Filed under: Expat life, News, Outside Thailand, People, Sport, Travel, work | Tags: amateur boxing, Bangkok, Bangkok Post, boxing, Cambodia, Cantonese food, Casino Lisboa, charity, China, chronic restrictive pulmonary disorder, Coloane, Cotai, Cotai Arena, deep vein thrombosis, England, ETBC, expats, Fight Lab Bangkok, fusion food, gambling, Gaza, George Foreman, Germany, Hong Kong, Islamic State, jungle, Kazakhstan, Koh Kong, Koh Samui, Lion's Head Boxing, Macanese food, Macau, Manny Pacquiao, muay Thai, Operation Smile, Portuguese food, restaurants, Scotland, Scottish independence, Sport, Tatai, Thailand, The Lab, Trat, Travel, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Wales, western boxing, white collar boxing, Zou Shiming
The past 12 months have been some of the most fulfilling of my life. I made great strides both personally and professionally, and while death did intervene on a couple of occasions, and threaten on another, 2014 was by far a positive year overall.
The most interesting point, as far as I’m concerned, was my long-awaited return to competitive boxing. Also long-awaited was a promotion I secured in work. My relationship with Fai continued to progress and deepen, and I travelled overseas three times. On a sadder note, I lost two friends, and nearly lost a dear family member.
BOXING
In June, I finally returned to competitive boxing – a mere 17 years after my last match! To put that into perspective, it was a hiatus seven years longer than that which preceded George Foreman‘s famous comeback.
I had been training consistently for a couple of years but for various reasons had not secured a match. But last year, western amateur boxing really took off in Bangkok. Previously, foreign boxers in Thailand had two options – fight in muay Thai, or turn pro and get fed to the lions. Neither option appealed to me, and there has been no obvious amateur programme open to foreigners, so when The Lab organised its inaugural boxing show in June and offered me a spot on the card, I jumped at the chance.
Filed under: Culture, Food, Nightlife, restaurants, Six of the best | Tags: Airport Rail Link, Baiyoke Sky, Bangkok, BTS, Burma, Chao Phraya river, Chinese food, crocodile, exotic food, Facebook, food, fusion food, Future Park Rangsit, Gold Bay Leaf, hotels, Indian food, Indian restaurants, international food, Isan, Isan food, Japanese food, Jareung Restaurant, jungle food, Lumpini, MRT, Namuskaar, Nana, northeastern Thailand, ostrich, Phathum Thani, Punnawhitti, Rangsit, Ratchaprarop, Ratchathewi, Rattanakosin, restaurants, Sala Rattanakosin, Sathorn, southern Thailand, steak, Sukhumvit, Thai food, Thailand, Trajai, Udom Suk, vindaloo, Wat Arun, Western food, Wordpress
Continuing my “Six of the best” series marking my six years in Thailand, I present my pick of restaurants in the Bangkok region (in no particular order).
1. GOLD BAY LEAF (upper Sukhumvit)
The power of word of mouth is evidenced in this excellent eatery which, if you didn’t know it’s reputation, you’d probably walk straight past, thinking it just another of the thousands of shophouse diners found all over the country.
Folding tables, check. Plastic chairs, check. Barely decorated walls, check. So far, so unremarkable. But tiny, open kitchen capable of whipping up miracles from a menu of more than 100 items, both Thai and international? Check, absolutely.
Chef Chai Boonlert is classically trained and has worked at several top-notch hotels, but the pride he takes in his work dictates that he no longer wishes to cook someone else’s recipes, or follow someone else’s menu. Consequently, he set up the Gold Bay Leaf – a modest affair, for sure, but one that he has absolute quality control over.
With no advertising budget and no big-name print reviews, Gold Bay Leaf succeeds on personal recommendations and social media buzz. In other words, the kind of reputation you can only earn with results. Try it for yourself.
Gold Bay Leaf, Sukhumvit Soi 101/1, Bang Na, Bangkok
Nearest public transport: Punnawhitthi or Udom Suk BTS Map: click here
Open: 5pm-3am daily, except public holidays
Tel: 02 747 6381 Web: https://goldbayleaf.wordpress.com/ Continue reading
Filed under: Culture, Expat life, Health, News, Nightlife, People, politics, Relationships, restaurants, Thai news, Travel | Tags: 7-Eleven, anti-government protests, antibiotics, Bangkok, beach, Beer, Benz Bungalows, Buddhism, children, Chinese, condominiums, crab, diarrhoea, dogs, English language, fast food, food, goats, Gulf of Thailand, Hat Thampang, Hat Thampang Bungalows, hospital, hotels, Hua Hin, Isaan, islands, Ko Sichang, Malee Blue, May 19, monastery, motorbikes, nighclubs, palaces, Pan & David Restaurant, Paree Hut, Pattaya, politics, rabies, Rama V, Red Shirts, restaurants, salad, seafood, shops, Sri Racha, swimming, temples, Thai culture, Thai language, Thai people, Thai politics, Thailand, Travel, tuk-tuks, whale
Thailand’s image needs all the help it can get right now. Last month’s dramatic footage of bomb sites and gun fights across Bangkok played out internationally and many countries have yet to lift their travel warnings to the erstwhile Land of Smiles.
For sure, confidence has been rocked, and even beyond the photos of war on the streets, the reputation of Thai people as gentle, benevolent Buddhists has been tarnished by displays of downright ugly behaviour during such fractious times.
Whether the protesters promising – and almost succeeding – to turn Bangkok into a “sea of fire”, or their opponents cheering and swearing as the death toll neared a hundred, there was precious little positive humanity on display.
Filed under: Culture, Health, People, Travel | Tags: accidents, babies, Bangkok, beaches, brain, bullets, cannibalism, carnival, Chao Phraya, Chao Phraya Express Boat, China, Chinese, cirrhosis, conjoined twins, cremation, crime, cruises, deformities, disaster, disease, elephantiasis, First World, forensics, Fred West, holidays, horror, human rights, immigration, Krabi, law, markets, medicine, medicine balls, mermaids, movies, murder, museums, mutants, Myra Hindley, organs, parasites, Phuket, rape, restaurants, river cruise, science, scrotum, serial killers, shopping, shopping malls, Si Quey, Siamese twins, Siriraj, Siriraj Hospital, Siriraj Hospital Forensic Museum, skulls, smoking, temples, Thailand, tigers, tourism, tourist attractions, vibrator, Wang Lang, Watch With Mother
Where should one take a visiting mother in Bangkok? Temple-hopping, perhaps? Bargain-hunting in markets and malls? Rooftop or riverside dining? Or maybe to see mutated babies, preserved serial killers, elephantiasis-afflicted scrotums the size of medicine balls, and all manner of diseased, ruptured, punctured, crushed and deformed organs, skulls and limbs?
If that, rather than a Chao Phraya cruise, is what floats your – or your mother’s – boat, then jump on board a ferry to Siriraj Hospital’s Forensic Museum, which mixes genuine scientific endeavour with the kind of shock appeal previously reserved for Victorian carnival freakshows or 1980s body-horror movies.