Tourism Authority of Thailand promotes low-carbon Amazing Organic Trip

 The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is promoting a series of 'Amazing Organic Trip' ideas with emphasis on organic farming activities and healthy gourmet experiences as well as low-carbon footprint initiatives, in line with its ongoing direction to promote and develop high-value and sustainable tourism in Thailand.

Thai Folk Tales: The Water Elephant

"Do not follow that little stream," said the hermit, "true, there are some very fine mushrooms to be found along its banks. But it is not safe for young people like you to wander about there."

Book Live Music Concert Tickets, Bangkok Thailand

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Pattaya - Sleazy does it.

Just returned from a weekend in Pattaya in Amazing Thailand, and pleased to say that NOTHING has changed form my last visit! ;)

See my previous blog http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1464710307120745531&postID=8292168080960829518 about the bars, great new Pattaya hotels, bars, the red hot Walking Street, bars, the beachside attractions, bars, and more.

Thailand travels just got 45% cheaper with Travel Easy

Travel Easy just made your Thailand travels a whole lot cheaper.

Save big with their current deal of up to 45% off, jing jing. 


Whether it's a Bangkok hotel, Phuket resorts (who doesn't love a bit of sun and fun on Phuket beaches), Krabi, Ko Samui, Pattaya, Chonburi, etc, Thailand holidays just went from being a distant pipe dream to a 'mad if you don't'. This is crazy -- Amazing Thailand is already voted the world's best value destination each year.

So get your leave application in today, and suggest to your boss that he or she also needs a holiday to Thailand ... just not at the same time as yours of course!


Check out Travel Easy's sale here: http://www.traveleasy.com.au/hoteldeals?country=THAILAND

And now for something completely indulgent ... a Chiang Mai Spa Tour

I've heard of kidney stones but this is ridiculous ...

Thailand has often been touted as the world’s Spa capital. After all, Thailand nearly invented the whole multi-billion dollar industry as we know it around the world today, and you can barely walk five metres without coming across a spa treatment centre of some sort, especially in Chiang Mai.

Some of the finest spas and wellness retreats are to be found in Chiang Mai, a laid back northern Thai city, and Greg Morling, Spa Indulgence Tours Co-ordinator, has the envious job of seeking them out and taking people to them. 

"Visitors to Thailand can experience a plethora of unique wellness treatments derived from ancient Thai traditions," says Greg, arguing that "the best of the best can be found in Chiang Mai, the pearl of Thailand."

And he should know. 

Greg has had a lengthy involvement with Spa and Wellness 

as a consultant, Salon and Spa owner, practitioner and writer.

"For the Spa and Wellness devotee there are just so many choices in Chiang Mai," he enthuses. "I first came here over 15 years ago and was really taken by the kindness and humility of the Thai people and their healthy, calm approach to life; mai pen rai, which means, don’t get mad, get glad! This attitude permeates everything in Chiang Mai. The serene ambience and spoiling Spa services are really just an extension of the Lanna (Northern Thailand) tradition. I have been here so many times now that Chiang Mai feels like my second home... and I love to come here to Spa!"

This guy is totally passionate, jing jing. 

And now you have the chance to join him on an eight-day Spa Indulgence tour, taking in four of his top selected spas. Talk about indulgence! It's just one spa after another ... there's barely a moment to relax. 

Visit www.spaindulgencetours.com

April - Thailand News Splash, er, Flash.

Now that's what I call a Super Soaker!!!

Thanks to those who fell hook, line and sinker for my April Fools gag about snow in northern Thailand. (There will no naming and shaming, but you know who you are ...)

Summer of course is upon us now, with the mercury being tested in the upper limits. So time to find a nice hotel with a pool, or head to one of Thailand's many famous beaches for a cooling dip.

April is one of the biggest months in the Thai festival calendar. The highlight of course is the traditional Songkran Water Festival (a Thai word which translates as "Quick, splash the farang ... that's always funnier and worth more points!").

The main event is from 13-15th April, but in northern Thailand it seems to go on for about a week or so.

In Chiang Mai for instance, they don't stop until the entire 11th century moat is drained dry (or the Mekong whiskey runs dry, whichever comes first), jing jing.

Other things happening this month include the Chiang Mai Cricket Sixes, which has become the world's largest and funnest amateur cricket tournament, with dozens of teams from Australia (including the mighty Lik Lik Wombats), England, Bangladesh, Vietnam, the Middle East, etc, competing for ... actually, I'm not sure they know nor care what they win ... that's what happens when your event is sponsored by San Miguel.


Then April 25th is Anzac Day, which is celebrated mainly in Kanchanaburi province where the Allied PoWs built the Death Railway. To mark this occasion near the original Bridge on the River Kwai is really poignant. But if you head up to Hellfire Pass, 88km north of Kanchanaburi, the dawn service up there is one of the most emotional events you'll ever witness, especially as some of the last remaining Railway survivors make the trip especially. The flickering torches lit in the pass reveal exactly how this place got its name ... like the jaws of the earth opening up.


So check back here regularly for my take on all of these events, plus a lot more, in April.


Important bit to read: Get more regular as-they-happen updates on all things Thailand by following my Twitter site @worldsmith360 or my Facebook page Stu Lloyd/ Worldsmith360.

Fighting breaks out in Pattaya

Just shortly before he punched my lights out. 

I recently blogged about the Fairtex Hotel and Sports Club, where the whiff of liniment and thwack of gloves on body herald the fact that it would not be mistaken for The Ritz any time soon.

As a bunch of wannabes lunged and thrust and kicked and jabbed in the Muay Thai rings around me, one quiet figure stood off to the side, observing. He looked like quite a nice boy, so we got chatting.

Well, chatting's not the right word ...

I started with what I thought was an easy question: "What's your name?" Fair enough, easy right? Well, the delay that ensued before his response allowed me to go off to the men's room. He was still thinking. So I dashed off to grab a cup of coffee. Still thinking. Went for a bite to eat at the cafe. Still thinking.

Eventually, having considered his answer carefully, the answer came: "Lor." Clearly this man had been hit in the head far too many times.

It turns out I was talking with Mana 'Lor' Chaiknansuk, a good looking guy from Chaiyapum who's reached number 2 on the Muay Thai rankings. After 9 years in the sport he reached a peak and dropped off, and is now making an earnest comeback. At the age of 22. There's not an ounce of fat on him; there again he's not as muscular as I think a prizefighter out to be.

Now he's here from 7am each day, running. This is followed by a 2-hour training session from 8-10am and another each afternoon from 3-5. Gee, this guy puts in more hours than the average travel writer, I think to myself, jing jing.

Lor's knee-into-gut move.

"I want to be Thailand champion," he tells me, in a voice which is almost a soft whisper. I've got all day so I decide to ask him a couple more questions to help me get inside the head-space of a kick-ass Muay Thai boxer. I use the term 'head-space' deliberately.

So what does he, um, think, before a fight? Pause. Think. Cogs whirring. Eventually he delivers his wisdom: "Strategies to win it."

He rates his elbow strike and knee into the gut as his lethal weapons. He demonstrates a little too eagerly on me.

So why has he been successful? Clunk, clunk, whirr. Lunch order. Siesta. Set the alarm. Back to ringside to receive his answer. "Determination. Regular practice."

By now I've run out of tape on my recorder and the battery's nearly flat. I sadly have to call this incisive interview to an untimely halt, dashing my chances of a Walkley Award for investigative journalism which Lor's full story would have surely delivered me.

I just hope he doesn't read this -- he'll beat the living daylights out of me.

Go Asia says Go Thailand

At the ITB travel show in Berlin recently, the travel industry cast their votes for their top picks around Asia in the Go Asia 2011 Awards.

The results [drum roll please] were as follows:

Most popular destination in Asia

1. Thailand 

Best Airline in Asia

2. Bangkok Airways 

Best Tourism Office in Germany from Asia

1. Thailand 

Best Hotel in Asia

1. Siam @ Siam Design Hotel & Spa, Bangkok (Thailand)
3. Anantara Phuket Villas, Phuket (Thailand)

I guess this means even more oversized Germans in undersized swimming costumes promenading on the Thai beaches, jing jing. 

But danke schoen anyway ...

More about Go Asia: www.goasia.de

Aaaah ... a bit of romance in Pattaya

Roses are so cliched. Nothing says Valentine's Day quite like a hosepipe up the bum!
Rasayana Spa, Pattaya (photo: Stu Lloyd)

Latest health news from Thailand ...

100% orijinal. Wanna buy a vowel?   (Bangkok street market)

Forget the gym -- Smoke your way to a healthier life! It's amazing what technology can do. (Pattaya street market)

Blood, sweat and beers at Fairtex Pattaya Sport Club and Hotel.

Many hotels wish they could treat their guests like this.

You hear it long before you see it. In fact, you smell it too before you see it. The pounding of leather gloves on body or protective pads. And the astringent whiff of liniment rubbed into aching muscles.

Following your ears and your nose leads you to the Fairtex Muay Thai Boxing ring, where the morning training session is on and a motley assortment of tattooed locals and foreigners is beating the tripe out of each other. Knees rise into guts. Sweat beads fly as a head flicks back. Groans of effort. Moans of pain. Then rrrrrrrrriiinnngggg -- the digital buzzer signals four minutes is up, and the 20 or so belligerents ease up for a quick swig of a drink and draw their breath.

I must admit there are more genteel welcomes to hotels, involving iced towels, and damsels on bended knees proferring frozen lemongrass drinks, but Fairtex Hotel and Sports Camp is not your average hotel.

It was built on the back of blood, sweat and tears by Khun Jong, founder of the Fairtex sportswear label, himself a former boxing promoter-turned-squillionaire who used to get around in a massive Chicago-pimp-style gas-guzzler, which is still parked under this hotel.

It's actually a quiet place.

Pompous touches are evident everywhere, from overstuffed animal skin couches that would make Louis X1V feel inadequate, to glass banisters, and carved-glass fittings in the reception, although it's overall a mid-class family resort hotel in a faux ancient Thai-brick setting. Rooms range from barracks (10 to a dorm) to 65m deluxe suites.

If you're keen to knock yourself into shape (or be knocked into shape more likely!) Fairtex is the place. Sign up for just one day, or a month like many, and enjoy an hour of boxing each morning and afternoon, plus badminton, pool, tennis, basketball, bicycle spinning, gym and table tennis. All this from just 2400 baht per day (about $80).

This camp has produced a number of champions, including Yod Sanklai and Naruepol. Plus Mana 'Lor' Chaiknansuk, who reached number 2 (see next blog for his fighting story).

Then the buzzer rings again and it's action stations. All around, the explosive percussion of thudding leather. Rhythmically at first, then building to a rousing climax as the bell nears. Not a ripple of flab anywhere, jing jing.

And this was the moment I discovered I am a wimp. Having done several years of high-grade karate, I declined with thanks when one of the grinning instructors beckoned me to join him in the ring (the last time I was asked to join anyone in the ring was at Mardi Gras, but that's another story. For the record I declined then, too.)

An instructor getting kicked in the ring

I just couldn't see me soaking up that amount of punishment. Elbows, and kicks, and jabs, and knees. Forgeddaboutit!!! He feels my bicep and laughs. Ouch, that really hurt. The laugh I mean. Jing jing!


On balance, I think I'll settle for a game of badminton. Mind you, those feathers can hurt a bit too.


Glutton for punishment? Click on www.fairtexhotel.com

The only international resort style hotel in Pataya? Wow.

One of three pools: like Goldilocks, one of them's just right

Well, blow me down! When you think of Pattaya you think of ... well, I  mean, you ALSO think of resorts, resorts and more resorts catering to the sun-worshippers flocking to the beaches of its bays.

So you could've knocked me over with a feather when Khun Pat, a senior sales manager at Sheraton Pattaya Resort, fixed me in the eye and said: "We are the only international resort-style property in Pattaya." No, that can't be right ... there's ... there's ... well I guess she is right. "The others are city type."

The Sheraton occupies the headland near that old stalwart the Royal Cliff Resort (now a multi-hotel-cum-exhibition extravaganza called PEACH), so it's a little ways out of town, but shuttle buses run frequently into the guts of town if that's where you'd rather be.

But out here, the views towards Koh Laan are forever on a clear day, watching the flotilla of pleasure boats plying their way towards that island.

Can you hear the tinkle?

A massive chandelier-like wind chime tinkles in the breeze, knocking several valuable points off my blood pressure immediately. And if it needs more reduction, I can hop a golf buggy down to the Amburaya Spa where five different techniques will be applied over an hour and a half, along with English, French and Thai natural products in a super signature called Amburaya Embrace.

There are plenty of wistful touches in this 3-pool resort (like a golfer, I judge a hotel by how many 'holes' it offers, in this case swimming holes or water hazards). The bougainvillea in the receptionists' hair for instance. And the pant-skirts they wear, which look like they have three legs, but they have the grace to carry it off.

Exhibit A: solid door

Solid wooden doors are a feature throughout the resort, and shoulder injuries must be the leading cause of days off work here, as the petite lasses try to open and close guests' doors, and doors to the various outlets such as Elements, Latitude Lounge, Papaya meeting room. Thankfully Infiniti -- their Italian restaurant -- is al fresco with no wooden barricades to barge down.

As for the rooms, cool mint tones soothe like a choc-mint ice-cream on a summer's day, jing jing.


A feeling of airy spaciousness, and a balcony from which to survey the pools, the ocean, and the rest of the resort's villas, which present something half way between traditional Thai and Spanish-Mexican hacienda.

A sophisticated playground atmosphere. But if you've still got work on your plate, Link@Sheraton business centre can sort you out with free internet (or you can pay to play in your room).

So Khun Pat is absolutely right. It is international. It is a resort. And it's the only one like it in Pattaya.

Like the sound of this? Check out www.sheraton.com/pattaya for more

Unbelievable fun in Pattaya

Unbelievable: a family attraction in Pattaya!

So let's say it's raining in Pattaya and you need to kill a couple of hours. Or your sun burn has been diagnosed as blisteringly radio-active and you don't want to go near the beach again -- ever!

Well, you can always slide off to the Tahitian Queen bar as usual. However this is not recommended if it's only 11am and you have the family in tow. So ...

The pilot was later breath-tested

Head for Ripley's Believe It or Not! at Royal Garden Plaza, slap-bang in the middle of Pattaya's increasingly interesting Beach Road. You can't miss it -- it's the building with the big red DC-3 carelessly crash landed on the 3rd floor.

Ripley's is really a 5-in-1 attraction offering the Museum (where you could spend a whole day gawking at the weird and wonderful exhibits), the 4D Moving Theater (billed as 'the wildest simulator ride in the world'), the Infinity Maze (a mesmerizing series of optical mazes and illusions), Haunted Adventure (a ghoulish walk through various nightmarish scenarios with real live actors), and finally, there's Louis Tussaud's waxworks.

The dummy made more sense than the real Becks.

At the latter, you can rub shoulders with Jackie Chan, Will Smith, Posh and Becks, have a laugh with Eddie Murphy, and laugh at Paris Hilton (well, what else are you supposed to do with that bimbo?)

Ripley seemed to have a fascination with two-headed cows (no, not Posh and Becks), three-legged horses and the like. Freakish. He also introduced the western world to the Padaung women with 15" necks, which you now can see any day of the week in hill-tribe villages in Mae Hong Song, jing jing.

But Ripley's childlike fascination with the crazy, the creepy, and the colourful, makes for a very memorable and thoroughly entertaining half day for everyone in the family. And the same can't necessarily be said for Walking Street!

[cue voice-over effect] Believe It or Not ...

For more: see www.ripleysthailand.com

How to pick up hilltribe women ,,,

Here is a simple 'how-to' video that I've put together from a recent trip in Doi Mae Salong. Yes, picking up women in Thailand is that easy, jing jing.


Enjoy and don't forget to forward it on to your friends.


(If the video doesn't load, go to YouTube and search my channel 'Worldsmith360' for this and other Thailand videos.)

Doggie style now allowed in Thai hotels ...

Another way to sneak your dog into a hotel ...

People love their dogs, so why don't more people take their dogs on holiday with them?

The answer of course is that hotel operators usually ban dogs from their premises. But in a villa-style resort and with responsible owners taking care of their pets, then maybe a doggie holiday is possible.

That is the thinking of Centara Hotels & Resorts, Thailand's largest hotel operator, who are piloting a scheme to gauge market response to those guests wanting to travel on a vacation with their pet dogs. Jing jing!

"This of course is not realistic with many of our properties," says Operations Manager Paul Snow.

"But we do feel that in certain of our beach-side resorts, where guests are staying in ground floor accommodation that has immediate access to the gardens or the beach, it would be possible for dog owners to bring along their pets without causing any inconvenience to other guests.

The two resort hotels that have been selected are X2 Hua Hin Kui Buri Villas, which stands in four acres of mature beachfront gardens near to Hua Hin and features just 23 villas, and Centara Chaan Talay Resort & Villas Trat, occupying a pristine beachfront location with views across to Koh Chang.

But there are a couple of conditions:

1/ Owners need to advise the resort during the booking process that they will be bringing their dogs, and the dog has to be shampooed before arrival.

2/ The dog has to be a small to medium sized breed, weighing no more than 20 kilos, and should be well-trained. 

3/ Your dog is not allowed in the breakfast buffet area.

Ok, I made that last one up. But you get the idea. So, are doggie holidays in hotels a good idea??? What do you think?

Amazing Thailand amazes with 13% tourism increase

The Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor, Khun Suraphon Svetasreni, amazed a roomful of international media at TTM+ in Bangkok the other day when he unveiled the January-July arrival figures tabulated by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

'Ladies and gentlemen,' he said, fixing the media with a proud smile, 'despite the recent political unrest, arrivals into Thailand have increased by 13.79%'. Jing Jing! Personally, I would've rounded it up to 14%. But still, a great result. Visitors from Australia were up 11.65% to 387, 704 in the period.

Mr Svetasreni also took the opportunity to unveil an evolution of the Amazing Thailand slogan. The new form is Amazing Thailand Always Amazes You.

Whether you're living here, have visited many times, or are a first timer in the Kingdom, that is certainly true.

The Real Amazing Thailand ... not on the tourist map.

Every now and again in a traveller's life there's a day that stands out as a 'real' travel experience, because it's not scripted, not planned, completely spontaneous and utterly authentic. I was about to have one of those days as we continued our motor bike tour of northern Thailand ...

Phil and I fired up the motorcycles after a photo opportunity at the huge golden Buddha who sits serenely on the Thai side of the Golden Triangle. The plan was now to follow the Mekong River around as we tracked east on the 4007, keeping the mighty muddy river on our left. Its levels fluctuate vastly depending on the season, and now it was over 7m deep, considered a level at which it gets 'interesting' as it churns its way across from Yunnan all the way up in China through the Indochina countries to finally disgorge itself in Vietnam.

Before too long we were passing through Chiang Khong, the well known border town where backpackers and 'visa runners' gorge noodles and hop on ferries across to Laos. Every now and again the ridge would rise, and the jungle would open itself up to a wondrous view of the river, with boats fast and slow playing their trade against the current, and the Laos jungle holding tightly onto whatever secrets it keeps.

We picked up the 1155 and tracked the Mekong a little more until we came to a T-junction near Wiang Kaen (the eastern most district of Chiang Rai province). I turned right. But after 100 metres, I pulled over. Something didn't feel right. Should we have gone left? (The signage in Thai offered no clue, of course! One squiggle pretty much looks like another.)

We U-turned then found the road getting smaller and smaller until we came across a very sleepy village. This was definitely not the right road either. What the ... ?

I pulled up outside a house/shed to consult my map. No sooner had I switched off the ignition than there was a beaming Thai face right next to me, offering a glass of whiskey. I beamed and declined with thanks. It was not quite 11am. By the time Phil had pulled up, this guy was pointing across to this shaded carport-like shed where I could see about half a dozen of his mates sitting in a circle, with several bottles of Sam Song Whiskey in front of them.

They motioned us to join them. We exchanged greetings. With sign language and my sketchy Thai I tried to signal where we were supposed to be going. They laughed. Have a drink, they said. Phil is a teetotaller, so I had to take one for the team. I can't stand bloody whiskey. Not even at night. Aaargh! NASA would be interested in this stuff. Have another they insisted.

These guys were local pomelo farmers, finished their morning shift. Sitting around on the dirt floor, slicing, dicing, cubing, and julienning vegetables all to go into a huge pot for lunch. I hadn't even noticed till then, all their womenfolk were sitting off to the side, gas-bagging, while the men prepared the food. This is apparently very common in northern Thailand rural areas (much like an Aussie BBQ really.)

Have another drink. Hahaha. There was no taking 'no' for an answer because they didn't even ask the question, just topped up the glass. And topped it up, and topped it up.

They started handing around some spicy minced pork while the main dish was boiling off on a little fire nearby. One of the guys lifted the lid, and -- oh my god! -- it was like something from Lord of the Rings. A flaming pig's head smiled at me from the bottom of the pot. I mean a whole damn head, ears, snout and all. I swear it winked at me. Jing jing!

Stay for lunch they said. Well, yeah OK, why not? After all the sun was belting down and this was so pleasant to be spending a really fun time trying to negotiate across cultures with uproarious results, whatever was said or charaded.

Then these hard young men did something truly touching. A couple of them went out, grabbed some cardboard sheets, and covered our motor bikes with them so they wouldn't get too hot. A caring gesture.

Soon after, a 4WD pulled up, and a most glamourous leggy lass sidled out. One of the guys' sister, who ran a flower market in Chiang Mai. Suddenly it was Phil, and not the pig in the pot, who was all ears! Within a few minutes he was announcing that they would be getting married. Uproarious laughter from the gang.

Lunch was not too soon, and the pork, vegetables, rice and soup went down a treat. 'Drink more whiss-a-key, Khun Stu.' One more for the team.. Aaargh!

As the heat of the day pounded on the roof, and the humidity reached triple if not quadruple figures, I could feel my energy sapping. Someone had turned up the gravity. Phil was still fine-tuning the wedding details in his inimitable gregarious style; he was doing fine with the ladies.

In a moment of clarity I realised we had a lot of kilometres yet to go. We had to get out of here while I was still able. I went to slip some money to our gracious host (a nominal sum just to cover the whiss-a-key and the food, not a big showy farang amount). It was summarily declined.No, wouldn't hear of it. This was not about money it was about friendship. 'Thailand Australia friends, number one.' We made our excuses and left, to a big farewell of waves and laughs.

While the details of that day are not so clear, thanks to the Sang Som, I'll always remember it. I'm ashamed to say the whiskey wiped the guys' names from my memory. And Phil I'm sure still dreams about whats-her-name. But I'll never forget the day I took a wrong turn and discovered the real Amazing Thailand.

I've marked it on my GPS.