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Videogames

Ps4 hidden gem: Horizon Chase Turbo

It was quite a long time that I had not played a driving game, as lately I was more focused on Beat ’em up, Shoot ’em up or “Metroidvainia” kind of games, but oh boy! Horizon Chase Turbo has got me hooked for hours to my ps4 in the last weeks!

Developed by the Brasilian studio Aquiris, the game has a very lovely retro art style that will remind you inmediately of some famous mega classic games like the Outrun saga.

The mechanics of playing offer also some reminiscence to Outrun in the way the car drifts through the curves, the dialog boxes, etc. Being more on the side of arcade games than of a real simulation, which is fine by me, as I am a kind of player that, when playing driving games, I do not want to touch the brake button so much and just decide when to accelerate or skip the acceleration for a few seconds in a difficult curve.

The game is super addictive from start, and offers several game modes like Campaigns, Adventures, Tournaments and Endurance, but I miss some online mode to compete with other players around the world (even though I am not a great online multiplayer myself).

The soundtrack is a delight and fits perfectly with the circuits, I have some songs stuck in my head now for days, and the visual art, though is not super flashy, embeds itself perfectly in the different tracks and circuits, being beautiful but not intrusive.

Is Horizon Chase Turbo a perfect game? Far from it. The AI and balance of the rival cars sometimes plays funny, with cars accelerating too much without sense or flipping over magically or creating too much of a bottleneck on your path in certain areas. Some stages in the World Tour are almost impossible to win with a normal advancing level and you will need to return with a better unlocked car to win them over, and probably the rookie Campaign should have appear unlocked from start, cause once you play the normal campaign, it loses the appeal.

But all in all, although not being a technically flawless game and having a few bugs and design improvements that could benefit from, it is still one of the funniest and most addictive games that I have played in the last years. Sometimes I lost count of the hours I played inmersed in repeating a race again and again until winning, or thinking “ok just one more race” but playing 2 more hours instead. It is a simple but beautiful and catchy games, and I fully recommend it to you if you like driving games with a retro arcade touch.

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Antonio's blog Blogs Outside Finland Travel

The most exclusive Starbucks cafe in Bangkok with the best views

Bangkok, like any other big major cities in the world, does not lack of all kind of amazing, great and cosy cafes. You can find them all over the city in a huge variety of sizes, styles, decoration, drinks and food offer, terraces or indoors, more or less picturesque for those Instagram posts that young ladies seem to be addicted to, etc.

Of course among that variety, Starbucks chain is also present in the Thai capital (and not, this is not any sponsored post, I am writing it as a traveller’s tip cause I want to, but if anybody from Starbucks marketing is reading, I am listening for collaborations :) ).

What some of you might or might not know (I did not know until recently) is that apart from the normal Starbuck cafes that the chain spread wide all over the world, there are a few special branded Starbucks “Reserve” cafes that offer some special blends for the really coffee addicted and connoseiurs.

Although is not a roastery one, the Starbucks on the 7th floor of Iconsiam, one of the most visited and breathtaking malls in Bangkok (there is even a small artificial waterfall, similar to what you can see inside Singapore airport, inside), counts not only with the normal array of offer you can find in Starbucks, but also with the Reserve rounded section where you are able to taste some assorted selected blends from all over the world (and I think that bar section sells even alcoholic beverages, which is also you do not see in your normal Starbucks).

But apart from the drinks and food selection that you can get there, the highlight of visiting that Starbucks is that counts with an outdoors terrace space with a breathtaking view of Bangkok’s river and skyline. Bear in mind that tourists will not stop lingering around taking photos, so if what you want is a more relaxed sitting space to chat or read a book, maybe the indoors area is more for you, counting with 2 floors that accomodate clients.

Give a try to the place if you are a coffee lover or you just want to admire some amazing views of the city while losing yourself inside the huge Iconsiam mall on a shopping spree! A must see if you visit that side of the river in Bangkok!

Other great cafes in Bangkok:

A charming hidden gem cafe in Thonglor: Herringbone at Volve Hotel
New amazing cafe for lovers of sports cars opens in Bangkok Thonglor: Curvistan Bangkok
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Outside Finland Travel

One of the most beautiful Mosque in South East Asia: Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Masjid Mosque in Kuala Lumpur.

Kuala Lumpur is an exciting destination if you happen to be in South East Asia. One of the most multicultural environments you can find, where Arabic, African, Chinese, Western and Malay cultures interconnect.

Apart from its amazing malls and gastronomy, Kuala Lumpur also offers a rich cultural offer for those eager to discover it. This time we went to the outskirts of the city to visit the impressive Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Masjid mosque, which undoubtedly can be named as one of the most beautiful ones that you can find in SEA region.

The mosque is the main state mosque in Selangor and to reach it you will have to travel by car around 50 minutes – 1 hour outside of the centre of Kuala Lumpur. Luckily in the Malaysian city, services like Grab taxi work like a charm, and pretty unexpensive. A trip to the mosque and back to the city centre would cost you around 50-55 ringgit total, so around 10-12 euro. Not bad for one hour trip to go and 1 hour to return, right?

The mosque closes at 12:00 am and reopens at 14:00, so be mindful not to arrive there during lunch time, or you will have to wait for quite a bit.

Once you arrive, please remove inmediately your shoes or the ladies in the info desk will not be happy that you are stepping with shoes on. Visiting alone by yourselves is not allowed, but after a bit of waiting at the front of the building, a guide will appear and kindly will give you a free tour around the facilities.

Also be aware that being a Muslim religious site, you must wear correct attire. For men it is recommended to wear long trousers and for ladies clothes covering the legs and the shoulders, but do not worry if you did not prepare for it, cause before starting the tour, the guide will also provide appropiated clothes to cover to those that need to.

I found the visit pretty pleasant, as the guide was cheerful, funny and intelligent to explain about the building (the biggest mosque in Malaysia and the 4 minarets are some of the highest in this kind of construnction in the world). Visiting with just the guided tour means that the place was pretty empty, and you are given a lot of time and freedom to take all the pictures and videos that you wish. There is also a nice explanation of the help and services given to the local community, and you can also take some funny memory pictures in the wedding room at the basement of the building.

All in all, if you have half a day free in Kuala Lumpur, I would totally recommend visiting the mosque. Just the view from outside is breathtaking, and inside as you can appreciate in the pictures, it is a delight of architecture to be contemplated. The building was finished in 1989, so it is still very well preserved.

Discover other amazing hidden gems to explore in Asia:

Bangkok Hidden Gem: Royal Thai Air Force Museum
Bangkok hidden gem: Batcat Museum & Toys
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Articles Misc Outside Finland Travel

A charming hidden gem cafe in Thonglor: Herringbone at Volve Hotel

Thonglor is one of the upscale districts in Bangkok and one of the most vibrant ones in terms of amazing cocktail bars, restaurants, nightclubs and cafes.

However, it is not so easy to find around a cafe that counts with an outdoors terrace and offers high quality service, food and drinks.

Herringbone cafe, located at the basement of Volve boutique hotel, has been for the last years my favorite place to sit down for brunch, lunch or coffee. A total hidden gem, easy to reach just 5 minutes walking from BTS Thonglor station.

The service is great, fast and friendly and they can speak English. The coffee is tasty and the array of food is great for a fantastic brunch, with a mix offer of Western and Asian cuisines. In addition to that, the small outdoors area is very cozy and fresh with the fans that ventilate the area, and it is one of the few places left in Bangkok where smoking at the terrace is totally allowed.

Try as some highlights in the menu the amazing chocolate panacotta, the Vietnamese sandwich Bahn Mi or the Eggs Benedict. Totally yummy!

Apart from the outdoor area, you also have a comfortable, stylist and spacious indoors area in the cafe, which is also suitable for digital nomads to work, as counts with tables with electricity sockets incorporated.

Although the price is not cheap for Bangkok (most of Thonglor cafes and restaurants are more on the higher tier of prices in Bangkok), it is totally fair for the quality received, nonetheless it has become a very popular spot for young Thai local females to go there and do endless sessions of pics and selfies for their social media.

Herringbone official site: https://www.herringbonebkk.com/

Discover other hidden gems cafes in Bangkok:

A very nice new artsy cafe in Bangkok: Just a Garden
New amazing cafe for lovers of sports cars opens in Bangkok Thonglor: Curvistan Bangkok
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Videogames

PR: Annual Revenue from Esports Betting Set to Reach $2.5 Billion in 2024

The rise in the popularity of Esports has also led to an increase in betting on its events. The esports betting market might still be in its nascent stage, but it is growing at an impressive rate. According to the numbers presented by NoKyc.com, the esports betting market is set to generate $2.5 billion in revenue in 2024.

Revenue from esports betting has grown more than four-fold in six years

Esports betting is a relatively new segment in the betting market, but it has already carved out a significant market share. All prominent betting companies currently offer betting on esports events. And as the popularity of esports continues to grow, as the number of esports every year grows, one can expect the same for the market size of esports betting.

As per the latest data from Statista Market Insights, the esports betting market is set to generate around $2.5 billion in 2024. An annual revenue of $2.5 billion would represent a healthy growth of $0.4 billion from $2.1 billion generated in 2023. Thus, on a year-on-year basis, the esports betting market is expected to grow by more than 19%.

If we go further back in time, the annual revenue from esports betting stood at just $0.6 billion in 2018. The growth of annual revenue from $0.6 billion in 2018 to $2.5 billion in 2024 means that the market has grown by more than 4x in the space of six years, which is an impressive growth rate for any market. However, as per the estimates from the report, the growth in esports betting is expected to plateau a bit in the coming years.

The market is expected to grow by another 12% to $2.8 billion in 2025. Over the course of the next four years, from 2025 to 2029, the esports betting market size is expected to grow to $3.5 billion.

As things stand, the United States represent the biggest market for the esports betting industry, followed by countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, and Japan.

You can find the original story with graphs and statistics here: 

https://nokyc.com/blog/revenue-from-esports-betting-set-to-reach-2-5-billion-in-2024/

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Articles Misc Outside Finland Travel

New amazing cafe for lovers of sports cars opens in Bangkok Thonglor: Curvistan Bangkok

Thonglor is my neighborhood in Bangkok, and not being objective as I live in the area, it is one of the nicest area in Bangkok. Perfectly located and with an amazing array of cafes, cocktail bars, restaurants and excellent location to move around the city. (not cheap for Bangkok, that is the downside).

As a lover of new cafes, I was excites when I heard that a few minutes away from home, just close to the BTS exit of Thonglor station, a new amazing space just opened: Curvistan. So there I was headed to experience it in first person.

The cafe is not just a normal cafe. It is a huge area with a building and open sorrounding garden and parking that has been developed in collaboration with Porsche and the magazine Curves.

The design is therefore top notch modern, and obviously it is not lacking amazing Porsche cars, art and memorabilia related to the historical German cars brand.

Inside the building on the first floor there is a cozy and artsy cafe area with delighting drinks and food, but if you walk around to the exterior back patio, what you will find is a kind of open space sports car exhibition area, where you can find not only Porsche, but some other beautiful and exclusive cars that their owners display for the delight of the visitors there.

A secondary small open patio serves as smoking area and it is decorated with the hugest Porsche wheel you will probably ever see in your life, plus some amazing wall art specially designed for the cafe.

This is not everything. If you take the elevator to the second area, there is a very nice chilling space with more art to contemplate while you can lay down lazily in some fatboys, and some private business room that I guess can be rented for private company events and presentations in the future.

The building counts even with a 3rd floor, but when I took a peak, that was under construction, so I imagine that soon some nice space in a form of cool rooftop will be added to the venue when the works are complete.

This is one of the most interesting and beautiful cafes you will be able to visit in Bangkok. And if you are a fan of fast cars, surely is a must see in the Thai capital! It is also super easy to find, as it is right outside Thonglor BTS exit, so you can also go very comfortably in public transport there.

Curvistan Bangkok website: https://www.instagram.com/curvistanbangkok/

More amazing cafes in Bangkok:

A very nice new artsy cafe in Bangkok: Just a Garden
A Bangkok hidden gem: The Artist’s House
A great cafe in Bangkok: Adamus Cafe by the River
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Art Exhibitions Outside Finland Travel

A Bangkok hidden gem: Bangkok Dolls Museum

In the era where almost all the information is accessible in Internet in posts like this one, it is really difficult to consider a place a real “hidden gem” in a touristic city, overall if that city is Bangkok, with the huge influx of visitors, social media gurus, tourists etc that receives in yearly basics.

However, I bet you a coffee that probably you have never visited Bangkok Dolls Museum. Pretty much cause its location is not so easy to reach (I had to walk around 30 minutes from Victory Monument BTS and got a bit lost before finding its correct street, but during my path I found another small and great hidden gem park “Suan Santi Phap” that might be worthy of a separated own post). And also because their visiting hours are pretty restricted, as it opens just on Saturday mornings until 3:00pm.

Once I arrived to the house, because the museum itself is pretty much based on a couple of big rooms on the ground floor of a beautiful gated villa house, I was not even sure if the place was open. But the owner kindly opened the gates for me, and not only that, but as I was the only visitor, I had the chance to have a small private tour while he explained a bit about the history of the place.

I can say that this is one of the most charming and authentic “museums” that I have ever visited in my life. It is not big and can be visited in a few minutes, it is a bit dusty and some sections are chaotic, but it just exhales Thai tradition all over.

The museum was founded in 1956 by Tongkorn Chandavimol, a lady who became a famous doll maker after studying in Japan, even winning the International Folklore Dolls competition in Krakow (Poland). His son, a friendly a charming elder, keeps the tradition of the handmade dolls making and the place running and open to the big public every Saturday honoring the legacy of his mother. He proudly showed me the trophy that the city of Krakow gifted her as a guest as well as the prize for the competition winning.


The family’s love for traditional folklore dolls can be seen at the museum, cause apart from very beautiful displays of Thai dolls, there is also a section with pieces collected or gifted to the family from other different regions of the world, such as Russia, Spain, Finland, etc.


There is a chance also of buying some of the original dolls from the family there at the museum. These dolls were so renamed years ago that even the Royal Thai Family gifted them to foreign dignitaries when they had some official trips abroad. So although they can be a little bit more pricey than what you can find in some night market, I think that they represent a special unique souvenir to bring or gift to a loved one from Thailand, as these dolls are a part of Thai art’s history.

Bangkok Dolls Museum address:  ติดร้าน7-11 และคอนโด K J S 85 ซอยหมอเหล็ง ซอยรัชฏภัณฑ์ Makkasan, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400

Discover more Bangkok hidden gems:

A Bangkok Hidden Gem: Nai Lert Park Heritage Home
Bangkok hidden gem: Batcat Museum & Toys


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Art Exhibitions Outside Finland Travel

A very nice new artsy cafe in Bangkok: Just a Garden

Bangkok does not lack of great cafes scattered all over the city, with a great variety of flavors, decoration, food options and thematics. However, finding a cosy cafe with super friendly staff, open terrace space and that makes you feel like resting in an oasis in the middle of the chaotic city is a little bit more complicated.

In our endless hunt to explore the hidden gems that Bangkok has to offer, our path led to a recently new open cafe in Sathorn area: Just a Garden.

Mind that the place is a bit difficult to find, as it is located in a beautiful townhouse style area in a narrow street, and a good 20-25 minutes walk from the nearest bts/metro stations. But once I found it, it became instantly at first sight one of my favorite spot in the city!

As said, Just a Garden is a cafe with a big open garden style space around the building, which makes it perfect for people like me who likes sitting outside, enduring the humid heat, but having the pleasure of a smoke while reading a book or chatting with a friend. The interior walls are decorated with really nice graffiti from some artists from the Thai community.

The “artsy” feeling is also found inside the cafe building itself, as it really gives you a chilling vibe all around. You can sit comfortably in some sofa and choose a book to read downstairs while you order a drink, or you can even head to the 2nd floor, that has an amazing atmosphere to relax or even do some remote nomad work, sorrounded by cool paintings.

I had the chance to chat a bit with the owner, a very nice guy half Thai/German and his partner, and they transmitted me their desire to create this chill space where people could feel comfortable and escape from the city. They also seem to organize different workshops and events there, so it is not only a nice cafe but also a small cultural hotspot.

If all what I said before still did not convince you to give it a try, I must say in full honesty that the ice caramel latte that I ordered was one of the most delicious one that I tasted in Bangkok, and this is coming from a Spaniard for whom coffee is almost a religion! :) Fantastic, I hope other beverages in their menu are as tasty as that one I tried!

I will definitely go back to Just a Garden, as it is a place that has everything I dream of when I want to relax in a cafe: friendly staff, chilled vibe, amazing outdoor and indoor space and a cultural vibe.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention 2 more important details: first is that their opening hours are really friendly, as they open most days until 8, 9 or 10pm, opposite to other cafes in Bangkok that are closing around 5 or 6 pm, and secondly is that they also sell craft beers! So you can decide to use the place as a chilled place for caffeine or tea, or as a more social spot where to enjoy some quality beers with friends.

Cafe address: 68 Chan 28, Thung Wat Don, Sathon, Bangkok 10120

You can follow the activities and menu offered in Just a Garden at their official website: https://www.justagarden.com/

For other amazing cafes and hidden gems in Bangkok, please check:

A Bangkok hidden gem: The Artist’s House
A great cafe in Bangkok: Adamus Cafe by the River
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Outside Finland Travel

A Bangkok Hidden Gem: Nai Lert Park Heritage Home

If you have visited or lived in Bangkok for a while, you probably have stopped around Central Embassy mall area, a very busy location in the heart of the Thai capital with easy access to some of the best malls and excellent food choices.

But for many, me included until now, it could escape that just a short walk away there is literally an oasis waiting for you to be discovered in the middle of the jungle of concrete that Bangkok can be: Nai Lert Park Heritage Home.

The location is really a hidden gem in the capital, as it is very near from Phloen Chit BTS station, but its access is somehow not so visible unless you specifically look for the place.


What you will find is a very beautiful green park area, taken excellent care of by gardeners and staff, with very cosy cafes and restaurants at its edge to enjoy a relaxed brunch. The park itself is home to the cottage huge house style of the Lert Park Family and the gift to the city inherited from Lert Park, a successful Thai businessman who owned this land area, where you can see publicly displayed some of the pieces of the family collection, such as a beautiful classic Fiat car or some leisure boats docked by the artificial lake around the villa.

In front of the dock where the boats are anchored, there is a tiny but very cosy cafe with a fantastic terrace that offers some traditional coffee (I tried the black coffee with egg, similar to what you can taste in neighboring Vietnam) and food, that has become instantly one of my favorite spots in the city if you want to seat to chill reading a book.


The Home-Museum offers guided tours, but when I visited it, I did not know that you cannot buy the ticket on the spot and you need to book beforehand in their website or by phone, but maybe some other day I will venture to do it, as the price is quite affordable.


In addition, on one side of the park, you can also contemplate a really curious scene as in front of your eyes they will appear huge carved figures shaped like a penis. Yes, you heard right. The shrine displays a wide array of penises figures in different shapes. As this park is also the new location (before it was located nearby in other spot) for the Chao Mae Tuptim Shrine, a very special shrine to honor fertility and the female spirit.


So next time you are around Central Embassy mall area, walk a few minutes and give it a try to spend a few minutes wandering around this park, I can assure you that you will be delighted by the peace, beauty and delicious culinary tastes to make a small break from the big city, still being at the hart of the city.

Nai Lert official website to book tickets for a guided tour: https://nailertgroup.com/th

Other hidden gems in Bangkok:

A Bangkok hidden gem: The Artist’s House
Bangkok Hidden Gem: Royal Thai Air Force Museum
Bangkok hidden gem: Batcat Museum & Toys
Categories
Art Features Outside Finland Travel

A Bangkok hidden gem: The Artist’s House

Maybe not so hidden gem after all, as the location receives a relatively fair amount of tourists and visitors, specially at weekends, but still located off the beaten track in Bangkok, you can find the picturesque Artist’s House located inside Bang Chak Temple Community area, a place that can also be visited in some of the Bangkok channel water tours that are offered in any tourist agency.

The Artist’s House is an old style wooden house reconverted into a cafe and cultural area, and its original decoration plus the beautiful views close to the water channel and some beautiful temples make it a desired destination to run away from other more busy parts of Bangkok and expect a few hours taking some beautiful pics and walking on parallel to the channel.

During my visit, I could see how some courses for painting and for handicraft are performed, so it is a good place to awake your artsy side. You can also buy some handicrafts souvenirs, and taste some delicious coffee while sitting close to some quaint sculpture. The cafe also counts with a second floor where paintings from local artists are displayed, and that also counts with a workshop area. If you get hungry during your visit there are some places around the cafe selling typical Thai food.

To reach the place is not easy so maybe a taxi or bike taxi ride can help. But it is also possible to go with public transportation if you go to metro stop Bang Phai in the metro blue line (it will take you around 30 minutes from Sukhumvit/Asoke station) and then walk along some narrow streets for around 15 minutes. Remember if the weather is very hot to do some stops to buy water as you could feel easily dehydrated with the humid heat of the Thai capital.

If you are planning to have a long stay in Bangkok or you live here, I fully recommend to go to explore this place one day. It is original, it is beautiful and it is also a delight for taking cute pics for your social media.

Artist’s House FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/BaanSilapin/

Other amazing places in Bangkok:

A great cafe in Bangkok: Adamus Cafe by the River
Bangkok hidden gem: Batcat Museum & Toys
10 Great tips for a date in Bangkok
Categories
Art Exhibitions Features Outside Finland Travel

798 And 751’s Merger Makes It the Largest Art and Creative Industry Cluster in China

798 Art District and 751 D·Park, two of Beijing’s most iconic cultural industry parks, have announced their merger, a move set to enhance the city’s cultural landscape. This merger will provide larger venues for cultural events, enabling visitors to move seamlessly between the two parks without barriers. The “Summer Rhythm” event in August was directly benefited from this collaboration, highlighting the advantages of the merger by bringing together art institutions and commercial entities in both parks to boost the local nightlife scene.

"Summer Rhythm" Event Poster

“Summer Rhythm” Event Poster

Tracing back to June 25, 2024, when Beijing Electronics Holdings Co., Ltd. hosted an inaugural meeting to launch the Culture and Technology Platform in Beijing, plans were unveiled to merge the spaces, brands, and resources of 798 and 751, with the aim of creating a world-leading platform that integrates culture and technology. This initiative seeks to harness technological innovation to fuel cultural creativity and drive urban growth through cultural development.

Over more than two decades, the 798 Art District has emerged as a hub for contemporary art in China, while 751 D·Park has set a benchmark in fashion design. Despite their shared industrial heritage, each park has developed distinct cultural characteristics.

798 Art District on weekend

798 Art District on weekend

The newly merged parks will form the largest art and creative industry cluster in China, spanning over 500,000 square meters and hosting more than 600 entities. These include a diverse range of industries such as visual art, design, music, film and theater, media, technology, fashion, automobiles, architecture, and culinary arts. Following the merger, the 798-751 complex will further enhance its infrastructure to enrich Beijing’s public cultural activities.

Drama Summer - Beijing Drama Carnival Event Scene

Drama Summer – Beijing Drama Carnival Event Scene

Like the “Summer Rhythm”, a series of events including the 798 International Art Season, Drama Summer – Beijing Drama Carnival, 798 Art Festival, and the 751 Tech-Culture Festival will be held in the second half of 2024 with the doubled power. In the near future, multiple events in 798-751 will dramatically boost cultural consumption, inject innovative energy into the cultural industry, and establish the area as a cultural tourism destination in Beijing, recognized for its “International Vision, Art Leadership, Fashion Consumption, and Industrial Heritage.”

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Blogs FREE! Blog

The good, the bad and the ugly of living in Bangkok

Living in Thailand was never my dream. I had visited here as a tourist some years ago, and I enjoyed it a lot, but it never crossed my mind living here permanently.

But life takes unexpected paths, and after 1 year living in Singapore during Covid time, I got a nice professional offer to settle in Bangkok that I could not refuse. At that time, with uncertainty about the future due to Covid, I thought that Thailand would be a nicer place, as at least it was allowed traveling inside its borders, than staying in small Singapore with all the strict rules set at that time in the country.

Now, almost 3 years later, I think I passed the honeymoon period when you arrive to a new place and I am more objective to judge the good and bad things of living in the Thai capital. Do not get me wrong, in general I love living here and I would recommend it to anyone. Bangkok is an amazing vibrant city where there is so much life, so much to explore, so many choices of entertainment and cuisine for all kind of pockets… But there is obviously no perfect place in the world, right? This is coming from a person who has lived in 6 different countries during his 44 years of life. So here comes my personal list of “The good, the bad and the ugly of living in Bangkok”:

The Good

-If you like city life, you are going to love Bangkok. Its city centre is always bursting with people and whatever hobbies and passions you have, there will be a good chance to find it here: you can play petanque in some French restaurant, or trivial, or retro videogames in some retro bar, you have hundreds of gyms with all kind of sports to practice, hackathons for developers, culinary courses, golf, etc etc etc


-You always have something new to discover: from some of the most beautiful temples in the world, and the temples themselves have a wide variety of decorations, architecture, etc, to huge night markets, food courts, malls with famous brands, indoor cafes, outdoor cafes with cosy patios, bars, restaurants, parks, museums, art galleries, rooftops, hidden cocktail bars, traditional boat tours around the city channels… the list is endless.

-A paradise for foodies and Instagram addicted: Thai food is exquisite and you can already get crazy tasting all what Thailand has to offer in restaurants and night markets or street food vendors (which by the way are in general quite safe to try, do not be scared to buy food from the streets). But you can find restaurants and craft beer bars to taste the flavors from all over the world: Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French, Italian, Indian food… You can easily spend years in this city just on culinary adventures, and if you are too lazy to go out of home, services like Grab Food bring it to your door.

-It is quite a safe city to roam: this is a question that I get asked a lot when I visit Europe back, if Bangkok is dangerous. I can say that I feel pretty safe here, and I think for solo male and female travelers is also super safe. Of course no place is a paradise of peace, and exceptional crime cases happen sometimes, but with the huge amount of visitors in the city, that falls into anecdotic. Take into account that the Thai get money from tourists, so it is not in their interest to create bad reputation or problems, and in general they are chilled and easy going people. If you behave politely back and do not visit very shady bars, you will be pretty safe to walk wherever you want in the city without any risk.

-The rental prices: Your money stretches a bit farther here, and even when Bangkok is the most expensive city in Thailand, you can still rent amazing condo apartments for much less than it would cost in many other parts of the world, or even in some other Asian cities like Singapore or Hong Kong. Besides, most condos count with great facilities like swimming pool and gym and with security. Bangkok is so safe that the packages delivered are left in the lobby of the buildings, and nobody steals anything from you.

The Bad

-Traffic is pretty terrible in rush hour and you can literally get stuck for long time not moving anywhere, so you will have to learn when is worthy to use public transportation instead of a taxi. Luckily, Bangkok counts with a great network of sky rail, called BTS, and Metro. The price of taxis are pretty cheap, specially if you want to go with bike taxi, but I personally detest the motorbike taxis as they ride too aggressively and I feel always in tension, so I prefer the cars. Also take into account that traffic accidents happen often, so I would still recommend to take a car taxi instead of risking some more serious trouble with a bike.

-You can walk around Bangkok, but mind that is a city not friendly in general for walking around. You will sweat a lot with the humid heat and if you get out of the main avenues, many streets have literally no sidewalks and you just have to carefully walk on the side while cars and bikes pass by a few centimeters from you. Also the sidewalks themselves are full of traps, with posts, cables, holes… so you really need to be on the moment concentrated when you walk around and not lost in thought or checking your phone, as you can end up with a twisted ankle or a broken leg. Also, forget about using a bicycle to move around the city, there is no infrastructure for it and you would be risking your life sold in the crazy traffic.

-Thai language is a difficult language to learn, due to its difficult intonation that can change the meaning of the words. If you live in Thailand for long time but you cannot speak Thai, you will always be seen as a tourist passing by. This might not feel like a great problem, but when you are walking in busy areas and you live in the city, you can feel a bit annoyed by the tuk tuk drivers offering you rides, the massage parlour’s girls offering you massage, the taxi drivers asking you in what hotel you stay (even if you have a permanent residence in the city), etc. If you are foreigner, you will always be considered a tourist here. Plus the English language level of the local people is quite poor, so that can create a barrier to make friendships and understand the people around.


-If you are a person who values efficiency, Bangkok and Thailand in general might get a bit on your nerves. Here many things are planned or done randomly, waitress can mess up your order, bureaucracy might be more complicated than what you think, deadlines at work are not considered as final deadlines, a simple thing to fix does not get fixed… take it with humor and go with the flow, as the locals do.

The Ugly

-As a foreigner, many times Thais will expect you to pay more than the locals for the same services: taxi drivers might ask you double the usual fare price, tuk tuk drivers will try to scam you, the waitresses in many bars will be quite pushy for you to order more and more and more… As I commented in the good things section, Thailand is safe, but you still are seen as a potential source of income and money, so you will have to deal with it with patience and humor, and do not be afraid to say no when you think that the price is unfair.

-Thailand has been always advertised as the land of smiles, but sadly the reality is that Bangkok and many other touristic areas of the country suffer such a massive tourism that the “kind soul” of the citizens has got a bit lost. Do not get me wrong, Thais in general are still friendly and easy going, but you will be seen in many places just as a dollar bill with legs. You are tolerated in the country as far as you leave money spent here, but you are not deeply loved. Better assume that.

-The sex services are all around and is hard to escape from them. That is the reality. Even if you are a single male with good intentions just wanting to date normal girls, the online dating apps are full of freelancers or women who see you as an economical mean for a better life to support her, the children from previous relations and her family. And that is not mentioning the thousands of ladyboys that will try their luck with you too… If you are into that kind of partner, good for you, but I am not.

Of course there are normal high quality women in Bangkok, but you will have to filter hard to find them. Do not come with a naive illusion that all ladies will shower you with free attention here, because in many scenarios, love comes with a money price, and even going on a “normal date” will imply you as male taking care of the bills.

For female foreign residents, they also complain that is hard to find quality men as they do not see Asian men masculine enough, but western men are often busy with Asian ladies…

So yeah, the transactional side of dating in Bangkok is a side that I do not enjoy at all.

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Videogames

Hidden Gems for Ps4: Ender Lilies

Coming out this month for free on August 2024 in Playstation Store for the basic subscription was one game that I had been hearing about during some time and really wanted to purchase: Ender Lilies.

Though lately my taste has been trying to collect more physical copies of Ps4, this was an opportunity that I could not pass on (taking into account that 80% of the games that PS Store gives away with the subscription tend to be rubbish or mediocre, but from time to time they throw some gem like this or Streets of Rage 4) so I instantly started to play it after downloading it.

Now, after around 10 hours of gameplay (the full game to be completed as I did research online takes around 20-25 hours), I can say that this game is really a delight.

In its concept is a “Metroidvainia” game style, but the art and design of characters and scenarios are some of the most beautiful and exquisite I have seen on screen for a long time. Captivating atmosphere, not mentioning also an amazing music, I have had all day the music from some of the stages ringing on the background of my head.

The difficulty is hard but fair, and rewards a bit of tactics grinding some resources to enhance your weaponry. There is a vast map to explore and a wide array of enemies, and you will need to practice for a while until you master the best way to clear the path. The final bosses are quite tough when you advance in gameplay and I died multiple times, but really rewarding when you finally beat them. And you feel a special excitement anytime a new area/screen on the game is uncovered. The fast traveling in any of the saving checkpoints makes it also much more easier to explore around.

Although the artistic tone is different, I have been finding some similarities in style of play and in the toughness but excitement of defeating bosses with another jewel for ps4 that I completed last year: Tails of Iron, another game that can be considered as a great hidden gem. If you enjoy Ender Lilies, you will probably enjoy that one as well.

So is Ender Lilies recommended? Definitely yes! Just the art and design itself is worthy a try, but the more you advance in the game, the more you will feel motivated to lock hours of gameplay and discover more areas. I think that most of videogames fans will enjoy this, unless you are one that prefers easy games, cause Ender Lilies is definitely rewarding but not easy.

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Articles Misc Music Outside Finland Travel

A great cafe in Bangkok: Adamus Cafe by the River

Bangkok is not lacking in quantity and quality of amazing cosy cafes, although in the concrete jungle that the Thai megalopolis is, sometimes might be a bit difficult to find the combination of a beautiful cafe that gives you a peaceful and relaxed view and environment.

In our continuous exploration to find the best hidden gems of the Thai capital, we came across Adamus Cafe by the River. A beautiful cafe where you can sit outside just on the shoreline of Chao Phraya River, but hide from the buzz of noise and people of the city.

Mind that the cafe is not easy to find, as it is a little far from the city centre. If you choose to go there by public transport, you will have to take the Metro Blue Line to Bang Phlat (around 40 minutes ride from Asoke/Sukhumvit station) and then walk for another 10/15 minutes.

The entrance when you reach nearby is also not so easy to spot. Your best reference is the big Lotus supermarket. Cross the ground floor and go to the backside where a huge parking space is. Once there, continue walking opposite direction from the supermarket to the river. At the bottom of the parking area, you will see the entrance to the cafe.

Once you have completed this small “treasure hunt”, you will be rewarded with a cafe that owns some of the nicest views from the terrace from all Bangkok. The river on one side and a very cute small garden/terrace. If the weather is too hot, you can of course shelter yourself inside the cafe building.

The food options are nice but bear in mind that they only serve “Halal” food. I tried some Indian cuisine with Samosa and a curry plate, and a caramel ice latte. Honestly, I was expecting the food to be a bit more tasty. I think it can be considered average, but nothing super yummy. When you go there, you mainly pay for the location and view. Still worthy.

At the entrance of the cafe you will also find some amazing cute details: a foosball table if you are up for a quick match and a zone that resembles a vintage garage, with some vintage Mercedes cars and motorbikes. All very picturesque and “instagrammable”, both the entrance and the river side of the cafe.

Cafe page: https://www.facebook.com/Adamuscafe

Interested in more Bangkok hidden gems? Check:

10 Great tips for a date in Bangkok

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Antonio's blog Blogs Videogames

Retro videogames prices in 2024. Speculation or normal?

One of my new hobbies during the last 3 years has been collecting retro-videogames. I consider videogames an important part of my life, as during my professional career I have worked with a couple of the biggest videogame companies out there in the world, EA and Ubisoft. It also brings a lot of nostalgia, as my first consoles were the Atari 2600 and the Sega Mega Drive. And Bangkok indeed is surprisingly a good place to collect, as it receives a fair amount of material from Japan with a decent price, sometimes with a really bargain price.

So during these years, I have been an avid consumer of material, specially on some specialized Youtubers collectors, as I wanted to learn more about the best games, the prices, the places to find good games, etc.
One recurring topic that comes again and again in the talks about collecting retro videogames is about the speculation. There seem to be a lot of polemic, and a fair amount of buyers, who are not happy with the current increase of prices in most of the retro platforms.

So is there really a problem? This is obviously my personal opinion, and you are welcome to disagree, so here is my take on the topic:

Videogames were never cheap. I was born in 1980, and when we had our first consoles (atari, NES, Master System, Megadrive, Super Nintendo) having own games was a treasure. You needed to save money for many months, or wait for a special occasion like a birthday or Christmas to get a new game. Nobody, except some children in families with a lot of money, had a collection bigger than what you could count with the fingers of one or two hands. What we used to do a lot was renting videogames during a weekend in the videoclubs. So taking that into account, it is still pretty incredible that a wide selection of those games can still be purchased 30 years later for 20/30/40/50 euro per unit.

Then there are a bunch of games whose price has already risen to the hundreds or even thousands of euro. Is that bad? Well I think that in the end it just applies a simple rule of offer and demand, like in any other area where people collect things, such as coins, music vinyls, stamps, etc etc. Some of those games were not produced in highly amount of units and therefore are difficult to find nowadays. You need to add that many of the original owners of those games were children that just wanted to play. Most of the original owners never cared much about the perfect conservation of their games, therefore countless boxes and manuals were thrown to the garbage. Add that to the idea that 30 years ago nobody thought that these items would be valuable, so it was very normal just to give your old console and games away to friends, relatives or they could perfectly end up in the garbage cans when the mothers were doing some spring cleaning in the house.

So why people complain about speculation? Well cause complaining is free. Of course everybody would love to have a vast collection with those amazing jewels per system per 5 euro the unit, but the reality of the market dictates that when an article is valuable and scarce, the price will increase as there will be some people always eager to pay more for an item. I do not think there is any secret conspiracy theory of collectors and companies storing secretly thousand of games for decades so just the prices increase. It is just how the market works with any other collecting item. And I think we are still very lucky to be able to buy and create great collections without spending a fortune.

Also, bear in mind that there are a lot of different ways of collecting retro games, and they are all valid. There is no particular rule, there is no official guideline. A collection is a personal choice, and the most important thing is to make you happy: some people are ok collecting only cartridges, some people want the CIB (Complete In Box) version with cartridge, manual and original box, some people pay a lot of attention to having the game in an inmaculate perfect state and some do not care, some people want to buy a game sealed and just put it on exhibition on the shelf… Remember, it is your collection, so just do what satisfies you more instead of trying to copy some famous Youtubers. You do not need to pay hundreds of euros for a perfect copy of a game to enjoy the hobby. And if you want to pay it, you are free to do it, but remember that the hobby should not create a problem in the economy of your life, as some people can go crazy and even get into money loans to buy games that cannot afford otherwise.

Also remember that at the end of the day, they are just physical items that are not needed as basics in your life. Nowadays you can play most of retro games in emulators, so you do not neccessarily need to buy the original games to enjoy the core of the hobby itself, that is no other than playing and enjoying the games. I collect games cause part of the fun is to search, compare prices, learn and the satisfaction when you find a great addition to your catalogue. But also do not get mistaken, if I would ever have the economical need, I would not hesitate to sell part or the whole of my collection if the shit hits the fan.

Meanwhile, enjoy this beautiful hobby, both if you are an old collector or you are just starting in the hobby. Be patient doing your purchases, and remember that, like in everything else in life, it is impossible to have it all. So just be happy and satisfied with what you have. When your collection grows too big, then you will probably not have even the free time to play to everything you wanted to.