A Singaporean's guide to living in Thailand

[yinyang]

Pressure to lift curfew next week, from badly hit tourism sector.. expecially Phuket and Pattaya looby. But no matter for our man-about-town Chonburi here :p

Tourism spots hope for curfew end
Junta wants to limit damage to economy Published: 29/05/2014 at 05:24 AM

Bangkok Post Newspaper section: News

The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) is mulling whether to lift the curfew next week in major tourism provinces to limit the damage to the local economy.

NCPO deputy spokesman Natthawat Chancharoen said the head of the council, Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, has ordered the working team on the economy to assess the effects of the curfew on tourism in provinces such as Phuket and Chon Buri.

Col Natthawat said the curfew would be lifted if there are no anti-coup protests in those provinces.

A decision on whether to lift the curfew in tourism provinces will be made next week, the deputy spokesman said.

The junta announced on Tuesday night the strict curfew imposed since the May 22 coup would be shifted from 10pm-5am to midnight-4am.
The curfew was relaxed after people complained they had difficulty getting home and some businesses suffered losses from closing early.
Worst affected by the curfew has been night-time entertainment.

Chiang Mai Tourism Business Association president Pornchai Jitnawasatien said the shorter curfew was good news for nightlife operators in the province. The original 10pm-5am curfew caused profit at most nightlife businesses to drop by 10%. Mr Pornchai said the new curfew time will have positive impacts on night-time entertainment businesses and restore tourism confidence. He added that an even shorter curfew should be considered.
The Myst bar and restaurant, a popular spot located in the high-end area of Thong Lor, lost around 500,000 baht in revenue over the weekend, said Wasupol Itthirojanakul, a shareholder.

The curfew, however, has caused a minimal effect on other small businesses in the heart of Bangkok, according to some.
A staff member at the Kuang Heng street restaurant in the Pratunam area, popular with late-night party-goers, said the curfew had not caused much disruption. The restaurant closes an hour early at 9pm. Fewer customers at night are made up for by more coming to the restaurant after work.

“We’re as busy as ever,’’ he said. It is also business as usual for the Anantara Baan Rajprasong hotel, which has not seen many bookings cancelled.
Guests are also spending their days as they normally would, said Supaporn Suthammavijit, the Anantara Baan Rajprasong senior sales manager.
Ms Supaporn said most guests are from Japan, and most leave the hotel early in the morning and return by 8pm, so shortening the curfew will not affect the hotel much.

A staff member at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Bangkok, who asked not to be named, said the curfew has only forced a few operational adjustments at the store despite having to close during the no-go period.

“Instead of attending to customers, the night shift will spend most of their time arranging items in the store,’’ the staff member said.
The manager does not allow her to go home alone when her shift ends at 9.30pm. Instead, she spends the night at a friend’s place and goes home in the morning.

 

[yinyang]

Re-visited Hua Hin last week, stayed at charming boutique style resort Baan Talay Dao. Only a 5-10 mins drive to city.. yet on lovely beach front

http://www.baantalaydao.com/index.html



Brochure look at few chalets


Beach view

 

[yinyang]

sinful breakfast smack at beach front



Meal later


This lady doing some clams on beach. Hard work for bht80 per kg to sell to restaurants. She tells us this is at here own leisure

 

[Froggy]

Hey guys, lately been juicing a lot and so eating out less so not posting as much as before. Have to say juicing is one of the best decision I've ever made. Anyway last night, discovered a great Mexican restaurant in Bangkok. Really never expected there is even a good one here but this is really great.

La Monita Taqueria at Ploenchit




Obviously one has to start with these




Love the salsa, freshly made


Tomatillo also freshly made really delicious


Then there is the free for all salsa bar be careful some really hot


Monkey wings


Ensalada (salad)


Tacos


Fajitas (rib eye)

 

[tonychat]

ah joety, that Mexican restaurant is at the Sliom area.

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

speaking of mexican i love nachos. Tacos not bad either lots of veggies and tomatoes in the authentic mexican one compared to taco bell.

 

[Froggy]

ah joety, that Mexican restaurant is at the Sliom area.

No it's not near Novotel Ploenchit there's a map in here http://www.lamonita.com/La_Monita_Taqueria/Welcome.html

 

[tonychat]

No it's not near Novotel Ploenchit there's a map in here http://www.lamonita.com/La_Monita_Taqueria/Welcome.html

Oh ok.. I saw another one at silom which looks very similar.

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

Hey guys, lately been juicing a lot and so eating out less so not posting as much as before. Have to say juicing is one of the best decision I've ever made. Anyway last night, discovered a great Mexican restaurant in Bangkok. Really never expected there is even a good one here but this is really great.

La Monita Taqueria at Ploenchit



Obviously one has to start with these












Fajitas (rib eye)

This one looks like the korean hot plate.

 

[yinyang]

Slice of thai mango start of week. An insightful piece on mai pen rai attitude in LOS :p

Mai Pen Rai No longer
Bngkok POst Published: 1/06/2014 at 12:29 AM
Newspaper section: News

There is opportunity in crisis, the old adage tells us. Looking in the long term, something potentially wonderful may well come out of this decade-long political quagmire.

But of course, it will only come out if we push it out, rather than hold it back and shut it down.

Traditionally, change in Thailand occurred up top, while the citizenry were none the wiser. The appetite for change trickled down to the middle class and student movements in the 1970s and early 1990s. But still it was very much Bangkok-orientated.

Today, the elites on both sides continue to play their games. That’s the reality of life. But the difference is everyone else wants change too — from students to the middle and working classes, from Bangkok to the provinces.

The mai pen rai cultural attitude is diminishing fast, as everyone and their grandma hits the streets to demand change.
Looking at the big picture, we all want the same change. But we differ on how, and on our priorities. We are too divided by colour-coded politics and antagonistic mindsets.

Take away the puppet masters and tribal politics. Strip it down to the core principles and we have one group chanting for electoral democracy, with the other shouting for democratic governance.

There is no more mai pen rai attitude towards Bangkok dominance, or towards rampant corruption. But the people squabble over which should be tackled first. More importantly, they allow the elites on both sides to hold democratic principles hostage.

This is what makes Thai politics frustrating. In other countries, they argue over ideologies. Fascism and socialism. Conservative and liberal. In Thailand, we argue about elections and governance. It’s a chicken and egg debate — one can’t be without the other.

For the elites and their minions, it’s about control of power and wealth. For those who like to dramatise matters, it’s fascism versus democracy. For the people on the streets, it gets a bit complicated.

If one walked among the red shirts, one would realise there are many factions good and bad, but a sizeable number who simply just want free elections. They want representation. They want their voice to matter. They want democracy.

If one walked among the flag shirts, one would realise there are also factions good and bad, but a sizeable number who simply just want good governance. They want clean politics. They want a transparent system. They want democracy.

This is the complication. Two groups so vehemently against each other wanting basically the same thing in the end. If we cannot appreciate the common goal and work towards it, then the country can never move forward.

There are those who bark "fascist" against one group. There are those who howl "buffalo" against the other. There are those adamant about painting their side as the moral superior of the other, and on using insulting labels to discredit them.

These are the people contributing to tearing this country apart to serve their own self-righteous sanctimony and blind hatred. Don’t let them.
The only way to build and move forward is to come together. The mai pen rai attitude may be on the retreat, but let another saying be on the increase, mee sathi, or have a brain.

There isn’t a magic cure. The clouds won’t suddenly part and bestow a miracle. We the people just need to open our eyes. It’s not up to Thaksin Shinawatra, Suthep Thaugsuban or Prayuth Chan-ocha. It is up to us.

We can start by recognising that the person standing across the street wearing a different colour shirt is not the enemy. Walk over, meet somewhere in the middle. It could lead to something wonderful.

There are those who will scream at you for crossing. They’ll hurl insults and damnation. Cars on both sides will try to run you over. It takes courage to walk across that street, rather than hiding behind tribal fences. Bravery is to have the balls to stand apart, rather than follow a mob. Freedom is individualism, not group-thinking.

We have had 10 years of political strife. We have hated and we have killed. We have been tearing this country apart. Today, we are back living under the rule of a military coup, going round in a circle as we have for the past 82 years.

The public must recognise the common goal, so we stop letting others play us for fools. It’s good that there is less of the mai pen rai attitude. But to move forward we need remind ourselves, mee sathi.

 

[Froggy]

Sunset Village Resort in Sattahip a little further o\from Pattaya



Lobby
[URL=http://s1065.photobucket.com/user/joetys/media/SBF%202/94F5332C-55F1-4239-8DD2-17E2C0F018B8.jpg.html]


























[/URL]

 

[Froggy]

A large proportion of Thais are known as Isaan they come North East of Thailand and speaks a derivative of the Laos language, have their own culture, music, food etc. They have a great influence in the traditional Thai culture too.

Isaan food can be found all over and the most popular are Somtam (papaya salad) and Gaiyang (grilled chicken). Crokmai serves the best and authentic Isaan food in Bangkok. I was doing dinner there last night. http://www.crokmaithailao.com/



Somtam Pu Ma - raw flower crab


Tom Saeb Kaduk-on - spicy thai herb soup with pork rib


Khao naew - sticky rice


Khai mot daen khai jaew - red ants eggs omelet


Gaiyang - grilled chicken


Duk-dae thod - Silk worm deep fried


Maeng sardin - cricket


Beef soup


Kob yang - grilled frogs

 

[Leongsam]

A large proportion of Thais are known as Isaan they come North East of Thailand and speaks a derivative of the Laos language, have their own culture, music, food etc. They have a great influence in the traditional Thai culture too.

Isaan food can be found all over and the most popular are Somtam (papaya salad) and Gaiyang (grilled chicken). Crokmai serves the best and authentic Isaan food in Bangkok. I was doing dinner there last night. http://www.crokmaithailao.com/

Somtam Pu Ma - raw flower crab


Tom Saeb Kaduk-on - spicy thai herb soup with pork rib


Khao naew - sticky rice


Khai mot daen khai jaew - red ants eggs omelet


Gaiyang - grilled chicken


Duk-dae thod - Silk worm deep fried


Maeng sardin - cricket


Beef soup


Kob yang - grilled frogs

You are an excellent photographer. You have a keen sense of composition as well as the necessary technical skills which many other lack.

Is it your hobby?

 

[Froggy]

You are an excellent photographer. You have a keen sense of composition as well as the necessary technical skills which many other lack.

Is it your hobby?

Nope boss not my hobby. Just having fun. My hobby is screws.

Two fun cameras I got recently are Sony's QX100 which I am having a lot of fun taking photos of people who did not expect me taking them but I really like its clarity when taking close ups. Most of the photos I took in my recent Hokkaido post are taken with this QX100



The other camera I got 2 weeks ago was the Panasonic TZ60, got this for 2 reasons - 30x zoom and wifi capability the above photos of Sunset Village were taken with this camera.



This is the first time I bought these two brands of cameras and I enjoy them very much, I have been using Canon all the time. I like the extra zoom of the TZ60 when I started using the Samsung Galaxy Camera which has a 20x zoom which I used it to take this photo a while ago -



For more serious stuff like two weeks holidays I'll use wife's EOS 7D.

 

[Leongsam]

Nope boss not my hobby. Just having fun.
For more serious stuff like two weeks holidays I'll use wife's EOS 7D.

For the sort of images that you take, any decent camera will do the trick as you are not shooting high speed sports events. You don't need a fancy DSLR.

However, you have the ability to compose the shot to include foreground interest. You also know how to make use of depth of field to bring the images to life. Many people use fancy gear but take snapshots. You know how to take real photographs with a simple camera.

 

[Froggy]

For the sort of images that you take, any decent camera will do the trick as you are not shooting high speed sports events. You don't need a fancy DSLR.

However, you have the ability to compose the shot to include foreground interest. You also know how to make use of depth of field to bring the images to life. Many people use fancy gear but take snapshots. You know how to take real photographs with a simple camera.

Very flattering boss, thank you. Need any roofing screws or sealant let me know, I'll send it down to you from Hamilton or Palmerston or Christchurch or Invercargill not a problem at all, ke ke ke ke

 

[Froggy]

Dinner at my favorite seafood restaurant in Bangkok

Black pepper crab (pu pik thai dam)




Steamed snow fish with hot fun at the side (pla hima neung si yew)


Somtam with minced catfish meat (somtam pla dok fu)


Wing bean salad (yam tua pu)


Stir fry pak wan (pak wan is literally sweet vegetables in Malay it is known as Sayur Cekur Manis


No this is not dinner but my other dog jaja

 

[yinyang]

Business confidence up, with junta backing mega infrastructure projects. And baht gained +1%.


Confidence up first time in 14 months
Published: 3/06/2014 at 01:17 PM. Bangkok Post

Online news: The Consumer Confidence Index in Thailand stood at 70.7 points, rising for the first time in 14 months, the Center of Economics & Business Forecasting of University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) stated on Tuesday.

Two motorcyclists ride past cosmetic advertisement signs in downtown Chiang Mai on May 19, 2014. Consumer confidence improved in May, boosted by the prospects of peace and stability, according to the UTCC. (AP Photo)

"The Consumer Confidence Index improved for the first time in 14 months as people were confident of political stability and economic recovery in the near future," said Sauwanee Thairungroj, the UTCC president.

The sub-indices on confidence in the overall economy stood at 60.0, job opportunities (64.2) and future incomes (87.1).

Mrs Sauwanee explained that consumers were confident of the economy and politics as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) took over the administration and paid farmers for pledged rice.

Besides, local retail oil prices dropped and the baht slightly depreciated, bolstering the confidence.

At present, negative factors are the National Economic and Social Development Board's revising of its Thai economic growth rate forecast downwards from 3-4% to 1.5-2.5% this year, a 0.9% export decline in April, low crop prices, consumers' concerns over the cost of living, goods prices and the global economy.

Related search: Consumer Confidence Index Thailand rising first time in 14 months, the Center of Economics & Business Forecasting of University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) stated on Tuesday.

 

[johnny333]

Joety what kind of income taxes are you paying for working in LOS

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

Nope boss not my hobby. Just having fun. My hobby is screws.

Two fun cameras I got recently are Sony's QX100 which I am having a lot of fun taking photos of people who did not expect me taking them but I really like its clarity when taking close ups. Most of the photos I took in my recent Hokkaido post are taken with this QX100

This is a fantastic camera other than the quality of the pictures you can secretly take pictures of people because it's not huge and you don't have to face the subject you are taking or hold it up to eye level like a traditional or cell phone cam.