A Singaporean's guide to living in Thailand

[Froggy]

I like Jokes.

Wow your photo damn nice

 

[spotter542]

Very cool night in Singapore

 

[yinyang]

Used to take in the revelry up north in Chiangmai, with parades through the old city quarter.
And no surprise, the balloons messing up the evening flights despite the ban. Psst... was told if you did krathoning with a lady acquaintance, this might send the wrong and unintended (romantic) signal

Loy Krathong Festival lights up the sky and waterways across the nation
national November 04, 2017 01:00

• 
  

By THE NATION

LOCATIONS SET as Loy Krathong Festival venues across the nation became lively yesterday with locals and foreign tourists enjoying the festivities.

Major provinces saw crowds watching parades of giant floats representing government and private agencies, beauty pageant contests, and stage performances, while many sent off Krathong floats onto rivers and ponds as an apologetic gesture to the Goddess of River.

In Bangkok, city police deputy chief Pol Maj-General Panurat Lakboon said police would provide security at 71 locations across the city as Bangkok celebrated Loy Krathong.

Officials in Thai traditional clothing bring the paraquin containing the Fai Phra Luek (royal flame) and Phra Prateep lanterns from His Majesty the King and all members of the royal family to the ceremonial stand within Sukhothai Historical Park yesterday to mark the official start of the Loy Krathong Festival.

Panurat also led officers to ensure that safety measures were in place at “Asiatique The Riverfront”, which expected the city’s largest festival turnout of about 30,000 people, followed by Chulalongkorn Pier with about 5,000 revellers and the area under the Rama 8 Bridge with another 4,000 revellers.

A foreign tourist takes a selfie with the “Phang Prateep” baked-clay candle display at the Three Kings’ Plaza on Thursday evening, as the Loy Krathong Festival is officially launched with an impressive performance of 300 traditional dancers.

Panurat instructed officers at all Bangkok precincts to watch out for youth street racers who might create disturbances during the festival, especially at known locations, including Kaset Nawamin, Bang Na-Trat, Chaeng Wattana, Kanchanapisek, and Rama IV roads.

Teachers and some 200 students of Podaeng Wittaya School in Kalasin’s Yang Talad district join a Loy Krathong Festival celebration yesterday as they place flower-filled floats onto a makeshift pond made of old sacks and tent canvas in the middle of the school’s football field. The school’s swimming pool isn’t yet repaired almost a month after a flood subsided after ravaging the area for months.

Meanwhile, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, General Surasak Karnjanarat, has urged all ministerial agencies to encourage people to use more environmentally-friendly materials for their floats in the festival. He also urged people to use smaller floats and to share floats to reduce the amount of garbage that city workers have to dispose of the next day.

One report said that out of the 929,329 Krathong floats collected in Bangkok after the festival in 2008, a total of 811,332 – or 87 per cent – were made of banana stalks/leaves or other natural materials and 117,997 (13 per cent) out of polystyrene foam. After authorities campaigned for more natural or environmentally-friendly materials, the number made of polystyrene dropped gradually until 2016.

A follow-up report showed that of 661,935 floats collected after the festival in Bangkok, 617,901 (93.7 per cent) were made of banana stalks/leaves or other natural materials and only 44,034 (6.7 per cent) from polystyrene

Down South, Songkhla’s Hat Yai district was buzzing with a large number of Malaysian and Singaporean tourists enjoying the celebrations. Festivities were held at two main venues – a celebration in nostalgic flare featuring food from four regions at the Bang Hak Pier Near Khlong U-tapao, and a celebration under a “Thai Temple Fair” theme at the Nakhon Hat Yai Municiplaity Park.

Up North, Chiang Mai City municipal mayor Thatsanai Boorabupakorn led officials to attend a rite yesterday morning to give various offerings to supernatural beings ahead of the grand celebration later at night.

Chaing Mai people – as well as those in the upper North – call the festival “Yee Peng” (full moon of Lanna lunar calendar’s second month), and decorate houses and temples with beautifully illuminated lanterns and light small baked-clay candles to worship the “Three Gems” of Buddhism.

People also launched floating lanterns into the night sky to get rid of misfortune – the activity that earlier prompted Chiang Mai Airport to reschedule and cancel some flights between yesterday and today as a safety measure. A large number of lanterns in the sky could be a danger to aviation.

Chiang Mai authorities’ have announced that fire lanterns can only be released during Yi Peng and Loy Krathong festivals between 7pm and 1am.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30330760

 

[Froggy]

Came back yesterday and some kind souls introduced and brought me to Bedok 85, first time in my life. What an experience,

The last time I've seen this type of bak chor mee was like 40 years ago I think where the mee-kia is not thin like now and the dry noodle has black soya sauce with simple light chili unlike today heavy with balacan chili sauce. Brings me back years this noodle

Friends had this soup mee-kia

Pork and kambing satay

Otah otah

BBQ Wings

One elite friend eat western food, chicken chop

Oluah

Pengkang stingray

Spread

What a great evening with these friends I've not had such local spread for a long long time.

 

[chonburifc]

Came back yesterday and some kind souls introduced and brought me to Bedok 85, first time in my life. What an experience,

The last time I've seen this type of bak chor mee was like 40 years ago I think where the mee-kia is not thin like now and the dry noodle has black soya sauce with simple light chili unlike today heavy with balacan chili sauce. Brings me back years this noodle

Friends had this soup mee-kia

Pork and kambing satay

Otah otah

BBQ Wings

One elite friend eat western food, chicken chop

Oluah

Pengkang stingray

Spread

What a great evening with these friends I've not had such local spread for a long long time.

Is this the famous Bedok North Avenue 4 HC bak chor mee (there are 2 stalls at the side of HC facing NTUC supermarket)?
Soup one very shiok. Must try. This type of noodle Pattaya got one shop have. must order the soup one. confirm finish noodle anf bak chor and soup.

 

[chonburifc]

Is this the famous Bedok North Avenue 4 HC bak chor mee (there are 2 stalls at the side of HC facing NTUC supermarket)?
Soup one very shiok. Must try. This type of broad yew mee noodle Pattaya got one shop have. must order the soup one. confirm finish noodle and bak chor and soup.

 

[chonburifc]

555 This one pattaya dont have. So near yet so far.

Just finished breakfast at Tanglin Halt vegetarian beehoon

SHIOK!

Is this the famous Bedok North Avenue 4 HC bak chor mee (there are 2 stalls at the side of HC facing NTUC supermarket)?
Soup one very shiok. Must try. This type of noodle Pattaya got one shop have. must order the soup one. confirm finish noodle anf bak chor and soup.

 

[pakchewcheng]

Keyboard all wet from my salivating over the delicious photos

 

[chonburifc]

Inside Rot Tu (รถตุ้) on the way to Ayuthaya. Tu means cabinet or big box. Exaxtly the same meaning as Teochew/Hokkien. Depart from Morchit 2. 60 baht/pax. Usually 13 pax per vehicle. Vehicle is 99.9% using Toyoya Commuter Van. Rot Tu is the main transport that most Thai used regularly. Quite bad reputation especially certain routes like Chonburi, Sattahip and Rayong where Rot Tu drivers drive very dangerously while trying to compete for picking up passengers.

Bangkok -:Ayuthaya Rot Tu drivers quite OK.



Rot Tus at Mor Chit 2 Bus terminals. Most Rot Tu will print the route on the vehicle. Some but very few will print English because the main market is locals. This terminal is very big and quite difficult to navigate. Luckily I can read Thais so moving around, and going to final destination not a problem.

 

[Froggy]

Is this the famous Bedok North Avenue 4 HC bak chor mee (there are 2 stalls at the side of HC facing NTUC supermarket)?

Yes that one. My first time there.

 

[chonburifc]

Yup. This place is a hidden gem for foodies My favorite midnight supper is the yong tau hoo at the HC.

Had late lunch at Tian Tian Curry Rice at block 116 Bukit Merah View. Have not been there for like 15 years.

The coffeshop

Inside the coffeeshop

The stall

Many dishes

So many curry they mix over the rice

$10 for these

Cabbage, soft and fragrant taste like paranakan style chap chye

Braised pork belly, tau-pok and egg

Rice covered with pork chop and chye-por omelette and then drowned by mixture of curries

 

[Froggy]

Yup. This place is a hidden gem for foodies My favorite midnight supper is the yong tau hoo at the HC.

Bukit Merah View hawker centre is closed now under major renovation think not gonna be open for another 2-3 months looks like

 

[yinyang]

 

[chonburifc]

Bukit Merah View hawker centre is closed now under major renovation think not gonna be open for another 2-3 months looks like

Seems that SG HC like to do renovations or upgrading or major cleaning. Last trip during April back for 3 days and downstairs HC closed for don't know what. Hope next trip in six months time don't close again.

 

[chonburifc]

Famous Ayuthaya ancient Chedis. Although history books said the Burmese burnt Ayuthaya to the ground, these monuments did survive until present day. Think all these are in UNESCO.



Wat Mahatat

Wat Mahatat

Very serene place.

Buddha

Was never charged a single babt for entering this tourist attraction. Just zhai zhai walk in.

 

[chonburifc]

Jim Joom จิ้มจุ่ม ( Thai traditional herbal steamboat). AKA Jaew Horn แจ่วฮ้อน in Issan and Pattaya. Me more used to calling Jaew Horn.

Thai craypot with vegetables and seafood. can be beef or pork or chicken or seafood or mix.

This dish best for such food

comes with different dipping sauces

 

[Semaj2357]

Seems that SG HC like to do renovations or upgrading or major cleaning. Last trip during April back for 3 days and downstairs HC closed for don't know what. Hope next trip in six months time don't close again.

also henderson and geylang serai fc's closed for major reno.

 

[yinyang]

Drone? No, it's a remote controlled tractor. Interesting bit on a simple farmer's innovation

Easing the burden on farmers
Bangkok electrician and school drop-out turns hand to developing remote-controlled tractor and hopes farming families such as his will benefit, write Nauvarat Suksamran and Phubes Faites

• Bangkok Post Published: 4/11/2017 at 04:00 AM

Farming rice is a back-breaking job with the physical burden weighing down on poor farming families who have few people to help. But all that could change with the invention of a remotely operated mobile tractor now put to the test in a small rice farm in Sukhothai.

A remote-control device in hand, Arthit Phengkit, a school drop-out who has no formal training in engineering, squats on the edge of his 50-rai rice field and manoeuvres a tractor 100 metres away.

It was a sight that turned heads and raised eyebrows. Local farmers were looking skyward for a toy plane they thought he was manipulating. Some were baffled to find, instead, that a tractor was moving on its own.

The remote-controlled tractor may hold one answer to the government's ambitious Thailand 4.0 strategy initiative, which sets the course for the country's transition to a value-based economy which homes in on the introduction of technology and innovation in the production sector.

A tractor is fitted with a receiver enabling it to be remotely controlled by farmers.

Thailand -- the world's top agriculture-producing country -- needs to harness research and development which will redefine its agricultural production.

As a man imbued with passion for electric engineering from an early age, Mr Arthit, 35, is an electrician at a shopping mall in Bangkok when he is not working at the family farm. He knows enough about electrical wiring and how to "mechanise" help.

Growing up in a rice farming family, he and his father have encountered a slew of problems on the farm, from crop prices which rise and fall at the mercy of global demand, to a shortage of farm hands as labour migration to cities takes its toll.

Mr Arthit modifies his motorcycles into vehicles for spraying fertiliser and pesticide in the fields. The conversion helps farmers do the spraying more quickly and makes the work less labourious. photos from Arthit Phengkit Facebook

Mr Arthit set out to ease the physically demanding work of ploughing his rice field, the first and most laborious step of farming.

Typically, family members or farm owners themselves must trudge the muddy fields to prepare the ground for planting rice seedlings. The hard work is made even more painstaking if the fields are large or when there are not many family members or hired hands around who can help out.

Mr Arthit has invented a mobile tractor which can be controlled from a distance to deliver the ploughing work with the least amount of sweat.

A native of tambon Koh Tao Liang in Si Samrong district, Mr Arthit said his family has made a living farming rice for several decades, in a country where farming is usually practised using traditional implements and tools.

Mr Arthit shows his knack for mechanical work as he assembles parts of a tractor and equips it with a remote-control panel.

Mr Arthit said he is all too familiar with the common phrase in Thai, characterising farmers, as "people who have their faces to the soil and back to the sky". It describes how farmers must bend over to plant the seedlings and harvest rice when the crops mature.

Rice farming is also a profession beset by low incomes and an uncertain future. "As a child, I helped my parents on our farm. I needed to find ways to survive during floods when the entire field was swallowed up by water," he said.

Mr Arthit said his family originally farmed on rented land. In some years when rice prices were depressed, they were forced to take out loans. Their finances were so dire that he and his brother had to leave school because the family couldn't afford the fees any more. Mr Arthit has a Prathom Suksa 6 (6th Grade) education.

After that, his parents managed to save and eventually found enough to buy a 50-rai piece of land which is now their only asset.

The hardship drove Mr Arthit to harness from the power of technology. He drew up a plan to create an automated tractor which could make life easier for his and other farming families.

Mr Arthit said the tractor can operate using a remote control up to 400 metres away. The cost of installing the system is around 25,000 baht, excluding the tractor. The price tag may be beyond the reach of many cash-strapped farmer households but the cost may be brought down in the future if more farmers embrace the technology and the remote-control equipment needed for the tractors can be mass-produced.

Mechanical problems detected during the current trial period are being addressed. Mr Arthit said he plans to patent the remote-controlled tractor, if it proves feasible.

Mr Arthit, who has a daughter from his previous marriage, can also run the system via a computer and mobile phone.

"Farmers want low-priced labour-saving machines to lift the burden off their shoulders," he said.

A potential hurdle is getting farmers, including the older generation, to accept the technology.

His so-called "smart tractor" is receiving favourable reviews from netizens and media outlets. Word went around and some farmers have contacted him via his Facebook page, asking for help in developing similar machines.

"The remote-control installation has a bit more fine-tuning to do before it is fully operational. But I won't stop at this invention. I plan to develop other machines and gadgets for farms," he said.

Looking back at his childhood, Mr Arthit admitted he used to feel ashamed not being academically successful and being seen working on the farm because most of his friends have a higher education.

"Every time a school bus passed our farm, I had to hide because it was embarrassing letting my friends see me toil the field," Mr Arthit said.

When he was old enough to leave home, he joined hordes of unskilled people heading for jobs in the factories. While working, he enrolled in non-formal education, registering for a long-distance learning course in electrical mechanics.

He later landed his job as an electrician in a large department store in Bangkok.

In his free time, he looks up innovations and gadgets on YouTube, which has collections of video clips of people sharing their creations and know-how in all fields of knowledge.

Mr Arthit said he is fond of electrical engineering. Since he was a child, he has loved taking electrical appliances apart and reassembling them. He also picks apart gadgets to see how they work.

On his off days, he returns to his hometown where he busies himself with inventing electrical devices.

"In the beginning, my parents didn't think I could put together a remote-controlled tractor. They didn't want me to pin much hope on it.

"My parents thought it would be better for me to work in Bangkok with a secure and stable income and rely on company welfare," Mr Arthit said.

Today his parents are convinced his efforts are paying off as they witness the automated tractor developed by their son ploughing the rice field.

"I always have confidence that I can do it. Looking back to the past when I tried farming for the first time, there were many obstacles but I managed to beat the odds," he said.

Mr Arthit said he was aware his idea might be too far ahead of its time for some farmers.

"The only way to prove them wrong is to turn what I visualise in my head into a practical device on the field," he said.

With positive feedback from his innovation, Mr Arthit has found himself at a crossroads. He is mulling over whether he should continue his city job or return to the rice fields and focus on carving a career out of producing more farm innovations.

 

[chonburifc]

Usually go shopping mall to escape the outside heat and enjoy the aircon. Today, outside temperature lower than shopping mall. Yup, it's warmer inside the shopping mall.

Ok with the cool weather but not the persistent non stop wind when riding motorsai.

 

[Froggy]