Following the Scents of Curry and Herbs on the Journey to Little India

With the boat we went all the way from Sathorn station to Rachawongse, finding ourselves with a map and without a clue where to go in the middle of China Town. Our plan was to make our way through to Little India. As chance would have it an Indian guy approached us to help us find the way. Like he said we followed the streets with beautiful buildings, crossed the big street and the bridge over the small river. Through narrow alleys with garages full off bags filled with herbs and spices, we let ourselves lead further by the scents of curry and herbs in our noses. Finding ourselves in a labyrinth of Indian shops and restaurants we made our way through to the main road, to land in the middle of Little India. Our first stop was an Indian shopping mall selling Indian jewelry, henna colours, and hundreds and thousand of different kind of fabrics. You could find massage salons, Indian food, tailor shops, stalls selling cosmetics and much more. Leaving the mall through the back entrance, we make our way through narrow streets with vendors selling clothes, vegetables and herbs to another main road where we hope to find the Indian market we were looking for. If it was Pak Khlong or Phahurat Market or something completely different we will never know, but it was streets and streets of shops and stalls selling mostly clothes, all kinds of Indian stuff, cosmetics and food. Fleeing from the heavy rain the raining season brings with it we stay dry in a 7-11 branch before we decide to take a taxi and go – or rather stand – through Chinatown traffic to get home. What we are left with are some great impressions, small things we bought, and some henna colour to be tested the coming days.

Geisterhaus – Spirit house

Kräuter in Little India – Herbs in Little India

Indisches Einkaufszentrum – Indian shopping mall

Indisch essen – Indian food

Obstverkäufer – Street food vendor selling fruits

Saftverkäufer – Street food vendor selling juices

Quick Tip: Sofitel SO Bangkok Pool Party

Today’s ‘Quick Tip’ is about the monthly pool party at the Sofitel SO Hotel in Bangkok. Yesterday we finally spared our time on the last Saturday of the month, put on our bikinis and celebrated the end of our traineeship before university will continue again next week. The pool party was well attended, however not too crowded, wherefore we still could find some spots on the comfy lounge sofas despite our late arrival. I personally think the price of the party is unbeateable especially when taking into consideration that the pool party takes place in the trendy Sofitel SO – a beautiful and stylisch hotel. To those who haven’t been to the party before, I definetly recommend to pay it a visit next month. Down below you find some more ‘quick facts’ and you can find out more about the next pool party on the facebook page of the hotel. Have fun!

Quick Facts:

– every last Saturday of the month

– 250 Baht entry fee including a free drink

– several DJs

– towels and lockers at disposal (the latter one at an extra charge)

– 1.00 – 9.00 PM

– affordable drinks and snacks

The greatest happiness on earth is sitting on the back of the …elephants!

As already promised, here comes my last blog entry about my vacation in Chiang Mai. A few weeks ago one of my biggest dreams finally came true: meet some elephants in their natural surroundings. In doing so, I found it important that the elephants are well treated in the camps they are living in. That is also how I came across the camp ‘Elephant Nature Park’, which is located a bit outside of Chiang Mai. The owner of the camp buys elephants which are sick or treated badly by their owner and provides them in the park a better home in their natural surroundings. For those who are interested to find out more about the park: http://www.elephantnaturepark.org

The day at the park passed as follows: In the morning a van picked us up from our hostel. During the ride to the camp, which took approximately 1 hour, we got to see a documentary about the park and elephants in general. When we arrived at the park, the localities were showed to us, such as the room they store the feed in, the river in which the elephants take a bath and the compound in general. Afterwards we got the opportunity to feed the elephants. We stood on an elevated terrain and basically fed the elephant from there, by putting water melon, cucumber and co. in their trunk. Furthermore we got to see the recently born baby elephant and got the opportunity to make some pictures with some of the elephants in the park. After that we had lunch ourselves, which consisted of a huge buffet with lots of Thai food. Next the elephants wanted to be washed. For this purpose the elephants were lured to the river and all the visitors followed. That was the moment we could splash water at the elephants and wash them. What you need to know about that park is that it is not possible to sit on the back of the elephants, which didn’t matter too much for me personally, as the well-being of the elephants ranks first in my opinion. Afterwards we got to see another documentary, where they also showed how bad some elephants are treated which don’t live in the wild or in conservatories, but instead have owners that use them for work or tourism purposes.

For the ones who would like to know more about elephants and like to inform oneself about how badly they are treated sometimes, I can entrust the article of a good friend of mine to you. That one I will as well publish seperatly on my site as a guest contribution.

Elefantenessen – Elephant food

Elefanten baby – Elephant baby

Quick Tip: Spending a Day at the Schwimming Pool in Bangkok

A few weekends ago, my room mate and me were really feeling like spending a day at the pool, especially after missing the pool party at the Sofitel the day before. After doing some research and asking various people about some suggestions, I found out about the offer at the Continent Hotel. The hotel is situated centrally in the Sukhumvit area and easy to find. The offer costs 999 Baht and includes spending a day at the pool with unlimited cocktails and food (choice of cocktails and choice of hamburgers and sandwiches) and is valid on the weekends. We went on a quite cloudy day, with only a little sunshine – therefore there were only a few guests from the hotel at the pool at some point, which was quite nice.

I definetly would recommend this place to anyone who is looking for a relaxed day at the pool in Bangkok. And the offer is definetly worth it if you consider that a cocktail and some food at another pool would already cost that much. If you have any other recommendations for a pool to go to in Bangkok share it!

Cocktails at the Pool

Pool Bar

Sandwich at the Pool

The reason to carry around a water pistol at all times – or Songkran

When you step out of the house and are wet the next second, see people running around like crazy with water pistols and buckets filled with ice water, you know it is that time of the year – Songkran, Thai New Year. It might appear to outsiders that parts of Thailand transform into a huge water fight and chaos, but in reality it is all part of a long kept tradition. The initial idea behind throwing water was paying respect to others, by pouring blessed water over the shoulders of elders and family members for good fortune. The transformation of this holiday to what it is now evolved from youngsters using the water to cool off each other, as the month of April, when the festival takes place, is the hottest of the year. Paired with alcohol this means a huge party for many Thai people and attracts foreigners to visit especially Chiang Mai, which is famous for its extensively celebrated Songkran.

Even though we don’t consider ourselves the typical tourists, we wanted to join in this big celebration of Thais and foreigners in Chiang Mai. As there are not only a lot of foreigners going to Chiang Mai but also Thais who return to their home country, it was quite difficult to find a way of getting there. The busses were predicted to take twice as long because of the traffic and the trains were fully booked. Therefore we decided to take the plane, but only on Sunday, where the festival was almost over already – wherefore the tickets were also cheaper. Looking back, this was a really good decision! Even though it was quite fun to have water fights with random people, it is quite exhausting to be wet round the clock. The water is often insanely cold because of the ice they put in there, and it is just generally not so fun to walk around wet all the time. Furthermore you should consider that many shops are closed during that times and I assume it is also quite difficult book a tour during these days.

After having survived Songkran, we enjoyed a laid-back day at a Thai cooking school – check out my post from last week about that. Furthermore we spent another day visiting temples and seeing the city in general and one day going to an elephant park a bit outside of Chiang Mai. A blog post about every detail about the elephant park will follow soon. On our last day in Chiang Mai we decided to go on a hiking tour. The tour actually included some white water rafting as well, bamboo rafting, and a hike to a waterfall. The tour seemed to be a bit unorganized but overall still fine – it might have just been because it is a one-man company. We went back to Bangkok with the express night train, in a sleeper carriage. As we were late with booking we only got some free seats in the second class which had a fan and was considerably louder than first class. Basically you are sitting on a leather seat until approximately 7 p.m. when the train staff comes and converts your bench into a bed. I had an upper bed and must say it was not as worse as I thought and I slept quite well, but for the next time I might just pay a few Baht more and get a seat in first class. The ticket price for second class sleeper was approximately 500 Baht. You can best book that directly at the train station or via phone, but in either way you need to go to the train station because you need to pick up the ticket. Concerning the food in the train, they have a restaurant on the train, where a meal costs around 160 Baht which is quite a lot for Thai standards. My tip is to look out for the vendors walking around in the train which sell fruits and small dishes like sticky rice and chicken, which is a lot cheaper and delicious.

Chiang Mai overall was a really nice city to see. It has some nice corners if you just keep looking for them. Also there are a lot of activities to do, which you can easily book in a travel agency or with the hostel you are staying with – just keep in mind that often you can still bargain for a better price. For Songkran Chiang Mai is probably worthy to see, but be aware of the fact that Chiang Mai itself doesn’t have to offer too much attractions, most of the activities are located outside of Chiang Mai. We stayed in a really simple hostel (‘Panda House Chiang Mai’), but I also saw some nice places when walking around in the city which also had a pool, so you might want to look out for that. For breakfast I can definitely recommend ‘Breakfast World’ – the food there isn’t cheap but they offer awesome breakfast with real German bakery goods. They also have a hostel adjoined which would be nice to check out I assume (‘Thapae Gate Lodge’). When it comes to taxis in Chiang Mai you will soon notice that you can’t really find ordinary taxis like you know them, as these are only going from the airport. Instead there are read pick-up trucks driving around which usually take you anywhere in the city for around 20 Baht.

Have you had the chance before to experience a real Songkran festival in Thailand? Let me know about your trips in Thailand and stay tuned for my upcoming posts about my elephant camp visit in Chiang Mai.

Wasserschlacht an Songkran – Waterfight on Songkran

Wasserschlacht an Songkran – Waterfight on Songkran

Temple in Chiang Mai

Tuk-Tuk

Geisterhaus – Spirit house

Temple in Chiang Mai

Temple in Chiang Mai

Tuk-Tuk Fahrt – Tuk-Tuk ride

Temple in Chiang Mai

Wasserfall bei Chiang Mai – Waterfall close to Chiang Mai

‘Mai pet!’ and the Thai cuisine

‘Mai pet!’ is probably one of the first things an Expat in Thailand learns to order food ‘no spicy’. Often the mild versions of Thai food are still too spicy for Europeans. By now I got used to the spicyness and I learnt to love the Thai kitchen, therefore the following blog entry.

During my time in Chiang Mai I participated in a Thai cooking course together with my travel mates. We decided for the cooking school  ‘Thai Farm Cooking School’ which is situated a bit outside of the city. We booked our course via telephone, but there is also an office of the cooking school in the city center of Chiang Mia. The cooking course cost 1000 Baht, and the money was definetly worth it! The course included travel to and from the farm, the preparation and eating of 6 dishes, and a cooking book with all the dishes which were cooked during the course. The supply of cooking courses in Chiang Mai is huge, and without being able to compare, I would definetly recommend this school to anyone. The sourrounding in the nature is beautiful, we cooked partially outside, and the cooking instructor spoke really good English and constantly joked around.

One of my favourite dishes in Thailand is ‘Tom Yam Kung’, a sour soup served with shrimps. During the cooking course I finally learnt how to prepare that dish myself – and of course I would like to share this with you guys.

Ingredients – for 1 person:

1 stalk lemon gras, 1 big tomato, ¼ onion, 2 kaffir lime leaves, 2 small pieces galangal,  1 lime, some mushrooms, 4 shrimps, 2 tablespoon fish sauce, ½ teaspoon sugar, ½ teaspoon shrimp-chili-paste, 2 cups of water, 1 spring onion, some coriander leaves, 1 leaf of Thai parsely, 2 small green chili peppers as you wish

Preparation:

1. First you need to get the water boiling in a pot. The lemon grass should be cut in half and added to the water together with the kaffir lime leaves (without their stems).

2. The tomato as well as the quarter of the onion can be cut in big pieces and added to the cooking water. Now also the galangal can be added. If you want to have it more spicy you might want to add the crushed chili peppers now.

3. Next the fish sauce, suger, and shrimp-chili-paste can be added. The lime is squeezed into the water and the shrimps and mushrooms can be added.

4. When the shrimps are cooked, the stove can be turned off and the chopped herbs and spring onion can be added. Finally you can season the soup with sugar, lime, fish sauce to make it more salty, or add spices.

What is your favourite Thai dish?

Lokaler Markt in Chiang Mai – Local market in Chiang Mai

Lokaler Markt in Chiang Mai – Local market in Chiang Mai

Auf der Farm – At the farm

Cashewapfel mit Nuss – Cashew apple with nut

Zutaten für Currypaste – Ingredients for curry paste

Chicken Cashew

Zubereiten von Chicken Cashew – Preparation of Chicken Cashew

Mango

Lokaler Markt in Chiang Mai – Local market in Chiang Mai

Mörser für die Zubereitung von Currypaste – Mortars for the preparation of curry paste

Überreife Thai-Aubergine – Overripe Thai eggplant

Auf der Farm – At the Farm

Krabi and Ko Yao Yai – A small impression

After a stressful time at uni, I am finally back to write down my stories. Even though it is some time ago now, I would like to share my experiences I’ve made during my long weekend in the south of Thailand in the beginning of April. With the airplane we first went to Krabi, from where we went with the hotel shuttle directly to Ao Nang – the beach where we would spend two nights. We already rented bungalow at ‘Sunda Resort’ prior to our arrival. The resort was really nice and relatively inexpensive. The bungalow was clean and in natural surrounding with a really nice swimming pool on the grounds of the resort. The Thai food in the restaurant was also not too bad, the breakfast though not really recommendable. It was approximately 5 minutes to the beach with the shuttle offered by the hotel at any time the guest wants. We arrived in the evening, wherefore we only had one whole day at the Ao Nang Beach. As the beach was relatively close to the main road and seemed not quite idyllic at first sight, we decided to take a long tail boat to the Phra Nang beach. A ticket for that you can easily buy at a small ticket office next to the beach – the price was 200 Baht for a return ticket. At the beach you have to wait until there are enough people to fill the boat, same goes for the way back. The Prah Nang beach itself could be idyllic if there wouldn’t be that many people there. The complete beach was basically filled up with tourists, the seaside was seamed with long tail boats, and the climbing wall at the end of the beach attracted interested people. As the beach is relatively short and narrow, all these activities lead to a busy ado. The highlights of the beach were the long tail boats on which food was prepared and sold – you will look for a kiosk unsuccessfully. On these boats they sell different meals, drinks and shakes, to Thai prices with good quality. For dinner we went back to the Ao Nang beach. At the very end of that beach you can find the ‘Last Fisherman Bar’ at which you can enjoy the sunset in the evenings with a BBQ and a salad and dessert buffet – the 350 Baht are definitely worth it.

On the next day we went directly at 11 am with the speed boat from Ao Thalane to Ko Yao Yai, an island west of Krabi. The boat was booked from the hotel, but the sticker that we got it was directed to the company ‘Green Planet’. We already booked a bungalow at Esmeralda View Resort beforehand. The booking we made via a phone number which you can easily find on the internet, which was quite a challenge considering the bad English of the owner of the bungalow park. We booked a sea view aircon bungalow for 1800 Baht per night. The view from the bungalow was amazing, seeing the sea and the rocks for which the area around Krabi is so popular for. The bungalow was equipped really nicely and you could relay in the deck chairs on the terrace. The staff was more than hospitable and also picked us up from the ferry port, for approximately 200 Baht. The price for the bungalow also included WIFI and the breakfast, which consisted of a small buffet with different drinks, toast and various bread spreads. Additionally they served fresh fruits and different small dishes like pancakes and Thai snacks. The also offered delicious Thai dishes for dinner on their terrace. The stay at the bungalow park was especially pleasant as we were almost the only guests.

Both days in Ko Yao Yai we spent with a rent scooter – for 350 Baht per day – exploring the island with its many beaches. We drove through cashew and rubber plantations, saw water buffalos, and tanked up with petrol from bottles. From the beaches we saw – Loh Pared Bay, Bo Le Bay und Son Bay – Son Bay was the prettiest one. All beaches were completely lonely and you could see no tourists anywhere.

On the last day we already had our flight back at half past 1, wherefore we had to take the early long tail boat from the island back to the mainland – at 7 in the morning. From the ferry port in Ao Thalane there goes a pick-up truck to Krabi Town for only 100 Baht.From there we booked a Taxi to the airport in a travel bureau for 300 Baht. As we still had some time before we needed to go to the airport, we still explored Krabi Town a bit. The town itself was in my opinion really ugly, and definitely not advisable for spending a longer period of time there. There is nothing to do and everything looks really dirty and sad. As a comment by the way, there are unfortunately not many pictures of the vacation, as my camera got stolen – I hope nevertheless that the remaining pictures give a good impression.

Have you been in the surroundings of Krabi before? Do you have some additional tips concerning good beaches or near islands which are recommendable? I am excited to hear your tips and comments!

To the bottom of the Ocean – Diving Certificate in Koh Tao

„Diving? Diving!“ That was probably what my roomie and I both thought when a friend told us about her diving vacation on one of the Thai islands. We were both interested in trying something new and both took the chance to get our Open Water certificate during our week of vacation. For that we traveled to Koh Tao, an Island in the south of Thailand above Koh Pha Ngan – famous for its full moon parties – and Koh Samui. According to my Dumont guide on Thailand, Koh Tao is especially popular amongst divers, due to the numerous coral reefs and the clean and crystal clear sea. This popularity amongst divers strikes directly on arrival on the island, which is populated by dozens of diving schools.

We booked our bus and ferry ticket from Bangkok already beforehand in the internet. You can do that for example with “Lomprayah”, on whose internet page you can directly book the whole package with bus and ferry. A return ticket with them cost us 2050 Baht. In total we were travelling for approximately 11 hours, starting in close proximity to Khao San Road in Bangkok. On the journey there we took the night bus, starting at 21 pm and arriving in the morning around 8 am on the island. That way you basically don’t lose a precious day of vacation. The bus journey was also better than we thought beforehand. We were lucky that our bus wasn’t that full, wherefore everybody had 2 seats on the bus to stretch out and get a sleep, making the bus ride quite acceptable. Furthermore they handed out blankets in the bus. The return journey was a day ride, as there was no night journey offered. That wasn’t also not as bad as expected. The ones, who don’t want to take the bus, can also take an airplane or train going from Bangkok.

We also decided upon the diving school beforehand and booked it on the internet. Already upon arrival we realized that “Davy Jones Locker“, situated directly at the main beach Sairee, was a good choice. We were picked up at the pier – which was included in the price – and received a warm welcome in the diving school. We still had to wait a bit until our bungalows were tidied up, so we made use of our time and got some refreshments in the café “New Heaven”, directly opposite of the diving school. Together with the “DJL Bar” this proofed to be our favorite hangout; you get really nice breakfast and lunch there, while at the “DJL Bar” which belongs to the diving school, you can enjoy delicious Thai and Western dishes. The bungalows we got assigned, belonged to “Silver Sands Resort”, were also included in the package of the diving course and were situated only a few meters from the seaside. The diving course at Davy Jones starts every day and therefore we started with it directly on the first day we arrived with our 4-day long PADI Open Water diving course, which is given in small groups of approximately 4 people. The first day consisted merely of theory; we watched a few videos about diving and did some quizzes. We also got to know our diving instructor Ben, which proved to be very capable and always open for a little joke during our course. Therefore the course was very lively and still informative with Ben getting across the theory very well. On the second day we did the rest of the theory and got ourselves familiar with the diving equipment. The whole morning we spent practicing the most important skills for diving in the swimming pool. That included learning what to do when you have a flooded mask under water, how to take of your diving jacket with tank in the water, and how to provide an alternative air source for your buddy when he is out of air. On the third day we had our first dive in the sea. We drove with the long-tail boat to the actual bigger boat which brought us to the dive site. Our first two dives were at the sites “Lighthouse” and “White Rock”. There we got familiar with diving in the sea and we practiced some skills underwater. On the fourth day we took the boat at 6 am to do our third and fourth dived at “South West” and again “White Rock”, where we also so a huge sea turtle. After the dives we still had to do our final exam and then we got certified divers, who can dive anywhere in the world 18 meters deep. On our last day of diving we also got filmed over and under water and a small movie was produced. Ours was made by Bella and was definitely worth the money; the price varies depending on how many people buy the video. The diving course cost 9500 Baht in total, including accommodation for 4 nights, pick-up at the pier and all teaching materials.

After our diving course we still had two days in Koh Tao left before we would return back to Bangkok. We decided to stay at the same beach for that time as there is really everything you need. There are a couple of shops with clothes, restaurants, beach bars, and massage salons. We also stayed at Silver Sands Resort, but moved from the bungalow to a room. The room cost 1500 Baht per night for two persons; not really cheap but compared to the bungalow – which was already quite nice – absolutely awesome. After we spent one day at the beach to relax from all that diving, we decided to go to Koh Nang Yuan on our last day. We took a taxi boat to get there, which cost 200 Baht back and forth. On the island we had to pay another 100 Baht entrance fee. Furthermore one should keep in mind that it is not allowed to bring plastic bottles or cans to the island, as well as snorkeling equipment. Koh Nang Yuan basically consists of three islands which are connected with a long beach. On one of them there is a very nice viewpoint for which it is definetly worth climbing up all those stairs to the top of the hill. Also it is very nice to snorkel on the island; snorkels can be rented there. The swimming I liked much better on Koh Tao, as on Koh Nang Yuan there is everything full of dead corals and sea cucumbers. All in all it is only worth a day trip in my opinion. However, to Koh Tao I would definitely come back!

Sairee Beach – Koh Tao

Sairee Beach – Koh Tao

Koh Nang Yuan

Koh Nang Yuan

Koh Nang Yuan

Koh Nang Yuan

Taxi Boat