Tag: #kohchang

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Fun stuff 3

This is proof I am lazy
Right outside the bungalow
A very nice Indonesian cigar
Dancing girls at the local night market in Koh Chang
Balloon bread and various dips at my friends Turkish restaurant, AlaTurka
Another very nice Indonesian cigar
Spelling Bea?
A nice sunset on the island
Very tasty bread from Flavio’s Italian restaurant
One of the best Churchills I’ve ever had
AI idea of me as an evil villain with a cat. Watch out James Bond!
Is this what you would name your hotel?
More proof I am lazy
Move over Orlando Bloom. I have gotten younger
Pasan made a very delicious long grilled fatty pork with vegetables
A kind of Turkish pizza
One of the best cigars I have ever had and, yes, it was made in Indonesia
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Koh Chang island near Cambodia

Protecting the island from all infamous intruders
Why not take your cat with you on the paddleboard?
Two very good beers
What would an island paradise be without a beautiful sunset?
With my buddy John, the homeless dog on the beach
There are some big clams in this area, of course it was put back
A visitor drops by
On the red Bridge leading to a beautiful bay of mangroves
A friend’s way to use an empty Coca-Cola crate
White Sands Beach at night
This is our bocce court
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Meanwhile, back at the ranch (Koh Chang island)

Angelo has a Italian restaurant which now, due to lack of customers from Covid, focuses on pizza and PANZEROTTO. He is the kind of fellow you want to know if you want to learn how to be a good chef and how to make people happy with food. He makes something called PANZEROTTO, the only place on the island it’s available. If you really enjoy the food and tell him how much you like it he will most likely give you a complementary apéritif, possibly one you have never tried before. I recommend Trattoria & Pizza kohchang in Lonely Beach.

A new waterslide for the kids just opened recently
do you remember the movie “don’t eat the daisies”? If you do you are old like me. I also recommend not to eat this plant
“this is how you do it!”
My leaning tower of yogurt cups. I’m not quite sure why I am collecting them
Getting nude at the local convenience store
My two guard dogs doing their job, tigger and thief. Thief got her name after she kept going into my room, pulling stuff out of the garbage and spreading it around outside. I finally trained her not to go in the room but I still call her “thief”.
A mini Ducati?
A very nice decoration for the van from my favorite pizzeria, Babylon. If you like thin, crispy, sourdough flavor crust this is the place to go.
It’s not quite the car I expected “odd job” to jump out of but it is a nice vintage
Just read the sign. And, by the way, this is where I had my tooth pulled, the one that broke due to rocks in the rice at a certain restaurant (tiny rocks)
Protecting the elemental protecting tee pee from the elements. But the elements get you if you have to go pee pee.
cicio is a very “active” guard dog?
Have to go back to work at the pool table at red monkey. Can’t be lazy all my life. “what’s the winning streak score Paul?” Actually we just make it up each time we get back to there to play
Deep fried squid rings at one of my favorite restaurants, “eat here”, nice name for a restaurant.

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Just Bummin’ Around

Paul’s answer to my luxurious blue basket is a small, free Coca-Cola bottle crate
Just a nice view from where we play bocce

One of my favorite songs by Dean Martin is “just bumming around” so I thought it would be fitting of my feeling for these photos and a good title for this page. Click below and enjoy the song

A fierce swimming bocce warrior
Every inch counts. I caught her several times having gone into my room, grabbing the trash and taking it outside to munch. That’s why I call her “thief”
He makes the only PANZEROTTO and the best TIRAMISU on the island. “Hey Angelo, what does tiramisu mean?” “it means a ‘pick me up'”. “thanks Angelo. I’ll see you again soon for some excellent food.”
good deals at Angelo’s
Every island has to have at least two giant water parks
Interesting plant at Gee’s coffee stall
Yogurt cups come in handy for ……. Well, haven’t figured that out yet. Give me some ideas
I didn’t know you could buy nude without being embarrassed
putting Ducati lipstick on a pig
This is a newer model but I still expected Odd Job to jump out with his bowler hat
Oops, Cheese It”
the dentist who called my tooth which cracked and finally broke on a little pebble in the rice. I think design is meant to read “carrying away your teeth since 2004”
Small dinner, deep fried squid rings

Red Bridge walkway. Good view of Koh Chang National Park wild area
A typical countryside restaurant menu in Laos. What would you like to eat?
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An Italian motorcycle gang conquers Koh Chang

Our bocce group decided to get on our high-powered 125 cc motorcycles (scooters) to conquer the coffee plantations and the red bridges on the island. There is only one of each so it was an easy task.

this is what a geriatric Italian motorcycle gang looks like
here we are in our uniforms. Actually one of us is Swedish and the other one, me, is, I don’t know.
The espresso is from coffee beans from the shop’s plantation, organically grown of course
the espresso
an expensive imported Italian coffee maker
doesn’t every coffee shop have ice cream?
we did not all run out of gas. Actually we got out from the main traffic to see the plantation
here is one of the coffee trees at caffeine central
and here is another tree
some fruit
well cared for fruit
lollypop helmets are very popular here (NOT)
rubber tree sap, very liquid until it dries into a solid blob
a sample home for this development and sales office. WOW!
some of us went to the coconut shell shop
lots of coconut shell souvenirs

Fabio is so happy to be able to go to a temple

the main temple in the area
baskets of goodies and necessities for the monks
Here we are. At least some of us
Lucio, what are you doing?
another temple, building is in progress
it has an imitation emerald buddha
when finished it will look like this. these giant Buddhas are built to be tourist attractions all over asia.
walking to the restaurant for lunch
you can take a trip up the river
get on the boat here
sending messages to each other, the only modern way to socialize
Wow! a lot of work for a small bit of crab meat. not what i expected.
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Homemade Italian Dinners in Paradise

French fries made in an air fryer, nice and crisp and not oily and also white wine with focaccia.

you already know I am living in paradise compared to many other places I could be during this pandemic. But now you know I have some Italian friends who are excellent cooks. Giuseppe is a baker so he made pizza with a very nice but unusual crust as a starter. So, basically, eat your hearts out.

Last but not least is Fábio’s spaghetti
at the end of the dinner Giuseppe brings out his homemade something to drink. After tasting it I really thought it was something to put in my gas tank
And all this was before Spaghetti
and of course we need to top it off with Elizabeth’s fruit salad containing some passionfruit and adding a little red wine for flavor
At the second dinner Giuseppe made some wonderful rye bread and also some other bread with olives in it. Fabio made guacamole which you can see in the red top plastic container. There was quite a bit of guacamole left over so Fabio gave it to me to take home and I gobbled it up for breakfast the next morning.
White wine with some Campari mixed is an unexpectedly very nice taste
The homemade bread came with feta cheese with olives in some olive oil
And I guess you can never say you have had different kinds of Italian food if you have never had polenta and fagioli. Dean Martin told people that he is favorite foods were pasta fazool (pasta fagioli) and a big bowl of spaghetti.
What would an Italian dinner be without a tiramisu?
Thai rum with pineapple is a nice after dinner drink
Fabio brought these stickers back from Italy for me
and I have them proudly displayed on my Honda PCX which is a BMW in disguise which you can see from the sticker on the right side, just barely
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Motorbike fixes and dog satisfaction

start with something like this, not expensive

my options were to buy something online as a cushion for my motorcycle seat or I could have made something by myself or I could have gone to the city and found someone to make something for me. I decided to make my own.

After taking out some filling duct tape works just fine to seal it up.

The next step is to waterproof it with a recycled garbage bag. Duct tape melds with the garbage bag plastic and cannot be undone.
Place it under the seat cover and voila !

Now for the dogs!

It is nice to see dogs trained to stay in their designated guarding places
Inside the store this dog knows where to sit so he doesn’t activate the door opener sensor
Did I mention pigs? Well this pig has a name but I forgot. He’s wandering around here most days
I like to just take a walk and smell the roses but these flowers are nice to look at as well
Roel, Didier, Jim and I are discussing the price of rice in Timbuktu.
Repeat the name of this school 10 times quickly
ready for a swim
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Bocce in Paradise

Playing in the sand

When I was growing up I would often go to the city (San Francisco). Sometimes I will go to fisherman’s wharf area and there was a place where the old Italian men were playing bocce. I didn’t know anything about the game but I was intrigued. Now I’m in Thailand and because of a good friend I am able to play the game several times a week and learn some Italian as well. At the end of this blog you can see a video, explaining how the games played and showing some very good and some very poor players. It’s all in good fun.

Pedro’s overhand throw
Giuseppe’s (professore) precision throw.
Elizabeth’s (the destroyer) stance.
Inspecting the results. the one who is farthest throws next.

Adding to the video below, each person gets 3 bocce balls so the maximum score on each toss is 3 (the closest to the red target ball).

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Another, another day in paradise

When you get a flat…
You bring out your spare tires
It’s good to have your embroidered name on your cap just so you don’t forget it
My Advanced team
An afternoon treat
Self service gas. Insert coins and get what you need
7 PM is too early for customers
The entertainment bus
Bananas out my window
Coffee from the Local plantation
This hotel is a little rundown due to Covid
Coffee in the jungle
The front of the coffee shop
Starry starry night
Looks like a comedy but it actually happened, big nail
The bungalow owner brought me some fresh shrimp
This pillow seems to make the ride so much softer
A good thing for the buildings below this water tower there are no earthquakes in Thailand
I it’s really a good idea to take your face mask out of your swimming suit before going in the ocean. I should have remembered that
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Another day in paradise

A few days ago I was talking to a good friend about our situation in this pandemic whatever it is. They said to me, “do you realize how many people would love to be in your situation, on an island in Southeast Asia where you’re able to travel around and do a lot of interesting things?“ My response was, “how many people are there in the world?“ They responded, “about 7 billion“. I said, “ then I guess there would be about 7 billion people who would love to be in my situation“. Here are some recent photos and situation’s.

Would you drink this?
All of these Duk duk waiting for business to come back to normal.
A small shrine in a cubby hole on the street
The hotel is obviously owned by Chinese Thai
Hey small hotel shrine
And meanwhile, back at the ranch
A good lesson
I doubt the manufactures understand the implications of this brand name
John is waiting around on the beach for some cheese
Very nice menu
Walking in the narrow and dark alleys of Chinatown in Bangkok I was a little concerned about confronting some rats along the way. I did not expect this