Our Trip 2012

Monday, February 20, 2012 22:53 | Filled in travel

A lot has happened since I last wrote here.

We went to visit ‘Tip, she was staying at her sister’s house from Wed. to Sunday so she could rest and relax before starting back at work on Monday, comeing to us last Thursday. ”Tip is good at  ironing, Dave dosen’t think I can iron his shirts as well, and cooking, she made us a Thai meal of  Pork Omelet, with Stir Fried Morning Glory. It was delicious.

We went to another lecture series at the museum. This time it was about some of the differnet  temples and their mural  paintings, we decided to go to one of them and it was interesting to study the wall murals rather than just look at the temple. You can just make out the mural behind the Buddha image showing the world according to Buddhist cosmology.

Inside the Ubosoht of the Golden Mount Temple

Went out for dinner with two couples to The Fish Market opposite our hotel. It is a huge place, a cross between a supermarket, aquarium and restaurant. One goes “shopping” with a trolley and picks up the fish/seafood it is judged will be needed for the group (always better to go with a group) as well as any vegetables one feels the need of. Then it is off to the liquor store to buy the wine and thus sit down and wait for the  dishes to be prepared. We had a very jolly and delicious evening chatting about all sorts of things, most of which seems to have escaped my head at the moment.

In amongs all this I managed to get to MBK, a cheapish indoor shopping experience, where I was able to buy a few items. Happily too, the Thai Craft Sale was taking place on one of the Saturday mornings and I went shopping to it. Unfortunately the night market, Lumpini Park, has now been closed down. it was a wonderful noisy place full of stalls selling all kinds of interesting items as well as a live stage where all types of amateur singing and dancing acts performed. Also every kind of street  food you could imagine all sold in a clean environment together with beer and wine. A very civilised place. Now the whole area is just left to return to the jungle despite threats of it being built on sometime soon.
Another sad event, we discovered, was the closing of a great pub in Bangkok, one of the best British pubs outside the British Isles. Apparently the owner of the building decided this pub was becoming very popular and thus increased the rent by a huge amount which the owner of the business said couldn’t be done and so didn’t pay it. The case went to court but the owner of the building won (probably by the use of “Tea Money”). The owner then gave the business 11 days to vacate the premises and a big farewell party was planned but in the end they were kicked out after only 4 days. The pub was called the Bulls Head, off Sukhumvit, and was very well run by Billy. To cut a long story short Billy now finds himself  half owner of another pub, The Barbican, off Silom. Now we have found it we shall go there as often as is feasible while we are in Bangkok. I guess shit happens but it really was most unfair. The Bulls head is still a pub, with a new name, terrible food and absolutely no atmosphere. We shall not return there.

Our Trip 2012

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 6:12 | Filled in travel

Melbourne Cup dressers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Today was the Melbourne Cup Retrospective. As all you Race Meet aficionados know the Melbourne Cup takes place in Melbourne Australia every November and from what I gather is somewhat like Ascot with a bit of The Grand National thrown in. Anyway those Aussies manage to celebrate the event almost where ever they happen to congregate in the world and one of the biggest of those celebrations takes place in Bangkok every November: I was privileged to attend 3 of them while I was living here. Unfortunately (or fortunately for me) last November’s event was postponed due to the flooding in and around Bangkok and it was decided to hold a party of similar magnitude in February. As they couldn’t screen live footage of the actual race they did a digital rerun of all the winners from the last hundred years of the race thus we were able to have the sweepstakes. I had a winner with a 100bht bet on the horse who came first I got 500bht back (it helped towards the 2,000bht I spent on bets). All the money raised by this extravagant get together goes towards various charities and this year it is going to help flood victims. The event attracts mostly women who get all dolled up in fancy gear to try and win prizes for their outfits. All kinds appear some outrageous and some elegant with everything in between always including a hat of course. I made a fascinator from scratch which i was very proud of. Anyway the party starts at 9:30am with champagne and canapes, then proceeds to lunch and more wine, eventually finishing around 3pm at the venue but continuing at another bar/restaurant until the last one is standing!!!! I was not able to make it after 7pm, my jet lag was catching up with me and i was in bed by 8:30pm. A great day none the less.

Valentine’s Day Messages

Friday, February 10, 2012 12:02 | Filled in the interweb

I Heart U CursorSo my man created this demo of his coding skills for Valentine’s Day: interfacemaster.ca/love -> check it out! Click and drag anywhere on the screen (or tap and drag if you’re on a mobile device) and play! It’s so much fun. If you want to send a custom message to your love for Valentine’s Day, click the heart in the top right corner, enter your custom message, and share the link that’s provided! Super simple. Have fun!