My first visit to Bangkok was 1974 - I remember meeting David Frost on the flight from Singapore - and my abiding memory was of the overwhelming presence of young US servicemen on R&R from Vietnam.
I was back again for a few days in 1978 - getting a visa to work in Brazil - but except for touching down at Don Muang Airport a few times on flights to Oz, I didn't return to the city until the 90's when I was here regularly on business and you couldn't move for the construction works for the MRT and the Skytrain and the new superhighways.
Linda's memories are of hockey trips from Hong Kong and Singapore and some of those stories will probably remain untold - 'what goes on tour.....'!
Landing at Suvarnabhumi airport this week it seems that the city has reached adulthood and taken its rightful place as another suburb of that sprawling Pacific city whch already includes Tokyo, Shanghai, Hongkong, Singapore, Sydney,Santiago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
Unfortunately, the city seems to have lost many of those features which seemed uniquely Thai and ended up like most of the others in the region - a fellow traveller described it as Blade Runner without the rain! Until you get to Sukhumvit or Patpong, of course, where you encounter hordes of attractive young women selling their services to the legions of fairly unattractive Farang.
Maybe my memories are rose-tinted, or perhaps I am becoming more cynical (is that possible?) butI am glad to be leaving the city behind as we head south for the coast and Pak Nam Pran.
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Monday, 17 January 2011
Best laid plans
It seemed such a simple plan - a few days in Bangkok, a short visit to Kanchanburi and the Death Railway and then jump on the overnight sleeper to Chiang Mai. Unfortunately everyone else wants to get on the sleeper as well and there is no room for at least the next week. Guess we will have to settle for a few days on the beach until the rush is over.It's a rough life, but.....
Stop the banker's bonuses!
Despite notifying Lloyds that we were travelling to Thailand and Laos via their call centre and by email, they still managed to freeze our bankcards on both the accounts we had planned to use on our trip. In addition,when we called to sort it out they claimed that they couldn't do anything for 4 hours because all their systems were down for maintenance / upgrade.
For the same reason - apparently - we couldn't check the accounts via on-line banking. By the time it was finally resolved we had spent more than 15 minutes calling the UK from Linda's mobile - had to reorganise our plans for the day and grown a few more grey hairs.
I bet this wouldn't happen with a Canadian bank!
For the same reason - apparently - we couldn't check the accounts via on-line banking. By the time it was finally resolved we had spent more than 15 minutes calling the UK from Linda's mobile - had to reorganise our plans for the day and grown a few more grey hairs.
I bet this wouldn't happen with a Canadian bank!
Saturday, 15 January 2011
Sunshine and 31C
Sitting by the pool with a cooling beverage watching the sun as it disappears behind the hotel tower next door.
10 days of visiting family and friends - driving 1100 miles and 14 restaurant meals later - was great fun but we were both ready for a break by the time we got into the taxi on our way to Heathrow.
Enjoyed being back around the Barbican for a couple of days but the taxi journey reminded me why city life lost its attraction a year or so ago. A lunchtime accident on the A4 had almost closed the road and even at 6.00pm it was still clogged justifying our driver's decision to take the A40. Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea so we crawled along from from White City to Park Royal.
Hour and a half to terminal 3 - thankfully we had checked in online and had plenty of time - and a very smooth passage through security left us with time for a farewell glass of fizz before boarding.
Flight was long and fairly uneventful - amazed at the number of single men of a variety of ages but equally bad dress sense and personal hygiene who were onboard. Assume they were coming here to visit their tailors and indulge in some personal grooming! Although having seen their ilk on our first night here they all seem to have engaged the services of a young(ish) female (mostly) Thai companion to help them cope with cultural differences - I assume.
So the adventure begins - so far we have agreed on 4 nights in Bangkok and then moving on the Kanchanburi and the Death Railway on Tuesday.
10 days of visiting family and friends - driving 1100 miles and 14 restaurant meals later - was great fun but we were both ready for a break by the time we got into the taxi on our way to Heathrow.
Enjoyed being back around the Barbican for a couple of days but the taxi journey reminded me why city life lost its attraction a year or so ago. A lunchtime accident on the A4 had almost closed the road and even at 6.00pm it was still clogged justifying our driver's decision to take the A40. Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea so we crawled along from from White City to Park Royal.
Hour and a half to terminal 3 - thankfully we had checked in online and had plenty of time - and a very smooth passage through security left us with time for a farewell glass of fizz before boarding.
Flight was long and fairly uneventful - amazed at the number of single men of a variety of ages but equally bad dress sense and personal hygiene who were onboard. Assume they were coming here to visit their tailors and indulge in some personal grooming! Although having seen their ilk on our first night here they all seem to have engaged the services of a young(ish) female (mostly) Thai companion to help them cope with cultural differences - I assume.
So the adventure begins - so far we have agreed on 4 nights in Bangkok and then moving on the Kanchanburi and the Death Railway on Tuesday.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
So what happened to 2010?
Well last time I looked it was around the beginning of October, we were busy fattening our two pigs, there were 23 geese on the paddock along with 5 of Keith's lambs and the hockey girls were settled and producing 28 fresh eggs every week.
Suddenly Christmas and Hogmanay are past and I am sitting opposite Linda on the Stena HSS ferry from Belfast to Stranraer as we begin 10 days of family visits in the UK before we head off for 7 weeks in Thailand and Laos.
Raising the pigs was definitely one of my successes for the year. By the time they went to the butcher at the beginning of November they had grown from 20-25 kg each to 85-90kg. As a result we ended up with nearly 120kg of meat in various forms (including 17kg of sausages) and 18 kg of Black pudding. Too much for our new freezer but thankfully our landlord took nearly 30 kg and paid a generous price for it – fair play to ye, Eugene! The meat has been very tasty with just the right layer of very sweet fat – not good for the cholesterol level but too good to avoid. Not sure if we will have pigs again next year – we will still be eating Billy and Bruce for most of the year – but it would be fun to try again.
The large flock of geese is definitely not to be repeated -too much effort and very little return – by Christmas time they were only selling for about 70% of their cost. They did reach a good weight – around 4.5kg when oven ready – and tasted really good but next time I think I would only raise a couple for ourselves.
The Hockey Girls were a great success for Linda - lost track of the number of eggs over the 6 months but there were never less than 24 per week. They were the only survivors as we packed up to leave – they are on their holidays too staying with Keith in a brand new “Celtic Tiger” henhouse – I may return to this later.
We had a great Christmas with friends visiting from the UK – more on this later too – it was so good to be able to share so much of our own produce with them!
So we packed up everything at Moyhill over the last weekend and are off on our travels again – sorry to all those regular readers who have commented on my indolence – there are lots of stories to tell so I will try to do better!!
Suddenly Christmas and Hogmanay are past and I am sitting opposite Linda on the Stena HSS ferry from Belfast to Stranraer as we begin 10 days of family visits in the UK before we head off for 7 weeks in Thailand and Laos.
Raising the pigs was definitely one of my successes for the year. By the time they went to the butcher at the beginning of November they had grown from 20-25 kg each to 85-90kg. As a result we ended up with nearly 120kg of meat in various forms (including 17kg of sausages) and 18 kg of Black pudding. Too much for our new freezer but thankfully our landlord took nearly 30 kg and paid a generous price for it – fair play to ye, Eugene! The meat has been very tasty with just the right layer of very sweet fat – not good for the cholesterol level but too good to avoid. Not sure if we will have pigs again next year – we will still be eating Billy and Bruce for most of the year – but it would be fun to try again.
The large flock of geese is definitely not to be repeated -too much effort and very little return – by Christmas time they were only selling for about 70% of their cost. They did reach a good weight – around 4.5kg when oven ready – and tasted really good but next time I think I would only raise a couple for ourselves.
The Hockey Girls were a great success for Linda - lost track of the number of eggs over the 6 months but there were never less than 24 per week. They were the only survivors as we packed up to leave – they are on their holidays too staying with Keith in a brand new “Celtic Tiger” henhouse – I may return to this later.
We had a great Christmas with friends visiting from the UK – more on this later too – it was so good to be able to share so much of our own produce with them!
So we packed up everything at Moyhill over the last weekend and are off on our travels again – sorry to all those regular readers who have commented on my indolence – there are lots of stories to tell so I will try to do better!!
Sunday, 26 September 2010
Ten Years On - Another Castle
Is it really ten years since we were watching Steve Redgrave win his 5th Olympic medal in the early hours of the morning at Wedderburn Castle?
Since then there have been a few changes: at the latest count there are 12 children born to our wedding guests (probably it for this generation, Susan?); three weddings; one divorce; I've lost contact with three of the guests while Linda has only lost one.
Happily we have retained contact with most of those who joined us for our wedding and I know that many of you follow the blog - so thanks for all your good wishes.We couldn't manage another party at Wedderburn - although we did consider it - because we couldn't get anyone to look after the pigs for long enough. However Keith agreed to cover so we could have three nights away and we headed off to Kilkenny - which also has a very impressive castle.
We enjoyed the city, ate in one very good restaurant and took advantage of the retail opportunity to buy those essentials that we cannot get in rural Co Clare - Wasabi peanuts, Rice wine vinegar and fish sauce. We also found an excellent bottle shop near our hotel so we could pick up some different wines.
Didn't miss the early morning chores at all - although I was still up early and enjoyed my morning coffee and Telegraph crossword at a great little coffee shop .
Stopped by the slaughterhouse on the way home - just to make sure I could find it when the time comes and met the butcher - TJ Crowe - and his mother who made us very welcome and gave us a tour of the place.
Back home in time for friday evening chores and within 15 minutes it was as if we had never been away!
Since then there have been a few changes: at the latest count there are 12 children born to our wedding guests (probably it for this generation, Susan?); three weddings; one divorce; I've lost contact with three of the guests while Linda has only lost one.
Happily we have retained contact with most of those who joined us for our wedding and I know that many of you follow the blog - so thanks for all your good wishes.We couldn't manage another party at Wedderburn - although we did consider it - because we couldn't get anyone to look after the pigs for long enough. However Keith agreed to cover so we could have three nights away and we headed off to Kilkenny - which also has a very impressive castle.
We enjoyed the city, ate in one very good restaurant and took advantage of the retail opportunity to buy those essentials that we cannot get in rural Co Clare - Wasabi peanuts, Rice wine vinegar and fish sauce. We also found an excellent bottle shop near our hotel so we could pick up some different wines.
Didn't miss the early morning chores at all - although I was still up early and enjoyed my morning coffee and Telegraph crossword at a great little coffee shop .
Stopped by the slaughterhouse on the way home - just to make sure I could find it when the time comes and met the butcher - TJ Crowe - and his mother who made us very welcome and gave us a tour of the place.
Back home in time for friday evening chores and within 15 minutes it was as if we had never been away!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
