Blogs from Bangkok, Central Thailand, Thailand, Asia
May 25th 2012
The last few days have been a whole load of laziness. I have managed to give myself a personal red t-shirt, as I stayed by the pool a bit too long yesterday, and all the white bits that aren't used to the sun have turned a nice shade of red, all except for the bit of my back where my ponytail was. My neck and face and arms are all the same as they were, so looking in the mirror is making me laugh at the moment. I have decided to give the pool a miss today, giving my body a chance to recover. The days have all been very similar. I get up, I eat and read. Sit in the pool for a while, getting out to laze around reading some more. Heading back down ... read more
May 24th 2012
Went to Bradman's Sports Bar in Bangkok to watch Qld win the first of this years State of Origin matches, 2 to go!!! it was a great night, good food, very reasonably priced drinks including Bundy Rum!!! & excellent atmosphere ending up with the guys deciding to all to. look like Kenny & had their heads shaven. Kenny presented his wife Jill with a dozen red roses to say thanks for her support. The boss lady at Bradman's Bar did a great job in organising the surprise. Many thanks to her & staff there. The eight of them are on a trip to River Kwai & Hellfire Pass today with our guide, Bank, who got a chuckle from seeing all the skinheads this morning. We fly to Chiang Mai tomorrow.... read more
May 23rd 2012
Hello all Well I am here, relaxing doing little. I started well, I told my friend who was dropping me off at the airport the wrong terminal. So instead of a nice easy drop off at T4, we had a tour of T1 and T2 before dropping me off at T3. It wasn't until I checked the departure board to find my flight wasn't on there that I re-checked my ticket to find that I had been wrong all along. After a quick train shuttle to the correct terminal, I then proceeded to get through security no problems and onto the plane. We then missed our allocated space to leave Heathrow as several people decided that shopping was far more important than actually catching the plane. This led to us all sitting on the tarmac for ... read more
May 21st 2012
Had a good flight over from Brisbane on Thai, we are a group of ten this time all newcomers to Thailand except for Tony & I. Staying at Furama Silom, good location & 5 minutes walk to Skytrain, . Showed the mob how to get to MBK & in the evening we had a dinner cruise down the Chao Prayha river. It was great, very good value for money great entertainment & the river is spectacular at night. Today they are going to Grand Palace, Reclining Buddha, Flower markets, which are really amazing & a canal cruise. Tony & I are off to check out where we can watch a live screening of the first State of origin game which is played tomorrow afternoon Thai time. probably the Aussie Bar over Sukhumvit way. Everyone is amazed ... read more
May 18th 2012
Almost ready to take off for our trip to Thailand with Tracy, Rob & 6 of their friends to Thailand. Then when they go back to Oz we are off to Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia & Vietnam. Looking forward to it so hope to be blogging soon.... read more
Bangkok (the first couple'o'days)
Published: May 18th 2012Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok
May 17th 2012
Day Zero (aka arrival) ...in which we hang out at airports, play games on the plane, and try to persuade a cabbie to turn his meter on... Planes are more interesting than they used to be. With everything from 50 different movies to Super Mario Brothers, and a language learning game, you can generally find something to do (even if it's trying to help the old Turkish lady sitting next to you work out how to use her controller). Arriving into Bangkok late at night, Chris got some cash out, and then went down to catch the Express train into the city. The express train only runs every 30mins or so, so while the trip was fast, the wait wasn't. On arrival at the station, we went down to the road to attempt to catch a ... read more
May 17th 2012
...in which we climbed a pile of rubble, wandered through little India, got on a boat, saw some things noone should see, got rained on, and left Bangkok on a "first class" train... We went to the nearby temple which you can climb to the top to get a good view of the city. Most temples required you to remove your shoes before entry, and have signs making that request. This temple had signs telling you to NOT remove your shoes. It was very confusing - like seeing a sign saying "Dry Paint" stuck on a park bench. A few tourists were milling around the door holding their shoes and looking confused. After the temple, we went down through little India, and then caught one of the boats that travel up and down the river. We ... read more
May 12th 2012
The count down has begun! Noelle and I leave in 32 days. For me, there's only one week of school left. And only four days with students. I have a lot of planning, packing, and moving to do before this all happens. I could not be more excited for our trip. Tonight was Multicultural Night at school, and my wonderful and amazing aide, Kushmal, who is from Thailand, gave me a tourist copy of a Bangkok map. It will be fun studying. I can't imagine how Noelle is hanging in. She still has four weeks of school to go - I think she works on Monday - and leaves on Thursday! Send her good "end of year" vibes. I am trying to figure out if I can add photos from my iPad to the blog. One ... read more
May 11th 2012
On my last day, May 11 i left the convent late ... Deng had said we (pen and i) travel by car with her and her husband and two servants and his servant and the sister, who by the way was loaded with massive gold bracelets and necklace/chain ... Dheng spoke the whole way to Kanchanaburi, excited and rapidly and i was wondering if ever i would be able to understand this still completely foreign language to mi ... the funny thing is i can chant now in pali thai (Pali is the oldest form of written Buddhism ...) however can not speak or understand a word of what is said around mi ... Anyway Pen and i just barely made the bus and the farewell with dheng went very fast ... i was sad, however ... read more
Bangkok, Thailand (Where the tuk tuk took you)
Published: May 11th 2012Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok
May 11th 2012
Domino #1: His eyes light up as he speaks, “You are in luck my friend. Today and today only the government is sponsoring taxi rides for tourists. Today, on the birthday of Buddha you pay only 40 baht ($1.20 US) and a taxi driver will take you anywhere you need to go today.” Your eyes light up as you listen. You’re in a new country on a new continent and this is the first person to approach you in a friendly manner and speak in a friendly tone. “Here,” he says, “let me see your map.” “Place X is nice, go here first. Y is the next place you could see, take lots of pictures at Y. And Z is amazing, don’t leave Bangkok without seeing Z.” Local advice is insider advice; you listen intently. Excited ... read more
