Well, well, well... Here we are again, back to the old blogging game... I'd kind of lost touch with this whole thing because I've been on a little holiday from my holiday... I'm staying with Pin, a friend who lives in Bangkok... We worked in the same lab when doing out PhDs (both recently passed... horray for us;)... another fellow PhDer is here as well, Chloe (she hasn't passed yet... don't worry young one, your time will come... you just need to conquer the maze of temptation and the dreaded Bishops pass (both relatively unknown elements of the PhD process) and you will be part of the club... your soul forever branded with the stench of science)... she's here for a week so we've all met up... what makes it a holiday from my holiday for me is the fact that I'm staying at Pin's gorgeous house in the 'burbs of Bangkok... I'm currently sat at the make up table (3 mirrors all with unique angles of my beautiful face:) writing the blog in my massive guest bedroom with en suit and all that... it's a lovely big room (you could fit approximately 20 cows in this room at a push)... her family have been amazing and so generous and friendly and with Pins help we have seen more of this city and experienced many things that I would never have visited otherwise... I'm a luckily little devil:) ... with Pin and her family I've seen a part of Thailand that I didn't know existed... it's been really cool... she is Thai but of Chinese descent, so we saw her family make offerings to a god they respected and throw a Chinese opera for the community... it was a cool thing to see (see me with one of the actors in the previous post)... and then we went to a superb restaurant in China town to have some dim sum and sum other stuff... and then me, Pin and Chloe went to Kao San Road... the backpacker district... back to my travelling home... they had a bucket (strawberry daiquiri... classy girls;) and I had beer... the consequence was a bit of a Changover (Chang is a deadly beer... drink at your own peril)... the Changover abated while I had a 2 hour Thai massage the next morning (fricking lovely for the morning after... but I had a guy massuse, slightly disappointed... but I guess it isn't one of those massage parlours!... still a good hangover cure... well, that was what I thought until the afternoon in the apocaliptically big and ridiculously hot weekend market... following everyone around as they looked at puppies or dresses... I had to have a plastic bag ready in case I disgraced myself (luckily I didn't need it!)... then home for a two hour nap (thus I had the lovely nap-day multiplier effect which I can't be bothered to explain here) and I was ready for another gargantuan meal... ... I think finally I am going to start putting on weight:)
We've been little culture vultures flying around picking at the carcasses of this massive city... I've actually learnt some things as well... for example, King Rama the 5th was the first to study abroad and did some pretty cool things for Thailand... I've had it reinforced that the current King Rama 9 is really adored and is a great man by all accounts (you listening Charles... get prepared old boy)... and I learnt that Bangkok is actually a touristy name for the city... often known to locals as Krung Thep (City of Angels)... but that is actually just a shortening of what is apparently the longest city name in the world (consult Guinness... not the drink)... the full name is:
Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit
... yes you heard me, it's:
Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit
... The guide who took us around the City said the name and it sounded like she was rapping (makes about as much sense as a Ja Rule lyric... I'm not up with which cats are hot rappers these days)... one of the most superb things about this time with Pin has been the food... by crikey I've never had the opportunity to be hungry... every meal is a mix and match of dishes which we share... I can literally see my horizons broadening as I'm eating things as exotic as fish and crab (which is a big thing for me!)... The food has been superb... In one restaurant I even had steak... it was the first steak I'd had since leaving home... as I adore my Nan's steak I'd been saving myself... like a girl who saves herself for the right man, I saved myself for the right steak... and Jesus wept that was the right steak... we had it as part of Italian tapas (... I know what you're thinking, but it actually worked... even tagliatelle can be tapas-ified)... The food has been superb... yum yum, bring on dinner... did someone say squid tempura... bring it on...
... I realise I've developed an addiction while travelling (or an addiction has increased in severity)... I can't stop buying football shirts... In the last 5 days I've bought both a Thai national shirt and a Barcelona shirt (Mes que un club... read some football history:)... I'd already bought an AC Milan shirt, an Inter Milan shirt and an Everton
... Sometimes I feel that I should have some plot to this blog... some story of how I meet a girl on a beach and we talk... her eyes sparkle against the blue and green of the ocean... I tell her her eyes strike me and remind me of something I can't quite remember... I should write about how I woo her with tales of wonder about how I commit my life to helping sick orphans (... a little white lie won't hurt anyone... what's really the difference between helping orphans and just earning money to gallivant around the world anyway?)... I should write about how I saved her from some skirmish with an angry tuk-tuk driver... I whisked her off heroically on a motorbike and after we made it away from the tuk-tuk after a thrilling chase she swooned (girls don't swoon enough these days) into my arms and quietly whispered, 'Hold me you crazy handsome man'... I'd hold her and say, 'You know kid, you're all right'... and then the sun would set while music flowed across the street... ... ... unfortunately I'm scared of motorbikes, I don't help sick orphans, and I don't like in a 1950s romance film... .... ... but apart from that...
... anyway, back to reality... so I decided to treat myself to some new music off itunes for my itouch... So I made a playlist... I feel I need to educate you good people on music... so, here is my new poptastic play list:
*Rock Island line by Lonnie Doneghan
*Gravel Pit by Wu Tang Clan
*Moon River by Andy Williams
*You have killed me by Morrisey
*Singing in the Rain by Mint Royal
*Barbra Streisand by Duck Sauce
*We'll meet again by Vera Lynn
*Moonlight Serenade by The Glenn Miller band
*Panamericano by MC Lagrot
*Bongo Bong by Robbie Williams
*Those were the Days by Mary Hopkin
*I'm throwing my arms around Paris by Morrisey
*Superstition by Stevie Wonder
*I heard it through the grapevine by Marvyn Gaye
... you have been educated... good night:)
P.S. Please enjoy the photographic highlights of my travels so far... one pic per country, so only 8 lovelies to enjoy (see below and enjoy:)
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