THE TRIP - WEEK ONE – BANGKOK

Arrived here fine after a pretty uneventful flight, just the way I like them! The whirring noise you can’t hear is the mainspring of my body clock going haywire. I found out today that I can get to see the Calcutta Cup on Saturday live…… live at 11.00pm! (Thanks for the Scotland shirt Christmas present Adam, photos to follow!)


Here a few pictures I have saved from the 1st couple of days.


Well, what did you expect to see from a Bangkok hotel bedroom window?! Well not this exactly, preconceptions and research homework can, it seems, be misleading.




I thought Singer made sewing machines. (Spelling mistake due to 6% proof, eat your heart out Stella)

Ah, there you are McDuck, wondering if Lotus blossom is all you can get for breakfast.

Come all this way and find my former employer! Maybe I should have hung in there and negotiated a transfer.

I have the feeling there may be a few pictures like this and I’m not really looking for them! Women, it appears, must earth their underwear here.

Oh come on Hamish, for goodness sake! Bangkok? John Smiths? In an Irish pub? It’s ok, it’s fine, research purposes, I had to find somewhere to see the Scotland game!

Told you there may be a few. Now Mr Spock, are you sure that’s the right translation?

Ready steady……….

………and their off…… all at the same time!

Oh well, back to the hotel they might have a Singha on!

WELL, UPDATE FROM MANCHESTER ACTUALLY

Have arrived at the 1st of many airports on this jaunt. Successfully dropped the car off at a rather exclusive car park… thanks Pete, will get it moved on 29th of April!




Another challenge has been set for me as well, thanks to Dave and the ‘Borrower’, I now have a travel companion in the shape of a tartan duck! Expect some pictures of McDuck from exotic locations. (He will be looking after the stone as well Elaine).


Pretty sure this time that the next update will indeed be from Thailand. Better go and get checked in!

COULD GET HOOKED ON THIS

In the previous section I mentioned ‘Geocaching’, well I was true to my word and managed to get hold of a very reasonably priced GPS from e-bay. Yesterday I programmed in the location of a cache close to home and followed directions along a stretch of the Calder & Hebble canal I did not know existed.

If I get to find walks with views like this, I could easily get hooked on this.


There it was, hidden under a brick, my 1st solo cache find.


My brother has already sent me details of another cache for me to find……in Bangkok! Despite the best efforts of BA staff in need of extra ‘duvet days’ I will be heading there in 3 days, gulp!

Next update from Thailand.

FAME OF A SORT

In an earlier post about my trip to Amsterdam, you might remember, I posted a photo of a faulty screen on the ferry, which was trying to promote bingo tickets but actually said something a bit different.

Well, a friend of mine thought it was the type of thing that a certain magazine might find amusing enough to publish. He was right, they did and he won the prize for letter of the month in to the bargain!



Now Dave, how do we share a camera?! (Kidding of course)

OUT WITH THE ODD AND IN WITH THE STRANGE?

Anyone who has been keeping up with this blog knows that I have done some odd things in ’06 but have had no regrets. ’07? well it is likely to be a bit peculiar as well, time will tell.

In the mean time, this is the way I got out of the old one and into the new one…..

As I was to be away from home over Christmas and New Year, I planned an extra celebration for my son and his girlfriend the week before.


As you can see, it was a very festive affair. I even decorated my Christmas 'tree'.

We opened our presents, had a lovely meal and the day after actually felt like Boxing Day, lucky me, two Christmas days in the same year!


Yet again, my journey up to Scotland went well and I spent a good couple of days with my mum in Paisley before we both headed up to Skye for the festivities.

This was the view at dusk looking out over Paisley and Glasgow Airport…. The same day that Heathrow was fog bound.

Our trip up north was, as always, breathtaking.

It doesn’t seem to matter what kind of weather the highlands greet you with, they look quite stunning in any. This day, there were patches of fog and as you can see, when we climbed high enough the mist lay way below us and filled the valleys, beautiful.

Christmas would not feel right without at least one silly gift.

Well, not that silly this time, this was a seriously effective little rocket which at no time looked to be going anywhere near coming straight down the chimney, honestly!

Boxing Day weather was kind enough to let us walk off our excellent Christmas meal.

Yes, it was that high and we had to get back up again as well!

The view, of course, was worth the effort. All in all a much better way to spend Boxing Day than in the queue for the DFS sale!

Geocaching? Yes it was new to me as well. In brief, it seems like a fun way to enhance a walk in the countryside or a ramble up a hillside, by giving the outing a firm objective. Worldwide, Geocachers are placing and finding, in secluded places, a little box with a little something inside. Just for fun, not treasure or anything of real value, other than the feeling of success when you find one. It’s all logged on the WWW and if you would like to know more try http://stats.guk2.com/ for info. I’ve ordered my GPS!

This was my first successful, if damp, Geocache find. Well done to Libby who led us to the right crevice in the rock where the target was hidden.

Nice to have a place like this on your doorstep to walk the dog.

Nice as well to have such a good place to wash the dog!

It’s hard to point the car south after good times like these. Thanks to all in Grianaig!

Back in the south I am, and looking the calendar, I see I have four short weeks before my big trip. That will mark my ‘strange’ New Year, let me wish you all a very happy one!!