Another tardy update…
November 2024
To finish off the
month Sue and Deb went into Guildford to do some shopping and invited me to
join them later at the Ivy Asia for a festive themed banquet.
December 2024
We met Chris and
Carole on Dorking at the beginning of the month and had a lovely Thai meal
before listening to some music in the Cricketers.
Mid-month we
hosted an early birthday party at our house for Deb’s 60th and had a
whole bunch of friends and family over for drinks and nibbles.
After the birthday
party, Sue & I went up to Tring for Terry’s annual carol evening which is a
highlight of the festive season.
On the 19th Dec
Deb, Jamie, Sue and I flew out to Thailand for our holiday. It is a long
journey and we arrived just as dawn was breaking and we just spent the day
wandering around getting our bearings and ending up at a bar overlooking the
river. We were staying in the Shanghai Mansion Bangkok right in the middle of
Chinatown, which was a lovely smallish hotel.
On the next day
we visited a few temples and explored some markets and had a superb lunch at
Maethum Padthai Kheng and eating dinner out on the street in the evening market.
We also had our first Tuk Tuk ride, which was ‘interesting’. This part of the
Bangkok is an assault on the senses, busy with people, loud Tuk Tuks and music
blaring out of bars, neon flashing lights, and smells of food being cooked out
in street vendor’s stalls.
The following day
we ventured out onto the river in a long tail boat and got a different view of
the city (saw the Squid Games doll out for a cruise promoting the second
series). We hit all the big tourist attractions, temples, palaces, many Buddhas,
and a few bars (Japanese beer at Rabbit Hill, smoking cocktail at the IconSiam Centre
rooftop bar, and many interesting concoctions at the secret Widdershins).
The next day was
Deb’s 60th birthday and we started with the trip out to the Queen Sirikit
Park / Chatuchak gardens where they have a butterfly enclosure. Nearby is the
Chatuchak Weekend Market all of which was enjoyable. That evening we got
dressed up went to a jazz club called Foojohn where we listened to a very
entertaining band consisting of mainly Netherland musicians who serenaded Deb
with Happy Birthday.
Our 30th
wedding anniversary was the following day as we transferred from Bangkok to
Chiang Mai, where we stayed at the much more corporate like Movenpick Suriwongse
hotel, on what we learned was local known as American Corner right next to the
vibrant night markets and chain restaurants. In the evening Sue, Deb and I
wandered around the locality seeing many massage parlours and marijuana dispensaries
before having a rather strange cocktail at the hidden away Midlife Crisis bar.
We were intending
to avoid Christmas this year to concentrate on Deb’s birthday and our
anniversary, but as it was explained to us the Thais like to celebrate
everyone’s significant days as it is an excuse for a party and to sell to the
tourists. There were Santas everywhere and Christmas songs blaring our all-over.
They had celebrated Hanukkah and will go on to celebrate New Year and Chinese
New Year.
In the morning of
Christmas Eve, we were picked up and went to a local market to see the produce
and pick some up for our cooking course that was being held at the Small House
by local chef Arm. At his small house we learnt to prepare the ingredients and
to cook many of Thailand’s favourite dishes.
Deb and Jamie had
been to a local massage parlour and raved of the experience and Sue was eager
to try it too. I was not so keen but thought that I needed to try. I must have
a very low pain threshold as almost immediately as my masseur started on my
feet I was in pain. I looked around and the others are relaxed and enjoying it
all. I can say that Thai massage is not for me, and I came out more tense and pained
than I went in.
Christmas day we
had organised an excursion out to the tallest mountain in Thailand and along
the way our guide showed us some wonderful waterfalls, a roadside market, and an
intriguing mountain village where traditionally garbed villagers, with the
guidance of the king, had change from growing drugs to coffee, some of which
was sold to Starbucks (coffee not the drugs). Near the summit of the mountain
were a couple of impressive temples one to the king and the other to the queen
to celebrate their birthdays.
Back in Chiang
Mai that evening Sue, Deb and I visited a bar called Noir, hidden in the old
kitchen of an abandoned hotel, where we had some interesting cocktails whilst
listening to a fabulous jazz trio.
On Boxing Day, we
transferred from Chiang Mai to Phuket. At Phuket the taxi driver knew we had a
long journey to the hotel and so stopped for those of us who needed a smoke and
at a shop to buy a few beers (travellers). After arriving at Kata, we explored
the town and ended up having a wonderful Japanese meal down a side street.
We noticed
another side of Thailand here, a party town full of tourists from around all
corners of the world, many from Russia. We spent a lot of time at the beach
that our hotel fronted, swimming or just lazing in the sunshine, drinking cocktails,
and relaxing. We explored the town finding some interesting bars and markets
and watched the sun go down over the sea. We watched a dramatic fiery display
at one bar.
Sue, Deb, and I
took the boneshaker local bus to the Old Town, where we explored the Sino-European
architecture and ended up back at the beach in front of our hotel.
On the 29th
Dec we spent a long day travelling, a long taxi back to Phuket airport and from
there flying back to Bangkok and then back to the UK.
Sue and I had a
quite New Year at home.
January 2025
Early in the New
Year we had some snow. It wasn’t much but we used it as an excuse to shelter
inside with neighbours playing boardgames.
Another ritual
for us is to participate in the local Wassail at the community orchard. Before
that though, Sue and I had a walk around the foothills of Reigate hill. Back at
Dorking the festival was well attended with families, various folk acts, and
the local head druid.
Midway through
January we went to see the newly reimagined Battersea Power Station with family
(Jamie, Deb, Chris, and Lynne). It is a large redevelopment with blocks of
housing, rows of restaurants and in the large station halls many shops, a cinema,
and other places of entertainment. We had come to take the Lift 109 that goes
up the centre of one of the four chimneys out the top to give striking views
over London. In the evening we had a family meal out at Barbara’s favourite
Chinese restaurant.
Near the end of
January Sue and I went to see Ed Byrne’s show at Dorking Halls. Called Tragedy Plus
Time it is a touching show taking life’s heartbreaks and finding the comedy in
it.
At the end of the
month, we visited RHS Wisley where we saw some of the early signs of spring to
come.
February 2025
Early in the
month we got together with friends at the Pilgrim Brewery in Reigate to drink
beer and watch rugby. On the following day some of us went to Birtley wood
where we helped Paul and Lorraine tidy up their workspace ready for the new
year of woodland courses.
For my birthday
sue and I headed off to Dungeness where we rented a small cottage for a couple
of days. We ate fish and chips at the iconic Pilot Inn. It was a very wintery couple
of days, blowing cold along the wide expanse of shingle bank. We did find some
interesting pre-war structures called Sound Mirrors, used to listen for enemy
aircraft crossing the Channel. We played boardgames and relaxed together for a
couple of nights.
Later in the
month we started to make plans for a big trip for the next New Year in Australia
and for my sixtieth birthday in New Zealand. Chris and Lynne are planning to be
in Australia through December, so we will join them in Sydney for a few days.
There was a rare planetary
parade this year, but due to cloud cover and position we only managed to see a
few of the planets with our naked eye (some can only be seen with lenses); however,
it was quite an experience.
March 2025
Sue and I
travelled up to help Tracy (My Uncle’s wife’s daughter) move house. 50-, 60-
and 70-year-olds trying to shift bulky and weighty articles was a challenge –
should have seen us walking a full-size pink fridge around the streets. It was
a workout for us all.
I have had a
tooth infection that required medication to clear up, unfortunately it resulted
in the tooth dying and having to be removed. So now I have a visible gap in the
upper row of teeth, and I am considering what to do with it. Perhaps a gold one
to replace it?
