Visit the Chiang Mai Zoo with us as we see the Giant Panda, Aviary, Lions, white tiger and many other animals and travel in the new monorail.
Thank to allthai for VDO
The Chiang Mai Zoo, Thailand
Chiang Mai City Arts and Culture Center and Museum
One of the first places you should visit while in Chiang Mai is the Chiang Mai City Arts and Culture Center and Museum. This will bring you much closer to understanding the local people their culture, customs, heritage and beliefs and make your stay in Chiang Mai a rich rewarding experience you will remember for a life time.
Thank to allthai for vdo
Muay Thai Boxing match in Chiang Mai
Join us in the ring for this exciting Muay Thai boxing match in Chiang Mai Thailand. One of the best matches I have seen in Chiang Mai. This is the second and third round. See the first 2 rounds in Muay Thai Boxing match in Chiang Mai
A traditional khantoke Dinner in Chiang Mai Thailand
When you come to Chiang Mai you should take in a Khantoke Dinner and show. This is not just for tourists as the Northern Thai people have been enjoying the Khantoke Dinner for centuries. Here is a short 6 minute video of the Khantoke dinner with my wife and friends.
Thank to allthai for this vdo
Full moon party at Koh Phangan in Thailand
Full Moon Party is not just a normal party but monthly Haad Rin's dance music festival which is famous worldwide, with everything from drum and bass to full-on psy-trance. Paradise Bungalows, the site of the original Full Moon Party, consistently puts on the biggest show with inspired decor and a combination of superb resident and international guest DJs.
Thank to jantegaaf for This Video
Worth looking out for is DJ A, who also holds residency at the Backyard, possibly the most famous after party venue in the world, starting at 11am as Haad Rin's beach shuts shop, licks its wounds and counts the casualties. The Backyard also puts on three cracking nights per week, each catering for the full spectrum of dance music heads in a totally refurbished, two-floor club with mind bending fluoro sculptures.
There are about 10,000 to 20,000 people attending every month at this Koh Phangan beach party. It is of course known as the Full Moon Party. International and Thai DJ's are entertaining the party until the crowd go wild. Paint yourself in UV colours and let your body lose control. The DJ's play all kinds of music; techno, trance, goa, drum n' bass, dub, reggae, commercial hits, house etc. on about 15 sound systems along Haad Rin beach. There are also many small tables on the beach where you can sit down with your friends or meet new friends from all corners of the globe. You can order drinks and food from the restaurants and bars next to the Haad Rin Nok beach.
Schedule 2008 - 2009
IMPORTANT! We are not the organizers of the event. Some of the dates below might be incorrect. Dates might change if there is a Buddhist holiday at Full Moon Parties.
Wednesday 12 November, 2008
Friday 12 December, 2008
Saturday 10 January, 2009
Tuesday 10 February, 2009
Tuesday 10 March, 2009
Thursday 9 April, 2009
Saturday 9 May, 2009
Sunday 7 June, 2009
Thursday 9 July, 2009
Thursday 6 August, 2009
Friday 4 September, 2009
Sunday 4 October, 2009
Monday 2 November, 2009
Wednesday 2 December, 2009
Thursday 31 December, 2009
Location
at the south-eastern part of the island at Haad Rin Beach, Koh Phangan, Suratthani, Thailand.
Getting There
The regular boats are running 4 times per night from Bophut and Big Buddha Beach, Koh Samui (70 Baht). Speedboats are operating all night long. They can be booked at nearly every travel agency for 300-400 Baht per roundtrip.
General Information
Don't waste your time at the Full Moon Party if you don't like to meet people from all over the world. There are thousands of them. Dance to pumping beats on a "paradise" beach in the moonlight. Or sit in the sand at small tables with some friends and cheer a Thai whiskey-set or a Thai beer. (Singha, Chang, Kloster etc)
Please remember to keep this lovely island, the beach and the sea clean! Some people use Haad Rin as a trash can. Other people get very upset by this. If nothing can change this behaviour and nobody keep the environment clean, we can actually assure you that the authorities will finally stop this party! Act now and let the party live on forever!
Don't bring any valuables to the party...take only the money you will need for the night.
Don't take any drugs or drinks from strangers.
Wear shoes to be protected from broken glass and hot cigarette butts
Thank to hxxp://www.fullmoon-party.com/ for information
Pattaya, Thailand. New Years Eve Party!
Pattaya, Thailand. New Years Eve Party! - Funny bloopers R us
New years Eve party at Pattaya in Thailand
Thank to comedyvideoclub for this Video
Loi Krathong Festival in Chiang Mai Thailand
Here in North Thailand the Loi Krathong Festival is much different than anywhere in the Kingdom. In the small town of Mae Jo north of Chiang Mai they started the festival on Saturday night by launching hot air balloons calld "Khom Loy". I went with my wife and friends and took this short video. We are not talking about a few Khom Loy but thousands upon thousands all at the same time. You got to see this.
Thank to allthai in Youtube
The Wild Roses of Doi Inthanon (Doi Inthanon Peak)
Besides its fame of being the location for the peak of Thailand’s highest mountain, Doi Inthanon, the Wild Rose is also an important bird-watching site. Many beautiful mountain birds roam the area, flying boldly for tourists to see. Some of the birds around the Yod Doi Coffeehouse cannot be photographed, even with a 300 mm. long lens. This doesn’t mean that the birds are too far away, it is actually that the birds are so close up, only a wide angle lens can be used if you want to capture them on film.
Also, the Wild Rose is a great place to admire the many flora and fauna of the Hill evergreen forest, where the massive trees are blanketed by fuzzy green moss. In the right season, like between January and March, you may find various species of wild flowers in bloom: wild roses, red and white. You may find these especially at tourist view points, such as Ang Ka Luang and Kew Mae Paan. The most intriguing of spots, however, is the area of the peak called Pa Ngam, where wild roses and a staggering cliff come together to form a beautiful and breathtaking view.
For this trip to Doi Inthanon, a sleek black five-door Chevrolet Optra was our vehicle of choice. With its gorgeous look and 1,600 piston benzene engine with an automatic transmission, when we rolled in to change the air in its tires to nitrogen (its favourite), it had the owner of the car service station patting her hood and saying, "She’s a beauty."
From Bangkok to Chiang Mai, cruising fast and furious on the highway, it turns out that the fuel-guzzling rate of the car, which can run on gasohol or benzene 91, is normal. She does not use up more fuel than any other car out on the market. Her one unique feature that her company makes a point of advertising is her steady and strong nature. When you combine that with the newly changed nitrogen-filled tires, whenever we hit a speed bump or potholes, we barely ever felt it. I tried putting a blindfold on my female colleague like in the commercial and when I finally took it off, the little lady said, "Oh my gosh, what are we doing around here? It’s too isolated."
And so, the luxurious Chevy Optra got us to Chiang Mai in about 7 hours. We checked into the Baan Sing Kham, near the Sing Kham Palace. It is located right along the Ping River and is an attractive little boutique resort, designed in a Lanna style motif. However, the accommodation was not a large traditional Lanna bungalow, but an actual house where the old people of Chiang Mai used to live. The bathroom inside the cottage is worthy of notice because it is always ready to be converted into a spa, it is truly wonderful - but you cannot just take my word for it, you must go see for yourself!
The next morning, we woke up at the crack of dawn and tested out the car by driving the Optra up Thailand’s highest mountain or Doi. The ride was so quiet and peaceful, coupled with the comfort provided by the car seats, that time just flew and before I knew it, we were at the Office of the National Park on Kilometre 31. This ride felt so much shorter and faster than any of the others I had taken up here before. I don’t know if it was actually faster or if it was just my imagination, but it sure was fast.
The Doi Inthanon National Park covers approximately 482.5 square kilometers (or 301,500 rai) of land. Within the grounds is Doi Inthanon Peak, which is 2,565 metres above sea level and is the highest mountain peak in all of Thailand. The park is communal ground for all kinds of plants and animals. For the plants portion, there are 3 different types of forest found at different heights of the mountain: the Deciduous Dipterocarp Forest located at the foot, the Mixed Deciduous Rain Forest around the middle, and the Dry Evergreen Forest at the mountain top. Many interesting wild orchids and wild flowers can be found here and some cannot be found anywhere else in Thailand.
For the animal portion, there are not that many types of animals found here because of the tribal and mountain people living off the land. However, some of the interesting animals that do live in the area are various types of birds, the Big-headed turtle, salamanders, and the most exciting animal find here; the Goral, an animal that was assumed extinct from this mountain, but nevertheless has returned to its habitat.
We drove the Chevy Optra onward to pick up our guide at the meeting point and then took her up to the highest point on the mountain with ease. It was a pity we had to leave the air conditioner on. We tried to let in the fresh mountain breeze but black smoke and burnt brake smells coming from other generic brand cars was preventing us from doing so. We practically couldn’t roll the windows up fast enough.
At the top of Doi Inthanon were many tourists but none of them were taking the same road as we were. The six of us cut through small walk lanes beside garbage cans, giving off the scent of urine. The Park ought to have put up some signs to give directions. Instead, they put a garbage can with an appalling odor in the middle of the pathway. However, this did not discourage our group. We pinched our noses and walked past the offending odor and down, around the radar tower, until we reached the large hollow Rubber tree, a direction marker which guided us to the right and down the mountain. After 30 minutes of walking, the guide told us to keep going downhill which indicated for a very challenging walk back to our car later on.
Finally, we reached Pa Ngam, after trekking downhill for over an hour. The first sight we saw was a white wild orchid proudly displaying itself on a tree branch. Next, we saw many R. Arboreum Smith bushes and then quickly spotted their vibrant red roses that were the size of the palm of my hand. The beautiful flowers were spread all along the edge of the cliff and on the base of the flowers were little green tassels that flew with the breeze, making the scene of the red roses by the cliff even more precious.
The R. Arboreum Smith roses belong in the Rhododrendron family. The bush is very tall while its stalk is large. The flowers or roses are red and they bloom in February, all the way to the start of March. These flowers are a source of nectar for various birds, therefore these bushes are a place where they love to congregate, especially birds that are in the Nectariniidae family. The tassels of the flower are a kind of lichen - they are a moustache-like fringe, usually green or brown in colour, and they cling to tree branches and blow and fly with the wind.
It was truly beautiful. The beauty of that scene just cannot be described as clearly with words than with the pictures posted on this month’s column. After having witnessed the splendor that is the red roses of Pa Ngam, we almost forgot everything with only the thought of documenting the exquisiteness of the location left in our minds.
When we looked at the image of Pa Ngam through the View Finder, we found that the problem with the picture was that the sky was a rather murky colour, with clouds rolling around the cliff. There is still thick fog around the area but it does not make for too bad a photograph - just be sure to never point the camera towards the sky.
And so we waited for the sky to turn blue. While waiting, we took other photographs, trying hard to not get too much of the sky in the background, anticipating the moment when nature would cooperate with us and we could all snap away, the sound of our cameras going off loud and quick like multiple bullets cutting through air. We waited and waited until half the day had gone by and the sky was still a shadowy grey. We waited some more until we finally lost hope and, sulking, we made our way out of Pa Ngam. The walk to the cliff took only an hour but the way back was an uphill hike so instead of an hour of travel, it took us three hours to get back to our car.
Once we got back to the top of the mountain, to the parking lot, we were all looking rather weary and worn out. The tourists that just came into the parking lot, about to make their way to Ang Ka Luang, all stared at us, probably wondering, "What the heck did these people do to look like that?"
On the way down from Doi Inthanon’s peak, the Chevrolet Optra ran so smoothly and gracefully that many of our tired selves drifted off to sleep without having to wear blindfolds to block out the sun. En route to the Office of the National Park, I asked Mr. A, our chauffeur, if we should pull over and stop to take a break, to rest for a while. He said, "Nah… We’ve been driving downhill a long time now and we haven’t taken a brake yet. I wonder if it’s the car or the driver that’s so great."
Once we got back to Chiang Mai, Mr. A got some sleep and I took the wheel to drive us back to Bangkok that evening. At Karmpangpetch, Mr. A woke up and the first words out of his mouth were, "The seats in this car really are comfortable. The design is kind of flat and plane, I thought they were going to be hard but, it turns out, they are really comfortable to nap on. You drive on to Bangkok, I’m going to get some shut eye." And in a flash, once his back hit the backrest, he was snoozing away, snoring for all in the car to hear.
As for me, I brought my trusty Chevy Optra back to BKK, safe and sound, at around three a.m.
Tourism Information
Doi Inthanon National Park
To travel by car from Chiang Mai to the Doi Inthanon National Park, starting at the Chiang Mai Airport Junction, take route 108 past the district or Umphur of Hangdong-SaanPatong. Near the Kilometer 57 marker, before arriving at Umphur Chomthong, there will be a right exit - route 1008. After driving on for about 8 kilometres, you will find another junction. Here, turn right towards Check Point 1 of the Doi Inthanon National Park.
The Park provides a housing service and has different types of accommodations to choose from, depending on the number of people taking up residence, whether it is two or ten people. Cost of accommodation ranges from 1,000 to 2,500 baht. Also, there is also a tent renting service, as well as space for pitching tents. The fee for tent rentals is no more than 100 baht.
To contact the Doi Inthanon National Park, call 0 5331 1608
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Thank you to
Chevrolet Optra, General Motors (Thailand) Limited
Baan SIng Kham, The Beautiful Boutique Resort of Sing Kham Palace, Chiang Mai tel. 0 5325 1988, 081 472 3176
Chulakathin Merit Making Ceremony
The “Chulakathin Merit Making Ceremony” features merit making activities, rituals, and various forms of entertainment all on the same day. The whole event starts from sunrise to sunset (the night of Saturday, 25 October, 2008) and the kathin offerings are presented to the monks on 26 October, 2008. Accompanying activities in this event include:
Chulakathin Exhibition : Be amazed by the complete process of the production of the Chulakathin robes. The fine process starts with the picking of cotton, separating it, and spinning until the final process when it is turned from cotton into fabric. This is done overnight starting from 19.00 hours. There are also 9 amazing exhibition zones or khuang in the northern dialect.
1. Khuang Khan Toke – a typical northern-style meal.
2. Khuang for Cotton Collecting – picking of cotton to produce cotton fibre.
3. Khuang for Refining – separating the cotton seeds from the cotton
4. Khuang for Mixing - to stir the cotton to make it loose
5. Khuang for Threading – to make cotton into thread
6. Khuang for Weaving – weaving the cloth
7. Khuang for Sewing – cutting and sewing of the material into fabric
8. Khuang for Dyeing – dyeing the fabric
9. Khuang for Making Great Merit of Chulakathin – offering of kathin robes
The Merit Making Ceremony of Chulakathin
Kathin merit making is a Buddhist ritual that has to be carried out within 1 month starting from the first waning day of the eleventh lunar month until the fifteenth waxing day of the twelfth lunar month (the ritual must only be done during this period of time).
Kathin Offering Ceremony : Offering cloth or laying of robes in front of the monks to let them collect it to lay by the Sadueng frame of the robe shape. The piece of cloth would then be tailored into the form required.
An important material for the kathin ceremony is the “kathin cloth”. The kathin ceremony has to be completed within a specific period. In the past, cloth was scarce and it had to be woven from cotton. The long process started from the spinning of cotton, putting it into a loom, weaving, cutting, and sewing till it became a piece of cloth to be offered as a kathin cloth. This tradition has been inherited as a part of Thai culture for generations.
Chulakathin is a mini kathin : With the limited time, the ceremony has to be carried out as quickly as possible; thus, it has to be completed within a day. The ceremony begins with spinning the cotton to make thread until sewing it into a robe and offering it to the monks.
The preparation of the Chulakathin ceremony begins immediately after midnight.
- Collecting cotton for weaving; the picker must be a virgin girl that signifies the purity of the kathin cloth, which is made of cotton.
- Using the collected cotton to be spun and made into thread, ready for weaving. The material that would be used for spinning and weaving has to be of various sets to ensure the production of the 3 main pieces of the robes or at least one long robe to be able to carry out the ceremony within a day.
- Cutting the woven material in to pieces as designed. It is then tightened on the Sadueng wood frame and the pieces are stitched together as a monk’s robe.
- Dyeing the material with natural dyes from plants as a robe’s colour should be. At present, ready-made colour is used.
- Drying and arranging it into a set is the last step and then it is ready for the ceremony. The most important step in the preparation is having sufficient tools and artisans to carry out the production process and finishing it in time.
Chulakathin Offering Ceremony : The person who is the host of the ceremony has to search for a suitable temple. The temple must have at least 5 monks residing. These monks have to be the ones staying in the temple during the 3-month Buddhist rains retreat. The devotee has to do the following preparation:
- Booking the kathin is to inform the abbot of the temple the intention of carrying out the kathin ceremony in that temple. Once the booking is made, the temple would not accept another host unless there is a condition that the initial host is willing to have someone else join as a co-host.
- The host has to prepare all the necessary raw materials and other accessories needed in the ceremony before the process of production begins. Skilled weavers are normally invited to undertake the weaving process. Once getting the small pieces of the material, they would be stitched together as a robe. It would then be dyed and ironed as the final process.
- Offering of the Chulakathin robe – the auspicious day for the ceremony normally falls on the fifteenth waxing day of the twelfth lunar month. The ceremony is like a general kathin offering in that once all ceremonial accessories are completed, participants would bring them into the temple. They would recite the words of offering to the monks in chorus, and the monks would receive the robe, recite prayers for the spirits of the deceased ancestors, and conclude the ceremony.
A trip to traditional Drum-Making Village at Ekkarat and Bang sadej
On 1 kilometer long road in moo baan pae,Tambon Ekkarat of Pa mok District in Ang thong Province is situated a village famous for drum making.Ekkarat villagers have made a living by manufacturing drums over a long period of 80 years. Legend has it that a fomer court musician took political refuge in this village and started making drums to earn his living.
A house full of hides and wood with family members busily working on a drum is a common scene in this village. A 26 years old man "Jack" said that he took up a profession from his grandparents generation. Softwood is tha main material for drum making including cow,buffalo and goat hides; each cost about 2,500-3,000 Baht.
The craftsmen at Ekkarat make all types of drums such as the long drum,Timpani,Taphon (2 sided drum with stand) and others used in Thai classical drama and theater. They receive both local and internationa order,selling their products to jatujak market,chaing mai and overseas. Besides the drum making, villagers also offer infomation about the history of drum making to tourists and students or those who are interested.
Our next stop is Baan Bang Sadej, 10 kilometers away from Pa Mok. The village is famous for making courtesan dolls. The courtesan Doll-making demonstration center of Baan Bang sadej is a destination that is worth visiting. It is one of the projects initiated by her Majesty the Queen in 1976 to create career opportunities in the community at Bang sadej of which the quality is guaranteed by Tourism Authority of Thailand. The local people always receive us with warm hospitality and treated us dinner of simple and tasty Thai cuisine.
Simple lifestyle,hospitallity and sincerity are key characteristics of the life involving around this community.Ekkarat village and Baan Bang sadej are the two destinations that we can surely recharge our "battery" and find some peace of mind
Let's go Down south of Thailand Krabi
Krabi - The Emerald of Andaman
Video of various tourist destinations of Krabi province. This video is a must for anyone planing a trip to Krabi. It gives you a good introduction to the beaches, the limestones, the caves and the diving sites within Krab. This video is developed by the folks at Krabi provincial office (http://www.krabi.go.th)and any credits should go to them. For further information visit
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