Yellow Fever

Well I do not have yellow fever nor do I want it. So with the upcoming possibility of a short term assignment in West Africa I need with Wanna to get down to Bangkok for the necessary jabs.

Can you believe given Thailand geographical location it is necessary to go to Bangkok for the jab and Certificate.  Apparently you can get the jab locally but the certificate not so. Strange but TIT.

So we flew down for the day.  Train into town and visited  the Red Cross Society where they have inoculations for everything you can imagine and some you never knew about.

Of course the main thing in this regard in Thailand is snakes and dealing with snake bites.  Seem to be a lot of nasty guys around as well. So the Red Cross is fully equipped and has an in house snake farm  or snakeatorium  whatever it s called so they can extract venom to make vaccines..  Actually I do not like snakes but it was fascinating going round and seeing them from a safe distance..... i.e through thick glass or mesh.

The place was very education. That does not sound exciting does it....  I added a copy of the video.  Bit boring but it will serve as a memory in time.

So some photos  snakes including a skeleton of a python.  Ugh !!!!!!!!

Bangkok and back

Just been down to Bangkok for a couple of days.  Checked out or Condos, caught up with Owen and Orn, attend an Horticultural Fair in Bangkok International Trade Exhibition Centre. So all in all a good few days.

We used the sky train once parked up and found it easy to get around. Had some street food. (Charlie eat your heart out....) Show was good in terms of features, flowers and presentations but did not have a great deal for us.  We met up with some other aquaponics guys and by chance also met a charming old chap,  Professor Rapee Sagarik (91 year old) who had been in charge of one of the more prestigious Universities in his earlier days did a lot for national agricultural development including setting up collages etc,and indeed had been a close advisor the the King. Very interesting person. Wanna told me he was a very respected person in Thailand. Told us he was having a good long life and his secret was to eat little and sleep little and keep busy.... Well I was impress as he told me he was off the the Chelsea Show later in the year and next year off again to Australia. I think he impressed Wanna the most by telling her how much he loved the Issan area around Khon Kaen and that he had been camping near there only  a few weeks back with his family.....

Charlie's Restaurant.....?

 The restaurant is across the road from our Condo. Easy to order.  They hold out a plate of fresh steaming rice and you just point and choose what you want. It goes on top of the rice and arrives at the table. Plate of rice, two choices comes to GBP 1.50. Can handle that....

On the way back  we stopped to buy some fruit etc and 10 monks walked passed. Quite a sight.

House Extension Foundations

Well finished the jetty, except for the lights, plastering to steps and replanting etc etc etc. So nearly there. Started on the house extension foundations.

Also with Owen up here we, yesterday visited a Harley Davidson shop. Might be another project in the coming months.

Another thing.  I was on facebook today and found a page on 'Aquaponics Thailand'. Followed it up. Now planning on trip to Bangkok Saturday to the Homes and Garden expo at Impact Conference Centre, to catch up with a few other interested parties. Should be fun.

Flooding in Bangkok

You might well ask why I am mentioning the flooding in Thailand. Well the local Thai community organised a fund raising event. Actually a dinner dance complete with a good array of Thai food, Authentic Thai dancing and a band to supply dancing music. I estimate about 200 people turned up and a good time was had by all. It was so good I treated myself to a couple of beers. no excesses but it did indeed add to the spirit of it all.

The food as I say was excellent. The three local Thai restaurants had got together and supplied what can only be described as a fantastic spread. Chicken, curry, pork, savouries and both steamed and sticky rice. We went with about 10 friends and it made for a great atmosphere. Most surprisingly to me was that over 50 Thais turned up. Gladstone with a population of about 50,000 means this is about 0.1%. That struck me as a big percentage. It was a fun evening. My only regret was I have my phone camera not a proper camera so crap photos. Sorry............. :( Hence my only adding one to this post......

To top off a really great evening we raised over AUD$ 7,000 for the Flood Relief effort in Thailand. A good effort by all. And I would like to say that AUD$ 300 came from Wanna's employers, Barney Beach Caravan Park. What a wonderful appreciation of her by them and what an amazing kindness. Someone in Thailand does not know how fortunate they are.

Buying And Testing A Water Heater

We were at Home Pro this morning with the intention of buying a lot of stuff for the Condos we had purchased on Bangkok. They come fully fitted out including a kitchen etc. Strangely there are no water heaters. I would have thought there would be plumbing for one central heater but no, plumbing was set up individually. One connection in each bathroom and nothing in the kitchen. Only cold water to the kitchen sink. Anyway what will be will be!!!!
Hence Home Pro and a exciting trip to the water heater department. As with all purchases in Thailand product guarantee is not what you might expect. Several people have told me getting a refund or a replacement in Tesco/HomePro and Carefourre are next to impossible. Why you ask? Well it's their clear company policy, they just don't do it. Simple as that. So don't waste your time and get high blood pressure over it. OK? Cause nothing will change.
However, and it is a good thing, that they test all electrical items before you buy. So in effect it is a sort of warranty and you know its in working order as you walk out the door.
They did this with our water heaters. The testing was simple. Open the box which it comes in, remove the water heater and well 'test it'!
Open it and 'sort of' plug it into a make shift mains and then connect in water, which in under the counter..... Switch on and wait, Yes, out comes hot water!!!
Amazing and it works. Health and Safety would have a fit back in UK. But we are not in UK are we. 'TIT'. All in all a good purchase.

Forgotten Elephants

I have no wish to reduce my Blog to just regurgitating other Blogs and news articles. However there are some things which I read and think are worth passing on through this space.
However before I do just that some background.....
I have for some time been following on a daily basis an Expat web/forum site for Thailand. Thai Expat Forum Its interesting but to be honest, I do find to often that most of the comments posted are negative from what appears to be a bunch of moaners. They appear to live here as a clear preference to their own homelands but seem to spend their time knocking and finding everything wrong or not as good as home!!! But that’s only my opinion. Read for yourself.
On the plus side, and a very big plus side it is too, the site clearly has great qualities in my opinion which clearly outweigh the effects of the 'moaners'. It is an excellent source for good information on what, where, who and how much etc etc…. to find almost any of your requirements while being in Thailand. That's anything from camping to obscure books to rocket science. So really it can turn out to be a very useful site, not one to be quickly discarded. Definitely if you are interested in Thailand, for a holiday or coming to live, and/or indeed if you want an insight into Expat “physic”. Worth a read.
Which brings me to my original point of not wishing 'to just regurgitate other Blogs'.
One posting put up today in the Expat Forum very much caught my attention. "Forgotten Elephants". All about the decline in the role of the Elephant in Thailand both in terms of work and culture. Sad to see another decline in world wild life. I see them every day and take their presence for granted, and so for it to be so close and symbolic makes it hit home a lot harder. Forgotten Elephants
I followed some of the links and got to the New York Times photographer James Estrin. Stunning photos and a sad story. The links are worth following. I could go on and on, but why bother, when you can read it all for yourselves in his column and follow his links. Just click on Bangkok Elephants
Enjoy and have a good weekend. And a big thank you James Estrin, you to have a good weekend.

Bangkok Dangerous, did not turn out quite so bad....

Bangkok dangerous, did not turn out quite so bad, in fact a really great time. Relaxed but at the same time exhausted.
It had been along time since I had been able to have time with Sarah and Vivi so off we went Friday afternoon. Up to Bangkok.
We had a couple of nights there booking into a small old (read worn out) hotel on Soi 20. First evening was an Indian dinner followed by a walk round the small trade stalls lining Surkumvit Road and doing some shopping.
Saturday was all out… First the house of Jim Thompson. Jim Thompson was an American who came over to Thailand at the end of the second world. The hand weaving of silk, a long neglected cottage industry captured Jim Thompson’ attention. He devoted himself to reviving the craft. Highly gifted as a designer and textile colorist he contributed substantially to the industry’s growth and to the worldwide recognition accorded to Thai silk.
His house combines 6 teak buildings which represent the best in Thai architecture. On March 26th 1967 Jim Thompson disappeared while on a visit to Malaysia. No one knows how or why or indeed what happened to him. Disappeared without trace. Makes the visit to his house all the more interesting to have some intrigue added in.
Some beautiful; gardens and the houses are wonderful. Quite how one lives in a lot of up and down places I do not know but he certainly made the most of it all.
He had decorated it with old Thai statues of Lord Buddha etc. Some dating back to the 11th Century. My photos do not come anywhere near doing the place justice.
We enjoyed the guide tour and walking through the gardens. In a sense quite surreal as there is only a wall between this oasis of tropical gardens and the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. In fact it is only about 5 minutes walk from the National Stadium and the end of the overhead railway system. At which is a MBK mega store and I mean massive in being several kilometers along and packed with people buying phones. Cloths, gold you name it they’re buying it.. So quite a contrast!!
We went back there after the visit to do a little shopping. Bumped into a little old America woman looking for a book stall. So that became out first point of call in MBK. MBK is next to the national stadium. And outside was a small football pitch. Blue coloured grass?....
Quick lunch and off to the Grand Palace. Not the best timing, to go, on a Saturday afternoon when the roads are packed and the temperature is rising. Just very hot and no wind.
What a place. It really is a grand palace complete with walled gardens, a massive Wat and numerous building and statues etc. The Wat hosts a load of murals showing various scenes on the life of Lord Buddha etc. and I would suggest any visitor to Bangkok to find time to fit in a trip there. In fact essential to any list of ‘to dos’ in Thailand. I see little point in listing out all the details but the link below will provide you with all you need to know. http://thailandforvisitors.com/central/bangkok/ratanakosin/prakeo/ Really is worth a visit. One thing that did strick the 3 of us. The murals were being restored. The persons working on the restoratiosn were all young, so unlike parts of Europe the traditioinal trades appear here to be carried over from one generation to another. V Good. There were also several Thai students wandering around and stopping visitors and undertaking impromptu interviews. Sarah and Vive being amongst them. My photos are mostly of the Wat as by the time got the the Palace we were worn out!!!!
It was just hot and we expected rain at any moment as it was so humid and close. Well we made it back to the hotel still hot, no rain but the air felt really heavy. We showered and got ourselves ready for dinner. Just ready to go and down acme the rain, yes the tropical storm arrived and we were stuck in the hotel. And it poured just like standing under a bucked of water being thrown at you. Went on for hours, finally at about 9pm we made it out for a dinner, followed by a dance and live music. Soi 22 to be precise. No details available for the evening entertainment….No camera…..
This completed our Bangkok trip and Sunday saw us drive back to Pattaya. Stopped off at a friends for a quick pool practice and then an early night.

Bangkok Dangerous....

Its been a long busy week where time seems to have finally reached Friday afternoon. This week I've not had anytime to get started on my cooking videos. But, the good news is I received some comments on my earlier posting requesting feed back and advice on my videos and style etc. Much appreciated. Thanks in particular go to "Camden" Graham for some very constructive comments (http://www.camdenmarket.co.uk/).
So without to much self criticism and analysis, I am going to move on and make a much more concerted effort to produce videos in a more exciting and fun format both for me to enjoy in the making and more importantly for you watch. 'Maybe', well not maybe, but for absolute sure the content also need some major improvement.
So new video opportunities. Where? When? How? And imporatantly to start being more creative?
Lets start with a weekend in Bangkok Dangerous...Nicholas Cage in his film made it all look so good and dangerous. I need to do the same...So... planning....
Background. Sarah and Genevieve came over from Seychelles for a week and tonight we start a weekend in Bangkok. Way to go!!! Should be fun. Lots of video opportunities not just of them but location, location, and more locations.
Planning doing lots but am not so sure the 'old man' is up to it. Just have to keep the video rolling.
Locations and Timings.
Tonight we have planned a trip to a local night market and jazz club either Brown Sugar or Saxophone. Decisions that will only be concluded during the course of the evening.
Tomorrow day time, its the Royal Palace and Jim Thompson's house. Both on the list of must sees....well for some people. Sure there will be some shopping thrown in as well.
Tomorrow night time surely following on from last night with music somewhere... So far discos in Soi 22 have been mentioned to be followed by a visit to a jazz club, that's all on for tomorrow. Venues yet to be advised/announced. (Don't forget video and more video, I need quality not quantity.. I know!!!)
Sunday morning is Chatuckat Market followed by catching up with Friends. Then, and only if I have been lucky enough to have survived that, I'll crash out early in the evening...
Need some energy to be ready for the weekly Monday evening pool league.
So if interested in our weekend watch this spot and please please comment. I know what your thinking? What is this stupid, funny, fluffy animal picture all about. Answer ... Nothing. But the fact that you asked means you read this far. And if you managed such a feat then write/comment to me...
Finished Product. Videos and photos to follow. Watch this space.