Zofona > Weblog Thailand > Archive Thailand 2010 > Weblog Thailand Sept 10

Weblog Thailand Sept 10

submit a comment

---------------------
Bangkok Traffic

Ok, it's bad every now and then. One week ago I went home on a Friday evening and it took me 1 1/2 hours to get home. Walking would have been faster. But still I think it's ok, just like you would expect in any other big city. In the morning it takes just between 20 and 30 minutes to get to my work. The distance is less than 4 kilometers but the option would be the skytrain and walking. Walking in a suit with tropical temperatures isn't tempting so I will continue driving. The only annoying thing, the motorcycles. They are just everywhere and they are not afraid to cut cars when changing lanes. So far so good but I fear for my mirrors. (posted by Jitze, 29/09/10)
---------------------
Looking forward to our weekend

We booked something nice for the weekend, the Birds & Bees Resort close to Pattaya. It looks like there is enough to do for the children. The domain name of the site looks a little bit strange. It's www.cabbagesandcondoms.co.th. I can explain the name without the sand part because that's just the beach I guess.

Some years ago I also visited Bangkok and together with some people who lived in Bangkok at that time we went to a restaurant called Cabbages & Condoms. After some laughing we got a leaflet explaining the mission of the owner of this restaurant. On the way out we did not get a breath mint, we got a condom. I even bought a mug with cabbages & condoms on it because I really liked the idea. So just go to the website of Cabbages & Condoms restaurant to find out what makes this restaurant so special. Click on handicraft and restaurant to get an impression. So one of the reasons why we go to this resort is because of the idea behind it. (posted by Jitze, 28/09/10)
---------------------
And this is our house

View zofona mansion in a larger map

(posted by Jitze, 27/09/10)
---------------------
Rainy season, funny pictures

Good news, we bought a cheap webcam but it delivers snapshots in the right size. The automatic upload works, the 'publish on demand' if you visit our website does not work so far.

This weekend we did not leave the city because an IT specialist did a miracle to our network. Apparently the slightly old adsl modem did not allow our more modern cisco wifi router to grab ip's for the DNS settings. I will not bother you with more details. Although I know something about computers, settings and networks I could not make it work. It was worth waiting for because we now have our laptops and other computers working happily together again. We now plan to get out of the city next weekend.

I am still writing text for city information Bangkok. It's not finished and I might change some pictures but feel free to take a look.

In the past two Months we did not take many pictures of Bangkok but I want to show you this one. It is all about the right angle if you take a picture I guess. What kind of fashion?

Ass Fashion

And another nice one. The person who offered this opportunity told us the money we pay is used for preserving tigers and for the zoo where they live. I am not sure if that is true, but I could not say no to Yde and Vibeke. How many opportunities do you get to feed a tiger and walk away alive?

Feeding Tigers

And about the rainy season, a little bit of rain is ok. At the beginning of the evening it was raining very hard with a huge thunderstorm right above our house. Even the safety switch of the electric board jumped to off. And in the room where my computer is standing the water was rising :-)) Not dramatically but the windows in this house have metal frames. On this side of the house there is no extra roof cover, therefore water was leaking between the metal frame and the concrete around it. This means silicone kit, a nice job for the owner of the house. (posted by Jitze, 26/09/10)
---------------------
Testing the webcam server

As you can see it is more or less working again. The only thing I did not try so far is getting it to publish on demand. This means that as soon as someone visits our website the camera grabs a snapshot for the website. In South Korea it worked, in Serbia it was not possible but I will try to make it work here. (posted by Jitze, 25/09/10)

---------------------
Starting again in a new country

Although we moved many times before it always has quite some impact. It's about leaving friends behind, living out of suitcases for several Months and starting all over again somewhere else. To a certain extend you get used to it but every time it is a lot of work. Yde and Vibeke are going to their new school where they have to deal with new teachers and all other new stuff. Christina is busy getting familiar with daily life in Thailand and I am busy with my work. Being in Thailand without being on Holidays is a new experience!

It always starts slowly upon arrival but soon enough Yde and Vibeke had to go to school. Christina was busy searching for a house on an almost daily basis. She discovered a nice house, but only after seeing it for a second time almost three weeks after the first time we saw it we realized that this house was the best house for us. It is located on a compound and a great place, especially for children. The swimming pool is great but the fact that there are many families with young children (including 3!! Dutch families) makes it even better. Yde and Vibeke play outside and at other houses like they would do in any average street in the Netherlands.

So far we did not went out of Bangkok much. Once we went to a commemoration ceremony at the War Cemetary in Kanchanaburi. Bangkok is vibrant and offers enough to keep you busy for a while but after settling down we think it's about time to start visiting nice destinations in Thailand. There is plenty to see, just look at the website of the Thai Tourism Authority to get a first impression. After almost two Months in the city we want to visit the coast. Maybe we will go this weekend.

And last but not least, our website will get our full attention again. The first two years in Serbia we had enough to write about but as frequent visitors know, we didn't do much in those last two years.

I hope that our first guests rrive soon. They can write the visitor stories and we will focus on our trips and of course on Thai food. So from now on, visit us again at our website. (posted by Jitze, 23/09/10)

---------------------
Our arrival

We arrived in Bangkok on July 26 and we already have plenty of stories and pictures for you. Unfortunately the change of website layout takes more time then expected. We cannot publish new stuff before fixing this. So check our website every now and then, with a little bit of luck it might change soon. (posted by Jitze, 05/09/10)