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Published: July 15th 2010
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My friend Seema and I
We got up at 6am on a Saturday to go to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. Unnecessarily early as it happens but worth it. Well hello again,
It has been a while but many of you will have seen the lovely Christopher on his return to Blighty. I am saying goodbye to Bangkok now, having spent 7 weeks here by myself finishing the school term off. I don't regret staying at all, as I have loved getting to know both staff and children at my school and had a good laugh at the same time as working, but it has been a long time to be apart and both of us are itching to get back to HCMC now.
So what has been going on in the meantime..? Well it's mostly been raining - thank goodness. The weather is much more bearable now that we are getting clouds and rainfall every few days (in both cities). One particularly rainy morning I had to hike down the road (soi as it's called in Thai) to my school. Trouble was the soi had flooded badly and it was knee deep in dirty water. 'Sod that for a game of soldiers' I thought, I'll grab a cab. What is that phrase? - 'You're never more than 2 metres from a rat', well that extends to taxis
Yummm
My favourite pudding... Mango and Sticky Rice. And, I know how to cut a mango now too! here. Of course, not when it's piddling down though as every one has the same idea. It took me 3 attempts to wade through the entrance to my soi whilst hitching all clothing right up. I thought the entrance was the worst of it as it is in a ditch, but no, no, no... 200m on and my flip flops were still floating away from me every step. Luckily, I did not think about snakes or other creepy gremlins swishing around my ankles until I was safely in the staffroom... But despite that unfortunate (but kinda fun) episode, which was bad even by their standards, I never thought I would appreciate grey clouds so much. I have completely gone off sunbathing and of course Chris works far too hard for that ;o) so we're both practically as pasty as we would be in the UK! Oh sorry, that's right it's been blummin' boiling for you guys hasn't it!
What else..? I've been out singing kareoke with work mates in one of those living room/ booth jobby's. It was great unexpected fun even as someone who always shy's away from the mike (with good reason as you know). They love
kareoke here and even little photo-sized booths for one to go and have a 'private sing'! There's much amusement to be found in the random lyrics that bear absolutely no sensical resemblance to the actual lyrics!
A little visit to one of the larger floating markets (Damnoen Saduak) just south of Bangkok last weekend was delightful. If you ever have the pleasure of visiting Bangkok, ignore the guide books who portray it rather negatively because it sells touristy goods, rather than the traditional, fruits etc. You can go on a tour of the canals and see all the houses on stilts, people's boats and how life would have been in the city many moons ago. It was fascinating, beautiful and very relaxing.
And the old man? Well, apart from the luxury of watching the World Cup completely uninterrupted (by my reality type trash telly - when in UK/ TV films - when abroad, as only alternative is BBC World and tho it's good, even I would rather watch Ghana v Estonia after a while). OK, luxury may be too strong a word when the reality of world cup waching took place as rather late night viewing with Vietnamese/Thai
Venice of the East
Sort of... You don't really go on the canals in the city and they certainly don't look as nice as this when you do. commentary and a background crescendo of vuvuzelas. The alternative to this was, Radio 5 live online (when it worked) being anything up to 10 seconds infront/behind... Umm, no, luxury not really appropriate word. Chris has also 'invested' in an xbox 360 and enjoyed the (albeit quiter version of a) bachelor lifestyle. So I'm sure he will be kicking my ass on the very addictive driving game, amongst many others bought for a couple of quid down Binh Thanh Market (or Ben 10 market as I call it - it's a kiddie joke for you old timers out there ;o) Well, that's quite enough for now. I'll go and add some photos for you to peruse at your leisure ;o)
Lots if love and warm wishes x x
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Lynda & Dad
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Chris's Visit
So good to see t'lad in the flesh instead of on a computer screen, only a flying visit but much welcome! Looking very well so obviously the oriental lifestyle is suiting you (both of you), your blogs back that up 100% everything you do sounds wonderful and different and lots of fun. England must have seemed very mundane after Bangkok but I'm sure Chris enjoyed coming back and catching up with family and friends, we realise that it is this part of your lives that you must miss most but we will all still be here when you both come back permanently. He said that he didn't mind driving to work in Leicester and back again afterwards but I'm sure he was telling porkies, he even said that the roads here weren't as busy as HCMC, mm? And as for being able to watch the World Cup! apart from maybe half a dozen matches it was best forgotten. Anyway you are both together again and starting afresh in HCMC and getting to know a different culture together, exciting but hard to beat Bangkok I bet. Take care and speak to you soon, love Lynda and Dad