Recently I went to Thailand on business to pick up some tools at a factory in the Isaan area. We start off at Taoyuan International Airport, which is currently under construction to renovate Terminal 1, where my flight originated. This strange roof cover seems to be completed now and I didn’t recognize the terminal when my taxi drove up to it. At the airport, the shopping area now benefits from a make-over.
You see what I mean when I say I had the colors jacked up.
I’m not sure if the gate areas have been re-done because they look pretty much the same, if memory serves.
It was a bright beautiful morning – perfect for a flight to Thailand.
This decoration is something I hadn’t seen before.
These guys now live in Chonburi, in a nice town called Phanat Nikhom, where few foreigners are to be found.
We stopped at a Thai rest area on the highway.
This place is huge!
First thing these guys did right off was to help me get a mobile phone SIM card.
And then it was off to lunch!
This is one of those large open-air places that Thailand is famous for.
It has a nice outdoor feel to it, and of course, includes karaoke.
A-nune and A-jo start a friendly game of snooker.
Oath pours the beer, Leo, Thai style with plenty of ice.
Soon the food arrived, this fried rice being the first dish.
Along with the accompanying Thai style vegetables.
This nice soup was next.
The rice looked good dished out on my plate.
This is the famous Thai dish called “krapau” made with pork. Full bodied with plenty of basil and just enough hot peppers, this dish was great.
These are pieces of dry pork (deep fried) with peanuts, garlic and scallions.
More dry pork.
Just as things were getting interesting, food-wise, this delightful creature showed up with her mother in tow.
While we were eating and drinking, Oath decided to get up and render a few tunes for us.
Dry beef arrived,
and more dry pork. Can’t get enough of this kind of thing when you’re drinking!
Soon it was time to leave and take me to my hotel for the duration of my stay. Naturally I took a rest for a few hours after all that eating, drinking and catching up.
A-nune picked me up and took me to the next stop on the agenda – the place where he performs nightly. There are some areas in Chonburi that are experiencing long-term water problems, such as this section of the road along the way.
Now remember, I cannot read Thai at all, so I never know the names of any of these places unless there is an English name that I happen to catch. This is an outdoor restaurant built on a dock on a lake. The food and atmosphere here is excellent.
A-nune does a show with Elle (whom the guys call “meimei”), and a guy he calls “didi.”
This video embed shows them performing. I cannot speak Thai, and I have no idea what they were saying at the beginning, therefore I did not realize they would talk for so long before they started the song (but I didn’t want to risk missing the intro of the song, so I kept on shooting). So, feel free to skip forward to when they start singing: 1:23. This is a D7000 video.
Naturally, brother Oath joined A-nune on stage for a few tunes.
After a few hours of great Thai music and food, we went to the next place:
This is where Oath performs nightly. Oath and his partner put on a good show.
Drinking 100 Piper’s whisky, a Thailand institution.
Later on, Nom and A-nune joined Oath onstage for a few tunes.
Elle took this photo of Yours Truly, wearing my famous bush hat.
Former field engineer MJ Klein now lives in Taiwan, and writes articles that primarily feature photographs of travels of MJ and wife Hui-chen, plus daily goings on in the bustling island nation of Taiwan, and other places in Asia. Articles feature people, culture, food, situations and sometimes the trials and tribulations of traveling in places such as China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Laos and of course Taiwan.
