Hot Pink Taxis & Surgical Masks

Hi Everyone

I am really in Luang Prabang, Laos, but more on that later........ First I will let you know what I've been up to since my last blog.

After spending 3 days in Bangkok, it still isn't my favourite city in the world, however there are a few things I've noticed. The first is Bangkok's colourful taxis. They come in a range of bright colours, Yellow, Red, Orange and Purple, but the vast majority are HOT PINK !!! Most unusual. However they do stand out in the maze of traffic in Bangkok's streets, so maybe there is a good reason.

The second thing is what seems to be Bangkok's contribution to Fashion. A large number of people are wearing surgical masks. Now I'm not sure if it's the pollution or Swine Flu or both, but they do seem to be the latest fashion accessory. At the airport one of the Money Exchange booths was offering a free mask if you exchanged $US300!!

Any way I have joined the Peregrine tour, and all is good. There are 6 of us, 5 Australian girls and 1 American guy. Fortunately the guy is a real sweetie, and I think he's enjoying being the only male. We were taken to two of Bangkok's most famous sights, Wat Pho and The Royal Palace. Wat Pho has a huge golden reclining Bhudda which must be 100 ft long, and the Royal palace is very ornate. The King and Queen no longer live there, and it's now only used for official functions and ceremonies.

We flew to Chang Rai on Sunday afternoon, and I have to say I wasn't sorry to leave Bangkok behind. Chang Rai is about 800km north from Bangkok, up in the mountains, and is just lovely. Unfortunately the flight was delayed so we didn't get too much time to look around, but they did have a lovely night market with lots of handicrafts. Interestingly one of the "Welcome"statues at the Chang Rai airport was also wearing the latest in fashion.... a surgical mask.

Next morning we headed to the Laos border......... but more on that in the next blog.

Bye for now, Ali xxx

Ps.. I have added a few people to the subscriber list who I think may be interested in my wanderings. If you're not just "unscribe"

PPS... I did have some photos to attach, but the computer seems to go into a spin when I try to add them, so you'll have to wait until the technology improves.

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Part of trip: Asian Odyssey

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