travels with an ageing punkrocker/publisher
Today was a long day. As Mick Thomas wrote, “There’s no point writing postcards on your bad days”, so I’ll try to keep it short. L and I got almost no sleep last night. The combination of hard bed and threat of sleeping through alarms and missing the 7.20am train kept us restless. We made it to the train with […]
Read moreAfter 2 days in the jungle (well, not far from the main road, to be fair, but the accommodation was pretty basic) it was time for a relaxed, pampering day. We didn’t manage the sleep in, while our guest house has great, firm pillows, the firm bed is a bit too, well, firm, but we did manage to put off […]
Read moreElephants are amazing animals. A-maz-ing. Even to a cynical buffoon like me, elephants are something special. I’ve just had two of the most amazing days of my life, where from metaphorically dawn to dusk L and I were among 9 unchained, uncaged, free range elephants. Strictly speaking, we weren’t actually with them all of that time, it would be cruel […]
Read moreElephants! We’ve spent the day hanging out with 9 elephants. Our first cooking class of the day was banana sticky rice balls for our large four-legged friends, and chopping watermelon. Elephants are huge fans of most vegetarian options (except spicy food), and hand feeding elephants is a truly incredible experience, feeling the strength, flexibility, and dexterity of their trunks. Elephants […]
Read moreWe started the day in Bangkok, quite slowly as we’re both feeling a bit of the effects of unfamiliar beds, including pillows far too soft. Regardless of all the head and neck massages, these pillows provide all the support of your average conservative politician. I fought off the headache with paracetamol, caffeine, and some ordinary bacon and eggs from the […]
Read moreHappy 25th December, however you choose to celebrate it! We chose to celebrate it with a quiet dinner cruise on the Chao Phraya River, thinking it would be a simple, relaxed option, given that Thailand is a Buddhist country and all that. Of course, you’ve probably worked out by now that Thailand loves a party, and any excuse will do. […]
Read moreToday was all about the markets. In a possibly related note, it’s only 8pm and I am exhausted from wading through seas of thousands of people, avoiding trolleys and tuk-tuks and bigger vehicles, looking over millions of weird and wonderful items, all in 32+ degrees and a regular amount of humidity. I’m not sure there is a city in the […]
Read moreI believe I may have mentioned that Bangkok is quite busy. If not, Bangkok is quite busy. Especially at night. Saturday night. We may have got a budding Robert De Niro as our taxi driver this evening, he certainly seemed about ready to go postal after 30 minutes of taking us around the block and then dumping us a couple […]
Read moreWrapped up our time in Laos this morning, with L choosing the chicken soup for breakfast and discovering why I’ve been sweating so early in the day (the chilli fish sauce packs quite a kick). Wrapped up with a stroll around the block and along the river, and finally bravely took the plunge and had a Laos coffee. FYI, Laos […]
Read moreToday’s rather accidental theme was water. After another good bowl of chicken noodle soup and too many chillies for breakfast, we headed into the jungle, aiming for the Tat Kuang Si bear rescue centre. This is home to a couple of dozen moon bears, beautiful creatures that wander around like big dogs until the stand up, and then you realise […]
Read moreIt’s okay, while today was about food, especially chillies, there’ll be no episodes or descriptions involving Laos plumbing (which is, so far, as good as anywhere). Laotians like it spicy. Some menus have a grading of 1-4 or 5, with 2 being “European spicy”, 3 being Laotian regular, and 4/5 roughly translates to “it goes to 11”. So far I’ve […]
Read moreDay started too early and too painful. Not sure if it was the Laos whisky, the soft pillows, the hard bed, the dehydration of flying, the change of routine, but I was awake before 5am with a headache that has buzzed me all day. Hotel breakfast was surprisingly pretty good: fruit, chicken noodle soup, good bread, and strong coffee from […]
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