Steve Kean ain’t going anywhere and he is happy in Brunei

You may have heard about the ongoing rumours on goal.com where Steve Kean was rumoured to make a move to Thailand Premier League club but the news were all false and DPMM FC head coach has assured the management and fans of DPMM FC that he is staying put. In yesterday’s interview, he dismissed claim and he shared that these kinda of rumours or football news are pretty common during his reign in the English Premier League years.

Kean shared that he never been in contact with any other club and he believed that such news could be a deliberate act to disrupt the momentum of DPMM FC who are leading the pack with a 7 point cushion. However, that lead could be shortened to just four points as S•League chasers Warriors FC beat DPMM FC at Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Singapore. A win for DPMM FC will surge them 10 points ahead of the pack.

Steve Kean did mention that the four games (Albirex, Warriors, Home and Tampines) are the biggest matches within this two weeks. Victories in all these matches, according to Kean, will determine the course of their season. The return of Boris Raspudic is a major boost for DPMM FC but defender Aziz Tamit was ruled of tonight’s game through a minor ankle injury. The other worry for DPMM FC tonight is three of their import players Rodrigo Tosi, Roberto Alviz and Roy O’Donovan are one yellow card away from being suspended. So it’s important on the intensity of the match the players will play tonight.

Will the RT combo strike force of Roy and Tosi bring another crucial away points tonight and increase their winning streak to 8? We shall find out tonight when Warriors FC (2) takes on DPMM FC (1) at Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Singapore.

 

I’ve been to Bangkok quite a few times but this was my first familiarisation trip organised by Royal Brunei Airlines and Tourism Authority of Thailand and I’m very fortunate and privilege to be part of this experience. Whatever you see in the news about the political situation in Thailand doesn’t reflect what I saw with my own eyes in Bangkok. Business is as usual and perhaps what we read in the papers or online only affects a tiny portion of the country. Even with the recent martial law by The Royal Thai Army, everything is still going as usual.

I have to thank Royal Brunei Airlines for the opportunity and our ground handler (Richard, Pinky, Nora and Melissa) for helping us throughout the 5 days experience. We had two night stay at Hua Hin and two night stay at Bangkok and I learnt quite a lot of things that Thailand has to offer.

I will share some pictures of my recent adventure in Thailand and there will be more of them in my later post. Thank you once again for the opportunity. I would really love to explore more places in Thailand for sure.

The hotel that we stayed in Hua Hin was Amari Hua Hin and the prices are quite competitive as well. I was just checking on booking.com and you can get a good deal for less than BND 300 for two nights. That’s a great deal indeed.

The rooms are pretty spacious and I kinda enjoyed my stay at Amari Hua Hin. I regretted not to have swam in the main pool but then again, there’s always next time 😀 For you info, Hua Hin is about 300km or 3 hours from Bangkok. You will be surprised to see how they offer great rates as I was checking on booking.com. The prices do vary but the current one that I check is estimated below BND 300 for two nights. Awesome deal!!

It’s a ten minute drive to the Hua Hin City and night market and it has great facilities and I would recommend the Amari Hua Hin if you happen to drop by this area. I also like jogging at Hua Hin since it’s not that heavy of a traffic as compared to Bangkok. The hotel is not far from the beach shoreline but beaches in Brunei are much better.

Highly recommend the Amari Hua Hin

The rooms are spacious and lots of amenities and of course, free wifi

The reception area of Amari Hua Hin. Taken from their website.

The exterior view of Amari Hua Hin. Taken from their website.

Chatsila Night Market. It is located in a small square though it was quite a fair walk around. Inside the square, they sell cheap clothes, handicrafts and other novelty stuff. This market is ideal when visited at night. Of course, when I say night market, you will get cheap due to the inferior branded products. For instance, you get a branded name sunnies for only 100 baht or less. That’s like 3-4 dollars. I prefer to shop around the Hua Hin Floating Market because of its uniqueness. Refer the story below for more details.

The community and the people have high respect for their King

Chatsila night market at Hua Hin, Thailand

T-shirts are selling as low as 120 to 100 baht (3-5 dollars) each

Cheap sunnies every where

How the interior looks like

Hua Hin Floating Market. If you are bored of the usual night market, then try out the Hua Hin Floating Market which is an interesting place for tourist. The market features a man made lake and there are plenty of shops as you walk around the lake. Clothes are cheap, cheap, cheap and great place to buy souvenir as well. I kinda like the concept which has this 1920s feel to it and it has a circular layout with the man made lake in the middle. So do visit the Floating Market if you have the chance.

The Floating Market Hua Hin

I realised that the anchor design t-shirts are a plenty in the market

You can get a short boat ride to tour around the lake of the Floating Market

This colourful century eggs are eye catchy

The texture is softer according to one of the travel agents

Now have you seen a poached version of quail eggs? This seems to be double the cholesterol and one plate only costs 20 baht which is like 5 cents or less. Damn….

Gek feeding the goat at the Floating Market

You can buy the bottle of milk to feed them