Unbiased and Sometimes Random Info on Thailand

Name: Peperoni (Narai Hotel Silom)
Cuisine: Italian-contemporary
Location: Narai Hotel, Silom, Bangkok
Contact: +662 237 0100
My Rating: 9/10

My Thoughts:

This is hands down one of the best values on Italian restaurants in central Bangkok.  The food is absolutely awesome and you can see it being prepared in the totally open kitchen area.  This restaurant is located on the ground floor of the Narai Hotel (tell a taxi drive, Na-Lai, Si-lome) and the ambiance is contemporary and cheery.  The staff is attentive and while sometimes the food takes a couple minutes longer than I’d like, the range of flavors available easily make up for it.

They make many types of pizzas with their own touch (for instance, the pepperoni pizza has some red peppers sprinkled on top).  They have perhaps the meanest seared Ahi-tuna salad with balsamic dressing (pepper crusted) I’ve ever had.  This is not only uber-healthy it also doesnt break the bank for a great lunchtime, under 300bht for the salad.

Peperoni has pure gastronomic bliss, cover to cover in its menu.  It has things I’ve never even heard of before and when I went out on a limb and gave these ‘different’ dishes a try I was consistently amazed.  From their triangle, tasty deep fried bread, to the rustic pizzas, meat(liver) ravioli, baked tortellini Alfredo topped off with some chestnuts (waternuts,walnuts?) down to the tiramasu and espresso.   Magnificent!  One of my favorite places to eat in Bangkok, bar none.

The clientele is predominantly farang tourists, but I’ve seen a good deal of local Thais there as well.  Trust me, this place is all that and then some.

*oh, and I don’t know why they spell Peperoni like that, it must be the proper Italian spelling, shrug.

Name: Dusit Princess Hotel
Location: Korat (Nakhon Ratchasima), Thailand;
1137 Suranarai Road
Naimuang District,
Amphur Muang,
Nakhon Ratchasima 30000

Contact: +66 (0) 4425 6629
Price Experienced: 1,500-1900 THB for a standard roomMy Rating: 8/10

My Thoughts:

Nakhon Ratchasima, also known as Korat (lazily pronounced Ko-lat) is the largest, if not, the second largest province/city in the Kingdom of Thailand.  But the infrastructure isn’t what you’d expect from a large city.  Even the selection of 1st world standard hotels are next to nothing.

We frequently drive from Bangkok up to Isan and somewhere in between is good ole Korat.  For some reason we make the supremely wise decision to drive during peak holiday and even traffic hours it seems and by the time we reach Korat, we’re beat and ready to take a hot shower, eat some good food and catch up on some rest.

Out of 10 or so trips we’ve only stayed at 2 hotels.  The other hotel being a total sh*thole that tried to pass itself off as a 4 star hotel.  It would be lucky to get 0.25 stars in the West.  Anyhow, the Dusit Princess is the only hotel that we have ever even seen near the main road/downtown Korat that looks like a proper hotel a westerner would expect.

Guess what?  It makes the grade.  This hotel, is just what we needed.  It is up to date, has high speed internet in all of the rooms, above average room service, a contemporary lobby and friendly staff who speak English surprisingly well.  I’ve seen the occasional westerner (farang) there with his Thai wife/girlfriend/friend on occasion but generally the guests seem to be of middle-upper class to upper class Thai families who roll 5+ deep.  Apparently the Dusit Princess in Korat is not only my own personal watering hole after all!  As well it shouldn’t.  Just because you’re in the middle of nowhere on the way to the dirt-path rice paddies doesn’t mean you have to arrive all pent up!

In conclusion if you’re not a National Geographic reality TV backpacker explorer type and you just don’t want to rock up to the farm village feeling beaten down ALREADY, then take that pit-stop in Korat and don’t take any chances, stay at the Dusit Princess and arrive relaxed for what’s sure to be an interesting visit to Isan.

This article won’t change your life, nor will it even make an impression on you, but I figured I’d jot down some information on what it takes to move across Thailand and how much you can expect to pay.

• Call for an estimate at least a week before you intend to depart.
• The price range, for the minimum (4 cubic meters I believe?) is currently around 20,00o baht.
• Make sure to inquire about the lead times necessary.  For example, if you plan to move in to your new house in the 20th, they may need to come do the packing a week before as if your load is small because they wait for other small loads to fill the truck before it gets sent off.  Plan for it.
• Ensure you have the local direct phone number of the moving company, just in case.
• Make sure to make it VERY clear what is fragile.  ie. your brand spanking new iMac!  They will box it up old-school with wood so nothing can hurt it… That is of course, if the hammer banging the nails in doesn’t rattle it to smithereens.
• Know that most moving ‘insurance’ only covers obvious breakage.  So the innards of your electronics are probably not covered.  I like to video my computers with the current Bangkok Post home page and video of them going into the box just in case there’s an issue.  I have a feeling I’d be out of luck regardless, but it makes me feel better

Our move went smooth.  The packers were swift yet careful and everything arrived in tact and on the promised time.  Two of the best moving companies in Thailand that I’d recommend;

Hong Kong Transpack

Asian Tigers Transpo

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Blood-Needed-Finnish-Accident-Vict-t333371.html

PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center is calling for urgent donations of the rare blood type A- for a Finnish national currently in ICU at Bangkok Hospital Phuket.

The Finn, 31, is breathing with the help of a respirator and requires an emergency leg operation after having an accident on January 22.

He is also suffering from an abdominal blood clot.

Negative blood types, extremely rare among Thais, are more common among people of Caucasian descent.

Anyone with type A- blood is encouraged to call the blood center (081-413 4004 or 076-251178) from 8:30am Wednesday to arrange a donation.

Well, this is the first official restaurant review by yours truly.  All the review writing tips books out there said a good review begins with telling the readers a little about your background so they can better understand things so here goes.

I’ve travelled around the world at least 10 times over, totally on pleasure, have lived for more than 1 year in New York, Orlando, San Diego and Irvine California, Rio De Janeiro Brazil, Bangkok and now Chiang Mai, Thailand.  I’m a former US Marine and I LOVE food.  I have no particular experience in the food industry nor do I intend to.  I simply like food that tastes GREAT (and I’m trying to yuppie it up and learn more about wine too!).

Name: California Wraps
Cuisine: Mexican, International
Location: Kad Farang Shopping Centre at Hang Dong, Chiang Mai
Contact: 053-432-413
My Rating: 9/10

My Thoughts:

I must admit I’m cheating a bit here.  This is a restaurant that I already knew I loved the food and I decided it should be known to all.  I did not tell the owner about my intentions to publish a review until after I had my latest order in hand.

Pat runs the show over at California Wraps, a native of Bangkok who has been at the helm about 2 years now.  California Wraps is located about 13 kilometers from Chiang Mai city center down the 108 or Hang Dong road in a quaint and somewhat high end little shopping center called Kad Farang.

The menu had a bit of everything a westerner could want with emphasis on their Mexican food. At least it caught my Mexican food-loving eyes!  Every morning I order two huge breakfast burritos and they are exactly what you’d expect even if you were traveling through the American south!  The right amount of everything stimulates your taste buds and even the bacon inside is top-choice.  I’m a stickler when it comes to slimy, overly fatty bacon and the bacon inside their breakfast burritos definitely makes the grade!

Since I decided I was going to make my first review about California Wraps I knew I had to order more than the breakfast to get a better idea of the depth of this appetizing little place.  I had some ground beef tacos and a hot tamale that was recommended by an American lady eating there with her son.

The tacos were slightly smaller than I’d prefer at first sight but I soon forgot when I tasted how perfect the beef mix exploded with flavor in my mouth.  It seemed a perfect mix of the frying process and onions that did the trick and stuck in my mind.

I’m not much of a tamale fan but this was quite good as well.  The corn capsule of the tamale is inherently dryer than say an enchilada and I’m much more inclined for juicier Mexican food.   Therefore I don’t think it fair for me to review the tamale but I promise when I go back tomorrow I will definitely be trying the enchiladas and quesadillas and will update this post!

All in all this is a splendid restaurant with a lot of depth and definitely farang-learned cooking style that will not leave you wondering why you sought out western food in Asia!

The following are some pictures that I took on my last visit to Surin, Thailand.  This is in the northeast area of Thailand more commonly known as Isan.  Isan is basically the heart and soul of Thailand.  It’s main industry is farming of grains, namely rice which is a staple of Asian food.

In these pristine rice paddies I found total, absolute solace and relaxation.  It’s a far cry from the hustle and bustle of the big city, Bangkok where I lived for many years.  Out in the rice paddies of Isaan (alternative spelling and one that I had originally thought was proper but good ole Wikipedia tells me otherwise), all I heard was birds, crickets and frogs.  I gazed upon the paddies that seemed to go on forever and even when a random farmer traversing his paddy caught my eye it was as if they part of the whole heavenly scene before me.

Alas, it was time to start up my motorbike and sputter back to the village where the elders were waiting for some ceremonious activities for our family. (yep, they have village elders who bless you with little strings they tie around your wrists for good luck and such and yes, a walk through the paddies would have been much more pure but I simply couldn’t bear to walk that far in the heat.  Ok, fine, I was lazy.  But in my defense I wanted to get to the promised land of docility post haste!)

Below are the thumbnail previews that are web optimized.

If you click on them you will get the full sized, 1920×1200 resolution images.  They’re almost 6mb big and will look good on even the largest monitors!

If you liked these photos as much as I did, pass them around to your friends.  It’s always good to be at work with a desktop that ‘takes you away’ I say

Here’s a snap from my phone of the infamous Krisdadoi Chiang Mai gardens. There’s a 70bht entrance fee (at least for farangs) but worth it. Beautifully manicured gardens and even a little waterfall, a restaurant and some resort villas.  The gardens are pristine but I’ve read mixed reviews of the hotels guests with the main complaints being the lack of English spoken by employees and the 30 minute distance from central Chiang Mai.

I always thought this was the whole purpose of resorts high up in the northern Thailand mountains… Total solace..  If you’re not looking for absolute, natural beauty or a one-ness with nature then stay somewhere in the middle of the city, hello!

I just wanted to take the time to announce the soft-launch of a very promising new site dedicated to the advancement of jazz music in The Kingdom of Thailand, Chiang Mai in particular called none other than Jazz In Chiang Mai.  This site is ran by yours truly and is just another extension of my love for my adopted country, Thailand, the Land Of Smiles.

I endeavor to have prominent figures from the Chiang Mai jazz scene contribute their knowledge, views and opinions on the beautifully semi-unscripted music known as jazz.

I played in a school jazz band in school as a child but have not touched an instrument since then.  While I may change that some day I will be on the sidelines merely as a lover of the genre.  What I can do is help advance the genre here in Thailand by using my own personal instrument of expression, the keyboard and the internet.   I’m hoping with a combination of my web marketing skills and contributions from esteemed jazz musicians and some tender loving care that the Jazz In Chiang Mai site will achieve its goal of spreading the musical love throughout the Kingdom if not the world.

If you’ve lived in Thailand for any amount of time you know that Thai people in general have a deep belief in ghosts.  This may be an Asian thing in general, but I’m speaking here on first hand experience and that is with Thais.

I’ve been warned by villagers when visiting the rice paddies of Isan (northeastern Thailand) that I was crazy for going on a midnight ride to a sala in the middle of the paddies by myself.  At first I was told because the local boys are out looking for trouble and a farang walking around in the middle of nowhere by himself is glutton for punishment.  Makes sense but I don’t see any menacing looking folks around so I went anyway.

When I returned the villagers couldn’t believe it.  They asked if I saw any ghosts.  I told them, “Of course not!”.  They looked like they had just seen a ghost themselves at my nonchalant return from the fields.  They proceeded to tell me of all the ghosts that wander the rice fields at night and I’m lucky I didn’t run into any!  Hey, everyone has their beliefs so I just smiled and moved on to a new subject.

Another example.  Our previous apartment was in a very high end building with both very affluent Thais and foreigners residing there.

One day I went down through the lobby and saw the security guards and staff hanging a string that wrapped around the entire perimeter of the building.  When I inquired what it was all about I was told it was some ghost/spirit protection for the building.  Wow.  Very well then.

My most recent experience with the Thai fascination with ghosts was on a trip to Baan Tawai in Chiang Mai.  While my wife and I walked around shopping we noticed our SUV with the back hatch opened and the driver sitting there eating.  We walked over to grab some more water and my wife pointed out a spoonful of this guy’s rice on the floor by the tree.  She asked him what it was and he told her, very seriously, that it was for the ghosts so they leave him and the vehicle alone.  Again, wow.

I felt like I had let Tupac Shakur and B.I.G. down for not pouring some water or beer onto the ground for my “homies who couldn’t be here today”.

To wrap this up while it may seem silly to people like me, it’s part of their Thai-Asian culture and it’s something to be understood if not embraced by you.  Thailand is a wonderful place to visit and live and there’s always something about their culture to experience and learn.  Ask questions, ask why about everything and you’ll soon get a deeper glimpse into the real Thailand and its people.

While driving through the little villages of North-Eastern Thailand also known as Isan, we drove down a small dark road that was a shortcut to the main road.   While it wasn’t odd to see the Thai villagers wandering around the road carelessly, my eyes couldn’t help but notice these villagers weren’t dressed in the typical Isan style, or ‘chill out at home’ clothes as we’d call them back in the West.  But these girls were dressed to impress!  Wow!  They looked like they dropped from the sky from outside a Bangkok night club.

Low and behold as we drive pass we see they are terribly made-up ladyboys!!  Their make-up was far worse than even I could have pulled off (eh hem, if I were so inclined, of course)!  All I could do was laugh, smile and shake my head.  You just can’t NOT see katoeys in Thailand.  Even in the dark dirt roads of the secluded rice paddies there’s a good chance you’ll run into them!   We went back to get a photo for this post  and they were gone.  Apparently they’d already found some suitors or their boyfriends had already picked them up.  Either way it was quite entertaining to witness and it gave us something to talk about during the long, arduous drive back to Krung Thep a.k.a. Bangkok, Thailand.