Sunday, October 14, 2007
Terror alert!
I had my toothpaste confiscated at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport on the flight up to Chiang Rai. The toothpaste contained 110mls, which was 10mls too many so I had to hand it over. Give me an effing break. Who does this rule inconvenience, really? The travellers who have to decant their liquids into 100ml containers before squeezing them into a zip-lock bag, that's who. Can't really see a terrorist saying, "Well holy shit, I was going to sneak on board this 500 mls of highly explosive liquid onto the plane, but now I have to separate it into five 100ml containters and it's all too hard. I guess a life as a blessed martyr isn't for me. Might go open a book shop instead..."
Cancellation central!
I haven't been blogging lately, because one of the downsides to living it up at a hotel that's far too expensive is that web access costs way too much - about $8 for 15 minutes. I'm only online now because a text message has informed me that my flight tomorrow has been cancelled and we've been rescheduled for a flight about ten hours later. Good to hear now rather than at the airport, because I've asked for a late checkout (which costs $US80...) and it's better to stay around here than in Chiang Rai airport. Back to Singapore tomorrow, then Darwin the day after that.
I've spent the last few days thinking far too much about not wanting to go back to work. Sadly, no bright ideas for earning a shiteload of money in a short amount of time has entered into my brain. So it's back to work for me on Thursday...
Will post a few more blog updates when I can get some cheaper internet. Will keep going until I'm out of cash!
I've spent the last few days thinking far too much about not wanting to go back to work. Sadly, no bright ideas for earning a shiteload of money in a short amount of time has entered into my brain. So it's back to work for me on Thursday...
Will post a few more blog updates when I can get some cheaper internet. Will keep going until I'm out of cash!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Bangkok - Hazy one day, smoggy the next
I'm dealing with Blogger in Thai at the moment. Not sure how to convert it over to the English lagnuage, but I'll press on and hope that I click on the right button when I go to post this.
I've been in Bangkok for two nights now, and have one more tonight before flying up north to the Golden Triangle, renowned for it's opium trade. You know, I was planning to try to track down some heroin and import it back into Australia via Singapore, but such is the power of deterrence that the Bali 9 death sentences have had over me, I will no longer risk it: (Today is World Day Against the Death Penalty - sign the petition here)
My sister emailed me asking if I was used to the Bangkok smell yet, but I can't say that I am. It hasn't been too overpowering, though there are pockets where you walk a tad faster. But beyond the smell, you need to get used to the noise and the smog as well, and those things are harder to avoid. Despite being known as one of the most polluted cities in world (and looking out the hotel window today verifies that) it's not a bad city to spend a few days. The Thai people are very welcoming, and aren't overbearing when it comes to shopping or touting their services. The food, as always, is fantastic!
Haven't really been to too many sites. Went to Jim Thompson's House yesterday as it's just down the road from where I'm staying. Jim Thompson is famous (apparently)for re-introducing the Thai silk trade into the western market. His house has been converted into a museum which contains a lot of South East Asian artefacts, and it was worth a look. Other than that, have been entertaining myself with some of the malls around Siam Square as well as a few trips on the Sky Train. It's always good getting out and about up and down alleyways and visiting the local markets.
The hotel I'm staying at has an infinity pool on the thirteenth floor looking out over the city. Might go off for a swim!
I've been in Bangkok for two nights now, and have one more tonight before flying up north to the Golden Triangle, renowned for it's opium trade. You know, I was planning to try to track down some heroin and import it back into Australia via Singapore, but such is the power of deterrence that the Bali 9 death sentences have had over me, I will no longer risk it: (Today is World Day Against the Death Penalty - sign the petition here)
My sister emailed me asking if I was used to the Bangkok smell yet, but I can't say that I am. It hasn't been too overpowering, though there are pockets where you walk a tad faster. But beyond the smell, you need to get used to the noise and the smog as well, and those things are harder to avoid. Despite being known as one of the most polluted cities in world (and looking out the hotel window today verifies that) it's not a bad city to spend a few days. The Thai people are very welcoming, and aren't overbearing when it comes to shopping or touting their services. The food, as always, is fantastic!
Haven't really been to too many sites. Went to Jim Thompson's House yesterday as it's just down the road from where I'm staying. Jim Thompson is famous (apparently)for re-introducing the Thai silk trade into the western market. His house has been converted into a museum which contains a lot of South East Asian artefacts, and it was worth a look. Other than that, have been entertaining myself with some of the malls around Siam Square as well as a few trips on the Sky Train. It's always good getting out and about up and down alleyways and visiting the local markets.
The hotel I'm staying at has an infinity pool on the thirteenth floor looking out over the city. Might go off for a swim!
Monday, October 08, 2007
Lightning over Indonesia
I'm bleary-eyed in Singapore at the moment, after a 3am flight on Tiger Airways from Darwin to Singapore. With no sleep before the flight and next to no sleep during the flight, I'm now pretty tired and keen to get on to Bangkok so I can have an early night and a decent sleep.
Tiger Airways can be mighty cheap. Fortunately, after the Royal Brunei fiasco (which incidentally isn't resolved, since I called them this morning to arrange a refund and they said they'd check and email me about it. Not promising!) Tiger was on sale and I got return flights for just over $350. Most of the time I'd say that I'd happily stand up for four hours if it meant bargain fares, but once you're in there cramped into the tightest seats it's impossible to get comfortable. I tried four or five different positions without success, eventually giving up to watch the world go by out the window. This isn't normally a productive thing to do at 4 in the morning, but mother nature was fortunate enough to put on a lightning spectacular pretty much the whole way.
I'm currently hanging out with Desley from the Canadian exchage brigade for a few hours to have a shower and crash on the couch for a few hours. Back to the airport shortly for the leg up to Bangkok. Flying Cathay Pacific for this leg, which is good. Not often a five-star airline is cheaper than the budgets!
Congratulations for reading this far! Posts about red-eye flights must rate very highly in the entertainment stakes. But what can I say - typing is keeping me awake for a little bit longer...
Tiger Airways can be mighty cheap. Fortunately, after the Royal Brunei fiasco (which incidentally isn't resolved, since I called them this morning to arrange a refund and they said they'd check and email me about it. Not promising!) Tiger was on sale and I got return flights for just over $350. Most of the time I'd say that I'd happily stand up for four hours if it meant bargain fares, but once you're in there cramped into the tightest seats it's impossible to get comfortable. I tried four or five different positions without success, eventually giving up to watch the world go by out the window. This isn't normally a productive thing to do at 4 in the morning, but mother nature was fortunate enough to put on a lightning spectacular pretty much the whole way.
I'm currently hanging out with Desley from the Canadian exchage brigade for a few hours to have a shower and crash on the couch for a few hours. Back to the airport shortly for the leg up to Bangkok. Flying Cathay Pacific for this leg, which is good. Not often a five-star airline is cheaper than the budgets!
Congratulations for reading this far! Posts about red-eye flights must rate very highly in the entertainment stakes. But what can I say - typing is keeping me awake for a little bit longer...
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Not the greatest of starts...
Well, I made it to the airport in good time to find a bit of commotion at the Royal Brunei check in counter. Apparently the plane's windscreen cracked en route to Darwin, and had to turn back. The flight was cancelled, and we were rescheduled for flights on Tuesday.
Well that didn't suit so I asked them if I could cancel it and get a refund, and was told that I could. I headed home and managed to book seats on Tiger Airways to Singapore for early Monday morning. The good news with that is that Tiger was on sale, so I've managed to save a couple of hundred bucks. This, of course, assumes that Royal Brunei does what they say they will do, and refund my flight.
So, once I had all that sorted out and started psyching myself up for a 3:15 am flight on Monday morning, Royal Brunei calls and tells me that the flight will be going ahead at 10:30pm tonight. Unfortunately, Tiger doesn't allow cancellations, so I asked if I could still cancel my flights and they said yes.
Well that didn't suit so I asked them if I could cancel it and get a refund, and was told that I could. I headed home and managed to book seats on Tiger Airways to Singapore for early Monday morning. The good news with that is that Tiger was on sale, so I've managed to save a couple of hundred bucks. This, of course, assumes that Royal Brunei does what they say they will do, and refund my flight.
So, once I had all that sorted out and started psyching myself up for a 3:15 am flight on Monday morning, Royal Brunei calls and tells me that the flight will be going ahead at 10:30pm tonight. Unfortunately, Tiger doesn't allow cancellations, so I asked if I could still cancel my flights and they said yes.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Packing
Off to Bangkok on Saturday, via Brunei.
I'm flying over on Royal Brunei Airlines. They had a sale so it wasn't much more expensive than Tiger Airlines, and it leaves in the afternoon instead of too-early-o'clock.
No one wants to hear packing stories. Will post more when I'm on my way.
I'm flying over on Royal Brunei Airlines. They had a sale so it wasn't much more expensive than Tiger Airlines, and it leaves in the afternoon instead of too-early-o'clock.
No one wants to hear packing stories. Will post more when I'm on my way.
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