Thailand Voice

Wats are full of turkeys and frogs, and sometimes storks too… If you are an animal lover, one of the first things you notice in Thailand are the mangy dogs laying around in Wats. Their scabby bodies make my heart hurt. Yours too? Disregarding … Read full story >>>

One of the better preserved traditional markets in Thailand can be found in Suphanburi Province. It is called Sam Chuk 100 Year Market and it still has its original wooden shophouses that date back to the reign of King Rama V…

On Monday we attended the press conference for the launch of the “Transfer Passenger Tours” at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Yesterday I gave you a rundown of the first eight day tours for transit passengers . Here are the final seven tours. (9) Erawan Museum…

Transfer passengers at Suvarnabhumi Airport will now be able to choose between a range of tours if they have at least six hours to spare before they need to catch their next plane. Paknam Web was invited over to the airport this …

On the eastern outskirts of Bangkok there is a new lake that offers watersports at a price that everyone can afford. Lake Nongbon ( beung nongbon ) was built by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) in 2006 but wasn’t officially opened to the public until last year. Annual membership is a crazy low…

I was on my way to the floating market at Amphawa the other week when I came across this interesting temple. On the outside it was deserted and very undistinguishable from any other temple that I had been to in Thailand. I almost passed it by but then a coach load of Thai tourists pulled into the small parking lot. They left their coach in single file and were led …

Today marks the 115th anniversary of the State Railway of Thailand. Every year, on March 26th, they mark this anniversary by arranging a trip on a steam train to Ayutthaya. There are not many opportunities these days to experience a journey aboard carriages pulled by a steam locomotive. Many of these engines are fast disappearing on the scrap heap. Luckily in Thailand a…

One way to experience the traditional lifestyle of Thai farmers is at the Buffalo Village in Suphanburi. In Thai it is called “baan kwai”. Thai farmers, and their trusty companions, the buffalo, are considered the backbone of the country. Although buffaloes have been the butt of many jokes in classrooms across the country (to be called “buffalo” is the same as …

I love Thailand for its variety but I never knew before that it already has an established wine industry. When we talk about wine growing we don’t usually think about Thailand mainly due to the hot and humid climate. But, Thailand has in fact three distinct regions of wine making. In the north there is Chateau de Loei, in the Phu Rua Valley of …

This is a plain soup that contains mung bean noodles (wun-sen) and pork. In Thai it is called “dtom jeut wun-sen moo sap”. In the ingredients below, you can see mung bean noodles, pork balls, chopped spring onion and chicken stock cube in the middle. The transparent noodles are usually sold in dried …

If you are sick and tired of the traffic and pollution of Bangkok, then you might want to consider heading down to Bang Pu Seaside Resort in Samut Prakan for a bit of bird watching and a sunset dinner. As you enjoy the fresh sea breeze at the end of a lazy afternoon you won’t…

This is a simple dish that can be cooked for vegetarians as well without the chicken. It is called “fuk toon ma-nao dong” or Wax Goud Soup with Pickled Lime. In the ingredients pictured below, you can see chicken, mushroom, wax gourd and pickled lime in the middle. You need to prepare the wax gourd by peeling and then cutting in half. Remove the …

There are quite a few floating markets around Bangkok these days. It is becoming more popular among the Thai general public. Most of the new ones I have been to recently are aimed at the domestic market. Wat Lampaya Floating Market in Nakhon Pathom Province is another classic example of this. When I…

After waiting nearly five years, the Royal Thai Mint have finally solved a problem that people were having with the two baht coin. This coin was first introduced back in 2005. It has an image of King Rama IX on one side and the Golden Mount on the other. The problem most people had was that it was only slightly bigger than the one baht coin. When you were …

Today we went back to Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi Province. I was there last year with Nong Grace (click here for pictures ) and as she liked it so much she kept asking me to go again. It is the school summer holidays in Thailand now so we thought we would drive down there today. The zoo is not well-known …

The annual Wai Khru ceremony at Wat Bang Phra in Nakhon Chaisi district took place yesterday. For many foreigners this has become known as the Tattoo Festival. Thais from all over the country come to pay respect to their “teacher”, Luang Poh Pern, and also to have their magical tattoos recharged. I first went to this festival, held in March…

The dish today is called Dried Beef in coconut Milk, or “pat neua kati”. You are supposed to prepare the beef first by drying it with salt. Then roasting it until done. Next you are supposed to pound it to separate the fibres. As you can see from the picture of the ingredients below, we just used salted dried beef. Other ingredients…

When you are travelling around Thailand and you use guidebooks such as Lonely Planet, you should never make the mistake of using it as a bible. Just because the guidebook lists five temples for a city, it doesn’t mean that other temples are not worth visiting. Sometimes you can find hidden gems that turn out to be the highlight…

The Sunflower Festival in Thailand starts around November and goes on until about February. The best places to see sunflower fields are in Lopburi Province and Saraburi Province. It was Lopburi where we went last weekend to see the sunflowers. Thousands of people from…

One of the more unique festivals in Thailand is the annual Monkey Party in Lopburi, about 150 kms north of Bangkok. It was started some twenty years ago by a local businessman called Yongyuth Kitwatananuson. He put on a buffet lunch for the monkeys as a way to say thank you to the animals for …