Patumthanee and Tsingtao

First point today is that I think I've lost the SD card for the digital camera so there's no good photos to speak of. (Don't worry though Joe, I took it out after buying you a 1GB card which I've not lost, yet anyway.) Sorry about that folks.

Went to Patnumthanee which is a province north of Bangkok where Kriang works. Upon arriving I tried tom yum for the first time. It's hot papaya salad although more akin to soup by UK standards and is hot in both senses of the word. Definitely the hottest food I've had so far and possibly ever. It was really tasty though despite the burn. And, as some of you know, I don't like seafood but the freshness and strength of the other flavours in the food here means I've actually really enjoyed what seafood I've eaten so far which includes the fish in the Tom Yum. After that Kriang went to work and I went on a stroll all in about the place. First impromptu stop was to get a Thai foot massage which was amazing. It lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes and included legs, arms, neck, shoulders and upper back. They use this cream which is a bit like weak tiger balm and at some points use a small wooden stick to do the massage. It was nearly painful at some points but by the end I could barely keep my eyes open I was so relaxed. Not quite as good as reflexology (go Sarah!) but best of all it cost 220 baht, about £3. Bargain. If you end up in Kookot some day I recommend Golden Triangle Massage. Then I carried on walking around on my newly chilled out plates of meat. Stopped at a road side stall to buy a tray of strawberries which cost about 30p. Seemed like a bargain and absolutely made the girl who ran the stall's day to have a farang buy something. I didn't see another tourist there all afternoon although no doubt there were a few somewhere. She was beaming from ear to ear. Since I was already feeling extremely relaxed and upbeat after the massage and considering the low cost of the strawberries I didn't care when I discovered there weren't as many strawberries as I'd thought because there was a block of polystyrene hidden underneath them. Being a bit cynical I wondered if that was what made the girl so happy but somehow I don't think it was. For a start tricking someone out of a few strawberries wouldn't cause a reaction that strong in any normal person. They tasted top dollar. Then I went to a nearby shopping centre called IT City. Here's a picture I took, after swapping the SD cards.

You can't see a fraction of it from this picture, the place is absolutely massive. Literally about 3 times the size of Meadowhell, maybe more, but almost entirely PC related stuff bar a few eateries, coffee shops and mobile phone shops. I did actually get lost for about half an hour, completely lost my bearings. Not unusual for me at the best of times but when all I had was a vast array of computer shop after computer shop to go buy it was inevitable. One of the things that I found odd was that I hadn't seen any monks in Thailand so far, but I saw about 20 walking around IT City. They're not supposed to be there (I don't think they're supposed to have any possessions full stop) but there were orange robed skinheads all over the shop. Literally.

After that I had a coffee, then met Kriang and we went straight into Bangkok. Straight meaning we sat in traffic for about an hour. Met Pook at Bella Napoli, just off Sukhumvit Road (below) for some pizza which was well tasty.

Then went to buy a sleeping bag ready for the weekend's camping. We're heading north to a national park, the name of which escapes me but I'll write about it when we get back. In the mean time I'm going to finish off my bottle of Tsingtao, China's finest beer!

A rude awakening

Well as roughly promised I did try the booze in a bit more detail yesterday although for various reasons it didn't involve a trip to town for whiskey drinking but a trip to one of the local shops to buy a bottle of "rum" which tasted like whiskey and cheap whiskey at that. Enjoyed it with, and after, another ludicrously tasty dinner from a place nearby, take away style. Packaged in plastic bags, sauces and all, which was a first for me. Sat up till 4.30am drinking the rum with Kriang (who then called in work this morning to let them know he wouldn't be in until this afternoon! Feeling slightly guilty about that.) And the awakening was from the gardener and his friend, the cleaner, who's very nice and has just cheerfully but unsuccessfully tried to tell me something to do with a T-shirt, but again my Thai is limited to saying "sorry I can't speak Thai" which is both ironic and completely useless in most circumstances. Something to work on I suppose. They were stood on the balcony, as the gardener watered the plants, talking loudly right outside my window first thing this morning. Still, nothing a shower and tea couldn't fix. Off to Phattumthani this afternoon, the province where Kriang works, just to the north of Bangkok. I'll take the camera and see what I can do with it. Bye for now.

Kriangsak's gardener

Well a quick update. I've just seen the gardener again. He's just pointed out that Kriangsak has another washing maching in doors. I never noticed so I've been using the one outside. He can't speak a word of English and none of the Thai I can speak is any use other than for basic manners so I'm not entirely sure what he wants. Something to do with washing. Obviously. Quite funny doing the old mime thing to communicate. Unfortunately he doesn't want his picture taking though. I only wanted a mug shot, you know, for my records, but I suspect he thinks I wanted to photograph him because of his missing arm. Obviously I've respected his wishes and won't take the photo. Unfortunately it's beyond my abilities to communicate that I'm not trying to photo him because of his missing arm. Still, he clearly wasn't offended because he seemed to think it was funny that a) I wanted a picture of him and b) I was using the wrong washing machine. D'oh.

Wun sam

OK, day three. Getting settled in now although still not quite adjusted to local time. Kriang's at work and Will's gone to study for exams so I've got the place to myself. Well me and Bush, Kriang's dog.


Looks lovely eh? But apparently he's a bit of a killer. I've been here two days and still haven't actually stroked him because Kriang and Will both insist he's liable to bite if I do. Since Kriang had to go to the doctors every week for over a month for shots (despite Bush being vaccinated) I figured I'd take their advice and just ignore him for now. Personally I think he likes me but if he bites the hand that feeds him I'm not going to take my chances just yet. He's pictured sat on Kriang's living room floor. This living room.


Also seen here.


It's actually quite large and there's more than the pictures show but you get the gist. It's a nice place, with a big balcony on the first floor.

The view on the left is taken from my room. The one below from the street, which is called Moo 10. I don't know where Moo 1-9 are. Although it's somewhat inconvenient staying so far (probably about

10km, maybe a little more) from the centre of Krung Thep, as the Thais call Bangkok, it is nice to be in an area with no tourists. It gets a bit annoying walking around Khao San and similar areas hearing little but foreign accents, at least if you're as intolerant as me. And in my defense both Kriangsak and Will drive so neither of them has caught the train into Bangkok from here. I'm going to sooner or later, but first I need to extract information from Kriang in order to establish where the station is.

I've only spoken to two locals here so far, Kriang and Will notwithstanding, and even then I only said "sawatdee khrab", which is the polite way to say hello. Interestingly one of those two people is Kriangsak's one-armed gardener who is a very cheery fellow. Nobody seems to know how he lost his right arm but it's not done anything to dint his cheery demeanour. I'll try and get a picture of him if I see him again. The other person was just the girl in the local shop where I bought this drink.

Japanese iced green tea with lemon and honey. Mmmm. Perhaps not the most interesting picture you ever saw but probably the nicest iced tea I've tried so far (in any country I've been to, not just here) so if you see it, try it. That and a packet of chewing gum cost me about 35p. Back to the local area which is called Lad Krabang and has the largest industrial estate in Bangkok. Howzat for local trivia? (When I stopped at the information desk at the airport to find a payphone and borrow a pen I got talking to the people behind the counter, and oddly enough neither of them had heard of Lad Krabang. They were questioning if I had written the address down properly, despite it's largest-industrial-estate status.) Anyhoo this is the view down Kriangsak's street, Moo 10.


Because it's so cheap to eat out here nearly everybody does nearly all the time. Failing that you'll often see someone walking home with a takeaway. You can buy a very tasty meal for two people for about two quid in an air conditioned, very well served cafe. (Incidentally, wearing my big-head hat for a mo, I was very pleased to discover upon trying it here that my homemade Thai green curry tastes perfectly authentic when I manage to get hold of galangal. Go me.) They're very hot on service here too. Go anywhere to eat or drink in Bangkok and they'll usually dash over to the door to open it for you. Being a tad old fashioned I'm not entirely at ease when a petite, 5ft nothing Thai girl has to use both hands and all her weight to push open a well sprung door for me but they see you coming and they're too quick so I settle for a smile and a "kharb khun khrab" or "thank you" as it is, somewhat more succinctly, in English. Because of the propensity to eat out cooking facilities at home are often somewhat limited. Here's Kriangsak's stove, gas powered and very well ventilated, being outiside.


Another common way to get food is from a variety of mobile stalls and vans. The vans come round the block talking over a loud speaker like a cross between an American election campaigner and an ice cream van. I've not tried the food from one of these yet but I definitely will at some point. I just about managed to get a picture of one as it passed. Definitely getting better at whipping the camera out at short notice but I still need to work on my aim.


On the corner of Kriangsak's street is this little banana plantation, with a close up of the baby bananas on the right.


I also ate even smaller baby bananas on my first night here. They were almost embryonic, about 3mm wide and 30 long. Tasted a little like bean sprouts, they certainly weren't sweet at that size.

And now a quick note on the local fauna. One of the nicest things has been to hear some kind of monkey or gibbon calling as I walk around Lad Krabang. I've not seen one yet to be able to identify it but it's a nice, constant reminder of how exotic this place is.

Lastly, for now, I've also managed to catch up with one of those geckos I mentioned yesterday and I was quicker than this one. It's actually stuck to a wall, not just on the floor as it looks in the photo.


Right, that's it for now. I'm off to the shop to get more iced tea then it's time for another shower. Then I'm going to chill on the balcony for a bit in the shade. Ah, it's a hard life.

Off to the Land Of Smiles

Greetings folks. Here's my first travel blog, and in fact my first blog full stop. Indeed. Aren't you lucky? Perhaps not because I can't think of much to say at the moment. I hope I can edit this later and make it, and therefore me, seem more interesting. Then all I need to do is practice hypnotherapy so I can wipe this pre-edited version from your mind. You are feeling sleepy...

Anyway, brief run down so far: flight was much easier than I expected despite watching two and a half of the crappiest films I've seen in a long time. Don't waste life on Pulse or Adrift unless you're stuck somewhere like a prison cell or a plane. Probably don't watch Garfield either unless you're either a very big fan of Bill Murray who does Garfield's voice, or it improves vastly during the second half that I decided not to watch. The flight was improved greatly by having plenty of space on the way to Dubai since the plane was virtually empty. Had the whole row to myself and a window seat. The most amazing thing through which I saw was Beirut at night. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to get my (Joe's - thanks Broseph) camera out to snap it but if you imagine dozens of roads in a sort of Nile delta type pattern stretching inland along the length of the coast but denoted only by street lights that sort of describes it.

Had just a couple of hours stop in Abu Dhabi. Dubai's a crazy country geographically speaking. Half city, half desert, no, one quarter city, three quarters desert is probably closer to the mark, not that I saw any of it apart from from on the plane and through the airport windows. I did manage to take some photos though. This first one's Abu Dhabi airport:

Much more interesting than Heathrow I thought although as you can tell after just one picture I'm not a photographer so this photo doesn't really do it justice, but you get the idea. The next one isn't for anyone of a nervous disposition since it's me in the waiting lounge at Abu Dhabi feeling quite knackered, hot but satisfied so far.

This is the view out of the airport window (well, one of them, there wasn't just one massive airport window but many in fact. Conservative architecture everywhere these days.) you get a rough idea of the crappy, mostly desert landscape. Not much to look at, but I'm posting it anyway. The plane is the one that flew me from Dubai to Thailand.


The last Dubai picture is from the plane. Unfortunately the photo doesn't do the turquoise sea, ultramarine sky and brilliant sunshine justice. I might photoshop it later, make the sea the proper colour, perhaps add a mountain or two and some giant glass pyramids to spice things up a bit.

So then it was onwards to Thailand. This second half of the flight was greatly improved by this nice Iraqi bloke I was sat next to:


He kept giving me his sweets, the armrest, his pen, patience numerous times when I got up to walk about and was just generally very friendly and cheerful, despite his demeanor in the picture. This was photo attempt number 5 by which time he'd stopped smiling. The most amazing part of this leg of the journey was flying over India. I've never flown over such a massive country, it really makes you appreciate how big it is when you consider it took over two hours at about 600mph. There were many interesting sights (mountains, huge rivers, a giant glass pyramid etc) but I figured by this time I'd probably taken almost enough aerial photos. Just one more on the way there which is of Bangkok from the plane. It was taken at about 20,000ft and illustrates the smog issue more than the city. I kept waiting to drop under the clouds but eventually realised we weren't going to so I snapped it anyway.


My first Thai sunset, hopefully not my last or best.


One of the first things that I noticed as the plane taxied to the terminal was that on the gangways that connect the passenger door to the terminal were pictures of the King of Thailand with "Long live the King" written underneath in place of the usual HSBC/Toyota/Nestle etc advertising. There's loads of pictures of the king everywhere from construction sites to people's houses. I'll get a photo or two at some point probably.

And now, finally we start getting to the good stuff. Since I forgot to take the camera with me today there's only two more to go, a blessing for those of you with short attention spans, if you're still reading. You'll have to take my word for it that I saw a hovering hover car and a polar bear riding a unicycle down Soi 24, Sukhumvit . If they're still there tomorrow when I've got my camera I'll get the evidence for you.

This is some monument, one of many, just by some road near the centre of Bangkok. I saw it on my first night here as I was walking around with Kriangsak and his girlfriend Pook (rhymes with hook.) Side note: Huzzah! I've just seen my first Thai lizard. (Yet again I was too slow with the camera so if you want to see one type "lizard" into images.google.com.) Small, yellowy-beige little thing that just ran past the monitor on the desk. Anyhoo, the piccy:


And lastly, we went to Buddy for a beer on Khao San road, which was where I took this photo:


Right, it's nearly 4am here and this isn't doing my attempt to shift to local time any good. I'll probably post some more stuff up in the next few days while I'm still at Kriangsak's because he's got internet access, but that isn't a promise. We're off into Bangkok again tomorrow for an evening of Thai whiskey drinking, remember that if you find yourself looking for more blog and wish me luck. Night.