Thursday Street Market

chili flower

nice dress, lady!

pink sweets

green sweets


dried fish flower


steamed fish

Dean&Deluca bag

animal maker

fukashi bought a deer

i bought a lama

toy lady

spaceship full of rice

2010 red shirts anti-government protests

here's some snippets from the coverage of the Thai anti-government protests this april (this was before the government crack down):

-"The army had bizarrely set up a sound truck which was blasting out '70s disco hits in an attempt to keep the mood light. When I got there they were playing Boney M's “Rasputin.” A local truce was negotiated between a red shirt and the army unit commander."

-"the atmosphere was festive at first. red shirts were handing out cookies to passers by."

-"heavy rains cooled off the protesters and halted the clashes between the red shirts and the police this afternoon".

-"did you know that you could go take your pictures taken with the soldiers at the Asok intersection? they may even let you hold their guns."

-"I saw one of the red shirts holding a Molotov cocktail while smoking a cigarette while making a donation to a monk to get a good luck blessing for the protests."

all of the "news" about the ex-prime minister Thaksin were very yellow press and resembled a gossip column.

-"I'm shocked to learn about the rumors that I was in shock during chemotherapy," Thaksin told his red-shirt supporters. He pulled his hair purportedly to prove that he was not wearing a wig to cover baldness caused by cancer treatment."
(Thaksin is the ousted ex-prime minister who is behind the anti-government red shirts movement. he is wanted by thai court for $ fraud. he is allegedly living in Dubai at the moment. he also has a residence at Montenegro and a Nicaraguan passport. he's been leading his followers (the red shirts) through the protests via twitter).

Bangkok snapshots

haven't posted in a while...kinda missed it. here's some snaps from yesterday:

"good luck for the road" onion

carpets for sale

these boots belong to one of the guards outside of the prime minister's house. he'll be right back.

someone left a tray of chili peppers on the sidewalk

Loy Krathong Festival

Loy Krathong fest back back in novemeber. i need to go to more of these things.

"Krathongs" are sold everywhere. you are supposed to light the candles and float them away. all your grudges, anger, and bad feelings will float away. these are "environmentally friendly" versions made out of bread as opposed to styrofoam ones.

Benjasiri Park


my "krathong". quite modest compared to most.

dancers

get the bread ones!

Loy Krathong Festival, Nov. 09 from natasha podogova on Vimeo.

Koh Chang - some boring pictures but of a very pretty beach destination.

welcome to Koh Chang. best beach - Klong Prao. powdery sand, very clean, not too shallow nor too deep. perfect for long swimming sessions.


Klong Prao also has a river flowing in. which makes the beach much more picturesque than everyone's favorite White Sand beach.

the east side of the island. no sandy beach. mainly rocks. but a lot less crowded. plus the views are breathtaking.

accommodations here are geared towards eco crazy backpacking travelers. this one is the most famous: Tree House

favorite part about the trip - wild life!
saw some elephants by the side of the road. some are brought in for tourists' entertainment. but you can also see some grazing peacefully just out in the open after a long working day.

there was also a frog. this one landed on our car window.

and these are just some monkeys hanging out by the curb.

Koh Chang - how to's

we rented a car from Avis. in bangkok. loaded up our hotel's phone number into our basis GPS device. the GPS generated directions to our destination. we hit the road. 3.5 hours later we were at the ferry to Koh Chang.

for the road:
a "good luck on the road" jasmine flower garland. an offering to the journey goddess Mae Yanang. all taxi drivers in thailand use one. so we decided to have one too. it's pretty and works well as air freshener.

the ferry to the island takes about 40 minutes.


hotel - Nisa Cabana. up on the cliff, in the middle of a jungle forrest, at the end of the road. very secluded. and very nicely designed. (if you don't critique the artwork on the walls too much).
the room:


the pool area:

the library:

the view:

best way to book - through this site: Agoda
our rate was $60 per night. very reasonable considering the quality of accommodations and service. i use this site all the time for all of my Asia hotel bookings. and they always quote the best price. without fail. have yet to try it for other destinations. the site's customer reviews are also very helpful in making the final commitment.

Wat Arun - The Temple Of Dawn

the first tourist site i've visited in Bangkok.


so much detail it's almost painful.






the stairs to climb to the top are almost vertical. a bit challenging. even for a German:)