for all of my friends and family that check my blog regularly, i'll let you in on a little secret...
i'm coming home early! i was supposed to be coming home on the 14th june, but i'll be home on the 8th june instead. so for those of you who read my blog, you'll know. but for my ignorant mates who i know couldn't be 4rsed to read it, i'll surprise your smelly 4sses.
see you soon ma!
[i have collection from airport already organised]
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
06/06/2007
was going to put up pics from the thai cooking course we did, but i can't get this PC to read my card. cooked 5 courses.
- fried rice with chicken
- thai red chicken curry with boiled and fried noodles
- papaya salad
- spring rolls
- deep fried bananas
fwas very cool as it was a small group [only 5 students] so very hands-on and got to buy stuff from market ourselves. food was delicious and made by me! i'd definitely recommend this guy; nousi. his website is here: SILOM thai cooking school
here's a pic from their website [and what it was really like]
- fried rice with chicken
- thai red chicken curry with boiled and fried noodles
- papaya salad
- spring rolls
- deep fried bananas
fwas very cool as it was a small group [only 5 students] so very hands-on and got to buy stuff from market ourselves. food was delicious and made by me! i'd definitely recommend this guy; nousi. his website is here: SILOM thai cooking school
here's a pic from their website [and what it was really like]
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
04/06/2007
hello mr. taxi driver. this is your 4rse and this is your elbow. they are not the same. they are in fact, different. taxi drivers in any other city in the world know their territory like the back of their hand, but not in bangkok. nope. the problem in part arises because all of the streets have 2 names. the english version and the thai one. but even when we give them a map with thai street names and direction in thai on how to get to our hotel, they seem flabergasted. our last trip saw the driver stop twice to ask locals for directions and hand our map over to them to inspect. and all taxi drivers appear to be driving in some great bangkok grand prix that no one was told about. i'm not sure if we were wining, but boy was he trying to use as much petrol and brake pads as possible. nice, whiplashy kind of trip if you know what i mean.
this morning we went to the tailor recommended on the lonely planet forums by several members; - narry.com . interesting process. picked material for suits and shirts, measured up [loads of measurements taken] and then told them the style & features we wanted. 2 suits, 2 shirts, and 2 ties cost me about 290 euro, but i did select slightly more expensive material, you could have got it cheaper. heading back over tomorrow at 5pm for initial fitting, then back the next day for final adjustments.
we then headed to MBK shopping centre and bought a bag and t-shirts, etc. back to the hotel. went back out to the infamous khao san road to get some fake student IDs [ISIC]. now i can get cheap cinema tickets in liffey valley, etc. we then went to the cinema in siam centre to see shrek 3. was as expected; funny, but not as funny as the previous ones. may got to the cinema again as it is filthy cheap and really good seats.
i also picked up a replacement lense cap for my new SLR camera as i may or may not have lost my lense cap while streching over the mekong delta river taking a picture of a python.
this morning we went to the tailor recommended on the lonely planet forums by several members; - narry.com . interesting process. picked material for suits and shirts, measured up [loads of measurements taken] and then told them the style & features we wanted. 2 suits, 2 shirts, and 2 ties cost me about 290 euro, but i did select slightly more expensive material, you could have got it cheaper. heading back over tomorrow at 5pm for initial fitting, then back the next day for final adjustments.
we then headed to MBK shopping centre and bought a bag and t-shirts, etc. back to the hotel. went back out to the infamous khao san road to get some fake student IDs [ISIC]. now i can get cheap cinema tickets in liffey valley, etc. we then went to the cinema in siam centre to see shrek 3. was as expected; funny, but not as funny as the previous ones. may got to the cinema again as it is filthy cheap and really good seats.
i also picked up a replacement lense cap for my new SLR camera as i may or may not have lost my lense cap while streching over the mekong delta river taking a picture of a python.
03/06/2007
wake @ 6am to go to the airport and head to thailand. the flight to bangkok was less than an hour. staying in the royal hotel near the khao san road, and it's ok, but the price is very good for bangkok. most decent hotels over here cost a lot more than what you'd expect - i guess it's all the tourism they get.
wrecked after the last few early mornings, so we had a little cat nap before heading out to the weekend market - the largest market by far, so we didn't want to miss it. we were told that the taxi drivers in the hotels are more reliable and won't overcharge or try to bring you to places you don't want to go or didn't request [so they can earn commission from sellers]. we had quite the opposite experience. he charged us 5 euro to get to the market and wanted us to visit different shops instead. on the way back we got a regular taxi on a meter and paid 2 euro. lesson learned.
the market was excellent. better than ANY other we have been to in asia. we started stocking up on clothes in preparation for the journey home. i bought a couple of t-shirts, jeans, and some runners. very reasonable proces and they are pretty trendy stuff aswell; not just printed t-shirts you see in all other markets. heading off to try find a tailor tomorrow to get a fitted suit made up. should be fun!
unlike other countries, so far everything is pretty cheap here. [sometimes drink / transport / food / accommodation can cost inproportionately to cost of living].
wrecked after the last few early mornings, so we had a little cat nap before heading out to the weekend market - the largest market by far, so we didn't want to miss it. we were told that the taxi drivers in the hotels are more reliable and won't overcharge or try to bring you to places you don't want to go or didn't request [so they can earn commission from sellers]. we had quite the opposite experience. he charged us 5 euro to get to the market and wanted us to visit different shops instead. on the way back we got a regular taxi on a meter and paid 2 euro. lesson learned.
the market was excellent. better than ANY other we have been to in asia. we started stocking up on clothes in preparation for the journey home. i bought a couple of t-shirts, jeans, and some runners. very reasonable proces and they are pretty trendy stuff aswell; not just printed t-shirts you see in all other markets. heading off to try find a tailor tomorrow to get a fitted suit made up. should be fun!
unlike other countries, so far everything is pretty cheap here. [sometimes drink / transport / food / accommodation can cost inproportionately to cost of living].
Monday, June 04, 2007
02/06/2007
up at 6am this morning for the 2nd and last day of our mekong tour. the day started off great with 2 people each getting on small row boats to float down to the fish farm, then back to the row boats to gently press on - this was very relaxing. there was a mother and daughter team on our boat and the girl was so cute [see pics below]. she was facinated by dee's freckles!
we got to our lunch stop @ 11am and were told that we needed to wait for an hour, while they sorted out the visas to get back into cambodia. as we sat there in the restaurant for what seemed like an age under the tin roof, all the local kids surrounded us and demanded attention. they are so happy and loved when we all joined in playing their clapping games. 3 and a half hours later we passed through immigration by speedboat [as the main boat broke down] and got to the cambodian side. then another "15 mins" wait turned out to be another hour, and our final trip home was supposed to be 2 hours [1 hour boat, 1 hour bus], turned into 6 hours! was a nightmare journey back getting caught in storms etc.
i wouldn't have minded a whole lot about the extra time taken, but in the heat and humidity i was dripping and in dire need of air-con and a shower. was aa bit pissed off at the tour company [sin cafe] at the end, but all in all the mekong tour was a great trip to see how the locals live.
what i'll remember most about vietnam is the people. on themekong everyone would wavem dance and shout at you as you were floating by, to let you know you are welcome. what makes the vietnamese different is that they are not just being nice and then immediately asking you for money; they are genuine.
we got to our lunch stop @ 11am and were told that we needed to wait for an hour, while they sorted out the visas to get back into cambodia. as we sat there in the restaurant for what seemed like an age under the tin roof, all the local kids surrounded us and demanded attention. they are so happy and loved when we all joined in playing their clapping games. 3 and a half hours later we passed through immigration by speedboat [as the main boat broke down] and got to the cambodian side. then another "15 mins" wait turned out to be another hour, and our final trip home was supposed to be 2 hours [1 hour boat, 1 hour bus], turned into 6 hours! was a nightmare journey back getting caught in storms etc.
i wouldn't have minded a whole lot about the extra time taken, but in the heat and humidity i was dripping and in dire need of air-con and a shower. was aa bit pissed off at the tour company [sin cafe] at the end, but all in all the mekong tour was a great trip to see how the locals live.
what i'll remember most about vietnam is the people. on themekong everyone would wavem dance and shout at you as you were floating by, to let you know you are welcome. what makes the vietnamese different is that they are not just being nice and then immediately asking you for money; they are genuine.
01/06/2007
our adventure on the mekong delta river tour began with a bus journey narrated by a character named tham. amoungst the strangely pronunciated words [that we caught every sixth word of], one thing was clear; tham liked the sound of his own voice. he'd talk endlessly about fish, number plates, cars, coconuts, and things you can make from coconut... you name it, he could sh1te on about it until you became mentally numb.
so as per the itenarary, we headed off on the boat to see a small village to see the making of rice paper, coconut sweets, and rice crispy squares. bought - ate - liked. we mosied some more down the river to get lunch [vietnamese food] and to hear some of the terrible indigeneous music - needless to say i won't be rushing out to buy their album. back on the boat, then transferred back to a bus to get to the hotel for the night. we seemed to have skipped half the stuff on the itinerary like going to the floating market, but we read that this might happen. hotel was good.
so as per the itenarary, we headed off on the boat to see a small village to see the making of rice paper, coconut sweets, and rice crispy squares. bought - ate - liked. we mosied some more down the river to get lunch [vietnamese food] and to hear some of the terrible indigeneous music - needless to say i won't be rushing out to buy their album. back on the boat, then transferred back to a bus to get to the hotel for the night. we seemed to have skipped half the stuff on the itinerary like going to the floating market, but we read that this might happen. hotel was good.
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