Koh Samui, Thailand

Ahh, the pressure of foreign travel –

It is only a few paces from the hotel bedroom to these sun loungers. There hasn’t been a lot of sun but it is so bright you have to put on sunscreen even if it is overcast.

I am beginning to see now why Aziz likes living here though he does admit that he rarely makes it to the beach. Now he is a father he has even less time. It doesn’t matter what country or culture you are visiting, grandparent duty is similar

We went for a drive up the central mountain on the island to visit a temple. It proved to be more of an adventure than we had anticipated!

It’s amazing how much you can dig with just a stick when you have to.

The view from the temple was rather limited as the top of the hill was shrouded in mist –

There seem to be as many massage places as restaurants in this town of Lamai. Darkness falls at 6.15pm quickly as we are not far from the equator.

There is little pavement to walk on. It is a one way street but the rule only applies to cars and not to motorcycles. In the rain you often see motorcycles with an umbrella. Sometimes the driver is holding it (!) and sometimes the pillion is holding it forwards over the driver. I see now how come Thailand has the second highest road casualty deaths in the world.

Last night was the weekly street market. I tried some fried crickets –

They were delicious, honestly.

I couldn’t resist the crocodile meat either –

It tasted a bit like chicken. For a dessert I found some Durian fruit. I didn’t think it was that great a taste and the famous smell didn’t seem that awful. Maybe it wasn’t ripe enough. Later on we found some ostrich meat on the menu. Now that was very tasty.

Foreign travel can definitely be fun.

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Bangkok, Thailand

A few fairly random pictures from Bangkok today. This was day 3 here in the city. It is becoming more familiar – well in a little way. At least the boats and the sky train have been mastered.

Traditional Thai doorways and window are often wider at the bottom than the top. This isn’t a distortion of the camera lens. This was an entrance to a Temple. (Not sure if that is really the correct word)

Around the edge of the courtyard is a covered walkway

And under that covered walkway are different Buddha images

the inside –

The walls are all painted

Another place we visited had a standing Buddha

I must find out the significance of the hand posture on this one –

The religious buildings have wonderful decorations

We passed this Chinese school

Oh why can’t British ones be so colourful?

I thought the streets in Chinatown were narrow

We walked a little further and I understood what the guidebook meant about narrow streets. Motorbike drove along here!

The way home was via the new overhead railway which is a model of efficiency. You don’t see signs like this on the underground –

Tomorrow it’s off to Koh Samui.