Looking for a suitable place to have dinner on my 2nd night in Udon Thani, I wandered into Siem Hai, a relatively upscale Chinese Restaurant. I approached the Maitre’ D, a wiry Chinese fellow and asked him whether it would be possible to get a vegetarian meal with tofu for dinner. No problem replied the young man, who obviously had an excellent command of English. Within five minutes after sitting down, the young waitress brought me a glass of water and a bowl of steamed rice. Another 20 minutes went by and I was still waiting for my entree to be served. In the meantime, the untouched rice was getting cold. I made a motion to the young waitress and I let her know in no uncertain terms that was I very displeased at the long wait. Looking around the restaurant, there were only two other tables that were occupied albeit by large families. Ok, The restaurant was busy but not that busy. As she took away the cold rice, I pointed to my watch and told her in simple English, that I would wait another 10 minutes for my meal or I would walk. Apologetically, she told me that my dinner would be served in a couple of minutes. Eight minutes later, still no food. Again, I pointed to my watch, making sure that the waitress saw my posturing. About 20 seconds later, she brought me a bill for 5 baht for the glass of water, at which point I got out my seat and made a beeline for the exit without looking back. Bottom line - I waited for approximately 35 minutes for dinner only to be served just a bowl of steamed rice and water.

Under no circumstances, do I tolerate such slack service by any restaurant, not only in Thailand but anywhere in the world. When a restaurant’s service is this bad - I just walk!

Ain’t superstitious but black cat crossed my trail.
I ain’t superstitious,but a black cat crossed my trail.
Bad luck ain’t got me so far and I won’t let it stop me now.
The dogs begin to bark all over my neighborhood.
And that ain’t all.
Dogs begin to bark all over my neighborhood. Mmm-mmm

This is a mean old world to live in,
And I can’t face it all by myself, at all.
I got a feelin’ about the future and it ain’t too good, I know that.
Ain’t superstitious but black cat crossed my trail.
(Lyrics by Willie Dixon and Jeff Beck ) *

Yeah, I ain’t superstitious - but some unusual shit hit the fan my first night (and day) in Koh Chang. It all started innocently, when I ambled into my bungalow resort’s new Internet café- let’s call it Sabaidee Cafe - to use my laptop to access their wireless internet connection. Unfortunately, I wasn’t getting anywhere for some reason and I had a very difficult time communicating with the young lady who worked in the café. Of course, she had a very limited facility with English and she was not able to help me out at all. After spending about 30 frustrating minutes in the café, I bid adieu to the young lady and bolted out the door. As I walked about 50 yards down the road to another Internet café by the name of Mochaccino, out of the corner of eye, I saw a black cat cross my path. I was so upset that I really didn’t think anything of it at the time. Now I ain’t superstitious but…

Just as I was about to leave Mochacinno, I realized I did not have my cell phone with me. Of course, in my haste departing Sabaidee Cafe about an hour before, I most likely left it there. Walking swiftly back there to discover that it had locked up before their posted 10:00PM closing time, I was able to find the hotel manager (and the young gal who as working at the café earlier) at the hotel restaurant and they escorted me back to ‘the scene of the crime.” The manager opened up the café and we looked for the cell phone without any success. I accepted the fact that I “lost” my cell phone due to my own carelessness and there was nobody to blame but myself. Just a minor inconvenience, I thought to myself, and the next day I would just go to town and buy another cell phone. Oh well…

As I was returning to my hotel later that night after a very enjoyable late night dinner at Morgan, I decided to stop at one of the local bars for a nightcap and chat up some of the bargirls. After several minutes with the ladies, I decided rather than blow some monies on drinks - of course, both gals were angling for lady drinks - to make a hasty retreat to my hotel and call it a night. Before leaving, I noticed that the gals had a deck of cards on the bar counter. Being the comedian that I am, I decided to play a little joke (game) with the ladies. I told them I would buy myself and both of them drinks, if after shuffling the deck, I were to draw an ace of spades. I don’t know if they understood me - probably not. I was feeling so full of myself- after all what are the odds of drawing any given card from a full 52 card deck? Answer - 1 in 52 or about 2%. This was one game I couldn’t lose and I would walk without spending a dime.

After the shuffling the deck thoroughly, I flipped over the top card. I couldn’t believe it and shook my head in dismay - it was the ace of spades! Talk about bad luck! As a man of honor, I bought myself a nightcap and expensive lady drinks for both of the gals. Finishing my drink in a hurry, I headed back to my hotel spooked about drawing the ace of spades, the black cat and the lost cell phone. Now I ain’t superstitious but…

The next day after buying a new cell phone, I headed back to Mochaccino (my preferred Internet café) to check for new e-mail, taking off my black flip-flops before entering the café. As I was leaving, I stepped into my flip-flops and noticed that the left sandal felt kind of funny. Examining the left sandal, I realized it wasn’t mine. Apparently one of Mochaccino’s other customers who was also wearing black flip-flops, inadvertently departed with my left sandal on their foot. Nick, the amiable owner of Mochaccino, shook his head in disbelief at this unusual incident. Of course, Nick knew all about my cell phone disappearance the night before. I thought it was kind of comical but I ain’t superstitious .

Needless to say, I felt somewhat spooked for the rest of stay in Koh Chang - being very leery of black cats on the road and avoiding walking under ladders. In addition, I was extra diligent about storing all my valuables in my safe deposit locker in the hotel’s lobby when I was out of my room. The rest of my stay was uneventful except for getting stung by a wasp while getting a massage on the beach. Now I ain’t superstitious but…

*Source :http://www.lyricsspot.com/jeff+beck-i+ain+t+superstitious-lyrics-1048918.html

Occasionally during my travels, I meet some people who are really special - people who are uniquely talented and who make a positive difference in this crazy world of ours. On my most recent trip to Thailand, I met two such people “Nick and Onn”, the young proprietors of Mochaccino, a very stylish and cozy Internet café located in the resort community of Kai Bae on the beautiful island of Koh Chang.

On my first night in Kai Bae, I inadvertently stumbled upon Mochaccino after a frustrating and troubling experience at another Internet cafe. Upon entering Mochaccino, I was greeted with a warm smile and friendly hello by Onn, a very attractive Thai lady who was working behind the counter. I admit to being a relative newbie with wi-fi and laptop computers and I couldn’t figure out “for the life of me” how come I couldn’t access their wireless Internet connection (wi-fi). Nick, Onn’s boyfriend, helped me resolve this problem within minutes he discovered that my wireless switch was set to off. Something very simple, but I needed Nick to point it out to me. Hmm go figure!. Later on, I learned from him that I did not need to use a converter to power my new laptop as most notebook AC adapters today are actually “universal” power supplies, making them safe to use without a converter, handling voltages between 100-240V. I was a somewhat reluctant of plugging my cord into the AC wall socket without a converter for fear that I would fry my motherboard, but Nick’s explanation assuaged my fears. I was really impressed by this young man - not only did he have perfect command of English, but he handled himself very graciously and took a genuine interest in me.

For the next week, Mochaccino became ‘my office’ - I would park myself on their outdoor patio with my laptop computer taking care of my business affairs and updating my blog. Over the course of the week, I learned a lot about Nick. He emigrated to Greece with his mother from Thailand at the tender age of 9 and lived there for 17 years, working as a tour guide for English speaking groups and as a waiter in a number of restaurants. During his years in Greece, Nick had very little contact with people from his homeland as very few people of Thai descent live in Greece, but he learned to speak both Greek and English as well as receiving a college education. And in Greece, he acquired his name of Nicholas (Nick for short). Moving to England where he lived for almost six years, he met the lovely Onn and received his master’s degree in computer networking and security. After graduating from the University, he worked very long hours for a number of large companies for almost two years - sometimes up to 12 hours a day. Tired of slaving away for somebody else and losing himself in the process, Nick and Onn decided to return to Thailand and reconnect with their Thai roots and heritage, in addition to using their education and experience in the western (farang) world to further themselves in their own business.

Having lived in Europe for many years, Nick in particular understands both the Farang and Thai mentality; in addition both he and his ladyfriend are able to communicate perfectly in English. Customers return to Mochaccino primarily because of the exceptional service and warm hospitality of this delightful couple not to mention the comfortable, aesthetic ambiance and the wonderful coffee and espresso drinks, the delicious fruit shakes and tasty pastries. Onn and Nick are very attentive to all their customers - as soon as a customer sits down to work at one of the computers, Onn (or Nick) immediately will offer them a glass of purified water to drink. In Hanumann’s opinion, Mochaccino is definitely Koh Chang’s finest Internet cafe-hands down!

Mochaccino is just a start - Nick and Onn have plans to open up a very unique hillside villa resort at Bang Bao, a small fishing village at the southern tip of Koh Chang. Every time I entered Mochaccino, Onn warmly greeted me by my first name while Nick was feverishly working behind one of the computers, fine tuning the design and layout of his ‘new project’. Nick allowed me to look at a blueprint of the resort design - it looked great! In the not too distant future, Nick will be submitting the blueprint to his landscape architect for some final tweaking, then construction will begin. Nick is an immensely talented guy - not only did he create the concept, design and logo for Mochaccino but he has an excellent touristic vision for this new resort, and his ladyfriend, Onn, is a perfect complement to him. Grand opening of “the resort” is scheduled for December 2007!

Mochaccino - Kai Bae Plaza, Kai Bae Beach Tel: 039-557354

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On my last trip to Thailand, I brought my laptop computer with me in order to make it easier to keep up to date on my business affairs and my blog. Looking for a reasonable place (preferably free) to utilize a Wi-fi connection in Bangkok and Chiang Mai took a little research but was worth the effort. In both these cities, there is Wi-fi available at any of the Starbuck outlets - albeit at a steep price of 200-300 baht per hour. I passed however, as I wasn’t about to pay stateside prices in Thailand.

In Bangkok, I was able to get free Wi-fi at one of my favorite restaurants, Tamarind Café - a very attractive gourmet vegetarian restaurant cum art gallery on Sukhumvit Soi 20 - primarily because I was a regular customer of theirs. On Sukhumvit Soi 22, I also remember passing by a coffee shop - can’t remember the name - that was offering free Wi-fi. When I return to Bangkok, I will have to go to this coffee shop as I usually stay nearby at President Park Hotel

While I was in Chiang Mai, I did a search online for Wi-fi and I was able to get a list of free Wi-fi in Chiang Mai on Stickman’s Website. On this list, I found an interestingly named place named Charcoa located near Taphae Gate in Old Town. So I hired a Tuk Tuk for 40 baht from Tawan Court to take me there sometime after breakfast on my first morning in Chiang Mai.

Well, Wi-fi wasn’t free - it was only 30 baht (about 90 cents) for the whole day but I really didn’t mind paying, as Charcoa was such a delightful place to be. Such ambiance - the décor inside this small café was exquisite and the place oozes with charm. Whoever was responsible for the architectural design and in the interior décor was a real artist and is to be commended for doing such an incredible job in such a small space. Not only that, while I only had breakfast and coffee there, the food was superb and very reasonably priced as well.

If you’re in Chiang Mai, stop by Charcoa for breakfast or lunch (with or without your laptop). It’s a wonderful little café. 4 Soi 1 , Sriphum Road in old town. Tel: 053-212681

While I was in the idyllic mountain resort of Sangkhlaburi for five days, I thought I would break up the monotony of “just doing nothing” and going on one of those all day ‘mini trek-adventures” which are very much the rage these days in rural Thailand. The tour was like a rollercoaster ride - it started out very slow, gradually picking up steam before hitting a stretch of many twists and hair-raising turns, then quietly easing back to the starting point.

It all started innocently enough as I boarded the small motorized boat with about 14 other passengers - mostly Thais from Bangkok on holiday plus two German dudes who I didn’t speak a word to the entire tour and a friendly Spanish couple in their late 30’s - for an easy boat ride across Vajiralongkorn Lake and Reservoir , the largest body of water in Thailand. Before landing somewhere on the opposite bank of the lake, we passed a partially submerged temple. Upon reaching landfall, we walked through the bush to a Karen Hilltribe Village where we had lunch and were entertained by a group of young children playing a game which resembled soccer. From there, members of the tour group hopped on the back of some elephants, as our mahouts navigated thru the rough, bushy terrain and across a fast moving stream. So far it was a piece of a cake

After disembarking the elephants, the adventure ‘really became an adventure” as we had to navigate across several streams with some relatively modest currents, being careful to avoid falling as we walked across some rather slippery rocks. A little treacherous but manageable. Several of the tour members fell into the stream, getting drenched in the cold water before being pulled up by some of our tour guides. I nearly fell several times, but I caught my balance each time and managed to complete this part of the journey unscathed. To be honest with you I was concerned somewhat about my gimpy right leg and about losing my prescription glasses (with sunglass clip-ons) more than anything else.

The adventure shifted into high gear on our bamboo raft trip on a jungle river. All the tour participants were asked to grab a bamboo pole and help our tour guides-raftsmen navigate. The river was by no means calm - there were places where there were some relatively modest rapids. Several times, I caught myself slipping on the bamboo floor of the raft but righted myself just in time. As my raft was the last one to depart, we brought up the rear for the most of the journey and I had the opportunity to watch several of the tour participants being thrown overboard. Despite the dunkings and spills, everybody was in good humor as evidenced by all the smiles and the laughter.

My oarsman was a rather reckless driver as he misnegotiated some rapids and ran into the riverbank, launching me overboard into the cold river waters. Fortunately my glasses remained on my nose, but I lost one of my flip-flops in the process; one of the young boys who accompanied us dove into the water and retrieved it for me. Some ten minutes later, my oarsmen rammed the raft into a clump of vegetation that jutted out from the riverbank. During this 2nd collision, my gimpy right leg went through two of the bamboo slats. Somewhat shocked about this the latest turn of events, I quickly righted myself, pulling my leg on top of the raft. Escaping serious injury (I could have broken my leg), I was asking myself - What was my driver smoking? I’ve read somewhere that we have tendency to laugh after averting near disaster - Well here I was laughing my ass off after nearly getting wiped out! Needless to say I was quite relieved when the bamboo-rafting segment was finally over - my right leg was still intact, I still had my prescription glasses and I still had both of my flip-flops. On the boat trip back to the hotel, it began to dawn on me how lucky I was to survive this adventure all in one piece.
The Great Hanumann lived to die another day!

Factoid: Formerly known as Khao Laem Lake it was recently renamed after Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn

I recently completed a 42-day odyssey to Thailand and Laos. For somebody from America, that is awfully long trip. Based on my experience as a professional travel agent in the United States, most my customers have typically taken vacations from 4 - 12 days, with the average being roughly 7-8 days. Occasionally I have had customers who have taken vacations for two weeks to 17-18 days but those have been far and few in between. However for a European - lets say somebody from Germany or France - 30-42 days is a vacation of average duration and based on my conversations with traveling Euros, many of them take a trip of 2-3 months duration or more. It’s not uncommon to find a Euro on an extended vacation of 6 months. Doing some research on the Internet, I have read that Europeans on the average receive 6 weeks vacation time and Americans, 13-14 days. Source: http://www.swlearning.com/economics/policy_debates/overworked.html
Typically, an American will take one 1-week vacation and two 3-4 days vacations.

So how does my 42-day odyssey stack up? Somebody from USA would view it as “a long time”, while somebody from Europe might view it as “a short time”. Your perspective depends on where you’re from…

Talking about long time - While hiking up to the waterfalls just outside of Luang Prabang (Laos), I met group of people from Holland who were in the middle of a year long vacation visiting Southeast Asia, India and parts of Africa. See picture, top left. Now that is a looooog time…..

…

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While I was touring Northern Thailand with my associate Fatcheek, we passed thru the small town of Sob Ruak, which is more commonly known as The Golden Triangle and is the most popular attraction in Chiang Rai Province. At this point the mighty Mekong River merges with the smaller Sai River and the countries of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet. Lining the banks of the Mekong River were countless restaurants, souvenir stalls and tourist concessions. Seeing how the small town was inundated with tourists primarily from Bangkok as well many tour buses, I remarked rather loudly to Fatcheek that this place was a real Tourist Trap and that I wasn’t too crazy about these sort of places.

After explaining to her the concept of ‘tourist trap”, she chided me and advised that I keep my voice down, as Thai people would be offended that I was putting them down. I shook my head in disagreement, saying that I wasn’t putting them down per se but just pointing out that this place attracted a lot of tourists because of all the hype as “the spot” where the three SE Asian counties converged. Besides, I said to her, not too many Thais understood English. I pointed out to her that San Francisco also has some very popular tourists traps - most out of town visitors flock to the Golden Gate Bridge (which is synonymous with San Francisco), Fisherman’s Wharf, Chinatown and North Beach. In addition, most tourists to San Francisco make it a point to ride the cable car up and down the steep hills of the City.

Later in the week, while we were visiting the mountain resort of Doi Tung, we came across hordes of Thai tourists who traveled here to visit the many attractions in the area - Mae Fah Luang Botanical Gardens and Arboretum, The Royal Villa, Princess Mother Museum and the venerable Doi Tung Temple. Numerous tour buses were parked close to the entrance of the Gardens and cars were parked up and down the highway, As the first week of December was a holiday for many Thais due to the King’s birthday and the celebration of his 60th year on the throne, I wasn’t so surprised to see the throngs of tourists. Upon surveying the scene, Fatcheek announced to me in a rather loud voice “Doi Tung is a real tourist trap“to which I just laughed and smiled.

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The only real bright moment of my brief excursion to Udon Thani was Good Everything, a small, very stylish café located across the street from popular Nong Prajak Park and Lake. Set amidst a tropical garden setting, one can tell that the proprietors of this small café have an artist’s sensibility. With flourishes of color, the café oozes with ambiance and the menu features some wonderful Asian fusion dishes. On a lazy Saturday morning, I had a very scrumptious breakfast on their outdoor patio - a fruit salad with yogurt, a mango smoothie and expresso coffee. The presentation was so impressive that I did not mind paying the somewhat elevated prices. Too bad, Everything Good did not feature some vegan dishes with tofu, otherwise I would have returned there in a heartbeat for dinner. Special kudos to the young lady, a transplanted Filipina, who showed me around the place - she spoke English very well. The owner, Ms. Naparat Tharananithikul, is a very gracious lady whose mother owns a small hotel in town. Gotta love those those Thai names - they are so loooooong. It’s a good thing that most of the ladies (and guys) have nicknames..

As much as I didn’t care for Udon Thani, I liken Good Everything to be an oasis in the middle of the desert.

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Good Everything Cafe - 43/2 Phoniyom Road, Udon Thani
Tel: 042-245544 Cell: 097122219

After having traveled to Thailand seven times, Udon Thani was my very first introduction to Isaan country - the northeastern provinces of Thailand. Traveling by bus from Vientiane, the capital of Laos, the trip took roughly 2 hours including going through Thai immigration at the border. While I found the people very friendly and the pace considerably more relaxed than Bangkok, I found Udon, the largest city and the commercial hub of Isaan, to be rather unremarkable and drab. To be honest with you, I was questioning why I even considered stopping there. However as I was there for only a brief 2 days, maybe my assessment of Udon Thani was premature - I understand that there are some interesting Khmer ruins and some national parks nearby. That being said, I don’t think I will be returning anytime soon, as I am considerably more partial to small villages and the rural countryside than large cities.

The only thing that I could find good about Udon Thani was Good Everything Café (to be continued)

On my most recent journey to Thailand, I visited Sangkhlaburi, a very peaceful, idyllic mountain resort located in Kanchanaburi province. A good 5½-hour drive from Bangkok, Sangkhlaburi is yet to be spoiled by mass tourism - there are probably less than 15 guesthouses/hotels in the area. Surrounded by lush green hills, this small town sits above the largest lake in Thailand and is home to many people of Burmese descent in addition to Mon and Karen hilltribe villages and a sprinkling of farang expats. Sangkhlaburi’s claim to fame is being the site of the longest wooden bridge in Thailand.Spanning about ¼ mile long, this bridge was built by the Mons to connect from town to one of their settlements located on the opposite side of the lake.

Strolling through town and ‘the so called tourist zone”, I got the impression that at least 60% percent of the people who live in this area are Burmese - both naturalized citizens and illegals. This comes as no surprise as this small town is just a couple of miles away from the Myanmar border. One of the characters that I met in passing was a native San Franciscan, who has resettled in Sangkhlaburi and operates Wild Wild West, a used book store and bicycle rental shop. I also visited Burmese expat, Daisy Dwe, a community leader and activist who operates a small grassroots business called Weaving for Women

A quiet, peaceful mountain enclave, Sangkhlaburi currently is a very popular weekend retreat for Thai tourists from Bangkok and a smattering of intrepid farangs. Relatively devoid of noisy motorbikes, loud bars and rude farang tourists, this small mountain resort is highly recommended for nature lovers and for those who are seeking peace of mind. Sangkhlaburi is definitely far from the maddening crowd and I hope it stays that way.