For 1625 USD...

Only in Bangkok I guess, never to be seen in Singapore newspapers.

Merry X’Mas my Friends

Ok… here goes… (Jingle Bells Tune)

Bayi* sing a song, Bayi* bo cheng kor.

Bayi* lum par tua tua kong, kwa liao see beh song.. Oui!

Ding dong ball, ding dong ball, ding dong all the way..

One big big, one small small, ding dong all the way… Aye!

Ding dong ball, ding dong ball, ding dong all the way..

One big big, one small small, kwa liao see beh song.. Oui! Oui!

* All reference to Bayi actually is in targeted reference to my dear friend Manoj… (aka Ah NEH!, Dark Prince, Bang Bang Brother Number 2… etc.. watever).

Miss u ladies (old hens) and guys.

Ohhhh Maaaiii Luuurrvv

While all the old retired folks in Singapore are now working at MacDonald’s or driving the Taxi, old folks here have plenty to occupy themselves with. In the food court, there was a stage. And one by one, old folks went up to sing in solo or in duets. I had only one word to summarize the experience. Reverberation. They sang very unworldly songs from what seems like 60 years ago. Slow, low and their vocals so reverberating. I swear I witnessed my cup of water rippled and my rice on the plate vibrating.


The audience, all of us from young to old, just having our normal lunch. And oddly a paramedic was opposite my table, in case the old clock upstage decided to stop clicking.


They not only sang, the lady in black front of stage was actually dancing, in mysterious wavy hand patterns. Strange… so darn strange, my pork ball stuck in my throat, refused to go down. These peculiar performances, happens several times a month in the food court I have my regular lunches. Their voices.. still ringing in my ears now. The pork ball, still somewhere in my throat.

Cross the Myanmar Border

Any Thai who holidays up north will normally cross the border into Myanmar. Goods priced as low as 30% that of Bangkok. DVDs so many, of good quality and superb packing. Bags of brands so many, grade A the Thais classified them. When going with girlfriends, just don’t let them know how much you have in your wallet. Sure to drop dead shopping, sure to dry up your money. As Thais they enter Myanmar for free, as foreigners we had to pay THB $500. As Americans with US dollars you pay only $10. US$10 is only THB $350. I should have had US dollars on me.


In the regions there abouts the two countries, exists spots of worlds without borders. I crossed them line a hundred times, no passport was needed for no one bothered.



The old gardener was lonely before we came, and as we approached in delight he elated. In a strange tongue he spoke and showed us much around he did. And proudly he pointed the direction to his village, a gathering of huts we could see. Nested in the distance greens, is his home within borderless worlds.

Where are the Real Hot Springs?

Seem like every hot spring in Thailand had been “commercialized”. I had for four years now tried to seek out a natural spot like I would imagine Yellowstone National Park. Only in disappointment I had the result.


Of the so many hot springs claimed in Thailand, none are left in their natural state. All of them seemed to have been piped up. And sometimes one wonders, maybe the pipes tanks and valves are part of a huge boiler system. I mean with fake Louis Vuitton and such a plenty here, one can not help but wonder if the Thais could also fake nature as a tourist attraction.

Route 118 Chiang Rai

And so having my holiday in Chiang Rai, the resort which I stayed was actually located some distance away from the city itself. Lesson learnt is that now I will recommend to anyone wishing to have a self drive holiday, do rent the car at the Airport. I had mine delivered to the resort and it cost me an extra THB $800 just for the delivery. Avis wanted to charged another THB $800 to collect the car but to which I refused. I drove to return the car at the airport instead.




Now, about route 118. One of the best roads I ever drove. In the rented Vios I drove, severely underpowered and not a car of my choice but budget constraints I had to adhere. However surprisingly, the car delivered burst of reasonable short torques at 3000rpm where I needed to negotiate the bends at speeds my mother would complain. I drove more then 600km in all exploring the area and had heaps of fun shifting between 3rd and 4th gears. Ascends and descends aplenty, long stretches were scarce. The corners tilted at slight angles, the rubber didn’t have to grip so tough. Fun driving, route 118 around Mae Suai. If only I had my dream car, an Evo that I could heel toe from dawn till dusk. In the light aluminum Vios I drove, swaying about round and round the bends. Like a sampan, for the very first time.

Suanthip Vana Resort, my Chang Rai Winter Holiday

In the land where the clouds were on the December ground, I was there.


Winner of three THAILAND TOURISM AWARDS, I just had to go and see for myself. Nestled in the mountains between two cites of northern Thailand (Chang Rai and Chang Mai), basking in the gentle December sun and engulfed in cold morning fog, my winter holiday up north.


Huts of nature made of wood, old style roofs in contrast to that of the ceramic tiles. Every morning, I wake to temperatures of fourteen degrees. I made my coffee and sipped on the patio. The misty blueness of the morning brightened with every tick of the clock. I witnessed the birth of day in the exquisite surroundings, the fresh greens revealing themselves as the sun rose hidden by the fog sea.


They have a large pool, to which I know I will be dipping in if not for winter. But as I was told, in summer the northern region is not a place for visit. And so I leave the pool in her peaceful state of mirrored water.


As we walked in the avenues in the shadows of trees, the mystic blanket of mistiness faded. It was ten in the morning when the clarity of the deep blue sky was revealed. A sight taken in full with eyes wide open, my soul in awe, my wish that this could be everyday.


Our huts blended in with the flora, our foot traversed the hilly steps that lead to her. As I descended on the bricked path, there was a sensation of peacefulness that cannot be put in words. You have to be there to know.


And so the first lunch was served on my first day, to which I see was grass, plants and vegetation. And the other daily meals in our package were as well made of food for the herbivorous. Then I wanted to strangle my gig, when she told me she signed us up for “Happy Heart Healthy Body” promotion, to which is for one to detox in body and soul. I am a meat eater, I longed for the fish and chips. By the end of the trip my conversation with people I hiccup “moooooooooooooo”. Genetically, I was turning into a cow. Chemically, I was undergoing photosynthesis when under the sun.


Nevertheless, I did enjoy the package. In the morning when we first woke, room service walked the long garden paths to bring us warm “rice water”. To cleanse our digestive system with the claimed therapeutic properties of the concoction. We were instructed to down that before we even brush our teeth, it had to be the first thing we did in the morning. Breakfast was husky brown rice with vegetables and the very freshly squeezed lemon juice. Fresh honey was served along for us to dose out the biting sourness. Lunch was mostly strange fusion of nuts and greens. The soup was strange and bitter. It was vegetable soup and I could see the chef did put heaps of effort to think out the recipe for which I could never imagine. Dinner I was happy, they served us fish every night among yet again more greens. My first detox experience, and I swear I felt the difference. Happy in my heart somehow, light in soul I was. After meals we don’t feel bloated and ailing of greasiness like on my other trips, where on reds and seafood fried and crispy feasted I must.


In the winter nights, warm flowing waters took an hour to fill the outdoor tub. To which after I soaked in tranquility with my head tilted back and gazed I did on all the starts so clear. The croaking frogs and the singing insects accompanied the lazy haze raising out from my shoulders. With the cold contrast of the surrounding warmed by the yellow lights, my world was then in a state of induced elation as I soaked when the deep night progresses.








Full photo sets here under Changrai Winter Dec 2008.

Trippin Beats in Darkness towards Thailand Balloon Festival

Ah, keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel
Keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel

The music I played loud (Roadhouse Blues), my adored Crystal Method CD I worship. 4am the darkness, up ahead the dense mountains. Exhilaration filled my soul, my lone world in my darkness only lit ahead by the beams. The trippin beats and loud decibels, the fuel in my blood. Crystal Method, music I reckon that will turn any road trip into a gratifying ride.

Let it roll, baby, roll
Let it roll, baby, roll

My Volvo hard I drove, the Swedish shogun heat seared through the cold heavy nineteen degrees air of the dark hilly roads. Her turbo spooling gently at times, rolling along the long roads. Gently her turbo spooled in anticipation of acceleration I command, and when I did, soul, metal, horsepower and beats became one. The turbo heard in increasing hertz, exhilaration of the drive. Pressed against my seat towards hundred and sixty, my world.


Reached my destination I did at 6am, Thailand 2008 Balloon festival. Unknown to many, but knowledge of this I have. The fields were cold, the wind was strong. The 6am conditions did not allowed for liftoff, and so all the participants waited. Farang a plenty, mostly the pilots of the basket to which they command.


Free rides for some who queued. One photographer I met told he came three days in a row to finally get a chance to board. Happy he was, like a bird. The air was cold, but the sun that rose slowly warmed the hay sprawled fields. The breeze still gave a chill however, the omnipresence of a Thai December. I loved it much.




One by one they lifted soon after, when the climatic conditions was a stable. As they rose in turns, the crowed applauded in appreciation. And in about an hour or so, they have all left but one for some reason. One that was of adventure, a single seat tied to the large inverted floating pear that was suppose to be.


When the balloons were gone, the crowd soon dispersed. Leaving the peddlers in bad business, such was life for them. The final day, 7th Dec 2008, it started on the 3rd.


No trip for me north is completed with meals in the steakhouse. A farm I drop by so often for her juicy best burger in my book. Fat… I will grow even fatter, the good cheap food in Thailand. It was my weekend, just another weekend. My drive, my ride from darkness to light, my car, myself, my world.

Photo sets here under Balloon Festival Dec 2008.

Thailand’s Papa Day

5th December. The official father’s day in Thailand every year. A Holiday, the King’s birthday. The poor soul was sick, he did not appear on TV yesterday. But the whole of Thailand united, and wished him well. Such was the spirit, the very recent mobs and political feelings shoved readily aside for this day.


In a gathering I was, when the candles were passed around right about 7.20 pm. The TV was turned on to show the celebration. We each held our lighted candles. And as the crowd sang on TV, so did those around me who gathered. An event united, an event so natured.


After a couple of songs and with the whole Kingdom letting off loud fireworks within this same united period, we left our candles to burn proudly high and bright as we talked, chatted and BBQed into the coolness of the winter night.

Will Santa come to Bangkok this year?

He better watch out,
He better not cry,
He better not come,
I'm telling him why,
PAD is staging in town.


Santa wearing big bright red, flying over the Suvanaphumi, will definitely be blown out of the sky with RPG. Rudolph better have afterburners.

Bangkok Now - Calm before the Storm?

It is not every so often that when I go to the shopping complex around my house that I get to park my car easily in the evening. Yesterday was just one such day. It was not crowded and there were plentiful parking for me. Within the complex, a sense of peace contrasting from the bustle of a normal work day. A calm, an eerie sense of clam.

Yesterday, some of the big companies had let their staff off early for the fear of a rumored impending coup. It is a day for people to go home and be with their families should there be a major event. But I bet the people let off went to join the mobs instead. And no, coup did not happen yesterday and no one is sure now what will come as speculation of every kind spreads.

With nothing to do but just to wait, businessmen hooked up for casual meet ups which were not in their initial tight work schedule. Some Singaporeans, stuck in Bangkok, with surplus time thus met up. The conversation from business jumped quickly to everything under the sun. Foreigners were indirectly benefiting the shopping scene as their packed short trip of clothing cycled out (aka: ran out of clean underwear). Some with nothing to do mentioned that they just hung at MBK, spend money, ate, idled and waited for news. Calling up Thai Airways on their emergency number as instructed on published mediums results in no avail. No one picked up. Some became the ball in a ping pong game, with their Singapore agents telling them to contact Thai agencies and the latter telling them to call back the former. With no idea then what to do, they went for massages, karaoke in the night and of course to experience the hidden pleasures of Bangkok. An indirect drive to the tourism industry in the midst of what should have been a tourism disaster. So true till their money ran out should the situation extend if indefinitely.

If mountain in my way, I move the mountain some say. And people returned to Bangkok via alternative exhaustive routes. Land in Phuket, bus to Bangkok. Transit in KL, then to Laos and bus into Bangkok. All kinds of surprising route were thought up. It is easy to get in but getting out is the tough part. Flights from Chang Mai to Singapore all booked till 6th December. Train tickets to Malaysia all sold out. What other way thus to spend the time? Go for a holiday some had planned. A weekend driving to Kanchanaburi, a day or two at Pattaya, but as kiasus and kiasees some will be and rather not venture for the uncertainty of danger they think. So they just wait, and waited and will wait further till the situation irons out. But will it soon?

A round of coup, some domestic airport forced closures and the countless protests I had seen. For the first time I will say, this one is different. This one is major. Thais had the TRT, and then the PPP and of course now the PAD. Even the ARMY and whatsoever ABC could not unify the country like we have the PAP. I take my hat off for the PAP thus, which one word shrinks the balls of all. PAP, one direction, many angry and yet what can we do? We better not do. All we can is but to adjust our mind to the tune of PAP (in other words: kee-kar-lumpar-dua-suay-liap umm-kar-kong-chu-lai). Chaos chaos, never so peace. But in chaos comes a balance, or a balance will it not?

Red & Yellow Bangkok War

Airport closed, people can’t get in nor out of Bangkok. My Singapore vendor will be stuck for a while thus, unable to go back today. Surprisingly the news & TV shows still that of football and other entertainment with only occasional focus on the airport closure and protesters’ activities. Red throws stones and slingshots at anything that wears yellow. Yellow with more firepower opens gun fire at red. Innocent passerbies wearing the wrong color are in for a treat.


Then this guy how wah?

Recycle = Money

Recycle brought to an extreme extend. Poor folks of the countryside have removed some supporting screws and nuts. They sell them at the metal works, the money they get then feed their thirst for alcohol. News had some months ago reported of high voltage towers collapsing in the countryside as their supporting bits and pieces gone missing. This is how it is in Thai cases of extreme survival skills. I happened to see this which looks like a failed attempt to remove a heavy nut.

Condom Man

Oh yeah mister condom so mighty big and blue. I will hug you.

Tom Kah Soup

As tourist we go Thai restaurant, and we stereotypingly always order Tom Yam Soup. Next time, try to order Tom Kah Soup. My favorite so far is Tom Kah Kung (Prawns in spicy Thai coconut soup). But be warned, it seems like a difficult dish, for most restaurants I went does not make a good dish of this. Barn Lai at Ekamai have good ones. Some obscure restaurants in the harbors of Laem Chabang make good ones too. Trail and error, discover for yourself the other tastes of Thailand.

Sometimes I hate my Rabbit

And so I wake in the morning and I step outside
And I take a deep breath
And I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs
The wabbit peed on my feet!!!!!


Just when I was about to sip my coffee on the balcony he did it again, and he ran very fast back into my room and hide. I have been trying to explain to him, I am not lamppost. Lamppost is thin and tall. I am not that thin and not that tall. Idiot.

Rayong Clams, Big and Yummy

No, I was not on holiday again. Just a casual lunch we don’t know where to eat. Along the coast of Rayong we drove, the thousand shacks lined the road a plenty. We had lunch, a casual lunch. And next to the sea on the sands we sat. The repetitive sound of waves breaking, surprisingly just another working day in Thailand. In sharp contrast to eating in the concretes of Singapore, I say Yipee yay yeah.

Halt your Pacemaker

Strange aye a sign like this? Never see it before. Watch where you step in Bangkok if your life engine is that of the electronic. Step into these areas and it may stop and you could say goodbye Earth.

The Fifth Winter

It’s been a week of good cooling weather. The climate on some days end of year is that of Perth in later summer. The sun strong and yet gentle, the breeze lightly cool and dry. The sky after the rain is splendidly clear, the clouds and the blueness so distinctively identified. As I sipped my hot coffee on the balcony overlooking Bangkok just after the lazy sunrise, the overwhelming sense of blissfulness again hit me. It’s my fifth Bangkok winter here.

Some farangs had curious questions for me, asking when I will return back to Singapore. Ain’t Bangkok too chaotic and dangerous a place to live in they asked. Ain’t Singapore such a safe heaven to be in. And my reply would always be, that I have never in my life been so truly happy before. I love the chaos. I love the unpredictability. I love the vastness of this Kingdom, and the myriad variety of experiences. I am free, soaring in my dreams, a life out of the cage called Singapore. Yes, the uncaged heavy yellow bird I am.

I was at a Wall Street party recently (a English language teaching institute in Thailand), a party I reluctantly went to with gig. The music I liked they played, of Enigma and Gregorian in tune with Halloween. You could never hear such good beats in Thai pubs, for they have all already been drowned by the hip hop. The lyrics which I know the Thais don’t understand, but they just for no reason follow. In my up state of enchanted rhythms, something set in. Starting a new challenging life in Thailand is not all that a bed of roses. Be aware the roses have thorns. The age of loneliness will come.

One will know coming here alone means no more can-chat-anything sessions with pals, no one to truly understand cock jokes and no one to truly share a real laughter with in an English movie. One cannot change the culture it is, but one must change oneself to laugh in the conversations of Thai. Some lucky folks here have communities in which they gather. Enclosed in their own special group of expat culture sharing their common views, they laugh in their own flock merrily. I the Singaporean however, still till today a lone albatross out of place in the Andaman sea of Thai. Undiscovered maybe, but I blame it more on my unbalanced lifestyle not making an effort to contact. For I want to drive strong a career, for how much longer can we learn? Socializing I can wait maybe, my views we cycle once in this time space, we need to know as much as we can. A bad lifestyle I know, but I must finish walking the path I chosen. I miss my friends.

Seeking a career I found now, a difficult task for all expats. The Thais views us as expensive cost centers, invest in us they will normally not. The most prestigious Thai companies, in reliable proven expensive solutions they invest rather not. So what are us expats then to consider, when the idea of sound investment they doubt. I work exploited alongside my potential, to peak in my innovative skill I have not. And yet I have to carry on, and bear the third gear torque. I want to maximize myself, the time will come but when abouts? Pay sucks, but I am happy, that’s all that mattes now.

Thailand, where some men are prettier then women and where women have girlfriends prettier then the men’s. This Kingdom so strange and chaotic, and yet the plentiful mysteriously attractions so magnetic. Everyday there is something to discover, everyday a holiday to remember. I live my holiday, my name is Kings. Parental stories told when young, I happened to be named after the King of Thailand for reasons. I am back in Thailand now as such, a complete cycle I have come. I am home in Thailand now.

Why Thai Girls like Farang?

After numerous researches talking with Thai…. a report I have. Yet another interesting reasoning of why Thai girls will fall anytime for a farang (ang moh) man and readily have offspring with them lucky people any time of day.

Since childhood, the girl toys that mummy brings back home will always have the westernized white skin, the golden locks of hair and the blue green eyes so colorful and attractive. This image of “cute” has thus been imprinted into the Thai girls’ mind since early childhood. Every shopping arcade they go to, rows and rows of these dolls lined up enchantingly on the shelves. As they grow up, the impression solidifies subconsciously. And when they reach reproductive age, their biological clock ticks towards wanting a blue eyed child, not the dark Thai child.

Imagine a shopping aisle lined with dark brown baby figures, black hair and the un-characteristics black eyes. Imagine holding a black doll, a black Cabbage Patch Kid. Somehow it just ain’t going to work. Somehow this part of the departmental store will just be that little bit darker. Marketing of such products just ain’t gonna work in this international age. Instead of getting children wanting the dark dolls, you get strange people buying them for voodoo purposes. Mattel figurines which are named after “crab” “cat” “fish” “sugar cane”, Ken made dark skinned and renamed as Somchai, gosh… think about it.

So, who is to blame then? Do we still assume Thai girls like farang just because of money? Maybe we should just blame some on Barbie and Ken then.