by Scott Coates

Poster for this year's event

Living in a foreign country is good and bad. Over time you start to forget the little things you missed in the first few years (like a steak, walk in the great Canadian outdoors) and appreciate the new things you have in your adopted home (such as warm days all year round, easily available inexpensive food). That said there will always be things that are uniquely Canadian and define who you are and how you celebrate.

A prime example was on Saturday, June 20 here in Bangkok. The Thai Canadian Chamber of Commerce (TCCC, which Smiling Albino is a member of) holds an annual Canada Day party on the weekend closest to July 1. This year the event was at the British Club, a wonderfully spacious venue in downtown Bangkok with room for barbecues, games, socializing – all things that are needed for a great Canadian event.

I invited a Thai friend to come to the event, not thinking it necessary to tell her what to wear. After all, it’s obvious you would wear clothes that are a bit sporty, good for possible outdoor games and shoes that are easy to walk on grass as these events tend to be outside. Or is it obvious if you’re not Canadian?
We arrived at the venue and I noticed she was in a nice dress and high heels. The dress would work but high heels on grass would not. She asked why I had not told her to wear flat shoes. I wondered why she would not have worn flat shoes for a Canada Day party. We chatted about this and then realized that there were a number of assumptions I made based on my many years of attending such Canadian events and there’s no reason to think it would be or should be obvious to her. This was going to not only be a fun event but a cultural experience I realized.

In the gates and there were a myriad of experiences uniquely Canadian or at least western to such a gathering:

• Bloody Caesers: A truly Canadian beverage developed in Calgary, AB
  

  A classic Canadian beverage

  in 1969. The main ingredient (after vodka) is ‘Clamato’ juice which is a combination of tomato juice with clam broth (yes, it sounds strange). Add a special celery-salted rim, Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, piece of celery, squeeze of lime, and sometimes even some horseradish and there you have it. There are many variations on the recipe but it’s very popular in Canada and not many other places. A TCCC member John is gracious enough every year to operate a Caeser stand, complete with imported Mott’s Clamato juice, while wearing a toga.

• Outdoors: The party is outside with some tents, but a large grassy area is key to any good Canadian outdoor event. High heels are not recommended.
• Games for young and old: This usually includes some volleyball, ball hockey, tug of war and a water balloon toss. All of these games were enjoyed, with some different heats to accommodate people of all ages.
• Canadian beer: The Embassy of  Canada to Thailand brought in Alexander Keith’s, Kokanee and Labatt’s Blue, none of which are regularly available in Thailand.
• Beef and salmon: Key ingredients at dinner. Again, the Canadian Embassy brought in Canadian roast beef and salmon which were well received.
• Rain and lots of it: This seems to be included every year here in Bangkok as June/July are key Rainy Season months and every year about 7pm it comes down and hard. This year was no exception with the dining tents becoming flooded, and everyone reminiscing about how this happens every year.

Canada Day 2009 in Bangkok was a huge success. Games, food, beer, the outdoors and good people were all there – key to any successful Canadian get-together. High heels optional!

by Scott Coates

‘Bamee Moo Daeng’, a staple dish in Thailand, China and other parts of Asia is simple, available around the clock and delicious.

A 'haeng' bowl of noodles

Tonight I was feeling hungry before heading out for a run and walked to the corner to buy an order the aforementioned dish to give me some energy. While enjoying my food at my desk it occurred to me that I’ve been eating this simple, yet very tasty meal for almost 10 years – the entire time I’ve worked with Smiling Albino. And yet I’ve never become bored of it. In fact it’s one of my favorite dishes. I like it in the morning, for lunch and dinner too.
Here’s what we’re talking about:

• The noodles are yellow in color and made of egg, rather than rice noodles which most soups in Asia are made from.
  Pieces of kale, both leaves and stalk, are added with some green onion.
• Thinly cut red pork, which has been slow cooked with a secret barbeque sauce of sorts, is laid on top of the dish. This is the really magic part and each shop/vendor will have their own recipe (guarded closely).
• The broth is made from pork stock, is mild and roughly the equivalent of chicken noodle soup broth in the west. The broth also has some pepper in it and small pieces of pork rind. Broth is optional and people enjoy it ‘nam’ (with broth) or ‘haeng’ (no broth).
• Some shops also sell dumplings (‘kiew’ or wantons) stuffed with shrimp or pork.
• Small pieces of crab meat (‘bpoo‘) are also a semi-common add-on option.
• The diner adds dry hot chilies, vinegar with peppers, fish sauce and sugar to bring out flavor and add bitterness/sweetness/spiciness. Asians and especially Thais love a collision of flavors – bitter/spicy, sour/salty, etc.
• You can enjoy you food at the shop/roadside stand or get it in a plastic bag to go (as I did tonight).

Here’s how I like my Bamee Moo Daeng:

• Lots of nice, lean pork
• Shrimp dumplings if available (four)
• Add some dry chilies and a good helping of vinegar
• If eating before running eat with no broth, otherwise always broth

Just like any great food the taste varies greatly from restaurant to restaurant (or streetside stand) and I defiantly have my favorites. Begin the countdown!:

#3: No Name, Ramkamhang Road, Soi 18, Bangkok
Enter the street about 20m and the mobile stand is on your left. The broth is tasty, pork well-cured and portions great. No dumplings but 30THB ($0.90US) for a bowl is sure to fill your stomach.

#2: No Name, Ramkamhang Road, Soi 24, Mooban Preecha, Bangkok (opposite 7-11)
Without a doubt one of the finest versions out there. Very tasty sauce on the pork, great broth and delicious shrimp dumplings. A bowl with all the fixings is 40THB ($1.20US).

#1: Nakhom Phathom, Phahonyothin Road, Chiang Rai (near the Night Bazaar)
This is THE shop. In business for more than 15 years, everyone in town and Thai visitors know if you want the best this is where you come. Open from 06:00 – 14:00 (at the latest) the owners are a very nice Thai-Chinese family with the leanest, most tender, tasty red pork in the country – period. The broth is exemplary and I NEVER get bored eating here. I eat here every morning for breakfast when I’m in town and sometimes for lunch too. A regular bowl is 30THB ($0.90US) and a large bowl 50THB ($1.60US). Have an iced coffee with your noodles.

I’m getting hungry – time for some more noodles.

Staying at the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok

by Daniel Fraser

I had a nice opportunity this week to spend a night enjoying my birthday at the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok. It is one of the world’s most celebrated hotels and we’ve sent guests there for many years as part of our tailor-made adventures in SE Asia.

It was hard not to be impressed even at check-in, where multiple staff members greeted me with “happy birthday Mr Fraser”. The greetings from the check-in staff, and affable sales director who came to meet me were classy and brief, and the car-to-room experience was done with graceful, clock-work precision.

As a company that coordinates precise check-in details for hundreds of guests at hotels around the region each year, I paid careful attention to the welcome procedures from the viewpoint of an overseas guest. It was quite flawless and soon I was effortlessly lured into my classy river wing cocoon.

The room itself was beautiful, of course, and was full of subtle surprises that you’d notice throughout the afternoon: a piece of birthday cake on fine China, a welcome gift with a handwritten card from the housekeeping staff, another welcome card handwritten at the writing desk from the sales director, a tray of fruit in one corner, then a platter of local delicacies waiting to be discovered on one of the tables near the window. Everything wrapped in ribbons, placed delicately on fine cloth and paper, presented with intention. It was personal and warm.

Next: the fitness room experience. To be sure to avoid a lobby faux paux, I called front desk to make sure I could go there dressed in fitness attire, and proceeded across the river on the Oriental boat to the spa and fitness center. The gym is world class, as you’d expect, and the staff knowledgeable and attentive, as you’d expect. I have heard that staff spend nearly 100 hours each year on supplementary service training, resulting in a well-oiled machine of courtesy and sophistication. Plus, I like being offered “non-chilled” water for a change.

The Oriental is a luxury resort nestled on the riverbanks in the city. There are a hundred things to do, such as grass-court tennis, squash, aerobics, yoga, or indulge in the Ayurvedic therapies at the award-winning spa, or my personal favourite, chatting with Khun Angkhana, the reading room coordinator who has now been at the hotel for over 62 years. Make time to sit and chat, there are 7 decades of great stories to be shared. In addition, the Author’s Lounge itself is a stately room that deserves at the very least a cup of tea and a short wander, or more if your schedule allows. It is a refreshing atrium that would be at home in many of the finest mansions in Europe. It is part of the Oriental’s history and nostalgia, and provides the entrance to the grand author’s suites.

Next: poolside for a club sandwich. It is nice to see a hotel pool that you could actually drown in these days. One designed before modern safety paranoia turned them into very long kiddie pools. I did some laps, plunged down deep, and had it almost all to myself except a napping couple in one of the salas around the poolside garden. The servers at poolside did all the things you’d expect at the luxury level, being present but discreet, helpful but not imposing. I had three non-chilled waters and a good club sandwich.

Another memorable – and almost unnoticeable – feature is the invisible team of elves that provide regular upkeep and services to your room while you’re out. It makes sense that Mandarin Oriental has a long guest list of luminaries from famous CEOs to heads of state. It is a hotel that thinks for an extra moment, and goes the extra yard. I recall once that they asked one of their security guards to walk a few blocks down a nearby street to confirm the name and spelling of a jewelery shop that a guest of ours had inquired about – after they’d checked out. Instead of just returning with the basic facts, he also produced the private numbers of the owners just in case we needed them. This is proactive treatment not always found at the service level.

Beyond glowing accolades stating the obvious, such as outstanding rooms, famous restaurants, antique furnishings, a staff-to-guest ratio of 3:1, etc, it always comes down to the little things, the quirky fine touches, that make the difference. The elevator attendant who knows your floor number on the same morning you’ve arrived, the bartender who greets you by name before you order a drink, and the long-time staff, some of whom have been there for more years than I’ve been alive. I am a low maintenance traveler but carry the high expectations of our valued guests, and I began to like the sensation that a well-trained circle was eagerly anticipating my every move.

There are dozens of luxury hotels in the region fulfilling a variety of styles, neo-classical, modern minimalist, boutique Thai, grand and international, chic, etc. And, depending on the customer it might be argued that there may be a finer hotel to be found somewhere, but the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok is surely a finer overall experience.

by Scott Coates

Trekking is one of the classic activities in Nepal, something I’ve been lucky enough to do six times since Smiling Albino launched adventures there in October 2006.

The last sighting of the Monkey in 2007

Our guests enjoy fully-serviced trekking during their trip, which means we have a crew that carries the bags, tents, cooking supplies, cooks three hot meals per day, sets camp and tears it down. What does the trekker have to do you ask? Relax, enjoy walk, eat big and tuck themselves into bed at night. What an experience!
With eight guests we typically have a crew of 26, walking up trails, along ridges and up and down some wild terrain. It makes for a cozy group and very intimate experience, allowing us to explore small mountain paths and setting camp along the way, where we wish.

It was during a custom adventure in October 2007, for a group of guests that travel with us every year, that I took a ‘friend’ along – The Golden Monkey.

Origins of the Monkey
One of my best friends Darren visited Thailand with his wife in August 2004 and while enjoying the beach at Ao Nang, Krabi, bought a small

Atop the shelf where he was found

wooden monkey, had it painted gold and we then gave it a part in a small movie we were making. It’s fair to say the Monkey nailed his part and returned with Darren to Canada making his residence in Calgary, AB for the next few years. Darren and his wife returned to Thailand in August 2007 and brought the Monkey along with them. I was heading on a series of trips over the coming months to a number of countries and suggested I borrow the Monkey, take him along and send Darren photos of his travels. He agreed and the Monkey and I hit the road.

To Nepal
With the Monkey strapped to my daypack we began our 6-day trek in the

Strapped-in and ready for action

mountains along the Nepal-Tibet border and everyone in the group had a hoot posing with the Monkey along the trail. Mid-way through the day we stopped for tea at a small house, the Monkey posed with locals and we pushed on. Upon arrival at camp I realized the Monkey was missing. I really wasn’t sure where he had been left but the last spot I saw him was at the tea shop – too far to go back with the sun setting (three hour walk). I went to sleep that night hoping someone in the group had taken him as a joke and he would return further down the trail. It wasn’t to be. I returned to Thailand without the Monkey and broke the news to Darren via email. Thankfully he was very understanding and I tried to put the Monkey out of my mind, hoping he had found a good home in the mountains.

Fast Forward
I returned to Nepal to kick-off the new Nepal Trek & Trail in March 2008, a journey that would take us on the same trail along the Nepal-Tibet border

The author and the Monkey - together again

that the Monkey went missing on. Part way through the first day walking when I saw the aforementioned tea shop I recalled the story of the Golden Monkey’s disappearance to our group as we approached. Everyone sat down and one of our guests looked in the house and said, “There’s a golden monkey on the shelf in there.”
I sprung to my feet and low and behold there he was! Perched on the top shelf in a dark room it was like he was waiting to be found. What had he been doing the last year-and-a-half, what had he seen and what wild odds to find him again!
Our guide Rajesh talked to the owners of the shop and they quickly recalled the day I forgot him and graciously returned him.

Strapped in my daypack we hit the trail with a jump in my step and headed to camp. Never in all my travels have I had something like this happen. The odds of recovering the Monkey in this remote location still blows me away and the tale is one of my favorites to tell. The Monkey now resides in my house in Bangkok perched high on a mantel and I vow to take better care not to lose him in the future.

This event reminded me how small the world really is and the wonderful

Enjoying a rest stop on a mountain pass

power of travel. You can lose someone, but they can always be found if there are good people to take care of them and provide shelter.

See where the Monkey is by looking on a map or use Google Earth and go to the following location:
Latitude: 27°47’38.38″N
Longitude: 85°54’50.57″E

by Scott Coates

Wat Trimit and Yaowarat's gate

Since moving to Asia in 1999 we have always designed our trips by hand, from the ground up. What exactly does that mean? We’re glad you asked!
Rather than finding partner travel companies and ‘piggy-backing’ on their existing trips Smiling Albino founders Dan/Scott personally hit the road with our guides, friends and Team to plan each trip, each part, select every restaurant, snack stand, hotel, to ensure totally original and authentic experiences, each and every time. We read books, chat with friends and work our contacts to locate the secret gems in each area and find an innovative way to put it all together.

At the moment we’re putting the finishing touches on a new Yaowarat (Chinatown) walking trip in Bangkok. While we’ve lived here for quite a long time and our guides are experts in the area, we wanted to step-things-up-a-notch and create a truly one-of-a-kind, highly fun program. Here’s how it comes together:

A quiet backstreet

The Team at our office met a few weeks ago and talked about the elements that make our trips legendary: interesting hosts, inventive routing, tasty food, a myriad of drinks, a mix of transport, all inclusive, insider corners and of course fun.
We then had a look at our library and dove-in to books with potentially useful info/routes/tips.
Maps were printed and rolled-out as we peered over them, suggesting routes, talking about little alleyways we know, favorite snack stands, a secret tea shop, fortune teller’s house and so on.
Next we contacted our friend, a longtime Yaowarat resident, and got him to take us to his favorite spots this past Sunday. Quick notes were made along the way and on-the-fly maps to help remember the many, many turns.
Back to the office to relay the day’s details to the Team on Monday morning and further hash-out possible plans. Maps were marked with potential routes and ‘must see’ spots.

Kids getting a free ride on a drink cart

Two Team members will hit Yaowarat on Tuesday/Wednesday scouting four possible routes, making notes, gaining historical knowledge and most-importantly talking to locals to get insider details/history/fun facts (residents speak Mandarin and Hokkian – good thing our Team does too!).
Wednesday night we’ll have a meeting to go over the findings, then plan a couple final routes to try on Thursday when Scott will join Team members in Yaowarat putting the finishing touches on the routes.
A must is that we ensure local transport is utilized at the right times to ensure we never wait in traffic.
After all this is done we’ll write Trip Notes for our Team of guides/hosts, map it out, take the guides/hosts on a day checking out the trip then serve it to you, hot, fresh and guaranteed to be the newest and best trip on the travel shelves.

Be sure to visit our Day Trips soon as this trip will be ready for consumption July 1.

by Scott Coates

Having lived in Thailand since 1999 I’ve been to most markets in Bangkok but it’s surprising the number of new places that continue to pop-up.

Pratunam Market (literally meaning ‘Watergate’ due to the canal that runs through the area) has been famous for years for its street-side and alley markets. Teeming with clothes, bags and everything else under the sun, it’s one of the city’s most vibrant venues for shopping, people-watching and great deals. The last few years have seen a couple proper malls open in the area, notably Platinum Fashion Mall which specializes in clothes/fashion at wholesale prices.

A friend from Singapore was recently in town and wanted to ‘shop for inexpensive fashion’. Having never been to Platinum Fashion Mall we headed in that direction. Wow, what a lot of people and stuff! Eleven floors make up Platinum and it’s a paradise for shoppers (notably females) who love deals and lots to choose from. To get the best price you usually have to buy at least three items but things are priced to sell. Belts for 100B ($3.5US), simple dresses for 200B ($7US) and on it goes. Be sure to bring a cool drink and your love for crowds and more crowds as this place is packed, especially on weekends. That said, there’s something for everyone here that loves clothes and fashion (again, notably females).

Another noteworthy and quite famous place in the area among tech experts/fanatics is Pantip Plaza, a large shopping center devoted to IT, computers and electronics. From name-brand hardware to knock-off software it’s all here. Again, crowds can be large so bring your patience and love for being around others.

Bangkok certainly reigns as SE Asia’s shopping headquarters and the Pratunam area is sure to fill your bags with lots of neat stuff, go easy on the wallet and give you a good look into Thais and their love of shopping.
Ready, set, shop!