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Saturday, August 16, 2025

17-08-2025 Bong & His Eleventh Post in 2025 - Fall Trip 2024

 Last year, around September, 
we traveled back to Malaysia as usual. 
The main reason—and the highlight, of course—was my sister’s wedding!
I was described as the professional brother of the bride,
socializing with the guests,
while simultaneously being a professional, hardworking 
cleaner and waiter,
managing the cleaning, 
ensuring the guests were happy, and handling everything in between.
And for this trip,
we tried Thai Airways business class for the very first time.
**And we didn't even get to sit together :(
Review of the Business Class Experience
The seats were comfortable, big, and spacious,
but it was evident that the aircraft itself was an older model.
from Oslo to Bangkok (Compared to Other Airlines):
The service was great overall,
but the cabin crew seemed a bit disorganized in how they carried out their tasks.
The food was okay
—nothing extraordinary—
but some dishes didn’t quite meet the quality
one would typically expect on a business-class flight.
**like this stir-fried beef and salmon
The food combinations were also a bit puzzling to me,
like why certain items were placed together
on the same plate or served as part of the same dish.
On our way back, we decided to visit Knut and his family,
whose location was somewhere north of Bangkok.
However on our way to Penang airport,
we received shocking news from Knut 
that he couldn’t pick us up at the airport as planned because his wife,
Kio, was having stomach problems.
Instead, Kio's daughter came to pick us up at the airport.
The biggest challenge?
She barely spoke English or Norwegian, and, of course, we didn’t speak a word of Thai.
To make things more complicated, the only information we had was her Thai phone number.

But luckily,
I quickly resolved these challenges by adding her on WhatsApp
(thank God she uses it too!).
All our communication was done through typing,
using Google Translate, and sharing pictures!
We agreed on the place to be picked up,
and everything then happened smoothly!
After about 5-hour drive,
we arrived at Wichian Buri, Phetchabun.
We checked into the resort (Sweet area resort) that
Knut and his family had booked for us and
were truly grateful for all their help,
from arranging transportation from the airport to finding accommodation for us.
We got a small room,
like the one on the left side of the picture.
And the next day,
we started our day by having the breakfast at a nearby restaurant
**Well, honestly there were not so much to choose from**
(Name: นกฮูก ก๋วยเตี๋ยวเรือ นาไร่เดียว)
Right.... I understand Thai lol!
After breakfast,
we walked to Knut's house,
which was about a 20–30 minute walk.
However, with the warm and humid weather, 
the journey felt much longer as we had to walk slowly. 
Fortunately, it was still early in the morning, which made it a bit more bearable.
And since it was kinda early in the morning,
so it was a lot of interesting morning stuffs to look at....
For our lunch that day,
we were brought to a very local place....
In the evening,
the family woke us up
to take us to a food festival in Phetchabun.
After about 1.5 hour-drive,
plus big challenge in securing a parking slot,
we successfully arrived!
To be continued....

XOXO
-Bong-

Sunday, May 18, 2025

18-05-2025 Bong & His Tenth Post in 2025 - Summer Holiday 2024

Last summer,
our journey driving to the north
was a bit special
as we began driving immediately after I rushed home from work.
So we had special stops for dinner,
breakfast,
first-time overnight at Sveg
(at Telegrafen, which was quite good, cheap and easy with self-check in),
and Jokkmokk (at STF Jokkmokk Hostel
**We chose the cheapest room, and it had very poor soundproofing).....
Well, one reason for the "extreme" noise
at STF Jokkmokk Hotel was that
it was the weekend of Midsummer. 
For Swedish people, 
Midsummer is a significant celebration, 
and we learned that they close alcohol shops (systembolaget) starting Friday!
So besides all these new things,
there are always good old friends along the way....
And we also did the same old things
when we were there in Malangen!
Visiting friends and families,
having them visiting us,
having good food
(both ordinary time
and non-so-ordinary time like midnight)....
Then fishing...
and preparing delicious meals from our catch...
Then picking cloudberries
**we were lucky with the timing this year as well**
BUT it was a bit scary with
the parents protecting their baby birds!!!
Then some summer-works,
from "inside"
to "outside".....
Lastly,
some hiking!
Both covering some regular spots,
to a new place called Borgen!
The hiking trip lasted around 1.5 hours,
which was in fact, 
quite challenging for us, 
as we were not trained for it!
**Special thanks to Lajla for guiding us!!
After a one-month stay in Malangen
(with super weather and may be one day super unique weather),
we drove back to the south.
This time, due to the weather,
we spent an extra day on the journey.
And due to this extra day,
we also got to experience some
NEW buffets!!
This buffet is at Restaurant China, Strömsund,
and we were very glad that
we managed to make it
despite having a very stressful time schedule...
**Good quality at a good price**
We tried this new camping place at Östersunds,
named Östersunds Stugby & Camping...
and it was just perfect!
Cheap, organised, clean....
close to Lidl as well!
Then the next buffet at Mora,
was one I had always wanted to try.
However, due to bad timing,
we always passed by it in the middle of our journey,
or were too late....
so we never had the opportunity to try it!
BUT this time,
YES we made it too!!!!
**Thai Cuisine, Mora**

They even had senior price
for those who were over 60 years old,
so Arne was happy to enjoy this privilege!
At Mora,
besides eating and shopping,
we also had a good time to rest.
And yes!!!
The rest was probably very essential,
as Arne mistook the washing detergent for wine!
That's all for our summer holiday in 2024 in a nutshell :)
We returned home after three overnights
and stocked up our freezer
perfectly like a tentrix game!
XOXO
-Bong-