TaKe Me To THe HoRiZoN!

My family and I went for a meal in Ayuthaya for my special day. The restaurant was recommended through forward e-mails and posted by a lot of people on Pantip.com. Yet to be honest, I am not impressed with the food. But I already took some photos, so I just wanna share with you.

Way to the raft

River View... or rather Water Hyacinth View.

Menu... I find it quite cute with the photo, poem and traditional font.

Their specialties

Somtam with deep fried chicken

Fish with been sauce

And last....the hero of the day!

I love the prawns. I had two of those big prawns! But I think I'll just stick with sea prawns the next time... no offense to river prawns though.

I remembered the last time I sat in front of the computer watching "Somchai" giving announcement regarding the Yellow Shirt Protestors. After the announcement was over, I shouted out the possibly rudest word in Thai. I ended up typing a journal in Thai with all the curse words that I could possibly think of.

The past Thursday night was different. After my PM finished his announcement related to the Red Shirt Protestors, I felt truly proud to have him as the leader of Thailand. His speech was persuasive, systematic, and logical. I know the message might not get through to a lot of people, unfortunately, because their mind are clouded by either greed or irrational emotions.

Abhisit broke down his speech into many small topics. What was happening, what was requested from the Red-Clad, what he suggested as a solution and why.

I don't remember a single PM throughout the past 7-8 years, who would be able to rationalize the situation and suggested solutions in such a sensible manner as Abhisit. Every time, Thaksin the traitor, Samak the talker, and Somchai the dumb, made an announcement or speech, they would try to distort the facts, rambles or just simply read a script and end the speech with "I don't know."

A lot of people might think that Abhisit doesn't possess much of a strong character, similar to many former PMs. I think he is proving that a soft and compromising person with brain power and logical mind can manage and solve the problem more effectively than those who only try to "get rid of" the problem to protect their best interests and not the people's.

Abhisit said he "promised" to do his best in the interest of the citizen of this country. I don't know how well he would keep his word. But throughout his career in politics, he has proven to be maybe the only one politician, who has no record of corruption nor any sort of scandals. 

I truly thank him for taking the responsibility in leading this country in the most difficult time, both economically and politically. I hope more and more people see what he's trying to do, and support him in pushing this country forward. I am not talking about voting for him, but doing your best in normal daily life, in order to stop the chaos in the country, working hard to stimulate the ecomony, and to create peace in Thailand.

I talked to a foreign client on the phone yesterday and he said "if this continue for a couple of more years, you will be in the same level as Iraq or Palestine." Do you want to see that happens?

Again, I am truly proud that Thailand eventually has a Prime Minister that she deserves! ^_^

Continue with my trip in Luang Prabang. Again, tons of food photos. ^_^

Let's start with something else for the time being. This is our airport transfer, a very classic looking black mercedez. ^_^

Breakfast at the hotel's terrace with the peaceful view of the Khan River.

Saw this one cat during my visit to one hotel. Just show how relaxing the town is huh?

I didn't expect to see this at all. It's on the way from the hotel to Night Market. Shows how ppopular Thai food is, don't you think?

Now back to the many food I tried in Luang Prabang, which add extra 2 kg into me after my 6 days trip!!!

Traditional grilled squids

The 3 Nagas specialty, the one and only Luang Prabang pizza with chicken, traditional pork sausages and buffalo sausages, Pizza Muang Ak.

Sin - Daad, Laos barbecue.

Ua - Takrai, traditional laos sausage with chopped lemongrass.
 

Luang Prabang Salad with their special water veggie

Jiaw Bong, buffalo skin chilli paste, saab laai laai!

Khao Peak - Laos noodles

Tam Mhee - similar to spicy salad with angel hair noodles. It tastes ok but not my favorite.

The shop where we had Khao Peak and Tam Mhee, it has really nice river view!

This is the most talked about ice cream in town.

But be warned, it sucks!
If you are looking for good ice cream in Luang Prabang, check out Blue Lagoon. It has one of the best ice cream, I've ever had! The price for the ice cream there is on par with Haagen Daz! (No Photo though)

Before ending the food photos, I have one more photo of the menu, that you might be interested in.

The highlight of visiting Luang Prabang is the alms giving in the morning. We asked the hotel to prepare the sticky rice for us. It's quite expensive but with the set up, and location, I'd say it's worth it!

The set up was in front of The Chang Inn, sister property of Chang Heritage, located on the main road close ot Wat Sene. The cute part is they also prepared "Sa-bai" for us girls. ^_^

Luang Prabang morning scenes

Cute doggie at the morning market

Letter Box - Heep-Poy-Jod-Mhaay

For some reason, I think this photo is just so Luang Prabang.

Mekong river view at sunset

And that's the end of my Laos trip. My next trip is quite a sudden trip to Cambodia. I am trying to negotiate it down to 3 days instead of 6 days! I hope I succeed !!!!

Until next time... Ta-Ta!

There are many photos from Laos, so I'll separate them into two parts. So that they are not too long to take a look at. Again, not so much information but a lot of photos!

Starting with the accommodation in Vientiane. This one is local 5 star in resort style called Green Park Boutique Hotel. I'd say it's the best hotel available in Vientiane at the moment.

View from the room, I really love it!

Complimentary afternoon tea

Do you see what the elepants are doing?

Rich and creamy iced chocolate smoothie at Sa Bai Dee Coffee. One of the hi-so coffee shop in Vientiane along the Mekong River.

Dinner along the mekong river at one of the local restaurants. Didn't take photo of the place though.

Laab Mhoo and Ping Gai

Sai Grog Lao - Saab Laai

Tam Maak Hung

Then we went to Center Point, where younsters gather at night for hot soy milk! How cute! ^_^

The next day we had local baguette, which we later learned that it's the most famous local's specialty. The charm of the baguette is it contains anything that you can imagine, from papaya to pate!

Later on the last night in Vientiane, a customer to us to a very hi-so restaurant. The place looked exactly like a nice restaurant along Chao Phraya river, except the weather is much nicer and the food is different.

The place is called Kong View.

We had some spare time between appointments so we went to a temple and made merit. Photo of offering at Wat Sri Muang.

Then we flew off to Luang Prabang on the evening flight. Arriving the hotel, we were stunned. The hotel is extremely beautiful, although my photos might not be able to protray the real ambience of the place.

The Change Heritage Hotel

Old fashion light switches

Terrace to sit and watch people, or if you want to see the view of the Khan River, you have to stand up. :-P

Hotel facade and exterior

This is getting too long, so to be continued! ^_^

There will be several journals that I will post today. Since I don't know when I'll have time to post them again. Mainly will be photos, coz all details will be too long. A short summary would be that I had a lot of fun during the past two trips. Let's check them out.

Hanoi - January 9 - 13, 2009

Starting off my trip by arriving at the hotel, Sheraton Hanoi Hotel. Normal international 5 star hotel, which does not impress me much.

View of West Lake, in front of the hotel

I was there for a conference. Here's the decoration in front of the conference hall. A fusion Christmas Tree.

Formal dinner Vietnamese style

I mainly took photos of food this time. Let's check out what there is to eat in Hanoi.

Local pho shop and the smily owner

Deep Fried Tofu

I found this at a restaurant called Al Fresco, next to Fortuna Hotel.

Vietnamese hot pot. Luckily, there was a Vietnamese guy going with us, otherwise, we will not be able to order anything.

Instant Noodles and Noodles, local style

More pho.... this one with deep fried dough... not too bad

Hi-so restaurant, recommended by an operator at Sheraton. She said it wasn't expensive.

 It was only 100 USD for 4 persons! -_-'

Places of interest. I didn't have the time to check out that many places because of work. These are all I had time to fit them in.

Where Ho Chi Min's body is kept for the tourists to visit. I don't remember what it's called actually. :-P Photo taken from taxi window.

Cathedral

Hoan Kiem Lake or Sword Lake, Old Quarter area

Temple in the middle of the lake

Pussy licking pussy.... (will I be carded for this?)

I save this for last. It's at the exhibition hall. I didn't dare using it.

That's all from Hanoi.  Next up... Vientiane and Luang Prabang!