House Update!

I am back at the building site again and it's turning into a house, day by day!

DW

New Car

For the first time since 1988 I have bought a brand new car. I bought a Toyota Vios E that runs on E20 petrol.

And here we are this morning just before I drove her away with just 6 kilometres on the clock!

DW

Recliner? Why not sit in front of me?

This is true. I have mentioned before that on an average flight there is an 80% chance that if there is anyone sitting in front of me they will recline their seat as far as possible.

I have also studied the chances of the above happening elsewhere on the flight and I find there is a 10% chance that this happens to any other passenger.

Now, i am on a coach going from Bangkok to Isaan Province and I kid you not, the ONLY two seats in the fully reclined position are in front of us!

Ten percent of all seats on this coach are reclined to some extent.

How about that?

DW

Incredible * 2

I found the address of the Royal Cambodian  Embassy in Bangkok. I got Nigel on the iPhone to show me where it it. I could see it was very straightforward to get there:

Bus 71

BTS from Phra Khanong to Siam

Walk down Henri Dunant Road

Ta daa!

Ta D'Oh! More like.

I was near a university so i decided to find a young person, student type, likely to speak English. I was right first time. She didn't know where the Embassy was but she took me to a nearby security guard: i will ask him and interpret for you, she said.

She did! The guard said he knew where i should go: far away, get a taxi. He wrote the name for me in Thai: show this to the   driver.

I did that. After 10 kilometres i was thinking: how could that security guard know so much about that Embassy? Am i being taken for a ride? What does the taxi driver know that Nigel doesn't?

Well, after another few kms we arrived. Way out of town. Nowhere near Siam BTS.

So, I went inside, completed their form, handed it over and paid. Within five minutes i had my Cambodia visa in my passport and now i am on my way back to Siam Paragon.

Praise that student and that security guard!

DW

I've Been Framed!

In an average year I can take up to 7,000 or so photographs: I know, my iPhoto list tells me that.

How many photos do I print out? How many do I ever put in frames? Very few and very few.

Over the weekend, I decided to print out some of my recent favourite photos: the winking calf included. A sunset from North East Thailand was another. As for the rest, me, me, me and she, she, she!

Most of them are in frames now too: three of the larger photos still waiting for theirs.

There's a lot of walls to fill in the new house!

DW

Fascinating Retail

I went for a walk along Sukhumvit 71 yesterday and found a couple of fascinating shops.

Among the kind of shops that one finds all over Bangkok that look more like someone randomly dumped a load of produce in their front room, I found a DIY engineer's delight. Tools and equipment in a well lit shop that, even from the roadside, no one would ever suspect was there.

Even walking past, it would not be difficult to walk past this shop without really appreciating it.

There is an order and a system to the shop. It is set out just like a good engineer's workshop should be. I wanted to go in and buy an entire tool kit of things but common sense prevailed!

When I need a drill or hacksawor  pneumatic nail gun, i know where to go now!

DW