Stuart's Life in Thailand

Motorcycle Taxis in Bangkok

2010-03-07T14:46:07Z

Dear Internet,

Believe it or not, I am still alive. Apologies for not keeping you updated lately. There isn't really much interesting news to share these days. Just a lot of long hours in the office in front of the computer and a trip to place that still rates as "just ok" (Kuala Lumpur). But I am alive and well and happy most of the time.

I did want to share one thing with you today though. As you may know, one of the best ways to get around Bangkok is by Motorcycle Taxi. It's fast and cheap, but certainly not the safest way to go. My good friend Chris made a video from the back of one of these taxis the other day, and it was just too good to not pass along.

So... please enjoy Chris' video of my favorite mode of transportation in Bangkok!

Sincerely,
Stuart

Attacked By Ants!

2009-11-02T04:04:31Z

It has been exactly two months since my last post here. Unfortunately I just haven't found the time or the motivation to write, even though my life hasn't been completely boring. I actually did a lot of traveling, driving all the way from Phuket to Chiang Mai via Bangkok and a side trip to Kanchanaburi and then back to Phuket over the course of a couple of weeks. I really should post some pictures from that trip as it was a great overview of what can be found in Thailand.

In my last post two months ago, I mentioned that I started taking a daily Thai language class. I am still going every day, and it has been incredibly helpful. I feel like I have learned so much, but as with most things, the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know!

Last week my teacher suggested that I write a short story every night, and then the next day we will base the lesson on my story. We have done it twice now, and it has worked out great. Basically we spend the next class talking about all of the grammar errors that I made, or more eloquent ways to say what I am trying to say, or she will just ask me lots of questions about the story until we get to vocabulary I don't understand and then she will teach it to me.

I think that what I will do now is to write the story at night, get it corrected and improved in class the next morning, and then type it out in Thai here (with an English translation). Writing it here should help me learn to type Thai as well as keep a record of my studies.

So without further ado, here is my first story, an exciting (and true) tale of being attacked by ants last week:

สองวันที่แล้วผมอาบนำ้และเวลาเสร็จผมใช้ผ้าเช็ดตัวจนแห้งก็เลยรู้สึกคันทั่วทั้งตัวผม ผมมีตุ่มเต็มไปหมดที่แขน คอ ขา ลำตัว เพราะว่าได้มดกัด วันนี้ผมยังเจ็บทั้งตัว

And in English:

Two days ago, I took a shower and when I was finished I used the towel until I was dry. Then, I felt itchy all over my body. I looked, and there were hundreds of bumps on my arms, neck, legs, and torso because I was bit by the ants. Today, I still hurt all over.

Looking at this short story shows me how far I have come, and how far I have to go. In order to write these short little sentences, I had to do a first draft using an online dictionary to look up some spellings, get it proofread by my teacher, write it again on paper, type it (which took 15 minutes alone), and then have it checked by Piyawat for errors (which there were still a few).

But I have to be happy for small steps on a journey that doesn't have a destination...

Back in Thai Language Class

2009-09-02T08:29:18Z

It has always been my dream to be fluent in another language. Three years of French in High School and another two in college didn't help me in this quest at all, leaving me 20 years later with not much more than "Bonjour" and "Voulez-vous coucher..."

(Although now that I think about it, the latter phrase might be in the memory banks thanks to that song from Moulin Rouge.)

And I guess I don't have to mention that the two years of Latin in high school didn't enable me able to speak with Caesar either. Et tu, Brute?

So here I am, living in a foreign country for seven full years. What a great opportunity to learn a new language, right? The words should be rolling off my tongue by now with many late night discussions on the Buddha's teachings (tammá), democracy in Thailand (brà-chah-tí-bà-dai), what color shirt I should wear tomorrow (sêu.a sěe à-rai -- but yellow on Monday is the only one I can remember), et cetera.

That's how it should be, but au contraire, mon frère, I still can't do much more than order my dinner and tell a taxi where to go. Oh, and the obligatory First Conversation:

New Thai Friend: Where do you come from?
Me: America.
NTF: Obama! Very good! Are you married?
Me: No, I am not.
NTF: You speak Thai so well!
Me: Thank you.

So with the dream still in my mind, I enrolled for a private Thai language course yesterday and had my first lesson today. I was a bit apprehensive as most of my experiences in Thai language schools have been abysmal (caveat emptor!), but the first lesson turned out great. I had to admire my teacher's probing questions to test just how much I knew -- how complex of a sentence can I understand? And which topics do my limited working vocabulary cover? She started out asking me about the news of this week's Japanese election. But I quickly had to tell her that I can't converse about the news (kòw), I can only talk about food (ah-hǎhn) and taxis (rót táak-sêe).

So she quickly switched to a topic I could understand. And amazingly enough, for the first time ever I now have a Thai teacher who speaks English and who understands English grammar and can explain things when I get stuck (which is often).

Also, I realized that since most of the Thai I have learned has been from studying books and websites on my own, I realized today that my reading skills are much better than my listening skills, and I do a better job of listening than speaking. My teacher would say something, and I would be able to pick out 80% of the words, but often no meaning. But then she would write the same sentence on the board and I could take a minute to parse it out and understand what she was trying to say.

So here's hoping I can make progress on my Thai language skills this month. And if you will excuse me, I have some homework to do. (Carpe diem!)

Legal and Accounting Services in Thailand

2009-08-31T07:17:08Z

For the past two years, a lot of my time has been spent on my fledgling company and our Learn Thai Language website. But there is no way I could have made it this far without the help of my lawyer to navigate the incredibly complex Thai bureaucracy, such as getting visas from Immigration, work permits from the Ministry of Labor, business certifications from the Department of Business Development under the Foreign Business Act, etc. The list goes on and on.

Accounting is another big battle where I have to fight against Thai red tape. For the past two years, I have relied on my accounting firm to make sense of all of the taxes and other obligations I have with the Revenue Department, such as the 2 annual audits (in Thai) of my company outlining all of the expenses and income (assets and liabilities) of my company.

Now, my legal team and my accounting team have joined forces in Phuket under the name The Lawyers Limited Group. For the past few weeks, I have been working with them to develop a new website for their new venture. Today, I am very happy to say that The Lawyers Limited Group's website is now open to the public. Please feel free to check it out. (I think the site turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself!)

And if anyone reading this needs a lawyer or an accountant in Thailand, I highly recommend The Lawyers Limited Group. They have been nothing but helpful, knowledgeable, and extremely professional, and all with very reasonable rates. It's hard enough dealing with the Thai government (who expects me to speak Thai and fill out mountains of paperwork) without having to worry about someone taking advantage of the situation and charging outrageous rates to help me out.

So thanks guys, and best of luck to you in your new venture!

Getting Settled in Phuket

2009-08-30T14:57:49Z

For the past 7 years of living in Thailand, this website has been a huge part of my life, as I used it to make a record of some of the places I had seen and people I had met. So much has happened to me over these 7 years, I am really glad that I wrote a lot of it down and took thousands of pictures to document my experiences.

But now, perhaps the thrill is gone and this website has sat neglected for the last four months. Most of this time has been spent trying to get acclimated to a new life and a new lifestyle in Phuket. To be honest, I was not completely excited with the idea of moving to Phuket. The Phuket I know is mostly made up of Patong, aka Tourist Central. I have never been a big fan of the tourist spots. The more foreigners that are in one place, the less Thai that place becomes. And it's the Thai aspects of Thailand that make me want to live here.

But over time, Phuket has grown on me. I live in the middle of the island away from the tourist beaches, but I really do love being only 15 minutes away from them. It is easy to jump in the car and drive to the beach for a fresh seafood dinner next to the water at sunset. And of course the fresh ocean air is a welcome change from sooty, car-infested Bangkok. The pace is much slower here than the chaos of Thailand's capital as well.

I have to admit though, although Phuket has grown on me, it has not been an easy transition to make. But I feel like I am finally getting settled here and I am able to start focusing on the things that I enjoy -- both professionally and personally.

And perhaps I will even find some time to visit my long lost blog now and then and record more bits and pieces of Stuart's Life in Thailand...

April In Thailand: Red-Shirts, Songkran, and Phuket

2009-04-30T07:53:35Z

Here we are at the end of another month, and I didn't write a single thing here the last thirty days. I am definitely out of the habit of keeping up this blog now, both due to lack of time, but also to lack of inspiration. Not to say that my life has been boring, lately. April was a fairly exciting month for Thailand, actually. But for some reason I just haven't made myself sit down and write about it.

Part of the problem is that the format for this website has always been long essays. And lately I just can't seem to make the time to crank them out. So this past month, in place of long blog posts here, I have been doing some "micro-blogging" on Facebook and Twitter. So feel free to check me out there, in case you are ever worried if I am still alive.

Looking back at what I posted there gives you some idea of what was on my mind this past month:

5:16 PM April 5: On the train from Prachinburi after a 65 km bike ride through the countryside.

6:15 PM Apr 7th: What a great storm we just had in Bangkok. Lost electricity twice. And it's not even rainy season yet!

10:22 PM Apr 7th in reply to bradlai1982: I decided to give Twitter another try. And for some reason, I like it a lot more this time around.

10:25 PM Apr 7th: Had a new dish for lunch today: radish, egg, and squid stir-fry. It was MUCH tastier than it sounds!

8:03 AM Apr 8th: "Comfort has its place, but it seems rude to visit another country dressed as if you've come to mow its lawns." - David Sedaris (via @nickgray)

And then the Red Shirt Protests started, and pretty much took over everyone's life for a few days:

2:19 PM Apr 8th: Live blog of the Red Shirt protest in Bangkok today from Nirmal Ghosh of the Straits Times http://tinyurl.com/csajbp (h/t @bangkokpundit)

4:41 PM Apr 9th: Day 2 of the Red Shirt Protest has moved to Victory Monument, a major transportation hub in BKK. Nermal's Liveblog http://tinyurl.com/c5ldlh

6:13 PM Apr 9th: Hope no one is planning on driving on Thong Lo or Ekkamai tonight. Both are parking lots.

And then I thought things had settled down:

9:04 PM Apr 10th: Time to go out for a drink before the Songkran madness starts tomorrow.

But boy was I wrong, or at least the "madness" was not what I was expecting:

1:02 PM Apr 11th: Holding Prime Ministers of all the Asian countries hostage in a hotel does not bode well for the future of Thailand.

3:33 PM Apr 12th: Unbelievable scenes on Thai TV now. #redshirt mobs attacking government officals' cars. Why are the Thai Police so completely impotent?!

3:26 PM Apr 13th in reply to underexpose: I wouldn't call this #redshirt mess a Civil War, yet. More like Civil Skirmish. But I worry that a real war is looming.

5:14 PM Apr 13th: Just finished filing my income tax, two days before it's due. Now it's back to watching Thai events unfold on TV and Twitter.

12:35 PM Apr 14th: The #redshirt protest seems to be slowly breaking up, thankfully. Protests are OK. Burning busses and attacking the PM's car is not.

And then, finally, it really was over:

7:32 PM Apr 14th: Watching thousands of Thais celebrate Songkran on Silom. Looks like a great release after a stressful weekend!

After the Red-Shirt-tainted Songkran, my attention turned to moving to Phuket:

9:31 AM Apr 18th: In Phuket for the weekend. Let the apartment search begin!

6:48 PM Apr 18th: Enjoying the sea breeze and a beautiful sunset on Mai Kao Beach. Maybe this move won't be so bad after all.

11:53 PM Apr 18th in reply to nickgray I'm glad we had a chance to see you tonight. We had fun hanging out with your folks as well. Have a great flight tomorrow!

5:33 PM Apr 20th: Back to BKK from Phuket. The search for a place to live was successful. Now it's time to start packing up the house.

6:35 PM Apr 20th from Nambu in reply to robdejonge: Yes, I'm moving to Phuket and taking the official @ITS4Thai office with me. That's the beauty of working online...from anywhere!

8:43 AM Apr 21st in reply to augustahopkins: We have some new business opportunities down there. Plus, it's time for change! Been in BKK for over 6 years now. (Amazing)

And after that, I was definitely off-balance and leading a chaotic life:

5:24 PM Apr 22nd in reply to jonrandy: Around Xmas I started playing a web-based game called Travian and had to quit this week because I was too addicted! :P

8:48 AM Apr 28th: I have officially given up on my New Year Resolutions. Three and a half months was not too bad, right?

But then we ended the month on a high note (63 stories high, that is!)

11:30 PM Apr 30: Celebrated Piyawat's new unemployment with a ginger-flavored martini at Vertigo tonight.

The month of May will be mostly all about our move to Phuket. But before that starts, we will spend the long Labor Day holiday in Ko Chang with Piyawat's family. Then it's time to pack everything and move to the South. It's going to be a busy month.

ITS4Thai Subscriptions and Facebook Profiles

2009-03-31T14:53:07Z

It's been a busy last couple of weeks, as you might have guessed by the lack of posts here. Most of my time has been spent working on ITS4Thai. And I have to say that I have finally marked a few big items off my to-do list.

From the very beginning of building the site, I wanted to provide a way to subscribe to all of the content for a low monthly fee. Some people shy away from monthly subscriptions, but I am one who prefers them. So now that we have over 200 lessons at ITS4Thai, we finally had enough content to offer a subscription to everything for only US$6.99 per month.

We also added an option to buy all of our courses at once. That is now listed at $79.99. And of course, people can still buy individual courses, which range from US$5.49 - US$14.99.

In other ITS4Thai news, we also joined Facebook this week. If you have a Facebook profile, please help us spread the word by becoming a "Fan" of ITS4Thai. You can find us by searching for "Thai Language" in the search box in the upper right corner of any Facebook page.

We'll be sure to post ITS4Thai updates to Facebook, so it's a great way to keep in touch with us. There's more to come, so stay tuned!

Three Reasons to Go to Luang Prabang

2009-03-09T15:27:46Z

I have spent the last week in what is definitely one of my favorite places in the world: Luang Prabang, Laos. It was a spur of the moment trip, but I had three good reasons to go.

The first reason was to join some new friends from the US on the Lao leg of their trip. James, Todd, Paul, and Beth were friends of a friend. We had such a good time hanging out in Bangkok last week that I decided to take them up on their offer to join them in Luang Prabang.

My second reason to go was to try to drag along some of my few remaining friends who have never been to Laos. Only one (Vic) was able to go, but he ended up loving it so much that he extended his trip and is still there!

The third reason was to visit my Lao friend Sack who was doing a three month teacher's training in Sayaburi province, south of Luang Prabang. He invited me to come visit him and see where he is doing his training, and since I had been wanting to go to Sayaburi, I thought it was a great opportunity.

By the way, I have no idea how to spell Sayaburi. At the bus station I saw both Sayaboury and Xayabouli. Lonely Planet calls it Sainyabuli. And Google Maps lists it as Xaignabouri. And I thought translitterating Thai was difficult!

In any case, the first few days in LPB were great. I took my friends to all of my favorite places: lunch and beers at Noy's family guesthouse, BBQ grill at Mali's, dinner at Lao Lao Garden one night and Blue Lagoon another, and dancing at the infamous Dao Fa (Blue Star) Lao disco. A trip to the Kuang Si waterfall and rope swing was also a well-received outing for the group.

All in all it was another great trip to Luang Prabang. And, as usual, I can hardly wait to go back!

Watching Friends Perform Live

2009-02-27T14:46:39Z

One of the things I love about Thailand is the amount of live music and shows that I get to see. Sometimes it's a band playing at a restaurant, or perhaps it's karaoke at a village festival, or maybe it's a children's troop performing a dance routine. Not all of it is great talent, but it is always performed with zest and fun and huge smiles, so it's easy to forgive the off-key notes and asynchronous dance steps.

I was in Pattaya last night and as we strolled down the infamous Walking Street (think Bourbon Street on steroids) I was amazed at how many bands were performing in the bars. And they were all quite good, whether they were playing Thai love songs or Bob Marley or the Rolling Stones or hip hop cover songs. Even the Thai Elvis wasn't bad.

But live performances are even better when I know the people who are performing. I have always loved watching my friends in band concerts or in stage plays or dance recitals. When I know the person on stage and I know their normal everyday personality, and then I see them become someone else for a few minutes, it sends chills down my spine. Especially when they forget the crowd in front of them and it's just them and their bass or their dance or their script. They tilt their head back a bit and close their eyes and pour their soul into their art. It brings me close to tears every time.

This week I was lucky enough to experience this not once but twice. The reason for being in Pattaya last night was to watch my friend Jay give a singing concert at a fundraiser. (Jay is the "male voice" for the ITS4Thai website, by the way.) We thought it would be a small affair at a piano bar, but in fact it was in the street in front of the bar and hundreds of Thais and farang were in attendance. Jay's performance was great, and the songs he picked (none of which I knew) really highlighted his talent.

And then this evening I went to hear an ex-student of mine named Yossiri play bass in his band at Central World. He said that it was a hard-rock band, but the music they played was surprisingly melodic and downright bouncy at times. Again, I loved being in the crowd and watching someone I know pour his passion out for an appreciative audience.

Yossiri sent me a link to his band's You Tube video from this show. It's not very high quality, but you can still make him out playing bass on the right side of the stage. Feel free to check it out!

Good Drinking Water from Sprinkle

2009-02-24T15:26:39Z

The Thai Government says that tap water in Bangkok is safe to drink, and as far as I know, I have never had any trouble with it. But I have always tended to stick to bottled water for my drinking and my cooking. But buying plastic jug after plastic jug of water that will end up in a landfill somewhere is not very environmentally responsible thing to do.

So for a long time, we have been filling up empty jugs with water at water stations like this one. They are all over Bangkok, and for only 1 baht per liter (10 cents per gallon), you can have supposedly clean, filtered water.

But it was a hassle to remember to take the empty jugs to the gas station, fill them up, then lug them back to the house. And who knows how safe the water really is?

So now we are getting Sprinkle water from a company called M Water. They started us off with three 5-gallon containers of water and 24 coupons redeemable for full containers. Every week, we put the empties outside our door with the appropriate number of coupons, and they stop by to collect and replace them with full ones.

The price is a little bit more than the water stations, but the free delivery and quality assurances make it a great deal in my opinion.

Sprinkle Water
Delivered by M Water Co.
136/2 Moo 9 Vibhavadee-Rangsit Road
Sikun, Don Muang, Bangkok
Sales Tel: 02-712-7272

Bike Ride to Klong Saen Sap, Ramkamhang, and Seri Thai

2009-02-22T13:28:41Z

For my long bike ride this weekend, I decided to try a route recommended by someone on The Klong Cyclist website. The site said that there was a good walkway along the Saen Sap Canal that would take me to a few lakes in the Seri Thai area. Then, on the way home I could take some back roads behind Ramkamhaeng and avoid the busy roads in this area.

I decided to do an afternoon ride this time, and unfortunately that meant that I didn't get to explore as much as I would have liked to, as I ran out of daylight. But on the other hand, I didn't have to get out of bed at the crack of dawn!

The pathway along the Saen Sap canal turned out to be a great one. It's about 2 meters wide and goes for about 4 kilometers on both sides of the canal, from Ramkamhaeng Soi 29 to Soi 107. And other than a few stray dogs and small children, it was mostly obstacle-free. It also gave me a chance to see some interesting life along the canal, including lots of temples, including an Islamic mosque and a Buddhist temple almost next door to each other. Not to mention, it is much more peaceful than riding on Ramkamhaeng!

Eventually I made my way over to Seri Thai road (which runs parallel to Ramkamhaeng and the Saen Sap Canal) and to an area called Buengkum. There are a few small lakes that are all linked together, and a very nice city park around some of them called Seri Thai Park. Here is what the information sign said about the park:

The park was open for public use in 1987. It was the flood prevention project initiated by His Majesty the King Rama IX. Once known as Bueng Kum or Beung Tathong, the vast public reservoir was renamed to Seri Thai Park in honor for the Seri Thai or Free Thai movement on the occasion of the 52nd anniversary of the end of World War II. The park covers an area of 350 rai (about 140 acres). One part of which is allocated for the Creation of Bangkok Forest Park as a commemoration to His Majesty the King Rama IX's 50th reigning anniversary. The forest park consist of 3 parts, namely Thaimisuk, Rom Sai, and Charoenkan, all of which are partly planted with perennial plants and partially allocated for flower and fruit tree gardens, with both Thai and foreign species, as well as an island pavilion.

I then headed over to find the back roads off of Ramkamhaeng Soi 118. But before I did, I stopped for some dinner. The first thing on the recommended menu at the restaurant where I stopped was grapaow blaa, which I read as gapraow blah, or basil fish, and which sounded delicious! But instead, the grapow blaa came -- a bowl of fish stomachs!

So let's review the Thai language lesson of the day: gRa-paow = basil, ga-pRaow = bag or stomach.

The full name of the dish was gapraow blah nam daeng. The nam daeng part means "red liquid/sauce", and since I wasn't familiar with this term, I really had no idea what I was getting. But it turned out to be pretty good. The fish stomachs actually don't have much taste, and the "red liquid" is really a thick brown gravy with mushrooms. A handful of shredded crab and some green onion was thrown on top. Not bad at all!

But after that mistake, it didn't get much better. The sun was going down, and I proceeded to get myself lost down the labyrinth of Ramkamhaeng Soi 118. I ended up having to backtrack out to the main road and head home. (And busy Ramkamhaeng is not a very fun road to bike on!) But I'll definitely try this route again and see if I can figure out how to take the back roads next time.

Some pictures from the ride can be viewed here, and here is a map of my 48-kilometer route:

View Larger Map

Conversation Course 2 Now Available at ITS4Thai

2009-02-21T09:44:20Z

I am very happy to report that after a short hiatus, the ITS4Thai Language website is finally growing again. Yesterday, we released the brand-new Conversation Course 2. This course is the same format as the first online Conversation Course that we have been offering since last year, but covers the following new topics:

Small Talk: Conversations about living in Thailand and learning the Thai language.

Entertainment: Useful words and phrases for going out, and for watching TV and movies.

Business Around Town: Going to the gym, the spa, the post office, and getting a haircut.

Time Chapter 2: These lessons build on the time lessons in the first course and cover being on time, setting time for meetings, and expiration dates.

Eating Chapter 2: These lessons build on the eating lessons in the first course and cover different types of meat, vegetarian food, breakfast, and late-night snacks.

Adjectives: This course also includes some vocabulary lessons which teaches about 70 very common and very useful adjectives.

The 40-lesson Conversation Course 2 has the same low price as the first one: US$14.99 or 499 Thai Baht and it can be purchased on the ITS4Thai website. Just log in at http://www.its4thai.com and go to the "Courses" page.

Yesterday, we invited our students who have gone through previous courses on our site to try the new course, and the response has been great. I am very glad to see that a lot of people are still using ITS4Thai to learn the Thai language.

Noodle Soup without the Noodles (Gao Lao)

2009-02-20T07:23:07Z

This year I have been doing my best to follow a new diet to lose a few inches off my middle. The main key to this diet is to avoid grains as much as possible. That's a pretty big change for me, as it means no rice, no noodles, no Au Bon Pain croissants, and no beer. I'm not sure which of those I miss the most.

But even though it's been hard to stick to the diet, it has definitely made a positive difference in the way I look and feel, so I am going to keep it up for now.

One of my favorite Thai foods (or, food that is available in Thailand) has always been noodle soup. Since I am not eating noodles now, I just get the soup, with pork and veggies. The pork is often moo daeng (red pork) and the veggie is a bitter, green leaf that tastes similar to spinach. The way I ordered it today was gao lao sai moo daeng.

The soup also has green onions, roasted garlic, and small bits of a pickled vegetable (maybe cabbage?). Add the usual table condiments little pepper, some vinegar with pickled chilis, some red chili powder, and fish sauce, and you have a gourmet meal:

This was my lunch today, and set me back 40 baht (a bit over US$1), including a bottle of Pepsi.

Washington's "Snub" of Bangkok

2009-02-19T04:28:30Z

Hillary Clinton is traveling through Asia this week in her first over seas trip as the Secretary of State. She has been in Indonesia for the past couple of days, but Thailand isn't on her list of places to visit. Apparently, someone at the Bangkok Post got their feelings hurt over this "snub".

In an editorial published a few days ago in the Post entitled So what are friends for? an unnamed author states:

The Barack Obama presidency starts what it promises will be a new foreign policy era this week. Top officials and envoys are off to Europe and South Asia. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton begins her term with a trip to Asia that brings mixed reactions. On one hand, Mrs Clinton is clearly showing how important this region has become. On the other, the decision to visit Indonesia but ignore close US friends and allies is confusing...

Many in Thailand, which has 175 years of rock-solid support and harmony with the US, feel the new leadership in Washington is turning its back on an old friend. Singaporeans and Filipinos have said much the same. The new administration maintains it truly wants to focus on our region. It is important to include wary countries like Indonesia in the dialogue. But it is vital not to ignore old and trusted friends.

Those last two sentences almost sounds like the author is jealous of Indonesia! I wonder what makes Indonesia "wary" while Thailand is "trusted". In fact, I'd go so far to say that it is the other way around, at least in the eyes of the U.S. State Department. So why might Thailand not be on the top of the list of important allies in Asia? Clinton gave the answer when she showed the State Department's view of Indonesia by saying:

Indonesia is one of Asia's most dynamic nations, where human energy and aspiration combine to help lead the country to a free and fair system of elections, a free press, a robust civil society, and a prominent role for women in the Indonesian Government. We will support Indonesia and other countries in the region that are actively promoting shared values.

So when Thailand is "actively promoting shared values" like a "free and fair system of elections" instead of coups and mob rule, a free press instead of an environment where people fight over control of the media, and the protection of human rights instead of setting immigrants adrift on the ocean without food or water, then we'll talk about being trustworthy.

Excellent Italian Dinner at La Gaetana, Phuket Town

2009-02-18T07:32:15Z

In my last post, I mentioned the small Italian restaurant in Phuket called La Gaetana that Piyawat and I both enjoyed very much. When I got back to Bangkok I looked it up online, and I see that people have been raving about it for quite some time.

So what was so great about it? For starters, the moment you walk into the small shophouse-sized restaurant, you know you are in a special place. The decorations are vaguely home-style Italian, with lots of warm deep colors, and lots of quirky, unique details. The dining area has only 6 tables, so right away you know that chances are good that the food will be prepared with care.

We were waited on by the Italian owner and chief of the restaurant who did an excellent job explaining the specials of the day, the various appetizers and the wines. We ordered a carafe of the Italian house wine, but the table next to us ordered a bottle and we were treated to a grand sommelier show as the owner opened the bottle and decanted the wine for them with great flair. I think that his performance alone is a great reason to upgrade to a full bottle next time!

The food was excellent and the service was amazingly attentive, yet not overbearing. And for desert, the creme brulee (with another table show of caramelizing the sugar on top) was out of this world. Piyawat ordered the tiramisu, and the owner delivered it and signed his name in the powdered chocolate on the plate with a long cinnamon stick. While that might seem completely over the top, it really was quite fitting as his personality and high standards are stamped on every aspect of the restaurant.

So while Phuket might not be my favorite place in the world, I can hardly wait to go back to La Gaetana!

La Gaetana
352 Phuket Road
Muang Phuket Thailand 83000
Tel: 07-625-0523
Closed on Wednesday
Reservations Recommended