For the 3rd consecutive year, I traveled to the city of Nan in Northern Thailand. Perhaps the biggest change in this very pleasant city has been the proliferation of coffee shops.

When I first visited Nan in November 2008 and there were only 3-4 coffee shops in the city center - now there are at least 15. This is an indicator of the increasing number of tourists visiting Nan - mostly Thais from Bangkok.

One of the newer (and best) coffee shops to open up in the last two years is Khao Tha Lu Chumporn Coffee with two outlets - one in the heart of the city and another one on the road leading out of town. I had the opportunity to get to know Paula (Walaiporn Suriyos) the owner of the downtown shop.

Originally Paula is from Surat Thani Province in Southern Thailand. Her family moved to Bangkok in 1972, where Paula received a degree in liberal arts and masters in Education Administration from a major University. Shortly after graduation, she worked as a volunteer in Nan in 1983, where she taught Mien hilltribe students and developed some fluency with their language as well.

After meeting her husband in Nan, Paula started a family and began her teaching full time at the nearby Baan Numkrokmai Middle School - her students are 12-15 years old. A very congenial lady who enjoys dealing with the public and a self-professed coffee lover, she opened up the coffee shop only two years ago after her friend from Chumpon indoctrinated her into the coffee business.

Her friend has connections with a big lowland coffee plantation in Chumpon Province and orders the premium Robusta coffee beans for her - the process of making the ground coffee is in Bangkok. Robusta coffee is different than the highland Arabica coffee from Northern Thailand - both brews are featured at her shop. A family business, her daughter-in-law works at the shop almost every day while Paula is teaching at school.
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In my opinion, the coffee from Thailand - both the Robusta and Arabica grades - are far better than the coffee offered at Starbucks and Black Canyon, the two largest coffee retailers in Thailand. A cup of coffee at any of the coffee shops in NAN is about ½ the price of cup at a Starbucks store.

Shirly Li, the young and remarkable proprietor of Our Inn located in historic Xingping - has had quite a life story.

Born and raised in China’s Guangxi Province, she graduated with a degree in Foreign Trade at Geosciences University in Wuhan. During her years at the University, she became fairly proficient in English. After graduation„ she propelled herself into the tourism industry when she started working for a Chinese Travel Company based in Shanghai. The company specializes in tours for oversea student groups (teenagers) - mostly from the United Kingdom, Korea and Africa. Shirly was groomed as a tour leader/coordinator, and with her new job, Shirly traveled all over China

She worked for 5 years for the travel company, and during his time period she made many visits to Yangshou County– including Xingping - and Guilin in Guangxi Province. On one of her many excursions to Yangshou, she met Afu, her future husband and a man of many talents.

Shortly thereafter, Afu and Shirly were married and in early 2009, Shirly and Afu decided to buy a somewhat rundown guesthouse located on the banks of the Li River in the historic town of Xingping.

They closed the guesthouse, and after extensive renovation and the constriction of a proper restaurant, they had their grand reopening 6 months later in October 2009.

As a travel professional, I must admit that, Shirly and Afu have done a quite a remarkable job and have turned Our Inn to a first class guesthouse/hostel. Although nothing fancy, the rooms are configured like proper hotel rooms with flashes of color and simple decorations.

More importantly, Shirly, drawing on her experience as Tour leader, really excels in her people skills - she’s very personable, her facility with English is very good and she knows the area very well. Together with her husband and Lammie, her pet Golden Retriever, Our Inn exudes warmth, personality and ambiance.

During my four nights stay there in December 2010, Shirly took some time out from her busy schedule and hiked with me to the famous lookout point overlooking the Li River and the spectacular Karst mountains. Shirly didn’t think I could complete the hike with my bad leg, but I proved her wrong. What a remarkable lady and a real sweetie!

This is a continuation of my story about GEORGE KEMP,
a remarkable gentleman that I met in Nan, Thailand

Upon arriving at his sprawling house located just outside of the city, George showed me pictures of himself when he was younger. With his exotic good looks and the physique of a bodybuilder, George could have easily passed for a Hollywood star. Admittedly, George was somewhat of a butterfly (lady’s man) in his younger days and has been married four times.

Sometime in the mid 1960’s, George lived in Japan for 5 years, where he was married twice and earned to speak Japanese fluently, before returning to Thailand to resume his career with the police force.

Tragedy struck George in the prime of his life in late 1973 (at the time he was 35 years old). While on duty in his patrol car, a speeding car sideswiped the vehicle. At the time of the accident, George was taking a nap in the front passenger seat, while his colleague was driving the car. His colleague escaped with minor injuries but George wasn’t so fortunate.

The accident left George paralyzed from the waist down. After extensive physical therapy, George was unable to continue his duties as a traffic cop and resigned from the Bangkok police force. Confined to a wheelchair, George had to adjust to his new life and was forced to reinvent himself.

Shortly after his mom died, he married the Thai lady who was his mom’s caregiver. Not only did she become George’s wife, but she also became his caregiver. Sometime later George and his wife relocated to Nan, his wife’s hometown and settled down.

While George cannot walk because of his paralysis, he doesn’t let that slow him down as he drives both a customized car for the handicapped as well as a mini motorcar. Well known in the community of Nan, George promotes his wife’s dog grooming business and teaches both English and Japanese (he is fluent in both languages) from his home. Believe it or not, I think George’s classes are free!

In addition, George accommodates out-of-town visitors (mostly western tourists)at his house with “bed and breakfast”. There are five guestrooms available; most of the rooms are equipped with private bathroom and a TV ‘to boot’. I have seen the rooms and in my opinion, they are pretty decent (better than most guesthouses in the area). There is one catch however - George refuses to charge his guests any monies. Apparently George does not need the monies - meeting and interacting with people is more important to him!

I promised GEORGE that I would publicize his guesthouse to fellow travelers on the condition that he accepts a minimum donation of 150 baht (approximately $5.00USD) per night which he will donate to a charity of his choosing, He reluctantly agreed to this stipulation and indicated that he would donate any monies he received to medical research that helps other paralysis victims. If you’re interested in visiting Nan and staying with George, contact him by e-mail at g_kemp83@yahoo.com or call him at 0832932394

I always meet a lot of interesting people when I travel abroad – both fellow tourists and locals. Of all the people that I have met, there cannot be anyone more interesting than George Kemp, a remarkable 72-year-old Thai gentleman from Nan, a small city in Northern Thailand.

Actually George Kemp is not his real name but only a pseudonym that he uses when he is dealing with westerners. You’ll understand why he prefers to go by the name of George Kemp, when you discover that his real name in Thai is Akarintrara Adhidhebnarangkura – which is way too difficult for most us farangs to pronounce.

I met George as I was leaving Hot Bread Café in downtown Nan. He was sitting in his customized motor vehicle which looks like a cross between a motorized golf cart and a motorcycle. I had never really seen a vehicle like this before, but it serves George well as he is paralyzed from the waist down.

A big strapping fellow about 6 ft 2 inches tall, George does not look Thai nor does he look like a classical westerner. George’s bloodlines are mixed - his mother was Thai and his father was a white man from England. With Asian eyes, high cheekbones and otherwise Caucasian features, George has a very exotic look about him.

After shooting the breeze for about 10 minutes with George (he speaks excellent English by the way), he invited me to see his house just up the road. Now normally I don’t accept invitations from complete strangers but given the circumstances, I thought why not – I didn’t think a fellow like George had any bad intentions. So I hopped on my bicycle and followed him to his home, located only 2 kilometers from the cafe.

Upon reaching his sprawling country house, I was greeted by a chorus of barking dogs - mostly small Poodles, Shih-tzus, Lhasa Apsos. Most of the dogs were being housed in small cages in the back of the yard. George then introduced me to his wife and his extended family - a couple of young Thai girls (children of a good friend) who were living with him. As for the dogs, George’s wife is a professional dog groomer, and the caged dogs were waiting for their beauty treatment.

Talking about himself, I learned that George had a very distinguished career as a captain in the Thai police force in Bangkok during the 1960s - mid 1970’s where he worked primarily as a traffic cop. The highlight of his career came in the late 1960’s, when George made a special trip to Germany as an envoy of the Thai police force. This special mission led to the introduction of Traffic Lights to the busy streets of Bangkok.

Coming up - Learn how a tragic car accident completely changed the remarkable life of George Kemp

If you’re traveling to TAIPING, a very pleasant city located in Northwestern Malaysia, you’ll definitely want to stop by and pay a visit to La Promise Bakery and Café. A relative newcomer to the scene, La Promise may be the only restaurant in Taiping that specializes in Western Food, a city which is dominated by food shops offering Chinese, Malay and Indian dishes.

Centrally located in downtown Taiping, the café is especially popular with the University crowd and professional people. Very spacious inside with comfortable seating, the café also has free WIFI.

Prices are reasonable and the food – while definitely not gourmet quality - is fairly good. To give you some idea of the prices – a plate of spaghetti is 7.90RM (about 2.30USD) and a Western style Breakfast – complete with eggs, toast, sausage and juice - is all of 5.50RM(1.60USD). The pastries in particular looked absolutely scrumptious. Richard is a genuine pastry artist!

A young Chinese couple - Richard and Ling – own La Promise Café. I had an opportunity to talk extensively with the amiable Ms. Ling. Of all the people that I met in Taiping, Ms Ling probably speaks the best English. She said that her facility with English can be attributed to her being very diligent as a student in both primary and secondary school.

Born and raised in Taiping, Ms. Ling has quite an interesting history leading up to her career as restaurateur.

After graduating from high school in Taiping in 1999, she received a scholarship to study at a University in Penang, where she majored in hotel management and catering. After 2 1/2 years at the University, she left Malaysia for the Gold Coast of Australia, where she finished her studies at Griffiths University.

Upon graduating from the University in 2005, she returned to Penang, Malaysia where she worked as manager for over 2 years at a local Haagen Daas Ice Cream Store. It was there that she met Richard - her future husband and business partner - who worked in the pastry department of a major hotel.

In 2007, she traveled to Ireland where she took courses in accounting and lived with her brother-in-law for over 1½ years, before returning to Taiping in September 2008. Back at home, she decided to pursue career as a restaurateur with her newlywed husband, Richard.

Her parents, who own a local hardware store in Taiping, gave financial backing to Ling and Richard for their “new baby”, La Promise Café. The Grand Opening took place in August 2009.

I give La Promise a big thumbs up!

Who is this Khun Moongmink, the mysterious lady whose name keeps popping up in many of my travel stories about Thailand? Well she’s quite a lady - not only is she Mad About Plants (she’s a plant enthusiast), but she also translates documents from Thai to English (and vice versa) for a living.

How did I meet Khun Moongmink? I know you’re going to find this hard to believe, but I met her in a private chatroom of Bangkok Chat in Summer 2003, and because of our many common interests – in nature, plant and travel – we became instant friends. After meeting her in person in November 2003 in Bangkok, our relationship as “friends” has blossomed.

Khun Moongmink’s facility with English ranks in the top 5% of all the Thai people that I have met in Thailand. She has helped me out many times as an interpreter in my business communications. While she understands most of what I say – as long as don’t speak too fast - she still has difficulty with pronunciation of many English words. I really cannot fault her as English is her 2nd language. But in the area of translating documents between Thai and English, that is where Khun Moongmink really shines.

Want to know more about this extraordinary lady, and how she became so proficient in English? Khun Moongmink’s tells her story in her own words. See below

I have been studying English since my elementary school, I am still grateful to my teacher on her effort to teach me the English Language. As extra homework, she gave me ten different English words every day to practice and recite with her after classes before I returned home. At the end of the semester, I won the award of “the outstanding student on English Spelling”.

Moreover my family also encouraged me in studying English language. My grandfather worked as an interpreter in a Ministry of Foreign Affairs while my father was a government official in Post & Telegraph Department. My father took me to many international events so that I would have the opportunity to practice my English with foreigners.

I’m continuing to improve my facility with English because I admit to a certain fascination with the language.

Moongmink is currently working full time with an IT company in Bangkok as a translator but now is offering her services of translating documents to the public. If you need somebody to translate documents/letters from English to Thai (and vice versa), I highly recommend Moongmink’s service. She’ll do a very professional job!

For more information about Khun Moongmink’s translation services (and her fees), contact her at madaboutplant@gmail.com