A Singaporean's guide to living in Thailand

[yinyang]

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Where to find the best gifts in Bangkok
lifestyle September 12, 2018 10:00
By The Nation

Siam Discovery is opening a new zone called Discover Thai as a destination for gifts and souvenirs with the attention on a premium and diverse selection of products.

Spanning 437 square metres on the fourth level, the zone offers over 3,00 items, including spa and beauty products, souvenirs, lifestyle products and Thai herbs, food and snacks.

Based on the concept “Celebrate Localnity (local-community) Everyday Thai Gift”, Discover Thai was created as the answer to the unmet need identified in studies on customer behaviour and consumer insights.

“Thai customers want to find suitable gifts for their foreign friends or business partners, while foreign tourists want to buy memorable Thai souvenirs to take home.

“However, they were often unable to find a one-stop destination that could fulfil all their needs in terms of product quality, price and design,” said Usara Yongpiyakul, chief executive officer of Siam Piwat Retail Holding Co.
The spa products are selected for high quality and well-designed packaging, reflecting Thai values and perfect as premium gifts. The available brands include Bath & Bloom, Akaliko, Shidara, Pranali and Urbanban.
The beauty products include leading Thai brands of cosmetics and skin nourishment products such Mistine, Voodoo, ELE, Snail White, Ramayana and Water Angel.

Lifestyle products are made from natural materials found in Thailand and reflect local wisdom, but are designed to suit modern international lifestyle trends.
Examples of the products in this category are Parcharakorn’s scarves and ties, Busaba’s Pa Kao Ma-inspired products, Siam Original’s modern jewellery made from authentic silver, Shadara’s spa clothing, Eleph’s elephant bags, Juno’s contemporary Asian bags, and Siam Bronze Factory’s bronze, stainless and copper works.
Souvenirs are elegantly designed and meticulously crafted with a unique Thai appearance and a modern touch. The selection of souvenirs includes T Original’s Bangkok magnets, Op Post Card’s postcards with stylish designs, and T Jack’s pop-up cards featuring famous Bangkok’s landmarks.
Herbal products reflect Thai wisdom in medicinal properties of local herbs. The world-famous herbal products available include Tiger Balm products, Siang Pure ointments, and Jan Hom massaging oil.

Food and snack products accurately represent authentic Thai culinary traditions that have become global hits.
They include Thai Aree’s beef noodle, Tom Yum soup and paste, Maetuk’s dried Som Tam papaya salad, Mon Chan’s Pla Ra source and dried Khanom Chin noodle, Spice Story’s Tom Yum paste, pepper and other spices, and Happy Plus’s DIY durian and coconut milk ice cream.
There are also snacks of various popular Thai brands such as Freppy, Tamarind House, Almilk, Benefruit and J Fruit.
“Not only is Discover Thai offering a thoughtful and wide selection of gifts and souvenirs based on the needs of customers, we are also providing services to deliver these products to the tourists’ hotels. This will allow our customers to carry on with the day without having to bother with bags,” added Usara.

 

[Froggy]

As mentioned before Bangkok is not always Thai food, Bangkok also offers great Italian, Japanese, French etc. Always nice to be dining here

The restaurant

Yes its only 5.40pm on a Thursday evening but I needed this badly

Peppe the owner is preparing the Italian bread

and burrata

Here comes the cold meats

to go with eh Amarones

Fresh rockets

Italian tomatoes

Angelhair with freshly made tomato sauce, Peppe make this fresh everyday

Sharing the main course

#1 Best Italian restaurant in Bangkok https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Restaurants-g293916-c26-Bangkok.html

 

[Froggy]

Needed to go the company's factory for a customer visit, factory is in Rayong about 130km from central Bangkok. The Rayong local sales lady brought me to a very popular noodle shop for lunch in Ban Beung. Ban Beung is a district of Chonburi province bordering Rayong.

This noodle shop is very famous for 2 things
(1) starting a style of noodle where shredded cuttle fish and dry prawns is added and minced pork is flatten. This styler of noodle become known as "Ban Beung Noodle"
(2) Probably the best crab balls you can find
There are many "Ban Beung Noodle" copycats around Thailand but this the original known as Ta Kun Kang Restaurant

Here's the location https://goo.gl/maps/NxiUCNLBNFA2

So here are the crab balls and noodles

Dry yellow noodle

Thai small rice noodle soup

This is flat rice noodle with lots of shredded cuttle fish, very delicious

Most delicious crab balls

 

[yinyang]

Phu balls (no funnies from those not on know who think I’m being vulgar ) look yum. Same goes for your company too. Next time i’m In Bang Sare.. maybe can try side trip

 

[AhMeng]

Phu balls (no funnies from those not on know who think I’m being vulgar ) look yum. Same goes for your company too. Next time i’m In Bang Sare.. maybe can try side trip

You mean PU BOR is crab balls in Thai ?

 

[yinyang]

You mean PU BOR is crab balls in Thai ?

Lau kau, your 2nd syllable is your own making. But bang on

 

[AhMeng]

Lau kau, your 2nd syllable is your own making. But bang on

So next time I in Bangcock, I can order by say One Pu Bor please..Can or not? Don't want me hor

 

[Froggy]

Whenever I have to stay in Pattaya, I will make a point to visit a nice Italian restaurant known as Trattoria Pizzeria Toscana. Main reason is this restaurant grows most of its vegetables (organic) and rare most of the animals the meat we have in the restaurant.

Watch this video

Daily make its own pastas

Age their own meat

Beautiful t-bone

Huge restaurant indoor sitting

Outdoor

Big wine cellar

 

[Froggy]

Started with a nice wine

3 types of goat cheeses, made by their own goat farm

Vongole

Own grown rockets and cheese

Its a meat dinner love all these meat

First is the roasted pork shoulder

3 slices of it, yummy

and then its the 700g beautiful t-bone

Medium

This is a great restaurant with lots of variety and having their own wood fired oven for very delicious pizzas. Food is also inexpensive, all the food for this meal (without the 2 bottles of wine) costs only 3355 baht or less than $140

 

[Froggy]

Wonderful morning now, beautiful pool, glorious sea, nice breakfast

 

[Froggy]

Tau hway jwee and u char kway

 

[AhMeng]

Tau hway jwee and u char kway

I just saw something familiar..I have the same placemat at home!

 

[Froggy]

I just saw something familiar..I have the same placemat at home!

Hate mats like this, too rough for the tender elbow and arm. I prefer not to have any mat for my dining. If its hot I'd simply use a trivet preferably teh Ikea cork trivet

 

[yinyang]

Compliments to the chef ...and to your well endowed company

 

[yinyang]

Online Thailand

 

[yinyang]

 

[Bonut]

Update on Don Muang Airport.

There is no automated gate entry for Singapore passports @ Don Muang at this moment. Even though various reports in the past mentioned about a special queue for Chinese passports, as far as departure is concerned it merely directs the Chinese groups to join the queue. There is no special queue for Chinese tourists. This is to say the queue at Don Muang will be long because of the Chinese groups flying AirAsia. The immigration counters are limited, and automated gates are strictly for Thai passports.

If you fly budget, it's worthwhile considering Don Muang as your destination. Scoot aircraft flying Don Muang are mostly 787 Dreamliner as the same plane will fly to Narita and vice-versa. If you stay near Victory Monument you can easily take airport bus A2 or public bus 510 operated by BMTA for just 30 baht in less than 45 minutes.

 

[yinyang]

She's the one
Phichapha Limsanukan is crowned the 2018 Miss Thailand World
during the competition finals comprising 30 contestants. — Patipat Janthong

 

[Leongsam]

She's the one
Phichapha Limsanukan is crowned the 2018 Miss Thailand World
during the competition finals comprising 30 contestants. — Patipat Janthong

View attachment 47386


View attachment 47387

Thai ladyboy is prettier.

 

[yinyang]

No surprise here

File photo: Sungsidh Piriyarangsan
The cost of corruption: Bt100 billion
national September 19, 2018 01:00

Studies by respected academic point to rampant graft and irregularities in country’s bureaucracy.

CORRUPTION in the bureaucracy will cost the country up to Bt100 billion this fiscal year, an expert on graft revealed yesterday.
Sungsidh Piriyarangsan said his “cautious estimate” put the damages at between Bt50 billion and Bt100 billion for 2018 alone. He based his estimate on the findings of 14 studies on corruption funded by the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC).
According to Sungsidh, his case study – one of the 14 – on an anti-narcotics state agency found irregularities worth Bt2 billion to Bt10 billion, involving rewards offered to officials making arrests over the past year. (The current fiscal year started on October 1, 2017 and ends on September 30.)

Sungsidh said transgressions were committed by state officials at various levels at agencies in Bangkok, in the provinces and also at local administrative organisations. And corruption involved both large and small government projects, with an increasing tendency to involve the smaller ones, he added.
“They may be small projects but the cost of damages [from corruption] is huge,” he said.
Sungsidh was speaking at an academic seminar presenting findings of the 14 research studies on corruption, held by the PACC at a hotel in Nonthaburi’s Pak Kret district.

The case studies cover different forms of corruption investigated by the PACC, according to the agency’s deputy secretary-general, Wannop Somjintanakul. The studies were aimed at rectifying weak points and preventing similar irregularities in the future, he added.
Sungsidh, an Associate Professor and Dean of the College of Social Innovation at Rangsit University, is known for his research and books on corruption. Yesterday he detailed the various forms of corruption involving state officials uncovered by the case studies. These included registration of fake marriages between foreigners and Thais, embezzlement of state funds intended for the needy, and short-changing from procurement processes.
“Corruption has increased rapidly because Thai politics is a closed system,” the academic said. “A big weakness is that we have no agency that truly scrutinises. Parliament and independent agencies exist but they can’t scrutinise politicians.
“The country’s history and culture enshrine the existing patronage system, in which people with connections thrive. Also, law enforcement is not effective enough although this government has issued a lot of good anti-corruption laws,” he added.

Sungsidh predicted an increase in corruption, and warned that in the end the country’s economy would be undermined due to unfair business competition stemming from bribes paid to corrupt officials.
When asked whether an elected or unelected government is more corrupt, he said his past study found that politically strong administrations tended to be more corrupt, whether they were elected or not.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the PACC’s executive board, Kitti Limchaikit, said yesterday that the agency had received more than 30,000 complaints during the past 10 years of its existence. They were mainly complaints against state officials.
In a related development, the Counter Corruption Division (CCD) of the Royal Thai Police is investigating seven state officials suspected of aiding an oil trading company to evade excise taxes on the sale of petrol marked for export to Myanmar.
Three of the officials work in the Excise Department with the other four employed by the Customs Department, according to a source familiar with the case.

The officials were found to have signed documents certifying exports of 32,000 litres of petrol through the Mae Sot border checkpoint in Tak province. The petrol was later found to have been sold in Phitsanulok province.
Police Maj-General Kitti Rianracha, commissioner of the CCD, said the deal had cost the country at least Bt3 million in lost excise tax, as petrol destined for export was exempted from tax. The seven officials could be charged with malfeasance and certifying false documents if they were found to be involved, the anonymous police source said.

Kitti yesterday chaired a meeting with representatives from the PACC, National Anti-Corruption Commission and Anti-Money Laundering Office, at the CCD headquarters to discuss actions against petrol tax evasion.
A nationwide crackdown on the practice was planned for September 29.