Songkran in Nakorn Phanom

I didn't plan to cross to Laos but finally did.
We got our bus tickets leaving Bangkok on April 13th the busiest time to travel of the year. Everybody is going home. All the TV channels report from every bus terminals, all train stations, in all the major cities showing pictures of thousands of people leaving Bangkok for their hometowns. We booked tickets of 12th and traveled on 13th (seats on 12th were fully booked as expected)Songkran at Thanon Khao Pun!
Tukta Karaoke. Where we had one beer and left. It was so sleazy but good fun!This guy was so wasted. We saw him on the way to lunch and he was still there when we came back

These guys (Dave and Joey) kept asking where they could find the place that they can try to eat dogs, yeah dogs. Some parts in Isaan they eat dogs, it's true. But I'm talking about only "some" villages. It's not like the whole region. And I feel weird if I had to ask people "Excuse me? where can I find some dogs? I mean.. to eat"

We stayed at "GRAND HOTEL" great location in Nakorn Phanom city. (380 Baht / night with super clean bathroom, air condition) Not too far from Indochine market which is 2 storeys building with first floor packed with shops selling electronic goods, clothes, knick knacks stuff.Our "GRAND" hotel. Very good room and very clean. Super friendly staff. Loved it
View of Tha Kaek, Laos. Looking from Thailand side.
The Naga.

Around the corner of Indochine Market. There's a little coffee shop with only one auntie doing everything from serving food, cooking food and brewing tea and coffee. She didn't seem to care if he have been waiting for ages for our coffee. But it's great view of Maekong River though. On the other side you can see beautiful mountains in Laos.
Hot coffee and Pa-tong-go. Coffee that Dave said it's horrible. It was fine to me

Songkran has started, Everybody turned hooligans for 3 days and then back to normal. Nakorn Phanom is such a nice town. I really liked it.

One night Joey and I walked along the river searching for something to eat. (Dave was at the hotel, enjoying his minor diarrhea) We saw BILLIONS of mayflies on the street coming out to the light. They just fly around. They live only one day and die out. Never have chance even to eat! What a life..
Joey with billions of mayflies.

Maekong river is soooo nice, so peaceful. Lot of yummy fish dishes served in restaurants there. Other food that is so good here is Vietnamese food. It used to be some Vietnamese people lived here while back before they moved back to Vietnam around 1960s.
Jackfruits, free from the restaurant we had lunch

We had great great Namnuang at the small house shop near our hotel. The shop has big sign "Namnuang" and has only a few tables.But customers keep coming. And by 2 Oclock in the afternoon. It's sold out already. Damn, talking about this, I'm drooling!
Nam Nuang! damn I would die for this
Spot the tourists, Joey was getting drunk.. LOL
"Jaew Hon" Isaan Hotpot at 49 Baht/person. All you can eat.
Phra That @ Nakorn Phanom
Rent a tube 20 Baht. Then float yourself to
Dave and Joey in mud fighting

Nakorn Phanom has beach too! Between Thailand and Laos. Where the river is very shallow. People go down there set up stalls for beers, snacks, beach umbrellas, chairs, tubes! It's VERY Thai. Dave and Joey throwing mud at each other and went to swim in the river. kept me wait on the shore. How sweet :-P

We stayed a few days in Nakorn Phanom and moved to Mukdahan (2 hours away) before crossing to Laos.

Ayutthaya ... ah-hah!!

I wanted to go to Ayutthaya for couple of days for a short break and to write a book (It's been too long!). Dave came along as he had no other plans planned anyway. Joey too (why not?) And Moritz. We took a mini van near Southern Bus Terminal (60 Baht) it takes an hour to get to Ayutthaya. Yay! this is Ayutthaya!
Our room (200 Baht each, it's a dorm room. But fits 4 people, perfect for 4 of us)
Joey is so excited for green (raw) mango with spicy dipping sauce :-)
Thong Yod, Thong Yip, Typical Thai sweets. All the auspicious ceremonies in Thailand must have some of these as symbols of wealth and prosperity (Thong in Thai means "gold") This sweet is originally from Portugal though. It's nothing but egg+water+sugar.
Dave finally getting his hair cut. Business look :-P
Our favorite fruit shake stall. Opposite train station.
Dinner first night at our guest house. This "Hor Mok Salmon" is just sooooo yummy!
Crossing the river using ferry. We rent our bicycles from the shop near train station for 30 baht/dayOn the way back from our cycling tour. Kids swimming in the canal (not drowning) :-P
On the way to night market for our dinner. This kid is a little son of the driver lady. He didn't look like he wanted to be photographed though. And Dave looks like a pervert .. LOL
Joey with frog dish :-) Fried with pepper and garlic
What a scam. In "Ngan Wat" (Temple Fair) usually there's a few places like this where you can win some prizes. This place has big sign written "20 Baht" (very BIG text) if you can shoot the packet on the tin can without hitting the can at all then you win a bottle of whisky. One tray contains 5 shots. We finished one tray (missed all of course) I paid 20 Baht. But you know what, it's 20 Baht per SHOT not per one tray! rahhhh!!! and she said "well, it's written on the sign board" . Yeah right.. 20 baht as long as elephant and "per shot" is as small as ant's poo. Damn you..Got info from Nut that best place to go for night out is "AY" I asked a TukTuk and he said it must be near "The Grand" ok, wherever it is. Take us there! That night there was an infamous porn star name Nong Natt appeared there too just for 10 minutes. Just to do some sexy dance (no taking clothes off, sorry boys!) Not sure how much she got paid.. but it's fairly easy job I must say.Dave's command. Sunderlands on huge screen in the club.
Way back to Bangkok. It was 17 Baht or something. By Train.. All the way to Bangkok!! 17 Baht!
Waiting for the rain to stop.Dave is trying to beat the kid in chess. The Kid wins :-P
We just loveeee Mookata. This is Dave with choices of dipping sauces :-)Plus some "funny" show on the stage :-P It wasn't THAT funny I swear.

More photos here

Dave, Joey, Moritz in Bangkok

Dave trying to stick the candle on the holder. Took him 2 days :-P

Joey is taking photo in Wat Pho. After this we went for half an hour massage.. ahhhh that was
Inside Wat Pho. At the time they were preparing the place for Songkran festival (Thai New Year) The colorful umbrellas were placed there along with Buddhas for 7 days (with different gestures) Dave asked why 7 days but there's 8 umbrellas. I told him that Wednesday.. in old way, we count as Wednesday NIGHTTIME and Wednesday DAYTIME. (Not sure about "real" reason. But it's a belief that people who were born on Wednesday night have kind of special senses) Dave didn't believe me. He thought I was making it up :-D We took the boat again :-) My favorite way to travel in Bangkok. This is Wat Arun
Rosary Church

Joey had to go to meet another friend. And Moritz didn't feel like watching movie (he said he can watch movie anywhere else) Well, fair enough. So I went to TCDC with Dave. Booked ourselves a mini theatre in there and watched Sophie Scholl movie (hmm maybe it's a good thing that Moritz didn't come. It would be so odd to watch German film in Thailand. Especially when he's German)
French Embassy in Bangkok , beautiful location on the river side!
Our dinner. At foodcourt in Emporium. That was.. 45 Baht I think
Ice cream, I couldn't resist...
We were walking back from Emporium to bus stop. Dave wanted to see Soi Cowboy. Whatever, to me I can walk there. Just don't wanna walk with any guys .. lol And it's just right next to my university. This is insane. So we walked. Just he could see it. I walked 2 km. ahead :-P Oh, we stopped for ladyboy show on Sukhumvit too (behind Irish pub) but it was way too expensive (something like.. 500 Baht) Forget it !

Anyway, after making a few stops along night market on Sukhumvit road (Tourist stuff, I don't know who buys those products? like sleazy shirts and such)

We were walking to bus stop then Dave spotted a board written "Live Cricket Australia VS. England tonight!" yeah, you guess.. yeah.. We watched til game finished. It was good fun though. I always wanted to know what's the rules and how to watch it. Some English man walked to Dave and said "We're doing pretty good huh?" Dave is so badddd.. he replied "Good?!? NO! we suck!" haha

Couchsurfing madness :-)

And everybody is leaving! boo hoooo~!
It's been so long since I updated my blog. Simple reason. I've been lazy (Ask Bert, he knows best)

So many things had happened, I've met so many great people, had great house parties with people around the globe, traveled (briefly) with happily crazy guys Dave and Joey from Leeds and Melbourne.

Koh Samed.
It's been 3 years in Thailand and James has never been to Koh Samed!! So we went there. Right after Karaoke night on Phetkasem road (had guest Willem from Singapore, who's later became my host) joined us for Karaoke too. Nobody got any sleep. We went straight to Koh Samed next morning at 7 AM! Got stoned following night. So wasted next day. You should see James trying to buy weed. He was so useless! LOL kiddding, James, kidding..you're da best!

Samed Photo Album here

Dave & Patric
Dave arrived on April 1st. He called me when I was still in bed so I was kinda mumbling with him on the phone. Just realized later that I had talked to someone this morning but wasn't sure if it was a dream or not.
Boat ride. Khon Thai 20 baht, Farang 40 Baht (for no reasons)
Wat in Bang Kruey area. Really beautiful! It's so hidden.
Free performance in Suan Saranrom (public park)

So I called back to mobile phone number he used. It was his host's number. Thanks Buddha that Dave called back. He managed to come to meet at Grand Palace. I was with Patric (from Paris) so I took both of them for super "Rua Hang yao" Long Tail Boat adventure along the Bangkok-noi canal! Chilling out in the park (they had free cultural shows too)

Dave & Anil, Loic's Birthday
At night after crazy boat ride. I texted Anil to see if he was up for some drinks as it was his first time Bangkok and I thought it would be nice for him to meet up with some people here. It's much better than getting stuck in a hotel room especially when his father decided to join him! ha ha :-) So he came. We went out for live bands at Brick Bar. Was great music!
Dave & Anil @ Brick Bar
The band
First time eating bugs :-) Khaosan Road

The International Home Cooking Night
It was crazy! we had done this before with small group. Starting with James' Filipino food, Then JB's French food, My Thai food and in the end we had pretty big gathering (didn't expect to have so many people joining. It was a bit chaotic but it turned out great!)
Rasmus brought bottle of booze from

Look who were there... Me, of course, P' Nammon and Chompu..the locals :-) James (Philippines) Regular at CS Bangkok :-) , JB, Loic (France) Who just went home couple of days ago, Chyka, Juana (Singapore) My lovely host and her friend, Pontus (Swedish)Who's living in Singapore, David (UK) Hilarious ironic bloke, Rasmus (Denmark) who was supposed to be my host :-)

Rocky and his sister Ruby (Pennsylvania, US) how nice they are! we were on TukTuk together on the way to shop for food, Manu (Italy) our lovely geek who loves puffing :-) ,Christian (Portugal) I was trying to ask him about "Foy Thong" that we Thais know for so long that it's originally from Portugal. Didn't get exact answer what it is but it's interesting though :-).. hmm who else.. Bram (Belgium) Chompu's guest at that time and he's a window cleaner. Unique profession!, and Thilo (Germany) A guy with dreads :-) Through Chompu, I didn't have chance to talk to him much though.

Photos from 2 nights of cooking! for more photos. You can view them here Album 7 and Album 8

David, Ruby and Rocky on TukTuk. On the way to supermarket
James, Pontus, JB, David, Manu . After dinnerLoic "freedom" night coz no gf around! hahap' Nammon with ThiloManu trying to communicate with my dogThere's only one brand in Singapore!?.. LOL Bram and Christian
Rasmus with sunburn ! haha
Dave and Rasmus @ Patpong night market (Ofcourse we didn't go just for the market) :-P

The Ancient City (Muang Boran)
Us CS fellows are crazy enough to go to Ancient City next day. Everybody didn't get enough sleep. JB was completely knocked out.

Dave didn't join coz he was expected to go to Phetchaboon with one of Bangkok CS members. (turned out that she didn't go. So Dave spent whole day in his guest house by himself. Nice!) So it was James, Me, Chompu, Bram, Juana, Chyka, Pontus and Manu went to Muang Boran. Took us 2 hours!

We rented bicycles for 50 baht . Foreigners get free bicycles since they already paid 300 Baht entry fee. While it was 100 Baht for Thais.. (yeah.. again) Juana, Chyka, James got in at Thai price (as long as they don't talk when we're buying tickets) We bought lunch for farang friends though ;-) to be fair.. hehe

Juana had accident a day before. She went on cycling tour with some dutch company in Bangkok. The Thai guide I met when I dropped them at China Town is so friendly. She's from Chiang Rai ! I asked her if she feels that Bangkok is too much for her (Chiang Rai is so quiet place in the mountains!) She said she got used to it already. Anyway! Juana fell off the pedestrian path! I was totally shocked when I got SMS from Chyka. But relieved when she told me that she was OK. Just needed to wash the dirt off. Awww...

All photos from Muang Boran here

At night we did Khaosan road tour again. It's a must try for them to eat some insects :-)Manu's Mr. Bob chilling out on juice glass @ Lumpini Night Bazaar :-)
Chyka is liking insects I can tell :-D hee hee~!"Come on Pontus, insects are good for your health, man"
Sooooo drunk @ Gulliver's more photos hereDave, Loic, Juana smoking Sheesha @ GazeboDave's food tripping (And I'm crazy enough to join him) at 3 AM! Dimsum at Chokdee Dimsum, next to MBK
Yummy~!

Exhausting Shopping @ Jatujak
Last day in Bangkok. You can guest what Singaporeans would love to do. Oh yes, SHOPPING! :-) ha ha ~! Dave came to my place first and then we had to meet up with them (Juana, Chyka, Pontus, James) at Jatujak. Followed with Moritz (From Saarbrücken, Germany) It was quite frustrating because Moritz is still using Indian number so he was roaming. I couldn't call him and he couldn't call me. SMS works though. We finally found him at coffee shop.
*phew*.....

Shopping was totally exhausting. After Jatujak I took them to Siam, MBK walk walk walk walk and walk.
Juana was trying to get green bo
Back from shopping everybody needed shower so badly. The Singaporeans went back to their room to freshen up before meeting them again for "Moo Kata" (BBQ) at riverside one.

And Dave, What is he doing? You bet.. checking football results at my place while waiting.Pontus met Joey (from Melbourne) on the bus from airport to downtown. So he called him if he wanted to join. Joey came with his big smile which he never stop using it :-) This is Joey sitting next to JuanaAnd where is Dave? again, he's checking football highlights on TV at the restaurant! I found him when I was going to toilet. What an addict :-)Walking from restaurant to Khaosan road.farewell party at Gazebo.Next morning Juana, Chyka and Pontus flew back to Singapore. Joey was still with us :-)
James can dance :-PGazebo, club side

More photos of Jatujak shopping, BBQ here

People! if you were in Bangkok at that time. Please know that you're so lucky! we're not arrange this kind of mad party all the time :-) Besides, the "same faces" of Bangkok are leaving. (Some have left already) As you might know. CS members in Bangkok are not very active.

Oh Well, such a great memory .. :-)