daronloo

My Taiwanese friend Bill paid me a visit a couple of weeks ago. He flew in from Australia while his girlfriend flew in from Taiwan. Since they wanted the authentic Thai experience, I, with the recommendation from my friend, brought them to Vientiane Kitchen. From what I gather from comments posted online, this establishment has been around for quite some time now. They did mention that if you wanted to try Thai-cooked seafood, this is the place to be. Located at Sukhumvit 36, this quaint restaurant is about a 10-minute walk from the Thong Lor BTS. It is behind a new apartment building. This wooden structure does give you a feel of how it is like in the Isaan area. As with many other Thai restaurants (even here in Muak Lek) they had a tree growing within the restaurant which had decorations dangling off from its branches and bark. Since I don't take seafood, I had a plate of Kau Pat Kai which was excellent. Coming from Malaysia, we prefer fried rice which still retains the t...

If you find yourself looking for a place to crash in Phrom Phong Bangkok, look no further! 24Inn is a boutique hotel conveniently located steps away from the Phrom Phong BTS and the Emporium Shopping Mall. I've stayed here twice, once in December 2010 and another time in March. Phrom Phong is an area where you would bump mostly into Koreans and Japanese. Perhaps the concept of this hotel came from the two major expatriate groups in this area: small, convenient, and cool... like the capsule hotels in Japan :P The reception service has been great (the times I've been there). Even for a small hotel, there was a bellboy who came to bring my bags to my room. I tipped him, of course, with my dashing smile and a note of 20 Baht. The bed is awesome, there is a safe in the room, there is a tub with a huge rain showerhead. There is cable TV with Chinese, Hindi, and English as well as Thai channels. During my two stays at the hotel, I didn't hear the traffic noises from the st...

Frog Porridge anyone. Saw this billboard somewhere in Damai while on my trip back to Sabah last May. Absurdities. Absurdities is when you walk to your office, and you see two students trying to open the main door to the faculty on a Sunday. They know it's a non-working day. There are no lights in the faculty building. It becomes even more absurd as I approached them: Daron: Hello, can I help you with something? Girls: We want to send our homework (in Thai) Daron: To which teacher do you need to send your homework to? Girls: Mr. Somporn Daron: Oh, his office is not here, it's at MC Mart Girls: Oh, do you have the key to his office? Daron: !@#$!%^%^&$%&$^????????????? My face was a mixture of perplexity and suspicion. Absurdities is realizing that that the radiator is leaking - two months after you sent the car in for an engine overhaul and a new radiator. It becomes more absurd because we don't drive the car regularly. Absurdities is when my neighbor...

This is my hat collection. 1. The Straw Hat: I bought this back in 2008 before leaving for Australia. There was a market fair of some sort in between Siam Discovery and Siam Paragon. 2. Brown Fedora: I bought this last year May at a J.C. Penny in Cali. 3. Brown-checked Cap/Messenger Hat: My mom got this from me while holidaying in Kunming, China. 4. White Cap/Messenger Hat: Weekly purchase from the forever-on-sale Cotton at Jesmond Shopping Center, Newcastle, AUS. 5. Black Cap/Messenger Hat: Got this from Burlington Coat Factory, Cali. 6. Black Fedora: Given to me as a gift prior to leaving Aus for Thailand. 7. Black and white-checked Cap/Messenger Hat: Bought this from an H&M, Cali. 8. Kungsri Ayuddhya Cap: Stole this from my Dad.

it's interesting how we try our best to have exact definitions. in today's class we were talking about the differences between approaches and methods. i had a whole load of answers for that thanks to the textbook. then my student asked me, what is the difference between objectives and goals, and what about aims? i couldn't come up with a good explanation. i simply said they mean the same. stephen krashen defines acquisition and learning differently. someone should come up with specific definitions for goals/aims/objectives i was pretty stoked with how my nursing classes went this week. we talked about the phrasal verb, 'used to.' i decided to speak really slow in class and they did understand more. i started doing this for my international classes as well. hopefully they will learn better. a friend of mine recently said to me that i've been blogging for the longest time. i actually HAVE been blogging for the longest time, ever since my moving away fro...

I love my job despite the amount of stress it entails. Especially the next few days before our faculty submits our QA reports. i am a little freaked out at the moment. i am replaceable. i've never been jobless. how does it feel being jobless?

I always have an inclination to perceive rhapsodies as songs which are happy and exciting. Brahms' opus 79 is definitely none of adjectives mentioned. Agitated and stormy describe it better. My first piano lesson, after a six-month hiatus, was an interesting one. I've got an Indonesian teacher this time, he's a new teacher who recently joined our faculty. My previous teacher had returned to New York and have since relocated to Arizona to be a full time mom. I've had three piano teachers before this and I must say that this is the most expressive one, which really did push me over the edge to do better. At one point, while teaching me about weights and touch, he suddenly dropped his arm on the piano. I try to be reserved when I'm at work or in class, so I did the same but ten times less energy... more like a shy and controlled drop of my arms, which the teacher disapproved. He promptly lifted my arm, told me to play dead, and dropped it hand-down (i guess fac...

the sun keeps creeping in earlier than the day before. i did my run this morning under the full glare from the eye of the sky... there were less joggers on the tracks this morning but it seemed like the neighborhood dogs have gathered for a quite important discussion. thinking of how i should go about the day. i'm not quite sure if the materials i have for my 11 am class would interest the students. i'm having my first piano lesson again in 6 months! read a chapter from luke today. lesson learned today: don't test god. that has been a struggle.

getting sick on the first day of school isn't fun. i've been unwell for the past few days and today was the worst. probably due to not being able to sleep the night before. i did go to my classes, only to quickly drive back home to lay my exhausted body on the bed. the doctor said i'm too tired and hadn't had time to recuperate (jumping straight into school) i was charged a hefty amount for consultation and the meds... my mom bought the same meds i got from the pharmacy for about 1/8 of the price i paid only in thailand can u easily get medication over the counter.