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Index of Posts 101 – 150

A listing of posts 101 – 150, which mostly cover Isan stories. There are another 30 posts I wrote detailing building a house in Thaland, but these are now only available as an eBook which  you can purchase from the home page. Aug 2014 – Apr 2015

150. Isaan Silk

  • Published 5 Mar 2015
  • Place: Si Bun Ruang, Nong Bua Lamphu, Isaan
  • Topic: Living in Isaan
  • LINK: HERE
I only came across this story when Gaun, my wife, recently came out in the morning dressed in a beautiful wraparound skirt given to her by her mama many years ago and made from pure silk. That in itself isn’t of great interest but the fact that the silk was produced from worms raised by mama and the thread extracted, coloured and woven into this garment by her was. Read about the process in this post.

149. A Short Time in Pattaya

  • Published 5 Mar 2015
  • Place: Pattaya, Chonburi
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Pattaya
  • LINK: HERE
My contribution to the many articles on Pattaya has nothing on the walking street, the big girlie area, as we never made it there. Seen it all before in Phuket’s Patong and Nana Plaza in Bangkok and am well over it. For the two people left reading the post at this stage carry on for a more balanced review of Pattaya and some associated topics.

148. An Isaan Village Festival

  • Published 2 Mar 2015
  • Place: Si Bun Ruang, Nong Bua Lamphu, Isaan
  • Topic: Festivals
  • LINK: HERE
Every year around this time our Moo Baan or village puts on a small Buddhist festival involving the village’s wat or temple. These festivals seem to be pretty light hearted affairs with the aim of having time off work, raising some money, gaining merit in the Buddhist system, having a few drinks, listening to music and dancing. A pretty good combination in my opinion.

This is the first time I have been in the village for this occasion so on Sunday we left the cool of our partly finished house, and you can read about why we have set up camp there in my latest post on the build, and joined the crowd for an afternoon of celebration Isaan style.

147. The Sights of Isaan – Hug a Tortoise

  • Published 13 Feb 2015
  • Place: Khon Kaen province, Isaan
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Isaan
  • LINK: HERE
I have written before about my goal of “discovering” the hidden sights of our bit of Isaan, the largely rural part of South East Thailand. This time I had read about two places to visit on the way to Khon Kaen. Both had been very briefly written up on Thai orientated websites with very little detail and I thought I was on a winner to bring these treasures to light for anybody exploring this area so get ready to hug a tortoise.

146. Wat Tham Klong Pane

  • Published 13 Feb 2015
  • Place: Nong Bua Lamphu province, Isaan
  • Topic: Wat/temple
  • LINK: HERE
Wat Tham Klong Pane is a collection of buildings and shrines spread over a large area, many of them built around or incorporating the some of the huge rocks that litter this area. It is best to have your own transport to see all the parts of this temple as it is quite a distance between some of them. One of my favourite places to visit in the area.

145. TV from your Home Country

  • Published 27 Jan 2015
  • Place: NA
  • Topic: Information
  • LINK: HERE
NOTE: This post is being updated as at 16 Jan 2016. I have put this information into a separate post as it might be especially useful for the many expats reading this blog. It is an alternative to using paid internet TV services such as ThaiExpat TV HERE.

If you want to access UK or American TV but are locked out because your ISP, internet service provider, is in a foreign country, like us expats in Thailand, then you have a couple of free options.

144. A Thai Shotgun Marriage

  • Published 27 Jan 2015
  • Place: Si Bun Ruang, Nong Bua Lamphu province, Isaan
  • Topic: Festivals
  • LINK: HERE
But you’ll be pleased to read that no shotgun was involved. Let me put a scenario to you and compare the possible western response to the outcome that happened in my small Isaan village in the North East of Thailand. Let’s say you discover that your fourteen year old daughter is pregnant after she asks you why she has this feeling something is kicking in her stomach, not a great endorsement of the Thai sexual education effort but I guess it happens everywhere. Find out how this situation was resolved for better or worse in this post.

143. Isaan – the Small Stories 4

  • Published 23 Jan 2015
  • Place: Nong Bua Lamphu province, Isaan
  • Topic: Living in Isaan
  • LINK: HERE
This is another in the series exploring the daily life of living in a small village in Isaan.

142. Links

  • Published 21 Jan 2015
  • Place: NA
  • Topic: General Information
  • LINK: HERE
I often come across sites or articles in my research about Thailand that I think might be of interest to readers of this blog. I thought it might be useful if I published them are part of the main menu of the blog so that they were easy to find, especially as I will be updating the list on a regular basis. I have also been sent links by readers which I will include if I think they are relevant. I haven’t been very consistent in updating this post, something I will rectify to bring it up to date shortly (20 Jan 2016)

141. Phu Phrabat Historical Park

  • Published 19 Jan 2015
  • Place: Nong Bua Lamphu province, Isaan
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Isaan
  • LINK: HERE
Phu Phrabat or Phra Bat historical park about 1 1/2 hours from us has been on my list of places to visit since I first read about it in a Trip Advisor list of things to see in Udon Thani province. You will find directions on how to get there from Udon Thani at the end of this post.

Phu Phra Bat historical park in Udon Thani province in the North East of Thailand is a forested hill with natural rock formations shaped as caves with large rocky overhangs. The caves were used by ancient man as shelter and as temples where Buddha images were enshrined. What makes this site unique, is that it contains traces of several different civilizations and cultures spanning thousands of years. The hill contains traces of prehistoric man, the Dvaravati period and Khmer presence.

140. The Hidden Treasures of Nong Bua

  • Published 15 Jan 2015
  • Place: Nong Bua Lamphu, Isaan
  • Topic: General Information
  • LINK: HERE
I am going to treat my new home in Si Bung Ruang, in the North East of Thailand, in the same way as I did our time in Chiang Rai and Mai and share with you places of interest we come across in our travels. Some of these will be reports on more scenic or unusual locations and others will just be places we have found and use as part of our day to day life here. I hope that over time we can discover some interesting material to photograph and write about as the coverage of Isaan, this region of Thailand, is pretty sparse when compared to the big names on the coast and the North West.

Now I know that probably nobody reading this will ever visit Nong Bua Lamphu so reporting on its very minor attractions may seem a little strange but you never know. Someone may take the wrong turn in Pattaya and end up here looking for a decent pizza.

139. Isaan – the Small Stories 3

  • Published 5 Jan 2015
  • Place: Isaan
  • Topic: Living in Isaan
  • LINK: HERE
Another of my ramblings about the small everyday stories I come across living a “small” life here in the North Eastern part of Thailand, a region called Isaan. These are some of my favourite posts because they don’t involve any big touristy attractions but are made up of little moments that form part of my life here. They are unique because you won’t find them on the many other Thailand blogs that more often focus on the big stories in Phuket, Pattaya and the two Chiangs in the North West. I hope they give you an insight of Isaan life that makes for enjoyable reading.

138. Return to Chiang Rai – Part 2

  • Published 29 Dec 2014
  • Place: Chiang Rai
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Chiang Rai
  • LINK: HERE
Although published in December this post covers a return trip we made to Chiang Rai in October and covers in detail the Black House, including directions of how to find the place which can be a challenge, and Doi Tung Palace gardens. Complete the picture by reading Part 1, which you will find below.

137. Recommendations

  • Published 21 Dec 2014
  • Place: NA
  • Topic: General Information
  • LINK: HERE
This is a non-commercial site so I don’t endorse businesses for any financial or other gain. If I come across someone who I feel is providing a service or product that will benefit my readers then I will include their details in this section. As always you can make your own assessment and go from there

136. Isaan – the Small Stories 2

  • Published 5 Dec 2014
  • Place: Isaan
  • Topic: Living in Isaan
  • LINK: HERE
We have now being living in Isaan for over a month and I thought I would write another in what will probably become a series of little stories about living a “small” local life in a rural Thai village. You can read the first of these collections of happenings HERE. Our first month’s anniversary also gives me an opportunity to ponder the change between living 12 months in Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city, and moving to one of it’s less populous towns in the North East, an area called Isaan.

135. Return to Chiang Rai

  • Published 30 Nov 2014
  • Place: Chiang Rai
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Chiang Rai
  • LINK: HERE
We brought my step daughter Peng to Chiang Mai in mid-October from the family home in Si Bun Ruang to spend some in a big city before we moved to Isaan. One of the places she had read about and wanted to see was the White temple or Wat Rong Khun in Chiang Rai and Gaun wanted to re-visit the Mae Fah Luang gardens at the Doi Tung Royal palace located in the hills North of Chiang Rai. I booked a B&B so we could make it a two day visit and we hit the road, one I am very familiar with, to Chiang Rai.

134. Isaan Rice Harvest

  • Published 24 Nov 2014
  • Place: Si Bun Ruang, Isaan
  • Topic: Special Interest
  • LINK: HERE
The rice harvest here in Isaan is the culmination of an amazing amount of hard work, mostly done by hand, and there is a sense of activity and purpose in the village in November. Rice is incredibly central to society here as it forms the basis for all meals and eating is where families and friends gather as often as possible to share food and gossip. Anyone who has visited Thailand will know the consumption of food is almost a full-time occupation for Thais during waking hours. The call to dinner in Thai is “kin khaw” or “eat rice” even if there’s no rice – although that’s pretty unlikely, and that’s an indication of how integrated rice is here.

133. Isaan Cooking

  • Published 13 Nov 2014
  • Place: Si Bun Ruang, Isaan
  • Topic: Special Interest
  • LINK: HERE
I thought the best way to have you over for lunch today would be to walk you through the preparation of the Laab Moo in photos. It is a classic Isaan dish, simple and quick to make. This version used four different parts of the pig. Minced pork, the mincing is done by finely chopping the meat here, the skin, liver and some other internal organ – kidney? Vegetarians please skip the next bit.

132. Moving to Live in Isaan

  • Published 9 Nov 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai/Si Bun Ruang, Isaan
  • Topic: Special Interest
  • LINK: HERE
Our 12 month rental in Chiang Mai came due at the end of October and we seemed to have accumulated far more than I expected once it was all collected in one place. Admittedly a lot of it was the vast array of plants we had either bought or Gaun had propagated during of time in Chiang Mai. These had to make the move with us otherwise my next post would have been how to arrange a divorce in Thailand!

131. Chiang Mai Zoo

  • Published 30 Oct 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Chiang Mai
  • LINK: HERE
I am not a huge fan of zoos but I have to say that this one was a pleasant way to spend half a day. What I hadn’t realised firstly is how big it is at around 200 acres and secondly that you can drive through it rather than rely on the internal bus system, which you have to pay for. Because it is so spread out the driving option allows you to park at the areas that interest you and take your time rather than be tied to the bus timetable. I am not sure that they allow motorbikes inside because I hardly saw any, a most unusual situation in Thailand.

130. Occupation Retired

  • Published 29 Oct 2014
  • Place: NA
  • Topic: Retirement
  • LINK: HERE
I recently had to fill out an Australian statutory declaration, if interested you can read about the reason why in my post HERE, where one of the questions it asked for was my occupation. To me I could answer in one of two ways – either occupation “none” or occupation “retired”. I wrote “retired” because after all nobody wants to admit not having an occupation even in retirement. It seems that in many ways an occupation is what has defined us for much of our lives! That question made me think about the subject of retirement and why we should never dismiss it as a “none” occupation!  This post is my contribution to the subject.

129. Chiang Mai Umbrellas

  • Published 23 Oct 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Chiang Mai
  • LINK: HERE
After a long break from blogging I am back with a quick post covering today when we visited the Bo Sang handicraft village with the goal of capturing a couple of umbrellas for show only use in the outside living areas of my new house, still to be built.

128. Motor Registration Renewal

  • Published 23 Oct 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: General Information
  • LINK: HERE
This is another short post purely of interest to those expats living in Thailand. I bought my car 12 months ago through a dealer, who took care of the registration process via the Chiang Mai motor registry office or Department of Land Transport DLT to give it the full Thai title.

The registration renewal has just become due and I thought I would have to go through the same sort of inspection and paperwork process but not so. The whole thing can be done at any local motor shop. Some advertise the fact using this gold/yellow cog type sign while the one I used was my regular service guy and he had nothing outside to indicate the service was available.

127. Visiting Chiang Mai

  • Published 10 Oct 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Chiang Mai
  • LINK: HERE
Covered or mentioned in this post: Shopping, evening and Sunday markets, Central Festival shopping mall, Boy Blues Bar, ladyboy show, Panmai cafe, Huay Tung Tao lake, Terracotta Garden, Wat Ket Karet and museum, Mae Rim, Mon Cham, Tiger Kingdom, The Tea House, silver jewellery shopping, Doi Suthep, Wat Phalat, Bhubing Palace gardens, 3D, Chiang Dao, Caves, Chiang Dao Nest, Tweechol Gardens, Nimmanhaemin Road and local markets.

126. How to Marry a Thai National

  • Published 1 Oct 2014
  • Place: NA
  • Topic: General Information
  • LINK: HERE
This post details the paperwork and process needed for an Australian to marry a Thai national based on the legal requirements of Thailand. I can guarantee that this is the best post on the subject because unlike the others, which mostly seem to paraphrase each other, this post is based on actual experience and includes forms, photos, logistical details and warnings to a level that no one else has provided before. I presume the Thai part of the process are the same for any nationality so if not an Australian this post will still have some relevance.

125. My Favourite Wats in Chiang Mai

  • Published 21 Sep 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: Wat/temple
  • LINK: HERE
My list of favourite Wats doesn’t have a “Top X” number yet (now it does – see below). I am going to tell you about the ones I really liked and the number I end up with will be the number I add to title at the end! My Wat enjoyment rating isn’t necessarily just based on the Wat buildings themselves. Maybe the Wat had a lovely view, or was extremely peaceful or had a monk who was pro-active in sharing or giving a blessing. There is more to Wats than their architectural standing.

124. My Chiang Mai Top 10

  • Published 20 Sep 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Chiang Mai
  • LINK: HERE
My criteria for the things I have chosen are that they aren’t all on the Trip Advisor Top 10 list. I would hate to send you off where the first thing you see is a line of tourist buses and lots of people like you and me 🙂

If you are a reader of my blog you will know that Gaun and I are garden lovers so there is a little bit of weighting on that subject here but I have tried to avoid being too biased and mixed it up a bit. These are in alphabetical order not representing preference or anything else. One of them is not a specific destinations but a drive where the variety you will see along the way makes it worth a mention in my Top 10.

123. Trash & Treasure and more

  • Published 20 Sep 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Chiang Mai
  • LINK: HERE
“This on-campus market is open to all and runs every Saturday and Sunday from late morning until afternoon, around 3 or 4 p.m. Accessible via Rattanakosin or Kaew Nawarat Road, it is one of the largest second hand,  retro-style markets in town, and items are sold directly from passionate collectors. You will find everything here: old TVs, spare car parts, gramophone records, used furniture, books, Buddha images, cameras, clothes, toys, posters and much more. After a day of diddle-daddling and picking up doodads that you thought you didn’t need, be sure to grab an iced coffee from the bright orange VW coffee-mobile at the end of the street.”

122. Dragon’s Back – Hong Kong

  • Published 19 Sep 2014
  • Place: Hong Kong
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Other
  • LINK: HERE
Day 5 of our stay in Hong Kong. Covered or mentioned in this post: Local street markets, Dragon’s Back, Stanley and the Gold Coast Hotel. We spent the best part of the day walking the beautiful Dragon’s Back with sweeping views over the coastline. Lunch at Stanley and then a bus trip back into Hong Kong city.

121. Mazda Service

  • Published 18 Sep 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: Special Interest
  • LINK: HERE
This is a real quickie on this topic. I only include it because I like to record all aspects of life here that differ from what I have known from my time in Australia. It is the little things that make everyday life interesting – to me anyway. Driving into the Mazda dealership you are shown a parking space by the security guard. A guy with a large umbrella then comes out and protects you from the sun as you make your way to the service reception. While checking the car in a lady brings you a glass of iced water. Sounds like your car service at home? Read on.

120. Chang Dao

  • Published 18 Sep 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: Attractions and Places
  • LINK: HERE

There are two category of things we haven’t yet done in Chiang Mai and they are caves and waterfalls. The latter because we arrived in the dry season and a waterfall without water always seems to be missing some essential ingredient. The caves we will cross off the list now.

Chiang Dao has always been on my to do list since I read about Chiang Dao Nest, an accommodation and highly rated restaurant, back last year when we were living in Chiang Rai. You can read the reviews HERE. I had forgotten all about it until last week when looking for a cave to visit and came across the combination of Chiang Dao cave and Nest.

119. Paying for Utilities

  • Published 13 Sep 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: Special Interest
  • LINK: HERE

Living in Chiang Mai, like anywhere else, unfortunately involves paying for living expenses like rent/mortgage and utilities such as water and electricity. This post is a shortie to give you a little useful information about the latter two.

I am only speaking from my own experience living in a Moo Baan, or gated community, in Chiang Mai. The process may be a little different in other situations or locations. I know it is in Si Bun Ruang but the goal is the same i.e. money out of your pocket into someone else’s!

118. Hong Kong – Exploring

  • Published 12 Sep 2014
  • Place: Hong Kong
  • Topic: Attractions and places
  • LINK: HERE

Covered or mentioned in this post:

Coffee, Flower Market Street, Bird Market, Sneaker Street, Brand Outlets, Harvey Nichols, Hong Kong Park, St John’s Cathedral, more malls, the harbour.

117. Hansa Mini Golf

  • Published 12 Sep 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Chiang Mai
  • LINK: HERE
I had read about Hansa Minigolf when searching for things to do out our way in San Sai, a Northern area of Chiang Mai. San Sai is not exactly the center for anything especially by way of things to do or see. A few cooking schools and adventure type activities but almost nothing to cater for the “drop-in” urge. Hansa Minigolf. Hansa was given a great review on Trip Advisor and because it is only 15 minutes from our home we decided to have a look this morning.

116. Hong Kong – Disneyland

  • Published 11 Sep 2014
  • Place: Hong Kong
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Other
  • LINK: HERE
Day 3 and we were heading out SOLO to visit Hong Kong Disneyland. Gina, my good friend here, has been our constant guide for the first two days. I think she felt that we had passed the getting around Hong Kong test and this was an opportunity for us to see if we could use the transport system to go to a planned destination! Having said that Gina wrote out detailed travel instructions so it was a bit of a cheat.

115. Hong Kong – Big Buddha

  • Published 9 Sep 2014
  • Place: Hong Kong
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Other
  • LINK: HERE
Day 2 in Hong Kong had Gina planning to take a ferry to a place called Tai O, which is optimistically also sometimes known as “The Venice of Hong Kong”. If there’s anyone from Tai O reading this I don’t mean to offend but it is actually supposed to be a bit of a dump and with the dried fish a smelly one too. However we missed the boat literally so ended up taking a spectacular cable car to see the Big Buddha.

114. Chiang Mai taxi service

  • Published 9 Sep 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: General Information
  • LINK: HERE
A very short post with some useful contacts for taxi services in Chiang Mai.

113. Hong Kong – the city

  • Published 9 Sep 2014
  • Place: Hong Kong
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Other
  • LINK: HERE
The first of four posts on our holiday to Hong Kong, which happened as a result of an invitation from my good friends Gina and Andy who came to see us in Chiang Mai for Christmas 2013. They offered their Hong Kong home as a holiday base and Gina as a tour guide if we ever wanted to explore the island.

This year for us has already been really busy but the next 12 months will be mostly taken up with building our new home in Isaan and settling there so if we didn’t do Hong Kong now we could miss out on a place to stay and the help of a local to show us the sights.

112. Retirement Visa and More

  • Published 30 Aug 2014
  • Place: NA
  • Topic: Retirement
  • LINK: HERE
The best visa you can get for a long term stay here is called a Non-Immigration OA or retirement visa. There is an O visa, which needs to be renewed after 90 days, however if you add the multiple re-entries option it is then called an OA visa and is good for 12 months. This post contains lots of information especially in the comments section.

111. Doi Coffee & Roasting

  • Published 30 Aug 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: Café/eating
  • LINK: HERE
I am pleased to let you know of a cafe worth a visiting if in the San Sai area, and for most people that will never happen! However for those of us living there it is an unusual experience to find a decent place to have a cuppa so it is worth reporting. The alternative recommendation is Biscotti café also covered in a post, but that’s a lot further out.

110. Ratchaphruek Gardens and Wat Chedi Liam

Published 29 Aug 2014

  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Chiang Mai
  • Wat/temple
  • LINK: HERE
The basis of this park’s name, ” Ratchaphruek” or Golden Shower Tree, is the de facto national flower of Thailand. Its yellow blossoms are the flower of Monday, the birth day of the current King. Chiang Mai and maybe other places too, are covered in these beautiful flowers in season. If you enjoy gardens then this is a must see in the Chiang Mai itinerary.

109. Ponganes Cafe and Wat Phuak Hong

Published 26 Aug 2014

  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: Café/eating
  • Wat/temple
  • LINK: HERE
Covered in detail or mentioned in this blog: Ponganes Espresso café a coffee hangout highly recommended by Trip Advisor, Suan Buak Hat city park, Wat Phuak Hong and market shopping costs.

108. Tanita House Cafe

  • Published 25 Aug 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: Café/eating
  • LINK: HERE
Tanita Cafe is listed as 9 of 1,300 + restaurants in Chiang Mai and you can read the reviews HERE. I think TA reviews become self-fulfilling prophecies. Once you get up in the rankings more people visit and, providing you are offering a decent service, review you positively and up you go. It isn’t to say the places with lower rankings are worse necessarily, although many will be, just less appreciated by TA contributors

107. The 106 to Lamphun

  • Published 25 Aug 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Chiang Mai
  • LINK: HERE
The title sounds like a bus or train journey doesn’t it. “I’m just catching the 106 to Lamphun dear”. It is actually a road number and the road itself runs through the centre of Chiang Mai following the Ping River before heading out of town and ending up in Lamphun, a small town about 25 kms South of Chiang Mai.

The 106 for me is one of the most interesting roads in Chiang Mai not for getting quickly from A to B, because it is often frustratingly (if you let it) slow, but because of the variety of scenery you will see as you drive its length.

106. Si Bun Ruang from Above

  • Published 24 Aug 2014
  • Place: Si Bun Ruang, Isaan
  • Topic: Special Interest
  • LINK: HERE
I have added this post to my building stories as it shows the location of the main places of interest based around our new home to be. The family home, the farm and Si Bun Ruang CBD! are all shown below.

I have included these images now as Google Earth heard that I was moving to Si Bun Ruang and as a result has updated the images and improved the quality. Thanks Mr Google.

105. The Chiang Mai Road System

  • Published 24 Aug 2014
  • Place: Chiang Mai
  • Topic: General Information
  • LINK: HERE
For any new Chiang Mai residents and visitors it is useful to get an image of the road system in your head to make getting around easier. I always describe Chiang Mai as having a half spider’s web road layout. The centre of the web is the square of the Old Town, contained by the moat. Other almost circular roads surround this centre and then there are the webs heading out in all directions. Find out how to navigate the system in this post.

104. Return to Chiang Mai

  • Published 20 Aug 2014
  • Place: Si Bun Ruang, Isaan driving to Chiang Mai
  • Topic: Attractions and Places – Isaan
  • LINK: HERE
This is a short post and a bit of a cheat. I promised the last post was the absolutely final one from Isaan but I was up early yesterday morning and observed a couple of things that may be of some interest so thought I would pass them on. As we were almost on our way back to Chiang Mai I think I can get away without breaking my previous commitment for no more Isaan posts – maybe.

103. Isaan – the negatives

  • Published 18 Aug 2014
  • Place: Si Bun Ruang, Isaan
  • Topic: Living in Isaan
  • LINK: HERE
Living in Si Bun Ruang in a local Moo Baan, or suburb/village, for around a month has allowed me to experience the good and bad of village life. I have written about the good so it is time to be realistic about the more negative aspects. Let me say that these are negatives from MY point of view and some of them may be seen as totally positive by Thais or more likely don’t register at all. I have made a complete list and some of them are a bit picky. However the fact that they have registered with me means that at whatever level of annoyance I regard them as a negative.

102. Isaan – the final post

  • Published 16 Aug 2014
  • Place: Si Bun Ruang, Isaan
  • Topic: Living in Isaan
  • LINK: HERE
Well not THE final but the last one I will be publishing as a result of our latest visit here. It started with a hospital visit with Peng that I have already covered below and is finishing with us completing what I wanted to achieve on planning for our house build later this year. I am hoping to hit the road for Chiang Mai on Tuesday. This post is a mix of stories, but you already suspected that was going to happen didn’t you 🙂

101. Thai Music

  • Published 12 Aug 2014
  • Place: NA
  • Topic: Special Interest
  • LINK: HERE
If you wanted a cultural thesis with examples of the historical and regional styles of Thai music you are going to be seriously disappointed with this post 🙂 I have and will continue to add music to this page that either has a story in it for me or what I call Thai driving music – probably nonsense pop stuff but with a good beat and fun. Deep and meaningful it ain’t.