A good excursion to do at the weekend is to visit one of the many floating markets that are within easy reach of Bangkok. The one that I visited last weekend is called Wat Takien Floating Market which is in Nonthaburi Province, to the Northwest of Central Bangkok. From Samut Prakan it only took us about 40 minutes to drive there along the Kanchanapisek Outer Ring Road
Koh Tao is an island north of Samui, north beyond the full moon party island of Phangna. No direct flights and the only way to get there is by your personal yacht or the daily ferries departing from Bangkok, Hua Hin, Chumphon or Samui. I recommend the Chumphon route, so as I did enjoying the 7 hours drive from Bangkok at 3am in the morning, followed by the Lomprayah twin hulled high speed ferry departing at 1pm.
As most people know it is Songkran time here in Thailand. The water festival where we go and throw water for 3 days, travelling in the back of pick-up trucks and drink and toast many people for the Thai New Year. I have reported on the ridiculous death rates form road accidents over the ‘7 deadly days’ as it is known. So far after three days these figures released have been: 116 people have died
Beach Road,Pattaya city,Thailand 
Bored with the beach? Then Pattaya Elephant Village is where you need to be, singles or families it's a great day out! Pattaya Elephant Village is a private sanctuary opened to save sick and injured Elephants, it is you the Tourist who funds this operation by means of visiting and taking part in one of three or all daily programmes opening daily at 10:00am with the last event at 16:30 hours. The elephant round-up at the Elephant Village is literally a large gathering of herds of elephants. These gigantic beasts have long been the backbone of heavy work in the jungles of Thailand. 
As presumed, we planned a winter trip up north. Keyword… winter… reality, perspire like pigs. End of November, should have been cold, but Buddha decided to turn the sauna on.
pathongko with nam tao hoo Recently I gave myself the challenge of only eating Thai street food for a period of 30 days. This might seem like heaven and such an easy task to do, but in reality it was difficult and at times I wished I hadn’t started. Right from the beginning I set myself some conditions to make the challenge more difficult but interesting at the same time.
It would seem that the longer I stay in Thailand, the higher the frequency that I attend funerals. In fact, I have two sets of funeral clothes now.
I had not been to Pai since my second Thailand holiday in 2002. It doesn’t really make a convenient weekend getaway if you rely on public transport or your two wheels. However, it was the perfect thing to do in my friend’s car. Riding up and down hills smoothly, speaking my mother tongue for the first time in nine months, blasting the CD player at full volume and singing along to pop hits from my teenage years, eating good food, drinking litres of hilltribe coffee
One of the first Thai bloggers in Thailand was Panrit “Gor” Daoruang who started back in 1997 when he was only 12 years old. He was blogging about his daily life at a time when people didn’t really know what blogs were all about. For him it started as a school project to write a mini website which had at least six pages which described in words and pictures his life in Thailand. Most students left it at that, but as it turned out, Gor had a lot more to write about.
So, to avoid the jam, one would discover one of the local transport modes Thai uses. River Taxis. First of all, the little black water channels. One would think it is a giant drain
For the second time yesterday, Thailand executed prisoners by lethal injection. Six prisoners have now been executed in this manner. Up until December 2002, the method of execution was by machine gun
The Nation : According to my own calculation, the daily cost is Bt18.6 million, meaning if the 4,000 buses get 620,000 passengers a day, or 155 passengers a day per bus, the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority will not suffer any loss. However, this doesn’t mean the Newin group is home free. Fact is, while each bus would cost around Bt4,600 per day, requiring a very realistic 155 passengers to cover the expense, half of that price is highly questionable. If we take away the leasing fee of Bt2,082 per day (which many still find too expensive), we are left with Bt2,250 maintenance spending
You may have noticed that I haven’t posted for awhile. We’ve gotten settled back into our lives in the states for the spring and summer. But I’ve been reading about the daily political news coming out of Thailand and I’ve stayed silent. I can’t be silent any more. Thaksin Shinawatra is ruining Thailand. Now Thaksin and his goons have given Thailand a huge black eye by ruining the Asean Summit. UDD protesters have caused the summit to be canceled and the leaders of the summit countries have gotten out of Pattaya with their lives. How do you think Thailand looks to the world now? After Thaksin was thrown out in the 2006 coup he got corrupt candidate after candidate put into every significant political office in the land. He did this by buying votes. One by one these corrupt political parties and candidates have been thrown out of office. Now the Democrats have put themselves into power. Are they the choice of the people? No. Unfortunately the majority of Thai people are too ignorant to realize what Thaksin is doing and how they are being manipulated. They are also too ignorant to realize what is best for them and their country. But the current PM Abhisit is doing a good job and is a strong leader. He seems to want what’s best for Thailand and despite the actions of Thaksin and his goons, he forges on.
One thing that has bothered me since spending any amount of time here in Thailand is the quality or I should say lack of quality of Thai men. Now there are exceptions to every rule and I know of some. I have a very dear friend who is a wonderful man, a great husband and an all around great guy. I’ve also met many fine Thai men. But unfortunately this doesn’t seem to be the rule. More the exception. Let me give you some examples from my own new family. My wife has 3 sisters. The unmarried one dumped her idiot American boyfriend (thank god). This was one of those young guys who thought he knew everything and really knew nothing, you know the type. Now the 2 married ones are great examples of what I’m talking about. My wife’s younger sister was married to a guy and everything seemed to be going fine. They had a fine boy and a girl on the way. Then he left and didn’t come back! My wife’s older sister is the best example of all. She had a husband and 3 beautiful girls, including an infant. And her SOB husband also left and hasn’t been heard of since. Not too long ago she started a relationship with a new man. This guy was supposedly a monk who was leaving the monkhood to be with her. Then after he supposedly left, he told her that he was really a cop that was doing an undercover investigation of monks using drugs and gambling (that stuff does happen here). She came to find out that neither was true.
Swimming with Nong Ja, Isaan Thailand.
The Most Beautiful Thai Girl. In My Eyes.
Christmas Is Not Over in Isaan Thailand.
The Residence Hua Hin
Two New Floating Markets in Hua Hin
Caroline Wozniacki Goes to Thailand
Am I Getting Too Old?
Christmas in Isaan Thailand 2011.
Celebrating Christmas in Thailand
