The new beer garden at On Nut

It took me a while to find the new beer garden that replaced one of my favorite places just next to the BTS station On Nut in Bangkok. Until a few months the beer garden was very local, very improvised but had it's own charme – and a great selection of food and drinks. But it's gone, making space for some entertainment center.
Alternatives came up quickly: Just next to the BTS, still opposite Tesco, opened a small place around a pond, with Thai food stalls and two beer bars. Nothing special but does it for a quick beer.
BUT: The real beer garden experience moved a bit further down. Just take a motobike taxi at the corner of Soi 81 and go for 10 baht around 500 meter. Once you cross the bridge the new beer garden is on you left hand. The On Fire shop moved here, serving excellent German style sausage and German style meatballs as well as fish and chips and different fries. A pizza shop opened as well. Two bars are serving drinks, and several Thai food stalls give you the spicy experience. Plenty of space to sit as well, and still the old price structure (Coke Zero for 20 baht is a real deal). They show even CTH on two big screens
In contrast to the old beer garden you can expect clean toilets here, and they are for free.

In summary, the new place is a bit further away but still in a walking distance and a good alternative to spend some time for dinner. It's a bit better in quality than the old space, what is not a bad thing, just needs a few more food stalls with more variety. It isn't as fancy as W-District, but the advantage is that the hordes of young teachers haven't discovered it yet.

The ultimate guide for exercising in Bangkok

Just in case you want to know, how you can loose some weight or get back into shape, have a look on Karsten Aichholz recent blogpost. He covers nearly all, from running to biking (I provided some routes), workouts inside and outside a gym, Yoga, you name it.
So, no excuse anymore that you just don't know where to start. Move your a**..

Living under the bridge

Living under the bridge. The mother (not in the picture) speaks actually broken English. The kids don't go to school. They take care of the few chicken, but some where eaten by a snake, they mother told me. She slurred a bit, not sure if a drunk, but was very nice. Grandma and what seems to be her husband are in control, they send the girls out to me the second they spotted me. I was asking if I can take a picture, and they saw it as a business opportunity. I paid in chicken sausages.

Art in Bangkok: Bangkok University Gallery and Jamjuree Art Gallery

Art is not the first thing that comes into your mind when you think about Bangkok, but the city of angels does have a vibrant art scene. Small for a big city like Krungthep, but it's there. Most underestimated place for contemporary art is the BACC, Bangkok Arts and Culture Center, opposite MBK. Many young artists showing their pieces there in nearly monthly changing exhibitions. BACC works close with universities, and the Bangkok University Gallery for example has an art space in walking distance from the Ekkamai BTS. (Building no 7).

We just made it to see the Golden Rule // Non-traditional Thai Painting - Louie Cordero exhibition. Cordero is a Filipino artist who has exceptional style of work. The backgrounds of his works show complicated story taking either from media or from Filipino myths and believes as well as the mix of Filipino-American culture, all of which lead to scary feeling but on the contrary they are lively and colorful. He recently came to Thailand to explore the local culture in all of its different angels and approaches. 

The next exhibition there will be Detour of The Ego by Lek Kiatsirikajorn and opens June 12th.

Afterwards we went down to Chula University. Security there told us that the Art Center is closed (what wasn't true, as we got told later through Facebook). But on the way down Phraya Thai road we stopped at the Jamjuree Art Gallery where Artist Koradol Kuljalusri is presenting his work.

The renown Thai artist shows paintings inspired by shadow puppets in a very specific  technique where he brushes a blurry background that is in contrast to the sharp strokes wich form abstract faces and bodies of actors of traditional tales.

He was actually there when we came so we had a chance to chat with him. He told us that he just came back from a trip to Europe where he was painting Thai temples. I am not a big fan of traditional art but his approach is refreshing and unique. 

Expect more art posts coming, as we will explore a bit more the scene in Bangkok. 

Nobody wants to see the "real" Bangkok

Following a recent discussion on Twitter I thought it might be good to (re)-start this discussion here. Someone was complaining that a dumpsite with poor kids in Cambodia was closed for tourists, suspecting tourists are not allowed to see "the real Cambodia" anymore, but instead only the bright side like Angkor Wat.

Just another street in Bangkok. Nothing to see here (beside the fact that there is a vegetarian restaurant)

So I was asking myself, how the hell this guy can even think a garbage dump site is the real Cambodia (and he lives in Phnom Penh)?

I think because we all have our own distortion field and agenda. We experience a country and a city in a certain way. If you are a tourist and you have 2 or 3 days in Bangkok, of course you will visit the usual suspects. You are not leaving the airport and head straight to a random street somewhere in the east of town. If you go to Cambodia, of course you have to see Angkor Wat. And it doesn't matter (and even claim to be) that this isn't the real Cambodia, because every country has some many faces and facettes -  not even the prime minister or any head of state has seen all of it.

Bangkok is just another Asian city with some specific highlights. Most parts of Bangkok are not worth a visit, because they were not built for it. They are functional, townhouse after townhouse, with more or less useful shops. Architecture isn't something Asian cities are famous for. And street life is not much different if you are in Bangna, Din Daeng or Bang Pli. But, this is the real Bangkok, because most parts are just like that.

Unfortunately it doesn't tell you anything about Thailand. Because a small village in Isaan is a totally different story, and so is one in the south of Thailand. Pattaya is as real as Udon Thani is and so are Phuket and Kanchanaburi.

Tourists want to escape their daily life and want to see and experience something different. Most of them just want to relax. That's their decision and yes, they have a right to do so. It doesn't make them bad people just because they go to the beach instead of sleeping on a dump side. I do agree that the more time you spend in a country the more your learn about it, but come on, nothing new about it.

But, as we all know, certain people just see poor people and they feel sorry for them and want to help. And I even understand that the world should know that those kids are suffering. Only the world knows already. In Cambodia, there is for example PSE, a NGO that gives education and vocational training to kids from Phnom Penh's garbage dump. (When I worked in Cambodia, we had one secretary who came from there). A picture of a poor kid that is sold in a gallery for 100 Dollar doesn't help the boy. School and later a job helps.

Reducing Cambodia to suffering from the Khmer Rouge and being full of poor people is as wrong as any stereotype. Just yesterday I met a friend from Cambodia who gets a training here with her new company - a international law firm. She is pretty annoyed of those good samaritans who drive fancy cars (or live a good life as a freelancer without paying taxes to the country they take advantage of). In particular Cambodian young people - with a main focus on the cities of course - are eager to develop and do better. Those who I know - and that is a difference from my experience in Thailand - do not forget where they are coming from.

Claiming to know the "real" Bangkok, Siem Reap or whatever basically shows how biased someone is, because what then follows is a reduction that fits this persons personally view and distortion field.
The guy from twitter by the way has a blog about Bangkok at night and guess what the posts are?
Party Time Patpong, Late night beer, Hollywood Bar Nana Plaza... So much about the real <insert name>.

This scary thing in Thailand: Electricity

We all have seen the cables hanging on poles along the street, and it looks like a total chaos for us, and dangerous as well. Surprisingly the danger doesn't really comes from this chaos, since there is order on the poles: Top level is high voltage, lower level is household electricity and the chaos comes actually from the telecom and internet companies.



But that doesn't mean electricity isn't scary here. It actually is. I am no expert and all and followed all my life the advise that you can fix a lot on things at home, but stay away from electricity. The problem is that most people here in Thailand actually think they are experts, and installation here seems to be more like an DIY way.

Today for example I plugged in the vacuum cleaner and suddenly the power socket was dead. I figured out all sockets upstairs are dead, but lights and aircon are just fine. Downstairs everything worked. Next step is then the breaker board. But all breakers were fine. I switched all off and on, but still the same problem. So I called the property management and they sent me the security (!) guard. He came with  a screwdriver style neon tester - good idea, only we have safe sockets that require both pins to be stuck in at the same time to release a plastic protection. He didn't know.

So far I explained him the problem, he was also surprised the breaker didn't go off, and then we switched all breakers on and off and on and off. And... drumroll.. all sockets were live again. So he was smiling all over his face and didn't really understand why I was still concerned - power was back, work was done, let's have a nap.

But the scary part is still that the breaker didn't switch off when there was - what I think caused it - a power surge by the vacuum cleaner. That's why we have breakers. I will now replace all circuit breakers with new ones.

My neighbor has a similiar problem when he found out that he has a small current of DC where there should be none, and if it should be AC.


I remember that in Vietnam most fires in homes were caused by bad or faulty wiring, and in Laos it was quite the same. It was so scary that the advice was to call first the electricity department so they shut off the whole street - without that the firefighters wouldn't do anything.

There are some websites about what is a safe installation in Thailand. Siam Info has a good summary.
Thailand Guru has some information about grounding and earthing (by the way it seems that lightning rods are not really common here.

In case you are in trouble we found this website from Service Genie (haven't tried them yet), and they seem to know what they do. HomePro is also offering installation service and repair service. They did a pretty good job with deliver and installation of our washing machine. And you can always call the MEA (Metropolitan Electricity Authority)

Vegetarian/Vegan Food in Bangkok and southern suburbs

Living a bit outside the city doesn't mean you have to go without all the nice things downtown has to offer. We do have shoppings malls here in the south, and we have delicious vegan restaurant. I haven't actually seen a local (Thai) vegetarian restaurant, most of them go all the way down to vegan food.

That means no milk, no fish sauce, no eggs. Even if it looks like, it is not (the Italian Govinda vegetarian restaurant for example has milk products like cheese).

One of my favourite places is a vegan restaurant just opposite Premier Place on Srinakarin road (right next to the SCB bank). It is open from 6am in the morning until late afternoon every day except Sunday (I haven't see it open in the evening, but that might be because I am usually not in this area at that time). What you get there is everything the Thai cuisine has to offer. They have a Thai style buffet, where you choose the dishes you want. It changes every day. They usually offer Nam Ya, a spicy coconut soup that is served with pickles and vermicelli, and they even have Thai Noodles with soy protein balls as soup or dry.

Per dish you pay about 30-35 baht, you can eat there or take it home. The restaurant also offers a wide range of vegan products, from Palo mushrooms to mock meat like chicken wings and duck breast and soy protein pallets.

Parking there is a bit tricky, there is a SCB bank next to it that has some parking space or you just drive into the small Soi there. I haven't figured out the name of the restaurant yet, maybe you can read it from the banner outside in the picture and let me know (I have some problems reading non-traditional Thai fonts)









Not far from the Srinakarin/Soi Wat Dan Samrong intersection (before Foodland on the left when you come from South)  is another vegan place: This one is selling Japanese vegan food. Yes, I am talking about Sushi galore without any Tuna being harmed. No idea how the do it, but it looks good and it tastes good.

Expect limited English skills, but the menu is in English and we never had a problem with the order. It is not that much crowded, but seem to have a decent followership to survive there.

Other vegan restaurants are Govinda in Sukhumvit 22 (100 meter on the right), and there is also another more fancy vegetarian places right next to it. The food court at the 5th floor at Terminal 21 has a vegetarian stall and so does the food court at Central World (7th floor, walk through the supermarket, the vegetarian booth is on the left). Seri Market at Paradise Park also has one vegetarian stall.

Do you know any more vegetarian or vegan places? Please let me know.

(By the way I am neither vegan nor vegetarian. I just don't like to eat meat too much and vegetarian food is usually cheaper.)

Cool down - a lot: Wonderland has -15 degrees Celsius

Yes, it can get hot outside, and yes, I sometimes miss the snow, or at least the change in the seasons. But does that really mean I need to get winter here in Bangkok? On the other hand, many Thais never see any snow and haven't enjoyed the fun of freezing noses.
That may have been reason enough for the people behind Harbin Ice Wonderland to set up a winter land next to BTS Bearing. It is really cold in there, -15 degrees Celsius, but you can rent coats and gloves. I recommend proper shoes (NO flipflops), jeans and socks as well. Even then, you may not stay there more than 15-20 minutes.

What can you see? A lot of ice sculptures, from Big Ben to pandas. Kids may enjov the three different slides, one with tubes, and one with sleighs. There is also a snow corner, where you can at least try to make a snowball. My friends in Germany were laughing at what I showed them as my first Thai snowball.

The entry fee is not cheap, 350 for Thai and 550 for foreigners (Driver licence didn't work to get the local price), plus rental fee for coats. It is open everyday 10.00 - 21.30 and is located direct next to the Bearing BTS. Parking space is available. There is also a ice bar, in case you want to take whiskey on the rocks literally, and food courts are yet to be installed.

You can get more information in Thai (overcharging foreigners doesn't mean social media communication is included, although some staff speaks some English) on Facebook. And they do have a English website http://www.harbin-icewonderland.com/


And now, enjoy some pictures. Yes, it is colorful.

Have drink afterwards

My first snowball in Thailand

Better have jeans on to use this slide

Coats provides, trousers not

Even pandas are here

Someone is baking delicious American Pies in Bangkok

The business of making cakes is serious, in particular those cakes and pies we know from our childhood. Nobody made ever a better pie that grandma. In Germany we love apple crumble pie, while I learned that in the US the apples are in the open or covered with a neat grid. Since I am not so much into baking, I am happy that someone else decided to bring finest American Pies to Bangkok.
James Schoepflin is a filmmaker as well as a baker, and the latter is his current profession in Krungthep.

He just opened a shop selling homemade pies. Unfortunately it is not in downtown, but more near the airport in Ladkrabang. And in this area you get free delivery. There is also a website available, with a map and a lot of information, online order included. Check out http://kingofpieland.com/.

For a test I tried the Granny Apple Pie with extra rum, and it was so delicious that it barely lasted long enough to take a picture. Prices are from 75 to 350 baht depending on the size and type of pie. There is a facebook page also available, have a look on https://www.facebook.com/AmericanPies.


Every cakes comes in a neat box, well packed. As the owner told me they started already to deliver pies to certain shops in the Ladkrabang area. I just hope they may find a way to serve more areas, maybe by franchising?

Why is everything in Thailand so disappointing?

Now, this is for sure a click bait question, and thanks for reading. Of course not everything is disappointing in Thailand. otherwise we wouldn't live here. But I guess I am not the only expat who is sometimes very frustrated, disappointed, even angry about Thailand and the Thai people. THE Thai people .

So where is this coming from?

Most of my posts develop from some thoughts I have driving on my motobike in the morning bringing my wife to the BTS station. Traffic in Thailand is something that can make you really frustrated. So there was this mototaxi driver who just cut short, forcing me to make a sudden break. "Why they don't learn driving?" was my first thought (I am long enough here to never say this to a local). But then I realised that in one year driving so far I had no accident, not even close to one. That was not just because of my good driving. It was also because most people here are driving not too bad.

It is in us to make this separation. I am pretty sure I am not the only one who has this we vs. them thoughts. This has nothing to do with racism. First of all many people here really let you know you are a foreigner, starting with "Falang" and ending with  different price structures. But this is understandable, both from the historic point of view as well as in business matters.

My theory is that we have quite high expectations. Most of us expats live here because we love Bangkok, Thailand or Asia in general. It is the paradise we always wanted to live in. The garden Eden. And we still have this romantic idea that this place and the people are different (Thai nationalists actually believe this in a very serious way), everyone is so kind and helpful. We WANT it to be that way, because we do not want to admit that the dream never came true or that reality is just different.

Because, in fact, Thailand is not so different from other places in the world, western countries included. There is just one human race, and we all have a lot of things in common. Bad drivers? Go to Offenbach in Germany! THEY, as we from north of Frankfurt say, will never get the idea how to drive.

Driving further there is this woman I see every morning. She works in one of the nearby factories as you can see from her uniform. She pulls a trolley filled with rice and dog food. Every morning she feeds the soi dogs between Lasalle and Bearing. How kind she is! But I never had this thought about how kind THE Thai people are.

Sometimes we need to remind us that life is as different as people are.

Explore the Digestive System at Central World

Bumrungrad Hospital is having a so called Digestive Health Fair 28-31 August at Central World 1 Floor/Atrium. I was told that you can actually walk through a digestive system model. Of course you will get all sorts of advice how to be nice to your intestines before going upstairs to the restaurants.

More happiness (and calories): new Siam Square One shopping mall

So we have another shopping mall in Bangkok, where no other shopping malls where before: At Siam. It is called Siam Square One, has an open concept (means no air condition), and contains mainly restaurants. Its easy access from the BTS level (thats the 3rd floor then), and divided in Summer, Winter and Rainy sections (whatever that means). Right now there are very few shops open on this level, what is booming is the food upstairs (propably because of massive promotion).

The center attracts hundreds of students from the nearby university, I guess they are here out of curiosity and food promotions.

Entrance from Siam Square

The architectural design is interesting but also a bit confusing. The open concept is reflected in some open spaces with trees and natural light, but that is kind of absorbed by the dominating color black. Still a lot of construction going on. 

Looks like shopping malls are the thing to do in Bangkok, taking Gateway and Mercuryville aside, if you want to do retail business. Maybe the future more happy people will spend even more money as they do already: at least they will spend it there for food and not more useless investments that will even increase the debts.

Interesting is that entrance from the BTS station is quite spacious, and so is it from Siam square. But street level entrance from Rama I is a small dark hole. Thing is that no food is at level 1 and 2 so people entering from the BTS won't even see it, and customers from Siam square are lead to Level 3 through a wide open space. I wonder if the small shops downstairs can survive for long. 

Plus, they returned to a confusing concept of escalators up and down, forcing you to walk around to find you way. On the positive side, the open concept gives space for sitting and relaxing, so it might be a place where people meet and rest, chat and sit - something that remembers the old Siam Square.

Just bring mosquito repellent, the place is infested.... 

Some pictures below

Looks a bit cold and dark, more like a prison

Trees

More trees

Starbucks gives away some free drinks

Promotion at a restaurant drives students nuts

This one looks actually quite nice

Opening soon

Entrance

You speak Lao, you not foreigner

Yesterday at IKEA: a crowded shopping mall, and we are afraid of not getting a taxi home. A taxi van then stopped, we told the driver that we want to go to Samrong Nuea and he refused to take us. "No, No" he said. I took a picture of his car, just to remember the number for an optonal complaint later (depending on my level of anger and frustration divided by the time we have to wait for a taxi that takes us). It took not more than five minutes and the taxi van came back. The driver opened the door and shouted at us we should go in the taxi. I asked again if he will takes us to Samrong and switch on the meter, and he said yes. So we jumped in.

After a few meters he started asking me in Thai if I took a photo. Of course not, I answered in local honesty, why should I? "You take photo", he repeated, swearing about foreigners always doing this. I was a bit scared if we are now trapped in a taxi with an angry driver - heard stories about a not so nice outcome. But it seemed that he received some complaints before and learned his lesson and was just blowing off some steam. Then he asked about directions, and I explained him to use Banga Trad and then turn to Srinakarin road. He replied that there is a traffic jam, and I accidently asked "Yu say?" in Lao instead of "Yu ti nai" in Thai. (Where?)

He suddenly changed his mood, turned around and asked why I speak Lao. I explained that we lived there for three years and that I picked up a bit. Turned out he is - as most of his collegues - from Isan, and forgotten was all picture taking. We had some fun talking Lao and finally he said "You speak Lao, you not foreigner" in English, and when we arrived at our home, we were best friends already.

There is a reason why I always insisted at my Thai language school that I want to speak average Thai peoples language, not something that just exists in books and some very official meetings. And I am thankful for having learned enough Lao to be able to speak with many people who work in the so important service sector in Thailand. 

Introducing: The Thai country burger

When I made some spicy sausages yesterday (Xai Ua, or Chiang Mai sausage), it had some leftover filling. Why not fry it in the pan like a burger paddy I thought? I did, and since I had some sticky rice left and veggies, I started creating the  Thai country burger.

Ingredients:

Sticky rice

Snake beans

Tomato

Lobo Xai Ua spice mix burger paddy (chicken, beef or pork)

Cheese

Chinese cabbage

Spicy sauce

You can buy a very good Xay Ua mix from Lobo's at Big C, Tesco Lotus or Villa Market, it comes actually with sausage casings. 

Take off a big cabbage leaf and use it as a pocket. Put in the paddy, then sticky rice on top, a slice of tomato, a layer of processed cheese and a bit to taste of spicy sauce.  Snake beans left and right of the paddy give some stability. Ready to eat.

Costs are cheap: 500 gr chicken is a bout 50 baht, spice mix 18 baht, sticky rice 7 Baht, cabbage 30 baht, snake beans 18 baht, tomato 20 baht - lasts for 8-10 burgers, depending on the size of the paddies. 

Protest today at Radchadamn Road and Victory Monument

Just some picture I took from the protests today. I wanted to get an impression what the situation is since media is censored and international media has always more a focus on clashes than on the big picture.

My summary: Right now it's peaceful and police and soldiers did everything to de-escalate (beside soldiers in riot gear not looking too friendly). Some protesters although did provocations, and I am concerned how the whole thing will develop in the next days. About who are the protesters: Some (even many) redshirts for sure, but I think also ordinary people opposing any coup.