October Break Part I: Bangkok Music Marathon

On our first day of vacation, we headed down to Bangkok for Bangkok Music Marathon. Like I said before, I hadn't really gotten into Thai rock yet. What I had heard, I found really repetitive and borderline cheesy at times. However, this is how I initially felt about K-pop, a genre which is now very near and dear to my heart :)

The concert was a blast, and although it's still cheesy and repetitive, I'm developing more of an appreciation for Thai rock. It's much better live, for one thing, and we also got to hang out with a few of the musicians milling about near the stage, which always helps. Also, did I mention that Thai rock bands have awesomely ridiculous names, like "Body Slam," "Sweet Mullet," Big Ass," and "Potato"?

Here are my favorite acts of the night:

"Da" of Da Endorphine

This chick rocks. While a lot of Da Endorphine's songs are of the cheesy, sappy persuasion, 'Da' has an amazing voice and great stage presence. She was very fun to watch.

Thaitanium



Thaitanium, a Thai-American hip hop group, was hands down the best act of the night. One of the members was born in New York City, so they have a lot more street cred. than some of the other "rappers" here in Asia (Big Bang, I love you, but you are SO not gangster!)

Da + Thaitanium - even better!


Hanging out with a Thai rock star:

(Me & the guitarist from 'Jetseter')

A good time was had by all :)

Sweet Civilization

This past weekend I went to Bangkok, for no particular reason other than I just needed to get out of the village. The previous weekend, it rained all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday and we were cooped up inside the damp huts the whole time with shoddy internet service. I went a bit stir crazy. This weekend I wasn't going to leave fate in the hands of this cursed rainy season.

The trip was exactly what I needed; I got to walk around the city, shop, chill by the pool, eat Korean and Western food, attend a yoga class, drink really good wine, admire cute boys (Pak Chong is lacking in that department... at least ones that are as tall as I am) browse an English bookstore, etc. Basically I indulged in all of the things I can't get in Pak Chong.

It's probably a good thing I live in the countryside after all, because I dropped some serious baht in a very short period of time. But it is nice to know that civilization is only a 2 hour, 180 baht van ride away.

A few highlights:

I was very happy to stumble upon "Koreantown," located along Sukhumvit Road between Nana and Asoke BTS Stops. There are several decent Korean restaurants and a Korean Food Mart.


Big surprise, the area was full of Korean tourists, who come all the way to Thailand just to eat Korean food. So typical.

I spent the rest of the afternoon at Siam Paragon, a classy shopping mall located at Siam BTS Stop

Kinokuniya Bookstore, where most of my baht went

Okay, so we actually do have DQ in Pak Chong, but I was on an indulgence kick
Coffee/Oreo Blizzard...mmmm. Do we have this in the States?

I devoured this magical pizza after a 90 minute yoga/pilates class. The calories even out, right? ;)

The restaurant is called Pomodoro, right by Nana station on Sukhumvit. Try the Cabarnet Sauvignon; it's worth all 260 baht.

Ahhh... can't wait to go back :)