Thai Society/Culture
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On the Road 2007 (Part 5) – Tamnanpar
After visiting Koh Chang, Nam and I headed back toward familiar territory: The miles-long stretch of beach at Rayong. We booked into the same hotel we had stayed at two years before, and I used the net cafe next to the lobby to find a good place to eat. A review of Tamnanpar Forest Restaurant caught my eye, so we went off on a leisurely drive to find it since we were in relax mode and had no plans in particular. We were in for a surprise! The view as you enter the grounds from the parking lot of Tamnanpar. The weather was overcast (we had been plagued by rain…
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Speaking of carp…
Over at the Fish & Fly site: Thai guide in record carp catch There’s a lot of haters saying it doesn’t mean much since it was caught in a stocked lake, which is kind of a valid criticism – it would be more impressive if it had been caught in the wild. The thing is, they might not get that big out in the wild… All I know is, that has to be one nasty-tasting fish.
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Iguana skillet
I woke up today and stretched out on my balcony like I do every morning. The hybrid eucalyptus/native vegetation forest has grown to twice its height since I arrived here at the end of last year, and the native wildlife has really settled in. It’s nice to watch fireflies playing tag before I go to sleep and wake up to bird calls new to my ears. This morning I looked down on our cooking area and saw an iguana chilling out on my cast iron skillet (note: It might the same kind I photographed at my university a while back). He cocked his head at me as I approached: what…
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Escaping the Bangkok Hilton
This is not the Hilton of which I speak, this is. Richard Barrow has scored an exclusive interview with the author of Escape, “the true story of the only Westerner ever to break out of Thailand’s Bangkok Hilton, aka.Klong Prem Prison.” He’s currently posted the first part of the interview; I’m looking forward to the final part. Note: I won’t buy the book, but I wouldn’t mind downloading it.
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On the Road 2007 (Part 4) – Overloaded
After visiting Koh Chang, we took the ferry back to the mainland. Our car had travelled a thousand kilometers over hills and beaches and muddy back roads, and showed every bit of it: wash me In Chantaburi, I spotted the coolest lamp posts I’ve ever seen: I want these in front of my house. …and also some entertaining signage: “The school at work place” I thought this sign at a highway rest stop was pretty funny (but Nam called me a dumbass): – – |||||||||||||||||||||||| – O V E R L O A D E D – |||||||||||||||||||||||| The highways on the road home were filled with trucks carrying fruit…
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There was a murder
…just down the road today, at a student’s dorm just outside our housing tract. Nam saw the crowd of people who had gathered to watch when she came home, so we walked down the street to ask what was up. Some guy supposedly shot his girlfriend for cheating on him. Dumbass. Puppy love is some stupid shit to shoot someone over. Gun violence out here in rural Thailand is more prevalent than I thought it would be what with the strict gun laws and the whole Land of Smiles/mai pen rai thing. Shit, people are people though, right? People tell me it’s much more likely for a Thai person to…
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Thailand’s Ban on YouTube – Updated
This is what my previous post (with embedded video) looks like when viewed from Thailand: click to see full size Awesome logo – I’m being watched by the Man!
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Buddha Factory
Taken in Kosum Phisai, Thailand. Hitherto known only for its monkey reserve and a delicious Thai oden-like dish (Thai: “yentafo”) Kosum Phisai may be put on the map by the multitude of statue/buddha image workshops dotting the roadside. The monkey reserve is supposedly one of the best in the country, and is a promising recruiting ground for my future monkey army.
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Why do Thais use a fork and spoon for eating?
My apologies to Kevin for using his post here. It’s just too damn interesting to let slip by for a chowhound like me. I intend to use this post as the start of a series on the history of the spoon and fork in Thailand. Kevin’s original post is reproduced below: Thailand and the fork I normally think of the fork as a Western implement, but after complaining about the lack of chopsticks at a Thai resto I visited a few days back, commenters have been writing in to say that both Thai restaurants and Thais in Thailand use forks when eating. My brain refuses to accept this, so I…
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Thai monks do not wear underwear
Just following up on a question asked in this comment thread. BTW, the monk I asked to prove it was hung like a goddamn elephant.
