen debut any time soon. If you don't have time, here's a quick summary: Leo - Pretty good, widely available. Beer Laos - Better. Phuket Beer - Actually Cambodian, not good.

Since I was spending time on the Ohio side of the river, I needed to be sure and ride the streetcar. So, my 2 cents on it - really cool! BUT... I'm glad Cincy is finally doing public transit, but this one just seems half assed. The streetcar is not in a dedicated lane, so it's still subject to traffic. It also can be about 20 minutes between cars, enough time that if I miss it, I will seek another way. Also, the route is dumb. It goes to some great spots, but it's a loop that's more like a line. The inbound and outbound tracks are only 1 block apart, so that's kind of useless. They should have made it a larger circle, as well as having a dedicated lane for streetcars, buses, and maybe carpooling to cut down on its traffic. Still, I hope it does well, and they build a lot more. Maybe a proper metro or two in the future, that would be even better.


Of course the purpose of this trip was not just Thanksgiving, though that was a nice coincidence. The main purpose was to attend Dan and Emily's wedding. It was at Rheingeist Brewery. which was pretty cool. I had never been there before, but I had tried their beers several times. And you know a couple is pretty cool when they get hitched at a brewery. I'm all for shaking up the stuffy, boring church weddings. It reminds me of when a looong time ago, I went to Dan's sister's wedding. It was very non-traditional, with a female officiant, edible bowls (bowls were not intentionally edible, just a side effect), and poems. And it was probably my favorite wedding ever, because they made it their own thing. Well, Dan and Emily definitely did that and went beyond, along with a ton of beer. If you like church weddings, good on ya, it's your day and you should do whatever the hell you want. But for an attendee? Ugh, so boring.

I suppose then, I should mention one minor, teensy, tiny hiccup that happened before the wedding, as it makes for a good story. And as I said later, I feel this story will become even better in 10, 20 years. Like many good stories, it involves alcohol on a Wednesday night. A few of us decided to go out for a sort of small get together sorts, as the wedding was Saturday. We had just begun the night more or less, getting a beer at Blank Slate before moving over to a local bar. While there, we did a round of shots and started on our next drink. Well, someone broke the window (the someone is Ryan), which should have been an omen of sorts. We moved upstairs to escape blame for someone (Ryan's) fuck up, and continued on. Well, Dan got up to go to the restroom, and Glier followed. Moments later, a girl came up to our table and said that she thinks our friend got hurt. In my mind I was thinking "Please let it be the one that is NOT getting married in 3 days", but it turns out Dan had a bit of a tumble down the stairs. There was a surprising amount of blood, and I am still not exactly sure how he managed to do that. Anyway, a doctor who happened to be there said that he would probably need stitches.

This has nothing to do with the story. I just thought we could use a break.

God dammit.

As is usual for guys, we spent entirely too much time saying how it was not a big deal when we all knew that we'd probably get into some hot water over this. But, in our defense, I am not sure how we should have avoided it. When Dan said he was going to the restroom, should we have covered him in bubble wrap? Anyway, the story ended with the bar replacing the window someone (Ryan) broke in the short time we were upstairs. Seriously impressive craftsmanship, good job guys. The end.

Alright, not really. The bride was called and came with her mom and dad. She gave us a bit of tongue lashing, which I can understand I suppose given all the stress of planning a wedding. I'd imagine they already have enough on their plate without adding "Groom looks like he lost a fight" to the mix. Anyway things started to get a bit more heated, to the point of a scene developing in the bar. I'm glad the parents were there to put some sense to things. They took Dan off to hospital land and now the four of us were feeling pretty bad, although again, what were we supposed to do? Clearly the only thing we could do NOW was to drink to forget this night ever happened. We made a good go at it too, with parking lot vomiting and a visit to Waffle House - you know, all the hallmarks of a good night. It turns out Dan's shiner wasn't really a big deal after all, with a bit of makeup it wasn't even noticeable. It certainly made an already memorable trip even more memorable, which I suppose is the best outcome possible. All I can hope is that there are no hard feelings, because I hope to see that crazy, fun bunch of people again soon.

Hopefully in Asia. Where late-night hospital stitches cost as much as the beer that gave them to you.

So, let's get the boring stuff out of the way.

I'm writing this a few hours before my flight back to the US. In case you were unaware, my best bud Dan decided to go and get himself married. I am fortunate enough to be a groomsman, so APPARENTLY you can't just Skype that one in. Gee, thanks Dan.

For serious though, I am looking forward to it. And tacos. Also another bit of good news, I am finished with school. All of my work has been submitted, and now it's just a matter of time until the final grades are tallied and I am done. Presuming I did not completely mess things up, I will have a Master's in ESL in a month or so. So, that's kind of neat. And a giant source of frustration eliminated. I am looking forward to the massive increase in my free time, although I am probably going to fill it with Chinese study.

As far as Bangkok nonsense, what's been going on? Well, looking back through my pictures apparently animal cafes. Ella found a great blog full of stuff to do in Bangkok (shout out to Beyond Khao San Road) and we've been going through the more interesting things featured on there. The first was a visit to a Dog Cafe. It was absolutely pouring rain by the time we got there, and we had to just walk in water about shin deep. Oh, Bangkok. But the cafe was really nice, full of some giant dogs that were super excited to see you... for about 60 seconds. Then they were quite happy to just lie there and let you take selfies. These were massive dogs too. However, not as massive as that one dog I found in Keelung back in Taiwan. That thing was a monster. Anyway, I am not a dog person, but I suppose they were pretty cute. The coffee was a bit expensive, but I am sure those big dogs eat like mad.


The other animal destination was a Rabbit Cafe. Yes, apparently that is a thing? Tucked sort of near Udom Suk, it is a sort of place I never would have found otherwise. The rabbits were actually a little more exciting than the dogs. They had a pen in the middle with some pretty big ones, who mostly just... I dunno, did rabbit things? Where they just move their nose up and down? Anyway my favorite was a little black one. They ran around like crazy, and kept going up to this one cage and messing with the rabbit in there. It truly was the coolest rabbit there. There was also a really fat one, who the owner gave us to hold. They did not seem to care at all.

And the final update for today, this one requires some backstory. See, a month or so ago we were travelling along the Chao Phraya river on the boat metro thing, when we saw this Chinese tower. I couldn't find any tourist info on it, or even where it was exactly. It took some searching on Google Earth to finally locate it and figure out how to go. Well, turns out it's not super easy to get to, and is some sort of religious institution. Ella, Dman, and I set out to find it, and they were nothing but friendly. And one lady showed us where everything was and turned lights on for us in all the buildings. Not only do they have a Chinese tower, they have a few full on Chinese temples. I don't think they get many (if any) visitors here, so it was a nice change of pace from the tourist-packed temples. It's really a quite beautiful place overall, and seems like a great place to film a Chinese-themed movie. I think if this place was near the Grand Palace or somesuch, it would be a really popular destination.

Anywho, this concludes our Bangkok update. I'll leave you with a teaser that I began a new project, and I hope to talk about it more in a month or so. It's something I'm kind of passionate about, and I hope it works out as well as I hope. Anyway, see all you lovely peeps in the USA.

Well. Way to fuck it up.

I don't mean Trump supporters. I mean the anti-Trump crowd. This was Hillary's election to lose, and she did. For as crazy as his campaign was, the Republican base did more or less get behind him. As far as the Democrats? Well, too many of them did not want Hillary to be President. Some of them were bummed over how they treated Bernie. Some of them upset over the E-mails. Some of them just didn't like her. Regardless of how you feel or justify it, a non-vote for Hillary was a partial vote for Trump. Because that's the way our messed up, first past the post system works. I don't like it either, but refusing to play Monopoly at all does not mean you win. (actually, perhaps for Monopoly it does - bad analogy, Monopoly sucks).

This isn't meant to be an "I told you so", because I didn't. I didn't expect this, and nobody else really did either. It's more of a "Hindsight is 20/20". The left did a great job of dismissing Trump supporters as ignorant/racist/sexist/violent etc. And there is evidence to support that. But even if that is the case, they are Republicans. And they likely were in the last election, and the one before that. And instead of reaching out to them, the left lumped everyone together and called them names. After that, the Trump supporters didn't say "Oh yes, excellent point. I will reconsider everything I know." They just turned inwards to their bubble. Instead of reaching out, trying to understand, and connect with the not-so-insane members of that group, the left also practiced the intolerance they claimed to be against. They dismissed them, and went back to their curated social media. But those people get to vote. Is it any surprise that people labeled as such would not be honest to pollsters? Which, sidebar, wow, the pollsters messed this one up BADLY. They are going to need to seriously rethink everything they know for the next election.

So now here we are. People are upset, and I suppose that's expected. But then I see the same sort of rhetoric that they derided the Republicans are in the past 8 years. "We're going to block the Republicans with the filibuster" "Impeach Trump", etc etc. You complained that nothing got done under Obama, yet you're advocating for the same environment. It's alright if nothing gets done when you don't want it, I suppose.

Like it or not, he is our President for the next four years. And I don't mean to sound preachy, I don't like it. I voted against Trump, because he has done many things I find deplorable. Too deplorable to represent the country I want to be associated with. And without rhetoric or sarcasm, I'm scared. I feel his temperament, to use his expression, is way too hot headed for someone to control the most powerful force on Earth. I'm also scared that the racists, xenophobes, and whatnot that did support him have now been granted legitimacy. But government reflects what you put into it. If you don't like the results, remember to vote again in 2 years. In the meantime, we're on this crazy ride so let's focus on the positives. There has never been anyone remotely like Trump before as President. Maybe he is the exact thing we need to cut through all the partisanship, corruption, and obstruction that has come to be the US government. I don't think so. But we'll see.

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Also, as on Facebook the offer is totally open for you to come to Asia and start a new life over here. It really is as easy as I make it out to be, and from my perspective, 100x better.

Oh boy, where to begin.

I remember when I was a kid, maybe around 8ish years old, my great grandmother died. And that was pretty much my only experience with death. There had been people that I had met, here and there, but that was the only one that really impacted me. But recently I've had to get especially used to it - from grandparents, acquaintances, and friends. But I don't need to harp on about that again. We unfortunately are adding another, King Rama IX.

I don't mean to compare one to the other. They are all impactful in their own way. And I know that by itself may sound odd to people back home, as I am of course a foreigner. But it's a really sad situation over here. Thailand really, really loves their king, and for good reason. He was a great leader, who even I in my short time here will miss. I have seen people compare the love Thais have for King Rama IX to how North Koreans feel about Kim Il Sung, which I think is very incorrect. Perhaps on the outside, that's how people appear. But the feelings Thais have are legitimate, and the people here have been dealt a great blow. It reminds me of how everyone felt following September 11th. Everyone looked gutted, and maybe even felt a little guilty if something made them laugh. Thailand is going through that right now, and I really feel for them. The government has declared a one year mourning period, and all the videos I see online of people gathering en masse to sing the royal anthem are really touching. And where does Thailand go from here? Nobody has any idea. King Rama IX has been the monarch since the 1940s, only but the very elderly even remember another king. Plus with the military rule right now, everyone is kind of holding their breath.

So, let's try to move on to more happy things. This is a travel/personal blog, after all. So let's talk about Koh Samet.

Koh Samet is an island towards the east of Thailand, about halfway towards Cambodia. I had been there once before, with Ella and four other friends. It's a beautiful place, with white sandy beaches, clear blue-green water, nightly fire shows, and amazing food. It's the sort of place when you imagine yourself giving up on your job, and moving away to live on some tropical island - Koh Samet is that island. It's not really overrun with tourists, it's easy to get around, and feels like it has everything you need.

Last time, I feel we didn't have much time and we just sort of squandered it by sitting on the beach outside our hotel. I was eager to find out what was on the island, and if there was some big temple at the top of some mountain I could climb. Well, Ella and I went back for 4 days to see what we could find. Welllllll, not so much. Koh Samet is not a place you go to do things, it's a place you go to not do things. It also rained for 2 of those days, so we spent a lot of time sitting on the beach, eating, and drinking. Not that there's anything wrong with that. After how much work I've been subject to recently, it was a very welcome change. But I think if I had to do it for a few more days, I would've gone crazy. Sorry, beach. You're really nice. But I need to live around skyscrapers, trains, and reliable internet. Beautiful nonetheless, here's some stuff to look at:

In other followup, we've made some new friends. Elana, Seya, Art, and Aeh are sort of becoming one of the regular group you can always count on being available on Saturday nights to get into trouble with. That trouble involved going to the train night market, which is fast becoming my favorite place to party. It's cheap, has tons of food, bars, and is right on the metro. Aaaaand, this time I found a soju bar. A bar entirely devoted to soju, that magical Korean liquor that I have yet to get a hangover from, no matter how much I drink. It was amazing, and looking at my camera roll, I do not remember taking any of these photos. So, that's a good sign.

Hey there, internet.

I wish I could update you on all the fantastical stuff that's been going on, but I'm sorry to say there just isn't that much. At least, not much that would make for interesting reading. The semester is winding down, and I'm looking forward to having the next month off from work. Not that it matters too much, as it will all be spent on school. Minus the 3 or 4 days Ella and I plan on going away to the beach.

So, since this is my blog and I can do whatever I want, I'm going to talk about a subject that has been coming up frequently for some reason.

Flags.

I dig flags. About as much as I dig metros. And I'm sorry, but there's a lot of really terrible flags out there in the world. Most countries have their shit together. There are actually rules by Vexillological Associations, which I think is a bit crazy. Who are these flag nazis to dictate style? Anyway, let's start with some good flags.

Italy - Looks like a pizza. BAM.

St. Kitts and Nevis. 2 islands. One is green, one is more rocky. BAM.

South Africa - When I see these colors, I think "Africa".

Antigua and Barbuda - Latin America has some great flags. Mountains, white sandy beach, ocean, sunrise. Awesome flag.

How about some bad ones?

Turkmenistan - How is anyone supposed to recognize the left side?!

Cyprus - This is literally just a map of your country on a white background.

Fiji - Aside from the UK "Flagception", an incredibly complicated seal to boot.

Brazil - Beautiful, except for all the incredibly tiny fine details. A motto in 4 pt font? And a star map? Please.

Now, I'm sure these are all fine countries with lovely people. But you need to work on your flags. You see what the difference is? The good ones are actually capable of being drawn by a kid. They're instantly recognizable from a large distance away. And they mean something. I feel then, it's only fair to talk about my country's flag.

Unfortunately, the US only gets criterion #3. Everything does mean something, and it's pretty blatant. 50 stars for the States, 13 stripes for the colonies, yadda yadda. But let's take the right sides of Malaysian, Liberian, and American flag.

Which shade of red is the USA's? I don't know. You need to count the stripes, which is not going to happen. Quick, try to draw the American flag now. Good luck trying to get all 13 of those stripes and 50 stars unless it's the size of an A4 sheet. If we ever get in a Liberian - American - Malaysian war, it's going to be chaos. It's not a great design, and I say we make it great again. (C) Trump Industries

So, let's look at Thailand's. Pretty good flag. It's easy to draw, recognizable, and there is meaning. Albeit, I think the meaning is a bit unclear.

Apparently, red stands for the land and people, white for religion and blue for monarchy. But there's no way to know that unless you're some sort of flag scholar. In fact, many of the examples I gave don't really have blatant meanings. There are very few flags that you can look at right away and say "I know the symbolism behind all of this." There are some really good examples that tick all 3 boxes, like Estonia.

Want to guess what their flag is like?

Nice.

There are also flags that say "To hell with all of your rules." Notably, Nepal. They are the only nation with a non-rectangular flag. But ya know, I like it. Looks like the sun over some mountains to me. It also looks really old school, medieval style. Way to go, Nepal.

Your flag rules suck and I hate them.

Or Sri Lanka. It's super complicated, but it's gone to "so complicated it's good" territory.

Lets have stripes AND a lion! With a sword! And a gold border! And little flame things!

There's also some seriously, seriously bad flags. Like, atrocious flags. Most of the US State flags are pretty bad. Although, Colorado and New Mexico's are exceptions. But the creme de la creme, the epitome of a terrible flag has to be Maryland.

This is not a flag. I have no idea what's going on here, but I feel that if I cross my eyes I should see a picture.

But don't feel bad, Maryland. Liberia's River Gee County will always be worse than you.