Sunday 8 May 2011

Must not fall asleep

Back in Doha again and my travelling adventures have come to an end. 
It's Been an amazing trip- I've been blessed by monks, chartered boats, visited the commercial long neck village and headed back to Luang Prabang after fourteen years.  
As always you realise how small the world is and that wherever you go it's full of people like you. The only chance is that we have no say in our destiny of location at the beginning.  Throughout the world today there is so much unrest, so much corruption and so much hate. Travelling rekindles the spirit of wonderment, opportunity, accomplishment and hope. From beer drinking with the street vendor in Bangkok, to helping the lad in the English class in Laos, to catching up with old friends in Chiang Mai, so often a trip is not so much about what you see but how you experience it..

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Boiling in Bangkok 

Just doing the touristy things in Bangkok, grand palace, wat po and of course walking down the Khao San road. Even popped into boots this morning to get some tiger balm and to escape the heat. Trust me never come to Thailand in may, it's the hottest month!!! Also the heat of the streets increases with all the food stalls with boiling and bubbling vats if hot oil frying whatever they are cooking.
Have a sore head this morning as I headed back to the same street vendor where I had great spicy salad the night before. Well I ended up staying five hours, joining in someone's birthday bash!!! Cake and flowing beer made for a great celebration - you've got to love Bangkok !!!!

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Smashing back in Bangkok

Hurrah it's my first night in Bangkok, but have had a rather traumatic journey which involved three different buses and a journey of 19 hours. I feel my journy into bangkok each time is doomed. After we crossed the border I was smugly thinking how lucky I was sitting at the top, at the front with masses of leg room and the view and all this space all the way to Bangkok!  After watching a film on the VIP bus's flat screen I was dozing off when I noticed that the log baring lorry in front had slowed down considerably. We didn't have time or room to stop so scarily we hit it. It all seemed to slow down and I took the brace position ( well trained from the Demos in the plane) and was frightened that the logs would come through the window.  Luckily the driver swerved at the last opportunity and the widow just smashed. We all got out and the front of the bus was really smashed in, all windows caved in, but luckily no one was hurt. Then after waiting to gone midnight another bus came, but disappointedly the engine died so it wasn't until 7am that we got on our third bus Bangkok bound!  
Still I've now consoled myself with some great street prepared BBQ chicken, sticky rice and a spicy papaya salad with a beer!!