Hua Hin - Paradise City - Clean and Tidy Hua Hin is 2.5 hours by mini-van south of Bangkok. Just catch the BTS Sky train to Victory Monument station and walk down the stairway towards the Century Cinemas and you will find the minivan depot where you can purchase a ticket for 200 baht. The King of Thailand has a Palace in Hua Hin which probably has something to do with why it is one of the cleanest and tidiest cities in the country. There are many foreigners living here with numerous golf clubs and residential estates. The highlight of the [View Full Entry]

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Elephant Nature Park At the Elephant Nature Park near Chiang Mai in northern Thailand the elephant can roam free. In Thailand the traditional training methods are very harsh for the elephant and the demise of the logging industry has seen elephant numbers fall from 100,000 in the last century to now around 3000. Elephant Nature Park looks after injured, mistreated and orphaned elephants in single and family groups. The elephants at the park are treated with kindness and love by founder Sangduen "Lek" Chailert who was named a hero of Thailand by Time Magazine. Other staff inclu [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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A short entry just to let you know I have arrived safely in Bangkok. There will not be much blogging for the next week as I will be in Chiang Mai as a volunteer at the Elephant Nature Park. It is very quiet in Bangkok with very few tourists arriving after the recent political turmoil and airport closure. No one talks about politics to me here and you would not know there were any problems except for the low numbers of foreigners in the country at present. It is sad because the weather is perfect, it is nice and cool all [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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Third Time Lucky in Chiang Mai I have created a blog entry about Chiang Mai for previous visits so this one will not be too in depth. My main reason for visiting the "Rose of the North' was to take a white water rafting trip in rainy season which is nearing it's completion for this year. I checked into the CM Blue Guesthouse in the old part of the moated city and immediatelly booked my rafting trip for the next day with Siam River Adventures. The pictures will tell the story but after two previous attempts at rafting in Thailand with [View Full Entry]

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Moving on from the Village to some Monkey Business in Lovely Lopburi Friday 26th September There was little sleep to be had last night as there was a huge dog fight at 2.30 am which the father of the house had to go outside to sort out and at 5.00 am the stereo started booming out from the shop across the street. There are vendors that sell their wares from trucks passing through the village and they usually have a loud P.A system and one of them was setup around the corner with his music and announcements going full blast at [View Full Entry]

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Lost In Translation Tuesday 23rd September After a late night at the disco I woke at around 11.00 am in my apartment which is conveniently located above a 7/11 store and net café. The Chock Chai market is also adjacent to the building with the night bazaar the next street over towards Korat. I was supposed to be picked up at midday to go to the village but no one arrived and my friend’s mobile was not answering. After a big night out I guessed that it was sleep time in Chock Chai which I later found out was a correct [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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Back in Thailand Why do you keep going back to Thailand all the time Leon? This question keeps coming at me and I always just smile and play along with everyones thoughts about the subject. The answer is that I am happy when I am here and it feels like home to me now. I still love Australia and everyone I know there but I believe that I am very fortunate that I have found another place to call home as well. My outlook on the world has changed by being part of another culture and I have learnt so much [View Full Entry]

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