The mighty Mae Nam Chao Phraya in Bangkok


Photo taken from my hotel, probably in 2002. For me the Chao Phraya IS Bangkok. But maybe that is because I come from a city with a big river and a big harbor.
Location: Bangkok, Thailand

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An early morning bicycle ride in Pua

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I love to ride bicycle in the early morning, but in the raining season I skip that. But since a few days it are again beautiful & dry mornings in Pua in Nan province, North Thailand. So I leave home just before sunrise and make a small loop riding between the rice fields and make a stop at the Wat Phuket. Photo's are all made at this temple. For more information about the beautiful Nan province see Traveling 2 Nan - Thailand.



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Walking over Kad Phra Non Market in Phrae

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The name Kad Phra Non refers to the Wat Phra Non along the market and is every Saturday starting at 17:00. Now there are WalkingStreet markets and Weekend Markets all over Thailand but this little market in a small street in the historical center of Phrae (North Thailand) has an unique atmosphere and feels relaxed. It is actually an old market that since a few years is alive again. As there are almost no tourists in Phrae this market is for 99% visited by locals. And most people here are selling food and cloths. Along the market are a few cafe's and some people are making music. And along the market you can sit to relax and eat. If you are in Phrae, highly recommended to visit this market. Following are more photos I made while walking over the market.







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Visiting the mountains of Khao Kho

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Khao Kho (Mountain of the Ceylon Oak) is world famous in Thailand to visit in the months November and December because of the natural phenomena of valleys filled by clouds that make the valley look like a "sea of clouds" , talay mok in Thai. Besides that it is just a very beautiful area with mountains, waterfalls and many nice resorts & restaurants. A great place for a long weekend holiday. Also for mountain-bikes and hiking it is a great area.

The area was originally famous for being a communist stronghold and the war that has been fought there. As reminder of this you can visit "Khao Kho Memorial" and "Khao Kho Weapons museum". Seeing both now I had very mixed feelings about this "war against communism" in Thailand. Were this not just Thai people with a different political / ideologically view? And was the fear of communism not only created by the good old USA out of their fear of the domino-theory?

I was on the motorbike and for motorbike…
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Costs of living in Thailand 2018

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Sometimes people ask me how much it costs to live in Thailand. Well that all depends of course about how you spend your money. Some people spend a lot of money on entertainment or holidays or do buy expensive cars & motorbikes. So since 2012 I started to make a yearly overview of my costs of living in Thailand. My household consists of my wife, me and our cat. And we are living in simple house in a small village in North Thailand. I like to travel a lot and once in the 2 or 3 years I still go to my home country to see my family. Sometimes I also still like to eat good western food and like to drink a good glass of wine. In short we like to enjoy life but not over the top. For all postings about Costs of Living in Thailand click HERE.

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A weekend to Chiang Rai

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Although it is raining season we decided to go to Chiang Rai for 2 days, a bit shopping and meeting old & new friends. From Nan we took route 1148 to Chiang Kham, a route thru the mountains and passing stunning view ... if it was not so clouded and rainy. Never mind it was a nice trip but I adjusted my speed for safety. In Chiang Kham we had a lunch and the continued to Chiang Rai where we decided to stay in Le Patta Hotel, right in the middle of town. Now most people know Chiang Rai from the White Temple or the Nigh Bazar but we skipped both. Instead we did visit the beautiful Wat Phra Keauw and the local markt nearby this temple. Highly recommended if you want to experience the real way of life in Chiang Rai!


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Chicken and other food in Thailand

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Our lunch at the best Isaan restaurant of Nan province in North Thailand. Yes, indeed you see Isaan people everywhere, not only worldwide but also in Thailand. And the food is very popular. People drive many km's to have lunch here. BBQ chicken, BBQ chicken ass, Som Tam Pla and a Salad of shells. I stick to to the BBQ chicken with sticky rice of course. My wife did eat the latter 2. And we left the BBQ chicken ass for other people.
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About this travel blog in 2018

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So somewhere in October or November  it is always time to reflect the past year of my travel-blog. I started this travel-blog in June 2009 as a message to my family & friends and to my own surprise it did change into a blog about Living & Traveling in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia with travel-information about hotels, restaurants, temples and other places of interest. This travel blog started as Walking in the Footsteps of Chang Noi, became The Little Elephant in Thailand and is now Traveling 2 Thailand. And most of the new postings are about traveling in Thailand only. For all other postings about statistics have a look HERE. At the moment there are 1825 postings, so I made 247 postings since November 2017. That is a bit above the average posting per year. There are now ......
90 Tourist Attractions postings17 postings about Train Stations262 postings with Travel Tips225 postings about My Life in Thailand67 posting about Motorbike Tripsbut the most postings (1332) are still jus…
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Travel Tips : Travel Advisory Thailand

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In my blog are many travel advisory postings, this one is about traveling to Thailand in general. Most people will probably look for travel advice at the website of their home country. But how correct and up to date are they? As living & traveling in Thailand for more as 20 years I have my own opinion about traveling in Thailand and that is not always the same as the travel advisory  from some countries. Why? Well because I think that first of all the relevant department might not not have the resource for an truly in-depth research into the ins & outs of the given travel advice. Secondly I think that the relevant department / country wants to protect themselves against claims in case something might happen. Sometimes this is bit a pity as unnecessary negative travel advisory can have a big economical influence on a country like Thailand. There are many travel advisory by governments, travel companies and all kind of other people. First some travel advisory for Thailand from …
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Walking along Kwan Phayao in Phayao

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Kwan Phayao, Kwan means swamp, is a lake created in 1935 and it quit big. So no you are not going to walk around it, at least not me. The most visited part along the lake is a stretch of a few km at the south western part of the lake where are most restaurants, hotels and shops. At the south end of it is a kind of park where is sometimes a market. Then walking along the lake you will be passing a pier from where you can take a boat to an island with a half sunken temple. At the north side is an memorial park. And just north of that the government of Phayao has made an floating walking path to enjoy the view over the lake. We walked it all the way .... twice. Following are some photos I made while walking along the lake.




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Traveling a few days to Loei

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Loei province, the most western province of North-East Thailand (Isaan) and a gem for traveling in nature & culture. My favorite area of the Isaan. The area near Wang Saphung and Phu Luang is dotted with beautiful kartsen mountains with caves and waterfalls. Traveling in this area there is always a surprise around the corner. Although there is also a lot agriculture with rubber trees, rice fields, dragon fruit and unfortunately also corn. But you see not yet (and hopefully never) sugar-cane.

Loei province is home to a special hill-tribe that you not see on many places in Thailand, the Tai Dam people. The Tai Dam people are a hill-tribe that came from China and migrated to Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam. Migration to the area of Loei province was around 1900. Most of the people living in Loei province are descents from many different hill-tribes from Laos and China. All with their own customs, language and traditional cloths. Although most of them have now assimilated to modern…
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