Places Phuket I Bangkok Hospital

I've never been really sick in Phuket, apart from a cold, but it's always good to know where the next hospital is located and if it is recommended to go there or not.
The 2 major hospitals in Phuket are the Phuket International Hospital (located in Kathu, next to Big C) and Bangkok Hospital (in Phuket Town).

Bangkok Hospital is fabulous! There is a big lobby, probably better equipped than most hotel lobbies, with a girl in a traditional costume playing the Khim (a traditional instrument).
Once you enter you will get assistance right away by a Thai nurse and an english speaking substitute. Registering procedure is quite fast and uncomplicated.
If you have to stay longer, I can ensure you that you feel like in a hotel. Food is served by an international hospital food company, so no worries about that either.

Anyways, better enter the hospital as a visitor and a good friend not as a patient ;)

Places Phuket I Rock City

Just in front of the probably craziest road in Phuket - Bangla Road - is this club.

ROCK CITY

Yeah! Let me see your little finger and the index finger. Here we go. There is a band rocking the stage, while guys with long beards, beer-barrel-bellies are playing airguitar. The nicely dressed, slim Thai girls next to them don't fit into the picture, but hey!
Funny contrast program to the usual Bangla thing....with nice salty popcorn!

Midterm Exams

Huuuaaaa....so, after two months at PSU it was time for the midterm exams.
From Monday till Saturday this week there are no classes, just scheduled midterm exams which usually take three hours. Well, the scheduled time is three hours, but I think everybody is faster than that.
Luckily my Thai exam was antedated, so I only had to study for four subjects this week.

Anyways, the exams were okay so far, nothing way too difficult.

Good Luck or Chok Dii to my fellow students!

Favorite Places: Sanaeha I Phuket Town

Let's start the series of favorite places with a bar.

Sanaeha Bar is a cozy bar located right in the heart of phuket town. In one of the old gorgeous sino-portuguese houses, you can find the perfect place for having a relaxed evening with friends. Lights are dimmed, there is a band playing english and thai songs on stage, candles are lighting up the faces of people having snacks and drinks.
The atmosphere is really nice, but you might consider reserving a table beforehands if you want to go there with a big group.

P.S.: Despite the PinaColada all drinks are quite good.

Thai Cooking Class

So one week ago we had our Thai cooking class. It was the first time for me to enter the cooking lab at the Prince of Songkla University (PSU).
One of the International Affairs Centre staff and a little woman with a large chef-hat (the cooking teacher) were waiting for us. We got to know that we will prepare the ingredients and finally cook: "shrimp in a blanket", springrolls, massaman curry, pad see euw (thick noodles with vegetables in dark sauce) and Muu Phat Bai Kaphrao (fried minced pork with spices).

As I can't descirbe all of the cooking procedures for each dish, I want to focus on one of the 50's most delicious foods in the world:

MASSAMAN CURRY

Ingredients needed: coconut milk, massaman curry, chicken, sliced potatoes, red pepper, onions, palm sugar, peanuts, tamarind sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce, bay leaves, cinnamon

How to: 

Put the coconut milk into a big frying pan and heat it, constantly stiring, till you can smell the coconut.

Put the massaman curry into the hot coconut milk and stir again, till everything is mixed well.

Put in the chicken or any other meat, as it will take longest to be done. Stir to make sure everything doesn't get burnt.

Add more coconut milk, to ensure you got a nice sauce and enough to soak off. Add sliced potatoes and peanuts.

Finally, add other spices (bay leaves, cinnamon, chilli) and let it simmer a bit. Then adjust the taste by adding fish sauce, soy sauce, tamarind sauce and a bit of palm sugar. Let it simmer a bit longer. Thats it!:)

Serve Massaman Curry with steamed rice

Enjoy!











For a more detailed descriptions please check out this recipe.

Koh Yao Noi

Mission: Get out of Phuket
Target: Koh Yao Noi
Plan: Drive to the pier with the scooters, take a speedboat and set over

With about 10 people, we started our drive to the pier of Phuket, which took us about half an hour (it's quite far). So right on time, we were able to take the speedboat to Koh Yao Noi, which costs 200bath per person.

Already on the way to Koh Yao Noi you will recognize that there are a few women with veils around  their head, as Koh Yao Noi's population is mainly muslim.
After half an hour on the boat, we arrived at Koh Yao Noi and took a van to the Koh Yao Beach Bungalows. For 400 Baht per bungalow, we all got a nice accomodation, 5 meters away from the beach.

We rented scooters and started touring the island

went to lovely, quite remote beaches

 had dinner at a half-built restaurant and watched the sunset

The next day we had breakfast at the beach and then chartered a longtail boat to take us to a  little islands with a looooong white sandy beach. It was perfect <3