Pak Thong Chai, Korat, Thailand, will begin it's seven day annual silk festival on 9 December. In addition to opportunities to buy locally made silk fabric and goods, there will be furniture and other craftwork and many other items on sale. One of the main attractions for me is always the displays of old silk and farming machinery and tools. Here's taste of the festival from a previous year.
This year, Top Cafe will provide a special food menu for visitors and beer by the jug and tower. Call in and enjoy the best food on offer in town in a quiet corner away from the main hustle and bustle.
This year, Top Cafe will provide a special food menu for visitors and beer by the jug and tower. Call in and enjoy the best food on offer in town in a quiet corner away from the main hustle and bustle.
The possibility of floods in Pak Thong Chai, Korat, has been raised again for this year, almost twelve months after the disastrous flood of 2010.The mobile warning system, a fire brigade pick up with a PA system used also to publicise meetings about election corruption, has changed it's message from 'Water will be released from the reservoirs but there's no need to worry unless it rains' to 'Water will be released from the reservoirs and you need to worry'.
We drove up to both of the reservoirs that feed water courses through the Pak Thong Chai to see for ourselves. Anyone who knows anything about Thailand will be aware that the accuracy of factual information is either flexible or unimportant. This is what we found.
Lam Phra Ploeng
The single, small controlled outlet is open this time and seems to be releasing as much water as it can. This image shows the force of water entering the canal that feeds farms in the area downstream.
In 2010, water was not released when farmers asked for it because it was thought that there would be a shortage of it towards the end of the rainy season. Then, after continuous rain in September, Lam Phra Ploeng overflowed and the sluices at Lam Sam Lai were opened in a panic move to save the dam. September 2011 has not been so wet as last year but it's not over yet. Time for the residents of Pak Thong Chai to review their disaster recovery plans, I think.
Update 13 October 2011:
It's reported that the water at Lam Phra Ploeng is now about half a metre above the lip of the first overflow channel. So there's now no human control over that dam. We now have to wait and see whether Lam Sam Lai is again opened to save it but flood Pak Thong Chai.
We drove up to both of the reservoirs that feed water courses through the Pak Thong Chai to see for ourselves. Anyone who knows anything about Thailand will be aware that the accuracy of factual information is either flexible or unimportant. This is what we found.
Lam Phra Ploeng
The single, small controlled outlet is open this time and seems to be releasing as much water as it can. This image shows the force of water entering the canal that feeds farms in the area downstream.
The next image shows the branch from the same outlet, feeding the hydro plant and the river.
The stony area to the right was wooded last year.
This single outlet was closed last year as water poured from the emergency overflow at a higher level.
Workers resting nearby told us that there is no danger of a flood unless the rains continue. The rainy season is not yet ended!
Compare the level of water at the emergency overflow in the new image below with the level at the same point last year after the floods started to subside.
Lam Sam Lai
The water level seems high but that's not surprising towards the end of the rainy season. The reservoirs need to store water now until March next year.
On the other hand, given the possibility of a flood if rains continue as they did in 2010, the amount of water being released from this small outlet, one of only two, seems rather puny.
The stony area to the right was wooded last year.
This single outlet was closed last year as water poured from the emergency overflow at a higher level.
Workers resting nearby told us that there is no danger of a flood unless the rains continue. The rainy season is not yet ended!
Compare the level of water at the emergency overflow in the new image below with the level at the same point last year after the floods started to subside.
Lam Sam Lai
The water level seems high but that's not surprising towards the end of the rainy season. The reservoirs need to store water now until March next year.
On the other hand, given the possibility of a flood if rains continue as they did in 2010, the amount of water being released from this small outlet, one of only two, seems rather puny.
In 2010, water was not released when farmers asked for it because it was thought that there would be a shortage of it towards the end of the rainy season. Then, after continuous rain in September, Lam Phra Ploeng overflowed and the sluices at Lam Sam Lai were opened in a panic move to save the dam. September 2011 has not been so wet as last year but it's not over yet. Time for the residents of Pak Thong Chai to review their disaster recovery plans, I think.
Update 13 October 2011:
It's reported that the water at Lam Phra Ploeng is now about half a metre above the lip of the first overflow channel. So there's now no human control over that dam. We now have to wait and see whether Lam Sam Lai is again opened to save it but flood Pak Thong Chai.
Koh Si Chang is a short ferry trip from Sri Racha, near Pattaya, and well worth a day of your time if you want some respite from traffic and bustle on the mainland
We boarded one of the several ferries at the Sri Racha pier and were on the island within one hour. The pier on Koh SI Chang has a long line of waiting tuk tuks and we hired a six seater for the day at a cost of B250.
Although the island is small, a day trip is enough for only a glimpse of what it offers. Inevitably, the first stop suggested by the driver was the Chinese temple. A walk up the steps or a ride in the small and unsafe looking funicular provides a view over the town.
We boarded one of the several ferries at the Sri Racha pier and were on the island within one hour. The pier on Koh SI Chang has a long line of waiting tuk tuks and we hired a six seater for the day at a cost of B250.
Although the island is small, a day trip is enough for only a glimpse of what it offers. Inevitably, the first stop suggested by the driver was the Chinese temple. A walk up the steps or a ride in the small and unsafe looking funicular provides a view over the town.
The temple has some interest but is as much a trap for tourists' cash as anything else with its several opportunities to but oil and incense. The Buddha cave is a little whacky for my taste.
But the dragon guardians are quite dramatic.
Although the town is pleasant enough to walk around, perhaps something like a Thai version of a Cornish fishing village, the best part of the day for me was lunch and relaxation on Tam Pang Beach. There was a good range of seafood there, better than on the mainland and with no unpleasant after effects. Koh Si Chang's coastline is not sandy except in this one spot so I imagine that weekdays are the best days on which to be sure of a seat under the canopy of umbrellas. We were one of only two groups on the beach.
Koh Si Chang is not blessed with many resorts, being a place for a day trip rather than an overnight stay. However, our tuk tuk did pass one or two resorts so a few strokes on an internet search engine should provide information for anyone planning to stay.
Baeng Saen, between Chonburi and Pattaya, is an attractive beach town popular at weekends and quiet during the week. Here are some of my impressions of the place that might help other visitors:
General
Bang Saen is a complete town with a mall, university and evening entertainment. The Beach Road is quiet with just a few hotels, restaurants and shops. Parking is easy.
Beach Area
The entire beach is tide washed, lined with umbrellas, tables and deck chairs and backed by a tree shaded promenade. Sea food stalls and wandering food sellers are plentiful. Our stomachs told us later to be careful of the seafood!
It's a pity that so much trash is trapped by the rocks in places and, apparently not removed but the main beach strip is clean.
Hotels
We stayed with friends during our short visit and so I have very information to offer. Breakfast one say was at S.S. Bangsaen Beach Hotel and we looked around the restaurant and lobby area. It was clean but starting to look rather dated and in need of some minor refurbishment. The buffet style breakfast was priced at B130 and disappointing. I'd like to meet the person who told Thailand's hotel owners that a Western style breakfast included packet sliced ham and half cooked fried eggs.
The Tide Resort is said to be very good and certainly looks it from the road.
Restaurants
Seafood is plentiful in Bang Saen, perhaps to at the cost of having little other choice. One can sit on the beach and have crab, squid and shrimp brought to you. Something didn't agree with us, though, so be careful. Across the road is Andy's Seafood Restaurant. That I would recommend for well cooked and nicely presented seafood.
Having been disappointed with breakfast at the S.S Bang Saen Hotel, we ventured a little further down the road the next morning and found Nuan's Corner. Now that I would recommend! The breakfast menu is extensive with full meals from Europe, Britain and the USA. Excellent! Full breakfast prices are from around B140-160 with lighter options at lower prices. There was no Thai food menu but a Thai breakfast was cooked on request. Excellent in all respects. The establishment also offers accommodation.
General
Bang Saen is a complete town with a mall, university and evening entertainment. The Beach Road is quiet with just a few hotels, restaurants and shops. Parking is easy.
Beach Area
The entire beach is tide washed, lined with umbrellas, tables and deck chairs and backed by a tree shaded promenade. Sea food stalls and wandering food sellers are plentiful. Our stomachs told us later to be careful of the seafood!
It's a pity that so much trash is trapped by the rocks in places and, apparently not removed but the main beach strip is clean.
Hotels
We stayed with friends during our short visit and so I have very information to offer. Breakfast one say was at S.S. Bangsaen Beach Hotel and we looked around the restaurant and lobby area. It was clean but starting to look rather dated and in need of some minor refurbishment. The buffet style breakfast was priced at B130 and disappointing. I'd like to meet the person who told Thailand's hotel owners that a Western style breakfast included packet sliced ham and half cooked fried eggs.
The Tide Resort is said to be very good and certainly looks it from the road.
Restaurants
Seafood is plentiful in Bang Saen, perhaps to at the cost of having little other choice. One can sit on the beach and have crab, squid and shrimp brought to you. Something didn't agree with us, though, so be careful. Across the road is Andy's Seafood Restaurant. That I would recommend for well cooked and nicely presented seafood.
Having been disappointed with breakfast at the S.S Bang Saen Hotel, we ventured a little further down the road the next morning and found Nuan's Corner. Now that I would recommend! The breakfast menu is extensive with full meals from Europe, Britain and the USA. Excellent! Full breakfast prices are from around B140-160 with lighter options at lower prices. There was no Thai food menu but a Thai breakfast was cooked on request. Excellent in all respects. The establishment also offers accommodation.
Top Cafe now has a traditional Italian style wood oven and is offering pizzas and bread. Pizzas are available to eat in or take away from Noon and the present menu includes:
Margherita
Hawaiian
Vegetable
Seafood
Salami.
Others will be added soon.
The oven is hand built and the pizza bread is hand made from the restaurant's own dough for each order.
Thanks are due to Paul Pitini and Giuliano for their invaluable advice hand help in creating this rather special addition to a great restaurant.
Update 10 October 2011:
Chicago style deep pan pizzas now on the menu!
Margherita
Hawaiian
Vegetable
Seafood
Salami.
Others will be added soon.
The oven is hand built and the pizza bread is hand made from the restaurant's own dough for each order.
Thanks are due to Paul Pitini and Giuliano for their invaluable advice hand help in creating this rather special addition to a great restaurant.
Update 10 October 2011:
Chicago style deep pan pizzas now on the menu!
Pak Thong Chai, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, now has a great restaurant serving quality ground coffees (hot and iced), smoothies, ice cream dishes, cold beer and other alcohol and an extensive range of Thai and Western food.
Top Cafe is in the quiet Soi Wattipapai close to the local Amphur building. It's styled to create a relaxed atmosphere and is already a favourite with local people and foreigners. The owner prides herself on offering top quality food at local prices. Pleasant surroundings but low priced menu items.
Top Cafe is also an outlet for Ma Sam Powthong Korat Noodles. Try them here before you buy packs to take home.
The owner thanks Paul and Pla Pitini for their generous help, advice and support.
Top Cafe, Pak Thong Chai.kmz
Update 12 June 2011:
Top cafe has added a new kitchen and more seating space because of increasing demand. The Thai food menu now includes quick-cook items for customers in a hurry. Western food is now on the menu too.
Update 30 September 2011:
Wifi is now available to customers at Top Cafe.
Top Cafe is in the quiet Soi Wattipapai close to the local Amphur building. It's styled to create a relaxed atmosphere and is already a favourite with local people and foreigners. The owner prides herself on offering top quality food at local prices. Pleasant surroundings but low priced menu items.
Top Cafe is also an outlet for Ma Sam Powthong Korat Noodles. Try them here before you buy packs to take home.
The owner thanks Paul and Pla Pitini for their generous help, advice and support.
Top Cafe, Pak Thong Chai.kmz
Update 12 June 2011:
Top cafe has added a new kitchen and more seating space because of increasing demand. The Thai food menu now includes quick-cook items for customers in a hurry. Western food is now on the menu too.
Update 30 September 2011:
Wifi is now available to customers at Top Cafe.
Image via Wikipedia
We walked under the entrance arch some time after 5.00pm to see the place in daylight and before it was closed to traffic. A few other couples were doing the same as us and I assumed that it was quiet because of the time of day. The bars were largely deserted except for the many bar girls and katoeys who were waiting patiently for customers to arrive.
After an initial stroll to the far end of the street, we decided to eat at a fish restaurant over the water. The food and drink prices must have been pitched at unsuspecting tourists and far above anything a resident of Thailand would consider paying except in a top quality restaurant. The price of a small bottle of Leo was nothing short of scandalous at B85! There were few other customers but we were entertained by four drunken East Europeans, one female amongst them being almost carried out as they left, and old farang with his young Thai boyfriend and a sad, lonely looking old farang who sat alone.
After sharing a rather unsatisfactory crab leg salad with the fish that were gasping for oxygen in the mucky water below us, we left to see how the street had changed now that there was no traffic and the sun had gone down. Nothing much had changed, in fact. Girl's were touting for customers in front of their bars with the usual and boring cry of, 'Hello, wowcome'. Male farang sat in groups over their beers in the bars, ignoring the attempts of girls to get their attention. I'm not surprised given the extortionate beer prices and the rip-off lady drinks. Stories of a cheap evening's entertainment with a young girl desperate for money to send home to her poor relatives become untrue when you consider the cost of alcoholic extras.
I don't know whether Walking Street ever lived up to the reputation it has but I thought it was a rather sad place. I suspect that it's out-priced itself. A short distance away are roads with very lively bars and restaurants of all kinds offering food and drink at very reasonable prices.
So, try it for yourself but I won't be returning to Walking Street Pattaya for quite some time.
Pak Thong Chai, Korat, Thailand, suffered a serious fire that started at about 8.25am on Sunday 27 March. The fire was in the old Morning Market area where many buildings have a timber upper storey. It seems, according to local information, that a family had lit candles at home for Lord Buddha, as is usual on Sundays, but forgot to watch them burn out when customers arrived at their shop. At least 30 businesses, most also family homes for the business owners, burnt down before the fire was brought under control.
It is said that three people are in hospital in Korat with injuries sustained in the fire. No fatalities have been reported so far.
This area was under two metres of flood water last October and many businesses lost their stock at that time. Probably many people had to borrow money to restock and now they have lost everything; homes, possessions and businesses.
The local authority is accepting donations of rice and noodles, or cash to buy them, for those in need as a result of the fire.
This image of a bicycle shop shows typical damage:
It is said that three people are in hospital in Korat with injuries sustained in the fire. No fatalities have been reported so far.
This area was under two metres of flood water last October and many businesses lost their stock at that time. Probably many people had to borrow money to restock and now they have lost everything; homes, possessions and businesses.
The local authority is accepting donations of rice and noodles, or cash to buy them, for those in need as a result of the fire.
This image of a bicycle shop shows typical damage:
This is a general view of the damage in one street. The fire began in a building to the left:
This is one of several families searching for their gold, probably all that they have left:
This is one of several families searching for their gold, probably all that they have left:
Some fish that a local lady would have been selling remains abandoned close to the seat of the fire:
Stray cats and dogs are a nuisance in Thailand. Most are either homeless or poorly fed and roam the streets and private land scavenging for scraps. Some are diseased or injured and others may be dangerous. They kill domestic animals and poultry and the dogs often bark for hours at night.
Many people have mixed feeling about these animals, at once angry at their presence and also pitying their plight.
There's a charity in Bangkok that is doing something about this problem for the benefit of both the animals concerned and the people amongst whom they live. SCAD (Soi Cats And Dogs) runs programmes of animal birth control, adoption and education to improve the lives of these animals and, therefore, their owners and neighbours.
This is a charity that benefits both animals and humans. I think it deserves support. At least look at the SCAD website but also consider either donating or helping in some other way. SCAD suffered financially during the troubles in Bangkok in 2010 and now have to fund a move to new premises.
Please take a look at SCAD and the work they do. Click here.
Many people have mixed feeling about these animals, at once angry at their presence and also pitying their plight.
There's a charity in Bangkok that is doing something about this problem for the benefit of both the animals concerned and the people amongst whom they live. SCAD (Soi Cats And Dogs) runs programmes of animal birth control, adoption and education to improve the lives of these animals and, therefore, their owners and neighbours.
This is a charity that benefits both animals and humans. I think it deserves support. At least look at the SCAD website but also consider either donating or helping in some other way. SCAD suffered financially during the troubles in Bangkok in 2010 and now have to fund a move to new premises.
Please take a look at SCAD and the work they do. Click here.
Kim Phuc was one of many Vietnamese children maimed by napalm during the Vietnam War. The difference in her case was that a press photographer, Nick Ut, caught her on camera during the dramatic flight from the bombs, screaming in agony from her burns. Also, unlike many others, she survived to tell her story. The image remains familiar around the world nearly 40 years later.
The book describes Kim's childhood, the day of the attack, her medical treatment, her continuing physical and emotional pain and the exploitation of her for propaganda purposes by the Vietnamese authorities. Kim became an innocent victim of war long before that disgraceful term 'collateral damage' was used to dismiss the suffering of innocent people during the battles of others. Kim's story still serves as a shocking reminder of what war really does.
Read 'The Girl In The Picture' and remember it the next time that a political leader tells you he must attack another country in your name.
29 January 2011
I've just watched a documentary titled 'Picture of the Napalm Girl' and felt moved to add a note to this entry.
The documentary includes interviews with the adult Kim giving more insight into her experiences and physical and emotional suffering. For the first time, I saw movie pictures of the bombing and my eyes filled with tears at the sight of that merciless act of barbarism. The pilot ignored the smoke marker of his target and deliberately bombed the villagers running away. The wounds and cries of the children were horrific. The marker indicated that the temple where villagers had been sheltering was the target so these people were the intended victims all along and they almost escaped.
The pilot and plane were from the South Vietnamese Air Force. The napalm bombs were from the USA. The permission to attack was given by a USAF controller.
A curse to eternity on the pilot and all who made his crime possible. And the same to all who have murdered and maimed innocent people in the name of war since.
The book describes Kim's childhood, the day of the attack, her medical treatment, her continuing physical and emotional pain and the exploitation of her for propaganda purposes by the Vietnamese authorities. Kim became an innocent victim of war long before that disgraceful term 'collateral damage' was used to dismiss the suffering of innocent people during the battles of others. Kim's story still serves as a shocking reminder of what war really does.
Read 'The Girl In The Picture' and remember it the next time that a political leader tells you he must attack another country in your name.
29 January 2011
I've just watched a documentary titled 'Picture of the Napalm Girl' and felt moved to add a note to this entry.
The documentary includes interviews with the adult Kim giving more insight into her experiences and physical and emotional suffering. For the first time, I saw movie pictures of the bombing and my eyes filled with tears at the sight of that merciless act of barbarism. The pilot ignored the smoke marker of his target and deliberately bombed the villagers running away. The wounds and cries of the children were horrific. The marker indicated that the temple where villagers had been sheltering was the target so these people were the intended victims all along and they almost escaped.
The pilot and plane were from the South Vietnamese Air Force. The napalm bombs were from the USA. The permission to attack was given by a USAF controller.
A curse to eternity on the pilot and all who made his crime possible. And the same to all who have murdered and maimed innocent people in the name of war since.
The Eagles band is to perform at Impact Arena, Bangkok on 20 February 2011. This is a rare opportunity to see them live and you should book early. This event will probably be a sell out.
Click on the image below for booking information.
Click on the image below for booking information.
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