Bangkok Blogger|Tales from Thailand

Since arriving here I have been reading books about Thailand and Bangkok inparticular to find out more about the country and its customs.  Guide books such as those by Lonely Planet have been good but there are also quite a lot of fiction books set in Thailand and Bangkok.  One of the more popular authors writing fiction set in Bangkok is John Burdett and English born ex-laywer who started writing novels a few years ago.

There are three books in his series:  Bangkok Eight, Bangkok Tatto and Bangkok Haunts.

There are all easy to read and give a good insight into Bangkok and the various people who live here from corrupt cops, ladyboys, English teachers, monks and army generals.

These books are well worth a read and are great beach fodder.

Same Same, But Different

I’ve seen the above slogan on quite a few t-shirts worn by the Thai folk and wondered if it might be some joke about Thais trying to speak English.  After a quick Google search I found out that I was right and it refers to Tinglish which is a mutation of English spoken by some Thai people.  Here are some examples that might help you better understand Thais speaking English:

• same same (similar, as usual) and same same but different (seems similar but different in some ways);
• open/close the light (means “To turn on/off the light”);
• no have … (means “there is no …” or “I do not have a …”);
• I send you to the airport (means “I will take you to the airport”);
• I love you too much;
• I’m not pretty sure (means “I don’t know”);
• I have ever been to London;
• I’m interesting in football (means “I am interested in watching/playing football”);
• wash the film (means “develop the film”);
• I very like it (means “I really like it”);
• I’m sad when my mother angries me meaning is angry with me;
• I used to go to Phuket meaning I have been to Phuket before;
• take a bath referring to taking a shower;
• “Do you know how to eat this?” referring to food with taste that may be unfamiliar, or food requiring special eating method (such as wrapping it in lettuce) that may not be known to the listener;
• I play internet (I go on/use the internet);
• “This is suck!” means “This sucks!”;
• omission of pronouns and of the verb be;
• use of present tense + “already” instead of past tense

Stolen from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinglish

Anyone got any photos of signs in Tinglish?

Click to view the Hua Hin photo gallery

Hua Hin is a beach resort about 200km from Bangkok and easily accessible via train.  We took a train down on the Friday afternoon leaving from Bangkok’s main railway station Hua Lamphong.  The timetabled duration of the journey is about 3 hours but it took around 5 hours.  We travelled in second class air conditioned which was comfortable but a bit chilly so bring a cardie!

We got a taxi from Hua Hin train station to our hotel but if we’d have known how near it was we would’ve walked.  The hotel was nice and clean if not a little dated and had two pools which we never got around to using.  Breakfast was served between 7am and 10am and was a mixture of Thai and Western.

Hua Hin is a popular resort with Germans and there were a few bars catering to them with German food, German football and German beer.

Walking around Hua Hin reminded me of being on a Greek island as it was quite built up and Western but also has that seaside feel with scooters nipping around and holiday merchandise on sale.  There are lots of suit shops and tailors here so if you are after a handmade suit for a low price it might be a good place to come.  There is also the obligatory Starbucks, Burger King, Subway and McDonald’s.

There appeared to be about five major hotels along the beach and the two main ones were the Marriott and the Hilton.  The rest of the accommodation was made up of smaller hotels and guest houses.  Unlike Koh Samet there were no beach huts but there were some guest houses very close to the sand.

After Koh Samet which felt like a Thai island resort this felt much more like a European beach resort and the 3,200 or so expats living here went someone towards creating that feeling.

As this is/was a fishing town there are lots of seafood restaurants offering Thai seafood dishes or other seafood meals from around the world.  There were also quite a few Thai places to eat on the beach who had their own sun loungers and seating.

The beach was fairly clean except for the odd bit of manure from the horses which are ridden up and down the shore.  The water was the warmest I had been in so far and was nice for swimming in.  There were also a couple of jet skis for hire and a banana boat but they weren’t too noisy.

There are lots of bars in Hua Hin but we didnt really explore the bar/red light but we saw quite a few overwright Germans with young Thai girls so if you are looking for a bar girl I’m sure you can find one easily enough.

On the Sunday, our last day, we decided to go for a roast at a place we had seen the previous day called Buffalo Bill’s.  It was our first Sunday Roast in Thailand and was very nice and just as good as something you’d get back home.  The roast also  came with a dessert of apple pie and Bird’s custard which was also very nice. The pub was really nice with an English colonial feel and not like the sometimes tacky English style bars you get in Bangok.  They had cider, bitter and Kronenberg on tap and lots of bottled beers.    Buffalo Bill’s also does accommodation so might be worth checking out if you are looking for somewhere to stay.

We were planning to get the train back to Bangkok but the one we wanted to get was all booked up so we got a taxi back which cost 1500THB and took about four hours.

Hua Hin is a really nice resort and is good for a weekend break but if you are looking for a beach near Bangkok I’d recommend Koh Samet as I really liked the island feel and being able to stay right on the beach in a little hut.

Hua Hin links:

• Buffalo Bill’s
• Interactive Google Map of Hua Hin
• The bars and pubs of Hua Hin
• Hua Hin Nightlife Map