Thailand From A Different Perspective

This is what Thailand looks like when you dream.

Toy Thailand from joerg on Vimeo.

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A King's Best Friend

The other day Nuch brought home the King of Thailand's official New Year's Greeting card.  This is the first time I had ever seen one, and thought it a bit odd that instead of sitting with the Royal family, he's sitting with two dogs - wearing pink shirts. 

I know the King is close to his dog, Tong Daeng, who is sitting on his left-hand side, but still, it's an interesting message. 

Anyway, with a little research...

I found out it's a tradition.  Here's 2010.

2009

2008

2007

2006

Here's more on Tong Daeng, a King's best friend.

The Story of Tong Daeng, the Royal Dog

June 13, 2009 By thaizer

Along with other members of the Thai royal family, King Bhumibol Adulyadej has a number of pet dogs, but one pet in particular has a heart-warming story attached.

In 1998, a stray Bangkok dog was taken in by a medical centre in Bangkok and had a litter of puppies. After the Thai king visited the medical centre he adopted a dog from the litter. That dog was called ‘Tong Daeng’ (‘Copper’) and was soon to become a favourite of the Thai monarch and would go on to have her own litter of puppies which would become part of the royal household.

Tong Daeng is praised by the king for her loyalty, manners and intelligence and he once said, ‘Tong Daeng is a common dog who is uncommon’. When the king left hospital after a minor operation in 2002 he wore a t-shirt with the image of Tong Daeng and her puppies. This sparked a fashion craze in Thailand with the public buying up Tong Daeng t-shirts as soon as they went on sale. Similar scenes followed when the Thai king published his book, ‘The Story of Tong Daeng’ which became an instant best-seller in 2002. This was followed up with an animated version of the book in 2004 which became even more popular than the original version and numerous reprints were required to satisfy demand. The book itself stressed how Tong Daeng despite coming from a lowly background was still intelligent, respectful and well-behaved. The book struck a chord with many ordinary Thais, but some media analysts also interpreted a message aimed at certain politicians in Thailand.



Tong Daeng has also featured on a limited edition set of stamps and her own DVD. Profits from the Tong Daeng books and DVDs have gone to the king’s charities.

Thailand's Latest Fad

Although Hula Hoops have been in Thailand since they were invented, they have just recently become the latest exercise fad - with all the women's morning talk shows proclaiming their benefits. 

Not wanting to be left out, Nuch bought one the other day.   Here she is giving a demonstration.  To be fair, it's half-filled with water, making it extremely awkward.  I gave it a shot, as well, but didn't fare any better - and was not nearly as cute trying.



Factory New Year Party

Better late than never - here are some pictures of the New Year Party that my company sponsored for our Thai supplier's development team.

It was also one of the staff member's birthday.  Here are Nuch and I getting the honorary first piece of cake.

It's not of party without karaoke.  Here I am singing the same Thai song I sang last year and the same Thai song I've been singing once a year since 1995.

More party pics...

This is the bathroom.  I like how they identified the men's and women's bathroom.

Don't Ask Don't Tell

Here's a recent ad that's been running on the local Thai channels. 

Introducing - Nong Poy.



If you can't tell, the person in this advertisement was not born a woman. 

I don't know which is more amazing - the fact that Nong Poy would dupe 9 out of 10 guys into thinking he was a woman or that Thailand is open-minded enough to accept a transsexual as the spokesperson for a large mobile phone company.

Bonne Annee 2011

Last week over New Years Nuch had a flight to Paris.  Instead of letting me aimlessly wander the streets of Bangkok with my buddies for a few days, she invited me to come along.  Once again, it was a short trip, but we ended up having almost two full days in the city. 

Similar to our previous trip to Paris a couple years ago, we arrived early in the morning, took a short nap, and then headed to Notre Dame for lunch.

Here's Nuch on one of the bridges crossing the Seine to the Ile de la Cite.

Our first stop was Notre Dame because we knew how to get there, we knew there were some decent cafes and restaurants and it's a nice looking church.

This is after our late lunch and a couple of bottles of wine.  It was 32 degrees, but a beautiful night. 

Here are some random pictures as we made our way back to the hotel.

The only thing on our agenda, aside from eating good food and drinking cheap wine, was to visit the Louvre.  So, on the second day that was our first stop.

Here we are in front of the inverted pyramid, which according to Robert Langdon is a symbol of the sacred feminine.

When we got to the Louvre, the line to enter wrapped around and out of the entrance.  I'm not sure how long it would have taken to get inside - could have been 2 hours, could have been 30 minutes, but when you only have a short time in Paris and your ticket was essentially free, you don't wait in lines.  So, we left the Louvre and decided to take a walk up the Champs Elysees.

This is just outside the Louvre

You can't go to Paris without at least taking a picture of the Eiffel Tower.

While walking out of the Louvre, I got a phone call from work.  Ummm... by the way, I'm not in Thailand.

One of our goals was to have lunch at Leon's, famous for their mussels, on the far side of the Champs Elysees.  To get there we had to pass hundreds of cheese, sausage, and pastry stands that lined the street.   My one regret is that we didn't stop and take a bite from each.

Here we are at Leon's.  All they serve are mussels.  They are the Bubba Gumps of mussels.  Their menu has three pages of mussels served steamed, boiled, or fried with countless sauces and dips.

I had steamed mussels in a Roquefort cheese sauce.  If nothing else, this was worth 24 hours on a plane.

After Leon's, Nuch wanted some coffee and it had to be at Laduree.  Only one problem - the line to get into Laduree was out the door and around the corner.

We don't wait 30 minutes for the Mona Lisa, but for some reason we wait 2 hours outside in the cold for this....

a thimble-sized cup of coffee. 

For the record, I will drink the occasional cup of coffee, when it's put in front of me, but in my life, I have never paid for, much less waited in line for a cup of Joe.  But Nuch was happy, so that made me happy. 

As soon as we got back outside, my rage slowly subsided, and we headed up the street to the Arch de Triumph.  Once again, picture time.

Finally, the Champs Elysees in the City of Lights.

and that was it.  That's what you do with 48 hours in Paris with no real plan or agenda. 

Au revoir et Bonne Annee!!

Countdown A Mile Up

We left Paris on the afternoon of the 31st, which meant we would countdown the Thai New Year somewhere over Russia and the French New Year somewhere over Myanmar.  Being in the holiday spirit,

the In-flight Manager upgraded me to first class. 

So for the first time, I had a glimpse into the world of the "have-a-lots"

When you have a lot, you get 3 windows and an LCD touch pad that lets you do everything except fly the plane.

You also get enough leg room that you can stretch out and still have room for your travelling companion to sit across from you.  The screen is also big enough that even though you're sitting 8 ft away, it's still a quality viewing experience, and to top things off instead of little earplug headphones, you get earmuff-sized noise-cancelling headphones.

You also get a sliding door for privacy in case you're intent on joining a certain high-altitude association.

 

After this particular flight, I'm taking membership in this club off my 100 things to do list - not because it's been done, but because it has not been done, and if it wasn't done on this flight, then it's basically never going to happen.  Private cabin, wife on board, and two different New Year's Eves... opportunities lost can never be regained.

The have-a-lots also have coat closets.