Posted by Chris on Aug 31, 2007 in
Thailand 2007 The 10 days in Thailand have absolutely flown by and it’s been brilliant. It’s a pity that our visit was so short though, because it seems like just as we are getting used to the place it’s time to go. It takes a while to be able to suss out the people – on first impression it seems like everybody is trying to con you (many are to be fair, especially in Bangkok) but after a while you are able to be a bit less general and get an idea wether someone is just being helpful, or is being helpful with the hope that they are going to get something out of it. It’s the well dressed men on the streets who come to your rescue that you have to be weary of! The worst are those bloody tailors though! The more time we spent there though, the more we came to realise that not everybody was focusing on those dollar signs in their eyes. People returned dropped money, they informed me when a zip on my bag was open and at one drink stall when I said “100 bhat right?,” the guy said it was 70. The staff in restaurants and the guys at market stalls were all nice aswell. Except those damned tailors.
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Tags: Thailand
Posted by Chris on Aug 28, 2007 in
Thailand 2007 So dispite our initial idea of getting a cheap flight to Koh Samui, we instead opted to take the night train as it was about a quarter of the price, and also saved on a nights accomodation. It was actually really enjoyable and definitely a highlight in itself! The train car was clean and comfortable. The toilet however, was something else altogether. Two footplates and a hole! Not just a hole into a tank, but a hole straight through the bottom of the train onto the tracks! I’m sure a small child could fall through that hole!! We left at around 5.30pm and arrived in Surat Thani pretty much 12 hours later. We needed to wait for a few hours for the first ferry to take us over to Koh Samui. It took a little longer than expected, but I was really enjoying the sunshine!
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Tags: Koh Samui, Thailand
Posted by Chris on Aug 22, 2007 in
Thailand 2007 Arrived in Bangkok last Tuesday (21st) after a decent flight. Was slightly surprised to see the newspapers with front covers showing the China Airlines fire on a plane, and showing the news coverage of it on the main TV channel on the plane but perhaps the Japanese arn’t phased by such things. I decided to watch The Mask as I hadn’t seen it for years, while taking full advantage of the free drinks once again.
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Tags: Bangkok, Thailand
Posted by Chris on Aug 19, 2007 in
Japan So I’ve been here almost a week now and it’s been a busy few days! Got over the initial woes of not having a clue what was going on and now I’m just getting on with things. I’ve adapted to the local bus and train services which are really easy to use so getting around by myself when I need to isn’t an issue. I’ve also got used to the whole bowing thing. Despite being told and reading about fixated stares from the locals, or the “gaijin stare” (gaijin meaning literally “outside people” in Japanese), I’ve yet to actually notice (with the exception of one old chap in a restaurant the other day, who barely broke his stare at us for the entire duration of his meal…having said that there aren’t many foreigners in this area!) – everybody just seems to get on with their own business. This is especially the case on trains where there is almost absolute silence, and locals have an uncanny ability to fall asleep and then awake exactly at their stop and then walk off. I had heard about this but as they say, seeing is believing. I’ve seen many people wake up miles after their stop after falling asleep on the Metro (thats the local train service back home).
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Tags: Japan
Posted by Chris on Aug 14, 2007 in
Japan Well I made it – the Land of the Rising Sun. And what a journey! I set off on time from Manchester and 23 hours later I arrived at my final destination – my friends flat in Akashi (he’s in Japan teaching English for the year!). 23 hours sounds pretty bad….but to be honest, it wasn’t – it was a breeze. The first flight to Dubai was great, grub was really nice and took full advantage of the Emirates award winning hospitality…notably the drinks trolley. Needless to say I was totally chilled out, seat back, legs stretched, watching films for the rest of the flight. No turbulence either, which is always a bonus.
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Tags: Japan
Posted by Chris on Aug 11, 2007 in
Japan Well here I am in Manchester, all systems go! This time tomorrow I will be in the air and over half way to Dubai International Airport. I did say that next time you would hear from me I would be in Japan…but I had to make an entry given the opportunity!
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Tags: Japan
Posted by Chris on Aug 1, 2007 in
Japan Hello people! So this is the first entry to the blog (and my first blog for that matter)…just to get the ball rolling…
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Tags: Japan
