My dear friend Elizabeth was just with me for two short, but glorious days. We visited the following Wat, Wat Pho, famous for its reclining Buddha and its massage school (without a doubt, the best massages in Thailand). This diary will be updated later with more information about the Wat. [View Full Entry]

---

---

This weekend, I went out with Aurélie (Lily), my beautiful French friend. On her way to my place, she had a Thai taxi driver who could speak very little English except to say “Zidane - good!” and “French women - big boobs - good!” The last statement was also accompanied with hand gestures, indicating the squeezing of breasts. Anyway, we went out dancing which was fun. I had the slightly odd experience of being ignored by all the men - the Thai men were mostly gay, and the farang (foreign) men were interested in the Thai women, some of whom were [View Full Entry]

---

---

This weekend Lily and I went to Ayuttaya, 90 minutes away from Bangkok, which is a UNESCO World Heritage listed site, due to its numerous ancient temples. The temples were good, though in a state of considerable disrepair. It was bloody hot, and by temple #7, they were seeming a bit samey. We went an elephant kraal (sanctuary), where you could ride elephants for a whole 20 minutes for only AUS$14! (Considering that you can do a one-day ‘trek’ in Chiang Mai for $35 which includes an hour elephant ride, I wasn’t that impressed with $14 for 20 minutes.) They also [View Full Entry]

---

---

I've just come back from a work-sponsored junket to Phnom Penh (thank you the Australian tax-payer! ;) ), for two nights and three days. It wasn’t really a junket, as I stayed in drab hotels and didn’t pay for anything on a work credit card, though I did do lots of shopping at the Russian Market. Phnom Penh (the capital of Cambodia) is actually quite a pretty city, with lots of pretty buildings dating from its French colonial period (though all in need of many coats of paint) and a really nice riverfront area. There’s no skyscrapers and a population of [View Full Entry]

---

---

Last week I went up to Chiang Mai and Pai in the north of Thailand for a week. Chiang Mai is a very popular city on the backpacker circuit, though I reserve judgement. It’s terribly polluted, just like Bangkok, and its kind of like Khao Sanh but bigger - ie. lots and lots of backpackers with braids and fisherman’s pants and a few Thai people. I wasn’t that taken with it during the day - due to pollution and prevalence of ugly buildings - but quite liked it at night. However, I didn’t leave the touristy areas of Chiang Mai city [View Full Entry]

---

---

Dear all, Last weekend I went to Ban Phai, a place so insignificant it doesn’t even get into Lonely Planet’s Thailand guide. Wretchedly hungover (sorry mum and dad) from a bizarre party the night before, I met Tom the Thai woman who thinks I look four months pregnant, and David, her hyperactive and demanding ADHD 6 year old nephew, at 9am in Bangkok for a six hour bus trip to Ban Phai, a village in Isan. I was not particularly looking forward to the bus trip, having taken many coaches long distances in my short life, but! Luxury awaited me. Coaches, [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello All, I have no idea where to start, so I might as well talk about food, as my never-ending struggle to find edible food consumes so much of my energy. My initial enthusiasm for Thai food has thoroughly dissipated as I confront the mind-numbing, or rather, stomach-numbing, lack of variety and lack of flavour available to me. I usually eat either rice with vegetables or rice noodles with vegetables for lunch and dinner. I can’t have soup because they use a meat-based broth. Every single street stall uses the same vegies - cauliflower, carrot, some lettucy thing. Sometimes, wh [View Full Entry]

---

---

Dear All, This weekend I moved out of one of the best hostels I’ve ever stayed in, and into my apartment. I’m living in a very Thai area, which I was really excited about - good for learning the language, should be more enriching than just hanging around other expats - but during my adventure in the supermarket, I fast realized that there are some disadvantages to staying in a Thai area - the only cheese they had was either New Zealand Mainland Tasty and these Kraft cheeses like the Laughing Cow (which I shamefully admit to buying and eating and [View Full Entry]

---

---

I've been in Bangkok for a week now, and have been having a fabulous time. I met up with a friend, Sophie, straightaway, and we've been eating our way through Bangkok. The food is amazing. We don't know what half the stuff is, but that just makes it all the more fun. We eat at street stalls - $1 a meal, the difference between here and home is extreme - though we did make the mistake one night of going to an Italian restaurant and it was gross. The street vendors seem to understand me when I say in Thai that [View Full Entry]

---

---