Thai-Blogs

by Kelly Amabile on

I’ve never been to Thailand, but I get second-hand knowledge about living and traveling
there from my sister-in-law, who taught English in Bangkok awhile back. Just yesterday we were looking at old photos
from her travels in Thailand. When I finally get around to visiting myself, I know I’ll want to have further
discussions with her, as well as read more about the diverse cultures and traditions of the Thai people.

Now, of course, there are many great guidebooks to study up on this stuff, but I often prefer communicating directly
with others who have been or live in a place I’m traveling to. I like to poke around and find several opinions on a
particular location, festival or accommodation. This can take more time, but in certain cases it is an absolutely vital
step in the travel planning process. Websites like Thai-Blogs are great for
doing this kind of direct research. Here are a few of the helpful first-hand reports by “people with a love for
Thailand” that I found on this collaborative blog:


99 Things Not to Miss in Thailand

American-based Thai blogger V. Oakley Boren posted her expanded version of a list that first appeared in the October
2004 Sawasdee, Thai Airways inflight magazine. She added her own comments and broke down the list into five posts. Here
is the fifth, which has
links to the first four, for easy navigation.


The Phuket Vegetarian Festival

Blogger Kitjar Sukjaidee shares his thoughts on this religious celebration, and explains the Kiu Ong Tai Yeah
rituals that take place all over southeast Asia during this annual festival.


Salatpak Festival: Northern Culture in the South

This northern festival is the tradition of the Lanna. A blogger who has been living in Thailand for over two years
finally makes it to this celebration and shares stories and photos. The comments are cool to read too, because those
who know the Thai culture well tend to weigh in with their knowledge on customs (in this case sitting cross-legged) and
clear up misinformation that expats or travelers may have.


Top Ten Thai Street Food

Thai-Blogs co-founder Richard Barrow shared his list of top favs from the street and also did a longer post on each
of the ten dishes. Here is the one on

Pad Thai.

A great place to start on thai-blogs is the
highlights page, that has an organized
list of the posts sorted by topic for easy searching on a particular custom. Also, just a quick FYI: you don’t have to
live there to be a guest blogger, but they do have
guidelines for who can contribute to the
site.

 

MSN’s Top Ten Haunted Spots

by Adrienne Wilson on

Here’s another Halloween list to check out if
you’re still in a blunder planning a day filled with
ghosts, ghouls and fools. I spent the last couple of years either working, having scary
movie marathons or handing out candy so as in preparing to dress-up and hit the haunted hills I’m enjoying
all the lists I’m coming across this October. Kelly posted one earlier on Expedia’s list of spooky and stylish
hotel getaways and this one found on MSN features hotels, bars
and restaurants. A few off the list include:

In all my years living in Los Angeles I never toured the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, which
Erik mentioned sometime ago and I’ve already planned
a visit during the season while I’m in town next week. Make sure you check out the full list for ideas in your
area.

Bone Chapel

by Erik Olsen on

I’ve been to Prague several times, but somehow I missed
the bone chapel at the Kostnice
Ossuary (or Church of Bones) in Sedlec, a town about an hour away from the Czech city.

As you can see from the photo here, we’re talking creepy. But rather than a gruesome monument to genocide (which
this reminds me of), the bones belong to centuries of parishoners and others who died, many of them of the
plague.

(via Boing Boing)

More on the Cousteau Fake Shark

by Erik Olsen on

I am so enthralled with this Fabien Cousteau fake shark idea that I
posted about earlier that I have to follow up with some more information about it. It is just too amazingly cool not
to.

So first of all I discovered this interview with Cousteau
over at Deeper Blue that is worth a read. But the best piece is the
one over at the Apple Pro site where the effort is discussed in much greater detail. The article talks about the
young (he’s 37) Cousteau’s upbringing (he is the son of famed explorer and environmentalist
Jean-Michel Cousteau and the grandson of the even more famous Jacques
Cousteau) and the use of the fake shark (affectionately known as “Troy”) to make an upcoming film called Mind of a
Demon (working title).

Cousteau says he was inspired to build the shark after reading a Tintin story called ‘Rackham le Rouge‘ when
he was seven years old. In the story, Tintin makes a sub in the shape of a shark to explore underwater. Interestingly
(and perhaps ominously) for the young Cousteau, his father also built a fake shark vehicle in 1989 and deployed it
underwater. That vehicle, we find out, was attacked by a large female Great White and demolished. One can only imagine
what would have happened if someone had been inside.

As a geek who uses Final Cut Pro for work, I was also very interested in the
technical discussion of how the film is being made
and cut using the Apple editing program. This is an all-around terrific article.

Duckpin Bowling Tour

by Kelly Amabile on

NPR’s recent news piece about duckpin bowling jumped out
at me because the often overlooked sport was born right here in Baltimore. This version of bowling is played with
smaller balls and pins and slightly varied scoring rules, plus you get three balls instead of two with each frame.

Unfortunately, it is slowly disappearing, with only 56 sanctioned duckpin bowling lanes left in the country. That’s
why I think this travel idea is so great — Rosa Qwinn and Pamela Zorich made a New Years resolution to
visit all of the existing
lanes in 2005 — and they are well on their way, having visited 41 already. Despite a hand injury, the pair are set
to visit all 56 before year’s end.

Here’s a list of duckpin houses across the country. I’ve played several times at the
historic and very popular
Patterson Bowling Center on Eastern Avenue in Baltimore. It’s a tiny
cramped building, but there’s room for a bar, a fairly large group and plenty of laughs. It’s a fun time. You can learn
more at the National Duckpin Bowling Congress and
duckpins.org