Thailand Stories

Hardly a week goes without someone sending me an email out of the blue via www.thai-blogs.com . Very often it’s just an old friend/acquaintance of mine whose found me blogs by chance, then occasionally an email concerning an old blog of mine. Rarely, however, do I get an email as touching as one received a few…

It is September again, and the neighbourhood kids are buzzing with excitement: they like to roam around in the fields and near the river collecting rhino beetles. These magnificent insects are claimed to be one of the strongest species in the world. Surprisingly, they use …

Mong Thongdee, the stateless boy, won the third in the individual event in the All-Japan Origami Airplane Contest in Japan on Sunday. Mong is a stateless boy who was born in Thailand to Burmese migrants. Mong, of Chiang Mai province, won paper plane competition in …

For many years my favourite guidebook has been the Lonely Planet. This has always been my first choice for its comprehensive look at tourist attractions in just about any country in the world. In Thailand, the person who is most associated with guidebooks is Joe Cummings whose name is well-known among backpackers. Although Joe…

If you are planning on visiting Chiang Mai, I would recommend that you include a Sunday in your schedule. That is the day when Thailand’s best handicrafts market spreads out in the streets of the old city – a perfect opportunity to buy souvenirs and presents. It stretches from Thapae gate almost all the way to Wat Phra Singh, …

A couple of weeks ago I went to Mae Sa waterfalls on the edge of Doi Suthep-Pui National Park . On the way back, I noticed a sign saying Tad Mok waterfall, 9 km . It was already too late to make the little side trip so I postponed the visit until the next suitable time. A …

This wonderful little gorge on the Khan river is one of my favourite weekend getaways. I didn’t have anything special in mind when heading out there this afternoon, just dangling my feet in the water, having a little swim, reading my book, taking a few pictures in the green season – the…

A veterinarian holds Lin Ping, a 76 day-old panda cub, at Chiang Mai Zoo, August 11, 2009. The panda cub is born at the zoo to its mother, Lin Hui. (REUTERS/Phichaiyong Mayerku) For more information click ThailandQA.com> > > More Thailand pictures

Eight years ago, on my first visit, I saw an aerial photo of a golden chedi on a hilltop near a river, surrounded by lush fields and more mountains. I immediately knew I wanted to go there but I had no idea where …

Karen villagers residing in Thailand use elephants to plough a rice field during a demonstration to promote tourism in Om Koi district, Chiang Mai province northern Thailand Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009. The villagers originally raised the elephants to work in the logging …

The rainy season has been rather dry so far up here in Chiang Mai, ideal for daytrips – if you don’t mind baking in the sun shining right above your head at this time of the year. For a change, I decided to hop on a bus today and go…

I have never been a fan of longan, or lamyai, as it is called in Thai, but it is difficult to avoid the plant and the fruit altogether if you are in Chiang Mai these days. Market stalls are laden with bunches of the fruit, and the heavy, sweet, sticky smell clings to your nose. …

A motorcycle trip to the Mae Sa waterfalls was the first daytrip we shared with my Thai boyfriend exactly eight years ago. I have been reluctant to return ever since. Now that I eventually did, I am looking for familiar landmarks – a rock, a pool of water, a twisted branch, something that…

When my mother comes to visit Chiang Mai, she always asks me to take her to the Rose Garden first. She insists that she knows this enchanted place from a previous life and gets annoyed when I point out that Bhubing Palace (Phuphing Palace) …

I have to admit I am not a very diligent traveller: I don’t dive very deep into my guidebooks. I usually enjoy ancient monuments, temples, ruins and other buildings for their atmosphere and architectural beauty, not for the tales from olden days that they tell to an eager listener. I cannot imagine what life must have …

After four years of travelling and living in Thailand, I often find it hard to take a step back and try to imagine what it is like to experience it all for the first time. When I write, words like chedi, tuktuk or maipenrai tend to creep into my sentences without thinking about them – and then I …

After four years of travelling and living in Thailand, I often find it hard to take a step back and try to imagine what it is like to experience it all for the first time. When I write, words like chedi, tuktuk or maipenrai tend to creep into …

A staff member at the Ayutthaya, Thailand Elephant Kraal look at three elephants painted to resemble Pandas. Thailand is experiencing a panda craze with the recent birth of a baby at the Chiang Mai, Thailand Zoo. The elephants were painted to remind Thais that elephants, the nations national symbol, need attention too…

Long before Chiang Mai was founded some 700 years ago, the Mon people set up the legendary kingdom of Haripunchai in the area that is today known as Lamphun. Wat Chammathewi (also known as Wat Kukut) dates back to the 8th century. The spire on top of the chedi is said…

A glittering temple, a white chedi, and a giant sitting Buddha on the top of a little hill just 20 minutes outside Chiang Mai – this sight is very familiar for anyone who regularly does visa runs. Wat Phra That Doi Saket is right by the…