Thailand Stories

These iPhone pictures are the highlights of our trip along the Mekong this afternoon. We rented a boat and toured along the river where we saw local fishermen at work as well as some of the following amazing sandstone rock formations. The most famous is at Sam Phan Bok. – Posted from my

These are a few of the pictures that I took on my iPhone on day 1 of my Ubon Ratchathani trip. Students from an ethnic group called Bru. They showed us around their school. This is Wat Tham Kuha Sawan in Khong Chiam District. Very beautiful. This is a view from the temple of…

Early this morning, thousands of people all over Thailand made merit on the occasion of HM The King’s 83rd Birthday. In Samut Prakan we also had a merit making ceremony at the provincial hall starting at 6:45 am. About 100 monks were invited to receive alms from local government officials …

I’ve just finished my first hot air balloon flight and had a really fantastic time. This was actually our second attempt. Yesterday’s flight was cancelled as it was too windy. I was disappointed but really safety comes first. I’m here at …

This morning I had a chance to go up in a hot air balloon at the festival that is taking place at the moment in Nakhon Nayok. I was assigned to balloon number 2 whose pilot is Barry from the UK. We met up with …

Tourists in Bangkok have the Rose Garden while Pattaya tourists have Nong Nooch, a short distance to the south of the city. The tropical gardens are set in 652 acres and have literally thousands of different species of plants. With the orchids alone there are 670 different species. There is a lot to see and take in…

Flight of the Gibbon is a relatively new tourist attraction which is about halfway between Bangkok and Pattaya. We travelled there yesterday with the TAT and the trip from Pattaya took less than one hour. It is actually inside Khao Kieow Open Zoo which I have done as easy…

During the evening of the first day of our media trip to Pattaya we were invited to see a performance at the Tuxedo Magic Theatre. It was billed as “the first magic theater of Thailand that presents world-standard magic shows”. I was of course a bit skeptical about that and also at…

At the moment I am in Pattaya on a 3 day media trip with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). We are product testing some new attractions as well as some places that won the Thailand Tourism Awards this year. The hotel where we are staying is the Pattaya Marriott Resort & Spa. It is on Beach Road. This is …

One of the most impressive temples in Chiang Mai is Wat Chedi Luang. It is the largest chedi in Chiang Mai and is located in the center of the city. The original chedi, which dates back to 1481 A.D., was 98 meters …

Thailand has had panda fever ever since the birth of Lin Ping at Chiang Mai Zoo in May 2009. They even have a 24 hour reality show so people can watch from home. This is a picture that I took of Chuang Chuang, the father. The queues to see the pandas used to be…

These are some pictures that I took with my iPhone of the floating lanterns during the Yi Peng Festival in Chiang Mai. Truly a wonderful sight and an experience I won’t forget any day soon. – Posted from my iPhone

On the list of “must-see” attractions in Chiang Mai is definitely this temple on top of Doi Suthep. It is a famous landmark about 15 kilometers from the town and 3,520 feet above sea level. The temple dates back to 1383 A.D. As you can see, we were really lucky …

These are some of the pictures that I took of the lantern displays in Chiang Mai last night. I took them with my iPhone so apologizes for the quality. Not easy to take night photos. Hopefully I managed to get …

One of our first stops in Chiang Mai was at the Vieng Joom On Teahouse which is alongside the Mae Ping River. An article in the inflight magazine Sawasdee recently said that this place is 1 in 10 reasons to overstay in Chiang Mai. The name of the teahouse translates as the Pink City which, …

On the fourth day of the big Temple Fair in Samut Prakan, they always hold boat races on the Chao Phraya River in front of Phra Samut Chedi. They also hold other activities and competitions for the local people. This is a competition for thatching using leaves from the nipa palm tree. This…

During October in Thailand, when the rivers and waterways are high at the end of the rainy season, many provinces put on boat racing events. I have already been to several this month. On Sunday morning I travelled to Wat Bang Phli Noi in Samut Prakan to watch their boat racing. Unlike the …

October is always the busiest month for me as there are always many festivals in Thailand. Today I went to take pictures of the long boat racing in Phra Pradaeng, Samut Prakan. This took place on the Chao Phraya River in front of the District Office. I took these pictures in the VIP…

On our way back home from Uthai Thani we made a diversion to see the cavern at Hup Pa Tat. It is about 50 kms from the city. It was discovered in 1979 by the abbot of a local temple and is promoted these days as “Unseen Thailand”. Back then, you had to climb down …

After the merit making ceremony at Wat Sangkat Rattanakhiri we drove to the other side of town for the parade. Along Tha Chang Road we came across about a dozen shrines that had been setup outside local businesses. All of them were decorated with elephant tusks which seemed puzzling at first. I later …