travelling allrite

Apologies for the lack of updates. We've been alternately without internet access and too exhausted to types since checking out of our hotel in Bangkok... On our last day in Bangkok we went shopping. We were going to start with a swim, but the water in the impressively decorated pool was only 18 degrees C. The air felt cool too, so much so that B brought a light jumper along. First we took a Skytrain down to the big shopping complexes of Siam Square. The double decked Skytrain lines tower over the surrounding traffic jams. It's mostly branded goods out of our budget, but there are some interesting furnishings stores. Alex was fascinated by the dancing fountains between the Siam Paragon and Siam Centre malls. We crossed over to MBK for lunch at the Thai (6th floor, not the International Food Court on the 5th). They operate via a coupon system where you first purchase coupons to an agreed value, then hand them out to the stalls to pay for the meals. Alex pigged on the f...

So far the Siam City is proving to be the worst of the hotels that we have stayed at in Thailand. Full of tour groups, ornate opulence rather than modern style and crappy expensive internet. Advantages: it's close to the Phaya Thai Skytrain and Airport line stations. It does have a decent buffet breakfast and Alex likes the many fountains, the lifts and the pool so it's not all bad. Anyway, we slept in this morning and enjoyed that. Then we caught the Skytrain to its northern terminus at Mo Chit, which is within easy walking distance of the famous Chatuchak (Jatujak) markets. Easy walking distance except for the big playground which lies between the station and the markets. It was great to let Alex play for a while, though some of the equipment was broken and even dangerously so. Others were in great nick. The Chatuchak markets were not as scary as I had imagined them to be. Yes they are big, but not overwhelmingly so. All sorts of stuff is sold there, not just pirate...

It wasn't the longest railway journey that I've been on, but it felt like it was. It wasn't the worst train ride either ( that was in China), but it was getting close to some of those horrible overnight train rides between Sydney, Brisbane and Rockhampton when I was a student. A two and a half hour delay in the middle of the day is tolerable, but when its stopping you from eating dinner and going to bed it feels like an eternity. When I booked the "Express" Sprinter service between Chiang Mai and Bangkok's Hualumphong station I thought "Great! We can see a large chunk of the Thai countryside and save a lot of money while having a lazy day in a train." I wished we'd paid for the flights. The journey started well enough. We said goodbye to the staff at the Manathai Village, dragging Alex away from his beloved fountains, and were driven by Khong to Chiang Mai's train station. There's a steam train on display out the front, a tall wate...

After all of the previous day's excitement we needed something more relaxing. So today we did very little. Woke up late, ate breakfast, let Alex play with the hotel staff, who seem to love him. He's been very good at charming the locals with an easy "Hi!" and his excited descriptions of things like "fountains!" (his lift replacement, for he has encountered none here), "motorbike!" and "wee-wee toilet!". The Manathai feels like a very sedate resort, which suits us just fine. After we dragged Alex away from the fountains and waterfalls we crossed the road towards the local market area, making the mistake of trying to use the stroller over the bumpy and narrow footpaths. Alex managed to sleep through it all. The markets sold all sorts of things, from Spider-man outfits to pickles. But nothing we wanted. The atmosphere is interesting, though. We emerged from the narrow streets at the river and did a loop across a couple of bridges. The e...

Alex cried out in agony,as if he were burning. Nothing we gave him could ease his pain. No, he hadn't been thrown unrestrained through the car window on a busy Thai road. Nor was this a consequence of falling down a ledge on to concrete. He hadn't been trampled by an elephant, or slipped off the back of one, plunging to the ground below. He wasn't run over by the wheels of an ox drawn cart or drowning in a river filled with elephant poo. No tiger had mauled him, no tuk-tuk had run over him and he was not trapped under the rubble of a building felled by a magnitude seven earthquake. Alex had bitten a raw green chilli. Fortunately for him, we knew the antidote. This is a powerful drug, so addictive that I used to devour six litres of it in a week. We gave him ice cream. It's funny. We came to Thailand to escape the consequences of the earthquake and the risks of the radiation leak. Those risks are small, quantified and should not apply to the southern areas. Yet...

What's a boutique airline? One with art works hung all around the cabin? Trendy service? Small numbers of passengers? Whatever the answer, we were about to find out. We woke to the sound of rain. It was dark, except for flashes of lightning. I assumed that it must be very early, as Thailand is four hours behind Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time. Actually, we’d slept until 10am Aussie time, or 6am local. Good! I could write some of my blog. While I wrote, Alex played. The hotel had the Australia Network Channel available on the televisions, which was good because Alex got to watch Playschool. With all the rain outside we gave up on going outside to search for breakfast and decided to eat at the hotel instead. Sadly, their buffet lacked local dishes, though the selection of fruit and pastries was nice. The atmosphere was spoiled a little by the male Qantas crew bitching at an adjacent table. Not certain if they were flight attendants or pilots, though I suspect the forme...