The Paradise on Earth

Today, I'd like to mention about the beautiful island I have dream on ... Yeah! Koh Kood. Last year I always asked my friend to bring me to Koh Kood, but we can't because all resorts are full and we don't wanna stay over night on land just for waiting to get the speed boat (Pranburi was our destination instead). However, this year my friends and I am going to this Island for 3 days 2 nights ... and tonight I will drive to the port at 2 am start from bangkok (Someone leaving to the State tonight for educational reason, I wish you have a safety good journey!! -- Byeeee). Well, I have to take a nap before leaving, will tell you guy when I come back safety from the trip ... OK?!?

Here's the information about Koh Kood, ...

... the paradise island close to Koh Chang in Thailand, is located at the very end of the Thai eastern maritime territory bordering Cambodia. Koh Kood is the last Island in the Trat Sea Waters. Covering 105 square kilometers, it is the second biggest island of the province of Trat, after Koh Chang. Koh Kood the nature lover destination and save money.

What draws visitors, mostly locals, to come to this island is its completely pristine nature, both inland and underwater. Small mountains and ridged plains have given rise to many inland brooks, streams and waterfalls. Klong Chao Waterfall in particular is particularly spectacular. With three tiers, it brims with glittering water all year round, superb for soaking and swimming. It was once visited by King Mongkut (King Rama VI) and was given the royal name ‘Anamkok Waterfall’ in commemoration to Ong Chiang Lue, a Vietnamese king taking refuge in the Kingdom of Thailand during the reign of King Rama I in the late 18th century. Koh Kood Island , Trat, ThailandThe original inhabitants were Thais and Cambodians who fled to the Thai territory when the French took over the city of Padjantakiri in 1904. The oldest community is Klong Mad Village whose residents still make a living out of planting rubber trees, coconut trees and basic fisheries. But the biggest community here is Ao Yai Village, a harbor where many fishing boats seek refuge during rough weather.

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The Journey begins ...

Thai Cooking Classes in Chiang Mai

Why not Thai Food ... Learn to be Thai with our story

……Today I just read this article from Richard Barrow, the story about Thai foods from Thai-Blogs.com. His experiences would be a great tip when you come to Thailand esp. Chiang Mai.
One of the main reasons Richard had been in Chiang Mai at that moment is to check out the situation of Thai cookery classes. Not only wanted to attend a couple of classes for his own benefit, but he also wanted to write some reviews for the cooking website.

There are at least 15 cooking schools in Chiang Mai. Richard had written emails to all of the schools asking if he could visit them to take pictures and learn some courses. Only five schools write back … and this is his story:

Once I had arrived in Chiang Mai I did some more research. First I checked out the free magazine to see if any of the schools were established enough to take out advertising. I only found two adverts: Chiangmai Thai Cookery School and Baan Thai. Apparently, these were the first and second school respectively that were established in Chiang Mai. All of the other schools just seemingly jumped on the bandwagon. I next visited the Tourist Authority of Thailand. Here I found an excellent brochure made by the cooking school A Lot of Thai. It was really nicely done with beautiful pictures of the dishes and a handy map of Chiang Mai. The person at the information desk handed me a list of cookery schools which has now added a few more to my already long list.

Next I visited a few of the Tour Agencies. There must be hundreds of these in Chiang Mai. If you want to book treks, elephant rides, bus tickets, dinner theatre tickets etc., then you won’t have much trouble. These agencies are like 7–Eleven and you will find them on almost every corner! Although these agencies acknowledge that there are other cooking schools, they are always trying to push you into signing up for their favorite school. The name “Pad Thai” came up a few times. It is really difficult to know how sincere these people are. Are these schools genuinely the best or are these just the ones that pay out the highest commission? Most courses seem to be around the 800–900 baht figure. However, I hear that some greedy agencies can demand up to 250 baht commission per person. To counteract that, I saw on some brochures and adverts that they say you should ring the schools directly and not go through an agency. Some even offer you a discount if you do that.

This morning, I went to visit Sompet Market as I had heard this was a good place to buy fresh produce. I was mainly going to take pictures rather than buy anything. You will find this market on the eastern side of the old city close to the moat. By the time we arrived it was 10 a.m. and there weren’t that many people around. I was the only foreigner there and there were probably about a dozen or so Thai customers. I wandered around taking a few pictures of ingredients and people shopping. Then I spotted a group of foreigners arriving. They were all carrying shopping baskets. I then realized that this must be one of the local cooking schools bringing their students to the market for a visit. I went closer to see what the teacher was saying. She was explaining about the different vegetables. There were about six students in the class. I tapped one on the shoulder and asked what cookery school he was attending. He gave me a blank look and then turned to his friend. I thought maybe they didn’t understand my question but it turned out that they had no idea!

One of the schools that was sending their students to Sompet Market was Baan Thai. I was impressed with their website and was keen to visit. But, I was disappointed that they never bothered to reply to my email. With so much competition I think it is really important that they have an Internet presence. But, maybe they didn’t need to worry, as like their brochure proudly boasts, that they are “recommended by Lonely Planet”. But that means nothing. From experience, once these places get themselves featured in LP they then never bother to improve their business. As Baan Thai didn’t seem to be far away we decided to go and take a look for ourselves.

We found the cookery school down a narrow soi that was really only wide enough for a car and a half. It was a quiet soi but it looked like that many of the private houses had now been turned into guesthouses or restaurants. Parking was a real problem for us but I guess most of their clientele are backpackers and they would be walking. The funny thing is, we counted four cooking schools here alone! It looked like that everyone fancied themselves as cooks and teachers. It was a bit like them saying, “Well if my neighbour can do it then so can I!”. So, they bought a few cooking stations and put up a lean-to around the back for the classroom. Simple really.

I was really hoping that Baan Thai was going to be more than just a cooking school that operated round the back of someone’s house. I was impressed with their advertising and website. I had heard they were the second cooking school in Chiang Mai. But, to be honest, I was a little disappointed. The pictures on their web site had made everything look so spacious. But, it wasn’t. We inquired whether the owner was at home but was told that she was away. It didn’t look like she taught any more. The front room had a low table where the students could sit on the floor and eat their creations. Around the back we found the students in the middle of a lesson. There were only four of them. They seemed happy though I felt that the teacher seemed a little unsure of herself. Maybe she hadn’t had much experience yet.

When you come to pick a school you need to decide whether you want the small personal touch from a school run in a family home or a more professional school that can have 20 in a class. I like the idea of a family run school. But, the owner would also have to be the teacher. Once that person delegates their work to other people then that place loses the personal touch. Tomorrow I will be attending my first cookery class. I have chosen A Lot of Thai partly because it has small classes taught by the owner, but also because the husband of the teacher was so chatty in his several emails to me. I will let you know later how I got on with this class.

The Legend for Upcoming Season ... Learn More!

The Rocket wish for Crop Season

The legend has it that once there was a rain god named Vassakan who loved to be worshipped with fire. The townspeople created a rocket or 'Bang Fai' to send to heaven, where the god resided. They believed that the god would hear their entreaties and bless them with plentiful rain for rice cultivation. So the celebration is entirely to the god of rain. Like several other Thai festivals, Buddhist monks would be in attendance for the ceremony. The rockets, launch platforms and other decorations for this event are prepared for several weeks before the actual event. An average rocket is some nine metres in length and carries 20-25 kilograms of gunpowder

Originally the rockets were made out of natural materials, but these days, they are slightly more sophisticated. Rockets are packed with several kilos of gunpowder instead. In order to make the rocket festival much more fun, various competitions for the biggest and highest flying rocket are held, all conducted with the undying Thai spirit of 'sanook'.

On the festival day, rockets are paraded to the launch site. Villagers dress in colorful traditional costumes, playing, teasing and dancing, to accompany the procession.

The climax of the festival is the launch time. The rockets are fired from their launch platforms one by one. Noisy folk music and cheers can be heard for each liftoff. The rocket that reaches the greatest height is declared the winner. The owner of this rocket dances and pushes for rewards from the crowds. The owners of rockets that exploded or failed to fly are thrown in the mud. Whether or not their wishes are granted as they believe, the festival helps strengthen and promote harmony among the villagers, which will be needed when the new crop season begins.