Sarika Waterfall in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand

This weekend we visited Sarika Waterfall, near Nakhon Nayok, around 120 km Northwest of Bangkok.

The waterfall is about 530 maters walk from the entrance, passing some picnic area, climbing some steps up and down. Sarika Waterfall is an impressive one, I was told that it is about 70 meters tall, one of the tallest in Thailand. Also found out that it is a World Heritage Site as a sign claimed there, although it is not even featured on my not that old map. In fact we were planning to visit another waterfall in the area originally, changed our pick just after the road sign said Sarika Waterfall is near by, so decided to have a look. We didn't regret it!

Although it was Saturday, the place was rather quiet, and met only locals; obviously foreigners must have similar map to mine...

The walk to the waterfall wasn't really demanding, even with my son pulling me half way in hope an anticipated swim. Never to disappoint him on this, it was fun swimming under the fall, cool water, sunshine, and the green around. A worthy day trip.

Note that since it is in the Khao Yai National Park, a entry fee apply. The usual double pricing, 200 baht for foreigners, and 40 baht for Thai.

White tiger cobs in Bung Chawak Zoo

Recently our family had spent a Saturday visiting the Bung Chawak Zoo, near Suphanburi, about 160km north of Bangkok. The zoo built along the Bung Chawak Lake, with an artificial island also being part, called the Rabbit Paradise.

But the big attraction is: they have lots of the big cats! And lots i mean; lions, tigers, even white tigers, leopard. All ages of tigers and lions, and that includes cubs as well. The entrance fee is very cheap at 20 THB for adult, and 5 THB for child...so for 3 of us, it came at 1.5USD grand total.

And the jackpot: for 20 THB per person you can go into the cub's cage and take photos with them. Now, I try to think long and hard but cant recall any similar photo opp for a steal 60 US cents!! One of the little known specials you dont find many place in the world, being able to hold a baby lion, or a white tiger cub!

A little family vacation

Tomorrow we are going to have a little family vacation; going up to the North, flying to Chiang Mai, and plan to look around a bit in the surrounding area as well.
We were lucky enough to secure a real nice deal on AirAsia's flight, costing only about 50$/person the round trip, taxes included.
It pays of if you know in advance when and where you would like to go, chances are you can still find a seat cheap, unlike a few days prior departure.
A hope to take lots of photos, and might post some here, once we are back.
I have been in Chiang Mai already once, 7 years ago, but that time my son didn't born yet...so this is first time for him there.
Wish me good weather, suppose to be a bit cooler there, but maybe a pleasant change away from the humid rainy season in the central area where we are.

It has been a long time since....

Yes, indeed it has been a very long time since I wrote here.
I have been busy a bit with work, did another contract on the cruise ship I am working before....and I have to admit that found also a new hobby, what started to develop into something more.
I met forex or FX trading on my way to learn some way to make online income, and it did fast develop into some kind of passion. The simple reason that I fount it to work.
No, it isnt like a secret get fast rich formula, and indeed you have to put actual time into it to do ok, but this is the one and only way I found ( so far) that able to make me more than mere cents, like blogging, or PTC (paid-to click), and in the same time being lots of fun and excitement too.
Anyway, I started to do ok, and develop this hobby to some sort of online business, a progress still on its way.
Maybe in the future I will include a bit details about it, in the meantime I will try to restart posing a few of stories abd photos about travel-me-etc :)

My latest achivement

I know, I know, I am behind posting lately.
It is due I have a new interest, but it is a bit early to talk about it, and part can be contributed to my friends who were nice to spend the New Year and some time after here with us. Oh, and yes, I am lazy a bit too. Sorry.


And now the achievement:
I love books and reading, and since a while my library, even the part I have here, outgrow the capacity of my bookshelf. It was time for a while to get another, and possible bigger one, and finally I found the one I liked.
But as all so often nowadays, it came in a neat long box, with a drawing and endless number of screws. A Lego toy for adults??
Had some other similar furniture experiences already, but neither the living room table, not the TV stand came this numerous pieces and screws, that with my not to pro screwdriver I could not manege in half an hour or less.
Well, this self I could manage only in 2 parts, with a break, as my hands really got tired. But seeing the result, I am happy.
Before you jump to conclusion about prior shelf, I have to say the books you see on the photo ARE NOT my whole library I was telling about! To organize things is a work in progress, and knowing my laziness lately, it might take up to a week to find the " right moment" to do it.

Happy New Year!

I like to wish a Happy and Prosperous New Year for everyone!

The reason being a little late with my wishes that my best friend and his girlfriend is visiting me, so, spent New Years Eve, and some other days with a little holiday travel.
But now has again some time for myself, and I will try to catch up a bit with the postings I missed.
Expect to see some new posts soon, as well I hope to come with the last month's top droppers list too.

Merry Christmas!

First of all, I would like to wish Merry Christmas and lots of happiness to all who read my blog!

Thanks for taking the time and stop by to read it.

This Xmas is a little different then the previous few was for me. Due to my work, the last 4 Xmas I was spending far away from my family, working, somewhere in the mid of the Caribbean Sea, in most case just north of the Dominican Republic, what i really love, but not that time of the year ( and without work).

So, lucky me, this isn't the 5th year in the row working far away, but celebration with my small family. Since Thailand is not a Christian majority country (Buddhism is the main religion) Xmas here is more a shoppers holiday than the real thing. The weather help to reinforce this feeling too; no, it isn't a white Xmas here. However, i tried to make it memorable, for my son especially, of course, after all I wasn't with him the last 4 occasion, and before he was too small to really understand much about it.

We bought a smaller Xmas tree, at least the plastic version of it, and some decorating things and lights to hang on. Being a responsible adult ( sometimes) all was bought around 2 weeks ago. Should you plan next year to do like me, don't. There was not a single day my son wouldn't ask when will we decorate the tree. A few times a day. OK, there is a good in the bad, he could practise math, by deducting current date from 24...

Anyway, we got here, and for much of his happiness, we all decorated our little 3 feet imitation tree together; a few times, as once the lights were on the wrong place, once the garlands, or my son hang too many little boxes and bells to one side, and not much on the other. But being a small tree, even this didn't take so long, not for what i remember from my early years, when i was kid.

After we finished, my son went to bicycle with the friends, and we could bring out his presents from the bottom of the cabinets. You have to know, that most time ( also due that many times I work far away) buying presents used to be a whole family activity, when I am at home, get them to the mall, and buy many things to make up for those missed birthdays, Xmases, etc.

But this time it was different a bit, for my son we bought everything when he was in the kindergarten, so, he didn't suspect a thing. He thought, obviously from his experience, that today we are finished with the tree, and tomorrow I will take them to shop toys, the most important aspect of all events.

There was big surprise, when he came home!! He could not imagined that how we got all that presents for him, kept asking my wife how they came, and was so happy for "all this free toys". I think in a way he believes Santa Claus now, not even for a tiny second suspecting that we bought this toys, and presents. And we leave him there, child mind is best when imagination has free reign. Merry Christmas everyone!

Snake attack!!

I don't know, but December looks like a month of the snakes this year. Early in the month I encountered one, which I unfortunately forget to photo with its head still on...

Yes, apologises to all snake lovers, I am sure they are cute animals, and all, but not in my garden, thank you! BTW, that was said to be a poisonous one.

But yesterday, for my surprise my wife woke me up in the morning that there is 2 snakes in the garden. This time I didn't miss to photo them, but they were fast to "run", I think they knew they running for their lives. I found that they probably leave under the roof of my neighbor. They usually stay only for the weekends here, so, probably good place for the snakes to set up their home there. I don't mind if they do, as long as they don't visit me often, or they will run into the machete like their cousin.

The photos not outstanding, as these snakes wasn't there to model for me, remember, they were on the move for their life. The background is courtesy of my neighbor, I believe he could tidy up things a bit, but can I say that loud? Nah...

Laptop to desktop

Recently I encountered a new problem with my laptop, but this time was even less fun than the last with the virus.
It was my LCD.
Most people with laptops fear this the most, at least after the warranty expires. Mine did expire a half year or so ago, so you can imagine my happiness when I had my LCD go black in the middle of an otherwise beautiful sunny day. First confusion, then a bit anger, and finally followed the fear about the cost of the needed action.
Although not mentioned, I am a rather tight budget right now, and the upcoming Xmas not helping to expand it much.
My local repairman could just confirm my fears, that it might be an LCD change. So off I went to Asus ( my laptop's brand) service. They initially gave me a slight hope, but that turned out nothing more. They mentioned that it might cost around 60$ to repair it in good case, and around 300$ if they need to change LCD.
Cut it short, when I called them next day with inquire about the finding, the price went up magically to a sky-high 450$!! No, there was no particular explanation how or why. Same time in the nearby mall they sell new laptops, even Asus, for an entry price level of 500-550$. Did some math and some fuming, came to the conclusion that i don't want to spend this much for the repair. But nor want to throw. After all just made some upgrade and suffered with the system reinstall not so long ago...
Then got the idea, that we need a home computer anyway, so, with an external monitor I just convert it to desktop. That way the cost is bearable for the time being, as I got a perfectly nice 19' LCD monitor from Samsung for a reasonable 120$, my local repairman did the install of it along taking of the useless LCD from the laptop, living me with the keyboard, and the rest, a real compact looking desktop.
I know it is not the best looking maybe, but hey, I just didn't get that extra cash right now to buy a similar laptop. The winner is my wife, as now this will replace our old computer on the desk, which is real slow, with its 7+ years already, though I was very thankful even for that when this broke down.

Mikulás Nap - Saint Nicholas Day

Today is Saint Nicholas day. Or as in my native Hungary they call it: Mikulás Napja.

Maybe you wonder why your Santa Claus picture is here today then. Let me give a little explanation, as Hungarian customs differ from those of US, and many others around the World (yes, there is few similar to ours as well).

Saint Nicholas was a living person, in fact a Catholic bishop in the 3rd century. He was famous of helping and giving to everyone. Should you want to know more about him, a search on the net would come up with near 4 million results just for Saint Nicholas alone.

But how this whole thing has do anything with today. First, today is the nameday of Nicholas (Miklós in Hungary), and the previous night just before is the night when parents leave presents in for the kids, in the windows, or in their boots. Unlike in many other countries, in Hungary Santa Claus (Mikulás) not coming on Christmas Day, but kids "meet Him" on the 6th of December. These presents they get is mostly chocolate Santa figurines, and candies, for the good kids, or "virgács" for the bad kids; this later is a bunch of thin wood brunches, serves to hit the bad ones! Anyway, it is maybe a playful reminder there only, chocolate is the winner.

And then what about the present and Christmas?

In Hungary, not Santa Clause the one who brings them! We get the presents from the Baby Jesus on Christmas Eve, on the 24th December. Maybe in this it is better for Hungarian kids, having 2 special days in December.

Father's Day in Thailand

As mentioned, today is King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 81th birthday, but also this they in Thailand marked as Father's Day ( just as Queen's birthday is Mother's Day here).


For this occasion I got a little present from my son, what they made in the kindergarten. Honestly I forgot all about this Father's Day aspect till I saw him coming, and trying to hide something behind the back, what I had no idea what it might be, until with a big smile he gave me the present he was making me. Surprise!

The Laos trip: Luang Prabang, Wat Pahouak, Day 5

Wat Pahouak isn't particularly a big Wat, nor a magnificent one. So, why I choose to include it, if I saw many which more beautiful ones, that I skipped? Wat Pahouak merited its own post, and you will see why soon.

The Wat is just a bit offside of the staircase leading up to Pousi Stupa on the top of the hill, but I think they get considerably more visitors. However I am a curious type. What really caught my attention first was the sign by the door. I Include the photo above to read it:

Inside there were these murals, and compare to the small side, it was easy to see that it had been a beautiful small Wat (temple) in the past. Unfortunate, most would need renovation soon, before they can't be restored anymore. After some photos, I realised two more things.

First, that nobody else is there. And that made the second even more strange. There was a big table with different size of little paintings, pictures, and such, with a donation box, and a book to record transactions. I mean by yourself, as nobody was there!! We had a look, and saw they included some recommended donation price on the back of the pictures, by pencil. I don't know, but for some reason I really got touched by the moment, being in a small temple all alone, and having the trust in people not to just take away anything. Not as I would do that, but you might know what i mean. I afraid not all like this.

In the end we ended up two nice pictures, consider it as an entrance fee. The price was really cheap, and now framed (now, that cost 3 times the pictures price!) they are decorating our homes. Not only they look good on the wall, but also a memoir of the Laos trip, and of Wat Pahouak.

Quantum of Solace, the new James Bond movie

My wife's number one choice is still action movie, so, primarily her in mind, today we watched the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.
To be honest James Bond was never my number one action movie favorite, but with the current Bond, Daniel Craig I like it rather less. I could not finish Casino Royale, even though I tried 2 times. Quantum of Solace was better, I could watch it to the end, if that means something as an indicator.
The story was not really clear in most place, but for sure there was some action, namely lots of chasing. I wonder if the director left out any; they chased running, on the top of houses, by car, by boat, by airplane, above ground, underground...
I could see they really tried, maybe not their fault that it was not life-like for me but not that entertaining. I am sure Mr.Craig also try hard to be Bond, and succeed more than the previous sequence, but still some time he looks more the bad guy than the good.
Overall, it is ok, not hit my top list for sure, but one time alright to watch. The next might be fine. Or so I hope.

Little person(al): a few photo for my parents

As I may mention, we live very far from my parents ( my son's grandparents), so this is one way to share a few photos. Without much more explanation, these are the latest from Laos. Feel free to have a look, they are not secret!

Saturday Buddha

In Buddhism, for every week of the day they have a different way to depict Buddha. Some standing, other sitting, or reclining. But by coincidence, I always liked the one sitting, and have this 7-headed dragon behind the head. The coolest of all! As later sometimes I came to think of it, I found out that all my wife, my son and me all born on Saturdays. It came as a surprise! And just made me like more the Saturday Buddhas with the 7-headed dragon behind, as it is special for us!

Lao special: Snake Whisky

Being away for over a week from home is not that simple anymore, since we have the rabbits. Lucky for us, our friend Khun Jazz was kind enough to come over and feed them. In fact as we found later out, she did a very good job, the rabbits seemed to be twice the size we remembered!

For all this help, we certainly wanted to have some gift for them, and in that something Lao.
There is a night market ( maybe evening would be more proper as they finish at 10PM) every day in Luang Prabang, turning a segment of the main street asphalt into stalls, where they sell their crafts and souvenirs. And here we stumbled upon this special present: the Snake Whisky. Look a bit morbid, in a way remind me of those tequila bottles, though the worms are considerable smaller then this snake. They claim it works as a medicine too, but someone have to test that for me to prove.


Anyway, I couldn't pass on it, as I knew they like new things to try; once even tasted my cooking! OK, actually I am a good cook, so, they were not in danger (I cook European, don't do Thai dishes). Later I also see at some restaurant that have enormous bottles with matching big snakes in the whisky, where you could buy by shot.


As it turned out, it was a good choice, they liked the look, and there was the surprise factor too. I don't know if they tasted, yet I always forgot to ask.

Just for a side note: early this week I had almost the chance to try to make my own snake whisky, as we had another snake in our garden. The 3rd times in 4 month. I don't know what happened lately, before we did not have at all. Anyway, was thinking late, I think headless it would not look the same in the bottle. Maybe the next intruder?!

Helping to teach English

Today I was invited ( once again) by my friend Sean to join him and his team to a special event, to teach English to kids.
The topic was basic journalism, and reading skills.
It was an early wake up, really unusual for me, at 5:45AM, but the school was around an hour drive from us. Sean was kind to pick me up, and so did with the other 2 helpers on the way to the school.
The Buranasuksa school were we arrived was a huge school, I didn't expect this big. I think it is my limited imagination, as from the number of the attending students I should guess better.
Later the principal answered me this, there is 2400 kids in Buranasuksa school!!

The event was divided into 2 sessions, the first before lunch, and the later obviously after.
The first session we had Grade 5 kids, 130 of them, and in the afternoon Grade 6 kids, 180 of them. Did I say this is a huge school?!

We used Sean's "Student News" as the main material, it is a bilingual monthly magazine for Thai kids. Sean is the owner and the editor of the magazine.

I am always a bit shy naturally, but it is fun to be part of the event, where kids could come up, and asked questions from a "real" foreigner, and where we could help them with reading and pronunciations of the words.
The school's director came also over, in both sessions making an opening speech to the kids about the importance of learning foreign language, and the chance to use this special event to better their skills.
We all also got a present from him (and a school). Really not something I expected, as I also helped Sean too purely out of friendship.
My surprise was even bigger when in the afternoon Sean and me got presented with another gift box.
As I learned it at home it contains a beautiful set of cups and saucers, both hand-painted, and decorated with gold. My treasure, and a memorable reminder of a special day.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

I can hardly imagine, there is anybody in there 30s and 40s who would not know Star Wars. For me, it is by far my favorite sci-fi, and even though the first ( Episode 4: A new hope) came out in 1977, there is so few which get near to the Star Wars success.

But, as time pass, there is a new generation now, and they would keep Star Wars alive with them too. A great idea indeed.

My son's first meet with Star Wars was basically Family Guy's Star Wars special, a parody of Episode 4: A new hope. And in that, a real funny one, in mind the younger ones as well probably, being only 40 or so minutes.

And after some planning, this summer Lucas came out an animated Star Wars movie, The Clone Wars, bringing Star Wars back to fans, and aiming to get the attention of a new generation.

I think they did.

The Clone Wars are placed in time between Episode 2 and Episode 3, where Anakin is still a Jedi ( and not Darth Vader), and the Clones are being the good guys, fighting against the droid army.

The movie was actually an Intro into the story. Lucasfilm signed a 44 episode contract with Cartoon Network to air the Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoon series.

And I think it is a success for all, measuring on my son how he enjoys it, and keep asking for more episodes. We don't have CN, so, it is the magic of download, and I can only download as soon as they post it.

Even though it is not a "real" Star Wars movie, I still enjoy it as well, so, another thing we can do together with my son. And that is great!

Adding subscribe option to the blog

Today, after a long time planning to do, I added subscribe option to the blog, and signed up with FeedBurner to do this.
It might sound and is simple to some, but for me it took a half day and some friendly help to figure out finally how things are, and customize a bit to my liking.
Now, it has done, and if you like my blog, can subscribe to it. Hope you will!

The Laos trip: Vang Vieng, Day 3

Having a little research about what else to see, we settled to go and explore the famous Phu Kham Cave, and the Blue Lagoon.

This is around 7 km trip out of Vang Vieng, so, we chose to rend bicycles, as it was offering a more relaxing and fun trip then the faster motorbike.

Passing through the bridge to the other side of the Song River a dirt road lead to the cave.

On the way we passed numerous other caves, what they have signs advertising, and few small villages, and countless rice fields.

The day were pretty, it was really a good choice to go with bicycle.

We arrived to the cave and lagoon maybe in an hour and half, as we were not in a hurry at all.

The lagoon was a small river, probably with a dam somewhere a bit further down, but first we went to see the cave.

On the bottom of the way up you could rent some headlight gears for a small fee.

The way up is a hard climb, near vertical up on some place slippery rocks. Was real pleased that my son made it without complain, with some help, but that is normal, he is 6.

Once up, had a minute relaxing, and then descended to the cave.

Found a big cave, in the middle some reclining Buddha image, as locals also use it maybe as a kind of shrine the cave.

There were stalactites and stalagmites, and some dropping water here and there. Pretty, but not the built out type of cave, so, it was little difficult to move around.

After seeing what we could, found out that descending from the cave is worse than climbing up, but again, passed this obstacle as well.

And down was the Blue Lagoon, inviting us to a swim.

The water was beautiful turquoise blue, and crystal clear, with the fishes clearly visible around.

It was refreshingly cool, but for my surprise also very deep, so, my son could not really swim, just a few laps holding to my neck and back. Fun, for him, but not much of air for me when he does use my neck to get a hold. It felt great to swim, as by afternoon the day really turned hot.

On the way back we stopped a bit at another small river by a village, watched the kids jumping from the bridge to the water and playing.

Back to Vang Vieng, before dinner we bought the ticket to Luang Prabang, as our time finished here.