Can’t seem to differentiate the 5 tones in Thai? Fret not, because you’re actually using them everyday in spoken English. You just don’t know it yet. Watch this video to find out how you’ve been speaking English with the 5 tones in Thai.
It was 9am on a Sunday morning. We all met at Duke Language School where a van was waiting to take us to a place most ‘farangs’ never heard of. At least not those who follow tourist guidebooks.
It was a fairly short 2-hour ride to Suphan Buri. Thankfully, the van was spacious and comfortable – probably one of the reasons why most of us dozed off along the way.
Our first destination was Bueng Chawark where we got to see over 50 species of exotic marine wildlife. Bueng means lake in Thai, thus Chawark Lake is the literal translation for Bueng Chawark.
The next place we went to was an underwater tunnel submerged under 400 cubic meters of water. It was a spectacular sight seeing all kinds of marine wildlife swimming over us.
Along the way out, we headed to a crocodile farm where a show was about to begin. Luis couldn’t get himself to watch the tamer putting his arm and head into the crocodile’s mouth and had to hide behind Khru Tarn.
Mark however, dared the rest of us to do the same in exchange for money. None of us took his dare. Rather than risking losing our limbs for money, we decided to tip the crocodile tamer for entertaining us.
What came after this was probably the most exciting part of the trip. We made our way to the tiger and lion sanctuary where we came eye to eye with white Bengal tigers.
Rarely do we get a chance to come this close to a tiger.
Still, that wasn’t the most exciting part of the trip.
For the first time ever, we were given the opportunity to feed the tigers. The fun was about to begin…
This is how we started…
Then Mark suddenly had the brilliant idea of making the tigers “work” for their food…
And he certainly got carried away. One tiger got frustrated and roared so fiercely, it startled Geun Ho who jumped and started screaming for his life! It was so funny, the rest of us couldn’t stop laughing. Unfortunately, we don’t have a picture of it or it would have been hilarious!
Here’s Mark pushing it. Look how tall that tiger is – it didn’t even have to jump! Mark is over 6 foot tall. How tall do you think that tiger is?
The next place we went to was Baan Kwai. ‘Baan’ is home in Thai, while ‘Kwai’ is buffalo. Thus, Baan Kwai literally translates to “home of buffaloes.”
Here, we had the chance to catch a glimpse of what traditional Thai houses looked like.
And next of course, we got to look at buffaloes.
And even ride them too!
Here’s Luis on a white (Albino?) buffalo.
Other than buffaloes, there were many other animals like ostriches, wild boars, peacocks, and etc. As it was nearing the end of the day, most of us were tired and starting to get hungry. Dinner was calling us and that’s how we found our way to Nontnatee Resort where we had a nice sumptuous meal.
The Thai food was so amazingly good, it took only half an hour to finish every dish we ordered!
And that was how the trip ended…with delicious authentic Thai food we don’t normally get at touristy destinations. All in all, it was an interesting and enjoyable trip where our students got to practice speaking Thai to one another, and most importantly, to Thai people themselves.
Don’t let that crazy summer heat spoil your festive pre-Songkran mood. Visit some of these amazing ice-cream shops before you load your super soaker and water balloon…
Farm to Table Organic Café
Farm to Table Organic Café not only grows their own vegetables out in Phu Chee Fah, but they take things one step further, making ice cream from their own produce—pumpkin, potato, carrots, and strawberries—which is guaranteed by the IFOAM (International Foundation for Organic Agriculture).
We’re particularly impressed by their ability to blend their organic milk with vegetables, a long process of trial and error they describe as very difficult, due to the flavours and acidity of some veggies.
179 Aussadang Rd., 02-115-2625, 081-868-9942. Open daily 10am-8pm.
Icedea
As crazy as it sounds, tonkatsu ice-cream (breaded, deep-fried, melon flavored ice cream topped with chocolate sauce, B145) has actually gained global appeal. Here in Bangkok, Icedea is the place to grab your ice cream cutlet.
Not weird enough? They do global warming ice cream (B49), which reflects the melting world we live in. Also, don’t forget to taste the popular Grass Brownie (B69), a brownie topped with green foi thong (Thai dessert made with egg yolk). They’ll also sculpt your ice cream in any shape you want.
4/F Bangkok Art and Cultural Center (BACC), 939 Rama1 Rd., 089-834-4058.www.icedea.com. BTS National Stadium. Open daily 10am-7pm.
Simple Day
As the name suggests, Simple Day is a pretty simple, yet satisfying, ice cream parlor. Owned by the same people as the adjoining Think Café, here you can sit back in the cute, clean space while licking great-tasting homemade ice cream flavors.
Served in cups adorned with cute scribbles, the ice-cream comes in many flavors, from favorites Ferraro Rocher and Forest Berries to rotating specials like Melon Sherbet. Enjoy them with a smiley shortbread cookie or some lovely macarons. Prices starts from B85 for two scoops with a cookie.
Sure, it’s a bit out of the way, and a bit hard to find if you don’t know your way around Tanao Road, but this half century-old ice cream parlor is a sure bet for light and refreshing Thai-style frozen treats.
Back then, they only offered coconut flavor, but now they serve up a slew of homemade flavors, including favorites like chocolate, Thai iced tea and coffee (all B25). Mix and match the ice cream with your favorite toppings or pair it with homemade buttered cake.
94 Soi Phraeng Phutorn, Tanao Rd., 02-221-3954, 02-622-2455. MRT Hua Lamphong Open Mon-Sat 9am-4pm.
Creamery Boutique Ice creams
This warmhearted boutique ice cream shop serves up frozen delights in a homey setting. Owned by a foodie who works in a five-star hotel, it offers some pretty weird and wacky ice-cream flavors, like Bacon & Eggs (aka Brit- Pop), alongside slightly more conventional concoctions, like Apple Crumble (huge chunks of cooked apple, caramel and cinnamon), Nutella Kid-Cad (a must for chocolate lovers) and the ever-popular Berry Cheesecake.
And it’s only B49 a scoop or B250 a quart. Their new creation is the Very Hot Pan-fried Cookie, a mountain of your favorite ice-cream served on an enormous, just-out-of-the-oven doughy cookie with choices of classic (B89), brownie (B99), choc-a-lot (chocolate lava, B119) and a generous amount of whipped cream on top.
U-Center Chulalongkorn University, Chulalongkorn Soi 42, Phayathai Rd., 087- 909-8080. Open Mon-Sat 11am-8pm.
Milk Solid Nitrogen
If you’ve ever had Dippin’ Dots (small icecream balls served in a cup), this ice cream of the future is even smoother.
The laboratory-like shop uses liquid nitrogen to flash freeze their ice cream in just 30 seconds, so as to avoid any ice crystals forming in the texture. More than 50 flavors are available with milk and summer flavors like passion fruit being the most popular. B99 for small and B149 for medium.
2/F The Portico Langsuan, 081-810-1681. BTS Chidlom. Open daily noon-10pm
Tongue Fun Ice Cream
This may be a street-side stall, but don’t expect cups of coconut ice-cream. The gimmick here is to serve their ice cream in moh fai (hot pot).
But the flavors, too, are out of the ordinary (B30): milk, seasonal fruits, beer and Red Bull vodka. This amazing local parlour also has a branch at Terminal 21.
In front of Elvis Suki, Soi Yosse, Plubplachai Rd., 089-111-6836. Open daily 7-11pm
5/F Terminal21 Food Hall Pier21.Open daily 10am-10pm
How to Master the 5 Tones in Thai
Can’t seem to differentiate the 5 tones in Thai? Fret not, because you’re actually using them everyday in spoken English. You just don’t know it yet. Watch this video to find out how you’ve been speaking English with the 5 tones in Thai.
Feeding Tigers and Riding Buffaloes at Suphan Buri
It was 9am on a Sunday morning. We all met at Duke Language School where a van was waiting to take us to a place most ‘farangs’ never heard of. At least not those who follow tourist guidebooks.
It was a fairly short 2-hour ride to Suphan Buri. Thankfully, the van was spacious and comfortable – probably one of the reasons why most of us dozed off along the way.
Our first destination was Bueng Chawark where we got to see over 50 species of exotic marine wildlife. Bueng means lake in Thai, thus Chawark Lake is the literal translation for Bueng Chawark.
The next place we went to was an underwater tunnel submerged under 400 cubic meters of water. It was a spectacular sight seeing all kinds of marine wildlife swimming over us.
Along the way out, we headed to a crocodile farm where a show was about to begin. Luis couldn’t get himself to watch the tamer putting his arm and head into the crocodile’s mouth and had to hide behind Khru Tarn.
Mark however, dared the rest of us to do the same in exchange for money. None of us took his dare. Rather than risking losing our limbs for money, we decided to tip the crocodile tamer for entertaining us.
What came after this was probably the most exciting part of the trip. We made our way to the tiger and lion sanctuary where we came eye to eye with white Bengal tigers.
Rarely do we get a chance to come this close to a tiger.
Still, that wasn’t the most exciting part of the trip.
For the first time ever, we were given the opportunity to feed the tigers. The fun was about to begin…
This is how we started…
Then Mark suddenly had the brilliant idea of making the tigers “work” for their food…
And he certainly got carried away. One tiger got frustrated and roared so fiercely, it startled Geun Ho who jumped and started screaming for his life! It was so funny, the rest of us couldn’t stop laughing. Unfortunately, we don’t have a picture of it or it would have been hilarious!
Here’s Mark pushing it. Look how tall that tiger is – it didn’t even have to jump! Mark is over 6 foot tall. How tall do you think that tiger is?
The next place we went to was Baan Kwai. ‘Baan’ is home in Thai, while ‘Kwai’ is buffalo. Thus, Baan Kwai literally translates to “home of buffaloes.”
Here, we had the chance to catch a glimpse of what traditional Thai houses looked like.
And next of course, we got to look at buffaloes.
And even ride them too!
Here’s Luis on a white (Albino?) buffalo.
Other than buffaloes, there were many other animals like ostriches, wild boars, peacocks, and etc. As it was nearing the end of the day, most of us were tired and starting to get hungry. Dinner was calling us and that’s how we found our way to Nontnatee Resort where we had a nice sumptuous meal.
The Thai food was so amazingly good, it took only half an hour to finish every dish we ordered!
And that was how the trip ended…with delicious authentic Thai food we don’t normally get at touristy destinations. All in all, it was an interesting and enjoyable trip where our students got to practice speaking Thai to one another, and most importantly, to Thai people themselves.
7 amazing ice-cream shops in Bangkok
Don’t let that crazy summer heat spoil your festive pre-Songkran mood. Visit some of these amazing ice-cream shops before you load your super soaker and water balloon…
Farm to Table Organic Café
Farm to Table Organic Café not only grows their own vegetables out in Phu Chee Fah, but they take things one step further, making ice cream from their own produce—pumpkin, potato, carrots, and strawberries—which is guaranteed by the IFOAM (International Foundation for Organic Agriculture).
We’re particularly impressed by their ability to blend their organic milk with vegetables, a long process of trial and error they describe as very difficult, due to the flavours and acidity of some veggies.
179 Aussadang Rd., 02-115-2625, 081-868-9942. Open daily 10am-8pm.
Icedea
As crazy as it sounds, tonkatsu ice-cream (breaded, deep-fried, melon flavored ice cream topped with chocolate sauce, B145) has actually gained global appeal. Here in Bangkok, Icedea is the place to grab your ice cream cutlet.
Not weird enough? They do global warming ice cream (B49), which reflects the melting world we live in. Also, don’t forget to taste the popular Grass Brownie (B69), a brownie topped with green foi thong (Thai dessert made with egg yolk). They’ll also sculpt your ice cream in any shape you want.
4/F Bangkok Art and Cultural Center (BACC), 939 Rama1 Rd., 089-834-4058.www.icedea.com. BTS National Stadium. Open daily 10am-7pm.
Simple Day
As the name suggests, Simple Day is a pretty simple, yet satisfying, ice cream parlor. Owned by the same people as the adjoining Think Café, here you can sit back in the cute, clean space while licking great-tasting homemade ice cream flavors.
Served in cups adorned with cute scribbles, the ice-cream comes in many flavors, from favorites Ferraro Rocher and Forest Berries to rotating specials like Melon Sherbet. Enjoy them with a smiley shortbread cookie or some lovely macarons. Prices starts from B85 for two scoops with a cookie.
The Bloc, 18 Ratchaphruk Rd. (next to Think Café), 085-370-6367. Open Tue-Sun 2-9pm.Facebook.com/simpledayicecream
Natthaporn Ice Cream
Sure, it’s a bit out of the way, and a bit hard to find if you don’t know your way around Tanao Road, but this half century-old ice cream parlor is a sure bet for light and refreshing Thai-style frozen treats.
Back then, they only offered coconut flavor, but now they serve up a slew of homemade flavors, including favorites like chocolate, Thai iced tea and coffee (all B25). Mix and match the ice cream with your favorite toppings or pair it with homemade buttered cake.
94 Soi Phraeng Phutorn, Tanao Rd., 02-221-3954, 02-622-2455. MRT Hua Lamphong Open Mon-Sat 9am-4pm.
Creamery Boutique Ice creams
This warmhearted boutique ice cream shop serves up frozen delights in a homey setting. Owned by a foodie who works in a five-star hotel, it offers some pretty weird and wacky ice-cream flavors, like Bacon & Eggs (aka Brit- Pop), alongside slightly more conventional concoctions, like Apple Crumble (huge chunks of cooked apple, caramel and cinnamon), Nutella Kid-Cad (a must for chocolate lovers) and the ever-popular Berry Cheesecake.
And it’s only B49 a scoop or B250 a quart. Their new creation is the Very Hot Pan-fried Cookie, a mountain of your favorite ice-cream served on an enormous, just-out-of-the-oven doughy cookie with choices of classic (B89), brownie (B99), choc-a-lot (chocolate lava, B119) and a generous amount of whipped cream on top.
U-Center Chulalongkorn University, Chulalongkorn Soi 42, Phayathai Rd., 087- 909-8080. Open Mon-Sat 11am-8pm.
Milk Solid Nitrogen
If you’ve ever had Dippin’ Dots (small icecream balls served in a cup), this ice cream of the future is even smoother.
The laboratory-like shop uses liquid nitrogen to flash freeze their ice cream in just 30 seconds, so as to avoid any ice crystals forming in the texture. More than 50 flavors are available with milk and summer flavors like passion fruit being the most popular. B99 for small and B149 for medium.
2/F The Portico Langsuan, 081-810-1681. BTS Chidlom. Open daily noon-10pm
Tongue Fun Ice Cream
This may be a street-side stall, but don’t expect cups of coconut ice-cream. The gimmick here is to serve their ice cream in moh fai (hot pot).
But the flavors, too, are out of the ordinary (B30): milk, seasonal fruits, beer and Red Bull vodka. This amazing local parlour also has a branch at Terminal 21.
In front of Elvis Suki, Soi Yosse, Plubplachai Rd., 089-111-6836. Open daily 7-11pm
5/F Terminal21 Food Hall Pier21.Open daily 10am-10pm
Source – http://bk.asia-city.com/restaurants/article/bangkok-best-ice-cream-shops