Another Shore ………….Berlin

I got back from Chiang Mai with no problems and, as an added bonus, flew into the new Bangkok airport, which they’ve been building for years. Finally it will open on September 28th, but some airlines have moved over early.
Handy hint and tip when speaking in Thai, eg to taxi drivers, it’s pronounced “su-wan-na-poom.”
Off [...]

After over two months, I’ve managed to get away from Bangkok at last and see some more of Thailand. I’m spending the weekend in Chiang Mai, a city in the North which, like Northern cities the world over, is culturally advanced, sophisticated and offers excellent food. I haven’t yet actually tried the [...]

… and democracy will be born (again).
Hmm. The emergency holiday is proving very popular, with people taking the opportunity to go to the cinema or shopping. It is quite difficult to discern any tension or even mild concern as citizens go about their business. Apart from a few furtive glances from other [...]

There’s still little official news about what is happening here, but people are talking privately at noodle stalls and markets.  Overheard (and freely translated from the Thai by me):
Lady 1: Who’d’ve thought? Soldiers and tanks again.
Lady 2: Yes, but that general on the telly looked nice in his uniform, didn’t he?
Lady 3: Oooh, Doris, you [...]

Not sure whether to be excited or afraid.  Starbucks, Dr S.’s surgery and the skytrain are still going strong, but (according to the BBC) there are tanks on the streets (though I haven’t seen any) and soldiers in Government House.  I guess I’ll see what happens next, and will try to let you know here [...]

Until today, I’d had Japanese food for three consecutive days (actually only one and a half were sushi; the others were things like teri-yaki and cucumber salad with pancakes), but today I went for a fusion experience: olives, blue cheese, salmon, thai pork, sticky rice and red wine. It was very nice. And [...]

Well finally it’s nearly over – I feel like I’ve been living my life in Dr S.’s chair recently, but finally the veneers have been put on and there are only a few little remaining t’s to cross and i’s to dot. I hope they look OK, it’s always strange getting used to a [...]

Wow, that was much better than last time – it installed (including formatting the hard disc) within 45 minutes and I was browsing the web immediately after (with IE7, but you can’t have everything).  So far, so good.  I’ll now copy all my files back and restore my email, so I am going to repair [...]

15:32 Intense excitement.  Am about to intall Vista RC1, which has just been released.  More soon, as the install process is supposed to be very quick…
In search of clarity,
David.

Oh dear, I ran out of steam (as Thomas the Tank Engine might have said), and haven’t written the blog since Sunday. It’s not as if things haven’t been happening. I was summoned back to see Dr S. on Tuesday to re-do the shaving down of my teeth, as the lab people couldn’t [...]

Had a wonderful day on Friday; first revisiting Starbucks at Aree, as previously reported, then heading off to sample the delights at D.’s newly opened restaurant, Somtum Yok-Klok Sao-Ching-Cha on Mahannop Road, Bangkok. The cuisine is from Isaan, which is a region in North East Thailand, near the Lao border, where many soldiers come [...]

So I’m in Starbucks at Aree (Phaholyothin); it’s my second visit to this particular branch. I’ve more or less got to the point where I can’t find a different one to go to each day any more, so I’m now concentrating on the key exemplars, the core urban locations with the pithiest crystallised product [...]