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Damnoensaduak floating market tourists Ratchaburi Thailand

Thailand 2010: Damnoen Saduak Floating Market tour, Cobra show… and leaving Bangkok

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Jul 27, 2011
/
Bangkok, Thailand, Travel

Date: 29th November 2010

My final day in Thailand… and I still made most of the time I had before flying out.

Even though I still had an entry ticket to DreamWorld theme park which I got for free via Cleartrip, I decided to chuck that and opted instead to do something I couldn’t do last year.

I booked myself for a floating market tour via the lady who owns Thai House Inn and she got it for me for ฿600 (Rs. 890/$20/€14).

Bangkok Rama bridge early morning Thailand — Left Bangkok at around 6am; headed to the neighbouring district of Ratchaburi, a 100km drive

Shrimp prawn farms outside Bangkok Thailand — Passed by a lot of shrimp farms. Turns out Thailand is largest exporter of such shrimps. (That explains the abundance of prawn crackers)

After an hour long drive, the van reached a canal where there were other tour groups gathered near some boats.

Floating market tour starting point boats Thailand — We would then be split up into groups for each boat

Canal longtail boat Bangkok Thailand — I grabbed the spot in front

Damnoen Saduak river taxi boats Bangkok Thailand — No roads from here on out, just canals all the way to the ‘floating’ market

River to Damoen Saduak floating market Thailand — It was a lovely morning ride

Damnoen Saduak floating village house by river Bangkok Thailand — It was a charming sight to see houses and entire villages live by these canals

Damnoen Saduak floating village river Bangkok Thailand — Kind of appears as though the ‘roads’ are flooded 🙂

Damnoen Saduak floating market sign Ratchaburi Thailand — That’s where we were heading

Once we reached the market, we got out of our boats and were informed by our guide that we had nearly an hour here. But, if we wanted to boat ride around the market, we would have to pay ฿50 (Rs. 75/$1.6/€1.16) and it was not included in the tour package. Obviously, none of us wanted to simply walk around the ‘floating’ market, so I paid up.

Damnoen Saduak floating market old boat lady Ratchaburi — I sat right in front again

Damnoen Saduak floating market paddle boats Ratchaburi Thailand — Mind you, there are many boats carrying tourists around the market all morning. The market closes by afternoon.

Damnoen Saduak floating market hats vendor Thailand — Plenty of hawkers (on boats of course) pull your boat over to try and sell you their wares

Damnoen Saduak floating market saffron spices Ratchaburi Thailand — A lot of the stuff for sale are souvenirs and other Thailand memorabilia

Damnoen Saduak floating market pork noodles Ratchaburi Thailand — No shortage of eateries as usual

Thailand souvenirs for sale floating market Ratchaburi Thailand — And as usual, you can haggle for a much lower price than what they initially quote

Damnoen Saduak floating market handicrafts Thailand — Even under a bridge there was no shortage of hawkers

Damnoen Saduak floating market insects bugs Thailand — From preserved animals…

Damnoen Saduak floating market snake Thailand — .. to even getting photographs with a massive snake. All available under the bridge.

Damnoen Saduak floating market coconut boat Thailand — Nicely shaven coconut 🙂

Damnoensaduak floating market fan hats hawker Thailand — After much pandering, I ended up buying two of these hats for my nieces. The hats can be folded into fans as well. Paid around ฿100 each.

Asian tourists floating market Thailand — Best advised to keep your hands inside at all time. The boats do ram into each other.

Damnoen Saduak floating market end Thailand — It was time to turn around and go back

Damnoensanduak floating market boats jam Thailand — This is what a floating market traffic jam looks like

And this is what it sounds like 🙂

Damnoensanduak floating market Durian Thailand — Durian. Ugh.

Damnoensanduak floating market hats hawker Thailand — Yes, lots of hats

After riding for around half an hour, we were dropped back on to the platform.

Damnoensaduak floating Thailand flag boat Ratchaburi — Continued taking photos on foot

Damnoensaduak floating market massage chairs Thailand — Yes, you can get a massage just about anywhere in Thailand

Damnoensaduak floating market paddle boats parking Thailand — How paddle boats are ‘parked’

Damnoensaduak floating market smaller canal Thailand — I would have liked to have gone through there

Damnoensaduak floating market food boat Ratchaburi Thailand — How heavy must the boats be to hold the weight of two gas cylinders?

I walked back to the designated meeting point for our tour group. It was time to leave, so we all got back to our respective vans.

I was under the impression the floating market tour was over and that we would be on our long drive back. But no, instead, the van took us to a nearby Elephant Village.

Now, I had been to an elephant camp in Chiang Mai back in 2009 so I knew what to expect and more importantly, why they bring tourists here as ‘part of the package’.

Floating market tour elephant ride village Thailand — It’s ฿600 for an elephant ride -_-

Elephant village ride tourists Thailand — I wasn’t interested

Elephant village forest history Thailand — Instead, I sat at the cafe and read up trivia

After waiting for nearly half an hour for the few from my tour group who wanted to go for the elephant ride, we finally got moving again. Next up, the Cobra Show.

Cobra Show entrance ticket counter Ratchaburi Thailand — Again, they only drop you here, you still had the option to pay and enter

Even though I had seen videos from the ‘most exciting show in the world,’ I did not want to wait outside in the heat again. So I paid the ฿30 or ฿50 it was for the ticket and went in.

Cobra Show arena Bangkok Thailand — The arena inside (Panorama comprised of 6 shots)

They start off with the announcer welcoming everyone and explaining in fairly understandable English that the purpose of the facility is to ‘educate’ visitors that snakes are not all that dangerous as people make them out to be.

Cobra show extracting snake venom Thailand — A badass-looking Thai staff member showing us how they extract snake’s venom

The also bring around snakes to you in case you want to take photos with one around your neck. And since I hate snakes…

Cobra show Mithun snake around neck Thailand — I thought I’d give it a try 🙂

Cobra show python snake showing tourists Thailand — They have all kinds of snakes, like huge pythons as well

The ‘exciting’ parts kick in when they demonstrate how the trained staff catch snakes. Which has to be seen in action:

The guy also caught three cobras, one by one, which was quite impressive.

The excitement continues when they bring out a snake’s worst enemy in the animal kingdom, the mongoose — and then make the two fight.

Cobra show mongoose snake fight Thailand — “Snake, meet mongoose”

Cobra show mongoose snake fight tourism Thailand — “Snake… meet mongoose!”

Cobra show mongoose fighting snake Thailand — “Snake… snake…snaaaaake!”*

Cobra show mongoose not fighting snake Thailand — Introductions over I guess

Here’s a video of the mongoose fight some more:

Thirty minutes of, erm, animal cruelty, the show was over. The staff went around seeking donations from the visitors, and I tipped ฿100 to the guy who caught the snakes with his bare hands, because that’s quite some skill.

Outside, there have a mini-zoo with a few reptilian creatures.

Cobra show python tourist neck photograph Thailand — If you want photos with much bigger snakes, you can take them here

Cobra show Thailand snake park Thailand — But I wanted to sit in the air-conditioned van as it was quite hot!

I asked our guide if the ‘tour’ was over, but he said there was one final stop. Ugh.

This was some handicrafts showroom where they specialize in wooden sculptures.

Buddha statue wood carving Thailand — But I must say, quite impressive wood work (That sign seems a bit ironic btw)

Teakwood amazing woodwork craftsman artist Thailand — Scratch that, some *very* impressive wood work!

Teakwood detailed amazing woodwork craftsman artist Thailand — Wonder how many weeks it takes for such stunning works of art

Wooden elephant sculpture handicrafts Thailand — They’re all for sale but it’s not like they’re easy to fit into a suitcase and take back with you

Needless to say, none of these wooden sculptures carved out of teak wood come cheap. Most of them were in the thousands of dollars (yes, dollars, not Thai baht)!

Thai wood handicrafts showroom Thailand — They have a showroom with some smaller pieces of wood work inside

After another half-an-hour spent here, we headed back into our vans. I was finally done with the ‘floating market’ tour. As touristy as the above sights may seem, I still feel a visit to the floating market is a ‘must-do’ in Thailand. Damnoen Suduak is the most popular floating market, thus the hordes of tourists. There are a few other floating markets across Thailand.

The journey back into the city took a lot longer for me as I was going to be the last one dropped. I eventually got down at MBK to have lunch… at KFC.

KFC seaweed flavour chicken Bangkok Thailand — Last year, KFC Thailand introduced a sweet ‘n’ spicy variant of their chicken, and it was my last meal before leaving. This year, KFC introduced a seaweed infused variant. It was alright, better than last year’s sweet ‘n’ spicy.

With my final meal in Thailand complete…

Siam Paragon Krispy Kreme line Bangkok Thailand — Oh for god’s sake Thai people, there’s NOTHING special about Krispy Kreme!

Anyway… I headed back to Thai House Inn to pack up and check out. I sat down for a bit before stepping out again, but this time, without my camera bag for a change. I wanted to give my shoulders a rest after the nearly two weeks I strained them. I walked further down from Nana BTS to see whether there were better sub-฿1000 accommodation available so that next time if I do choose to stay in the Sukhumvit area, I don’t have to stay to at Thai House Inn.

Hopefully, next time I’m in Bangkok, if I don’t have much shopping to do, I’ll stay in Khao San road.

At around 5:30pm, I took the BTS to Phaya Thai station. They had only recently opened the new skytrain link directly to Suvarnabhumi airport, saving passengers both time and money.

Phaya Thai airport line BTS station Bangkok metro — The Phaya Thai airport link station

Phaya Thai airport link to Suvarnabhumi BTS station Bangkok — And as an introductory offer, the ticket to Suvarnabhumi was a cheap ฿15! I paid nearly ฿500 last year for taxi!

The journey took just 30 minutes. Clearly a better option for those with less luggage. I was early enough for my 9:20pm Thai Airways flight to Bangalore.

Suvarnabhumi airport metro BTS entrance Thailand — The entry into the airport from the BTS station is at the basement

Walking up to the departures section, I was quite stunned to see just about every Indian passenger heading back to Mumbai with a massive LCD/plasma TV in tow. It’s as though everybody knew how much to pay off the Mumbai customs officials upon arrival.

Quite ridiculous really, especially seeing many of them pleading with the check-in personnel not to impose excess baggage charges… because some of them were (unsurprisingly) way over the allowed limit!

After checking-in, I headed to the VAT (value added tax) refund office to declare my purchases and get my VAT refund forms stamped by the officials. Then came the rather long queue at immigration.

Thai sculpture Suvarnabhumi airport gates — Passport stamped, I was through

I checked out the Duty Free, bought two bottles of liquor that my friends requested (prices and selection are fairly good here) and then went to the VAT refund counter to get my cash refund. Submitted my form and got 7% of the total value of my purchases back in cash. I mentioned this last year and I’ll mention it again: for the VAT refund, one needs to shop at stores that participate in the VAT refund scheme for tourists. Upon purchase, you will get a VAT refund form from the store and it’s only upon showing that same form at the airport will you be eligible for a refund. You can’t simply show a bunch of store receipts and expect a cash refund (‘cos I’ve seen people do that).

Sitting at my gate, I had plenty of time for a flashback. Another trip to Thailand that didn’t feel ‘complete’. Had I successfully covered the big lantern release in Mae Jo, Chiang Mai, I would have scratched North Thailand off my list and only focused on South Thailand for my next visit.

I wasn’t even in the best of health the first week, which sucked. Still… all I can say is that I did the best I could and I hope my readers enjoyed this series.

So until Thailand 201_, it’s back to India for now! 🙂

Previous posts in this series:

Thailand 2010: Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha, Sampeng Market, JJ market (again)

Thailand 2010: Back to Bangkok — Chinatown, Patpong, Platinum Mall and Chatuchak Market

Thailand 2010: Pattaya — Beach road, Viewpoint, Jomtien Beach, Walking Street

Thailand 2010: Golden Triangle in Mae Sai; Chiang Rai’s White Temple (Wat Rong Khun)

Thailand 2010: Heading to Chiang Rai by bus, Wat Jedyod and Golden Clock Tower

Thailand 2010: Last day of Loi Krathong; Sunday Grand Parade (Day 4, Part 2)

Thailand 2010: Chiang Mai Zoo (Day 4, Part 1)

Thailand 2010: Chiang Mai Loi Krathong celebrations; first Grand Parade

Thailand 2010: Chiang Mai cooking class; Loi Krathong celebrations in Mae Jo, Sansai

Thailand 2010: First day in Chiang Mai for Loi Krathong; driving up Doi Suthep

Thailand 2010: Arriving in Bangkok and preparing for Loi Krathong in Chiang Mai

*Metal Gear Solid referance

Gurdwara entrance sikhs Bangkok Thailand

Thailand 2010: Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha, Sampeng Market, JJ market (again)

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Jul 23, 2011
/
Bangkok, Thailand, Travel

Date: 28th November 2010

I began today with a taxi ride to Phahurat Raod.

House Lumpini building Silom Bangkok Thailand — Drove towards Silom first

Silom HSBC building Bangkok Thailand — A lot of financial firms have offices in Silom

DTAC telecom headquarters Bangkok Thailand — DTAC is Thailand’s second largest mobile service provider

China town daytime Bangkok Thailand — Drove through China Town again

Thanon Chakphet road Bangkok slums — Got down at Chakphet road

Fried fruit street hawker Bangkok Thailand — Batter-fried fruit

Thanon Phahurat road Bangkok Thailand — Reached Pahurat road

Gurudwara Sikh point sign Pahurat road Bangkok — I could see a sign stating Gurudwara Sikh, but all it pointed to was a wall of shops on the side of the road I was on

Pahurat market shops Bangkok — I still waded through Pahurat market

Figuring the gurdwara was behind the shops, I found a gap and walked into an alley. There, an old Thai man saw me and just raised his arm to point to where I needed to go. I guessed I wasn’t the first Indian he may have come across in search of the elusive gurdwara.

Pahurat Bangkok alley way to gurdwara — Kept wondering how much more I had to walk to find it…

Bangkok gurdwara Indian temple Thailand — …but there it was (finally!)

Way to gurdwara Bangkok alley — The ‘desis’ were in sight 🙂

Gurdwara Sir Guru Singh Sabha Bangkok Thailand — Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha

You can read about the history of the gurdwara at their official site, but apparently Sikhs have been in Thailand since the early 1900s. All non-Sikhs have to cover their heads with a scarf, which they provide by the stairs in the main hall.

Gurdwara scarfs Bangkok Thailand — Pick one

You also have to take off your shoes if you want to go upstairs. They have a big shoe rack in the main hall and you get a token.

Gurdwara main hall Sikhs blood donation Bangkok — The Sikhs were being their charitable self today with a blood donation camp

Gurdwara main hall fans Bangkok — The 6-storey gurdwara is one of the largest outside India

Gurdwara Langar hall Bangkok Thailand — The first floor is a Langar hall, where visitors and devotees had sat down for the free meals

Gurdwara wedding hall Bangkok sikhs — The floor above it looked like it was hall used for weddings and other events

Gurdwara prayer hall Bangkok Thailand — Above that was the main prayer hall

Gurdwara prayer hall Bangkok Sikh kid photobomb — This kid was waiting for his chance to ‘photobomb’ this shot

Gurdwara Sikh classrooms Bangkok Thailand — The fourth floor is a school

Gurdwara old Sikh lady Bangkok Thailand — The fifth floor was a hall with rooms…

Gurdwara Bahi Dharam Singh Bangkok Thailand — … with priests (I assume?)

Gurdwara Sikh guru rooms Bangkok Thailand — Not sure what this signifies or what they preach

Gurdwara entry Pahurat road Bangkok — That looked like a more accessible entry

Gurdwara top floor Bangkok Thailand — I had reached the top

Gurdwara prayer hall carpet Bangkok Thailand — So naturally, I went back down

Gurdwara Punjabi women praying Bangkok Thailand — The sexes are segregated in order to maintain ‘concentration’ it seems

Gurdwara Indian food hall Bangkok — Decided to eat

As much as I love Thai cuisine, after nearly two weeks, eating simple dal curry, sabzi (vegetables) and chapathis felt soooo good.

Feeling full, I went all the way back down, collected my shoes and left the gurdwara.

Pahurat market outside gurdwara Bangkok — Stepped out to a world where samosas and spring rolls are sold side-by-side

Pahurat textile market clothes Bangkok Thailand — Now to get back out…

Pahurat textile market prices Bangkok Thailand — I walked through the Pahurat textile market

Pahurat textile market Bangkok Thailand — I finally came out through here

Rajamangala University of Technology Rattanakosin Poh Chang campus — Rajamangala University of Technology was across the road

Here’s a map to give you a better idea:

Gurdwara Pahurat map Bangkok — (Image source: Google Maps)

Nightingale Olympic Company building Pahurat Bangkok — I moved on

Triphet road traffic crowds Bangkok — I was on the hunt for Sampeng Market next

Triphet road junction traffic Bangkok — The traffic scene here is *quite* different from the Sukhumvit side

After a bit of asking around, I was directed to Sampeng Market.

Sampeng market entry lane Bangkok — This wasn’t the main entrance or anything. Just one of many lanes in.

Sampeng Chinese market Bangkok Thailand — Sampeng market is known to be an integral part of China Town

Sampeng Chinese market bags Bangkok — The lanes eventually all meet at one main straight path…

Sampeng market clothes CDs Bangkok Thailand — …which extends a long way

Sampeng market is a massive space with stores selling, well, just about everything: clothes, Chinese medicines, other Chinese specialties, toys, households items, pirated CDs and anything else China mass produces.

Sampeng market Sunday Thais Bangkok — Today being a Sunday, it was very crowded!

Sampeng textile market crowded Bangkok Thailand — Thus, very stuffy… and quite suffocating at times

Sampeng market crowds traders Bangkok Thailand — It’s through one narrow lane visitors, traders and porters all the pass through

Sampeng isn’t for everyone. It’s quite congested inside (or I assume it’s like this every weekend) and it can get very hot. Also, I didn’t find much of the merchandise to my liking, so unless you want loads of stationary for your kids, cheap, then Sampeng is the place… if you feel it’s worth the effort. I only stopped to buy one of those inflatable travel pillows/neck rests (cost ฿50).

Sampeng market open road Bangkok Thailand — I finally got out and I had the option to move to the next section

Sampeng market Chinatown Bangkok Thailand — Instead, I wasn’t confident I’d find anything more worth buying and therefore, decided to end my Sampeng trek

Ratchawong road Bangkok Thailand — If you want to get a good starting point at Sampeng market, this is the road to get to first

Chinatown Bangkok morning Thailand — The main China Town area was just a few steps away

I still felt like ‘buying something,’ so decided to head back to my favourite ‘market’ in Thailand.

Silom way to Sathon Bangkok — Took a taxi to the nearest BTS station

Victory Monument from BTS Bangkok Thailand — Victory Monument, as seen from inside the train

Nichkhun Thai ad BTS skytrain commercial — “Thai Prince” Nichkhun was selling something (one of the many products he shills for in Thailand)

Chatuchak market roof Clock Tower Bangkok — Yup, back to Chatuchak market

Chatuchak market from above Bangkok Thailand — That’s what it looks like from up above

Chatuchak Park stage Bangkok — Walked past the park again

Chatuchak weekend market gate us Bangkok Thailand — I plunged in

Chatuchak market rock band t-shirts Bangkok Thailand — I was eying some more good t-shirts, among other things

Though most clothes shops sell more or less the same merchandise, there are a few (relatively speaking) independent studios selling something creative that sets them apart from the rest.

Paracetamol Studio t-shirts Chatuchak market Bangkok Thailand — This was one such shop

Called Paracetamol Studio, the guy in the photo above says he does all the drawings and art himself, and then prints them on t-shirts and bags. I really liked his art and ended up buying three t-shirts at ฿300 each. He wouldn’t allow for bargaining but if you bought more, the price per t-shirt comes down.

Ladies fashion boutique stores Jatujak market Bangkok Thailand — There are more such ’boutique’ stores

JJ market art studios paintings home furnishings Bangkok Thailand — You also have studios selling paintings and other works of art too

I just can’t recommend Jatujak market enough! There’s a reason why I like coming here. The variety of things you find is simply amazing. A lot of it is inexpensive and the rest, still rather affordable.

Jatujak Sunday market Bangkok Thailand — But do get here early in the morning if you plan to cover as much of this place as possible

Because despite coming here for a third time, I still can’t tell you how much of Chatuchak Weekend Market I have covered!

Chatuchak weekend market map Bangkok Thailand — If you asked me where Paracetamol Studio is located on this map, I couldn’t possibly tell you

So if you wish to return to a store you once shopped from, take my advice, note down the store number.

Chatuchak market Clock Tower Bangkok — This clock tower is one of the most important landmarks at Jatuchak. Important, because it stands high above the shops and can be used a point of reference in case you get lost (which will happen!)

Chatuchak market clock tower porters Bangkok Thailand — The clock tower is also where you can find porters in case you buy more than you can carry

Jatujak weekend market shops Bangkok — It was lunch time and I reached the phase where one wonders if they are walking around in circles

Beeberry Mangosteen juice Chatuchak Bangkok — Tried this on the way out

Chatuchak market tattooed Thai famous crocodile skin Bangkok — This guy is a bit of a celebrity here at JJ market

Just as I was rushing out, I stopped by a store that sells genuine rock band t-shirts, many of which are seconds, but in very good condition and well washed. I finally managed to score a Def Leppard (my favourite band) Hysteria t-shirt and got it bargained down to ฿300 with the excuse it was my last night in Thailand. I was quite happy 🙂

Siam Paragon Krispy Kreme line doughnuts Bangkok — Back at Siam Paragon, there was still a big line for Krispy Kreme

I called up my friend Sawmteii as we had agreed to meet for lunch, but she was still busy with family.

Siam BTS interchange station Bangkok Thailand — Siam BTS interchange. One train plys the Siam line, the other, the Silom line

I therefore headed back to my room, freshened up and got my ticket printed for tonight’s Jay Park fan meet at Siam Paragon.

I have already written about the Jay Park fan meet in another post, which you can read here.

After the fan meet, I went to a supermarket to pick up snacks and other items to pack in now itself as I was leaving Thailand tomorrow.

2pm Nichkhun prawn crackers chips Thailand — Bought some prawn chips, and this one had Nichkhun and his fellow 2PM members on the packet

As I was packing and trashing unwanted covers, I ended up having a right laugh reading the instructions on the Chinese travel pillow I had bought from Sampeng earlier in the day.

Chinese travel pillow Sampeng Bangkok — 😀

My Thai Airways flight was at night, so I still had tomorrow morning to do something. Which means, there’s one more post before I conclude this trip! 🙂

Final post in this series:

Thailand 2010: Damnoen Saduak Floating Market tour, Cobra show… and leaving Bangkok

Previous posts in this series:

Thailand 2010: Back to Bangkok — Chinatown, Patpong, Platinum Mall and Chatuchak Market

Thailand 2010: Pattaya — Beach road, Viewpoint, Jomtien Beach, Walking Street

Thailand 2010: Golden Triangle in Mae Sai; Chiang Rai’s White Temple (Wat Rong Khun)

Thailand 2010: Heading to Chiang Rai by bus, Wat Jedyod and Golden Clock Tower

Thailand 2010: Last day of Loi Krathong; Sunday Grand Parade (Day 4, Part 2)

Thailand 2010: Chiang Mai Zoo (Day 4, Part 1)

Thailand 2010: Chiang Mai Loi Krathong celebrations; first Grand Parade

Thailand 2010: Chiang Mai cooking class; Loi Krathong celebrations in Mae Jo, Sansai

Thailand 2010: First day in Chiang Mai for Loi Krathong; driving up Doi Suthep

Thailand 2010: Arriving in Bangkok and preparing for Loi Krathong in Chiang Mai

INFINITE – “Be Mine” (내꺼하자): These guys just keep getting better!

I only write a post on K-pop when there’s something good out and it deserves the attention. Rest assured, rookie (are they still?) boy band INFINITE are one of those acts that always deliver something good, and a group I truly feel deserves the attention!

There have been quite a lot of new entrants in the Korean boy band scene the last two years. Like the (many, many) girl groups, some are good, and many of them… you’ll never hear of again after their debut single.

Infinite Over the Top album cover Korean boyband — The fashion? No comments

Woolim Entertainment‘s INFINITE falls under the category of ‘debuted well, and then kept growing stronger with every new release’. The boys hit the music scene last year with “Come Back Again,” a funky guitar-tinged single that was good enough to draw me in. The one thing that really struck me about INFINITE was how in-sync they are with their dancing! Just watch their live performances and you’ll know what I mean.

“She’s Back” came next and then earlier this year, INFINITE made a comeback with their second mini album Evolution. Though the title song “Before the Dawn” did well, the song from the album that I liked more was “Hysterie,” mostly because it was such a classic Michael Jackson inspired jam.

Two months later, INFINITE released “Nothing’s Over” (though, to me it sounded more like “Nothing Sober” :)). Regardless of their ‘Engrish,’ it was still a good fresh single accompanied by a unique music video. Their live performances of “Nothing’s Over” was a joy to watch. The release also included a remake of the song “Can U Smile”– and this song remains to me one of INFINITE’s best songs to date!

Inspirits (what INFINITE fans are officially called) didn’t have to wait too long for their idols to return to the K-pop charts. They’re back with another great track!

“Be Mine” is from INFINITE’s first full length album ‘Over the Top‘. The track is in my opinion their best single to date! Very hard edged with the guitar hooks (the group’s signature style) and yet, clearly influenced by dance pop from the 1980s. Whoever their producer is surely deserves a lot of the credit. Of course, the boys are the ones who do justice to the song by bringing to life. Can’t wait to see them perform “Be Mine” on the music shows!

Here’s a mini-review of the album ‘Over The Top’:

1. (Intro) – A 54 second teaser of what to expect from the new few tracks

2. “Be Mine” – Already wrote about it above. Definitely the best track on the album! – 4.5/5

3. “1/3” – Smooth track, but lacking in some ways. ~~Should have pushed this down in the track list~~ This track has grown on me in the last few days, and I like it a bit now – ~~2.5~~3/5 (I did say a ‘bit’ :))

4. “Tic Toc” – Mediocre and the chorus has bits of “Before the Dawn” – 2/5

5. “Julia” – The song sounds a lot like this song and I don’t know what the “A, I, O, I, A…” in the beginning is supposed to signify. – 3/5

6. “Because” – A solo track by Sungkyu. The English is a tad distracting and to be honest, it’s not a very good song. – 2/5

7. “Time” – Another solo track but this time Woohyun fully in charge of lead vocals. Sounds like one of those ballads that end up on the OST of a drama. Good voice though! – 3/5

8. “Amazing” – Decent track. One in which the rap, despite being brief, really stands out. Should have moved this higher up the album order. – 3/5

9. “Crying” feat. Baby soul – The song kicks off with a woman singing, while the boys slow rap the rest. Boring. – 1.5/5

10. “Real Story” – Take the beats out of of Chris Brown’s “With You” and overlay it with Korean lyrics and a slightly different tune, you get this song. – 1/5

Sadly, most of the songs sound very unoriginal and lacking any real inspiration. Had they replaced some of the songs I rated with a 1 or 2, with “Nothing’s Over” and “Can U Smile” (Remake), I would have easily bought the album. But instead, INFINITE’s ‘Over The Top‘ just feels like an album with an extremely good lead single, while the rest of tracks can be best described as album fillers.

My rating: 2 out of 5 (Poor)

Inspirits will cry foul and dismiss this review saying things like: “You are SO wrong!” “What’s wrong with you?!” and what not. So please note: this is my take on the album. It’s okay if you don’t agree with me. Trust me, I know good music when I hear it. And it’s not the first time this year I’ve been disappointed by a group that I like.

———-

I’m not the kind of fan who will support or praise an artist “no matter what”. Especially when they release mediocre songs. I’ve noticed K-pop fans (especially in S. Korea itself) who will outright defend their favourite group, ask for mass collective purchases of an album, all in the name of ‘support’. But you have to understand how damaging that can be for creativity. Fans like that only make producers of content lazy, and in the end, it’s those fans themselves who are being betrayed.

I’m not calling out INFINITE for “betraying” their fans. They haven’t. All I’m saying is, this being their first full album, ‘Over The Top’ could have been so much better. It should have been.

If there’s a boy band that isn’t from a major label (SM, JYP, Cube, or YG), that I believe is going to be big, it’s INFINITE. They have the musical talents to be the “next big thing”. So I’m not losing faith in these guys and I do hope this album makes Woolim Entertainment enough money to give the boys a bigger dorm.

What, you Inspirits thought I didn’t know about that? 😉

Edit (01/09/2011): INFINITE WON THEIR FIRST AWARD!

I’m so happy for them! I wrote this review on 27th July and on 1st September, more than a month after they released “Be Mine”, INFINITE finally won an award on Mnet’s MCountdown! They deserved this for all the hard work they put in to each of their performances. I knew Super Junior would steal the show(s) in August with “Mr. Simple” due to their immense popularity, but I’m so happy INFINITE finally got recognized! Edited this review with this news because… well, I felt like remembering the moment! 😀