Blogs from Chachoengsao, Eastern Thailand, Thailand, Asia

I heard Anthony Kiedis had trouble installing a DVD player recently. Apparently he had scart issues. But seriously, here it is the infamous travel blog you've all been hearing about. Right now I’m lying in bed in a steamy hot hotel room in ko phan ngan. I’m also writing this on my phone because the keyboards here a bit hard to type fast with and as you know I’m a very busy man. So hopefully I’ll be able to transfer this from my phone to the internet (if you're reading this, I have been successful). But anyway even though I’m in ko phan ngan ill start from the beginning. In the beginning, there was nothing. Then Hughtron created light. Hughtron begat h-money, who begat Hughie the kid, who begat ...ok so you got what I was ... read more

Gleaming gold and red temples, huge golden statues of the Buddha, the smell of incense, grave-faced monks chanting the sutras in Pali, lines of reverent worshippers sitting in 'samadhi', the occasional slow booming sound of a gong. This is the picture most travellers have of Thai Buddhism, and to an extent it is a true reflection as an earlier post of mine on the subject shows (July 19th). But it's not the entire picture and may not be close enough to the reality of how the religion is practised up-country and by people beyond the main wats (temples) that attract the tourists. Last week my family visited Wat Tung Hiang between Chachoengsao and Chonburi, about 100 kilometres due east of Bangkok along Route 314. Thailand is densely populated with wats which in a sense represent a ... read more