This is a short documentary about villagers trying to shut down a gold mine in Northern Thailand. Why are they trying to shut it down? Because since the gold mine opened, the amount of toxic substances in the ground water there is so high that they can’t use the water anymore.

Well, the answer is easy: you celebrate Chinese new year in Thailand the same way you celebrate it in other places. But thanks to the fact that there are so many Chinese people, and people of Chinese descendant here, it is a lot more fun.

Watch this video to get a quick introduction into how to celebrate the Chinese new year:

The Guardian has assembled a list of the best cookbooks for 2010 – and guess what? David Thompson’s cookbook on Thai Street food has made it into the list – 21st.

Take advantage of the Michelin-starred chef’s trawl for the best of Bangkok’s street vendors. Follow the precise, authentic recipes and the results will be better than your local Thai. Probably.

Here another article from the Wall Street Journal:

Next Saturday, 10,000 lit paper lanterns will float up into the dark night sky. “A staggeringly beautiful site,” says Titiya Chooto, general manager of the Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai in Thailand.

It’s Loy Krathong, Thailand’s traditional moon festival, which takes place on the eve of the full moon in the 12th month of the traditional Thai calendar. This year, that day is Nov. 20, the day before the actual full moon. (See a video of South Korea’s lantern festival and see a slideshow of festivals around the region.)
Most of northern Thailand, especially Chiang Mai, celebrates the Yi Peng, the Northern Thai ceremony where lanterns, called khom loy, are released into sky. With origins rooted in Buddhist tradition, the rice- or mulberry-paper lanterns are believed to be a symbol of detachment, carrying away bad fortune and desires.

Floating rafts, which is where the name Loy Krathong comes from (loy means “floating”; krathong means “rafts”), are also released on rivers and lakes as part of the custom to bring good luck. Some say it is a form of apology, too, to the godess of water for any “bad” things they have done to the river during the year. But the real highlight is up in the skies. Here are a few places in Thailand that will help you celebrate the paper lantern ceremony. Special package rates are offered at each hotel; the prices listed below as a guidance are published rack rates.

The Eugenia by Lebue, Bangkok: This year, the hotel will offer guests a one-hour course on how to prepare their own krathong (paper float where offerings are placed). The course will be held in either English or French and offered for three days from Nov. 19 to 22. Room rates start at 6,400 Thai baht (US$215).

The Pavilions, Phuket: The festivities at this hotel include complimentary cocktails from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the bar of the hotel’s Plantation Club. During the cocktail, guests can release a krathong on the hotel pond. After a set dinner menu in the restaurant of traditional and Southern Thai dishes, guests can go back to the hotel terrace and release paper lanterns. Published rates start at 39,000 baht, though package rates are available.

Four Seasons Chiang Mai: The hotel offers transfers to and from the Lanna Meditation Center, a nearby Buddhist center that is a popular place to release lanterns in Chiang Mai. There, guests are given a khom loy to release into the night sky. Rates start at 20,000 baht a night for a garden pavilion.

A recent HSCB survey has shown that Thailand is the best place for expats to live. Read for yourself what a Wall Street Journal blogger says:

Hong Kong, known for its large expat community, ranks as the 13th-best expat experience—squarely in the middle of the 25 countries covered in HSBC Bank’s third annual Expat Explorer report, released this week.

The best place to live as an expat? Apparently Thailand, which ranked high in all the categories considered, including ease of setting up finances, work-life balance, entertainment and ease of integration with the local culture. Canada and Bahrain ranked second and third. The report is based on a survey of 4,127 expats from more than 100 countries, conducted between April and June by a third-party research firm.

Hong Kong performed poorly in cultural integration, ranking 18th out of the 25 in that category. Although the majority of Hong Kong expats surveyed said it was easy to make friends, 79% also said that they tend to socialize with their expat friends more than local friends. The survey quoted one Hong Kong expat as saying the city is “culturally challenging,” with the challenges including the lack of expats joining local community groups or learning Cantonese. Countries in the Middle East, including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, also ranked low in this category.

Where Hong Kong does rank high: Despite sky-high rents, 58% said it was easy to find accommodations. And 90% said that it is easy to travel within Hong Kong—no Cantonese required.

While wandering around the popular Amphawa Floating market in Samut Songkhram, you are sure to come across a variety of delicious Thai desserts. And if your curiosity goes beyond satisfying your sweet tooth, you need look no further than the Thai Dessert Museum adjacent to the evening weekend market. Museum manager Vichitar Sae-tiaw explained that it was built by the Thai Confection Industry Company (TCIC) in September 2008 with an initial investment of 2.2 million baht from the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion. Ms Vichitar said the purpose of the museum is to exhibit and chronicle the history of traditional Thai desserts.

PHOTOS: SUPAWADEE CHAROENPATPIMPA

Replicas of more than 100 types of traditional sweets are on display, and they look so real you can be excused for drooling.

“The replicas are made of resin, created by skilled followers of National Artist Chakrabhand Posayakrit,” said Ms Vichitar, noting the great attention to detail in the shapes, colours and textures.

The Thai word for dessert is khanom, believed to have been derived from the words khao (rice) and nom (sweet). Many Thai desserts are still made from rice flour and sugar.

The museum’s sweet history lesson goes back to the Sukhothai period, about 700 years ago.

One of the oldest desserts on display, khanom tom, which we still see today, is made by frying shredded coconut with sugar, wrapping it in a starchy batter and then steaming it. After cooking it is sprinkled with salted, shredded coconut.

It is said that the golden era of Thai sweets began during the reign of King Narai the Great of Ayutthaya in the 17th century, when the country began courting relations with European countries. During that time a new way of cooking Thai desserts was initiated by Maria Guyomar de Pinha, a woman of Portuguese ancestry who is better known here by her Thai name of Thao Thong Kib Ma.

She was married to Constantine Phaulkon (his Thai name was Chao Phraya Wichayen) a Greek adventurer who became first counsellor to King Narai.

Maria Guyomar became the chief palace cook for desserts. She mixed egg yolks and granulated sugar into local sweets and created various treats with yellowish colours which resembled gold (thong), such as thong yib, thong yod and foi thong.

For the most part the museum displays desserts according to the way they have been served historically. For example, khanom mo kaeng, a pudding made of palm sugar, eggs, coconut cream and flour, is in the clay pot section, although today it is much more likely to be cooked in a stainless steel tray.

There are khanom in big glass jars, as might have been seen 30 or so years past, such as khanom dok jok, khao tu and thua guan.

One of the highlights of the museum are the samples of desserts which were mentioned in a classic poem composed by King Rama II, who was also born in Amphawa.

“Some of the desserts are hard to find today, such as maskod and latiang,” said Ms Vichitar. To round up the tour, the museum has a section where visitors can relax by sitting on a wooden boat, to give them a feeling of the life of a vendor in a floating market.

The Thai Desserts Museum very recently celebrated two years of operation and moved the facility from the first floor to the second floor of the Anake Prasong Building, in Amphawa Municipality Office.

The new space is 280 square metres, and has some new features, such as a boat where noodles are sold and another one offering coffee.

The expansion was supported by the Government Housing Bank.

The museum organises activities such as instruction in the cooking of desserts for group tours if requests are made in advance, and is grateful to accept old items related to traditional Thai desserts such as recipes or cooking tools.

At present the Thai Dessert Museum is open on Fridays from 1pm to 7pm and on weekends and holidays from 10am to 7pm and there is no entrance fee.

In the future, said Ms Vichitar, there are plans to open the museum every day of the week and sell tickets, so that it can stand on its own without the need for donations.

HOW TO GET THERE

From Bangkok, take Rama II Road (also called Thon Buri-Pak Tho or Highway No35) to Samut Songkhram and turn left onto Highway No325 in Amphawa district. The distance is about 70 kilometres. Parking is available near the entrance of the market or in Wat Amphawa. The Thai Dessert museum is in the office building of Amphawa Municipality, next to the ferry pier. For more details, call 03-475-1359.

Source: Bangkok Post

Here is a picture from Bangkok where you can see how a man is extracting venom from a snake. They mainly use it for medicinal purposes.

Thailand is the country where people drink the more energy drinks than anywhere else in the world (by person). The per head consumption is four times as high as in the USA, as pointed out in a recent interesting article by Patrick Winn.

In Thailand, many people use energy drinks instead of sleep. Of course, they still get some amount of sleep. The most popular brand in Thailand is M-150, even more popular than the “Red Bull” brand (in Thailand known as krating daeng), that has taken the world by storm and turned the Thai owner and his Austrian business partner into multi-billionaires.

Amazingly, despite the political unrest in the first half of the year, there will be be a higher number of tourists this year than in the previous year. About 14.5 million foreign visitors are expected to visit the Land of Smiles.

This is good news – most people seem to be aware of the fact that the protests and violence are internal problems that in most cases do not affect them – violence was never directed at foreign tourists.

Thai Tiger Airways, Thailand’s new low-cost air carrier plans to launch in March 2011. They want to focus on people who have never flown before, and the joint venture with the Singaporean airline Tiger Air is quite interesting.

Overall, this is very promising for travellers, as more competition means more choices – and in many cases will reduce prices of traveling and increase the level of service they provide.