We left our flat to catch a 9.30 flight, forgetting a delicious croissant on the counter so had to buy breakfast at the airport. I was impressed by how well arranged the security and immigration was. Immigration was entirely through electronic gates, I had to place my passport on the reader and go, that was […]
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In the garden
I took advantage of the time difference to finish work due this morning by around noon, and then had my first proper day in Melbourne. We went first to the very cool Rose Street with excellent graffiti and the hippest patisserie I have ever seen. We bought three pastries – a plain croissant, a pain […]
Market morning
In the morning we went for brunch (of course) and there was a long queue, but enlivened by a little sparrow picking delicately at a croissant, and the Chinese Malaysian (I think) man ahead of us who was clearly much more interested in chatting to other people than his glum companion. Interesting, the clientele was […]
Melbourne
We are in Melbourne. It was an exhausting day yesterday, as our flight was in the evening right at rush hour, and we stupidly decided to walk to the train rather than getting a taxi to the station (rush hour, so the airport would not have been a good idea). Just the five minute walk […]
Old haunts
The first time the Gentleman Friend and I came to Bangkok we stayed in Phra Arthit, just to the north of the older parts of town. On Saturday, after I finished up with some work, we went first to Siam Square where the GF bought a new telephone to replace the one that was old […]
Lamp hunt
Last night was Loi Krathong, the festival in which Thais float lanterns on rivers and lakes to apologise for polluting them the rest of the year. We were told to go to Saphan Thaksin to watch it, and so we it. It was immensely crowded, though there is clearly more personal space in Thailand than […]
Wardrobe woes
I am going back to Pakistan for a family wedding in January, and clothing remains a perpetual concern. At first, when it looked like I might make a fortnight’s trip home for work, i was relatively relaxed, as I have a suitcase full of clothing that I intended to dig through. I have the key […]
JJ Market
In the morning we went to Chatuchak Market. We’d been there on our first visit to Thailand over ten years ago, and had forgotten how immense it is. We found the section we were looking for – sections 2-4, where the trendy young designers are. Ten years ago I bought myself a canvas bag that […]
A kind of homecoming
Strange how much South East Asia feels like coming home even though we have never lived in Thailand. We arrived late at night and it felt such a relief: the warmth, the humidity, the smells, the bearing of the people. Today my eczema, which had flared in both Lebanon and Nepal, has calmed down; the […]
On the defensive, again
I am in the executive lounge at the airport, waiting for a much delayed flight. It was supposed to leave at 11 in the morning, then yesterday we got that email informing us that it was postponed to 4.40 in the afternoon. Wednesday arrived at the airport a couple of hours early you find a […]