Blogs from Central Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 5

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Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 6th 2022

Oh, there will be bruises after today….. The march to the gym was uneventful. But as I approached the hidden sign, I saw someone jogging up ahead. When I got to the gym, there was one other person there, and one arriving just in front of me. A total of 4 foreigners plus me were there for the afternoon session. We were all lined up for Fahlaep. He had one busy day today. I have to say today was probably the most fun training session I've had here, but there are going to be some bruises tomorrow! But first for the boring parts. It was much more humid this afternoon. I was sweating by the time I walked into the gym. The routine began with 6 more laps. Just as a note, today has finished with ... read more
“Watch your head Dave”
A “Before” picture
Why is this guy smiling?

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 5th 2022

That felt like a lot of writing for Sunday. I did want to add one thing the guide mentioned. We were in some of the poorer residence areas and he was explaining the living conditions. The rooms they rent are merely a box, sometimes no window, definitely no A/C, and community bath facilities. The reason people rent there is because it’s all they can afford as the minimum wage is $11. Uhh, that’s $11 per day, not an hour, and sometimes they don’t get paid that. There’s more details from the ride to add as I think about it, and a few more pictures also, but that’s for another time. So after the football draft ended at about 2:00am here, I immediately fell back to sleep until the 5:45 alarm. That means lack of sleep can’t ... read more

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 4th 2022

Hard to believe that I was looking forward to a rest day so early in the trip, but even one day of training here and I was pretty sore in my shoulders and calfs. Very heavy rainstorm last last night. The rain was beating on the window and woke me up. It did stop about sunrise and made for a very nice cool morning, if you can believe that. After breakfast. I did a little walking around some of the side streets where I hadn’t been before. Nothing exciting, just more shops and people setting up for selling for the day. My Chinatown bike tour started at 1:30 and still had some time to kill. Decided to go to the gym and see if that had changed also. Once again, the weights and rooms there were ... read more
Motorbike ride
Chinatown alleys
Sunny day ride

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Rayong September 4th 2022

Ban Phe When we told our hosts on Koh Samed that we were staying in Ban Phe for a few days they thought it rather strange as most foreign visitors head out to the resorts some miles out of town. We had no doubts that a more Thai experience awaited us with our choice, the Huan Soontaree Resort, and we were definitely proved right even though we were the only gusts there for the duration of our stay. At least we had the pool to ourselves no matter what the heavens threw at us! It’s the wet season and it made its presence very well known during our stay. It was a wet and bumpy ride on the boat to the mainland, and a soggy but short journey on the resort’s transport – a motorbike with ... read more
Nok Air ATR-72
The Dolphin
Finding Nemo!

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 3rd 2022

Not much exciting from this afternoon. Skipped the nap so room service could come in. Walked around looking for best exchange rate and where to eat. The couple of places just outside the hotel have closed. Not surprised, they were very empty last time I was here. a Couple favorites are gone - Firehouse and the Australian place. There are a few more burger places open, and Bully’s got a remodel also. Seems 7-11’s are everywhere now. They took over the market near the hotel. I checked out a couple other markets, and for what I might want, 7-11 is the same or cheaper. The fir it is showing 29887 steps and 3557 calories so far today. I’m not going any where far the rest of the day. Maybe a nice iced cappuccino from the lobby ... read more

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 2nd 2022

After 30+ long hours of travel, I made it to the hotel and breakfast. Not much sleeping last night. I had to take a walk around the local area when I got in, just out of curiosity. Not surprisingly, there were lots of changes I saw at 1:00 in the morning from the last time I was here, nearly 3 years ago. I’m sure some of it is the normal in and out of businesses, and some related to Covid. Covid probably cause more than it’s share of places to close. For those of you who have been here, the Ambassador is pretty much same same. There are a couple more fish tanks coming in the doors. They did renovate the breakfast area, and it looks really nice. Tables are spread out much more (Covid) and ... read more
Wat Dhammamongkol
Eminent Air training

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Ko Samet August 31st 2022

Ko Samet wasn't originally on our itinerary but there was too much uncertainty about the area we wanted to visit after Jomtien that we decided on a change of plans. What an excellent idea that turned out to be! Once again we used Bolt to get a driver to take us rather than take the more complicated and not-much-cheaper route by bus. We have indeed gone soft!! In the blink of an eye we were being dropped off at Ban Phe Pier and were soon on a fast boat over to the island. Pick-up van taxis wait for their captive audience on arrival. There's no real room for negotiation with the drivers but the prices were not too exhorbitant. We stayed at the wonderful Green Bay Samed Resort. To call it a resort is stretching it ... read more
Beachside statue
Love these signs
Life's a beach

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Jomtien August 30th 2022

Jomtien, just south of Pattaya, isn't the sort of place we'd normally be drawn towards on a trip like this. There were, however, some very specific reasons to visit, and it led to a slight change in our anticipated itinerary which worked out very well indeed as you'll find out in future posts! Getting there was easy once we'd found a driver who would accept the ride. Bolt proved to be frustrating as a few drivers accepted the job, then cancelled it as soon as they got stuck in traffic on the way to our hotel. This seems to be the downfall of the system, but a lovely lady driver on the best alternative, Grab, came up trumps and we were soon on our way. As well as the agreed price you have to pay any ... read more
Jurassic Gardens!
The dilapidated floating market
Seagull Bar

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok August 27th 2022

How time flies when you are having fun dealing with a pandemic and its aftermath. It's hard to believe that it's been three and a half years since our last post here and our last time in Bangkokwas a further year in the past. So much has changed since then but when we heard that Thailand had relaxed its entry requirements and that vaccinated travellers just needed their certificates, the lure was too strong to resist. We were in the UK on family business which made finding flights somewhat easier than it was from Spain. Direct flights with Thai Airways were reasonable enough and allowed us direct flights with a good level of comfort. Have to say though, the food was disappointing! On arrival in Bangkok we realised that we had made our first rookie mistake ... read more
Fair Trade Thai Style
Bangkok City View from Icon Siam
Icon Siam's Food Court

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok June 19th 2022

Although they eat some very unusual shit in Thailand, cooking with poo is, thankfully, not literal. It's the cooking school of Poo, a lady from the Khlong Toei slum in Bangkok. Before starting her cooking school, Poo spent 14 hours a day cooking food and making live-in-a-slum money, about 200 bhat ($7usd) a day. But a bubbly personality, a pinch of escape-life-in-the-slum tenaciousness, a dollop of getting-a-business-started help from an Australian missionary, some very clever branding, a well-titled cookbook (Cooking with Poo), and an endorsement from celebrity chef Jamie Oliver were the breadcrumbs leading her out of poverty. Despite the change in fortune, Poo didn’t move the cooking school into a shiny antiseptic space on Sukhumvit (i.e., the fancy part of town where poor people wear uniforms). Instead, she takes tourists to the ‘real’ market and ... read more
waterbugs are disgusting
yum yum frogs; some were still breathing
tourists in the meat aisle




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