Good Food Isaan Thailand.

Well now that we have Nong Ja in what I call daycare but Thais call kindergarten. Thais have three levels of kindergarten but I consider three year olds to be in daycare.

I have absolutely no faith in the Thai education system as it is shit, an utter cluster fuck, as Clint Eastwood said in character as Gunnery Sergeant Highway in the excellent movie Heartbreak Ridge. If I was asked by the Ministry of Education my thoughts, that would be my response.

Now Nong Ja goes to daycare, this is solely for her to interact with other kids. I expect her to be taught absolutely bugger all. I have already rolled my eyes at some homework sent home for her. Like free written alphabet letters in a notebook with no guiding lines for tracing and so forth.

But for something like 8,000 Thai baht for 20 weeks, what do I expect. Not a lot, it is Thailand.

So now Noot has free time each day, time she didn’t have before and after I gave her a little revving up after a few weeks of her sitting around and being a lazy ass, she is getting back into a sort of routine.

This means a lot more home cooked meals, she has time to travel to the market (don’t know why she didn’t before but don’t question a Thai girl) and prepare dinner mid afternoon and then whack it all together and as the saying goes, “Bob’s your uncle.”

I love the fresh vegetables from the market, and Noot is a pretty good cook, not as good as me but she can hold her own.

Fresh papaya and carrot.

Chinese Kale, people hate it or love it. I have heard people say it tastes like soap. I love it.

For 10 baht you get a big bunch of Chinese kale.

To make my favourite dish using it, you add garlic and stir fry.

Add the stalks of the kale and some carrot.

Then you add the leaves and the most important ingredient being oyster sauce.

Some water and steam on high heat and things are nearly ready.

Chinese kale, carrot, garlic and oyster sauce.

A typical Thai soup, and pretty good. Most of these soups are bland but not ours, Noot always gets some flavor in ours.

This is a bamboo dish with pork. The fermented bamboo we get from the village and is the best as it isn’t bitter.

And I was really spoilt as Noot made me papaya salad Dum Thai, my favourite type of papaya salad. Not a bad meal at all.

Brunty

National Tests Thailand. Are They Too Hard?

The other day I was sitting in my office when an English teacher from primary 6 dropped in to see me. She has asked me to check some tests for her. Not tests she had compiled, but tests from NIETS (The National Institute of Educational Testing Service).

Each year students in primary 6 and also secondary 9 and 12 have to do these national tests in a range of subjects. And each year the results are atrocious.

If you look at the table above, the third column down are the results from the English test last year. 805,074 primary 6 students were eligible to sit the test. And in the first column you see what you think could only be impossible and wrong of 140,790 students getting a 0 score.

600,702 scored less than 30%, 13,374 scored between 70-80%, then 8,765 scored 80-90% and an amazing 7,038 scored 90-100%. The results are poor I agree but it isn’t just English.

The first row is Thai language. Only 2,023 students scored a 0. But 694,578 students scored less than 50%.

Let’s look at the other end for Thai language scores. 4,718 scored between 70-80%, then 593 scored 80-90% and an amazing 24 scored between 90-100%.

I have seen the test before and at times they have been ridiculously hard. The secondary tests the Thai English teachers cannot even complete and answer many of the questions.

If you look at the first question on the primary 6 test, it isn’t hard, is it?

I have taught in a privileged private school where many students (not all) get everything they want, from phones, games, and so on. To where I am now in a government school that has kids who comes from very poor to wealthy homes.

But one thing in common in any school is the huge range of ability of students. I have written before about having year 10 students, 16 year olds who cannot do the alphabet, little only read a basic sentence.

So it doesn’t matter how easy these tests are as many students, and I would put at around the 70% have a very limited vocabulary.

The above also seems so simple but for a student who cannot read, cannot fathom the use of comparisons.

The above the primary 6 teacher who has 30 years experience had this answer wrong. She had answered A1 but the answer was A2. So a teacher who can hold a pretty fluent conversation has difficulty answering correctly, what chances do the students have?

This “vocabulary” part of the test was untouched. The teacher didn’t try and for the majority of my primary 6 students, this could be in any language as they would not be able to read this and their vocabulary is not broad enough to cover these words. Like “speed limit” they would have no idea of this compound noun or any idea what it means. They cannot guess the meaning from the context.

Look I could go on and on but it is no point. Are the tests too hard? This primary 6 test shouldn’t be too hard, but I know the level of my students and a small percentage of my 350 students would do this with their eyes closed. Maybe 10 students I would say. One would pass the secondary 6 or year 12 exam, no problem. He can break a sentence into parts of speech and tell you what each word is and does. But he is very special.

What is the answer to improving the results as they are across the board in most subjects? It has to be the teaching, the administration and of course the curriculum.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) must have some of the thickest people with degrees, masters and doctorates in their ranks. There is a new government now and their one PC tablet for every student is absolute idiocy but I won’t go there now.

How the MOE don’t see that when the scores from national tests are not anywhere near a ballpark score of the school's scores and don’t do anything about this, it is plain and downright disgusting.

Schools tell teachers that all students must get a score of say 70%, some more and very few less. So when the MOE sees a school’s average score of say 80% for all students in English, how it doesn’t trigger a tiny little warning in their vacant brains is beyond me.

Anyway, enough on this as I am sick of the Thai education system and let it be what it is. I just make sure my kids are getting the best education I can give them.

Brunty

Pies, Pies and More Pies, Ubon Ratchathani Thailand.

I am going pie mad sorry. I have had 4 pies in two days, one each day for lunch and each night for dinner.

Last night was just with mashed spud, I was going to gravy up but decided for just good old dead horse but to be truthful the pies don’t need any sauce. I ate my lunchtime pies without anything and they were superb.

I will have to have a word with the owner of Peppers Bakery, John. I mean having a love heart on top of a pie is just not on. Pies are a blokes’ meal. And we don’t (I don’t) want a poofy wussy bloody heart on top of my dog’s eye.

This little Thai girl didn’t seem to mind. Nong Ja was onto my meal as soon as I walked out of the kitchen. Ja loves mashed potato and also pie. She likes a lot of different foreign food.

Noot will kill me for this picture. But Ja was happily perched on her leg and had a good fill of mashed spud and pie.

Tonight Ja tucked in again with me and now I am sitting and feeling as full as a boot.

Tomorrow night I am thinking pie, chips and runny eggs. And that will be while I watch Collingwood thrash Fremantle, is going to be a very good night.

Brunty

My Toe, Isaan Thailand.

Sorry to readers and I hope you were were not eating when you saw this picture.

I am suffering with an ingrown toenail and will be off to the doctor tomorrow to have it cut out. I am going to video it if I can and then Youtube it. Bet you cannot wait for that.

Last night I had the girls all digging away at it, I was biting onto a stick as the pain was about an 9.5 out of 10.

Just wanted to share my pain, I heard a problem shared is a problem halved.

Brunty

Peppers Bakery and Coffee Shop, Steak Pies are Back. Ubon Ratchathani Thailand

This was lunch today, a steak pie from Peppers Bakery and Coffee Shop here in Ubon Ratchathani Thailand. They are back on the menu again.

It weighed a tonne, and I am sorry as I was planning on taking a picture of the inside but once I opened it up and sampled it, it was gone in a few bites of my large mouth.

Large chunks of melt in your mouth steak, the old owner Andrew started this recipe and the new owner John has started it back up. Maybe this is not good for me.

If you live in Ubon or near and are in town drop in and try a real meat pie, or one of the many other delicious items on sale, like the bacon croissants (above), mini pies, cakes and on it goes as well as the set menu and ripper all day breakfast.

I will put the map to the shop up later as I do have it at home, but it is easy to find as it is opposite the entrance to the air force base.

Increase Fines in Thailand, Would it be a Deterrent.

This is how fines should be for idiots behind the wheel of a car.

A well known person for all the wrong reasons in Australia is facing up to four months in jail after allegedly being caught driving while suspended.

In Victoria, Australia with its new fine system the fines and punishments are good.

The charge for driving while suspended carries a fine of up to $4000 (120,000 Baht) or up to four months in prison for a first offence.

A second or subsequent offence carries a fine of up to $27,000 (620,000 Baht) or up to 24 months' imprisonment.

The chances of a gutless judge actually sentencing this person to jail is nil I would say, and I am sure the fine won’t really hurt him but hopefully he is caught a second time and then is locked up.

If only in Thailand fines were more like this, instead of 200 baht for no helmet, unlicensed, unregistered motorbike and so forth and made the fines like 10,000 baht, the morons you see riding and driving cars like buffoons may just improve, may but I doubt it.

Isaan drivers, especially in Ubon Ratchathani are nothing short of a fuc#ing atrocious, they seem to think they do not have to follow any law and just do as they please.

This doesn’t help as police do not enforce the road laws, only out in front of schools booking the same student for no helmet, license or registration for the 50th time.

I don’t understand how a person can ride/drive off without a helmet, license or registered vehicle in front of the police as this is illegal!

Many foreigners complain about the way Thais drive, it is their country and so forth but it also shows why their fatality rates are so high.

I am sure the Thais look at us foreigners and wonder why we drive as we do and why we shake our heads and actually toot our horns at times when some backwater retard decides to do whatever they like.

This is one thing that does amaze me, how you hardly ever hear a horn blown, I have seen some driving that would get people strung up by their short and curlies back in Australia, but here people just ignore it all but I am sure they must be saying under their breath, “you bloody idiot, where did you get your license? From a cereal box?”

When in reality they more than likely don’t have one, their license is 200 baht.

Brunty

Real Homemade Isaan Food Thailand

I returned home and found Noot’s mother was visiting and was outside euthanizing some frogs by whacking them on the head a few times and then skinning them and ripping their guts out. I missed these pictures sadly as I was a little slow changing.

But this is what is left after skinned and washed, delicious Isaan frogs.

I am not sure what these mushrooms are called, in Thai they are "เห็ดละโหว Het Lanaw” and are a very sweet and delicious mushroom.

This is Nong Ja’s younger uncle and these two together is more than a handful.

The frogs cooking away on the induction cooker.

These are brown eggs or known as Kai Palow, they are boiled with meat bits from memory and are in a sweet sauce with congealed blood. Absolutely mouthwatering I can tell you.

And the mushroom dish is made with fermented fish sauce and was also bloody beautiful.

And this is known as “gang som” and can be made with any meat or even seafood and is best described as a sweet and sour soup with bamboo, another favourite Isaan dish of mine.

And the frog soup was superb, I love this soup and I used to actually spit all the tiny bones out but when it was explained a long time ago that you just eat everything, it is much easier now and the bones are very soft. They must have nutritional value as well.

This was complimented with the staple Isaan sticky rice, I wish I had a cold beer in the fridge to wash it all down, but water had to do.

Real Isaan food at its best. I cannot believe that the girls are sitting outside now in the porch eating what the call Korean BBQ, Thai girls have hollow legs for sure.

Brunty

Kebabs T.C Kitchen Ubon Ratchathani Thailand

The other night I ventured to T.C Kitchen, this is the new restaurant / bar of the old owner of Njoy here in Ubon Ratchathani.

I usually get over to T.C Kitchen every Saturday night to catch up with a few expat locals, a few cold beers and a couple of kebabs.

Lance does an excellent kebab. Every Saturday night starting around 8pm, usually a little earlier you can indulge in a very good kebab.

And bloody cheap, 69 baht for one, or two for 100 baht. But I know a few people that will have three or even four.

So if you are in Ubon Ratchathani and feel like a cold beer and a chat, then drop on down to T.C Kitchen for a few hours.

Brunty

Dinner Time in Isaan Thailand

It has been a hard day again in Isaan Thailand. I was absolutely buggered early on this afternoon and had a two and a half hour kip. I have a heap of stuff to do and will be up until who knows what time, I will be lucky if I hit the sack before the sun comes up.

I was awoken for dinner and it was good to. I have often complained about my iPhone and the shit quality of pictures it takes, especially at night time as there is always a lot of noise in the pictures.

But in fact I am a lazy bastard and as I will show below if I bothered to boot up my Photoshop and do a few minutes of editing, your pictures improve dramatically and it takes no time.

Would I recommend people to go and buy Photoshop CS5, not unless you are going to use it properly! When I first bought Photoshop it was a toy, I wasted a bucket load of money for a toy I didn’t know how to use or really wanted to learn to use.

It was a long time later and upgrades that I decided to actually learn how to use it. What you can do to your keepsake pictures is amazing once you have learnt to use the ins and outs. It is daunting to be truthful and when I was trying to follow the tutorials, Adobe TV, videos or books I had downloaded, there were times I was ready to throw the computer through a wall.

I am still green though, but now when I want to put a picture I think is special away on an external hard drive (I have two actually) and print a copy, I take the time to edit them.

What I done below is maybe just over a minutes work. It takes longer to boot Photoshop into action than it does editing the pictures.

In this picture there is a lot of noise, especially if you look at the larger sizes.

But with a few clicks in channels and some small adjustments the noise is reduced and the picture looks a lot better. My dinner was pig’s ears and sticky rice with a spicy sweet and sour dipping sauce, really delicious.

This picture is still blurry but the original that I didn’t upload and cannot be bothered was unusable. Again with less than 2 minutes editing the picture is poor quality but useable. It was a fish soup.

The chicken curry was spot on. Two older Isaan ladies have a stall not far from home and make many varieties of dishes. Their bamboo and mushroom dishes although often spicy are bloody good.

And for dessert was durian. People either love or hate it. Most cannot get past the smell. I love really ripe durian. When I first uploaded and looked at the picture I think my words were, “that looks shit.”

But with less than two minutes of editing you have a much nicer looking picture. I shouldn’t be so lazy.

So that was my very delicious dinner tonight, some poor little pig that lots its ears.

Brunty

Rain, Rain and More Rain. Ubon Ratchathani Thailand.

It is the rainy season now in Thailand and most nights it rains but by morning it has stopped and at most a light drizzle with the occasional shower.

But last night it rained and rained, it did ease off this morning a little but has been pelting down for a good 2 hours solid and doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon.

Drainage is poor in Ubon Ratchathani, the roads flood easily even with a short 10 minute downpour, so the road is now covered in water and the moat that surrounds Thung Sri Muang Park is nearly overflowing.

If the moat floods the fish will be free and the fishermen come out collecting them. I will try and get pictures if they appear but eating the fish out of there is a risk if you ask me as the water is disgusting.



The traffic is driving down the centre of the road, the shallowest part o the 4 lanes. This flooding isn’t so bad yet, and places like out the front of Tesco Lotus on our main road here would be much worse and is a disgrace for the local government.

So I sit and listen to the rain falling and with no end in sight I could be swimming home a little later.

Brunty

Sunday Lunch Thai Style, Ubon Ratchathani Thailand.

One of the big bonuses of living in Isaan Thailand is the cheap food on offer. There are so many small restaurants that offer all sorts of food to nearly suit anyone’s culinary tastes.

Nearly every Sunday at lunchtime we try and head out to eat. Sometimes we head to one of the many nice restaurants we have here in Ubon, also the chain restaurants like Fuji or MK get thrown in here and there. Dining out at these is expensive to most, say around 1,000 baht or $30 Australian dollars with drinks. Yes, still cheap as chips, I agree.

But we often jump in the car and go for a drive and when we see a restaurant the looks good we stop and give it a try. I was taking many pictures and do hope to get them all edited and uploaded one day soon, but time has not been on my side.

Where I live around 150mtrs in a straight line are the small ramshackle restaurants you see all over the countryside of Thailand. Bamboo framing might have some shade cloth on it and old tin as a roof with a rough concrete floor. Some fold out tables and plastic chairs and you are in business.

The cutlery is so flimsy that the fork bends when you stab a bit of meat or vegetable. I really love these places and it isn’t often you get a meal that is uneatable. Most the times the food is very good.

One thing I got used to very quickly was telling the people to not add MSG to the dish (Mai Sia Phong Churot khrap). Here in Thailand MSG is added to everything, it looks like they are adding salt but it is MSG. One of the first things I learnt was to tell the people not to add it into my dishes. The debate is always interesting on this subject as some people say it isn’t as bad as it has been made out to be, but with all the other crap I indulge in I just keep it out.

If we are not at one of our regular restaurants that know we don’t want it added we just politely tell them when we order. It is never a problem if you don’t want it added in your dishes.

On Sunday Noot was feeling a little lazy as she is coming down with a flu I think. Nong Ja has had a hacking cough that she is starting to finally see the better side of. Seeing a little three year old spit out thick chunks of green phlegm is not nice over 5 days.

So we went to a regular little shop that is maybe 150mtrs away from our front door in a straight line. We call the lady grandma, as that is what all the people call her. She and her husband and two of her kids run the shop and we always get a good feed there.

My two girls looked happy, even though Ja was running at 65% and Noot at maybe 80%.

Here Noot is feeding Ja some of my dish, Noot’s was way too spicy but more on that later. Ja had not been eating much the last few days. Some toast with a little bit of butter was her favourite but solid food was off her radar.

Hard to believe that she was sick, right?



But Ja was more interested in her drink, some orange Fanta.

Noots dish was Phad Prik Yuak, a sweet pepper but is pretty spicy.

We shared a suki soup and this was good.

And I had mixed vegetables and pork.

The entire bill with the Fanta came to 105 Thai baht or around $3.30 Australian.

Brunty