...i can't touch the ceiling

hey - i just realised - i can't touch the ceiling in my flat - it's too high.
that's kinda cool...

bangkok traffic

ok, so after thai school today, i go up the road to jusco and carrefour to do some shopping. don't normally go up there, but haven't been for a while, so i figure, what the heck.
shopping is noneventful, but i buy a case of chang beer - so have to take a taxi back home (i'd have to anyway, as the subway is closed this week due to the accident).

taxi takes me an hour and a half!

if there was no traffic, you could drive home from carrefour in 5, maybe 10 minutes. i've walked it in less than an hour.

the traffic lights kept stopping us for 15 minutes each time, and each time we stopped, around 170 motorbikes would pass us, weaving through the rows of stopped cars (i know it was 170 'cos i counted - nothing else to do)

and people wonder why i don't go out much!

back to thai school

...ok - so i had my lazy run, but i've been here almsot a year, and still can't say much more in thai than "turn left at the next corner" and "can't you make it a little cheaper?"
so, today i'm back to thai school!
tell you how it goes later

subway crash in bangkok

... so the maid comes in today at noon and says "you no hear about rot fai dai din (subway) crash?"
seems that an empty train collided with a full passenger train this morning!
the system has only been open for 6 months!
good thing we don't commute, huh?

breadmaker

the aroma of freshly baked bread wafting thru the flat first thing on a sunday morning...

hopefully that will be what we will have here in the swamp soon, as i bought a new breadmaker today!

how terribly, terribly domesticated i have become...

back in the swamp...

ahhh... back in the swamp - everyday faced with that terrible choice of "what exactly do i do today?"
all you non-swampers may be envious at my life of extreme leisure, but let me tell you, it's not easy living the swamp life... i have major decisions to make each day - such as "do i get out of bed today or not?"...
anyway - thought i'd show you some of my pictures of new year to show you how pretty and, surprisingly, sunny, ingerland was...


canal boat


holmfirth, yorkshire


whitby, yorkshire

back home

...best thing about going somewhere cold is coming back to the warmth.
- not that it's that hot here at this time of year - the electronic display outside the airport said it was 21 degrees when we got back at 8:30 am yesterday - that's not that different from yorkshire...

first thing i noticed was that the food is cheap - we went out for dinner last night, ate well, had a bottle of beer, and it was still less than a pub lunch for one in the uk. second thing i noticed was the mosquitos... arrrrrgh! i had forgotten them...

what else - the plants were mostly dead, the fish are still alive - in fact - they seem to have multiplied and grown big... neglect must be good for them.

fridge is full of food that i'm scared to touch - milk, yogurt and even a slice of pizza from far too long ago... wonder if i can get the maid to throw them out for me - of course i can - i'm back in thailand - no doing anything for myself anymore!

regarding the tsunami - have decided not to go to phuket just now - it seems that i'd just be in the way, and taking up food and shelter that others need more than i do...