Oktoberfest

The view from our table:


According to my Thai teachers, Thais love and accept holidays from all over the world: x-mas, Halloween, Chinese New Year, even Germany's Oktoberfest is celebrated here.

We saw such a kind of restaurant in Pattaya. We ate an early dinner at a German restaurant with amazing views of the Gulf of Siam/ South China Sea.

We enjoyed: potato salad, fresh pretzels with liverwurst, sausages, soft shell crab salad with two glasses of beer. Wunderbar!

Oven baked prezels (really good!):


Crab salad:


Potato salad and frankfurters:


Dessert: cinnamon cake with raspberries and chocolate ice cream

What Thai girls love...

I always go and sit at a coffee shop every Tuesday and Thursday and study Thai before heading off to my class. The shop is on the 4th floor and overlooks the ground floor. In this large space, there is often a "Sales" area set up and the contents change every week or two weeks. This time, the space was filled with discounted brand items.

It was this week, I noticed how much Thai girls love bargains.


About 30 minutes after taking this picture, it was swarming with girls, who were enjoying the variety of merchandise on sale.

Even when walking on the streets at night, there are vendors selling everything from scarves, to jewelry, to clothes -- and it always seems to stop the Thai girls. I think they love the "hunt for the best discount". Thai is already a cheap place to get things, but perhaps being able to boast about how much money you saved on an item is even better.

Flower Fiesta

Walking through the first floor of Chitlom Central Department store, I came across this amazing display. It was a long garden, made entirely of flowers, earth, moss and even trees.

Several mannequins were in the garden as well, including one on a swing surrounded by bird cages.


According to my Google skills, this is an annual event to celebrate the anniversary of the store's opening over 60 years ago. Flower displays are posted throughout the store. Click to HERE to see some displays from 2008.

I managed to walk through the garden area on the opening day. There were ton of cameras and journalists covering the event. I saw a chef preparing beautiful cupcakes and a lady being interviewed. The whole area smells wonderful and it's bound to bring in lots of minus eon.

Go visit to marvel at the sight. It's really quite unbelievable.

JCC School

JCC is the name of a Chinese/ Japanese Language school in Bangkok. There are two locations, but the one I know best is Amarin Plaza.

I began my first lesson in Japanese studies on Monday. I will take a private lesson, 2 hours per week, every Monday morning.

I have felt a bit frustrated lately that I rarely get a chance to speak Japanese. I asked to study to pass the Japanese Language proficiency test, and just "brush up" my language skills.

The school caters mainly to Thais, but I still felt extremely comfortable. The office staff are very friendly, even more so than regular Thais I have met, and all speak Japanese quite well.



My classroom is a small room with a whiteboard and some posters on the wall of Japan's famous "Mt.Fuji". The first task I had to do was take a test, to see my level. I worked on the new N3 test -- which is between the old Level 3 and Level 2 Japanese tests. I scored 50% on most sections, which proved that while not too difficult, there are some things I need to learn. The teacher and I decided we would aim for this test, likely next year.

My homework consists of nothing but kanji. Very boring, but necessary to pass those tests.

Does it feel odd to be studying Japanese in a Thai-speaking country? Yes, very strange.