Cafe Jujé

In Vietnamese, adjectives come after the noun (instead of before the noun in English). This is the typical structure for expressing liking of anything.

For example:
I like red colors. = Toi thich mau do. (literally says I like colors red).
I like Viet music = Toi thich nhac viet.

When you’re talking with a friend, you can address them as friend instead of using the “you” form that applies to them. Also, you can add “khong” to the end of a sentence to ask a question.

For example:
Do you want to go out? = Banh co muon di chuy khong? (literally says Friend do you like to do out, right?)
Would you like to go to a movie? = Banh co muon di cinee khong?

Klin Kaew Klang Jai is a great Thai drama. Story is about a plot that began at the birth of a child without a father. A successful business women, Khun Ying, has an affair with her childhood love, Khun Orachun. K. Ying has a baby from K. Orachun, although he is already married to another women- Khun Mesa (in a lower social class suiting his own status).

The heiress millionaire baby, Khun Prapai, is switched with a prostitute’s baby left for an orphanage at the hospital. The real heiress is raised in the orphanage and adopted by K. Mesa to be her servant as revenge in her spiteful plans.

Prakai is forced to an island and pretend to be the wife of a high society man that was blinded by a car accident. They fall in love, but he regains his eyesight after surgery so he believes Khun Apo was the one that had taken care of him, when it was really Prapai. Has great ending. Can watch it here.

The Blind Millionaire, or Kaew Tah Pee in Thai, is a very touching story. Drama is filled with plotting, gossip, and lies. Similar to most Korean style dramas, although it was sometimes overwhelmingly based on gossips.

Kaew Tah Pee is a story about a blind man who saves the life of a women from falling off a bridge. She offers to walk him home after his walking stick had fallen off the bridge into the water. From the beginning he pretends to be a poor fisherman. He finds her kindness so great that he proposes to her.

Most of the rest of the film is based in France (where the blind man receives eye surgery). His ex-girlfriend follows him to France and is invited to stay at the house. She is the main source of all the conflicts, wanting to get back with the blind man’s money. After enough dramas, the wife leaves to find her way back to Thailand. All the truths come out, and the blind man is left chasing his resentful wife that left.

Overall, I thought was a good movie. This is the first Thai drama I’ve watched so I thought some parts were really unrealistic (inviting an ex-love to stay in a house with you and your spouse?), and at times too much based on known sources of unreliable gossip instead of actions. Drama is in Thai with English subtitles. Good acting, decent movie- worth a look. Watch the whole series .

Secret Sunshine is really a different type of movie all together. If you appreciate deeper meanings, this is a great movie. Otherwise, it’s pretty slow and ambiguous.

Story is about a women who moves to her past husband’s hometown with her son. On her way, a man helps her on the road to fix her car. He becomes somewhat attached to her from then. Trying to break her outsider image, she invites the other women in town for a night out. This is when a very life altering event occurs. She turns to Christianity for support, but feeling awkward she slips away.

No concrete ending here, overall it’s about a women dealing with hardships that alter her life. Can watch it here.

Jewel in the Palace (Dae Jang-Geum in Korean) is an inspirational story of a girl that loses both of her parents at a young age. The last wish from the girl’s mother was to find a way into the royal palace, and become the head cook. There she would be able to find out truths hidden in a secret area that only the head cook has access to. The girl begs her way into the palace, and begins her training in cooking. Although she becomes very talented, a conspiracy has her exiled from the palace. She is left to work on an island, where she learns about medicines. After becoming a recognized doctor, she returns to the palace to become the first female royal physician. In the end, the truth comes out about generations of conspiracies. The girl requests three wishes from the king and is granted each. Happy ending overall

Jewel in the palace is the longest drama I’ve seen (about 60 episodes). Still, it’s pretty addicting - although some parts are drawn out. Does lack the sometimes over dramatic-ness of a typical kdrama though.

Can watch it on Dailymotion, here’s the first part: