Thailand Diaries

Thai Tourism Koh Phangan Full Moon Party Damage Control

admin — Wed, 9 Jan 2013 18:18:49 +0700

Khon Kaen Khon Kaen - Khon Kaen RetirementA memorial service was held today for Stephen Ashton, killed when a stray bullet hit him at a New Year’s Eve party on Koh Phangan, but the service was more for Thai Tourism than for the death of the young Brit. Thai Tourism takes a beating every time one of these terrible... [Read More]

Tourism Authority Of Thailand Promotes Convicted Felon Snoop Dogg

admin — Wed, 9 Jan 2013 17:38:08 +0700

Khon Kaen Khon Kaen - Khon Kaen RetirementThe Tourism Authority of Thailand has stooped to a new low by promoting a festival with the headliner - former convicted felon, Snoop Dogg Lion. The 2013 Together Festival is sponsored by the Tourism Authority of Thailand according to Travel Daily News. Tourism Authority of... [Read More]

Phuket Photo Op WIth Foreign Ambassadors

admin — Wed, 9 Jan 2013 10:46:01 +0700

Khon Kaen Khon Kaen - Khon Kaen RetirementThe Governor of Phuket met with Ambassadors to Thailand from the Netherlands, Canada, and the UK to discuss Tuk-tuk, jet-ski, and taxi scams. The problem is that nothing will change Phuket and the visit was just a show of face and a photo opportunity for the Phuket... [Read More]

Is The Tourism Authority Of Thailand Worried About The Wrong Issue?

admin — Wed, 9 Jan 2013 08:31:49 +0700

Khon Kaen Khon Kaen - Khon Kaen RetirementThe Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting has released a poll identifying issues that may affect the way the Tourism Authority of Thailand conducts business, but I think they have it all wrong. The Tourism Authority of Thailand sees Political instability main worry for... [Read More]

Learning to Float

Janet Brown — Wed, 9 Jan 2013 00:25:00 +0700

Today I begin to learn to swim. I’m looking forward to being in the water and achieving a feeling of weightlessness. I imagine this as the closest I’ll ever get to learning how to fly. I think it will be a form of exercise that I’ll look forward to doing and that someday I’ll snorkel in Thailand, watching brightly... [Read More]

A Week of Indian Food: Day 2 – the Thali

Ruth — Tue, 8 Jan 2013 19:08:14 +0700

Like chai, the thali is a long-standing Indian tradition. Thali means “plate” in Hindi, and what a plate it is. Essentially, it’s comprised of a mound of rice on a steel plate surrounded by a variety of dishes. Depending on … Continue reading → [Read More]

A Week of Indian Food: Day 3 – Lassi

Ruth — Tue, 8 Jan 2013 19:07:39 +0700

The lassi is a simple drink, but like many things in life, sometimes simple is best. Basically, it is a glass of puréed yogurt. That isn’t a great description, though, because Indian yogurt (known as curd) is quite different from Western yogurt. … Continue reading → [Read More]

People’s Alliance For Democracy Want Thai Government To Defy International Court Of Justice Ruling On Preah Vihear

admin — Tue, 8 Jan 2013 17:49:36 +0700

Khon Kaen Khon Kaen - Khon Kaen RetirementThe Yellow Shirts, People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), have given their 7-point letter on Preah Vihear to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, and it shows just how crazy these people are. We are ten months away from an ICJ ruling on Preah Vihear and four months away... [Read More]

Finding Stories

Janet Brown — Mon, 7 Jan 2013 22:45:00 +0700

My mother has left her home. Age first took her balance then her appetite, then her ability to walk, When a person can no longer go to the toilet alone, that’s a sentencing. My mother was luckier than most. The daughter who has always loved her best took her to a house owned by a woman who cares, and who will... [Read More]

A Week of Indian Food: Day 1 – Chai

Ruth — Mon, 7 Jan 2013 18:21:16 +0700

There is just no way that I could fit the massive quantities of food that T-bone and I consumed in India into a single post. Your screens would explode and splatter your walls with calories. Instead, I’m going to do … Continue reading → [Read More]

Family Reunion in South Carolina

Malcolm and Ciejay Burgess — Mon, 7 Jan 2013 13:24:00 +0700

I know, it's been a while , but with all the excitement of Christmas and New Years , we've been busy , and we lost our beloved boy (dog) Sabu over the holidays , sooo that was a hard time too. Things are getting back to normal now . This will be the last post of our trip to the USA last year , it was a great time with... [Read More]

Love Hurts: Korea Style

Dr. Will — Sun, 6 Jan 2013 11:06:00 +0700

Love hurts, love scars, love wounds and marsAny heart not tough nor strong enoughTo take a lot of pain, take a lot of pain,Love is like a cloud, holds a lot of rainLove hurts, oooh, love hurts. "Love Hurts," written by Boudleaux Bryant and recorded by many I did not fully understand Nan's desire to see... [Read More]

Tsunami

Janet Brown — Sun, 6 Jan 2013 02:05:00 +0700

I went to see The Impossible yesterday at its first showing on its first day in Seattle. I had a reason to be there, rather than waiting for it to be available on Netflix as I usually do. I had a very dear friend who was caught in that wave and survived it. When I saw him three months later, the wounds on his body were... [Read More]

How much money I made as a freelance writer in Thailand (2012)

Voicu Mihnea Simandan — Sat, 5 Jan 2013 23:15:31 +0700

The question of whether one can make a living in Thailand as a writer depends pretty much on whom we are talking about. Established writers with literary agents and big publishing houses behind their backs can probably live a comfortable life here in Thailand. But for freelance writers and authors who haven’t scored it... [Read More]

Delhi ho!

Ruth — Sat, 5 Jan 2013 15:33:32 +0700

Last travel post from India! We spent our last few days in this strange and wondrous land in Delhi. Before lurching into India’s capital city, we spent 6 hours on a train from Jaipur. Train trips always make me feel … Continue reading → [Read More]

Memories and Grief on the Information Highway

Janet Brown — Sat, 5 Jan 2013 02:09:00 +0700

A year ago I found out that one of my dearest friends in the world was dying; less than two weeks later he was dead. As soon as I was able to, I wrote about that and posted it here. I told nobody that I had done that; some of my friends found it. It was an entry in a notebook, written to help me make my way through... [Read More]

Why Not?

Janet Brown — Fri, 4 Jan 2013 01:07:00 +0700

I just finished eating breakfast, a whole new concept for me. Usually I have coffee until my stomach rebels around 11 am and then I eat whatever might be in my refrigerator. Since that is rarely well stocked, my first food of the day could never be called a meal--plain yogurt or a chunk of lean roasted pork--just... [Read More]

Forts, Folks, and deFormed Cows in Jaipur

Ruth — Thu, 3 Jan 2013 21:40:00 +0700

Magically, as soon as we left the polluted hole otherwise known as Jodhpur, our spirits revived almost immediately. Almost, because we first had to endure an eleven hour bus journey. Our hotel owner booked us on what can only be … Continue reading → [Read More]

Get, Set, Go – Go Karting in Thailand

Voicu Mihnea Simandan — Thu, 3 Jan 2013 14:09:56 +0700

In the past few years Thailand has become increasingly popular with motor sport enthusiasts. Just last month we had the Race of Champions at Rajamangala Stadium and there are even talks of the possibility of staging in Bangkok, in November 2014, the first Formula One race at Ratchadamnoen Avenue or Muan Thong... [Read More]

‘Evil in the Land Without’ by Colin Cotterill

Voicu Mihnea Simandan — Thu, 3 Jan 2013 11:52:51 +0700

The release from house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese democracy leader (November 2010), the release of some Burmese political prisoners by the government (October 2011), the nominal ceasefire agreement between the Karen National Union and the Burmese military (January 2012), Suu Kyi’s win of a seat in the... [Read More]

‘Monday Blues’ by Amy Barry

Voicu Mihnea Simandan — Thu, 3 Jan 2013 10:53:33 +0700

I’m not a big poetry reader but I do like to sometimes indulge in a book of poems. Usually, the poetry books I select to read are to some relevance to my writing life. For me, poems have a cathartic effect and my favourite poems are the ones written by my own father (Guest in the 21st Century and The Passing of... [Read More]

‘Gogyokha [verse]’ by jack byrne

Voicu Mihnea Simandan — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 16:50:17 +0700

I recently wrote that people tend to remember the years of their lives by the disasters that took place during specific years. Thus, for many, 2011 is the year of the Fukushima nuclear disaster that followed the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. Quite a few anthologies of short stories and poems were... [Read More]

Day 2 at the Indoor Archery World Cup in Singapore

Voicu Mihnea Simandan — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 12:56:36 +0700

December 9 was the day when the individual matches at the Indoor Archery World Cup took place. It was also my last day in Singapore. I woke up early, recharged after a good night’s sleep and energized after scoring a new personal record during the first day of the World Cup. The practice for all the participating... [Read More]

Yamada Nagamasa’s Ship Sails from Ayutthaya to Nagasaki

Voicu Mihnea Simandan — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 18:20:56 +0700

After the incident of 1624, the years between 1625 and 1628 went smoothly for both Yamada Nagamasa and for the commercial and diplomatic relations between Ayutthaya and Japan. A new Siamese embassy reached Edo in 1625 but, as in the case of 1623, there is no evidence of Nagamasa being directly involved in it. However,... [Read More]

10 Quotes a Day: God

Voicu Mihnea Simandan — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 18:08:47 +0700

1. “Only God is right about everything, which is why we are fortunate that God speaks so seldom.” (Rebecca Solnit, Sontag and Tsunami) 2. “God alone is kind.” (Hermann Hesse, Magister Ludi – The Glass Bead Game) 3. “And a promise to God is the most important promise of all. Never break a promise to God.” (Dan... [Read More]

Korea: The War is Over

Dr. Will — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 11:50:00 +0700

When over 100,000 troops crossed the 38th parallel in Korea in 1950 to reunite their divided country under a communist regime, I was 10 years old and living in a small town in North Carolina. This aggression was the first move in a short but bloody "police action" or "conflict" between United Nations forces, mobilized... [Read More]

The Japanese Community of Ayutthaya and the Spanish Ship Affair (1624)

Voicu Mihnea Simandan — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 14:23:42 +0700

If we are to generalize, at this point there were two kinds of Europeans roaming the waters of East Asia: the Iberians (Portuguese and Spanish) and Northern Europeans (English and Dutch). The latter were Protestant and, since they were not concerned with proselytizing, had an easier life in both Siam and Japan. The... [Read More]

A Few Soi Cowboy Girls

ArtTv — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 12:38:00 +0700

Ran into the Soi Cowboy photo guy who goes around and charges for instant portraits, and asked to take his picture. A few of the girls at Cowboy 2 got jealous and wanted to have their photos taken also. Just a few of the many girls in Soi Cowboy.

Bangkok Tales [Read More]

Wishing

Janet Brown — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 01:45:00 +0700

It's already the day before Christmas in Bangkok and in Hong Kong. In Seattle daylight is just beginning to brighten at a little past ten am on the 23rd. At this time of day, the sky outside my window belongs to the birds--sometimes seagulls the size of small puppies soar rather menacingly past my view. They're big... [Read More]

Curry wishes and deep-fry dreams

Bangkok Glutton — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 16:15:44 +0700

Nearly every Thai food lover I know professes a deep affinity for Thailand’s street food. Never mind that it is frequently infuriating, with its occasional long waits, its heat and smoke, its intermittent inconsistencies. It’s the grime, the capricious grumps … Continue reading → [Read More]