Blogs from Nakhon Ratchasima, North-East Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 3

Welcome back to the village Tuesday December 23rd I arrived from Bangkok to a warm greeting at the Korat bus station from the Thai family I stay with in their home and village near Chock Chai. This time we caught a taxi all the way to the village instead of the local bus which is a bargain for 400 baht and saves an hours waiting and travelling time. Everyone was happy to see me back and there was a large gathering around the table for my first night back including youngsters Fah, Poi, Pim and Gamling who are always teaching me new Thai words and walk with me around the village. Tonight six of us went to my favourite disco/restaurant Da Wang Deng for a meal and then on to Bar Nana which has a funkier ... read more

Grandpa’s Funeral Saturday October 4 After returning to Bangkok from Chiang Mai I spent two days doing very little except seeing my friends, relaxing and going to a great disco with two of my very good friends before travelling to Korat and then to Chock Chai on Friday night to attend my Thai families funeral for their Grandfather. I had no idea what to expect and as usual I would go with the flow and not worry too much about anything which occurred which is the attitude that has served me well so far. When I got to the village at 10.30 pm there was a large gathering of friends and relatives at the family home. I guess you could call this a wake except that it was held on the night before the cremation ceremony ... read more

Isaan Nights Saturday 20th September I was still in Bangkok and had been promised a visit to a new Thai disco out near Ramkhamhaeng. Five of us took a taxi at 2.30 am from Silom for the 40 minute trip to the disco and when we arrived there was about two thousand people crammed into the large venue with probably room for about 1500. We felt a bit uncomfortable in that environment and because most of the official entertainment venues in this area close at 3.00 am some phone calls were made and we took another taxi back to Silom. I had no idea where we were going, as usual I just go along with my friend’s decisions here as they rarely let me down when it comes to finding a fun place to spend a ... read more

Overnight to Khao Yai National Park Thursday 3rd July At 8.00 pm five of us including our driver Tum left my hotel for the drive to Pak Chong where we would stay overnight before driving through Khao Yai National Park in the morning. We are travelling in style in a recent model Mitsubishi cabin style truck and after about 1.5 hours of cruising down the highway we arrived at our destination where we continued driving towards Khao Yai looking for somewhere to stay for the night. We stopped at a large resort but the prices there were very expensive so we kept driving and eventually found the Apple Resort which has very clean, modern hut style rooms about 10 minutes drive from the park entrance. It was about 10.00 pm and the resort’s restaurant was closed ... read more

Korat - Proud People and Ancient Sites Saturday 28th June Today I am going to Korat, about three hours and 259 km north east of Bangkok. I woke up at 10.00 am and luckily had packed my luggage the night before, so it was off to catch a taxi and then on to the Mochit Bus Station. Last time I was in Thailand I caught the BTS Skytrain to Mochit but this visit I was taking all my luggage so I decided to catch a taxi. The expressway is close to Silom so it only took 15 minutes to travel to Mochit and cost 180 baht including a 40 baht tip and 40 baht toll fee. All the signs at the bus station are written in Thai but there is usually a tout waiting to greet ... read more