A Pokemon Go Trainer in Bangkok

Captain America This Captain America once stood at the Werng Nakhon Kasem trading community. However, the land was sold in 2012 and closed down in 2016 for re-development. All the old shops were either closed or relocated elsewhere and the location of this statue was not known. Star Wars This Death Star looked very pretty. Unfortunately, it came from a gift, so I did not know where it was. Pop Eyes I have no idea where is Pop Eyes statue was. However, the logo on the hat and left arm looked like a Thai company that sold coffee, among other products. Personally, I really wondered about whether this was a copyright infringement case.

The Pokemon Go screen action provided some hilarious moments with certain positional arrangements. Here was my collection. Listed in the Being Thai page.

The Thonburi Era, when the Thonburi was the capital city of siam, started in 1767 and ended in 1782 with only one king. King Taksin was born Sin from a Chinese descent father and a Siamese mother in 1734. He became the governor (Phraya) of Tak and became known as Phaya Tak (Sin). The name was there shorten to Phraya Taksin. In April 1767, the Burmese army successful captured and ransacked the capital Ayutthaya after a year-long siege, ending the Ayutthaya era in Thai history. Taksin was part of the defending army; he thought that the situation was hopeless a few months before the fall and led a small force breaking through the encirclement. He captured the Chantaburi Province as his stronghold. Instead of going back to the fallen capital, he selected the downstream port, Thonburi, as the new capital and was crowned king on 28 December 1767. His early reign was focused on unifying Siam by defeating other Siamese forces that arose in major provinces throughout the country. Then, ...

Thai cultures have been heavily influenced by India ones. While most Thais are Buddhist, the Hinduism influence is undeniable. There are shrines to Hindu gods everywhere, from the royal court where the image of god-king was adopted to emphasize the power and majesty, to commoners who prayed for good luck. They also function as divine patrons of professions. Some people came to pray at these statues even though they were not Hindu, mainly for good luck in love, works or exam as well as for confidence in general. Frequency, a table will be placed near the statute for offerings and incense stick receptacle. There might be an annual or regular ceremony to pay respect as well. Personally, I think that it was the mythical storytelling and fascination with divinity that these gods that helped fulfilled gaps in people's mind. Shrines of these Hindu gods dotted around the country at a surprising density and many became Pokemon landmarks. Previously, I overlooked them and started noticin...

The triple numbers - 111, 222, ..., 999 - had a particular word in Thai, Tong (ตอง). For instance, 111 could be called 'nueng roi sib ed' (หนึ่งร้อยสิบเอ็ด, one hundred and eleven), 'nueng nueng nueng' (หนึ่งหนึ่งหนึ่ง, one one one), or 'tong nueng' (ตองหนึ่ง, triple one). The word was probably originated from a traditional Thai card game, Pai Tong (ไพ่ตอง), which was too complicated for me to play. I guessed that the word became popular in daily life because it was short and provided a quick mental grasp. Some Thai attached significant meaning to these repeating numbers and believed that these numbers could influence one's life. Specific car license and phone numbers were sold at exorbitant prices for luck or showing off the wealth and power in acquiring that unique numbers for personal uses. The most desirable numbers in Thai language is '999' as it was pronounced 'kao kao kao' (เก้าเก้าเก้า), which is very close to 'kao k...

Food at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport has been generally expensive; breakfast could easily be higher than 300 Baht in the arrival and departure areas. The prices in the international zone were even higher. For budget travelers, there was another choice, the Airport Street Food: Magic Food Court. The food court was located on the first floor, near the exit no. 8 which was at the far end of the terminal. The entrance was small and quite easy to be looked over. The place was operated as in a department store food court. Customers had to buy coupons which came in a book worth 100 Baht. The unused coupons had to be redeemed on the day. There were selections of Thai street foods from many well-known vendors. I thought the taste was alright but not particularly impressed. The food was priced somewhat higher than street food stalls, but comparable to prices in shopping malls. The budget for a meal could be easily kept under 100 Baht. Concerning the Pokemon GO, there was no Gym n...

Thais are very big on eatings. There had been hosts of restaurant and hotel buffet reviews around. This blog was not particularly into this category due to my ineptitude in photo-taking. If you wish to see the photos, please follow the provided external link. The Espresso has been a restaurant in the InterContinental Bangkok in the shopping district of Ratchaprasong. It offered breakfast, lunch, and dinner international buffets. The menu included appetizer, salad, bread, sushi, dim sum, soup, pasta, rice dishes, noodles, seafood, and roasted beef, etc. For desserts, there was a good selection of cakes, pudding, ice cream and fruits, followed by hot chocolate, tea or coffee with occasional late arts. There was no cheese platter, though. In short, it had all the trapping of buffets in a 5-star hotel. For Pokemon Go trainers, this restaurant had an added bonus; it practically situated on a Pokemon gym. To be precise, the gym was located at a statue in front of the hotel, abo...

Japanese food has been trendy in Thailand. In some trendy shopping mall, there were more Japanese restaurants than Thai ones. A recent addition was a confectionery shop Tokyo Sweets. The menu included strawberry daifuku, mochi cream, mochiese, mizu suishyo mochi, and tiramisu. One of the signature sweet, Mochi Mochi (seal pup-shaped mochi), were so very cute and reminded me of the seel Pokemon. The skin colors indicated the filling - white for red beans, pale pink for raspberry or strawberry and pale lavender for sweet potatoes. There was a new chocolate bear which was similar to seals but had legs. These adorable seal pup mocha are well-accepted. When the shops were reviewed, there were inevitably video clips about the pup murdering methods, usually biting or clean cutting from the head or tail. For me, they were very popular as gifts and presents to children and ladies. There were Tokyo Sweet shops and counters in several department stores, e.g. Siam Paragon, Isetan...

The Pokemon Go Berries are items that helped trainers to catch the monster easier and increase Gym Defenders’ motivation. First, only the grape-like Razz Berries were available. Then came the Golden Razz Berries, which were more effective, as rewards from Gym Raids. The banana-like Nanab Berries slowed down the movement of wild monsters while the pineapple-like Pinap Berry doubled the rewarding candies. All Thai trainers I met called these berries as berries, golden berries, banana (กล้วย, kluay) and pineapple (สัปปะรด, sap-pa-rod), respectively. Interestingly, none called the Razz Berries grapes (องุ่น, a-ngun), maybe because the pronunciation required more effort. Anyway, the introduction of the Nanab Berries really helped the catching of fast-moving Pokemon, particularly the Zubats which flapped wings so fast that I sometimes got dizzy from just staring. The act of feeding bananas to bats had very much amused me because of the name. There are two Thai classical tunes ...

It was said that Pokemon Go started as an April's Fool joke in 2013. The Google Maps' Pokemon Challenge YouTube clips was really impressive and imaginative by any measure. What a wonderful joke that became reality. It was said that Pokemon Go started as an April's Fool joke in 2013. The Google Maps' Pokemon Challenge YouTube clip was really impressive and imaginative by any measure. What a wonderful joke that became a reality. It was said that Pokemon Go started as an April's Fool joke in 2013. The Google Maps' Pokemon Challenge YouTube clip was really impressive and imaginative by any measure. What a wonderful joke that became a reality. While the April Fool's Day was not a traditional Thai custom, Thais have been known to readily accept all sanook (fun) traditions as excuses for parties. I sometimes felt like reeling from one Thai/Western/Chinese festivals to another. Western New Year, Children Day, Valentine Day, Chinese New Year, Qingm...