Arrrgghhhh what is fast becoming my pet hate here

What a day. It started off so good, then went down, then up, then down again. Hmph.

So, today started off well, I went to Lung Jar's for lunch and some how managed to end up with a whole fried fish on my plate, with a dish of chilli garlic oil, and an accompanying plate of rice. Not really sure how to eat it, I somehow managed to make a huge mess, but in that mess I really enjoyed the fish!

Then went to eat at the best kai thod (fried chicken) shop in Bangkok! I was VERY excited! Arrived in Ploen Chit, then began walking, and walking, and walking.....and so and and so forth......eventually we ended up near Chitlom (a whole suburb down) and found the shop! Hooray....EXCEPT, it was CLOSED! CLOSED! Dissapointment of my life! Well, to try and make the best of this dissapointing situation, went back up the road we came down to the 3rd Floor. This place is also in the 100 food secrets in BKK and is conveniently located on this long, loooong road. So, this place is really interesting. It has designed its menu around the different blood groups, and each food is categorised based on which blood group shoud eat it! Bizarre huh!

So there are certain foods recommended for A, O, B, and AB respectively. Here is the description of which group should eat what food.....I am B.....by far the superior blood group when it comes to what you can and can't eat! Lucky for me!!!

So all food ordered was designed for B blood group peoples. For drinks, had a kiwi, green apple, grape and something which sounded like a high-tech vitamin suppliment.....mono-techno, fluro......something something....I don't know! Also had a vegetable drink which tasted like a greek salad blended into drink form....kind of nice, if not slightly odd when your tastebuds are telling you greek salad at the same time as you sip it through a straw!

For food, ordered an apple, pineapple and carrot spicy salad. It's like fruit salad, but with chilli! Only in Thailand!!! Also had grilled pork which came with a fruit kind of sauce, and potato croquettes. And finally, crispy noodles with chicken, shitake in soup. All were really nice and used really fresh vegetables and fruit. And the meat was perfectly cooked and the sauce was really tasty! Was such a nice meal!!

For dessert had what was called a good day cake". Hahaha, unfortunately this didn't work as I will explain, bu the cake was awesome! Also tried the palm in syrup. The fruit was something from a palm, and the syrup was made from the purple flower on the top

After that, went to Siam to look into gym memberships coz I heard they are cheap here and jogging outside is a no go given the heat, pollution and random dogs, people, other animals who sleep on the street in random places. Anyways, apparently California offer cheap cheap deals coz they're going out of business....lucky for me huh! Except they don't have set prices, you have to bargain with a salesman....hmmmm. Anyways, the guy who was trying to sell me a membership for only 10 times the price offered to a Thai really got on my nerve. And I am not allowed to get angry in this country because that's not allowed, so instead I am going to write about it here because what he did has been annoying me since I arrived, and I am starting to get sooooo sick of it. Anyways, so he is getting me to write down my details, then he confirmed with me everything, which involves me repeating my address etc to him. So I have to say all these Thai names, and after I finish, he proceeded to laugh at me for trying to speak Thai, and say (in Thai so I wouldn't understand) how funny I sound when I speak Thai hahahaha.....yes, funny funny funny. Dude, I am trying to speak Thai....AND, I AM A CUSTOMER....What makes you think you can laugh and make fun of a customer to their face..and be so sneaky as to do it in Thai so you think they don't understand!! Well I did understand you and I'm getting sick of this. It happens all the time here. If I don't try and speak Thai I am ripped off, over-charged etc etc. If I do try and speak Thai, I am laughed at and made fun of. Seriously....people here.....it's not like I don't listen to a zillion Thai people speaking English and making mistakes and sounding "funny"....but I never make fun of them for trying, and certainly I don't laugh at them. It's difficult to speak a foreign langauge, and people need encouragement, not people laughing at them all the time and poking fun at them, especially when they are the CUSTOMER!! Arrrgghhhhh, anyways, tomorrow is the immigration office day......please please please go smoothly!!!

Rainy Season continues and shows no sign of stopping, but rainy season brings 100 food secret success

So, we are definately in rainy season....every day it rains and rains.....and rains some more. It's the kind of weather which makes you want to sit inside with a hot chocolate and enjoy being warm inside and dry while it rains outside. Instead, we sit inside because the road is flooded so can't go anywhere, and enjoy the aircon keeping the room cool and dread the thought of humidity after the rain! Mai pen rai......

Saturday was arguably the most boring day of my life here so far....well so I thought.....but I'll get to that....I was roped into representing Thammasat at the International Education Expo at the Queen Sirikit Convention Centre...nice convention centre indeed. And was a huge expo, but the problem is that no one actually came! So we spent the whole day standing around doing nothing.

The highlight was lunch time when I tried northern style noodles....very nice indeed.

Dinner was the breakthrough from the boredom when I went to a Japanese buffet for dinner in Ekamai. The buffet was like a normal menu though and you can order anything you like as many times as you want off the menu!! Was pretty good....not amazing, but great value and pretty nice food!

Monday I caught up with Tiew, Yang, Ploy, Nong, Grace and some others to celebrate their end of exams! We went to Bangkok Bar at Khao San. Was actually really nice. Hardly any farang, and there was a live Thai band who played some quality T pop. Thai people dance really funny....think the strangest dance moves you can imagine, including the shopping trolley, the lawn mower, and everything in that category of dance!! But it doesnt stop there...it goes well beyond the shopping trolley and sprinkler dance! You have to see it to understand!

Tuesday proved to me that Saturday was not the most boring day of my life here.....Tuesday was immigration day. So, Grace, Sakumi, Ayaka and I shared a taxi out to the immigration office to extend our visas. Well, the office just moved from its central location where all the farang live to the middle of woop woop where no one lives...even Thais....no one....this place is the definition of woop woop. It took about 1 1/2 hours by taxi to get there, and it turns out to be bigger than an international airport! Inside it looks like a minature city, which is probably necessary given its proximity to nowhere. There is everything....post office, bank, restuarants, monks, grocery store, copy centre, cranky lady to scare young children and exchange students alike, mister donut, and organic vegetable stand.

So, how to extend your visa in Thailand.....

i) Fill in all the forms, despite the fact that they are confusing and require information which does not exist....not information you just don't know, information which doesn't exist, such as the TM 6 form.....there is no TM 6 form, yet, for some reason you're expected to know your number from this form and write it on your application for extention

ii) take a number and sit, and sit, and sit, and wait....and wait......

iii) Get up when the cranky immigration lady at the first desk calls out your number

iv) Go and sit back down and recommence waiting when you are told she didn't call out your number, ....ie, she called out number 18, but actually meant to call out number 17....but think yourself lucky that you are not person number 17 who is currently being eaten by same lady for taking so long to respond to their number which she never actually called out

v) Get up again when number 18 is once again called and sit down at the desk with pile of papers

vi) Find out that the Thammasat office made a huge mistake with their letter for visa extention request and only requested your visa be extended until December....5 months short of the time required

vii) Inform cranky lady that the reason you didnt check the date and ensure the letter was correct before you came was due to the fact that everything was written in Thai and thus you could not read it due to your inability to understand the Thai language, so please don't eat me for wasting your time just now.

viii) Phone the Thammasat office to request a new letter be faxed ASAP....get told that this cannot be done despite the fact that their simple and stupid mistake cost you time and money, hang up, angry

ix) Quickly get up and leave before craqnky lady does actually eat you.

So, taxi back to civilisation and go and see the Thammasat office, after eating delicious green chicken curry for lunch so I was not as angry. New letter got and we will try again! That night went to Emporium where I again tried northern style noodles, and minor breakthrough with the 100 eating secrets list!! Whilst the Haagen Daz icecream mooncakes don't exist...Swensens are making them! They had 4 left!! So got to try one!! Not too bad...very sweet though! But....success....icecream mooncake...check!

Wednesday and had awesome lunch at the cafeteria. Had khaow man kai mixed with kai tod...so good! And, then had bannana and coconut milk with khaow niaw (sticky rice) from the nicest canteen lady in the history of the world....she is such a nice lady...always tells me the name of Thai foods which I don't know, and rather than laughing at me, always helps me improve my pronounciation...she's such a nice lady!

Thursday had the first TU 2U....an English teaching program where exchange students teach english to kids in the local community around the university. Is really great fun! After that went to Bombay Blues for Indian for Azumi's birthday! Bombay Blues is very cool.....you can sit at tables on the floor on cushions which are surrounded by red curtains....is all very Arabian Nights esq!! Is that Indian though??? Well, whatever it is, it's very cool!

Highlight of the night was the fish and the chocolate naan....amazing, everyone must try chocolate naan!

Friday had class followed by phad thai with Brooke at Tha Prachan. They have put all these duckboards throughout the pier restaurant area for Loy Kratong.....but the planks really only fit one person, so there's often a moment where it seems one person is going to go head first into the ground below when 3 or more people try and pass at the same place!!

Went home took a nap which turned into a long sleep.....lack of sleep this week! Had a quick dinner at Lung Jars....khai jiaow muu saap (omlette with minced pork) was very good! Then went to 3J to celebrate Azumi's birthday. Was good fun. We sat at the roof top garden with a nice view over BKK!

Saturday and I was back trying to check things off my 100 BKK food secrets list....if anyone wants to see this list just google 100 food secrets Bangkok and it will bring up the webpage! So today I was aiming for fresh made Taiwanese noodles and Japanese at Thaniya at lunch. Problem, the Taiwanese noodle place didn't seem to exist anywhere. Dissapointed I gave up on the 100 food secrets and went to eat kway tiaow which were really good at some random street food vendor in Sala Daeng. Then, met Brooke and James and we all went for langauge exchange and to eat cake at Lenotre....but we went to the Chitlom one which was the main branch and so sooo nice! Oh first we went in search of Zombies because today was the Zombie walk day apparently!! Unfortunately they were gone but Brooke saw them earlier and got some good pictures! 2nd dissapointment of the day was that Lenotre ran out of icecream.....not happy Jan.....but luckily their tiramisu was amazing and I'll forgive them.

After that, enjoyed another BKK eating secret when went to Khaow Thom 55 in Thonklor....had the best oyster omlette there! Also had bamboo shoots, som stirfired veges, and spicy duck with crispy basil....last one was slightly dissapointing though....but this food was amazing!

Sunday, managed to tick food secrets 1, 2 and 3 off! Thipsamai....reported to be the best phad thai in Bangkok...and also the best orange juice. Yes yes and yes....it is amazing! Had 2 plates of phad thai...the first, was with prawns, and the 2nd was with prawns and prawn oil....the first was better though. The orange juice is freshly squeezed and so sweet...naturally sweet not with sugar..and has orange in it. So so good! And, food secret number 3 is the iced coconut juice they have there...also amazing! This place has earnt a permanent place on my eating tour for all

visitors to Bangkok!

Mid-semesters require more bakery treats to get through the day

We have hit midsemesters.....not that anyone really noticed...the 3 hour exams lasted 1/2 hour.....if you really worked slowly! But the process of trying to remember all these Thai names did take a lot of time...and many Yamazaki bakery treats on the way home from uni....I tried...tried....to limit myself to three a day. So other than exams what's been happening.....ummmmm not a whole lot I don't think. Saturday Maei and I went to the optomotrist in Siam, followed by dinner at the food court in Paragon, AND more importantly, cake at Le Notre.....absolutely amazing again!! This time was the chocolate and bannana pie....came with baked bannanas and rumand raisin icecream and this coconut biscuit....arooooooy:D

Monday involved a hunt for a pizza buffet...in Sukhumvit- not my favourite part of town, but if a pizza buffet is calling me, I can't ignore it....except when we got there no one was there, so we left and ended up eating at this Italian restaurant in Siam...was really nice, incredibly small portions....more like bite-size than main, but the pasta was great! Tuesday no real eating adventures to be had....except for the whole fish and what I think was congealed pig's blood on my plate at Lung Jars....with Lung Jar sitting opposite me asking me if it was delicious and me being left with no choice but to eat it all....mmmmmm even I don't do pigs blood....at least it is a weaker flavour than chicken's blood.......

Wednesday was protest day...again...this time, yellow shirts. Now, there is a big difference between yellow and red shirt protests here.....first, it rained, prompting all yellow shirts to take cover in Thammasat cafeterias....I don't like this as it mean not free seats leaving exchange students unable to access the khaow man kai shop for lunch which they had been looking forward to since the night before.....:( Second point to note is red shirts stick to Sanam Luang and are general content to stand about in the dirty mass which is this "park". Yellow shirts like to stick to the pavement infront of Thammasat and set up food stalls and drink stands and spend the majority of the day snacking.....and exchange students who feel the need to eat watermelon due to being unable to access khaow man kai are more than welcome to partake in these pavement eatery festivities.....I helped myself to a serve of watermelon then proceeded to drop at least half of the bag of it in front of the riot police who had assembled to make sure there was no fighting or pushing in line to get to the fried chicken. I think I did a good deed though, because those police had to stand there all day long with no entertainment, so watching a farang trying to stab pieces of watermelon with a skewer only to end up dropping every 2nd piece on the ground was probably amusing for them judging by their smirks and laughs.....not funny, that watermelon was delicious and was not going into my mouth:(

Thanks to this protest (which incidently, never seemed to escalate beyond the sidework eating gathering) buses weren't really running from uni, so I had to take the ferry and go from the otherside of the river. Whilst no cyclone or floods here, we did have a lot of rain causing all these plants to get stuck in the river, meaning that the ferry had to strategically move around each mass of green plant to get to the other side of the river. Wednesday night and had the nicest fried rice at Lung Jars. Was so hungry this morning I even woke up early to go eat breakfast at Lung Jars...vegetables and some kind of meat......fish maybe?? Exams all day, punctuated by a bowl of kuay thiaw. Just got roped into going to the international education expo to dell Thammasat....hmmmm maybe I'm not the right person....can't say I have glowing reports to give.....oh well, they asked, so it's their fault if no one comes here and go to Chula instead!