Visions of Bangkok........

So after my little investment the other day I decided to go out and capture what I thought were typical Bangkok scenes.... things that Dan and I encounter on an everyday basis that don't really seem all that strange anymore. So we took a bit of a trip down to the Chatuchak weekend markets which are really close to our place. They are just HUGE.... I can't begin to explain how big it is, but in comparison to something that some people might know it's about 5-10 times the size of the Queen Victoria markets in Melbourne. It's really densely packed and really really hot! Think of a tin shed on a really hot day and you might get the idea! Here's Dan parusing some of the Thai silk stalls...

You see heaps of things at the markets... in particular you see a lot of school kids out busking. I'm not sure what the deal is with education in this country, but it seems like a lot of school children rely on their musical talents (or lack thereof) to put themselves through school. It's a bit sad really, and I can only just imagine what kids in Australia would think of this. This little girl was actually really good at playing this xylophone type instrument...

There's plenty of food to sample as you walk around the markets... if you're game. I was dying to come across one of the fried insect sellers at some stage, but alas we were in the wrong section yesterday! This little old lady looks like she's of Burmese descent, and gave me the loveliest toothless grin when she realised I was taking her photo. I didn't want to intrude on her anymore than I felt I did so I gave her a big smile back and moved off...

This next photo is your typical Thai version of fast food. I haven't been game to try anything from stalls like this (one dose of salmonella is enough for anyone!). When you walk past these stalls you either get hit with a really huge dose of smoke inhalation or choked by the smell of spices or chillies.

The markets are really popular with tourists and locals alike and they get really really busy on the weekends. The next few photos show the public transport problems associated with moving so many people.




But within all this madness you sometimes find your pockets of peace.... near the markets there is a big lake where a lot of people go to relax. Even though you can hear the roar of the city happening outside the fences it still seems to be one safe haven of tranquility and reminded me of how lucky we really are as Australians to have so many wide open spaces like this. If you notice on the building in the background of the picture there is a photo of the King. He is so revered here, and I can't imagine Aussies being so enraptured with anyone. He has been quite ill in hospital lately (he is 80 afterall!) and I'm not sure what will happen if/when he passes away.

Thinking of home.....

I was going through some piccies yesterday and sorting out a whole stack of them to get blown up and printed cheaply while still in Thailand. While it was cool going through some folders that I hadn't seen in a while, it also had a negative effect in making me a wee bit homesick (like the photo above, taken just down the road from mum and dads place). I always seem to get a bout of it about a month after I leave home each time. I would love to live in a place where I could have the best of both worlds, but unfortunately there aren't many world class mineral deposits back home!

So here are a few of my favourite pics that I found.

This is George and Banjo. Poor George (the kelpie) is a bit arthritic these days so he leaves the jumping to Banjo! There's something about this picture and the position of the shadows that just cracks me up!

This here is Freddy.... we have no idea how old he is as we inherited him on our farm, but he's a cool bird! Has a tendancy to only say "hello", but if you wind him up enough you can get some cool words out of him! I'm about the only one who can get him out of his cage without being bitten!

Been a long while!!

Ok... so it's been ages since I posted on here, and there are numerous reasons... A) Facebook... the biggest procrastination tool around and B) the fact that eBlogger has decided to change everything into Thai so I can't figure out how to post easily anymore!

But... back to reality! You may notice the big bloke with the moustache in the picture above! Dan and I were lucky enough to attend the Australian Chamber of Commerce Grand Final Brunch on the weekend, and the special guest was Merv! So I just had to get my photo taken with him!

In other big news... I'm an aunty as of the 20th of August! My sister gave birth to a beautiful little boy, and I can't wait to see him again when I get home in December.

Nothing much else to update right now as I'm trying desperately to get my head around my thesis! Once I get 5 minutes to spare I'll definitely write a better blog!

Singapore Slideshow

Bangkok traffic...

Getting around Bangkok is easy... as long as most of the places you want to go are along the BTS (skytrain) line and the MRT (underground train) line. Otherwise you end up sitting in a taxi for ages, or choking on tuk-tuk fumes. But we haven't had any major hassles since we've been living here. The PT system here is pretty awesome with skytrains coming along every 5-10 mins or so. The best thing is we live at the terminal station so we are pretty much guaranteed a seat whenever we want to go anywhere, which is a real blessing in the heat let me tell you!

Rain.... again

Friday night frivolities... and more fishy anecdotes

Wow... it's been a long time since I've been back on my Blog site... mainly because when I go to post something new all the instructions come up in Thai so I have to guess which buttons I have to press!! But, now I'm going to make up for it by doing a ridiculously long blog, but with the added bonus of some new pictures :)

First up... we had quite a few of Dan's work mates cram into our tiny little apartment on Friday night for a few after work drinks. Of course, after quite a few glasses of some nice Aussie reds, and many beer cans later we were all starting to feel quite a bit silly which resulted in the following photo with some gorgeous girls....

Dan heard on the news this morning that there had been another explosion in Bangkok on Saturday. At the moment we don't really see a risk in being here, but if something big happens I don't think there will be any hesitation in getting out of the country as soon as we can. Apparently it happened outside the King's residence. I don't think they are targeting tourists at the moment, but it's still a little scary all the same.

Going to the gym is my new stress relief at the moment... With the added incentive of having to fit into a nice dress for a wedding I have to go to in August, I thought it might be a way to take out all the daily frustration of my thesis. Unfortunately my muscles are paying for it, but hopefully it will bring some good results... if only I could stay away from chocolate!

Getting to this point in my PhD has made me think about the future... where I want to work, what I want to do... it's a scary prospect considering I've been at various unis for the past 9 years of my life! Time to get a haircut and get a real job I think! Better get this thing finished first I guess.

Ok... now the saga of the fish tank continues... recently we had to put one of our favourite fish out of it's misery, so we went and bought some awesome looking puffer fish (sorry for the crap piccie!!)

Anyhow... they looked really cool swimming around the tank, and eating all the snails which were eating all our plants so we were happy... up until our one and only shrimp made a dash between his rock and a plant and promptly got attacked and eaten right in front of us! It was awful! Then... about two hours later we went to check out how their progress in the tank was going and we noticed that all of our fish had humongous chunks taken off their fins! Particularly our orange platy fish... poor buggers... almost all of their fins were gone!! Next thing we see a puffer fish gently sidling up to one of them and then turning on it and ripping bits of fin off!!! So... after that performance we've had to transfer all of the babies from their baby tank into the big tank and hope that they are big enough not to be eaten by the other fish now, and the canabalistic puffer fish have been segregated to their own tank... I don't even care if they eat each other now... little devils!!

Speaking of the baby fish... here they are enjoying the nice new spacious surrounds of the big tank....

Dan and I were coming home from the pub the other night and got caught in a doozy of a storm... we couldn't be bothered waiting for hours for it to stop so we took our chances, without umbrellas, and this was the result... yes... hilarious I know :)

And now for some more Bangkok visions... I've decided that I really need to document my time over here a little better so I just went and took some pictures of the various views you get from our apartment in the early afternoon with the storm clouds building.

The first one is the street that runs down to our apartment... you can see the Elephant Building (the big white one) in the background.

This one is from our bathroom window... I love the lush green look of the treesThis is the complex that Dan's office is in... they are pretty impressive looking buildings, and are good landmarks when you have to figure out where you are!!