Travel to Isaan to see Thailand as it should be. Simple life, genuine people and the most unspoiled area of Thailand. Isaan encompasses these cities and more: Ubon Ratchathani, Sisaket, Mukdahan, Udonthani, Khon Kaen, Roi-Et, Yasothan.. I bring humorous stories, notes, and photos to Isaan Style as a teacher living in Isaan.
I apologise for the following pictures. They were taken on my iPhone and the quality is crap, much like the phone. The other night we were not sure what to do for dinner, when Noot suggested MK Restaurant. I don’t mind going here once in a blue moon, so we headed off on or about 400mtr journey to Big C, where MK is situated. Ja of course was being herself, if I was going to take pictures of her, she was going to give me an interesting subject. As you can see, all Thai blood in her with her posing. Mk describes itself as a mix of Thai and Chinese cuisine. A Thai suki hotpot that you will see in a minute if you have never been to one. Above is the standard assortment of vegetables. MK duck is popular and we usually order every time we go there. This night it was okay, not as good as I remembered it. The MK hotpot and the stock inside starting to boil. You can order many extra things for your hotpot and this is what Noot had ordered. Glass noodles. I think this is a deep fried tofu, it is alright but I like soft tofu much better. Processed meat balls. Seafood sticks or rolls. More processed meat but in triangles. Noot’s favourite seafood by far is squid. I have never had her try cuttlefish which I say is far better than squid. And the first time she ever tried octopus she was amazed at how good it was. I was flicking through the menu and come across some braised beef. This was Hong Kong Braised Beef and was bloody delicious. When the stock boils you simply place in the meat and hardier vegetables. Put the lid back on and bring back to boil. Let boil for a few minutes and then add the rest of the vegetables. Close the lid again and bring to boil again and then you are right to eat. There are dipping sauces to add and all in all not a bad meal.
It is very popular with Thais, most nights the MK Restaurant here at Big C is full with families, I don’t often see younger groups of kids they stick to the cheaper BBQ’s scattered about the place.
So if you have never tried MK, give it a go as it might be your cup of tea.
Sexual assaults disgust me; of late they seem to be more prevalent. The perpetrators of these crimes are the lowest of the low scumbags.
Below are just three cases in the paper from Victoria Australia the last few days. It is so sad that we have to share our air with such people.
A man put a 12 yo old girl through an hour long sexual assault while she was protecting her 8yo friend.
Did this happen at a house? A crowded shopping centre? A park? No, this happened at a crowded local pool.
The mother of the 8yo had gone to get some lunch for them; the two girls were approached by the attacker and he began talking to them. He started talking dirty and the 12yo acted.
She got between her 8yo old friend and the man. The girls changed pools a few times and the man followed. The girl was assaulted at least five times. The mother returned and the girls told her what happened.
She approached staff of the pool and they tried to detain the man but he fled.
24 year old Christopher Vale went to a 99 year old grandmother’s house where he tricked his way into her house.
He put his hands around her neck, walked her through the house and then threw her on her bed. He sexually assaulted her, tried to rape her, threatened and terrorised her over an extended period of time.
The grandmother was found standing in her back yard in the rain in just her underwear. She had activated he emergency pendant.
This poor lady is now a prisoner of her own home, scared to do anything now.
Vale is before Judge Ron Punshon, the court has been told:
Vale told a psychologist, “I still see that poor woman’s face.” And his lawyer claims, “Vale has shown remorse and is still a man of conscience and the sexual offending was situational.”
David Lakeland was 37yo in 1993 when he bashed and raped an 18yo girl, he was sentenced to 14 years jail with a minimum of 11 years. He was released and took the new name of David Best.
In prison he refused to participate in the sexual offenders programme and was released in October 2006.
In September 2010 he entered the bedroom of a 17yo girl, held a knife to her face and raped and sexual abused her.
He is now at pre sentencing under Judge Sue Pullen and I can only stress that the only sentence acceptable is life with no parole.
Now, I do not know about you, but if that was my 12yo daughter, or my 99yo mother or grandmother, or my 17 or 18yo daughter I would be seeking the man’s hands, feet and head.
I would kill the person without a doubt, no bullshit. I would want to cut the fuc#ers hands off and eyes out and let the cu#t bleed to death.
Why people believe the death sentence is unjust and inhumane is beyond me. People who murder and rape to just name a few crimes do not deserve to live on this earth.
Even castration is not enough; these rapists when released can still commit sexual offences other ways.
Why should these people be given a second chance, their victims have to live with what happened to them for life. They have to carry it around until the day they die.
Sentence them to never be released, put them in the general population in prison and make sure that all prisoners know why they are in jail. Let natural selection take its course.
I am serious, I support the death sentence and not just for murder cases. I do not care how a person is executed, be it electric chair, lethal injection, firing squad, or even hanging.
I would do this job without remorse, I would have no guilty conscience putting these sorts of people to death.
Sorry, but this is how I genuinely feel.
What do you believe should be done with sexual offenders? Like to hear your thoughts.
The other afternoon Nong Ja awoke from her midday nap and was a little grumpy. It is starting to warm up here. It is getting humid and even with the fan on, you still sweat. It is very much like the weather in Cairns Australia during summer.
I remember doing long days in baking heat in Cairns, it was bloody hard at times. I was very fit back then but it still drained you. Thankfully in Thailand my work is not strenuous and also air-conditioning is much welcomed over the next few months.
I asked Ja if she would like to have a swim. To which she happily yelled “yes” and I could not be bothered going to a swimming pool so that meant the little paddling pool was brought out. Luckily I am full of air, and in no time it was blown up and ready to go. Nong Ja was waiting for the pool to fill up. The, him and that bloody camera again look! Finally enough water and the splashes, screaming and giggling began. Even though it is warm and humid at the moment, the water is very cool and refreshing. It is amazing how something so small and easy can make a little one so happy. Ja practicing her posing Thai style. After a long time, I finally convinced Ja that it was time to hop out as it had become a little cool, mainly because it became overcast and windy. It looked like it might rain soon.
And not long after we went inside and were having a nice warm bath the heavens did open up.
Tomorrow is ANZAC Day (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps), a day of remembrance for all soldiers who have given the ultimate sacrifice during service.
The day honours the brave men who went to fight far away from home at Gallipoli in Turkey. In school I did not learn enough about what the Australians did here, not until much later in life.
It honours the men who lost their lives at Hellfire Pass in Kanchanaburi here in Thailand, who were tortured and starved to death by the Japanese while building the Thai-Burma Railway. It honours those who gave all, their lives while doing their duty for Australia and New Zealand. At Anzac Cove I will watch the live coverage of the dawn service. I would love to travel there one day before my time is up on this earth and see this place first hand. Places like Villers-Bretonneux where over 1,200 Australians gave thier lives retaking this small town from the Germans in an overnight raid.
The president of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk spoke these words in 1934 to the first visitors of the Gallipoli battle fields. He was a hero from the First World War for Turkey. These words are inscribed in a monolith at the Ari Burnu Cemetery.
"Those heroes that shed their blood And lost their lives. You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side Here in this country of ours. You, the mothers, Who sent their sons from far away countries Wipe away your tears, Your sons are now lying in our bosom And are in peace After having lost their lives on this land they have Become our sons as well."
Hearing the haunting Last Post played, cuts the air like a knife, it is haunting and powerful.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young. Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted, They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them.
Many times the first four lines are omitted.
If you have never attended a dawn service, I cannot express to you how important it is to do this anywhere you can. I cannot explain the feeling, emotions that you experience in person at such a service.
Afterwards going to a local RSL (Returned Services League) and having a few rums or beers and illegal games of two up is a good way to remember.
The other night I felt like a good feed and couldn’t be bothered cooking, so I headed off to Spago. I have written about Spago a few times, first time back in October 2009 and again where we had Calzone pizza, lasagne and seafood spaghetti. It is owned by Franco who cooks genuine Italian cuisine using top quality ingredients.
Yes, I am mates with Franco, not see you every weekend for a beer mates but we do run into each other here and there and I go to his restaurant, but not often enough. The food at Spago has always been top notch; you will not get better anywhere in Thailand or abroad.
My beer and bruschetta waiting to be consumed. I have bruschetta every time I go to Spago. Franco brought out some shaved Italian salami with cracked pepper sprinkled over it, very very good. I wasn’t sure on a main meal, I couldn’t decide whether to have pasta, pizza or something else on the menu. Franco suggested this above. Italian sausages that came with homemade gnocchi. When he said gnocchi I was not so sure as I have never been a big fan of them, but Franco assured me his homemade gnocchi would be like none I have had before. He was right!
The gnocchi he makes himself, the gnocchi I had eaten before were at times doughy and chewy but Franco’s gnocchi was melt in your mouth. He explained it was because he uses 80% potato, where most places use if you are lucky 30 – 40% potato.
Anyway, the Italian sausage was excellent and the sauce accompanying the meal, bellissimo. But the meal wasn’t finished, when I arrived at Spago I saw this sitting on the counter cooling. I thought it was a quiche but Franco set me right and told me it was an apple pie. The apples he uses are tinned from France. Well Franco cut a few small pieces, one for him and I.
I was bloody full but I did manage to throw this down the gullet. Franco said it wasn’t good yet as hadn’t cooled enough, I thought it was bloody fantastic, but again I am no food critic.
It was a good way to spend a good few hours, eating excellent food, having a cold beer and a good chat with a mate.
If in Ubon Ratchathani visiting or living, drop by Spago as you will not be disappointed, I never have been.
The other night we decided to try out a chain store called Jeffer Steak. It opened at Sunee Grand Hotel a little while back. I had been there once with a mate, I didn’t even know it had opened across from Fuji. I apologise for the quality of the pictures as I used my iPhone which has been a disappointing purchase. I will be upgrading very soon to a Samsung Galaxy S2 when they are released here in Thailand. Noot had a watermelon ice shake, it was okay. Nong Ja being herself as usual. The garlic bread, again okay but nothing special. The onion rings arrived and were average. The potato gems came and two were cold, very cold in the middle. My cheese burger made it to the table; it was good for the price of 79 baht. I had the small rice instead of chips for Ja to eat. Nong Ja bit into one onion ring and spat it out and went back to the chips. Ja likes to lick the salt off of them, Thai people and salt!
Noot ordered grilled salmon with prawn cutlets, my meal came and I cut it in half and we had half each. We waited for Noot’s meal and then Ja wanted to go to the toilet so off her and Noot went.
They arrived back and there was still no meal, I called the girl over at the cashier counter and she then found our waitress who took the order. Noot said, “I ordered the salmon and it hasn’t come.”
The waitress said, “I came back and told you the salmon had run out.” Noot and I looked at each other with WTF looks, she did no thing. I had to pipe up and said to her that she didn’t.
She again tried to tell us she did, but I then said that she may have told someone else but not us. I asked her is she was calling us liars! Noot looked to the ground then.
In the end Noot ordered another meal I think a steak and seafood combination. Ja was getting restless so we went off on a tour of Sunee Mall and into the supermarket. I walked out with a bad full if crap but we wasted a good 30 minutes.
Jeffer Steak is what you expect from a chain store, quick meals that are okay but not gourmet. To be truthful for an extra 200 baht you can go and eat a really good meal in a nice restaurant.
Late last night here in Thailand a breaking news story from Australia was about a detention centre in Sydney that houses asylum seekers.
It started out with two men on a roof, they were then joined by another eleven, and on the ground about one hundred had gathered. There are four hundred people in detention there.
Now, you can call me a racist or whatever as I am going to be very critical in this blog, but I am sure that many other Australians feel the same. Picture: Bill Hearne Picture: Jane Dempster
These asylum seekers set fire to buildings, when the fire trucks arrived to put the fires out, they were forced back as the protestors on the roof threw roofing tiles at them.
Eventually riot police arrived and brought the situation under control with only a few protestors left on the roof. If you look at the above chart, you can see the boats carrying these asylum seekers has skyrocketed. Detention centres are full and Australia is struggling to find space for all these new arrivals.
The process of checking these people out who are claiming asylum is slow, and people should realise this. These people have to be checked out, all the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed.
These people are fleeing their shitty life from some shithole corrupt country. I do feel sorry for these people, I really do. I could not imagine living in fear of being shot, having a bomb dropped on you, being beaten to death and for women gang raped in many of the places they are fleeing just a few things they flee.
The thing is this. They arrive illegally, claim asylum and then have to be checked out.
They arrive in Australian waters and are picked up and taken to detention centres for processing. Do they really just expect they will get off the boat and accepted into Australian society with open arms? Do they believe they will be able to start a new life the next day, week or month?
Don’t they know that they could spend years in detention waiting as the backlog of previous asylum seekers are cleared! Do they think they will be housed amongst the general population in houses with a nice garden and lawn?
Australians are growing sick of the minority of these asylum seekers trashing detention centres, setting fire to mattresses, smashing windows and on it goes.
Do they think, us Australians will stand up and listen more if they do this? To me it just makes me detest them more. Makes me think and say horrible things. But again it is a small number in a large amount of people.
As I watched the news last night and seen these men throw tiles at fire-fighters, I was filled with hate. I wanted to shoot the bastards on the roof. I hoped the building they were standing on burned and they did too.
They had come to our country, seeking asylum. If this process takes one year, two years or five years. I am fucking sorry! But stiff shit!
The detention centres are not prisons; the people move about freely but of course they are fenced in. I am sure that after years people’s patience wears thin. And it would be mentally draining, for sure. But what do these people want?
Each person identified in this riot should be red stamped straight away and sent back to their country of origin. If they scream blue murder and then cry wolf on how they will be murdered on their return, they should have thought about this before burning buildings.
It is the kids I feel sorry for. The innocent kids that are in detention not understanding what the hell is going on. But what do we do? Take the kids away from the parents and put them in state care! Of course not, but they cannot be placed into the community either, they still need to be processed along with their parents.
The asylum seekers are better off than many Australians, they have a roof over their heads, and they have meals each day. There are many Australians that don’t have this!
Australia needs to execute; yes, kill any person convicted of people smuggling. I know the captains and crew of these boats are just small fish but if you start with them, just maybe they might think twice before taking a load of sardines across the Timor and Arfura Sea.
Indonesia has turned to shit, I used to go there every year to surf with mates but now the reports on it seem to get worse and worse.
Indonesia is strict on laws such as drugs, sex, and blasphemy but freely let the big fish run their smuggling operations out of the country. They do not even have a people smuggling law.
It should be the death sentence, the same they have for many drugs charges. Until Indonesia actually gets serious and stops these boats before leaving their shitty shores Australia will have these boats arrive regularly it seems.
Maybe the time has come where the asylum seekers live in lockdown, treated like prisoners. Lock them in their rooms most of the day with short periods of time for exercise and such. Maybe we are giving them too much freedom.
All I know is that I am personally sick of hearing the complaints, seeing the riots and destruction. You are not endearing me to you doing this.
I asked this question the other day after I blogged about a 15yo Thai girl in Thailand’s Got Talent. I mentioned I had seen one girl who could cover songs by Whitney Houston, Celine Dion and Mariah Carey just to name a few as good as the original artist, or better.
I stumbled upon this girl around late 2007, she floored me and I sat absolutely gobsmacked watching this 15yo girl at the time. When I mention her name to anyone I know, they have no idea who she is. A few Thai people know of her when I show them a picture or pronounce her name Thai style.
Can anyone guess who I am talking about?
Well a reader, one answered and was spot on! Yinzerk answered “Charice.” Charice Pempengco from the Philippines.
I have had so many people say to me, “who, never heard of her!”
This is the first video I saw of her, she was on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. I remember watching it at the time over and over again, thinking how good this girl was. She was only 15 and tiny, her English was weak but boy could she sing.
She sings the same song And I’m Telling You, that Nong First sung on Thailand’s Got Talent, you can click on this link and watch Jennifer Holliday, Jennifer Hudson and Nong First sing the same song.
I spent hours trying to find other videos, and she just blew me away. I watched the video from her appearance in South Korea on Star King. 9yo Charice
So who is Charice? An amazingly blessed girl with a god given talent. In 2007 she recorded some songs in Sweden, she then appeared on Star King, Ellen’s people watched this, they had her on the show.
Then in May of 2008 her biggest break came, she appeared on Oprah. The biggest show in America. She was on World’s Smartest Kids along with some other amazingly talented kids, I loved the piano player, he was a freak. Anyway, Charice stole people’s hearts there and then, especially Oprah’s. You can watch the video here.
Oprah said, “What a blow away moment!”
The first time on stage in America. She sang a medley of songs from the Bodyguard, there are few in the world who can sing Whitney Houston.
What was funny, at this concert Michael Buble said to Charice:
“I'm so glad I don't have to follow you because that would suck for me very badly, because no matter how good I am, I know that you'd kick my butt."
Josh Groban discovered by David Foster said this of Charice:
It’s just one of the… really one of the most beautiful voices I’ve heard in a very long time”
She returned to Oprah again in September 2008 more video here of this here, She sings a goose tingling rendition from her favourite Celine Dion, My Heart Will Go On, but what happens after is special when they cross the Celine and she speaks to Charice and then invites her to sing a duet at Madison Square Garden.
Her biggest hit across the world to date is called Pyramid. It did alright worldwide and was No 1 on the US dance charts.
Anyway, this is just a little on a girl who is still a kid at 18yo, I do hope she evolves with time and becomes a name people will remember for her own music and not cover songs of amazing artists.
Here in Thailand and also across the world as it has been reported in papers, about the 3 girls that danced topless on the last day of the Songkran Water Festival here in Thailand last Friday.
It happened in Silom, a main business and red-light area of Bangkok. It happened at the intersection of Naradhiwas and Silom intersection apparently, down the road from there is the infamous Patpong and a little comical just back down the road from Patpong is the Bangkok Christian Hospital.
So how could three girls cause such an outcry? The girls on the last day of Songkran had a topless dance off it seems. A girl climbed on top of a car and after being egged on by the thousands of revellers took her top off and danced erotically, then two other girls across from her took up the challenge doing likewise.
One thing I did notice in the video was the girls, and how young they looked. This was then confirmed after the girls were taken to police yesterday and their ages were 14, 15 and 16.
I first thought when I read the initial article that it would be some prostitutes, sorry Thailand doesn’t have them! Girls who work in the bars along Patpong or Soi Cowboy. But this pretty well went out my mind after viewing the video.
If the videos and pictures had never hit the world wide web, nothing would have been said or done, but they did and for some reason these three girls have brought utter shame and humiliation on Thailand. The Culture Ministry of Thailand, many of the people there are buffoons to me. In 2008 I criticised them when they announced the girl band Girly Berry as the Ambassadors of Songkran. I was scathing as the ministry wanted the popular band at the time to encourage young girls to dress appropriately for Songkran. This band of 4 girls dress, how do I put it… dress like a girl (tout) standing out the front of a bar in Patpong, they dance provocatively and to me were an absolutely stupid choice.
This is Girly Berry in 2007 well before they were chosen as Ambassadors. Maybe they have matured and moved on since then, I do hope their music has evolved.
Then I was happy to report how this had bit the ministry of culture on its arse, after the band took to the stage at Khoa San Road in hot pants and crop tops, the very thing the ministry doesn’t want.
Anyway, the culture ministry cried foul (this was before their ages were revealed) over these three girls dancing topless, one minister called for this:
"I demand that society come out and criticise them,"
"The girls should do Cultural work, such as have them read books about what Songkran is really about to young students.
“the people who played the music through their speakers that the girls danced to, have action taken against them.”
Police said:
“action against both the topless revellers and their cheering crowds.”
The district officer of Bangrak (the area where this happened) made an official complaint saying;
"It hurts the image of Thailand, in particular Silom, It distorts Songkran culture too."
A Family Network member said;
"If such things go on, foreign tourists will finally think that Songkran is just about the water fights. They will not see Songkran as a beautiful culture."
So they want to fine all the people who cheered these girls on, that would be hundreds and hundreds.
They want to fine the people who played the music.
This image hurts the image of Thailand! Please! What about the hundreds of bars that house prostitutes, the live sex shows, blow job bars, massages with happy endings, karaoke bars that have topless girl with rooms out the back, sweat shops and on and on we could go.
What about the murderous protests, the continuing deaths of innocent people in the south, the ridiculous road tolls, the blatant corruption and so on. Don’t these hurt Thailand?
Foreigners will think that Songkran is just a water fight! I would confidently say that 90% of them already do, that come here for it.
This all to me is bewildering as the culture ministry and other authorities cry foul, but they tolerate all the real seedy side of Thailand, the sale of paedophilia out in the open and by touts, the pretence that Thailand does not have prostitutes but only girls who agree to go with men and if they have sex and the man wants to pay them, this is fine.
Look, it is wrong that girls this young did this. I am sure they are so embarrassed now as their images have been broadcast across this country. I am sure they will be ridiculed by other teenagers for many days to come.
I hope their parents have kicked the girls in their arses until their nose bleeds, if my daughter had done this she would not be sitting down for a week, that is for sure.
If it is found they were drinking and drunk, then charge whoever supplied them with alcohol for sure.
There have been calls for the people who uploaded the videos to be charged with ‘computer crime acts’, again Thailand at its best.
The people who uploaded them didn’t know the ages of the girls at the time and they were removed when the outcry started. If you want to charge people with such things, what about the thousands of pornographic movies made here in Thailand.
Some ministers and parts of Thailand really needs to pull their heads out of the sand, this incident is just a tiny ripple in the water of a huge lake in terms of problems in Thailand.
There are many more large ripples like the political debacle, the border tiff, the southern crisis, the corruption and so on, that need to be looked out and flattened out first.
But the culture ministry has done something well, they ordered the removal of the above picture from their website. They said, “it may have encouraged young girls to go topless at Songkran.”
If you fell off your chair laughing, so did I. These depictions are seen in temples and throughout paintings of the history of Thailand.
