Summer Wine

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In Scandinavia we speak about "Wine, Women and Song" when talking about good life. This story is about wine. Belive it or not... here in Hua Hin, 40 km west of the city there is a Vineyard. The name is Hua Hin Hills Vineyard and the plantation area is 180 acres. The terrain is 140 - 210 meters above sea level.

Grapes of the varieties Colombard, Chenin Blanc, Muscat, Shiraz, Sangiovese and Tempranillo are grown. Harvest time is March. The vineyard is open for the public every day except Mondays from 11 am to 7 pm. You can either visit the vineyard by yourself with car or motorbike. Or you can buy a trip from Market Village, Hua Hin Hills Wine Cellar on 2nd floor, in Hua Hin. The van leaves at 1030hrs and 1500hrs.

The tour package includes a 3-course meal, company presentation , fresh grape juice, Monsoon Valley wine tasting... and a vineyard tour on the back of an elephant, the only vineyard in the world offering this!

http://www.huahinhillsvineyard.com/

Summer Wine greetings from Mr Johan and papa Göran

Ting Tong

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Ting Tong means "crazy" in thai language. If someone is stupid thai people use the world "ting tong" about that man (because of some strange reason the world "ting tong" is not used for women?). Mama Suphat tells pappa Göran he is "ting tong" almost every day.

Many men from europe (west) get ting tong when they meet a beautiful thai girl, think they have won on lottery. He thinks he has a girl who will cock for him, clean his house, wash the laundry... but he doesn't realise that all the family of the girl will move in very soon.

This nice guy met a girl on Internet, and her name happens to be Ting Tong. They meet for the first time...

Big big love... but everyone who have been married know what happens after the wedding rings are changed. One start to discover new things about each other. Our dear friend finds out that Ting Tong isn't Ting Tong... "her" name is Tong Ting.

In west it's very important to be honest, a man who stands for his world is a real man. In Asia it's much more important to save ones face. Small lies are part of everyday life. Our dear friend finds out that Ting Tongs home village isn't Pong Pong... she is from Too Ping (small lie again). Many Thai/Falang marriages finish in catastroph because different ideas about the world "truth". (falang = thai word for western man).

Another big difference between east and west is privacy. In west everyone need to have their own room, somewhere where you can close the door and be alone. In Thailand the word privacy dosen't excist. When Mr Johans aunt and oncle visit us papa Göran, mama Suphat, Mr Johan and 18 year old brother Khankau all sleep in the same bedroom. Everybody is comfortable and happy with this arrangement. We also eat from the same plate, share everything that we have.

In west (Scandinavia) you can read in newspapers about some old man that have died a half year ago in his appartment... and nobody discovered it. Lonelyness is a big problem in west. That's one reason why papa Göran like to live in Thailand, he want to live and die with family and friends around.
But our dear friend gets upset when he finds out that Ting Tongs mother is moving in, disturbing his privacy...

... many Thai/Farang relations end when the dear hubby finds out that the lovely lady take 100% control of his life. Our romantic friend gets a chock when he find out that Ting Tong and her family have opened a restaurant in his flat... thai ladies are often very businessminded.

Long live the cultural chocks :)

Todays headlines in Thailand and Hua Hin

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When staying abroad for a while one want to read online newspapers from home on Internet. I read newspapers from Finland and Sweden almost every day. But when you live in a new country for a longer period you also want to know whats happening in your new country. Today i read The Nation - a Bangkok based newspaper in english language. Some of todays headlines below.

Storms

Countrywide winds, storms, floods batter nation. According to the Meteorological Department, low pressure from the weakening Ketsana will result in cloudbursts over many provinces, especially in the Northeast, the East and the Central regions. The wind along the Pattaya coast was yesterday so strong that operators cleared the beach of parasols and canvas beds. In Surat Thani, local authorities warned people and tourists on Samui and Pha Ngan islands to beware of possible flash floods and landslides.
(Read more)

How Finland leads the world in education

By Wannapa Phetdee
The Nation
Published on September 28, 2009

Finland reached first or second rankings in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2003 and 2006.

"Finland has reached number 1 or number 2, with very high rankings in reading literacy, mathematics and science. If one could make a calculation of the total, comparing different fields, Finland would be number 1. The country received very high marks in this international comparison of students," Finnish Ambassador to Thailand Sirpa Maenpaa told The Nation recently.
(Read more)

Video violence is creating a criminal society, say academics

Repeated presentation of video clips could affect children and oversensitive or depressed people to use violence against others or themselves, they told a seminar on the impact of violent video on Thai society, organised by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation.

The most searched for video clips on the Internet were pornographic,peeping tom,crime news,comedy and news clips.
(Read more)

Asean meeting in Hua Hin October 23rd to 25th

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said on Friday that the Thai government will invoke the Internal Security Act (ISA) to maintain peace and order during Asem Summit and related summits in Cha-am and Hua Hin.

He said the laws will prohibit any gatherings in the areas, while some ten thousand military and police will be deployed to ensure there is no disruption during the summit, he said
(Read more)

The Ultimate Travel Competition

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The Tourism Authority of Thailand TAT orginizes a competition, "The Ultimate Thailand Explorers". Winners receive 10 000 US$ in cash and 5000 $ in prizes, Holiday packages, air thickets, spa treatments... To participate one have to fill out an application form and upload a video clip on YouTube. Film 1 minute video clip telling which destination you wish to explore and tell why do you want to go and explore that destination and how you will promote it.

To semifinal 25 teams are selected. To final 5 teams are voted, one to each destination, Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and Koh Samui . The finalists receives 2 international air tickets to Thailand, 30,000 baht spending money for 6 days, accommodation and transport on selected destination, including Travel insurance and local medical service in case of any emergency or accident.

Deadline for submission is 15th October. If you can't participate you can vote. Prizes (total value 4 000 US$), holiday packages, spa treatments... are available for voters, whose names will be selected from a lucky draw after the voting period ends.

Below a link to the competition homepage, the schedule and one of the participant teams application video.

THE ULTIMATE THAILAND EXPLORERS

Event Schedule
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•1 September – 15 October 2009: Video clip submission/contest entry period.
•19 October 2009: Announcement of 25 Semi-final teams.
•19 October-12 November 2009: Online voting period to select 5 finalists from 25 teams.
•16 November 2009: Announcement of Final 5 teams
•8 December 2009: Final 5 teams arrive in Thailand
•9 December 2009: Event briefing / welcome party & press conference
•10-15 December 2009: Competition
•16 December 2009: Thank you party
•10 December 2009 – 8 January 2010: Online voting period to select the winning team.
•8 January 2010: Announcement of the winning team.
•2 February 2010: Press conference

Participate, get a free holiday, learn online marketing!!! Mr Johan and Papa Göran.

Dusit Land

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Picture 1, satellite picture from Dusit Land with Google Earth, klick on the picture to enlarge

We live in an area called Dusit Land 8. If someone of you ever visited Hua Hin you surely knows Hotel Hilton. It's in the Hilton area where tourists gather and where you find all the restaurants, shops, tailors, bars etc... and the prices are double compared to our area. Dusit Land is situated about 2 km west from the beach in Hilton area, on the other side of the railroad. The area is quiet and nice, but anyway close to everything... the markets and the beach.

Picture 2, the pool at Dusit Land 8

At the snapshot taken from Google Earth you can see our house and the route to Hua Hin railwaystation. Almost everyone who have been in Hua Hin know the railwaystation, a touristic spot here. King Rama VI, also known under the name "Plub Pla Sanamchan", built a palace here in the 1920's and also built a royal waitingroom at the railwaystation. On the west side of the railwaystation find Thailands you first golf court, "Royal Hua Hin Golf Course". Today Hua Hin is a golfers paradise with lot of golf courses.

Picture 3, Hua Hin railway station and the royal waiting room

What about living here? We have a small house, about 100 square meters, a big living room, a small kitchen and 2 bedrooms, both with own bathrooms. The rent is 260 Euro a month. We also pay an area fee, 10 Euro for street lightening and security. There is a wall around the whole area and two gates with guards. For ADSL we pay 20 Euro and for electricity 40 Euro a month... aircon is the "electricity eater".

There are 118 houses at Dusit Land 8. People from all around the world lives her, many Scandinavian families but also people from USA, Australia, Korea and of course Thai families... so it's a cultural melting pot. Some of the inhabitants only live here for a few months during the European winter. Our 18 years old son Khankau take care of the gardens for some of them and make a nice living compared to Thai income standards. Dusit Land is a village, everybody knows everything about everyone... the ladies gather together every day and change village news :)

Picture 4, "gossip news agency at Dusit Land".

Dusit Land 8 is situated at soi 88. Looked from the main street in Hua Hin, Petchkasem Highway, the streets to west have even numbers and the streets towards east (the beach) have odd numbers. Soi 88 is well maintained unlike many other streets here. Why? Because the princess of Thailand have a holiday pavilion here. From the mainroad in Dusit Land we can see the pavilion up in the hill.

Picture 5, the pavilion of the princes

It's very comfortable to live here. Our pool is located about 200 meters from our house and there is a small poolshop where you can buy everything from beer and snacks to food and medicine. 500 meters away there is a Family Mart that's open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But it's not even necessary to go out shopping. There are "3 wheel" motorbikes driving around selling everything from drinking water, flowers, icecream to cooked food. On the picture mama Suphat is buying "papaya salad" and barbeque chicken from a "restaurant on wheels"!!!

Picture 6, a mobil restaurant

Now we have lived here for more than 2 months and we really like it. We have bought a lot of tropical flowers to our garden and we also have a nice aquarium outside... and life never get boring in Dusit Land thanks to many nice neighbors.

Picture 7, Mr. Johan.