Isan Fam Trip - Nakhon Ratchasima (Minister of Tourism likes me!)

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Beauty of Thailand.

colorful delight


Full of vibrant colors.

pink and white delights


Uniquely Thai.

pink silk


There's nothing more fascinating than watching Thai people sit at a machine and with utmost efficiency, produce silk.

handmade silk


Trust me. I had a go at it. I was clumsy as a monkey with rubic cube.

The most I could manage with sewing is wheeling strings.

spinning string


We were finally approaching Nakhon Ratchasima, the most south west corner of Isan province. Not forgetting to stop by a traditional handmade silk factory to become the victims of these tourist traps.

sitting in a thai house
Traditional Thai house and all


But it was as educational as every other handmade silk factory I've been to this year across Indo-China (5 and counting) none-the-less.

Sitting in the bus got as habitual as it could get.

cam whore with cap


That's the good and bad thing (mostly bad) about a scheduled tour trip: there's never enough walking, too much eating, and no tan (yay!).

cam whore
hot sun? no problem. sunglasses enough.


Anyway, it was to be our fourth day. So we decided to be sophisticated for a day and visited a fossil museum set in Nakhon Ratchasima, following the silk factory.

museum in nakorn ratchasima


The lady researcher here is a pretty and young 27 year old PHD holder, who took it in her hand to guide us through the museum in her very thai English.

fossil museum in nakorn ratchasima


Inside the museum, we hugged some fossilised wood. Or fossil wood.

fossil tree hugger


group photo with fossil wood


Which was basically a log of wood turned to stone after centuries of burial deep underground.

posing with a fossil log


Posed with some elephants.

me posing with elephant fossil
fossil elephant bones


ancient four tusk elephant
Have you ever seen a four-tusked elephant?


four-tusk elephants painting


posing at the museum cave
Elephant cave?


Kissed some giant lizards.

kissing mini t-rex


me kissing Brachiosaurus


O o.. let me tell you a bit about dinosaurs.

Here above, is what I assume to be a Brachiosaurus, judging from the size, since it's not as big as a Argentinosaurus. Whom all belonged to the sauropod dinosaur family - largest dinosaurs known.

The big lizard reached 25 meters in length and could raise its head as tall as 13 metres.

measuring height with dinosaur


i am 170cm
I'm 170cm thank you.


Means... I can barely reach its hind leg with my height.

hugging dinosaur leg
I can hug its leg though.


Okay, enough about lizards. They taste like chicken btw.

We then checked into our hotel at Dusit Princess. A rather swanky hotel in Nakhon Ratchasima.

my room key


room of dusit princess


cam whore in dusit princess
Cam whore in the room


Changed, and went back up the bus. Sigh. Bus again.

me sitting on the bus


That night, the local Tourism representatives had all medias gathered at the central to pass us some welcoming awards,

receiving award


me with the award
Looks like an oversized chatukam to me (chatukam is a thai buddism symbolic piece)


for every country,

standing with award receivers from other countries


and brought us around town on a tram while their tour guide spoke away in broken English.

the rest of the group


nakorn ratchasima


me with orkid ring


There wasn't much deep impressions I have on of Nakhon Ratchasima except it's a quiet small town, secluded, a bit like Chiang Mai (North Thailand) and Melaka (South Malaysia).

We ended the night with a nice simple Thai dinner and a stroll down the smallest night bazaar I've been in Thailand.

However, the next day was a big day for us. It was the FORUM day.
Yep, the forum was what all these media/fam trips were about. It's where all the medias gathered and have a massive discussion (like 2000 ppl in a hall) under one roof with the representatives of TAT Thailand.

So I put on my sunday best on the fifth day morning.

me at forum event


Put on my name tag.

my name tag


Which proudly beared the title: Blogger. I bet I was the blogger in the entire hall man~ Phewwit.

The thing about introducing yourself as a blogger to a whole bunch of professional journalists and top travel agents around the world, is that, you will receive two types of reactions.

Let me explain.

Reaction 1
Journalist A: Which publication do you work for?
Me: I'm a blogger.
Journalist A: Ooo... Okay.

note: journalist A dragged the O. Which signified that he's either unsure what to react. These are people who usually are sceptical towards new media people like us, or they have never heard something as ridiculous as having a blogger as a media before. Yep~


Reaction 2
Journalist B: Which publication do you work for?
Me: I'm a blogger
Journalist B: OOO... Wow. *continue on with questioins as to how we earn money and such*

note: instead of dragging his O... he emphasizes it, making a loud OOOOOO sound. This sort of reaction is a positive reaction, which means my answer intrigues him. He's interested, probably heard about us before, and finally have met one, or two in real life. Communication channel therefore established.

I enjoy both reactions. They entice me to understand more of how people nowadays perceive bloggers.


Okay. Back to where I was. After the forum, the Minister of Sports and Tourism arrived for the press conference. Which I was supposed to attend, but seeing that I was not exactly a JOURNALIST, I self exempted the conference. LOL

minister arriving


But by god I have to tell you, the Minister of Sports and Tourism Thailand, H.E. Weerasak Kowsurat, is one FINE GOOD LOOKING CHAP.

He's young for a minister, early 40's I presumed, HARVARD graduate. And has a smile that can charm the whole world. Very well groomed at all times.

This was the second time I saw him, but the first time in such close proximity.

minister of sports and tourism thailand


And you know. I saw him glancing my way several times! OMG. He totally made my heart skipped several beats.

I tell you, I was 100% sure that every time I flashed my camera up at him for a photo, he would glance my way. And no matter how long I took to actually snap the photo, he won't look away till I put down my camera and gave him a nod indicating I have taken his photo and a gesture to thank him!

minister looking at my camera


He was such a sweetheart OKAY! OMG. I was so totally in love with him.

Hey, I'm a travel addict, he's the minister of tourism. Like elo? Can you not see the click?


The best was yet to come. That night, we were to have our final grand dinner at a Khmer historial temple. (hey Richard, what was the place called again?)

khmer wat


group photo for final dinner


It was an ingenius idea. Though I was a bit distressed about exploiting such ancient and sacred historical place and turn it into a public dining area with performance and such, I could not deny this was their best selling point. It has provided a complete cultural indulgence to its visitors, a true introduction of the Thai culture, through food, location and performance. It was perfect.

dinner setting at khmer wat


khmer temple performance


ang mo eating thai food


me at VIP seatings
We were the VIPs. Ho Ho Ho~ Got people come and serve us one~


me at dinner
Pinky from Keris Travel gave me her flowers as my hair deco


Nice or not my hair? I curl it with a heat-thong that cost me 70 baht only. :D

left side look


dinner dress self cam whore


Back to dinner and performance.

The dance was breathtaking. The best I have ever witnessed. Considering that I have seen a lot of Thai cultural dance in my travel expeditions, being blown away to such extend was a first.

ladies line dance


The choreography was excellent. Dancers were like swans, delicate yet graceful. Every single movement, hand gestures, postures were trained to close to perfection.

thai female dancers


The synchronized dance, were, well, very synchronized!

thai line dance


The presentation and costume? Beautiful.

final performance


The ending? Grand.

fireworks


O.. did I mention that I was sitting on the floor (since the VIPs were all front area floor instead of tables set up all the way behind and below stage platform) next to the minister group! ^^ (OMG I was such a fan girl)

He stood among the performers at the end for all media to take photograph. And guess what?!

thailand minister of sports and tourism


He looked at me again!!! There were a LOT of people crowding in to take photograph, journalists from all around the world, random people who just want to partake in the shooting frenzy too, and TAT representatives of all countries who just have to have this final photo of the trip cramped up at the front to take a shot of the minister. YET!

minister looking at me


HE LOOKED AT ME!!


Not ONCE!

EVERY SINGLE TIME!

minister looking at me again


See, there again! It's no mistake. Everyone was looking everywhere else but he looked at me!!!

Ooooo.. I thought my heart fluttered like nobody's business that day.

I got so excited I was even among the first to run where he stood to take a photo with the performers.

me with thai performers


And you know what. That night, I finally plucked up enough courage to walk up to Minister H.E. Weerasak Kowsurat, and


and...



and....




asked for a photograph.

me and the minister of sports and tourism


What? You thought I was going to propose to him?

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23 kissed Nicole

  1. you are so cute Nicole. hehe, but if i were u i probably would fall in *love* with such a kind handsome minister too.
    also, ur accessories totally resonance with ur white dress, which made u stand out so much! like an angel~~

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  2. You look stunning girl..No wonder the minister cant take away his eyes on you.. ;-p

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  3. I noticed in your pictures, you've been wearing color contacts. They look really good on you. I am just wondering what color and brand are the contacts, if you don't mind sharing. Thanks

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  4. i just laugh reading this entry ! ^__^ very good post ! waaa nicole, what a trip ... n sheesh u v tall girl n preety ahemmm of course the minister kept looking at u like elo ^__^

    love ur contact lens ... nice color. nicole, why dont u visit the states. will show u around seattle

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  5. This is so wrong, the dining at Khmer historical temple with Thai performance... so very wrong...T_____T

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  6. hahaha..keep up the humor & the beautiful pics / info. as well.....

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  7. Of course the minister will look at you.
    You are so damn pretty and beautiful.
    Too powderful to resist.
    Lol.

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  8. No, personally I actually thought you are going to get laid with him and give him a good shagging. :)

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  9. should have asked if he was married yo....pffft.. there goes your chance

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  10. hahahah cool!
    If that minister wanna take you to be his wife, would you accept ?

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  11. you are really hillarious and funny, can't stop laughing after reading this.....you should be a comedian or talk show host...better than Haris Iskandar, I'm sure...keep it up Nicole!!!

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  12. hahaha! u made me remember all d gud all days i had ;)

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  13. I'm so proud of you dear!
    And I can't stop smiling reading the word, "I'm A Blogger".

    It reminds me of the group in Facebook. Lol... Yes. I'm proud to be a blogger!
    :D

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  14. You've been to most parts of Thailand as a sponsored travel blogger. But I wonder whether you can communicate with the locals there in their own language. Do you speak thais or even a smattering of it in the course of interacting with the thai people? Have not heard you mention about the language barrier? Of course, the Thai people understand and speak English especially in Bangkok, Chiangmai and other tourist spots such as Phuket.

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  15. look really nice in the white dress...a sexy godess but yet demure looking

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  16. LOL! I really laughed at those photos where u mentioned the minister was looking at yr way ....

    and bloggers will rise up in due time

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  17. Nicole the way you dress that night no wonder the minister look at you. Compare to others that night, your dressing already stood out.

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  18. now that's massive recognition you got there!!

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  19. You both look like a cute couple. Hehe.. And you guys are mirroring each others pose in the last picture.

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  20. Go for it Nicole! it's so fortunate to be a minister's half. if u happened to see those Ministers' wives went travelling abroad with their entourage....u'll be really amazed. It's especially so for those from your country :P

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  21. must be a bit 'teh' lah..then he falls to you..

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  22. To be a Thai you have very clear eyes! Beautiful!

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  23. hi nicole, wow, dat temple sure looks like Angkor Wat, and for a moment i thought we might have bumped into each other, coz i was there jz last week, fantastic relic, anyways, take care there, cheers :)

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