Lloyd Pickering

Lloydpickering

Lloyd Pickering




Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Paterson October 6th 2012

We are both still alive. Since arriving in Australia, we haven't had a chance to sit down and blog about everything, but we are still alive and having a great time :) We have to tell everyone about Sydney, the Blue Mountains tour, then heading up to Tahnee's parents house. We've been at Tahnee's parents now for a few days and plan on heading up the coast in a couple more days. Hopefully normal blogging service will resume soon!... read more

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 28th 2012

We spent 3 days and 2 nights in Bangkok, and to be fair we got a LOT done. But on the tiger temple tour there was one thing troubling us. On arriving the day before, we had originally been planning to go and see the Grand Palace, but due to a mix of major jet lag, nervousness about being in a new city so culturally removed from our understanding, and the knowledge our tiger tour started 4am the next morning, we ended up sleeping, and not going to the palace. The palace is one of the must see things in Bangkok, and we were already aware we would miss things like the floating market and flower market etc, so really wanted to see this one major thing. Our tiger temple tour guide Lily suggest we get ... read more
20120926 091959
20120926 092339
20120926 092509

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 28th 2012

When we arrived back from our trip to see tigers and elephants (and not forgetting the monkeys) it was time to go and get our clothing second fitted. At this point everything is made up, and roughly should fit, but there are little bits and bobs to double check and make sure everything is juuuuust right. Speaking with the guys at Admire Tailors http://www.admiretailors.com/ it turns out they travel to the UK and Oz from time to time to measure new customers, who can then make orders over the interwebs for tailored clothes. They promised to let me know if they came to the UK, particularly to the North East. If they do come, I'll let some friends know in case they want some made to measure clothing. In any case, heres some photos of us ... read more
890
891
893

Asia » Thailand » Western Thailand » Kanchanaburi September 27th 2012

After we saw the tigers, it was time to get up close and personal with another of Thailand's ffamous animals - elephants. Thailand has indian elephants whcih are a little smaller than their african cousins, but what they lack in size (and eyesight) they make up for in intelligence. Indian elephants are incredibly smart and can be trained to keep tourists coming back :) We took a short car journey to a village on the river kwai. The river is actually formed from two tributaries that join near the bridge. The kwai noi (meaning small tributary) and the kwai yai (big tributary). The village was located on the kwai noi, the smaller one. When we got there we changed into our swimwear, and headed to meet the mahout (elephant trainer) and his elephant. Our first task ... read more
715
870
609

Asia » Thailand » Western Thailand » Kanchanaburi September 25th 2012

Buddhist monks in Thailand only eat one meal a day - in the morning. The monks walk from their temples to the nearby villages and cities where the locals offer them food in exchange for a blessing. The monks then walk back to the temple for breakfast. At Tiger Temple, our first task was to greet the monks on their way back from the village and offer them food in exchange for their blessing. We were very lucky, as the head monk was actually present. He is often very busy and jets around the world - he had recently returned from two months in the US. Next up is feeding the young Tigers while the monks say prayers. The tigers are between 6 months and 18months and already are pretty big! They drink milk, and some ... read more
047
061
066

Asia » Thailand » Western Thailand » Kanchanaburi September 25th 2012

The next part of our tour was to a buddhist temple, commonly called Tiger Temple. According to Lily, about 15-20 years ago, the head monk was known for being an animal lover, and offering sanctuary to animals from the surrounding villages. A soldier, familiar with the area came across a village close by in Burma. The Burmese have problems with rebels who grow drugs like heroin to fund access to weapons. As a result they are heavily involved in rural areas. They have a superstitious belief that Tiger claws will make their skin harder, to the point of being impervious to swords and bullets, so in these rural areas, Tigers are highly prized hunting targets. The soldier who came across the village discovered they had recently killed a mother Tiger (apparently the care and devotion they ... read more
161
182
410

Asia » Thailand » Western Thailand » Kanchanaburi September 25th 2012

Tahnee and I have just had one of the most exciting days of our lives. It started with waking up at the crack of dawn, or in this case actually before dawn. We have arranged a day tour from www.tourwithtong.com after reading some very good reviews on Trip Advisor. We met our tour guide (Lily) in the lobby of the hotel at 4.30am. We were up so early, some of the bellboys thought we were checking out to go to the airport! Lily took us to a waiting 4x4 (thankfully air conditioned) and we started to drive west through the city. As we went, she explained a little bit about what we would be doing today, and explained we had roughly a 2 hour car drive ahead of us as we would be passing through 4 ... read more
WWII War Graves
027
030

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 24th 2012

For those who have email subscribed, you may have seen the title of the last blog post mentioned tailored suits. I ended up deciding to split the post up a bit so individually there wasn't too much in one post. After we woke up (about lunch time locally), we decided to have a wander around the hotel and see what is about. There's a nice looking swimming pool with bar, and a fitness centre...as if I'd ever use the gym :P There's also a massage parlour (not THAT type...I think), and 2 restaurants. An italian called Vivaldi's who strangely also seems to offer some Japanese inspired dishes...weird. But tasty looking :) Also, there's an 'English style pub' restaurant, that has free flow beer for a set price and seems to be celebrating oktoberfest a little early. ... read more
20120924 152011
20120924 152022
20120924 152504

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 24th 2012

Bangkok Airport was surprisingly nice and easy to navigate. I was expecting problems at customs etc. You always see movies of soviet customs and immigration where its all stern looking fellows in military uniform with ink stamps, automatic weapons and a remit to harrass tourists. I was kind of expecting asia to be the same. It isn't! We got through customs and passport control without problems. They didn't even ask us any questions about where we were going, or how long we were staying (though to be fair we had filled out immigration cards on the plane). When I went to Montreal a few years ago, they made us fill out cards and then gave us the third degree too. The first thing I noticed about Thailand after getting through the airport was the humidity. It's ... read more
20120924 161332
20120924 075944
20120924 075956

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 24th 2012

We went to have a look at the 6D cinema. Apparently 6D is the usual 3d+sound+motion+something else I can't remember. It looked really cheesy like the motion simulators where you get to fly a jet or go on a rollercoaster. We didn't go on it in the end. What we did do is go to The Dutch Bar in Holland Boulevard. Tahnee had a REALLY nice cocktail and I had a lovely white beer. Im not sure exactly what it was called, but it the bar hosts a local special draft, and it was the current draft. The bartender was a really nice chap. He REALLY knew his barkeeping and was explaining about making Tahnee's cocktail as he was going along (and training a bar tender as well). Highly recommend anyone passing through schiphol with a ... read more




Tot: 0.166s; Tpl: 0.006s; cc: 8; qc: 85; dbt: 0.0965s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb