My adventures in and around Hua Hin

Hello everyone! Now it’s time for an update about my adventures in and around Hua Hin.

The beautiful Thai countryside minutes away from Cha Am

One of many flats during this ride..

As most of you are probably aware by now I’m quite into biking and try to seize as many opportunities as possible I can to get out and ride some. Last time I told you about the trip up to Cha Am to join in with the Hua Cha hash, well that trip is one for the history books. It was the first time I met this really cool dude Paul from Australia and I had more problems with my bike within those 65 kms than I have ever had accumulated through my life. It started when we were in the middle of nowhere and these stray dogs started chasing us and my chain snapped as I was trying to accelerate to outrun them. The chain got caught under my rear wheel causing it to lock up and I went in to a very uncontrolled powerslide because there’s not a whole lot of friction between the tarmac and metal. Luckily the noise from the chain scared the dogs off. However it left me stranded without a chain. Good thing Paul and I were front riding bastards(FRBs(Hasher language)) because one of the slower guys actually had a chain breaker and we managed to fix the chain enough so that I could ride home at a very cautious pace. Ten minutes later on the paved road my rear wheel decided to go flat. I was already taking the easiest and closest way to home but now that I only had one spare tube it was even more urgent to get home. But this is not where my problems ended, oh no.. After about 20 kms of riding at a super steady pace to save the chain from breaking again I was three kms away from the bike shop and then my front tyre went flat! But that’s life…

During the last weekend of February I went on a Bangkok Hash House Bikers hash in Khao Yoi, near Petchaburi. This is one of the main reasons I brought my bike to Thailand and this event was much looked forward to. So I managed to hitch a ride with one of the guys from Hua Hin bicyclists and we were at the site in very good time. The Saturday’s ride was going to be one of the most challenging tasks I have ever undertaken. Ride-off was at 1 pm in the deserty area around the Sawang golf resort. The temperature at ride-off was a cosy 35 degrees centigrade. By the time we reached the first water stop 1 ½ hours later the temperature was up to a scorching 42 degrees. Add to that the fact that most were riding in black or dark clothing and the total absence of shadow and the temperature alone would be enough to call it quits. After having replenished with coke and water at the first water stop we kept on going and soon my front tyre decided to go flat again. Luckily I had brought a spare tube so not much else to do but to find the nearest tree and change the thing. Fifteen minutes later and I was on my way again. This probably happened some 25 kms into the ride with another 40 kms to go and it wasn’t long until I noticed that my front derailleur was giving up on me, so the rest of the 40 kms I tried to stay on the middle chain ring to save the derailleur. It made it all the way around. With about 15 kms to go I somehow managed to break my middle chain ring in half, a feat rarely heard of which resulted in 15 kms in fourth gear at a painfully slow pace. Later on I was called to stand in the middle of the circle and confess to that it was my chain ring everyone was laughing at, and yet worse was that someone had told them that I was a bike mechanic. A hash is a really cool get together of people biking and drinking beer. For bht 300 (roughly 65 SEK) you get the riding and then a sandwich and hot dog buffet and free beer! Sweet deal! There was another ride on Sunday and luckily the bike shop that comes to all the hashs had a spare chain ring and front derailleur. Thirty minutes and a few litres of sweat later my bike was fit for fight again and off we went. This time I only had a smaller problem with a broken spoke, but otherwise this ride was quite uneventful. The scenery was stunning to say the least, the thai countryside is gorgeous.

Niklas and I chilling out ten meters below the water surface!

Last Thursday Niklas and I went on a trip down south to an island called Koh Tao which translated mean turtle island. The name comes from the shape of the island. The island is mostly known as a scuba diving paradise, but I’d definitely say just paradise, it sports some of the most pristine beaches I’ve seen and the island is hilly with jungle everywhere. So it’ what you think Thailand should be! Niklas had never been scuba diving before, but PADI has got a programme called discover scuba diving which lets people without certificates scuba dive for real to a depth of 12 meters. I got my diving license when I was in Thailand in 2007 and have been diving at Koh Tao before and my memory of it wasn’t the greatest but that was because of the timing of my visit, just after the monsoon ended means that the visibility is quite crap. The monsoon ends in late November so this time the sea had had plenty of time to settle so we had great visibility of up to 20 meters. The diving was great and the underwater life is just spectacular with a vast array of different species, including barracudas, anemone fish (Nemo’s cousin), stingray and squid. Niklas and I had a blast and did all kinds of stuff that one needs to do while in Koh Tao, like have a Snickers shake at the View Point resort, watch the sunset at Sunset view bar and watch the nightly fire shows on the beach. Koh Tao is only an easy five hour busride and then two hours on a boat away and it is so worthwhile going there. Check out the photos.

The sunset on Hat Sai Ree on Koh Tao is pretty spectacular.

Next week I am planning on catching a bus down to Phuket to go see a friend of mine who is holidaying there at the moment, will let you know next time what happens!

Until then, peace out!

// Sebbe

Life in Hua Hin!

Alright, so a few weeks have passed since the last post, hence it is time for an update!

After the last trip to Bangkok we’ve pretty much stayed in Hua Hin for the majority of the time. There have been a few people who have seized opportunities to travel to other places in Thailand. One group did a very good job of representing the IBE crew at the full moon party at Kho Phang-Na on the 8^th of February. I wasn’t part of the pack so unfortunately I can’t provide any further detail. We might go next time though, so keep an eye out in about a month’s time!

Last weekend a few of us went on a little excursion to a beach a bit further south of the main Hua Hin beach called Hat Sai Noi, literal translation is Little Sai beach. Hat = beach, noi = little or small. We had an awesome day just lazing around in the sun going for a few swims and not doing much at all really. The way a day on the beach should be spent according to most people. Personally however I can only spend so many hours before I have to do something. The beach was beautiful and the waves were a lot of fun. The best bit about the Hat Sai Noi experience was the lack of souvenir vendors that walk up and down the beach all day trying to sell whatever they can to the tourists.

On Friday we had a party for Nasser who had his 22^nd birthday. Robert and I live at a place that is owned by a woman who lives in Helsingborg, Sweden, during the summer months. She helped us hook everything up and she cooked food for us and got us a cake for Nasser. The party was a huge success and everyone really had a blast. After the party the majority of the class continued on in to Hua Hin and kept partying to the wee hours of the morning.

There are a lot of Swedes in Hua Hin in general, and one of them has started a soccer team called the Hua Hin Vikings. Adam, Dilan,  Jesper, Nasser, Robert, Viktor and I have joined them to get some exercise and to help them win the series. There’s a game tonight in which most of the above mentioned will partake, and hopefully it will be a victory for the HH Vikings! The umpires here in Thailand have their own way of judging the games. One match we played got called off too early because the umpires wanted the thai team to tie the HHVs and another got called off too early because the thai team was getting aggressive and the umpire was afraid that something bad might happen. At least that game we won, by 12-4!

I have also taken up my biking a bit finally. There is a company here in Hua Hin called the Hua Hin bike tours, really original, I know! The owner of the company has also got a facebook page called the Hua Hin bicyclists in which more long term residents of Hua Hin can post to find ride buddies. I’ve been on two rides with them so far and am going again in two hours. Today there is a 40 kms ride followed by an Aussie bbq, yum yum yum! Tomorrow we’re doing a longer ride up to Cha Am to join in with the Hua Cha Hash bikers which will be a lot of fun! My behind will probably be a bit sore afterwards though as that ride is 90 kms return. Phew!

That’s all for now folks, I will write an update about actual school stuff soon too so you’ll be in the know!

For now, peace out!

// Sebbe

One, or rather three nights in Bangkok, and the world is your oyster!

Well, as I wrote in the last post, there’s more to the Bangkok trip than just the meeting with all the different companies that offer internship possibilities. The meeting with all the sponsors was the kick-off to the rest of the night which took the majority of the class to different places around Bangkok. One group went to Khao San Road which is the backpacker capital of Thailand and offers really cheap beer and party. Another group went out with a few of the sponsors and actually ended up club hopping until the wee hours of the morning.

The view from our hotel, The Rembrandt on Sukhumvit Soi 18

The next morning when it was time for the breakfast at the Rembrandt hotel there were more than a couple of people who were really hungover, so a really nice hotel buffet breakfast was much appreciated. After having re-stocked the bodies’ supplies of energy, salts and fluids it was off to do some shopping. A big group of people went to one of the more interesting shopping malls in Bangkok, namely the insanely big and maze like MBK. 7 floors so big you can’t see from one end to the other that are bursting with fake goods and souvenirs of all different types at prices that need serious bargaining. Despite the astronomically high asking prices the final price that you actually pay(if bargained correctly) is usually surprisingly low. I bought a bunch of t-shirts at 150 bht each which is equivalent to roughly 30 SEK or USD 5 for the international readers. A pair of Dickies shorts were also bought at the very reasonable price of 50 SEK(USD 8).

A night in Bangkok just doesn’t feel complete without a beer or three so for night two the brave bunch of the class went out for a couple of beers. A much more chilled night than the first night at a much slower pace, seeing how everyone was quite worn out from the night before. During one of the rides in a taxi we had gone past a street that looked like a really nice bar street with lots of neon lights. The neon lights and proximity to where we were staying made it an obvious choice. Little did I know that I was taking everyone to Soi Cowboy, one of the more infamous red-light districts of Bangkok. We rather soon discovered that we had navigated to somewhere where we did not intend to be and thus settled down at one of the two bars on the end of the street that did not offer any shows. The next place we ended up in was probably the most interesting place of them all as it was something that is extremely foreign to us to have temporary bars on the sidewalk next to the biggest street in town. It was a really cool experience and definitely something to recommend! The night ended early as we had planned a much earlier start the following day.

Hotel breakfasts are the best. They serve up the biggest array of food that one could wish for. Everything from eggs any style and bacon to yoghurt to fresh fruit, you know the feeling. Thanks to an early night in people were up much earlier and really enjoyed the breakfast. The plan for the day was sightseeing in the afternoon with no scheduled activities for the morning. I had taken on the mission of ensuring that everyone had the literature needed for the logistics course and therefore I had to go ahead of the group and catch up with them later. I met up with Roy to try to get a good deal on a boat trip for the sightseeing and we reckoned that we could get a good discount on the trip because we were a large group.

Long-tail boat cruising on the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok

The original asking price was 650 bht/person for a trip lasting an hour on the Chao Praya river and the adjacent canals that would drop us at a pier close to Wat Pho(home of the reclining Buddha) and the Grand palace. We were happy with our bargaining skills when we managed to cut the price to 350 bht/person almost half of what the original asking price was. When Håkan arrive to finish off the deal it rather soon became evident to us that we would  have been seriously ripped off if we would have settled for that price. Apparently the going rate for a long-tail boat is roughly 1000 bht/hour and we would have been paying triple that.

Khao San Road - the backpacker mecca of Bangkok

After discovering that the Grand palace had shut half an hour before we arrived we made our way yet again to Khao San Road for a dinner which everyone attended. As per tradition this was not the last stop for the night and after the next stop on Kh San Rd it was off to an English pub to gather everyone together and after the pub there were two different teams, one that went home to the hotel and one that went on to one of the bigger night clubs, Narz which is short for Narcissus.

The Sunday was totally dedicated to shopping and the main attraction was the Chatuchak weekend market which is one of the crazier shopping experiences that Bangkok offers. Almost 5000 small shops are crammed into one enormous shed-looking building that gets really hot on a sunny day. The market offers close to every single commodity that money can buy at very reasonable prices. If you set out to walk down every isles and just look at every shop it would probably still take you a full two days to do so, so to go through the shops to find what you’re looking for is a tremendous task. If you ever go to Bangkok, you need to visit this market, no visit to Bangkok is complete without seeing JJ market(short for Jatujak(another spelling of Chatuchak)).

And on that bomb shell it’s time to end this post.

So until next time, peace out!

// Sebastian

Thailand 2012

You know how you look forward to something that you know is going to happen and as it gets closer you get more and more excited? This trip to Thailand is exactly like that. For the students in the International Business Engineering programme it is an integrated part of the course and therefore we have known that we are going to Thailand for nearly a year and a half. There’s been lots of talk about it, lots of speculations and expectations and now the time has finally come and it is still quite unbelievable that we are here.

The original plan was to study in Bangkok, but due to the flooding of Bangkok and northern Thailand we have had to move to Hua Hin instead as the campus in Bangkok was severely affected by water damages. This obviously means that there will be a little more hassle with the practicalities concerning school. So far everything has worked a charm and no problems at all just because everyone is working really hard to make everything work well. The switch to Hua Hin has so far only been for the better as Hua Hin is a beach resort on the Thai gulf coast. And Bangkok is a 2.5 hour bus ride away, so I’m not complaining! The beach is white and lined with palm trees and nice hotels and houses, so it’s a picture-postcard city!

My name is Sebastian Dahlström, I’m 25 years old and I was born and raised in Borås. I have volunteered to do some blogging from our time in Thailand and try to give a representative view of what studying in Thailand is about. My main interests are action sports and photography. I do quite a bit of mountain biking and my biggest passion is backcountry skiing. I also enjoy diving and mountaineering. I feel that Thailand presents ample opportunities to practise all of the above activities, apart from skiing obviously.

The first couple of days in Thailand have been a lot about sorting out practicalities such as buying stuff that we didn’t bring from Sweden namely fans and water boilers and towels and so forth. We’ve also spent quite a bit of time figuring out how life in Thailand actually works with transportation and timing and well, just about everything that we need to know. The first couple of days were less than easy, but that would happen anywhere. You don’t know where you’re going or how to figure it out. After five days in Hua Hin we feel that we have a much better grasp of how things work than we did when we arrived and it’ll only get easier from here!

The past two days have been spent on the beach by the majority of the students that are here from UB. The weather is spectacular with low 30s temperature and clear blue skies all day long with a light breeze. So to spend two full days at the beach laying in the sun, or the shadow depending on skin tone, isn’t too hard to do. The food on the beach is also amazing! You get a proper thai fried rice for around 15 SEK, and that is considered rather expensive!

Tonight ( Sunday January 8^th) we’re all meeting up with the teachers downtown for dinner and some information about the upcoming week! I will write more when I know a little bit more about how everything works with school.

So, for now, peace out!

// Sebastian from Hua Hin

Planning midsummer in Bangkok

In the Food and Beverage department I got the chance to plan the Swedish midsummer event taking place at our hotel. This was perfect for everyone since I know everything about midsummer and could help people get less work on their shoulders. Together with another Swedish associate we planned everything from scratch, from food to location and settings. We found herring, kaviar and snaps via a Scandinavian restaurant which were very helpful. I also got our engineering department to create a midsummer pole which was highly appreciated during the event. We had Swedish flags, yellow and blue balloons and an overall really nice environment.

In total we had 86 guests and so far all of them have been happy. They loved the food, the setting and the kids had fun dancing around the pole even though it was quite hot outside.

And for me this was a really good experience too. To be able to plan the entire event and see how everything works at the hotel and in Thailand. My time is running out in Thailand now, I have only 11 days left of this amazing experience. The last part of my job will be to help with breakfast in the morning taking care of guests and after that hopefully helping with internal training as much as I can. Will write about it soonJ

Pilip      

Peasoup evening

Tonight I have done something I never thought I would do in Thailand. I went to a Swedish peasoup evening where we had a tryout tasting for Swedish peasoup and pancakes for upcoming bigger events for Swedes in Bangkok and Thailand. It was a really nice evening with around 20 Swedish guys eating, chatting and trying the homemade punsch together with the food. It was for me a real success, I loved the soup and everything else.

To finish of the evening we went to the rooftop bar Nest and listened to good live music and just relaxed with a beer. It was still an early night because I had to work the day after.

About the work, everything is going really well. I'm learning a lot about the hotel business and when I try to see things from the perspective of my studies I really feel like the education International Business Engineering is applicable in a lot of different departments and that feels really good.

Pilip

Easter and Viking Cup

Easter has come upon us and it is time for me to participate in my first Viking Cup in football. The tournament started off with a big buffé dinner at a five star hotel in Bangkok. Almost 300 players from different cities in Asia had come to join this Cup. Most of them Danish as all Viking teams initially has been Danish. The teams in the tournament were, Jakarta, Singapore, Hongkong 1&2, Bangkok 1&2, Shanghai, Beijing, Shingjing and Kuala Lumpur. After this first night of getting to know each other it was time for the first day of playing.

I was playing for Bangkok 1 and in our group we had last year champions Kuala Lumpur, Hongkong 1, Jakarta and Shanghai. After four really tough games we ended up with three wins and one draw against KL. But we were ready for the semifinal the next day versus Singapore from the other group.

After a bad effort by myself the semifinal ended up in a penalty shootout, where we missed three and they were more focused and scored three. We were outL

The tournament ended sadly in a crazy rain on Saturday. The final between Bangkok 2 and Singapore could not be played because of too much water on the field and they decided to have two winners. A decision I will never understand but that’s how it is. We finished the tournament together all 300 in a really crazy partyJ Danish know how to drink that’s for sure!

Now we have the last week in school with a lot of studies and ending with my birthday so I will tell you about this week as soon as I can!

Pilip   

Chiang Mai

After a few hours in a night bus up to Chiang Mai we finally arrived. 0600 was the time and the hotel couldn’t check us in at that time. We decided to go for a walk in the city and found a really nice café where we could sit down and relax. The city was not big at all, you could actually walk to all places around even though we usually took a tuk-tuk because it was warmJ we went to Chiang Mai for one thing, to celebrate Songkran (Thai new year). We heard a lot about it that you are supposed to throw water at each other for good luck. So after we checked in at the hotel me and Daniel went down to the centre and checked this out.

It was crazyJ!! Everyone threw water at each other and never been in a water fight like that. Incredible… We were fighting for a couple of hours and everyone loved itJ First night finished off with dinner together with some friends at an amazing Italian restaurant. It was so good!

We did a lot of activities up there also. Shooting guns, watched a snake show, visited a Thai silk factory and fight of the gibbon. The last event is something that you all need to try if you go to Chiang Mai, it was awesome! You go high up into the mountains in the forest and jump out hanging in a cable that takes you between different platforms. So much fun and the adrenaline it up in the skyJ The longest was 800 meters and I was going really fast!! I definitely recommend all of you to visit Chiang Mai.

Pilip

Transportation systems

When you been here in Bangkok for a while you learn in which way and with what you should travel at different times of the day. Take today for example, I and Daniel were going to Future Park, a major shopping centre, to look for some clothes. We left AIT at 10.30 and we knew at that time traffic would not be that bad and decided to try the bus-system. It was very convenient and no troubles at all. A 30 minute ride cost 14 baht, which is 3-4 Swedish kronor. Beat that VästtrafikJ 14 baht is the expensive bus as well because it has air-condition. The regular one costs 9 baht!

Also when thinking about transportation in Bangkok, it is almost never good to take a taxi between 9-11 and 15-17. In this case you should just go to the closest sky-train station and use that. Sometimes the sky-train is also super busy, like when we were going home from the city to campus last Thursday. Check the picture! That must have been a crazy dayJ

You may wonder what is happening in the future. We have two exams left in this semester and they will be the last week of April. Before that it will be a lot of studying, travelling to Chiang Mai (north) and also a football tournament coming up with the Scandinavian Vikings. That’s the quick plan right now, but I will be back and tell you more about itJ

Pilip

AIT Campus

While I’m waiting for the next funny thing to happen here I thought I write some things about our lovely campus here at AIT.  As I already mentioned we have a lot of possibilities to do sports. Two bigger shops were you can buy fresh fruit, snacks and other useful stuff for your dorm. I usually buy breakfast, like eggs and choco pops thereJ

There are also many different kinds of restaurants. Indian, Vietnamese, Thai and then we have the SU café which provides all sorts of different meals. There are also three or four different cafes where you can have what we in Sweden call “fika”. The best of them is Hon Krum but it is fair enough a bit more expensive than the other ones.

There are also laundry service, dry cleaning, travel agency, hair salon and a massage place on campus so you can easily get stuff fixed here. The facilities when it comes to classrooms and such are in good quality. Equipment that works and a lot of friendly staff helping us with different kind of problems.

Right now I am studying for our midterm exam in Business Economics tomorrow. I hope it will be fine, and afterwards I´m going to Bangkok for an event that will be a lot of fun.

You can see some pictures of campus on http://www.campusbangkok.se/ - there is a link here.  

Pilip   

Tug of War Miniolympic Champions

After a postponed Final on Monday due to some weak Portuguese arms it was finally time. The big Final in Tug of War in AITs miniolympic tournament was coming up. Our opponents were again Portugal, last years undefeated champions.

We knew that we had beaten them before, but from watching their semi-final where they looked really strong some of us had respect for them.  You can really see in our eyes how focused we were to win this game. We wanted honor and pride to the Swedish people on campusJ

Before the game there was a mental game going onJ our opponents wanted to distract us and make us lose focus on what we were aiming for. This did not work. First round started and we had to really fight for a few seconds, but as soon as the Vikings machinery started we had no problem fishing Portugal in. Second round was even easier and we felt how Portugal did not even try to make an effort. An incredible game by the Vikings and I am so proud of us.

Go Vikings, Go Sweden!!!   

Pilip

Results from exams and final coming up in Tug of war

Got my results back from our two first courses this week, it was in Logistics and Design of experiments. I passed both of them and even managed to get good gradesJ I am proud of myself right now haha!

So after another Bangkok weekend I'm back at AIT. Everything is as usual except for the heat. It is extremely hot here today. Morning class in business economics and then went home to use that knowledge to buy stocks for my future fortune haha after sitting a couple of hours I really feel like going for a run and get rid of some energy.

We played football yesterday also, an easy 4-0 victory against some young British guys. After the game I went to see Chelsea-Manchester city and it was a wonderful performance by the bluesJ

Tomorrow is the Tug of war final and I just saw that we are going to meet Portugal again! They had a little bit of a struggle against Pakistan in the semi final but they still won 2-0. So we really have to be ready for a tough fight tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to it. Hope all spectators will cheer for the Vikings and push us even moreJ Tell you the result as soon as I can!

Pilip

Crushing last years champions in Tug of war

Today was the day when AIT miniolympics started. It is an annual tournament in all sorts of different sports like football, volleyball, basketball and tug of war. You compete against other nations like Thailand, Nepal, Portugal and so on. From the Swedish side we have teams in the tug of war competition and the basketball. Three of us also helped the Nepalese team in football because they were too few players.

Starting up the miniolympics was the really important tug of war game between last year’s champions Portugal and the big Vikings from Sweden. After the weigh in we took our positions for the big round. We in the Swedish team had a lot of respect for our opponents and you could almost hear the nervous heartbeats. The game was best of three and we were getting ready with David the crazy leader getting us psyched. Till Valhall, AO!! First game started and we had an awesome start just ripping the Portuguese line and an easy victory. For the second game we switched sides and that didn’t help Portugal. After a couple of seconds the Swedish Vikings crushed them and the win was definite. A good effort from the Portuguese team didn’t help this day because we were to strongJ

On Thursday its time to play our first game in basketball and we will do everything we can to have another win. Then we will continue our journey in the tug of war with a lot of confidence and we are for sure going for the win. I just saw one team that can be difficult to beat and that is the Pakistanis. Lets hope we have good rung when we meet themJ Go Sweden!!

Pilip       

First loss and a nice night out

The midterm in Thai economy felt ok but I don’t really know if I had my focus on the right things. Anyway it felt like I understood the questions and could answer them quite fine. After the exam I just sat quiet with my computer the whole evening, I was so tired.

Saturday was as said match day, me and Daniel woke up and went to have breakfast on campus. The regular place I usually go to was closed so I just found a disgusting sandwich and bad coffee. This day didn’t start in the way I wanted. I had the same feeling after the game this time. After a loss 4-3 and the referee taking away two goals from us by calling bad offsides. To get myself to think about other things I had a couple of beers afterwards and it was quick to forget.

Then a long night out startedJ First went for pub food at Londoners pub and couple of pints. Then for my first time in Bangkok we visited the party street RCA, a really cool place. Many nice nightclubs and a lot of new people to meet. After drinking some whisky-soda we finished off in the nightclub Narz with some dancing. Overall a really good night but now its time for me to cut down on my alcohol consumption, it has been too much these last couple of weeksJ

The Thai sentence of the day is Chan cha pai and means I am going to… Good things to use in the taxis which you use frequently here.

My schedule this week is only three classes and one presentation to take care of in Thai economy. I think it will be a good week.

Pilip   

Weekend in Pattaya

As the football team had an away game in Pattaya this week I went on a trip from Bangkok. This time three of my fellow student, Daniel, David and Emil reinforced the team. The journey started at skytrain station On nut where we rented a mini-van and were on our way! The trip takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes so there were a lot of funny stories on the wayJ

The game was horrible but we managed to win it anyhow. 3-1 was the final score and we could be happy about three points and a workout at least. After this we stayed for an evening of celebration! It was a really good town for partying and it was not at all as crazy as I heard before I went there. Liked it a lot.

This week is as said before the week for logistics exam and just because of that nothing else is planned but to study as hard as I canJ but I know that it will work for maximum one day!

 Next thing to learn in Thai is how much is this? Nee ra ka tow rai? And the number 1, which is nung. If you learn the numbers 1-10 it will help you very much.

Okey that was a little bit about this weekend, I get back to you when the next funny thing has happened!

Pilip  

Vacation and First Exam

Now when my parents arrived they wanted some vacation with sunbathing and swimming in the ocean. So I arranged a trip to Krabi and a little place called Ao Nang. It was very peaceful and a good place for relaxing and studying for our first exam in Thailand in the course Design of Experiments.

Ao Nang has a lot of Swedish tourists which actually was a little bit annoying when you been here for a long time. Im trying to speak thai and only here Swedish. Why not have a brief lesson now. Sawadee Kup(for men)/Ka(for women) means Hello and Sabai dee mai? Means how are you. I will try and add a few words every day I write. Back to Ao Nang we went out on a daytrip with a longtail boat visiting three different islands, Tup, Poda and Chicken. You can see some pictures of it hereJ it was much fun and a real paradise.

When I got back to Bangkok it was time to prepare for the exam. I studied as much as I could, but I got distracted by all these things that Bangkok has to offer! You cannot imagine how it is here. Not a single day passes without a new experienceJ

We had the exam today and it was alright, but I have no idea how I did haha hope it went ok! Afterwards I watched a movie and had a whisky, went running for 45 minutes and went shopping with my homies Daniel and David. There is one week until the next exam in Logistics which going to be interesting, tomorrow the studying starts again;)

Pilip  

Ayutthaya daytrip

This week mom and dad came to Thailand. It was really nice to see them again, and they brought some Swedish candy for me which was so good! They stayed in Bangkok for a couple of days so they could join us for a daytrip to the old capital here called Ayutthaya.

This was a day with a lot of new stuff happening. We saw temples and ruins which were really cool and at one place there was a Buddha growing in a tree, someone said it was the biggest of its kind in Thailand. After this me and mum rode an elephant, it was the first time for me and I liked itJ

We had lunch in floating market, it was a buffé with a performance going on in the water next to us. Mostly they spoke Thai so it was hard to follow what was going on, but it was something about an alligator trying to get a girl or eat a girl! I don’t really know haha.

Last stop was another floating market, this one was much bigger and they had a lot of stuff and restaurants. Me and David bought one t-shirt each, with cool design and it was a one of a kind store. Really liked that placeJ

Im going to Krabi with mum and dad for a couple of days, when I get back I will tell you all about it. Also exams are coming up so I have to start studying nowL

Until next time

Pilip

Chatuchak – Weekend market

After a week of studies and more studies it was very nice that the weekend came! Friday was very slow and I just attended class and saw a film that me and Daniel bought at MBK, the big shopping mall, two weeks ago.

Then Saturday came and I had planned with an Austrian friend named Chris that we were going to check the “famous” weekend market out. We went there with the Thammasat minivans again and had a really nice day! There were so many shops and stuff to check though so I am so exhausted now. I promise you, that market had everything you will ever need. From earrings to lampsJ  there was a lot of nice clothing shops as well but to bad for me nothing fit me today haha I am too big for this country. I guess I have to go to a tailor and fix all my clothes when I need something. We had some really good dinner at the market and when night came we realized that it would be a nice place to have a pre-party at. Tomorrow Chris is going back to Austria for some work so we said we´re going to do it when he gets backJ. When you come to Thailand you have to go to this market, it is something you won’t forget.

I´m playing football with the Vikings tomorrow again so I need to rest now! Ciao

Pilip     

Another of the most amazing weekends ever!

The weekend started after my political Thai economy class which is my elective course here at AIT. I went home and quickly changed because I was going in to Bangkok for a dinner. I took the Thamasat van in to Mo Chit which is the closest sky-train stop. It costs 30 baht which is around 6 Swedish kronor  and actually really comfortable! The dinner was the best I had in Thailand so far, we were sitting in a garden by a really trendy house and they served like international Thai-food. I had something called Shanghai noodles and it was great. I think it will be to hard to explain where the restaurant is located but it was close to Sukhumvit road which off course is very large;)

Saturday and Sunday was all about the football and golf tournament. First time I met the guys playing in Scandinavian Vikings and they were really cool guys. Of course we won the game by 5-0 and one of the guys scored two amazing goals, one directly on a corner kick. The golf was also a Scandinavian tournament with people from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Thailand and I think someone from Island but I’m not sure. I played with three Danish guys and one Thai girl and it was so much fun, even though I played like crap! The end of Sunday night was drinking whisky/soda to celebrate a good dayJ.

Monday came and we were back to school, this time with a new professor. Jonas Stray is his name and so far he has shown us some really good teaching skills by the blackboard. Also a very nice guy having a conversation with.

The Team

After class a few of us had signed up to play football for the president team in some sort of AIT sports event. Said - the president of AIT - had managed to recruit some real talent and we were ready for a tough game against the student team. It ended 2-2 but we won on a penalty shootout which by the way consisted of nine penalties and only three of them went in J haha.

This week two things that I know will happen is the Chinese new year and the second time of Swedish networking in Bangkok!

I´ll be back.

Pilip

At Thai Wake Park

We went to Thai Wake Park and challenged each other at wake boarding. 

It was awsome. But difficult...