Food on Wheels; McDelivery

Food on Wheels; McDelivery

The wheels are outside of the 7-11, getting a M-150 and a beer?

Suggestions are welcome!

Camille

Dubai Museum, United Arab Emirates

Dubai Museum, United Arab Emirates

As already mentioned in an earlier post this week, during a visit to Bur Dubai, we didn't have time to visit the Dubai Museum, but yesterday I went back and did visit the museum.

The museum was opened by the ruler of Dubai in 1971, with the aim of presenting the traditional way of life in the Emirate of Dubai. It includes local antiquities as well as artifacts from African and Asian countries that traded with Dubai. It also includes several dioramas showing life in the emirate before the advent of oil. In addition to artifacts from recent discoveries as old as 3000 B.C.

An old style water tank, needed to survive in this desert climate.

Al Fahidi Fort, where the museum is located, was built in several phases. The oldest tower was built around 1787 and believed to be the oldest building in Dubai that still exists today. The fort was used to guard the landward approaches to the town from the raids of neighbouring tribes. It has also served, at various times throughout history as the ruler's palace, a garrison, and a prison.

The dioramas are the nice touch to this museum, just as shown above, a diorama about traditional clothing. You would expect a very hyper technical and digital museum, just like the rest of the city but instead this museum is very 'old fashioned' with it's dioramas which make for a great break and change of pace.

Outside of the museum is a dhow, a traditional Arab sailing vessel, with a mosque's minaret in the background.

Ski Dubai

After the museum visit we went to the Mall of the Emirates by local subway, this is one of the bigger malls in Dubai and very impressive. It hosts Ski Dubai, an indoor ski resort! Just so it's set apart from other malls in Dubai.

Later today I'll be back on the plane to Thailand and Samui. Thanks for checking into my Dubai updates and see you soon on Samui again.

Camille

Thai Gold price in fluctuation

Thai Gold price in fluctuation

In November 2008 I wrote a piece on this blog about Thai Gold, view it here, in which I describe some back ground information about Thai Gold, why it has a different colour to what we are used to with our Western Gold and lots of other useful and informative information about Thai Gold. It's well worth checking that post!

At the end of the post I also included a picture of the price for Thai Gold on 2nd November 2008.

That price was 12.500,-THB per Baht. Yesterday the price for Baht of Thai Gold at the same gold shop here on Koh Samui was 18.450,-THB, almost 6.000,-THB per Baht more expensive.

If you invested in some Gold back in early November 2008, as I mentioned, you could have made a nice little profit by now!

Bophud Fisherman's Village Walking Street

Bophud Fisherman's Village Walking Street

Every Friday evening Bophud's Fisherman's Village turns into a very popular Walking Street. If Plenty of things are on sale, being in Thailand it's mainly food but also plenty of different clothing, partly second hand, partly cheap bargains and plenty of other things are on sale as well.

If I remember correctly, Nathon started this but Fisherman Village took over the plan and made it a very successful re-occurring event in it's 2 streets.

Get there early but even than, parking will be a bit of a problem so be prepared to walk a few hundred meters to the entrance. Once there, the atmosphere is very laid back and at various points you can sit, kick back and have a drink or two and a bite to eat.

Thai food is all over the place, no surprise there but also one or two of the more expensive restaurants join in and offer tastes off their menu for a decent price. The picture above has Khao Gliap, Thai sweets on offer, as fresh as they can be made straight on the spot.

Some areas have music or other forms of entertainment, like the kids above who perform a classic Thai dance all dressed up and ready to go!

When in Thailand do as the Thais and that involves lots of Thai food! Here's a stand offering Ho Mok Pla ห่อหมกปลา and various other Ho Moks. A real treat and a nice variation on your daily Pad Thai! The nice thing that I liked about this Walking Street is the variety of freshly made food and plenty of local things to be had as well.

Well worth a visit, each Friday! Apparently Lamai also has a Walking Street event each week but I'm not sure on what day of the week that is scheduled.

Camille

Double Dutch, a slightly different memory of Samui

Double Dutch, a slightly different memory of Samui

Two Dutch friends of us run since a few years a shop inside the Big Buddha complex and since recently also at the parking lot of Hin Ta Hin Yai in Lamai.

What they offer inside their shops is a friendly atmosphere where you can find some out of the usual trodden path souvenirs, mainly in the form of various sized Buddha statues in wood or bronze.

Their newly opened shop in Lamai has some very atmospheric lightning design and makes the shop appear very pleasantly. Many contemporary Asian art designs can be purchased here besides an wide variety of Buddha statues and figurines.

They offer any size statue, from very small to rather big and their prices are very gentle and competitive. Kees runs the shop in Lamai and Hans rules over Big Buddha.

Kees and Hans

This is at the entrance of their Big Buddha store, their original store. Many of their ideas were blatantly taken over by their neighbours and copies of their shop can be found all over the Big Buddha area.

A view on their Big Buddha store, with a little sitting area/bar (non alcoholic drinks only) with a neat sitting area outside where I took the picture.

If you're looking for a souvenir or something out of the ordinary, Double Dutch is a good place to have look at and enjoy their display.

Camille

Family time in Pattaya

Family time in Pattaya

Since two days I'm done now with diving and it's time to spend some time with the family in Pattaya and yesterday we went to Pattaya Underwater World. A relatively small walk through with lots of fish in their aquariums though. The children had a blast, running from one place to the other and looking at the fish.

Here's a guitar shark and there were plenty of other sharks like Leopards and black tips amongst others.

We were lucky to be bale to witness the feeding and a diver got in the water with a big bucket of fish meat which caused a feeding frenzy and was fun to watch.

Than it was on the the road between Pattaya and Jomtien to visit Pattaya's Big Buddha.

Near Big Buddha is a smaller temple and a Thai Navy memorial where you can have this lovely view over Pattaya.

Today we went to Central Festival Pattaya where much to the delight of my son an Ultraman show was scheduled. For us adults, it's always nice to shop in a nice air conditioned mall especially if it's so hot outside

More family things are scheduled for tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Camille

OTOP Samui, Coconuts at Lipa Noi

OTOP Samui, Coconuts at Lipa Noi

Remember or ever heard of the OTOP program, One Tambon One Product, very popular under Thaksin Shinawatra's reign over Thailand.

What would suit Samui best, being known for one thing before it all turned into a tourist industry, right, the coconuts. Hence in Lipa Noi there's a small factory annex outlet for coconut carved products.

The shop is in Lipa Noi not too far away from Nathon at the Immigration office side of Nathon.

There are hundreds of different items made out of coconut wood for sale, from cups to plates and all kind of different items.

To the side of the shop is a work place where the items for sale are all being made. Two or three machines are constantly churning out new products.

All items are being lacquered and are drying here, next to the shop. This is the original shop that supplies all other souvenir shops on the island, if you want the cheapest price for your coconut made wood products on the island, here is where you can get it.

Camille

Temple fair in Maenam

Today we went to the Temple fair in Maenam.

Just to give you an idea on what to expect on an average temple fair or party, here's some pictures.



Since we're in Thailand, remember, food is never far away. Here is a display of some extremely sweet sweets. Furthermore there are various Thai junk food variations available, like the squid in the picture below.

Lovely squid though, filled with squid eggs! Besides this, there are various fruit stands and small restaurants with a variety of meals to choose from around during a temple fair.

Thais like to gamble and play games, this is a classic, at least 3 or 4 different throw the darts at the balloon places where at this fair, complemented by various places where you can put bets on numbers, like in what number will the ball roll.

There are dozens of places like this, where you can buy cheap clothes, in various styles, male but mostly female (what's new, shopping wise!). Also all kind of add ons like jewelry are on sale.

A classic on each fair, a place where you can get house hold goods. This one was about three or four times the size of what is shown in the picture and they sell loads of things for the house hold. Plastic buckets, pots and pans, matches, lamps, hammers, you name it, they most likely have it!

If you know of a Temple fair to be held somewhere near you during your stay in Thailand, definitely try to go and check it out. It's lots of fun and later on during the night, they also have established or lesser established bands and/or musicians perform at various stages. An interesting experience that shouldn't be missed and it makes for great photo opportunities as well!

Camille

Second day, the Big Mango; Bangkok

The second day of our trip brought us into Bangkok.

After an early start this morning, out of Prachuap Khirikhan, we headed first for Cha'am, for breakfast, which was just under an hour away.
How much we liked Prachuap, how disappointing the hotel was, the aircon was leaking in such a way that the whole area in front of the bathroom was drenched with water, which was rather not very safe and enjoyable with the kids.

Cha'am is very near to Hua Hin and I like the feel of Cha'am, although we just had breakfast there, definitely a place to look closer into. Just for the record, Cha'am is a beach resort, popular with both Thais and Westerners.

Around noon we entered Bangkok and it took us a while to find our way to Legacy Suites in Sukhumvit, Soi 29, with all the one ways, no right turns allowed and other traffic rules around Sukhumvit, but we managed at last.

The day followed up as predicted yesterday, with lots of shopping at Siam Paragon an upscale shopping mall and Central Chitlom. At Paragon it would have been nice to visit the Aquarium at Siam Ocean World but we just didn't have the time.

Tomorrow we're off to Samut Prakan and the three headed Elephant or Chang Erawan, so keep your eyes posted!

Camille

Rice is the word!

Or should I say, it's a colourful world?

On our shopping trip to Big C today, we saw this amazingly coloured rice, which I've never seen before. Blue, purple and yellow rice. Blimey! That looks pretty awesome.

Unfortunately all notes were in Thai, so I'm not sure what this rice is mixed with, but it sure looks tempting to try out.
Rather expensive though at 68 to 70 baht per kilo!

Camille

8th September, 2007

Today's weather;

It's a white haze with lots of potential for the sun to break through once it starts heating up. The sun is actually breaking through right now with a current temp of 27C

Yesterday it was very sunny and warm all day long. Max temp reached 31.3C

On the 6th, Thursday, Big C, a big shopping mall chain, opened it's doors on Samui and the opening day was a madhouse. Yesterday we went to have a look with the family and it turned out to be a very nice affair. Lots of new restaurants in the mall, Zen, S&P and a few older ones, that we know already, KFC, MK.
In my opinion, Big C is a good thing for Samui and after Tesco Lotus and Makro, shopping on Samui has been beautifully upgraded.

Camille

30th August, 2007

Today's weather in Phuket;

Overcast with sunny outbursts, hopefully the sun wins today battle in the sky with a current temp of 27C

Yesterday was almost nonstop rain with at moments very hard showers. Max temp was 29.5C

We spend almost all day at Central Festival a great shopping mall that kept the whole family happy.
In the evening we had a very nice dinner with a friend and his family, also with two kids. The location was Kan Eang @ the pier and is a serious recommendation for good and affordable food. Beautifully located at the Chalong harbour with excellent food, served in a nice and relaxed atmosphere and they also have very affordable wines.

Today is already our last day on Phuket and we're planning on some relaxing times next to the pool. Tomorrow we're off to Surat Thani again, to have dinner with Sao and on Saturday back to Samui.

Camille