MontanaRon » trip

Wat Traimit

montanaron — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:57:51 +0000

As I indicated in the previous Chinatown post, I did have enough time to tour Wat Traimit, one of the big attractions of Chinatown. According to the link on that post, the Golden Buddha in Traimit is the world’s largest solid gold Buddha image, weighing in at 5.5 tons and standing 15 feet tall (although [...] Related posts:

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Laos-Thailand Trip Report: Bangkok’s Chinatown

montanaron — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:00:02 +0000

In all my previous visits to Bangkok, I’d never visited Chinatown, except for a crazy tuk-tuk ride on my way to another area several years ago. I’ve read and heard that this section of Bangkok is one of the city’s most interesting and fascinating to visit. Here’s what Lonely Planet has to say about it:

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Laos-Thailand Trip Report: Beijing Airport

montanaron — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 07:16:20 +0000

Beijing’s Capital City Airport (BCIA) is a bit of a contrast to Incheon Airport, although it is a huge, bright gleaming facility. On my departure to and return from Thailand, I had the opportunity to browse around Terminal 3, which could be described as cavernous. T3 is kind of in the shape of a 3-bladed [...] Related posts:

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Back to Work

montanaron — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 08:13:01 +0000

After enjoying more than a week off while the students took mid-term exams, I go back to work tomorrow. I didn’t do a whole lot during the time off, but I did get up to Seoul for a few days; I needed to get some more pages added to my passport. I wouldn’t have needed [...] Related posts:

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Two Sides of the Mekong

montanaron — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 08:23:39 +0000

I stayed a few short days in both Nong Khai, Thailand, and Vientiane, Laos. I mainly hung out along the Mekong River, and both cities have built up their respective riverbanks.

Nong Khai hasn’t changed all that much in the year since I’d last been there. It’s a pleasant walk along the river, where [...] Related posts:

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Thai Planes, Trains and Mototaxis

montanaron — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 09:31:55 +0000

This is the first post, then, about my recent vacation in Thailand and Laos. Let me say congratulations, though, to Yingluck Shinawatra, leader of the winning party in Thailand’s recent election, future Prime Minister and sister of deposed ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra. Hopefully, the election will help to unite the country and heal the wounds caused [...] Related posts:

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Back to Work

montanaron — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 03:13:02 +0000

I arrived back in Yeosu yesterday afternoon, tired after a nice vacation, but ready to settle back into the daily routine of work, which begins again tomorrow. The flight back from Bangkok took off in a steady rain at 11:20 Friday night, and landed in a very dense fog at Incheon airport around 6:30 Saturday [...] Related posts:

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Back in Bangkok

montanaron — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 06:03:59 +0000

I’m back in Bangkok again, and it’s still the polluted, noisy, smelly, hectic and crazy place it’s always been on my past trips–I love it! Not because it’s polluted or noisy or smelly (some of the smells are wonderful), but those detriments do seem to add to its edgy appeal to me. Seoul–that huge megacity–doesn’t [...] Related posts:

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Field Trip Time

montanaron — Fri, 20 May 2011 05:27:43 +0000

It’s that time of the semester again, when the Intensive English students and teachers go on a field trip to tour some of the attractions in Yeosu as part of the English course. We’ve had two of these events in the past, about which I’ve written here (in 2009) and here (in 2010). Both of [...] Related posts:

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Another Year in Yeosu, June Vacation

montanaron — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 11:57:57 +0000

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention in my previous post that I’ll be signing on for another year here. Lots of reasons for doing that–familiarity with the job, pleasant people to work with, friendliness of the students and the people of the area, the beauty of the countryside, and, the biggest reason, the upcoming 2012 [...] Related posts:

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