We flew in to Hanoi not quite sure what to expect from Vietnam. Obviously we knew about the war ( known here as the American war, to distinguish it from various others, generally with the French) and a little of their political situation but not much more. What we found was not much different to…
River Kwai and Elephant rides
Another early start – no time for breakfast – we’re off to the river Kwai. The museum here was poorly managed and laid out, so many artefacts just bundled together with little information about them. It was historic, sad and made little mention of the POW’s who died building the bridge. There’s not much…
Silk and gold
Jim Thompson is the person credited with reviving the silk trade in Thailand. He was an architect, gifted designer and colourist. He fell in love with Thailand after being sent here as a military officer at the end of WWII and decided to stay. He used his knowledge of architecture and his love of Thai…
Cooking with Poo!
It’s obviously an eye catching name but behind the light hearted nature of this there is a very serious undertaking. The classes are the more public face of what is essentially a co-operative enterprise. The classes are still run in the slum area where Poo has always lived, she employs people from the area not…
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder?
One of the very noticeable elements of life in Bangkok is the obsession in cosmetics with skin colour. I obviously spend a lot of time around these counters picking up beauty tips! Whilst at home the obsession for many, both male and female, is with fake tans and other ways of producing a bronzed look,…
Ayutthaya- Ancient Capital
Early start on this day trip, up at 6am ( we kept reminding ourselves that back in our “real lives” we did this every day!). Picked up at the hotel and taken to Khao San Road where we were then decanted into our appropriate minivan for our trip. Khao San Road is backpacking ground zero…
Bangkok Palaces and Temples
We had a couple of false starts in trying to get to the Grand Palace. The first taxi driver wanted to take us on a tour first, so we got out, the second said taxis were not allowed near the site so we left him too and went back to the apartment to ask our…
Chatuchak Market and the MBK Center
Chatuchak is Bangkok’s largest outdoor weekend market. Full of just about everything you could want including; food, clothes, furniture to name a few. The market is like a rabbit warren of stalls interweaving from one section to the next. Each group of items have their own section of the market to make it easier if…
Galle Fort
Galle Fort has variously been occupied by the Portugese, Dutch and most recently the British. There is a new town outside the walls but the old city is where we visited. The influence of it’s former colonial past is very obvious in the buildings, which include a large number of churches. Many of the buildings…
Turtles, tea and crocodiles.
So after a couple of days lazing by the pool and the beach we decided it was time to see a bit of Sri Lanka. We ended up doing a lot more than we intended, but it was an amazing day. We started at the Habawadera Turtle Hatchery. They are a conservation project that has…
Anniversary dinner
So this is our 23rd anniversary- I know, we were married so young we both had to go to school the next day😚. We had the place to ourselves in the hotel dining room- apart from the frog, who hopefully wasn’t in mourning for his family on the plate as we were assured it was…