koknia

"Evaluate" is obviously the wrong word. Should be "what d'ya think?".

Thanks. I lived in Cambodia from 1994-2000 and go back for a month or two every year. (I was on the staff of The Cambodia Daily newspaper.)

B-bang is full of backpackers now, so it has completely changed the way the townsfolk interact. ("Give me your money.") But head out into the countryside and it's still completely as it was 20 years ago. People are so open and nice, still my favourite country.

I ended up doing one on one at AAA. More effective for me than AUA.

I have attended AUA a bit. Great school, very reasonably priced. The downside is that their method takes a huge time commitment.

Just take it to Canon Thailand. they are very professional. In the 90s I would get lenses fixed at Foto File, but now I just take everything to Canon. No complaints.

If Chinese students can not study Thai at all, only starting when they get to University (In China), study for 2 years (While also studying International business). Then come to Thailand and finish the last 2 years of their international business degree, in Thai. Then I really fail to see how I would be "delusional".

I don't think you can use Chinese students for comparison. Chinese students grow up speaking a tonal language. Thai is easy and natural for them to learn, like a Portuguese learning Italian. For Westerners the learning curve is much more steep.

The same works the other way. I live here but work in Hong Kong 3-4 months a year. I know Thais there who are fluent in Cantonese after a year.

On somewhat the same topic I find the sentence ไก่จิกเด็กตายบนปากโอ่ง useful as all the words start with the middle class consonants. "The chicken pecked the kid to death over the mouth of the earthenware pot".

The high class ones are easy to remember, so this make the mid and lower ones easy as well.

I am into the Boat Noodle places along the klong on the north side of the Victory Monument. Eat there a few times a week and have seen foreigners once or twice. Very local scene, great food and pretty cheap.

Lots of info about it, here's someone's blog post.

I had a small restaurant for a few years. You need to take into consideration that you won't open your doors and turn a profit. It will take time, you need to have a comfortable cushion to get through the initial period.

Not possible. I think he's out by an hour.

In 1996 I made it from Hua Hin to my place on Soi Rang Nam in an hour. 25 minute flight, no luggage, clear tollway. I thought that was good.

There's only one place to eat it.

http://www.thipsamai.com/

Cut out sugar and white flour.

That sounds like a wonderful adventure. I have a good friend who is a serious ocean Kayaker and he has done many similar trips, but on Vancouver Island where we live. My butt and back get sore if I paddle too long, but I've done many one or two night trips around Vancouver Island. It is a nice balance of inshore and off shore paddling along the west coast.

My mother is from the island. I've always wanted to do some paddling out there, just haven't had the chance yet. A friend of mine does solo Juneau - Vancouver trips, so those put mine in perspective!

Wow! Epic stuff.

Was there a lot of planning involved or was the trip decided over a few beers?

Would love to hear more about your trip Koknia, like any interesting stuff that happened or anything that went wrong. Do you have any more trips planned?

Cheers.

We had tried it a couple of years ago after months of planning, but I only made 300 kms or so to Krabi before I got sick and had to pull over.

This time we decided at the last minute. Nothing really went wrong, but we got very lucky with the weather. My paddling partner has been on the ocean his whole life, so that makes it 10X easier. The only really dangerous thing are big surf landings on steep beaches on the Ranong coast. They can be really nasty.

The main thing is having good gear, which includes a folding kayak, camping stuff, GPS & charts. It ain't cheap to get set up, but once you are, you can go anywhere. (We use Feathercraft kayaks and Lendal paddles.)

Off to the Surin Islands next week to go paddling and fishing for awhile.

Here are a couple of vids I shot,

Outside Phnom Penh

Respect

Thanks. 19 days of paddling. (Around 30 kms per day.)

Where did you sleep along the way?

Thanks. We slept in Hennessy hammocks, which are mosquito proof and have a rain fly. Incredibly handy for this type of trip, all you need is a couple of trees, or whatever. We just pulled over late in the afternoon when we found a section of shoreline where we could make camp. Tents would be very hard, there isn't much space for them. The high tide claims everything. We slept at a few National Parks where we would take over the large salas and hang in there.

Trying to reason with a security guard is bizarre.