The Great Flood

Life in Bangkok is never boring! After the big earthquake last year, I thought I was done with natural disasters for a while. But recently, I got to experience the worst flooding the city has seen since 2011, two years before I moved here.

After 48 hours of non-stop pounding rain (thanks, El Niño), Pinky and I awoke to news that Bangkok had been declared a disaster area.

It was 7:00am, and I donned my Chacos to wade out into the already ankle-deep water towards Ladphrao MRT Station which has a small but well-stocked Gourmet Market supermarket.

Already, a number of stalled-out cars had been abandoned on the flooded streets, and we would see more and more appearing as the day wore on and the water kept rising.

Even at 7am, the crowds at the grocery store were insane! I guess everyone learned their lessons from the last time the city flooded, and had already started preparing supplies.

I stocked up on a few days' worth of canned and dry food as well as a few 5-litre jugs of water in case we lost power (which fortunately didn't end up happening).

I'm glad that I did, because in the afternoon I decided to walk out to the local 7-eleven for a Coke Zero, and found that the shelves had all been completely emptied!

We live on the 19th floor, and our car was parked on the 4th floor of the parking garage, so we really didn't have anything to worry about. Pinky was forced to take the day off of work as there was no way to get out of our condo, and I also had to cancel my tutoring class. It ended up being kind of fun... almost like a "snow day"!

At one point, it even started hailing! It was the craziest weather I've ever seen in Bangkok!

By the next morning, the water levels had fallen enough that we were able to resume our lives more or less as normal, but it was really interesting to see how many cars had ended up breaking down on the roads. It took a few days for them to get cleared away, and suddenly, there have been a suspicious number of unusually cheap used cars on the market! I can only imagine people are trying to sell their flooded-out cars before anyone realizes they're not worth the money.

But we are all safe and sound here. The city has undergone lots of infrastructure developments since 2011 to prevent that sort of flooding from happening again, and the disaster was over much, much quicker this time.

Farm Day

It was a beautiful sunny day outside of Khao Yai National Park, and it was time to connect with my Texas roots by spending a morning at Farm Chokchai, something that my friend Greg from the Bangkok Podcast recommended me to do years ago to feel a little closer to home.

Farm Chokchai is the largest dairy farm in all of Asia, and the theme park-like farm and ranch is the brainchild of Dr. Chokchai Bulakul, who founded the operation in 1957 and transformed it into one of Thailand's most famous agritourism destinations.

Dr. Chokchai was born in Thailand in 1937 and spent his early years studying abroad, first in Hong Kong and later in the United States. Inspired by the American cowboy lifestyle he had seen in Western films, he studied animal husbandry at Cornell University in New York before returning to Thailand in 1957 to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a rancher.

Over the following decades, Dr. Chokchai became something of a celebrity in Thailand, known for his larger-than-life personality, cowboy-inspired lifestyle, and massive success in the dairy industry. His love of ranching, expensive cars, and the trappings of the American West helped turn him into a recognizable public figure, as well as a pioneer of Thailand's modern dairy farming industry.

After visiting the on-site ranching museum (which contained tons of life-sized longhorn cows, ranchers, and huge framed portraits of actors like Clint Eastwood and John Wayne), Pinky and I stopped by the farm store to buy a couple bottles of the freshest milk in the country.

As we drove into the farm itself, an impressive property spanning some 8,000-plus acres, we made our way between a series of stops, each offering a different glimpse into farm life, from dairy production to animal encounters and other hands-on agricultural experiences.

I even got to try my hand at milking a cow, something that I'm not sure I had ever done before. I may be from Texas, but I've never been much of a rancher... It was weirdly fun, even though squeezing milk from the udder felt pretty odd.

We had lunch at Chokchai Steakhouse, a restaurant as American as any I've ever seen in Thailand, with wood-paneled walls and diningrooms named things like "The Texas Room" and "The Ronald Reagan Room." It was like stepping into the 80s and onto the set of Dallas.

I had a dry-aged cheeseburger, which ended up being one of the best burgers I've ever had (I don't eat a ton of red meat, but I couldn't pass up the chance to try it from what some say is the best steakhouse in all of Thailand!).

It was still early afternoon, so we decided to take a detour to visit a nearby temple on the way back to our hotel.

We parked our car and, after getting directions from a monk and his dog, began climbing up a set of steps that let up the side of a limestone hill.

The views were spectacular, and there was a wonderful, cool breeze despite the warmth of the afternoon.

Wat Tham Khao Wong is a cave temple. Though there are a number of traditional temple buildings such as the ordination hall and monks' quarters, the "main attraction" located inside a natural cafe on the temple grounds.

The temperature fell noticeably as we entered the cavern, and our footsteps were immediately muffled by the silence of the cave.

Though the cave was natural, it was well-lit, beautifully adorned, and very clean. A number of nooks and niches had been carved into the stone set with pillows and wooden seats for monks and laymen alike to sit and meditate in the silent cavern.

As we entered the main cavern, we discovered a shrine hall where a senior monk was giving a dharma talk to a small group of visitors. Signs posted regularly throughout the temple informed visitors that monks were happy to schedule both Thai and English monk chats and talks.

The temple was completely off the beaten path. It is not one of the most famous or popular attractions in the area, but I was really impressed with how nice it was. It was a very tranquil and serene place to visit after a fun day at the farm.

The final stop before we drove back to our hotel was at a local mango farm. This part of Thailand is known for its agriculture, particularly fruit.

We ordered a grilled mango with a sort of caramelized creme brulee exterior served with vanilla ice cream and fresh cream.  

I found a nice restaurant for us to go to for dinner, and after freshening up at the hotel, we set off on the 15 or so minute drive out to Kuni Kuni, a very nice upscale restaurant located at the dusitD2 Khao Yai Hotel which was located at the very top of a massive three-story treehouse.

We didn't have reservations (I didn't know we were expected to have them and only found the restaurant at the last minute!), but it was ok because we had arrived early enough that there was still a table or two available for us.

We were seated at a small table for two looking out from the top of the open-air restaurant across the sprawling green hills of Khao Yai. Talk about dinner with a view!

After a phenomenal (and surprisingly, but perhaps most importantly reasonably-priced) dinner of salmon salad, grilled wild boar neck, and slow-braised beef risotto, we finally retired to our bungalow.

The next morning, it was unfortunately time for us to end our holiday and head back to the city.

Khao Yai is one of my new favorite places in Thailand, and I cannot believe that it took me this long to make my way there.

I'm already planning my next trip!

Khao Yai Road Trip

Khao Yai National Park was established in 1962 as the kingdom's first national park. I had wanted to visit for years, but without reliable public transportation to or from the park, it was never easy for me to get to.

Now that I have a car, that's changed, and a few weeks ago, Pinky and I decided to take a short two-night trip to Khao Yai and the surrounding region (also colloquially called "Khao Yai"), which stretches across parts of four provinces and is known for its resorts, nature getaways, laid-back lifestyle, cafes, farms, and more.

After leaving the city, we stopped for an early breakfast at a rest stop along the way, and by late morning, we were in Nakhon Ratchasima Province (nicknamed "Korat").

This hilly area is known for its mountains and hills, cooler weather, and large number of farms.

Our first stop was at Sweet and Green Farm, which is known for growing delicious produce, specifically tomatoes. We got to explore the farm a bit and ended up buying some tomatoes and a few boxes of fresh tomato juice from the farm shop.

Soon, we arrived in Mu Si, a little resort town just outside the gates of the park in Pak Chong District.

It was time for lunch, and since Nakhon Ratchasima Province is the "Gateway to the Northeast", of course we had to have some Issan (northeastern Thai) food.

We didn't know it at the time, but Penlaos, the restaurant where we stopped to eat, had recently won a Michelin Bib Gourmand award for their food.

The dish I was most excited to try was their award-winning avocado som tam, a traditional northeastern spicy salad typically made with shredded young papaya. Here, slices of creamy avocado were served with pieces of fresh, juicy shrimp and tossed in the traditional spicy and sour som tam dressing.

After lunch, we hopped back in the car and drove on to Saisook Khao Yai. This little shop in Mu Si Town sells very fancy popsicles, each one named and themed after a bird or animal found in Khao Yai National Park.

Refreshed after our popsicle break, it was time to drive on to the national park.

Pinky and I paid the park entry fee, then drove the 20-odd kilometers winding up from the park gate to the visitor's center along a long, narrow mountain road. The scenery was amazing, and we could feel the air growing cooler and windier as we wound our way up the mountainside.

In fact, the weather got so cool that we rolled down our windows as we drove up to the visitor's center.

Eventually, we reached the park headquarters, where we booked a night safari, before setting out along a boardwalk trail over the river.

 

As we walked along a rickety wooden suspension bridge above the muddy brown water of the river outside the park HQ, we spotted three new birds for our life lists: the Oriental Pied Hornbill, the Great Hornbill, and the Barred Cuckoo-dove.

Driving on up the mountainside, we reached the Sai Sorn Reservoir, one of the most popular spots in the park for nature watching.

The small lake is surrounded by open grasslands and forest and is very popular with wildlife. The weather was beautiful, and we saw at least three couples taking pre-wedding photos in the lawn around the lake.

As dusk fell, we reported back to the park headquarters to book a ride on the Night Safari. For just 600 baht (about US$20), we were able to hire a pickup-truck driver and a guide who used a flashlight to search for wildlife as we drove along, sweeping the beam to look for animals in the darkness.

We clambered up into the bed of the pickup truck, even as the rain began drizzling all around us, and our guide turned on her light and started scanning the surroundings for animals.

There are an estimated 400 wild elephants that live at Khao Yai National Park, and our guide told us that she usually sees some on a night safari about once a week.

We didn't get lucky that night, but we did see a ton of deer, jackals, and foxes.

The highlight of the trip was when our guide spotted a small civet eating berries out of a tree just feet from where we had pulled off to park.

Civets are pretty cool. They’re nocturnal, cat-like mammals that are actually more closely related to mongooses than cats. They’re excellent climbers and spend a lot of their time up in trees searching for fruit and insects to eat. The type that we spotted, the Asian palm civet, is probably most famous for its role in producing kopi luwak, the infamous "poop coffee". To make kopi luwak, civets are fed ripe coffee cherries and later excrete them partially digested. The beans are then collected, cleaned, roasted, and brewed into a rather expensive coffee that is considered a delicacy across Asia.

We were not here for his poop, however, and after watching the cute little civet for a few moments, we drove on, allowing him to enjoy the rest of his meal in peace.

After a good hour-plus driving around the dark roads of the national park, we returned to the headquarters. It had started drizzling, and Pinky and I were happy to get back into our warm, dry car to head back down the mountain.

Khao Yai National Park was incredible, and we only barely scratched the surface of all that it has to offer. I'd love to come back to camp sometime soon!

I've always said that Erawan was my favorite national park in Thailand, but Khao Yai might give it a run for its money. The two parks are very different, but both have incredible nature, scenery, and wildlife to explore, and now I'm not sure which one I like more.

Art, Curry, Stamps, and Prawns

There's always something interesting going on in Bangkok, and I'll admit that sometimes I get a little lax or lazy at seeking out fun things to do.

However, over the past few weeks I ended up seeking out a few small adventures.

I. Art

The first was to an art exhibition.

Hiroshi Nagai is an artist that I've liked for a while who is best known for his colorful pop art paintings of tropical landscapes, swimming pools, palm trees, and idyllic coastal scenes.

His work has become closely associated with the Japanese city pop aesthetic of the late 1970s and 1980s, and he has also created numerous iconic album covers.

II. Curry

I had been wanting to try Khao Gaeng Jek Pui's famous "Netflix Curry" (featured on "Street Food Asia") in Bangkok's Chinatown for a while now, but the first time I made my way out there, the shop was closed for a holiday. The second time I went, it was at 11am, and I learned that the restaurant doesn't open until 2pm each day, so I went home.

I was able to pay a visit to Khao Gaeng Jek Pui, or Jek Pui's Rice and Curry, in Thailand's Yaowarat neighborhood, for a plate of their incredible curry on rice.

There's nothing fancy about the shop, and it would be easy to overlook were it not for the large crowds it attracts each day. I stepped into the alleyway behind Wat Mangkon Temple and queued up to place my order. The man working at the front, whom I heard speaking English and Chinese to customers in addition to Thai, took my money and shouted out my order to a woman behind him, who scooped the curry over a huge plate of white rice.

There were several curries to choose from, but I went with the famous red beef curry, along with a side of sweet Chinese pork sausage that had been fried until crispy on the outside while remaining nice and chewy on the inside.

I don't go out to order curry that often, but maybe I should. Every time I do, I'm reminded of how comforting and satisfying a good Thai curry can be. I sat down on one of the tiny plastic stools in the alleyway (the restaurant's dining area) and enjoyed my meal. I'll definitely be returning.

III. Stamps

I had passed the Thai Philatelic Museum so many times, but had never actually taken the time to stop and check it out. Located at Saphan Kwai Post Office, the museum is dedicated to philately, the study of postage stamps and postal history.

The museum, which turned out to be a really interesting look at the history of Thai Post and both Thai and global postage stamps, had put on an exhibition of stamps from around the world featuring cats, and Pinky and I, both cat lovers, decided to stop in spontaneously one afternoon.

It was a small but very well-designed museum, and I'm glad to have gone out of my way to visit.

IV. Prawns

Sometimes, a great meal can be found at the most unexpected of places.

Now that I have a car, I've been able to drive past parts of my neighborhood I had never really seen before, and a tiny little restaurant called River Prawns 90s at a local gas station had caught my eye every time I drove past.

A couple of days ago, we decided to drive out for an early dinner to check it out.

I'm so glad that we did, because the owner told us that it was the restaurant's last day before closing for a while to move to a new location. It was just luck and good timing!

The shop sells, as you can imagine, river prawns. We ordered a half kilo of prawns along with a plate of stir-fried cabbage and a serving of prawn fried rice.

I know this isn't exactly the most exciting post on my blog, but sometimes it's nice just to feature a little bit of daily life. Things have been really busy lately, and I'm trying to appreciate the small things more.