Bradley's Old Fashioned Weblog

Recent updates

  • Old Man At Esplanade KKJ Concert Gets Dancing Fever!

    This video came to my attention through Twitter via a friend (@LaiSan_C (sorry, locked profile!)).

    Apparently, this older guy got so into the music by this local Singapore band that he jumped up in front of the stage and started dancing.  The short of it is that none of this was organized or choreographed and just goes to show that being cool and having a good time doesn’t have an age restriction!

    Here’s the information excerpt from the YouTube page:

    That’s the spirit! A senior audience got up and jumped in front of KKJ’s stage at the Esplanade and started dancing to their original composition ‘Lemonade’. The choreography and the dancing was all improvised as he grooved to the song, to much cheers from the crowd of more than 500.

    King Kong Jane was named “Best English Local Act” by The Sunday Times in 2008. In the same year, KKJ was crowned the Champion of Power Jam, one of Singapore’s biggest band competitions. In 2007, the band was chosen to perform for Baybeats, the largest indie music festival in Southeast Asia.

    KKJ is: Jianping (drums), Renquan (bass), Colin (vocals), Ian (guitar) & Ruishen (guitar). For more information, email the band at kingkongjane@gmail.com or follow them at

    Twitter: Kingkongjane
    Facebook: King Kong Jane
    http://kingkongjane.blogspot.com/
    http://www.myspace.com/kingkongjane

    And here’s the video itself!

  • The Food in Phuket (Part 1)

    The Food in Phuket (Part 1)

    One of the best parts about this trip was running around town finding different foods to eat.  While we were there we ate at quite a few different restaurants, not all of them Thai.  I think we probably could have found better food if we’d gone to a less touristy part of Thailand, but we made do with what we had available to us.

    We weren’t sure where to go on the first day we were there so we wound up walking around quite a while.  We finally wound up eating in the restaurant where we took the cat photos in the previous post.  I still don’t know the name of the place.  We couldn’t find it again.  It was nice though:

    The sad thing is that the food from this place was great, and I’d liked to have gone back.  Here are some pictures of the dishes:

    This one is yellow curry chicken. It was a lot better than I expected. In the photo, the chicken somehow came out looking crisp, but it was actually tender. There was no coating, other than the curry sauce. I think it looks like that because it was torn by hand before being cooked. The noodles were al dente. I liked that. I can’t stand mushy noodles. Oh, and she let me choose how spicy I wanted it, so I went with ‘medium’ to be on the safe side!

    This dish is called sukiyaki.  My wife says it’s actually a Japanese dish, but she wanted to try out the Thai version of it.  She didn’t have any complaints.

    Later that evening we were looking for a snack when we saw something familiar.  It was a hawker style eating area.  There were only two stalls and a seating area, but they were serving chicken & rice and roast pork & rice.  We decided to give it a try to see how it compared with what we were used to eating in Singapore (those are very common dishes in Singapore but in Singapore the names exclude the ‘&’).

    It seems to be pretty much the same, except there are two choices (though extra small portions) of vegetable and a quail egg.  Instead of a broth soup, there was a dip for the meat.  The table also had other sauces, chilis, and dips to choose from.  It was significantly cheaper though at 40 baht (1.17 USD / .82 EUR / 1.69 SGD).  The same meal is about twice as much in Singapore, probably due to import fees placed by companies and the government.

    Even later that same night, we decided to go out for a late dinner (at midnight) and some beers!  So, we stopped at one of the street restaurants.  These places set up every evening and pack up everything when they close, including tables, chairs, and cooking equipment.  The food was better than I expected it to be.

    This is chicken, pork, and beef satay with peanut sauce.  It was hard to tell the difference between the three meats, and I teased my wife that maybe it was all cat.

    This was grilled squid and was really really good!  It came with a spicy dip that I wish I knew the recipe for.  I would go back to this place just for this dish.

    We topped our meal off with two Heinekens and then called it a night.

    I would say our first day, as far as meals go, was a success.

  • China Kills Its Own Citizens

    China Kills Its Own Citizens

    Back in April I wrote a post about China and how it sold poisoned gyoza to the Japanese.  I then went off on a rant about how China is ruining its world image, because here lately everything that comes out of China is poisonous or defective.  If you’re wondering why I’m so pissed off about China doing this stuff, it’s because most of those products wind up on the shelves of United States grocery stores and department stores, just waiting to poison some unsuspecting person or child. Not to mention that it’s just stupid, and I don’t like stupid. China’s economy relies on exports to other countries, and they’re causing people all over the world to not trust and to not want to buy their products. They’re killing off their livelihood, one screw-up at a time.

    I’m also kinda pissed off at the US government for not doing better pre-screening on items imported from China.  They have a proven track record of producing bad quality items.  If a man has a record of sexual offenses against children, appropriate measures would be taken to make sure he didn’t do it again right?  So why is it that a country is producing and exporting bad products to the US, some of them potentially lethal, and we just keep on letting them do it?  Can we fine the country as a whole?  Can we do anything to let them know that this behavior isn’t welcome? How about a 1 month embargo on all China-made products? If they won’t listen to common sense, maybe they’ll listen to dollar sense.

    On the other hand, what can we really expect from a country that not only poisons the world, but poisons its own citizens as well?  The following video is about Yunnan province, where factories are producing massive amounts of pollution that are causing near lethal levels of lead blood poisoning in the region’s children.

    There’s pollution in every country, but within acceptable limits. This is just blatant and damn near disgusting, as it shows a lack of respect for human life. Not to mention that it’s killing children.

    Good job China.  Not only do you try to screw over the rest of the world, but you’re stupid enough to shoot yourself in the foot as well.  I guess when you’re citizens have no freedoms and no way to protest or affect change it doesn’t matter, right?

    (Image Source: Vegetarian Organic Blog)

  • Livita Energy Drink in Singapore

    Livita Energy Drink in Singapore

    Livita Energy Drink
    Livita Energy Drink

    I saw this Livita on the shelf in the drink section of the grocery store at Whitesands (Fairprice I think) and at first thought it was medicine that had been misshelved. My wife glanced at it and told me that it’s an energy drink that’s also sold in the Philippines under another name. A quick look at the label and ingredients told me she was right.  I asked her how it tasted and she said it was good.  The packaging just seemed a bit off to me, though.

    So, instead, I bought a can of Red Bull. I drank that a lot when I was in the Army and it seemed to work well, except when I was doing that leadership training (aka PLDC, aka WLC) anyway. I was only getting 4.5 hours of sleep per day for weeks back then.  I could have slept standing up!

    Another reason I bought the Red Bull is that when I pointed it out, my wife said she’s never had it before so I’ll let her have a taste.  She asked me if it’s good and I had to admit that it’s something of an acquired taste.  I hated the stuff when I first started drinking it, but it sort of grows on you.

  • Thai Ladyboys At The Simon Cabaret

    Thai Ladyboys At The Simon Cabaret

    One of the main attractions of the Phuket area is the Simon Cabaret’s Ladyboy show.

    Yup, ladyboys.

    We’d seen a few of them walking around the town.  We even saw a white guy walking down the street holding hands with one.  I don’t know if the guy knew he was with a ladyboy, but he was on the other side of the street, and I wouldn’t have burst his bubble anyway.  If he didn’t know, imagine how exciting it was for him to find out that night!

    Anyhow, the Simon Cabaret raises the bar on ladyboys and presents you with a show of fancy sets, fancy costumes, and dancing.  The singing is all pre-recorded and lip synced.  I imagine at some point it was all authentic, but they do multiple shows per night, every night, so it’s probably more practical to just lip sync it.

    I went into this with an open mind but I wasn’t expecting a whole hell of a lot.  I certainly wasn’t expecting to be impressed, laughing, or leaning forward in my seat to catch all the details.  Not that I was looking for those details, but most of them did just about have their boobs falling out.  I suppose that’s just part of the show’s appeal.

    I thought of taking photos while in the cabaret, or taking video, but there are signs everywhere saying that if caught you can be prosecuted and fined up to 50,000 USD.  It wasn’t worth that much to me.  Apparently some other people thought it was worth the risk because there’s plenty of clips on YouTube.

    Here’s one act, which we saw when we were there, of the ladyboys ‘singing’ Nobody, by Wondergirls:

    And here’s a clip from YouTube of the official Simon Cabaret promo DVD:

    Keep in mind that all of the ladies on the stage were born men. Most of them take hormone supplements and inhibitors and have had their … junk whacked off. That’s why there’s no tell-tale bulge. There’s nothing there to bulge.

    After the show, the ladyboys all line up outside for pictures. You can stand back and grab a few shots, but if you want to get your photo taken with them, be prepared to pay. I read a blog that said the ladyboys asked for 40 baht each for photos. I should’ve checked the date. They tried to stiff us for 100 baht each. I checked the internet later and saw that was the ‘standard’ pay-off, so I didn’t feel so bad afterwards. Oh, I heard that if you’re not careful, they may just grab whatever you’re holding, so be careful how much you take out of your wallet around them.

    Here’s someone else’s video of the ladyboys lined up outside for photo ops:

    And here are some pictures I took:

  • Hanging Out on Patong Beach

    Hanging Out on Patong Beach

    It wasn’t a total loss when it came to the beach.  We couldn’t sunbathe, seeing as how it was overcast for the whole trip, but that didn’t stop me from splashing around in the ocean like a fool.  I hadn’t been to the beach since I was a little kid, so bad weather or not I was damn sure gonna take a dip!

    Luckily, my wife has a waterproof camera so I was able to get these kick-ass shots while out in the ocean.  I’m just glad none of the murky underwater photos showed a big eye or something.  That probably would’ve freaked me out.  I’m always worried about going too far out where there might be sharks and who knows what. It seems like some new weird fish from the depths of the ocean is turning up on shore and being discovered every week.

    As far as beaches go, and I’m basing this mostly on what I’ve seen on TV, Patong Beach is average.  It might be great when the sand is dry.  Also, the storms churned up a lot of the silt from the seabed along the shore so the water wasn’t very blue, except on the far right side where we were when we took these photos.

    The weather kept us from going to Phi Phi Island to check it out, which we’d planned on doing, so it looks like we have an excuse to go back.

    After I took a short dip we walked along the beach for a while and as we got closer to the middle of the bay the water turned an ugly brown and there was trash on the beach.  I can only assume that during better weather that’s kept clean for tourists.  There weren’t too many people on the beach while we were there.

    A few interesting things to note are that the beach chairs provided aren’t free.  Someone will come along and try to charge you 100 baht to sit in the chair, so just bring a beach towel.  Also, be wary of the guys renting out jet skis.  I didn’t deal with them but heard they try to rip off tourists, especially with supposed maintenance requirements at the completion of a rental.

    The last cool thing about the beach is that it’s literally right along the road.  You step off the sidewalk and onto the beach for most of its length, so when you’re done you can walk to a restaurant in just a few minutes.

  • Thais Love Animals

    Thais Love Animals

    The first time my wife and I walked around Patong looking for a place to eat we happened on a nice restaurant on a side street.  There’ll be more on that later, but when we were seated we looked around and realized that we were surrounded by cats.  It was kind of funny that the first place we would eat would be owned by a cat lover, given my wife’s love of cats.

    Ya, the cat in the last photo hopped up onto our table and had a look around.  She seemed particularly interested in the plastic bag we had carried bottled drinks around in.  The cat was very friendly so I didn’t shoo it away until it was almost time for our food to arrive.

    After seeing all of those cats we kept our eyes peeled and we saw quite few more pets and strays in the area.  Strangely, I never saw another cat.  I don’t want to make any guesses as to why that might be, but there were plenty of dogs around.  It seems like dogs are much more popular in Patong and you can see them alone or in groups roaming the streets.

    I can’t say they were the cleanest looking animals, but not a one of them was in danger of starving.  We saw places where food was put out for them and, like the guy in the last photo shows, they were given attention not just from tourists with cameras, but by locals as well.  Not a one of them ever so much as growled at us, even as we stepped around or over them, or dashed across the road behind them.

    More than anything, these dogs (and the cats from the restaurant) added flavor and liveliness to the scenery of Patong and were sometimes even a cause for a good laugh, like with the first dog pictured.  His balls are huge!

    Not all of the dogs we saw were strays, though.  There was a booth with a girl who had her dog sitting on the counter.  I don’t remember what she was trying to sell, because I wasn’t interested.  I just stopped to look at her dog.  It was friendly, and I guess very obedient.  It wasn’t leashed.  It could’ve hopped down and ran off, but it was perfectly content to just sit there and watch the tourists.

    I kinda want one for myself now.  Maybe in a few years!

  • Not Quite What We Had in Mind

    Not Quite What We Had in Mind

    Going to Phuket was something my wife and I had really been looking forward to.  We were excited about the beach and the food and whatever entertainment we could find.  We got a few suggestions from friends as well.  We started making plans well before we went, but somehow those plans wound up getting thrown out the window.

    The problem was the weather.  We booked our tickets and accommodations about a month in advance so there’s no way we could have foreseen what was going to happen, but we made the most of it.

    The trip from Singapore to Phuket was standard.  Nothing special.  It’s a short flight.  There is a time zone change of one hour, but that’s not too bad.

    When we got to the airport in Phuket we had to get past the horde of people trying to sucker us into taking a ride in an expensive taxi.  Just outside the door there were people holding laminated signs advertising their services.  Most of these guys want 600 baht.  I recommend going to the right just outside the door and walking straight until you cross a small road and are at a taxi stand.  The official airport taxis are multicolored (red/yellow I think) and have set fees and set maximum fares for destinations.  You’ll pay about 400 to 450 baht for most destinations there.  No point in letting yourself get ripped off unnecessarily.  The airport taxis are new and clean as well.

    Once we got underway I was surprised by how similar Phuket was to the Philippines.  Even the driving style was similar.  Apparently the lines on the road are just a suggestion in Thailand.  Also, when we started following the coastline the driving barely slowed, despite the severe curves and the fact that we were just a few feet from long drops down to the ocean.  At least the roads themselves were in good condition!

    Patong Beach could’ve been a town in the Philippines.

    The architecture was a bit different, but the feel of the place was similar.  It really reminded me of Antipolo.

    As for the weather, it got progressively worse.  When we first arrived it was overcast and drizzling.

    Throughout the day the rain would lighten or stop, then come down in heavy showers again.

    The second day was about the same.

    By the evening of the second day though, the rain started coming down more and more heavily and it was nonstop.  I can’t be sure but it seemed like every time I woke up that second night it was raining, and the whole third day it rained too.  About an hour before we left for the airport the streets started to flood.

    This set the tone for our trip and we spent less time on the beach (because there was no sun and the surf was rough from storms) and more time exploring the town and eating.

    Of course, we didn’t get to see everything and we’re definitely planning on going back.

    (More on Phuket tomorrow)

  • Home From Phuket

    Home From Phuket

    Last night my wife and I got in from Phuket, Thailand, safe and sound.  Somehow I was both relieved and dismayed to be back.  It’s always sad when a vacation is over!

    The trip was only three days long, but those three days were very full!  We did quite a bit, some unexpected, and we also didn’t get to do a few of the things we were hoping for.

    Without going into the details (yet), I will say that we’re planning on making a repeat visit sometime soon, after we swing by Bangkok.

    Over the next few days I’ll be posting stuff about our trip, including the accommodations, food, scenery, the beach, and… even some ladyboys.  There are some pretty good photos, so keep checking back!

  • Thai Coke Can Design

    Thai Coke Can Design