Exploits – C. Buddha's Hasty Musings

Thailand’s best Crispy Pork resto

We found the holy grail of crispy pork shops on Koh Chang over the summer. Everybody on that trip still talks about it. We were there to visit students interning on the island, so I was with a couple coworker pals and we brought Max along as well. Tee drove us to Bangkok, where we stayed at his condo for a night, then we set out for a few days of island life.

This was probably the best meal of the whole trip because the prices were cheap (less than 2 dollars a dish) and the portions were huge!

Of course, the place is a total hole in the wall, and run by the friendliest people.

The name of the shop? YUMMY

Looking Back

This year has been filled with business trips, mainly to Pattaya for some reason. Just looking back on some photos from May.

Max is stuck waiting on a delayed flight

It’s taking him more than a day and a half to get back home due to multiple Delta delays. Death by boredom, the opposite of Thai transportation!

Our tuktuk driver was on his phone in moderate traffic the day before yesterday.

Back in the Kham

We sent Max off today with a good family friend who’s also living in the same area of the Pacific Northwest. It was great having him back for a month and a half after such a long time. I’m straight back into the thick of it here. but I’ll be posting memories from his visit for a while.

The Dogs of Lad Prao

For as long as we’ve been visiting Nam’s auntie and uncle on Lad Prao 33, there have been a huge pack of dogs running the middle area of the street. During the day, they lounge around in the heat and disappear through holes in nearby gates, but at night, they run around free. It is scary walking there alone at night. The neighbors all complain about the danger and the shits left all over the place, to no avail… We’ve been going and staying there for decades, so we have probably seen several generations of this wild pack.

Got back from Koh Chang

I took Max along on a (university business) road trip with my two pals. It was epic.

Kalanbatu Reggae Bar at Khao San

Actually on Soi Rambuttri.

We walked by after dinner, Taro knew the owner and the band. He unslung his travel guitar and immediately hopped in. Music ensued. I posted a much longer vid as a livestream on FB: T jamming at Kalanbatu on Khao San Road

Eagle’s Nest

I cannot bear to use the actual spelling of the bar’s name, it just bothers me. There’s no denying they have one of the best views of Wat Arun at night, though. This is in the neighborhood of Wat Po, the famous massage school temple, just across the river.

The Green VIP Party Bus

We just came back from a back-to-back four day trip to Pattaya and 8 day trip to Japan. I will try and document some of it here. The Pattaya trip was a 40-person corporate trip for my cousin’s company in Japan that Nam and I organized; it turned out well. It all started out with a double-decker bus we chartered to pick up the group at BKK. It was a pretty awesome setup and the driver, Noi, was very cool.

Back Home Again

Nam and I went on a nice trip to pick up Mina in WA and for Nam to see Max after four years of COVID lockdown/US visa processing. The last long leg of our trip saw us dropped this bus stop in between the two sides of Maha Sarakham city at dawn.

As it turns out, we aren’t moving back to the states just now.

Mina has come back to Thailand; she missed her friends here.

I have many tales to tell.