Interesting Points Of Thailand Trip

Moving away from the heat of the recent post about a newspaper in Pattaya that turned into a Kenny Sia fans versus non-Kenny Sia fans war, here are 5 interesting points during my Thailand trip earlier this month.

1. Alcazar Cabaret

A trip to Thailand is never complete without watching an ah gua show. I dropped by a cabaret show in Pattaya called the Alcazar Cabaret.

What amazes me is NOT how these voluptuous "women" are not as much as the women they appear to be, but its the breathtaking stage settings. From Thai throneroom-like settings to settings resembling nightclubs with dancers fully dressed in clubbing outfits. The quality of the photos I took doesn't do much justice here.

My favorite performance was their rendition of Dreamgirls - almost exactly as seen in the movie. One of them even looked like a masculinized Beyonce Knowles.


2. Mango Sticky Rice

I thought the mango sticky rice at Kuching's Lok Thian Bangkok Thai Restaurant was fantastic. That was until I tasted the authentic mango sticky rice there.

For only 50 Bahts, the dish comprises of the steamed glutinous rice, creamy coconut dip and freshly sliced ripe mangoes.


3. Yellow People

One morning I was wondering why all the sudden 80% of the Thais in the streets were wearing yellow shirts.

I found out that ordinary Thais dress in yellow shirts on Mondays to show their allegiance to the king. Yellow because its the king's birth color, traditionally corresponding to the day he was born, a Monday.

Yellow-masked tuk-tuk rider

With the whole Negarakuku controversy in my own country, its a culture shock to see people showing such public affection to their king and country.

Yellow people were everywhere. So much so that it reminded me of this:

Fortunately, no yellow Thais were following me.


4. Stray Thai Dogs

While stray dogs in Kuching look like this:

Stray dogs in Bangkok looked like this:

Eh? That's not a stray dog! That's a stray baby hippo with the head of a dog. And what are the Thais feeding them? Protein shakes?


5. Snake Molesting

To much regrets later, I visited a snake farm where snakes were kept in aquariums for display. A snake handler was busy catching a snake in a barricaded section.

He proceeded to bend the snake and showed me 2 protruding "growths". He then asked me to TOUCH IT.

With no previous professional training in snake anatomy, I thought it was a tumour or a mutated growth. I must have given it at least a good 10 SECONDS RUB before he told me it was the SNAKE'S PENIS(es). WTF!

He was nice enough to tell me, "Snake have 2.... I have 1." Oh you have 1? That's a relieve.

Apparently the snake farm uses the snake's reproductive organs in producing medicine to sell to the tourists that visit the farm. When I was there, the tourists were going there by busloads.

I just wonder how many times a day the snake gets molested by unsuspecting tourists.

Best Airport Baggage Information Screen

Candidates

1. Narita International Airport - located at Narita, Chiba, Japan:


2. McCarran International Airport - located at Las Vegas, United States:


3. O'Hare International Airport - located at Chicago, Illinois, United States:


Winner

KLIA LCCT Terminal - located at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:

Malaysia rocks! Where else in the world can you see a pretty air stewardess updating the baggage information "screen"?

Something Smells Familiar

You know the old adage that says "People learn from their mistakes (or the mistakes of others)"? It's not true! Somebody's work just got plagiarized again.

My sis and I picked up a recent newspaper while we were on vacation in Pattaya, Thailand. It's called "Pattaya Today".

It's filled with articles and advertisements that I couldn't care less about. That was until I flipped to a section called "Lighter Side".

How enlightening indeed. Despite being discolored, distorted and cropped, one of the pictures looks too familiar.

Heck! That isn't Pattaya. It looks more like my beloved hometown - Kuching. But that wasn't it. I recognized the picture from somewhere.

Tell me that its the same picture! Hahaha. How uncreative can people be? Let's hope nobody gets tulan again.

Things To Do Before I Die, # 37

Things To Do Before I Die List

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37. Take a boat ride to an island and fire an M16 rifle. (Done)

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'Nuff said.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

My first day of my vacation and it was already plagued with a number of undesired circumstances.

First, my flight from Kuching to KL was delayed half an hour due to "technical problems". Then my flight from KL to Bangkok was delayed for more than 30 minutes due to heavy traffic on the runway.

Then I was warmly greeted by a sea of people waiting at the immigration. I stood in line for over an hour.

Exiting the immigration, I then found out my tour guide was waiting over 2 hours for me. The traffic in Bangkok is also horrendous. Toyota Altis and Vios everywhere.

To top it all up, I settled into my bed after an exhausting day just to find it stinking of vomit.

But I'm having a hell of a good time here. Sawatdee Khrab!

Pay For Breathing

There is a particular eatery that's infamous for charging for every little thing. The name of the kopitiam shall not be revealed (It's the kopitiam near Thompson's Corner, Nanas Road!!!).

You are welcomessss.

During a recent visit there, I did not see the signboard/menu that indicates the charges for items which we would normally get for FREE at other eateries. It's a good thing I snapped a picture of it a while back.

Now imagine if you are a foreign visitor that ONLY speaks English. It would be pretty shocking to see this.....




Extra air for 30 cents "only". I knew that one day oxygen would be costly!!

So make sure you take a deep breath before entering, gobble up all your food, pay and leave before you die of suffocation.

Best Lui Cha in Kuching?

I usually cringe at the at the slightest mention of Lui Cha or Lui Teh but one fine day I decided to give it a go. Destination? The residential house at the Jalan Intan - Jalan Tengah junction near Green Road.

The Lui Cha here is reputedly one of the best in Kuching. I cannot judge, simply because I DON'T normally eat Lui Cha. Apparently there are only 6 or 7 tables here and they don't sell any drinks.

You are allowed to choose between bitter or non-bitter Lui Cha. Naturally, I opted for the latter.

The soup looks so much like gunk scooped out of a nearby drain that the only thing missing is a few fishes swimming in it. BUT it tastes nice. One thing about Malaysia is that we have food that looks/smells like crap but tastes heavenly.

For non-Lui-Cha-fans, its a good place to start.

The Most Deserted Stall at Kuching Festival

It's that time of the year again where the most "sinful" food in Kuching congregate and tempt you to a night of hot and passionate gluttony - its the Kuching Festival Food Fair.

The Kuching Festival doesn't excite me as much as it did 10 years ago.

Maybe because it was not me who was driving through the mad jam 10 years ago. Perhaps now it is the thought of pushing through a sweaty and food-lusting crowd.

Or maybe its because the festival is almost the same every year - too predictable up to the point that I can guess where a particular food stall is located.

The festival this year is somewhat different. No, not because the SugarBun stall is at a different location this year. It's nice too see a number of well-known stalls such as Mango Tree and Igloo dominating the scenes instead.

At almost EVERY stall, you can see a small crowd or at least a few people waiting for their order to be prepared. With the obscene number of visitors to the food fair, I can safely assume that most stalls can command a steady stream of customers and make a decent profit.

However, one thing that remains the same year after year, which in my opinion is the most DESERTED and EMPTY stall ever........