Our Wonderful Great Big Garden

Last Days of Thailand

2010-01-24T03:53:00.000-08:00

It's evening and we are on our last day in Thailand. It's 7.00pm. Our bags are packed, Kaya is having her tea, our taxi is booked for 9.30pm and we fly at 1.05am on the 25th with Emirates.

We're back in Ayothaya, at the Sherwood House. We decided on a few days back at one of our favourite Thai guesthouses after a month on the islands. Our trip to the islands ended up being in the singular as we decided to stick with Lanta because we had sorted out a good arrangement with our guest house to cook food for Kaya and wanted to be near the medical services on Lanta. We also wanted to maximise our snorkelling trips so took turns going out on boats which meant we needed down-time at our guesthouse without moving about. We stayed in the Green Garden Resort on Khlong Khaong beach which was very family oriented. The bar was very Majestic - run by Bao and Rene with the help of Jim. The last week ended up with a great group of people staying, some who were there long-term such as Austrian couple Harry and Martina, plus returnee Marko from Germany and two fantastic Canadian women, Brandy and Carol, who were delightful with Kaya. Kaya enjoyed being with the children of the family and Andaman (Bao and Rene's kid) and had a great few days with Brandy and Carol. Ae, one of the masseurs, became a temporary Aunty of Kaya's and gave her lots of hugs and played games with her.

We have all had colds which is interesting given we all arrived with colds from the UK! We're all over them now in time for flying which is good.

So, a few hour to go and we're on a 12 hour flight with a 10 month old! Should be very different to our flight out with a 7 month old.

Fartin' Tours

2010-01-06T00:52:00.001-08:00

Fartin' Tours
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

A somewhat unfortunately named travel company.

Beach time

2010-01-06T00:25:00.001-08:00

We are still in Koh Lanta and still in the same bungalow in the Green Garden resort. The place is working well for us. The bungalow is large enough for Kaya to play in, has a shady balcony we can spend time on while needing to be at the bungalow and a large grassy garden outside. The owners are friendly and very helpful in aiding us with a baby, specially in terms of our desire to be able to cook appropriate food for a 9 month old.

The beach is as good as most on the island and we can easily access fruit and veg markets, as well as other supplies needed for looking after a baby such as cotton wool, milk and low sugar/salt weetabix, and a hospital on the island is within driving distance. The sea is good for swimming and there are even some corals, fishes and a spotted moray eel. It has to be said that the coral is pretty much blasted here so far from pristine and the fish few and far between but more than many beaches due to rocks offshore and dead-coral mounds which are slowly being re-colonised.

We have taken turns going on snorkelling trips since Christmas and will do a few more before we leave. We prefer to find an island with good coral just off the beach but these are more remote places that don't have the back-up or shops we need with Kaya.

Our days turn around washing Kaya and changing her nappy followed by her breakfast. One of us may do that while the other one swims or does some yoga on the grass outside. One or both of us then spends time while Kaya tinks around before her mid-morning nap. Then one of us will hang out on the balcony and make her lunch and tea in a rice steamer while the other one swims or does some yoga. Kaya wakes up for more tinking, possibly this time on one of the resort's bamboo platforms and with other children. Then its her lunch and more tinking before her afternoon nap. We fit in our meals and swimming around Kaya. This is followed by more tinking then her tea. Some of her tinking may have been under the shade of a tree at the top of the beach. By this time the sun is lower and we might go for a 'looking' walk with Kaya in the sling before sitting down somewhere for her to have tea on the beach with sunset. We may do this at a cocktail bar. We're then straight into bed time routine for Kaya. Once she's in bed we have our dinner on the balcony or on the grassy area. If we buy from the resort they bring it over to us. We've had quite a few meals under the coconut palms looking at fabulous skies. We'll either hang out on the balcony or one of us will stay while the other has a walk or goes to the internet. I prefer reading in the hammock in the evening while Georgia tends to lie on the balcony itself.

We've been to the nearest town a couple of times to stock up on her weetabix and tea bags for us. Its a short though expensive tuk-tuk ride away. Virtually everything else we need is available in the shops on the road running behind the resorts and parallel to the beach which makes looking after Kaya so much simpler than it could be.

We've also been on a couple of snorkelling trips to nearby uninhabited islands which are full of great coral and fishes. We've seen moray eels, baby reef sharks, cuttlefish, sea snakes, starfish, barracuda, sea anemones and plenty of colourful reef fishes on these trips. We're planning more before we leave.

We've taken Kaya to a hospital and a clinic following her getting a tummy bug on Christmas day and then developing a rash. We spent a good part of Christmas in the hospital to find out it was a minor bug. By the time we were seen she was already recovering and hadn't thrown up for a couple of hours. She did, sadly throw up, on the first present she opened. She was clearly happy apart from when she was sick so we thought it wasn't serious but needed to check. The rash turns out to be an eczema reaction to lots of salt and sand, so again minor. It is good to have medics nearby to go to however as we'd do the same in Sheffield by visiting our GP or ringing NHS Direct.

Christmas was fun despite the sickness and Kaya loved having things to open and glittery decorations to look at. She now knows the word 'balloon'! We spent NYE outside our bungalow, under the full moon and palms, periodically taking turns to check out the fantastic sea gypsy band playing at our bar and drinking the odd cocktail. Kaya also knows the word moon and has loved looking for it as it approaches full because its been nicely overhead.

So, all is quiet on the whole with few excursions away from our beach except to go snorkelling or have Kaya checked up. There's certainly no threat of snow.

Koh Lanta

2009-12-23T04:52:00.000-08:00

We are now on Koh Lanta, a predominantly Muslim island that is the playground of Swedes and Thai-international hippies. So many Swedes escape their dark winters to Lanta there is even one Swedish school. We arrived on the 18th to stay in Bee Bees Little Village, small resort of individually designed wood and bamboo bungalows in a garden shaded by coconut palms on Klhong Khong beach. We thought we might stay a couple of weeks but were asked to leave after three nights for not eating the over-priced, under-sized meals everyday in the restaurant. An, the owner, was so desperate not to come across as a businessman that he took two lengthy lectures to tell us it wasn’t just about the money, which he needed being peak season, but that our actions showed a lack of feeling for his place and what he had achieved. He didn’t want us to leave straight away but we might wish to find somewhere more suitable for ourselves as he had chosen us from among many and had friends he preferred to rent the bungalow to. We left the same day by moving along the beach to the Green Garden Resort, owned by a very friendly and relaxed local island family. Our bungalow is the same price (600B) for a concrete one that is part of a formal row. It overlooks an open garden with coconut palms that is perfect for viewing the night sky and gives a view of the sea. They have been very friendly and helpful with Kaya, even cooking pumpkin soup to our directions, and there are plenty of other family and tourist children around. They had a Christmas party featuring a jamming local band playing local folk music and reggae covers.

Each night the beach becomes a mini-festival as each resort or bar lights up colourful lanterns, plays music and serves cocktails – best downed at sunset during 100B happy hour.

We should be here for a few more days or a couple more weeks and are each taking turns to go on a snorkelling trip to nearby uninhabited islands of pristine coral before the New Year.

Last Days in the North

2009-12-17T04:51:00.000-08:00

After My Dream we returned to Chiang Rai and Chian House for a few days before moving on to Chiang Mai then flying south to Krabi. Gone were our trips to the produce market for food to cook with now we were back in a guesthouse. We wanted to do a few things before leaving the city. Kaya had one last crawl in Wat Phra Singh and play in the park near the big tree with the spirit house graveyard. We needed a few things for Kaya before heading to an island. We knew where to get them in Chiang Rai so it would save us the bother of searching out a supermarket in Krabi. We also went to the Rim Kok for their buffet lunch. We had passed this by on previous visits but planned to treat ourselves to the 140B eat all you can lunch before leaving. We also hoped to see Wolfgang and Na one last time. The lunch manager had promised they could make us 4 or so vegetarian dishes when we did do lunch and we talked to him about it when we bought our lunch vouchers. Lunch is displayed at one end of the dining room on long white-clothed tables, a panoply of dishes, colours and smells arranged by category into salad, soup, Thai salads, hot meals, fruit, dessert and, with its own special place, coconut ice cream with sticky rice. The manager was true to his word with four great dishes. We had a banquet, and being December 11th it felt something like our own office Christmas party! We also said goodbye to Wolfgang but Na was elsewhere with her sister.

Saying goodbye to Wolfgang

Next were a few days in Chiang Mai to see a few more things, buy presents in the Sunday walking market and the Night Bazaar, and have a couple of Thai body and foot massages. We found Chiang Mai almost full when we arrived on Saturday the 12th and scoured a few places before finding the VIP guesthouse, managed by a gorgeous, friendly and helpful Italo-Thai woman, on Thanon Ratchadamneon Soi 1. We had our massages, all decent, and bought presents. I also bought a few shirts for myself after a couple of attempts at the Nigh Bazaar. This involved trying on enough to find some without volumes of saggy material around the shoulders. All stallholders assuring me that the shirts looked great, whatever sail-like shoulders or general sack-like bagginess they possessed. I did buy one shirt for too large for me after a negotiation where I said please don’t lower your price, I’d rather pay you more for a shirt that fits. But he wouldn’t have any of it and eventually lowered it to 160B which I misheard for 150B and we left both feeling hard done-by, me with a shirt I don’t want, him with 50B less than the lower end of the asking price. I also returned to two stalls run by two great not-pushy women and found shirts at each I really wanted and was really happy to buy them from them.

Kaya had a couple of crawls in a nice wat on Thanon Ratchadamneon and we revisited the beautiful wooden courtyard building of the Siam Tea House where I was poisoned by a Thai tea in 2004. Thankfully I survived better with their own grown black tea. I had a couple of beers in a bar with a comedy Thai rock covers band. Smoke on the Water? Must be 10pm! I also did a bit more work for the UK, some of it over lunch in a great vege restaurant called Taste of Heaven. Overall, We didn’t take too much to Chiang Mai second time round as it is a pretty noisy, polluted city with no green spaces easily accessible.

We also met Mr Sumsee, a Laotian Hmong school teacher who we met in 2004. The owner of a guesthouse we stayed in Huay Xai recommended we visited his village after we asked about meeting tribal people. He’s now in Thailand checking out school projects due to a Scandinavian promise of funds and helping his brother visit a hospital!

Saying hello to Mr Sumsee

We flew down to Krabi on the 17th, via a 2+ hour stopover in Bangkok, to return to the Hello MK Guesthouse. It was definitely in sight of better times in 2004 so rather than having a couple of nights there to give us a day to buy stuff for the islands, we legged it around town on the night of the 17th and the following day were on the 11am minivan to Koh Lanta.

My Dream Reviews

2009-12-15T05:08:00.000-08:00

I've posted a couple of reviews of the My Dream Guesthouse, near Chiang Rai, Thailand on Travel for Breakfast. One is of the superb guesthouse itself, the other about things to do while staying there including independent walks/treks.

Back in Chiang Rai

2009-12-08T04:09:00.000-08:00

We're back in CR after a fantastic week at the My Dream guesthouse in Khaew Waaw Dam, a small Karen tribal village alongside the Mae Kok river and about 25km out of town.

We were looked after so well by the owners, Nan and Polly, and their staff. They live up to the concept of a family guesthouse by totally making us feel welcome as part of their family. They couldn't do more to help us because we were with Kaya - starting right with the free pick-up from Chiang Rai to including free bananas every day for her, dinner brought to our balcony each night, good salt-free meals for Kaya, allowing us access to the kitchen to make meals for her now and again and the chance for her to play with their three-year old daughter. They helped look after her too while we moved our bags out. We thank them greatly for the warmth of their welcome and the thoughtfulness of their service.

We got to know Ati and Serge, a Thai-French couple, and their children Neesha and Amos who live next door. We had met them in Chiang Rai at the start of our stay and Serge reminded us about My Dream. We got to know them well including an invitation to dinner of bamboo curry and sticky rice one evening. Ati is from Isan, north-east Thailand, and learnt hand-weaving from her mother. She collects plants from the jungle to dye cotton from Isan then spins and weaves the cloth into beautiful scarves and bedspreads on a bamboo loom made by her and Serge. They are both wonderful open people and we wish them all good luck in their enterprise to earn a living from her craft.

The guesthouse is right on the bank of the river, a beautiful garden of trees, flowers and lawn overlooking a small beach and surrounded by teak rooms and bungalows. We asked Nan, a tour guide, about tours suitable to go on with kaya and he simply pointed us in the direction of walks instead. Most guides would work out how to earn some money but not him. The food was great, the tranquility tranquil and the walks along dirt roads or mountain trails beautiful. We even revisited the hot springs we went to last year from the Akha Hill House.

If you're in Chiang Rai province and looking for a quiet place to stay in nature we'd recommend My Dream wholeheartedly - http://www.mydreamguesthouse.com/. Nan gets lots of international tour groups revisiting him for the quality of My Dream and his tours yet this effusive man has time for everyone.

Orchestral Leader

2009-11-29T22:39:00.001-08:00

Orchestral Leader
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

Chiang Rai Youth Orchestra, Doi Chaang Coffee House, 29/11/09.

Violin Rai

2009-11-29T22:38:00.001-08:00

Violin 2
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

Violinist, Chiang Rai Youth Orchestra, Doi Chaang Coffee House, Chiang Rai, Thailand, 29/11/09.

Third week in Chiang Rai

2009-11-29T18:34:00.000-08:00

Another week passes. Notably the weather hasn't been as wintry as the previous week. The couds shifted and the northerly winds mostly subsided. It hasn't again been as hot as when we first arrived but its been warm enough during the day. Evenings have varied from being OK to sit out in shorts and t-shirt to needing long sleeves and a jumper. Last night I joined the nightly drinking and talking gang at the guest house. The Thais were all in coats, one wrapped up like an English festival goer might be, while the Europeans were in a variety of shorts, trousers, shirts and thin jumpers.

The other notable events of the week have been meeting Onepen and Maurice, a Thai-English couple who are building their luxury house in a village near to town. She teaches English to kids from the surrounding area every weekend in a purpose-built classroom on their land. We have also met Thia, a north European traveller who has settled in Thailand and Tom, a gentle and positive Huddersfield bloke who lives hear with his Thai wife and two kids. He's 65 and has a 3 and a 2 year old!

We've been to the Rim Kok once, but the pool is too cold for Kaya now who complained bitterly at going in, the Youth Orchestra and the Saturday Walking Market. Where last week Thais were dressed up in their winter coats, this week it was back to shirts.

I've also had to spend some time on tenders and grant apps which has taken up some mornings. We've also been to the palypark a few times where Kaya loves going down the slide with me to be lifted into G's arms at the bottom. She's met some Thai children, who all interacted with her at the park. The park also hosts regular evening keep-fit sessions to music - everything from trance to synthetic electro-pop. Kaya's crawled around a few more temples, had the pleasure of being greeted by a monk. We've also been to one of our favourite cafes - the Panja - and I've done a little bit more photography of Buddha images and other Buddhist art at the temples as well as a big tree with abandoned spirit houses.

Today (or tomorrow according to blogtime-UK) we move out of Peter's House over the lane to the guest house for a night then we are going to My Dream Guesthouse for a few days before returning to Chiang Rai for a week.

Buddha Revealed

2009-11-26T06:08:00.001-08:00

Buddha Revealed
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

One of the Buddha images in Wat Phra Singh, Chiang Rai, seen through gilded stalks of lotus seeds.

Abandoned Spirit Houses

2009-11-26T06:07:00.001-08:00

Abandoned Spirit Houses
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

Chiang Rai, Thailand. Discarded and broken Buddhist spirit houses are taken to a large holy tree in the middle of a road where they are deposited. Their importance means that they cannot be simply dumped when they need to be replaced.

Vacating Peter's House

2009-11-22T18:38:00.000-08:00

We had the news from Mr Chian today that Peter is returning from China very soon and we'll have to leave his house at the end of our initial three weeks. We'll be out on Thursday or Friday which is something of a shame as we have got used to the space and having a kitchen. We'll have to make the most of it before we go. We'll probably move into a room in the guest house for a few days. We may then go to My Dream for a few days, a riverside guesthouse along the Mae Kok River from Chiang Rai in a rural location, before returning to Chiang Rai for Kaya's last Hep B jab then return to Chiang Mai for a few days before flying to Krabi.

Cometh Winter Weather

2009-11-22T10:38:00.000-08:00

Winter has set into Chiang Rai since Friday. Its been coming all week, ever since cloud blanketed the skies on the morning of our visit to the White Temple. A couple of cloud mornings giving away to sunny afternoons didn't drop the temperature much and it remained 30 oC + in our bedroom at the start of the night. Day time temps have been 32-33 oC and outside evening temps only a little less.

Over the week the cloud lingered longer through the day until we noticed that Friday was a couple of degrees cooler than previous days with an almost chilly wind when felt under shade. It was still shorts and t-shirt weather for my visit to the Night Bazaar that evening.

Then it was Saturday. The cloud thickened and the cool winter breezes picked up with the arrival of the weekend. The temp in the shade at about 9am was 23 oC and it dropped a bit furthr during the day. We didn't spend long in the Rim Kok pool or stay in swimmers much either. Kaya needed a towel over her for her early afternoon nap. I thought briefly of taking a jumper to the Walking Market but thought it wasn't that chilly yet. But, between 5 and 8pm it was cool enough to welcome a long-sleeved shirt or jumper and Georgia had goose pimples on her arms. Luckily we'd thought ahead for Kaya and put her in a sleepsuit. Thais were covered in coats, woolly hats and scarves - foreigners managing happily in shirts.

Where on Thursday night we were still using the fan and a sheet on our bed, by Saturday night the fan was off and a blanket on.

This is more like the weather we remember from our last visit here and why we have brought jumpers and fleeces with us. I think it is brought by the northern monsoon across China which pushes cold wind over Thailand from the north during November and December.

It should make days much more manageable for us all as we won't have to avoid the heat between 11am to 3pm like we did so should have more flexibility as to when we go out with Kaya. We should pick up the heat again by the time we go down south to Krabi and Koh Lanta on the 17th December. Until then we'll wrap up warm, be thankful for a warm shower and think of England!

Three Aubergine Red Curry

2009-11-22T05:36:00.000-08:00

We're making the most of our access to the kitchen in Peter's House while we can. Tonight I made a red curry with three types of Thai little aubergines, a white round, green and white variegated oval and mini purple ones. It was absolutely delicious. Luckily the white and the purple are 5 baht (less than 10p) for 12 each and the variegated ones the same for about 20. And there's lots of them and red curry paste left!

That was the Week that was in Chiang Rai

2009-11-21T09:30:00.000-08:00

Its another Saturday in Chiang Rai which means its the Saturday evening Walking Market. It also means another week has passed.

This last week has been half dominated by my work, writing audio and iPod trails for a client in the UK. Friday was the deadline for the first drafts and it ended up being a three session day beginning at 9.30 and ending at 10.30. This could have been avoided if I'd done half a day on Wednesday or Thursday but I was waiting on replies to some queries from the client before completing the drafts. I'd been in two minds on whether to send the queries to them at the start of the week or leaving them in the drafts. We'd decided on the former which caused the long Friday session as they didn't reply to the specific queries they could or were prepared to answer and let us know firmly that general queries we'd have to do the research for.

The remainder of the week has all been in Chiang Mai, mixing our time between Kaya, yoga, swimming, visiting temples, going to cafes and shopping in the local produce market.

The highlights from that, just to shake things up, were these. We visited Wat Rong Khun on Tuesday. Known as the White Temple it lives up to its name. Kaya's 8 month birthday on Wednesday celebrated by a big crawl in another temple, and, for me, a trip down the Night Bazaar on Thursday Night where I managed to buy the grand total of three postcards, 2 birthday cards, one rosewood spoon for Kaya, a plate of vegetable tempura and a pineapple shake. It is fun to walk around browsing the stalls and catching the various stage acts - everything from traditional Thai dance to traditional US 60s folk covers. The hat dance wasn't a patch on the umbrella dance we saw in Chiang Mai. The walk there and back, about 20 minutes each way, was a great opportunity to stretch my legs and walk out fast. We've not had a lot of exercise on this visit to Thailand so far.

Kaya also had her second Hep B vaccination at the private Overbrook Hospital where the staff speak great English. It was the same make as used by the Crookes Practice in Sheffield. She has one more to do in mid-December. She has been a bit cranky ever since but we thought it might be teething and we managed to catch sight of a tooth-shaped white lump today. They are truly on their way now. Her crawling is getting better and better. Its lovely being greeted when coming into the house with Kaya crawling from around the corner of the L-shaped room with a smile. She's also trying out getting herself up to standing and taking steps when we support her. Onwards and upwards!

We're off now to the Rim Kok Resort for some poolside action and relaxation.

Buddha and Tusk

2009-11-20T01:16:00.001-08:00

Buddha and Tusk
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

The large Buddha image framed by one of the pair of elephant tusks in Wat Klang Wiang, Chiang Rai.

Elephant and Tusk

2009-11-20T00:41:00.001-08:00

Elephant and Tusk
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

One of a few images from in and around Chiang Rai's Wat Klang Wiang, a historical Buddhist temple in the centre of town. Stucco elephants on the outside, but a pair of real tusks framing Buddha on the inside.

Wang Come

2009-11-18T05:20:00.000-08:00

What I hear you ask? How rude. Be off with you. Its just the name of a semi-posh hotel in Chiang Rai. Isn't too far from a dodgy looking massage place or too mind.

Loi Krathong

2009-11-17T07:34:00.000-08:00

I've posted a short introduction to Thailand's Loi Krathong festival on Travel for Breakfast.

The White Temple

2009-11-17T07:20:00.000-08:00

Today we visited Wat Rong Khun, the White Temple, just outside Chiang Rai. The temple is the phantasmagoric brainchild of Thai artist Chaloemchai Khositphiphat and his overworking imagination. Attention to detail is incredible with the outside of the building and other structures decorated lavishly with ornate swirling designs. The exterior is white with silver mirrors and changes colour with cloud and sun. Under cloud it has a deathly pale yellow palor, which when set behind leafless trees, is reminiscent of a Tim Burton film set. When the sun shines the mirrors twinkle and the white takes on the hues of its surroundings - grass green, sky blue and clothings reds, yellows and oranges.

The art inside the hall does strike me as being the product of a talented fantasy-loving teenager or 70s heavy metal album cover artist. That, however is not a surprise or such criticism as it may sound. Where, after all, did the artists of psychedelic album covers or fantasy novel covers get some of their inspiration? Hindu and Buddhist religious art. The wat's art brings these influences together.

It is a lot of fun with hints at attempts to make statements. Superman, Spiderman and the Matrix sit alongside Buddhist apsaras, garudas and demons. The World Trade Centre is shown during its destruction by Al Qaida with a demon-headed serpentine petrol pump pipe snaking around one of the towers. Yet how much do intended meanings resonate after a single visit? That probably depends on your attitudes to politics, fantasy and Buddhist religious art.

The dream is still being built and all power to him for making something so bold that it generates reactions from visitors. You will either love or hate it but you're unlikely to feel indifferent towards it.

As you enter you come face-to-face with a gold structure bearing a white Buddha in its ornate folds and twists.

After passing the first structure between ponds with white fish you are next greeted at the approach to the central hall by concrete hands reaching out to the air and your sense of fun. Some hold skulls up next to others proffering alms bowls.

Apsaras or bodhisatvas float in the air either side of the approach to the central hall. Every inch of the white building is adorned with white mirrors.

To either side of the hall are matching pairs of Buddhas facing each other.

The purity of white certainly makes a statement that cannot fail to influence you in some way, even if only while there. It is perhaps part Barcelona's Sagrada Familia, part Taj Maha, part Southfork.

The temple is very easy to reach from Chiang Rai. A sangthaew from the produce market station costs 20 baht and they leave regularly through the day. You can also catch a local bus to Phayao from the old bus station in the city centre or a Chiang Mai bus from the new station on the city's edge. The journey takes less than 30 minutes. To return to Chiang Rai go up to the main road and flag down a sangthaew or bus. A sangthaew driver spotted us walking towards the road and waited for us to get to him.

Peter's House

2009-11-16T06:58:00.000-08:00

Here is a short walk in tour of Peter's House, the home we have in Chiang Rai for few weeks. We moved in on the 5th November and will move out either at the end of the month or about the middle of December.

Here's the front of the house with overlooks a narrow soi, Thai for side street, opposite Chian House. Note the seaside blue. Next door to the right is used as a hand-produced food kitchen making all sorts of small Thai dishes. To the left is a quiet Thai man. There are comings and goings at the kitchen between 6am and 10pm each day.

In through the front door.

To the lounging and dining area. An L-shaped room. The stairs to the next floor are on the left, next to a downstairs squat toilet and shower room.

Round the corner of the L to Peter's lounge or currently one of Kaya's play rooms. The door to the right is to the kitchen.

The kitchen, now devoid of ants, is the furnace of the house. It is south facing and the only ventilation are vents in the wall.

Upstairs into Peter's front room which he uses as a spare room. His room is at the hotter but quieter south-facing back of the house. Kaya sleeps in her LittleLife tent-style travel cot.

The murals were painted by a Japanese ex-girlfriend of Peter's who lives two doors away. Big space for Kaya to practice her crawling. Tile floors easily mopped after wees.

This overlooks Chian House where we are usually serenaded by Eddie, a Thai guy who sings and plays guitar. Its a really pleasant backdrop and he's sometimes joined by others. I enjoyed a beer with Eddie last night. He's been entertaining us each evening with his rendition of his favourite Beatles' song - 'Don't Let Me Down'. He knows half the chords and almost as many words.

Nervous Thai Liverpool fans walking alone?

2009-11-14T07:23:00.001-08:00

Chiang Rai Living

2009-11-14T06:24:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Chiang Rai

Peter's House

We've now been in Chiang Rai for 10 days and the pace of life is steady. We needed to orientate ourselves to begin with. We thought we would have to buy a cooker and a few domestic necessities as the house we were going to let from Mr Chian of Chian House guest house in Chiang Rai was totally unfurnished. But because we had left it late to confirm our tenancy, he had let it to a more certain tenant and offered us Peter's House instead. Peter is a Canadian who we met last year and discovered there were rentable houses associated with Chian House. He lives in one but spends a lot of his time teaching English in Chian, which he prefers because the students are more interested than in Thailand. Right at the start of thinking about living in Chiang Rai, we had one eye on renting Peter's house if he was away. The big advantage is that its fully furnished and equipped so setting up home was a lot smoother once we had the house cleaned of its two months of dust and bird shit. I'll post some photos of his house soon. Chian House is on a little island formed by a narrow, mostly dried, loop of the Mae Kok River.

The house next door is used by a family who make different meals or dishes, presumably for restaurants. We overlook the guest house where some of the employees usually hang out at night playing guiter, singing and generally providing a relaxed backdrop of people enjoying themselves.

We've settled into a Kaya-led routine of breakfast, morning by the Chian House pool or going out with Kaya while it is not too hot, lunch then the same as the morning but the other way round with going out waiting until after it has stopped being very hot, followed by Kaya's dinner, bed time for Kaya, our tea, maybe a bit of hanging out on our balcony (which is where I am now) then bed. I've some freelance consultancy work for Natural England writing audio trails and podscroll trails for Wye and Stodmarsh nature reserves in Kent so I've been working a few mornings to get the first drafts done for a 20th November deadline.

Every other evening we visit the local produce market to stock up on veg, fruit, tofu, curry paste, rice, noodles and eggs. Most things are sold in 5 baht bunches, bags, plates or blocks - even the tofu which is stored in a large vat of ice. We've been cooking green and red curries, tom yum and noodle soup so far.

Wat Phra Singh apsara

We've discovered plenty of small scale trips out that we can manage with Kaya and avoid the hot part of the day. There is a promenade on the Mae Kok River with a set of tennis, football, basketball and sepak takraw courts. Kaya loves watching as an evening stroll between dinner and bed. She's especially fond of tennis much to Georgia's delight! There is a play park and public library within easy walking distance in a municipal wooded and grassed area. Further along from this is Wat Phra Singh where Kaya undertook her first long crawl, a 12m dash for my mobile phone from one end of the temple hall to the other. There are a couple of great cafes we've discovered for tea with aircon and a cake - the more Western Doi Chaang and a more Chinese one. Both have seats big enough for Kaya to have a play. The Chinese one has a strange fish with a protruding forehead called Elvis.

Walking Market 'food court'

Walking Market

Further afield are the 'evening out' markets. Every night there is the Night Bazaar in the town centre which begins about 5pm. We've only been once to as its a bit of a trek. Each Saturday one of the main streets a bit closer to Chian House is converted into a long 'Walking Market' which is lots of fun. We've worked out how to do this with Kaya. We head down about 4pm, find a place to feed her with what we've brought, then continue along and about 7,30pm or so she'll fall asleep in the sling. Its a short walk back along quiet streets. That's what we did tonight, except she only had a little of her dinner before she got fidgety and gave up on it. Later she eyed my bean-filled rice dumpling and when offered some of the bland dumpling she became very enthusiastic and had a whole one!

Chiang Rai Youth Orchestra

Tomorrow we're planning a repeat visit to catch the Chiang Rai Youth Orchestra in Doi Chaang. They play every Sunday for an hour from 3pm in the foyer with a waterfall and pond. We met an American woman there last week who tipped us off about a pool to visit in the attractively named Rim Kok Resort on the other side of the river. We've been twice already for day visit sampling of luxury tourism. The pool is huge and Kaya has picked up on her swimming there again, as well as in the mini-sized pool at Chian House.

Evening Chiang Rai

Chang Prang

2009-11-13T07:22:00.001-08:00

Chang Prang
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

Elephant-riding tourists lumber by Wat Phra Ram, Ayutthaya Historical Park.

Mor Kok Massage

2009-11-12T05:08:00.001-08:00

Mor Kok Massage
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

Can it really do what it says or is it just hard sell? Seen in Sukhothai October 2009 just before Loi Krathong.

Broken Buddha of Wat Phra Singh

2009-11-12T04:57:00.001-08:00

Broken Buddha of Wat Phra Singh
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan
A Buddha statue lies apparently abandoned below a Bhodi tree in the grounds of Wat Phra Singh. However, he is far from forgotten. Taken at 3.30pm in the afternoon.

Day out at the Rim Kok pool

2009-11-10T19:38:00.000-08:00

Today we took a sangthaew, a little bench taxi, to the Rim Kok Resort - one of the posh riverside resorts in Chiang Mai because it allows non-guests to use the pool. It did take a while for the driver to understand where we wanted to go which seemed strange as it is a major resort. First I tried Rim Kok Resort, then again slower, then Rim Kok Hotel. Eventually he got where we wanted and repeated back to me the name - Lim Kok Lesort. Silly me, we're in east Asia of course.

The resort is a pleasant 10 minute ride over the Kok River Kaya loves being on sangthaews and tuk-tuks, specially if she can get the breeze on her face. We spent most of the day there. We all had a swim, and two lengths were about enough for us as the pool is about 50m long. Kaya enjoyed a pool side lunch then Georgia and me took turns doing some yoga while Kaya first snoozed, though only for a short time, then she met some friends - a gentle German guy with his Thai partner, then had a tour of the grounds.

It's only 80 baht a person to use the pool. There's also a jacuzzi, bar that plays music over shot speakers and a lunch time buffet for 150 baht though you need to order dishes when you arrive if you're vegetarian. The resort is right by the river opposite an army camp.

I think we'll be going back again soon. We'll just ask for the Lim Kok.

Red Curry

2009-11-08T07:25:00.000-08:00

Chiang Rai

2009-11-08T06:19:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Chiang Rai, a quiet small city in north-east Thailand, a bit like a small version of Newcastle without such a good football team, on the afternoon of the 5th November, just as people were waking to Bonfire Night in the UK.

We are renting a two-bedroom house from a Canadian ex-pat who spends time teaching English in China. The house is part of a street owned by Mr Chian of Chian Guest House which is over the street so we have access to their pool, laundry service and wifi as well as restaurant if we need it. We're just settling in now. We have a kitchen and are cooking ours and Kaya's food again! She is loving carrot and sweet potato with coconut milk and scrambled eggs as well as new fruit to her - pineapple, watermelon and papaya.

We shop for fruit, veg, eggs, tofu, rice and noodles in the local produce night market. Today we came back with two types of long green veg that we've never cooked with before. No idea what they are, except one looks like a sort of aniseedy flavoured vegetable seen in Thai dishes. One cost 2 baht.

The Mae Kok river is nearby with a fancy new concrete prom. Also at hand are a couple of play grounds, the public library (where we went this morning and read Kaya a story about a baby with two mouths who ate lots and worried his parents but went to see a wizard and lost a mouth, got upset he couldn't eat his huge lunch by a pond, was advised by a stick person to go back to the wizard and next thing you know he is on a three seat bike singing songs with his happy parents!), some shops, an on-street 1 baht a litre water dispenser and a som tam stall.

We've been into the Saturday night Walking Market today, a long street packed full of stalls selling all sorts of gifts, clothes and handicrafts, a few food stalls (thought not as many as you'd expect in Thailand), live music and lots of people. Kaya loved it. We bought her two rattles and a pair of long pants. Thai's worry we don't cover her feet as the cold weather of winter is setting in and its only getting up to about a nippy 29oC during the day. That's much higher a temp that in Britain parents would be worrying about getting their children out of the heat.

We also visited a temple yesterday where Kaya rolled around on the carpet in front of the Buddhas and poked the carpet a bit. It is the beautiful old Wat Phra Singh temple which is all wood with red and gold decor inside. Today we saw the Chiang Rai Youth Orchestra perform at the Doi Chaang Coffee Shop.

We should be here for three weeks and then plan to move on to Pai, Koh Lanta and either Bangkok or return to Ayutthaya for the few days.

Kaya in Thailand

2009-11-02T00:38:00.000-08:00

Were here! In fact we've been here two weeks already. This is the first time we've had a chance to blog. Our first two guesthouses were without wifi or easy reach of an internet place and my mac has gone down with a kernel panic so is now in the Chiang Mai Apple Centre.

We had four days in Ayutthaya at the Sherwood guesthouse and six days at Orichid Hibiscus in Sukhothai, both places we stayed before with great managers and staff who were all excited to meet Kaya and see us again. We're now in the White House [no relation] Chiang Mai.

Kaya is taking everything in her stride. She didn't have any problems with flying, take off or landing, except for the first part of the first flight when her recent constipation caught up with her and her bowel movements made her cry. Once that was sorted she was fine. She was awake for most of the first flight, falling asleep just before landing in Dubai at her normal bed time. She had already slept through customs leaving the UK. She then slept through most of the second flight, first in the bassinet cot then on us. Her first long bus journey was fine for the first four hours but then she filled her nappy and it came loose due to her squirming and crying! We did a quick change on the moving bus and then she was happy again.

She enjoyed Thailand immediately as Thais love babies, and go ga-ga over them, especially farang babies. It means she is having lots of lovely happy interactions but we do have to be on guard against strangers pawing at her hands or going in for cuddles. Its men and women both who are gooey, but especially women. She returns their smiles with great smiles of her own and wiggles her legs with excitement. She also took to the smiling Buddha in Sukhothai with a big smile for his.

She is an absolute trooper. We sorted out her night time routine once in Sukhothai and have had a few late nights out with her recently as it is Loi Krathong so there are lots of fun things to see. She usually falls asleep in the sling about 8pm-ish but then wakes about 10 for a feed and a great big play. We'll have one more late night as it is the finale of loi krathong tonight with floating candles on the river (River Ping here in CM), a big parade, chinese flying candles and fireworks. She has slept through thunderstorms and not noticed fireworks. She is a star.

We've just about worked out routines and food for her. Restaurants and stalls with good english cook her something with no salt. Breakfast at the Orchid Hibiscus in Sukhothai was a big hit - scrambled egg, coconut pudding, toast and banana. The pumpkin soup with coconut milk was a big success, the pureed watery vegetable soup on rice as popular as her first attempts at parsnip and avocado. She definitely prefers food she can chew now. She has also learnt to drink water through a straw but then I guess sucking is something she has plenty of practice at!

Everyone says how good-natured and happy she is and she certainly is. She usually wakes up in her excellent LittleLife cot singing and rocking on all fours.

She has been coo'd at by a Buddhist monk on a bus and yesterday a young monk sang Old MacDonald had a farm to her in a temple in Chiang Mai! Now how many 7 1/2 month olds from Sheffield can say that. And if they could tell you about it would be something of a miracle anyway.

Cockerney of Errors

2009-05-25T14:04:00.000-07:00

A Duff deflection finally relegates Newcastle United with an own goal during the last game of the 2008/09 season when all Toon fans were preying for an Owen goal at the other end. Why does it not surprise me, a Newcastle fan since I was a child, that this season's Comedy of Errors ended with such a signature? The likelihood that the season would have one more pathetic twist of the knife has been signposted for a few weeks now that is for sure. And I think pathetic is the right choice of word as it is defined as 'having a capacity to move one to either compassionate or contemptuous pity'. Though there is nothing about piercing humour there.

Mike Ashley has managed to preside over a season that has gone from bad to worse to sublime and in doing so has showcased his amazing lack of ability for owning a Premier League football club. First he brings in Dennis Wise as Director of Football, presumably somehow fooled into thinking that the taxi door kicker possesses some form of footballing acumen. Well Collocinis to that idea. Then he manages to upset Kevin Keegan by allowing Wise to buy and sell players without consulting Keegan. Whether you would go the whole way to supporting Keegan as a tactical genius is one thing, to confront him so bullishly while preferring the advice of the Wise Man is another. Few, very few, club owners would surely do that.

Ashley, again following the Wisened advice in his ear, hires a Joe Kinnear, a manager with a known heart problem to step in to a highly stressful situation. When the heart attack unsurprisingly materialises and Kinnear undergoes heart surgery, Ashley thinks it a good idea to save money by allowing the gifted coach Chris Hughton to manage. The season drifts along, Newcastle plummet. Did Ashley not know from his business dealings that a small investment up front can reap riches, on in this case, avoid a massive income cut. Your not selling trainers here Ashley, and I'm certainly not going along to where you do offload them to buy any from you now.

So, one last throw of the dice brings Shearer off the Match of the Day pundit's couch to try and save the season with eight games to go. An untried manager backed by Iain Dowie.

No sodden luck Mike. You blew it good and proper. Perhaps your business sense has never been too hot for you didn't undertake due diligence on buying the club and so didn't find out in advance the mortgage on the ground would have to be paid off immediately on a change of owner. It takes a lot of hard work to make Freddie Shepherd and his annual round of sacking the manager, look like a safe pair of hands. But you've done it. You've blown it. Two seasons and you've ruined Newcastle.

Newcastle fans also have to broaden their horizons. We have to stop looking for a Messiah and we must widen our opinions of who is suitable to manage the team. There has been too much Cockney bashing on fans' sites this and last season. Harry Redknapp was mooted as a manager after Allardyce was sacked last season but the fans howled in protest. 'No 'Arry the Cockerney!' Then Newcastle and Spurs began this season disastrously. How our fates have parted since Redknapp became the Spurs manager. Personally, I'd rather have spent the last couple of games of the season fighting for a place in Europe with a Southern manager than being relegated with a Geordie one. Our fans must end the calling for the hangmen within a few games of each season with a new manager that is not totally to our taste.

There was a time, at the dawn of the 21st Century when Chelsea and Newcastle, then managed by Bobby Robson, were regularly vying for third spot in the league behind Arsenal and Man Utd. How the two clubs' fortunes have diverged since then. One is taken over by a Russian Oligarch, wins the league and challenges for Europe. One is sold by Tweedle-dum to Tweedle-dummer who thinks changing manager once a season not often enough. Here is a plea to you Mike. Consider a return to peddling cheap trainers on the High Street or learn about football very, very quickly, coz' so far you have demonstrated you and your Managing Director Derek Llambas, are clueless n goalless.

Day 106

2009-04-24T05:18:00.001-07:00

Day 106
Originally uploaded by jess_leclair

Found this wonderful joiner on flickr today.

Edale

2009-04-16T13:48:00.000-07:00

I've recently published a short travel feature about Edale on my travel blog - Travel for Breakfast. The article is at http://travelforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2009/04/edale.html.

Radio Sheffield

2009-04-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

Inside Radio Sheffield

I appeared on the Rony Robinson programme on Radio Sheffield this afternoon. It was a very interesting experience. I have been on radio and TV a number of times but always to talk about an archaeological site or project I have been working on. Today was very different and in many ways a much more relaxing appearance. I was asked to talk about myself including my childhood and family, my education and jobs and my influence on me as a person. It was a very enjoyable experience due to the absence of key messages to convey. All I simply had to do was rabbit on about some of the things I'm interest in, much as I'd do down a pub with friends on new acquiantences. Rony is a stalwart of Radio Sheffield, a signature voice of the region, who made the interview a very relaxed affair while the production crew of Katherine and Rav made me feel immediately welcome and at ease.

Rony Robinson at work

Strangely, as I waited outside listening to the show go out live I recognised the voice of his previous guest, Mel Jones, a South Yorkshire historian who I've met a number of times in the course of my work.

I've no idea what the Radio Sheffield listeners made of me talking about Pacifism, Buddhism, Rastafarianism, Emily Davison, Dove Cottage or Hepscott but I know that one friend, Jane Rodger, had a surprise at my voice coming over her car stereo! Glad to say no accidents ensued.

Kaya Photos

2009-03-22T15:15:00.000-07:00

Kaya Prem

2009-03-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

We have discovered a joy beyond our expectations with the birth of our daughter, Kaya Prem, at 9.45pm on Wednesday the 18th March. She arrived, shot out, eventually at great speed underwater in the birthing pool at home after a very smooth 24-hour labour. The midwife team led by Rachel with Ann and Helen provided superb support and care of the highest professional level and personal dedication. She is now 3 days old and grunting out a sleep of sublime peace on my chest.

Sheffield Star

2009-03-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

Sheffield Star ran a full page feature about my photography and Faces of Buddha Exhibition today. The article can be read online at http://www.thestar.co.uk/pictures/Buddha-can-you-spare-a.5084755.jp.

No Giro

2009-03-18T07:45:00.001-07:00

No Giro
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

Graffiti below the tower blocks on the Ponderosa, Sheffield, spell out disenchantment with government.

Midwife Visit

2009-03-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

We've had our latest midwife visit today. The baby has not initiated his/her exit strategy yet though is engaged in the process. Everything is fine - Georgia's blood pressure and baby's heartbeat. Midwife reckons the head is well and truly engaged. It is amazing to be able to hear the heartbeat. I have been able to hear it just by putting my ear to the bump for 3 or 4 weeks already.

Baby Pending

2009-03-12T07:04:00.000-07:00

Today is our "official" baby due date. Are we waiting with bated breath, catcher's mitt and phone to the midwife in hand? Actually, no. I'm having a day off freelance work, having my photo taken for a Sheffield Star piece about my Faces of Buddha exhibition (hmmm...must blog that) while Georgia is resting and we're visiting Dinah and Jason with 11-day old Verity Ann (G made a chocolate cake for them). I'm aiming to see Jim down the pub later and Goergia will rest again.

Predicting a due date is not an exact science. In France they don't give you a date but a 4-week window of expectation. Our midwife, who returns from holiday tomorrow, is pretty certain she'll be back before our baby comes out, and we're not expecting it to happen for a few days yet. So, in the meantime enjoy these photographs of Georgia looking beautifully pregnant on the 7th March.

Dogshit Park

2009-02-18T03:03:00.000-08:00

After walking across the green sward of Ruskin Park yesterday, taking the opportunity of a warm sun to feel the earth below my feet instead of tarmac, I soon needed to be vigilant and nimble. A short step here, wider stride there, a little pirouette and leap here. the joy of spring hadn't quite entered my step simply the need to avoid the endless piles of dog turd smothering the park from west to east, top to bottom. I think Ruskin Park should be re-named Dogshit Park in honour of those dog-owners who choose not to pick up the contents excreted from their dogs' behinds but instead seem happy that this public park should come to resemble a sewage works. Thank you for the ballet lessons.

Films

2009-02-17T03:35:00.000-08:00

Since we've been back in Britain we have been doing a lot of getting ourselves ready for the imminent arrival of our baby. This has mostly involved a combination of totally re-decorating our bedroom (from the terrible waste of life feeling brought on by visiting retail parks to the result of a much more pleasant room to be in), shopping for baby things (and sorting out the wonderfully kind loans and gifts friends and family have given us), sorting out a baby room (we plan to have him or her in our room for the first 6 months but need a place for all the things), going to ante-natal classes (must not drop the baby like I dropped the doll), having midwife visits, creating a birth plan. Oh, and reading something about these here babies.

It has also been a welcome break to go to the cinema and see a couple of films that have enabled us to stop thinking about the baby for a couple of hours each time.

First up was the much talked about and awarded Slumdog Millionaire, an intense spice-fueled rush through the streets of Mumbai. Slumdog successfully re-creates the experience of visiting India which assails all senses at once. The film uses a riot of colour and sound matched to a fast-paced narrative as the backdrop to a story that charges through one emotional encounter after another. It is an exceptional cinematographic outing, from the acting and directing to the photography and score. Humour and tragedy are bound together by a silver thread of love that runs from the start to finish. It certainly deserves the awards it has received to-date.

Second was Vicky Christina Barcelona. Another BAFTA award-winner that has been touted as Woody Allen's return to form. I think the last Allen movie I enjoyed was Hannah and her Sisters way back in the 1980s. Since then I have seen a couple I thought mediocre but have avoided most due to their poor reviews. This has been a shame because I rated Woody Allen as one of my favorite directors until the 90s. It was with relief and laughter that I watched VCB unfold. The setting is beautiful, of course being Barcelona, and the story is of top Allen comedy while avoiding being weighed down in subjects of neurosis that he has mined to successfully in the past. Yes, there are personal issues in the movie but they are explored freshly by a young cast that Allen has working to the best of their abilities rather than by an old man still coming to terms with existence. He was great at the existential angst in the 70s and 80s and now he was discovered that he can be great at more modern worries too.

Snowbusiness UK

2009-02-04T11:08:00.000-08:00

Snow arrived in the UK on Monday. The most for 20 years.

It brought complete and utter chaos.

As if we had never seen the cold, white powdery stuff before.

Schools closed. People skidded to work, some didn't. All of London's buses were cancelled for the day due to the wrong amount of snow. This was the first time in the 100-year history of the capital city's bus service that all buses were cancelled. I'm sure more snow has fallen before on buses that were probably much heavier and without the advantages of power steering or ABS braking systems.

Russians laughed at us on national news, Swedes chortled at us in the newspapers (though worried they might not be able to leave

this island.) The general theme from citizens of countries who have regular snow was along the lines of 'aren't you lot crap.' I'm sure old people are laughing or bemoaning too.

The great things were seeing lots of parents and children sledging together in parks. Plenty were having lots of fun, heightened I'm sure by the surprise of the day off and the sheer adventurous fun of a slope and some snow.

The kids were off because the schools were closed, some parents kept at home without this free, national child

care service. I heard mothers moaning about it while kids said 'c'mon mum, my feet are freezing.' One mate I once played football with who runs his own business decided to give everyone the day off so he could go out and play with his child who had never seen this much snow before.

Hardly anyone bothered to either shovel the snow or compacted ice from their path outside their house or clear a stretch of road with grit or a spade. I gritted and shovelled the bottom of Fulton Road, where its junction with another road had left s thick layer of ice, because we wanted to use the car to pick-up some paint. Two women passed at different times. One, maybe in her thirties and by her accent from the south, complemented me on thinking of others. A retired Sheffield-born lass shouted over 'Don't waste your time on others!'

Two faces of modern Britain caught in their attitudes to me spending 20 minutes clearing a short bit of road. It made me think. Perhaps if we spent less time complaining about the weather or the slippery conditions and a little time clearing a stretch of pavement or road, maybe just 30 minutes, we'd all have fairly clear routes and be able to get around a lot easier.

Sukhothai

2009-01-27T12:03:00.000-08:00

Ancient capital of Siam

We pedalled past the white seated Buddha statues, each a moment of stationary meditation glimpsed amongst the trees. We had hired the bikes the previous evening from one of the many hire shops lining the approach road to the ancient city of Sukhothai. Paolo, our guest house owner, recommended the place. Visitors on old single-gear sit-up-and-beg bicycles cruise the roads that run through and around the ruins. Sukhothai is a delightful place for a bicycle ride, whether or not you're greatly interested in archaeology. The roads are predominantly level, the Historical Park is mostly woodland with large ponds that reflect the towering chedis or Buddha statues. Thai drivers are, on the whole, slow and courteous, though they have a tendency unusual to Sukhothai for announcing their approach behind you with a blast on the horn. Well-intended I'm sure but annoying after a short while. The site is spread out over a large area so bicycles really are the way to go. They make visiting all the main temples in the Historical Park easy to do in a day. There are also numerous temples beyond the original city walls, which form a rectangle 2km across, that require some form of transport to reach. Mopeds and mini-vans are other options but if you have the energy and fitness, bicycles allow you to take in the surrounding landscape and say hello to many people in passing.

We visited the Historical Park over five days, catching it in early morning and late afternoon light. The core of the Park are the temples and ponds that formed the very centre of ancient Sukhothai. Here are the remains of at least eleven of the grandest temples, many still hosting graceful Buddha statues, separated by tranquil ponds. The best-preserved is Wat Mahathat, a sprawling range of brick walls, columns, chedis and platforms set in a garden of trees and lawns. Mahathat was the spiritual heart of the city and would have held important relics of the Buddha under its spire-like chedi. Today, a large Buddha statue serenely sits in mediation at the front of the ruined temple hall and is still an important pilgrimage site. There are always offerings of candles, incense and flowers laid in front of his feet and, if you're lucky, you may see orange-robed and chanting monks leading a ceremony.

Two giant standing Buddhas flank either side of the chedi, their arms held out in supplication. Their robes are so finely made from limestone stucco that they seem to sway. Bridges and pathways radiate out from Matathat for you to explore the surrounding temples, each with its own character and distinctive Buddha image. One chedi is supported on a base of very patient elephants. There is enough to explore for at least a morning and if the heat becomes too much by mid-day there are plenty of fruit sellers under shady trees while the modern town with its cafes and restaurants is only a short distance away. It is worth hanging out in the Historical Park until sunset when you will find the Buddha images and temples are silhouetted against the rich oranges and blues of the sky. We had cloudless skies during our visit and while we missed out on the textured multi-hued skies that sun-lit clouds bring, even the gentle transition of a sky darkening from blue to black via bands of orange and red is a spectacle worth seeing.

One morning as I wandered to the west of Matathat, before the sun had risen above the trees, I stood entranced as clouds of white mist drifted languidly above the ponds. The whole world was white, pierced only by the vibrant purple of floating lotus blossoms. As the sun broke over the tree tops, the towering chedi of a temple beyond the pond glowed orange against a backdrop of still-dark woodland. The orange light seemed to slide down the chedi to engulf it and a white-stuccoed Buddha image until he shone bright amongst the pale land.

Sunrise is a magical time of day elsewhere in Sukhothai. The following morning I cycled, shivering in the pre-dawn cold, to Wat Saphan Hin set on a hilltop to the west of the city. The sun rises directly above the city and over a flat plain extending from the bottom of the hill to beyond the horizon. The morning I was there the sun rose as a solid orange globe in a cloudless sky. Here, the statue is of Buddha standing with his right arm extended and his hand facing out to greet the new day across the ancient city.

I was only able to cycle out so early and to see so much because I chose to stay in Old Sukhothai. There are, confusingly, two towns by that name. New Sukhothai is a typical noisy, polluted Thai town 15km east of the old city and the main tourist centre for visitors to the ruins. Getting from New to Old Sukhothai involves negotiation a taxi ride or taking one of the infrequent buses. Either way, the journey is about 30 minutes. You do benefit from easier connections to the rail and bus stations if you're on a flying visit as well as a larger selection of guesthouses and restaurants to choose from. If you really want to immerse yourself in the ruins and have time to explore the different places without trying to fit them all into one day, then I'd recommend Old Sukhothai as the place to stay. The town lines two sides of the main road after it enters the original eastern gate of the city and has a choice of cafes and restaurants as well as a 7-Eleven and two budget backpacker guesthouses where you can find a room for as little as 150 baht. There is also a decent day market if you want to buy fresh fruit and veg, and a small night market with hot and cold food stalls. One new discovery we made was a little stall selling mugs of hot ginger tea over tofu. The road that heads north along the outside of the eastern city wall has mid-range and up market guesthouses. We chose the Orchid Hibiscus because of the promise of bungalows set in a flower garden and an outdoor swimming pool. We weren't disappointed as you can read here.

One of my favourite morning rides was to Wat Phra Achana, where the box-like brick and mortared Mandapa hall still shelters one of the most famous Buddha statues in Thailand. Here Buddha is shown in a popular pose, sitting in the half-lotus position with the fingers of his right hand extended to the ground in the act of subduing Mara. This notable scene from the life of Buddha represents the tim when Mara, a mythical being, tried to tempt Buddha with demons, monsters and storms out of his meditation. By touching the ground, the Buddha called up the Earth Goddess who drowned Mara and his demons. His right hand is covered in tiny squares of gold leaf placed there by worshippers honouring Buddha in hope of merit. I went so early that I had the temple to my self until the ground staff and security arrived. It wasn't until almost 10 O'Clock before the first major tour parties arrived to break the spell of tranquility. That was when I chose to leave, only to be swamped by hundreds of cycling Thai teenagers who peddled brightly coloured pink and yellow bicycles passed the ice cream seller without a pause, screeched to a halt at the end of the parking lot and proceeded to charge towards the Mandapa in a hail of shouts and laughter. At least one Sukhothai bicycle hire shop was clearly doing good business today.

Obamania

2009-01-22T10:36:00.000-08:00

So, the repulsive unelected emmissary of Satan has gone and we have a new ray of hope in the White House. I think expectations are so high that it will be very, very difficult for Obama to match them. But, we can hope for more. For more humanity, for more understanding of what it is like to be disadvantaged and more empathy for a wider range of political and social views. At the very least he will be a much less force for bigoted, divisionary evil as Bush, a more palatable version of the US force of global power domination. The daily images of the new First Family being Afro-American can also do nothing but good for racial equality and acceptance in the US and in other countries Anglo-Saxon dominated countries with other minorities. The US will see itself in a very different light in the media mirrow from now on, being unable to escape from its multi-cultural present and from its past built on racial inequality and suffering. Every time Obama is on TV, every time his family are shown together, the history of slavery and segregation will be reviewed and the notion that the US has moved away from that will be reinforced. It was an emotional inaugaration to see Jesse Jackson, to be reminded of how recently in terms of family members so many people in the US had suffered from and stood up against segregation and racism.

Here is wishing Obama all the best in turning over not only 8 years of neo-con misrule but 200+ years of inequality.

Dubai Airport on Airport

2009-01-18T15:35:00.000-08:00

It's 3:35 in the morning and I'm standing in the technology shop of Dubai Airport testing out one of the new Apple MacBooks on the laptop stand. They have kindly connected it to the internet via Airport. Fantastic. Earth, Wind and Fire are playing on iTunes. I've been playing around with the click anywhere mouse pad and four finger controls, I've checked my email and checking the bad news about the weather in NE England. Rain, 5 oC during the day, -2 oC at night! Oh my God, that is going to be a shock,

I'm actually cold now, which is why I'm up playing with techno toys rather than asleep as Georgia is on one of the snooze recliners behind the main drag of the airport-cum-shopping mall. Georgia is sleeping because she thought to pack her sarong. I snoozed briefly before the cold caught up and woke me up. I think I now know the Arabic for the number 2 as all the gates here, we're in Terminal 3, start with the number 2 and I've listened to a lot of departure announcements. It is something like 'Ithnen'. Gate may be 'Soul'.

We've another 4 hours until our flight and I think I'll need a cup of tea when Georgia wakes up for me to warm up. Typing is helping a little with warmth!

We had probably our best cup of tea for 10 weeks in Bangkok Airport where there is a Wittards of Chelsea cafe. Ah yes, that is what we have been missing. Strong tea with lots of flavours. To be fair, to quote Peter Beardsley, however, our last hotel in Bangkok did serve Twinings tea AND a choice. It made a great change from the one-dimensional Pale Imitator that is Lipton Yellow Label.

Leaving Thailand

2009-01-18T00:12:00.000-08:00

It is sadly our last day in Thailand NOW! We're leaving the hotel in less than 2 hours and i've still not packed! Georgia has already. However, I've just had a last Thai massage, from a minute woman who must have trained in elephant throwing. Wow, it was strong and deep. I wish I'd had one each day for the last few days now to ease the stiffness in my back and shoulders from carrying my backpack around and my photography equipment around Sukhothai.

We are not looking forward to facing the cold British winter weather. It's only mid-January and not the end of March so deepest winter in the coldest one in a good few years. Must check the sunspot activity this year because it has been cold for Thailand and Guetamala too.

Yesterday we survived the tiring madness of the Weekend Market. It is massive and most of the stalls selling similar things sell almost the same stuff with not much to inspire us until we found a couple of areas with good clothes and some nice gifts. We needed a half-hour in a air-con restaurant to come round and gewt buying. Strangely, both of us have ended up with black fake fur coats to get us from the airport to the car. Now why did I buy a fake fur? Mostly, because there were no warm alternatives apart from very worn-out thin hoodies full of burn holes. We won't be hurrying back mind.

It has been a fantastic and proper 10-week holiday with only a few days work, happily, during the time. It has been a great way to spend almost all of the 2nd trimester of G's pregnancy. She is doing and looking great and has not been bothered by the heat at all, contrary to a few worries from family before we went. It has been good and hopefully the baby is now into the idea of travelling and likes chillis - he or she has certainly had lots of both before even being born.

Despite not looking forward to the weather, or being back in a British city, we're really looking forward in anticipation to meeting our wee 'un. We're ready to get the house ready for her/him and for us - maybe another bankruptcy when we get back for a cheap carpet and furniture??? We're also looking forward to seeing family and friends again. The bairn is very visible now when it moves and kicks out - what are you going to be like?

So, good bye Thailand and thank you - again.

One Last Night in Bangkok

2009-01-16T16:08:00.000-08:00

It's our last night in Bangkok tonight. After 10 weeks or so we're almost ready - well have to - return to the UK. But it's only the middle of January!

We got in on Thursday night after a relatively easy 6 hour bus journey from Sukhothai with the less than good Cherdchai Tours bus company. Must check out the comp next time.

We've had a final ante-natal and the Doc has filled the fit to fly form for G, had a look around Wat Pho with its beautiful large reclining Buddha, had dinner at Mr Yim's on Soi Rambuttri and met up with John Muir before he flew out last night. We came across a B&W French film being shown in a riverside park on a real projector, had a drink by the river watching the neon-lit dinner boats ply up and down, found an office with flourescent lights everywhere inc two large windmills and had a great new cocktail discovery - a Mustapha - which is rum, apricot brandy, lime and mint leaves. Will be having that again.

This morning we're off to the massive Weekend Market for some gift and souvenir buying fun. 8,000 shops and 50 times larger than Camden.

Photographing Buddha 4

2009-01-16T07:49:00.001-08:00

Eye of the Buddha
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

Have a good look at a Buddha image. There are often just small parts of the statue that you can focus on with a zoom lens. The eye is a good choice because it conveys so much about the 'humanity' of a person. Here, I chose to select the left eye from a tight angle below and to the right of the statue in a wat in Chiang Rai. I think the eye in this image holds your attention while also encouraging you to think about what is to the left of the frame, what the eye is looking at. When choosing just one part of a Buddha image try to include enough context so that the viewer can identify the photograph as being of the Buddha.

Deep in Thought

2009-01-15T07:17:00.001-08:00

Deep in Thought
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

We saw this monk reading in the east-facing doorway of one of the wats in Phrae, Thailand. He us clearly using the bright morning light to read something, perhaps a Buddhist text or a letter. Maybe he's deciding which numbers to choose for the lottery, though unlikely. Georgia thought he was in the naughty chair at the back of the class.

Georgia 7m

2009-01-15T07:08:00.001-08:00

Georgia 7m
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

January the 12th and Georgia is 7 months pregnant! Only 2 months to go. We celebrated with an evening in the outdoor Jacuzzi at the Orchid Hibiscus Guesthouse, Sukhothai. Here is how Georgia looks at 7 months and 2 days. A bit of a contrast since we were cycling around Kanchanaburi in November - http://gardenersworld.blogspot.com/2008/11/thai-bicycles.html

Orchid Hibiscus Guesthouse, Sukhothai

2009-01-15T06:56:00.000-08:00

Orchid Hibiscus Gardens

We have spent our six nights visiting Sukhothai Historical Park at the aptly named Orchid Hibiscus Guesthouse. Orchids and other flowers brighten the beautifully landscaped gardens within which the rooms and bungalows are set.

In front of one of the rooms

Oval Orchid swimming pool

The OH is a bit of a price step-up for us at 800 baht for a double room, which is way more than our usual 200-300 baht on this trip. But is is worth it. The only guesthouse in Old Sukhothai below 1200 baht that has a pool. A decent-sized oval pool with lots of space for yoga at that. Most guesthouses are at New Sukhothai 15km away which is useless when you are getting up for the dawn light. By staying in Old Sukhothai we can both easily cycle to the ruins when we like. The gardens and pool are an ideal place to relax during the heat and flat light of the middle of the day. There are a couple of budget guesthouses in Old Sukhothai too, so if you want to see the ruins it is much more convenient to take a tuk-tuk from the bus station in New Sukhothai straight to the Old and find a place next to the Historical Park. The OH also has 1200 baht bungalows which are ideal for families.

Paolo & Pinthong

We certainly recommend OH to anyone on a mid-range budget. The garden is beautiful, the rooms nicely decorated and the owners – Paolo and Pinthong – are incredibly friendly without being in your face. They lay on an expansive breakfast of eggs, toast, jam and marmalade and wild honey still in its comb and served on a bamboo stick. Breakfast can easily continue for an hour or more and is best eaten after an early visit to the ruins. You will need to cycle plenty to work it off. The service is impeccable – any question or problem immediately rectified without fuss. All the staff are friendly and efficient, even to the point of moving your drying washing into the sun if you forget. The garden is maintained every day and the whole place is immaculately clean. They have mopeds to hire and recommend a bicycle hire place that will come and collect your bike the morning after you’ve finished with it so that you don’t have to think about returning it yourself. There is also a cold coin-operated washing machine and an honesty system drinks cooler.

Part of the Orchid breakfast

Outdoor jacuzzi

Go on, treat yourself if you plan to visit Sukhothai.

Teak Town

2009-01-10T06:57:00.000-08:00

Say a little Phrae for you

One of many Buddha images in a Phrae wat

We moved on south from Chiang Rai and the tranquillity of the Akha Hill House on Wednesday 7th January. Our next major destination was Sukhothai with the ruins of the 12th-15th century Thai capital. We decided not to bash on down the road in one 7 – 8 hour bus journey but to stopover midway at the small town of Phrae, pronounced Prayer. We were attracted to the guidebook description of a walled town comprising mostly traditional Thai teak houses, a scattering of historical wats and a place rarely visited by tourists. Phrae sounded like a town away from the main tourist hotspots that might give us an insight into normal Thai life. Another attraction was the promise of a vegetarian restaurant, which we decided we would head for as soon as we checked-in to our hotel. This was something of a departure for us because we rarely head for any guidebook listed restaurants, usually just wandering out to find a night market or street food stalls.

Another thing about the non-tourist towns is that they tend not to have backpacker or other visitor guesthouses which means the chance to stay in a normal hotel. We checked into the Paradorn, a typical Thai business hotel with dozens of rooms on three soulless corridors, because an ensuite room was going to be about 300 baht and they advertised free wifi. This is where I am now, having just skyped friends in UK over the din of the late night karaoke from the adjacent Japanese Steak House. The over-ampilifed hits of yesteryear and flat crooning of a group of Thais is a bit of s shock after the total nighttime peace and quiet of the Akha Hill House.

We have just reeled back to the hotel totally stuffed after going crazy in Yota Vegetarian Restaurant - complete vegetarian heaven – for the second night in a row. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we walked in to the restaurant on our the first to find a buffet of dishes that were all veggie versions of the many Thai dishes we have so often seen but not been able to eat in the night markets we’ve visited. They may still be talking about the greedy farangs who had two rice plates each piled with three dishes each, four big, fat spring rolls, and a serving of mock duck with hoisan sauce. I’ve only seen mock duck and mock chicken sliced and in tins but here it was displayed as large wads of the stuff, next to the mock beef, mock fish and mock hotdogs. Every dish we tried was absolutely delicious, and we must have got through 75% of what was on offer. We baulked at the latter and the mock tripe with boiled eggs in oily gravy. We left with full bellies and plans, happily fulfilled, for our return visit the next night.

In between stuffing ourselves at Yota’s we walked around compact Phrae for a day, calling in to all the old wats and a birthday-cake pink historical wooden house called Vongburi.

A gable end glitters in the morning sun

The wats in Phrae are worth a day to visit. They are all traditional wooden temples with dark red painted columns, tiled roofs, beautiful glittering gold and coloured glass gable ends and golden Buddhas. Architecturally, they are northern Thai Lanna and Nan styles as well as Burmese and Lao. Northern Thai wats tend to go in for very elaborate yet graceful entrances. Like the old wats of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, each temple has its own personality. One very dark wat becomes brightly illuminated like a fairground organ in the late afternoon when the monk arrives to receive and bless evening observants. Another is a monk university and cagey groups of 20-something orange-robed monks can be found after classes hanging around the gates in groups and clouds of cigarette smoke or poring over manga comics.

MangaMonk

Akha Hill House

2009-01-07T05:54:00.000-08:00

A village guesthouse in the tribal mountains of north-east Thailand

Akha Hill House

The view from grew increasingly wild as Tao our driver wound the pick-up truck out of Chiang Rai, first skirting along the side of the surging Mae Kok River then climbing up a steep dirt road deep into the hills. Our destination was a tiny Akha hill village perched on the side of a hill 25km west of Chiang Rai. Here one of the villagers has managed a small guesthouse for 18 years. The Akha Hill House was the brainchild of Mr Apae; a way of bringing some much-needed income to an area that had traditionally earned a living growing opium poppies. The guesthouse was founded as a homestay at the same time that the Thai government was creating projects to substitute opium with other crops, such as tea and lychees. The business has flourished ever since, attracting backpackers, families and more affluent tourists from Thailand as well as abroad. It really is a guesthouse these days. If you arrive expecting to live and stay with a family, learning about their daily lives, then you will be disappointed. On the other hand, if you are looking for a peaceful mountain retreat that is the sole business of one Akha family and helps to cascade income to neighbouring families then the Hill House is unlikely to let you down.

A very happy Mr Apae

The road culminates in a series of tight bends through bamboo forests before threading its way past an oolong tea plantation where rows of dark-green low bushes march uphill in regular file. Delicate flowers the colour of fried eggs brighten the dark lustre of the leaves which are destined to be dried and exported to the tea-drinking markets of the world. A bamboo sign across the road proclaims our arrival at the Akha Hill House. To either side are slopes that descend down to narrow, forested gullies cut by mountain streams, the rush of water over boulders creating a musical score to the view back down the road we have come along. Bamboo, bananas, lychee bushes and natural forest shroud hills crowding in to either side of a long valley. A range of mountains forms the distant backdrop.

The view from our room with a view

Elevated bamboo and mud-brick bungalows, each with a terrace out front, are carefully placed to make the most of this tropical mountain view. You could picture the pandas chewing on young bamboo shoots, except this isn’t China and at only 1,500 metres above sea level it is probably too low for China’s iconic animal to bother itself with. As we discovered the next morning, the bungalows are also perfectly located to allow each guest to catch sunrise right from their bed if they are prepared to open the door. The more enthusiastic early risers can turn the mountain valley into the ideal foreground for stunning sunrise photographs.

Johun, an apprentice at Akha Hill House concentrates on his English

The guesthouse offers a free pick-up ride from Chiang Rai which arrives at about 5.30pm, so before the delights of sunrise there is the evening fire to enjoy. Guests and staff, foreign, Thai and Akha, gather around the fire to warm themselves against the freshening night chill and swap stories. Mr Apae employs a number of apprentices who are setting up their own homestays in other Akha villages and he encourages them to both improve their own English and teach some Thai with the foreign guests. We were soon learning about Akha culture and the attractions of the surrounding region as well as the Thai words for fire and wood. The apprentices also learn about community tourism through practical experience that includes leading tours and managing the restaurant. Johun is an enthusiastic 24 year-old plant sciences graduate who leads all-day walks where he describes agricultural and jungle plants. Later in 2009 he plans to open a small homestay in his village close to the Myanmar border and is currently working out how to create a website. It looks like he is keen to model himself on Mr Apae’s success.

The guesthouse offers a menu of typical Thai dishes sprinkled with a few Akha specialities such as banana tree soup and chilli paste in which to dip boiled vegetables. Staff and most guests make their way to bed by 10.00pm and then you are left to enjoy the chorus of the night sung by crickets, cicadas and frogs under the stars and moon.

A banana flower creates its fruit

Mr Apae provides a range of treks and activities, none of which are pushed or promoted to you while staying at the guesthouse. Should you wish to find out more, all you need to do is ask Mr Apae who will sit with you and go through what he has on offer. Most guests do one of two treks. One is a walk into the jungle to learn about jungle and local crops, try your hand at fishing in a stream, cook lunch in bamboo and visit a nearby waterfall that contains an impressive force of water even in the dry season. Another trip to an elephant camp, oolong tea plantation and hot springs can be done by a combination of foot, car and long-tail boat.

Strolling to the waterfall, just a 15 minute walk from the guesthouse

The way to the waterfall

Some guests do what we did, hang out on their terrace and wander around the local area. Over three days we slowly made our own way to the waterfall, tea plantation and hot springs, none of which were more than 5km away and all were accessible along well-maintained paths. We walked through forests of tall trees, stands of bamboo as well as plantations of bananas and lychee trees. On the way we wandered through the village, browsing handicraft shops set up by enterprising families and encouraged by Mr Apae, and a nearby Chinese village populated by descendents of the remnants of Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalists who fled China when the Communists took control in 1949. Here we found a small roadside vegetarian café selling som tam, the ubiquitous Thai green papaya salad, and noodles with mushrooms and tofu. The owner was keen to teach us the Thai words for ingredients and different varieties of chilli condiments but I’m afraid we seem to have ultimately failed to pass our exams.

Making som tam

Oolong tea plantation

We bumped into one group retuning from a tour and were invited to share oolong tea and cherry wine with them. Another day, a Sunday, while looking for the village shop, which was closed, we were invited to sample the local vodka by a friend of the shop owner as they drank away the afternoon. I also spent a relaxing hour or so in the guesthouse sauna during our last evening, warming myself to steam infused with blood vine, a very medicinal smelling local herb, which is pumped into a small bamboo and mud-brick hot room. Afterwards I enjoyed the subtle flavour of banana tree and coconut soup while frogs proclaimed their territories or sexual prowess in the gully below.

Pouring the local oolong

We spent three days, four nights at the Akha Hill House in a 350 baht bungalow with en-suite hot water shower and toilet. Rooms with shared bathrooms in the main building are available for 200 baht but you don’t get the stunning views. Bungalows go progressively upmarket to 1,500 baht VIP set-ups which come with TV, a strange necessity in such a tranquil setting. The free pick-up leaves Chiang Rai bus station at 4.30pm each day and can collect you from your hotel. It returns to Chiang Rai at 9.30am where Tao spends the day meeting foreigners arriving in the city by bus. A more delightful tout you couldn’t hope to meet. You can also get to the guest house along the river from either Chiang Rai or Chiang Mai. The boat pier is 5km from the guesthouse at the bottom of the steep dirt road but if you ring ahead they will collect you.

And the local puppies didn't wake up for much

Wat Chiang Rai

2009-01-06T05:49:00.000-08:00

On the trail of the temples of Chiang Rai

The orange-robed monk greeted me in soft, measured English. He had just gently closed the massive, dark red teak doors of the temple behind him and carefully put on his sandals waiting for him on the steps. An umbrella hung by its handle from the crook of his left arm.

‘Where are you from?’

England I replied with a smile and short bow of the head to show respect.
‘Do you know the meaning of the doors?’

I didn’t and was glad of the opportunity to find out something about the history of Wat Phra Singh, the first of Chiang Rai’s five ancient temples I was planning to visit over the next two days. His voice was so calming that I quickly felt a feeling of tranquillity wash over me as he pointed to the four carvings of animals that towered above our heads. One door was decorated with a lion that represented fire and an elephant for earth. The other door bore mythical Buddhist creatures, a Garuda, which symbolised air and a many-headed serpent-like Naga that was water. All of these, the monk explained, form the four elements that are inside us all. He gestured that he had to go. 'Hope to see you again,' he said as he left.

One of Chiang Rai's many golden Buddha images

Chiang Rai is a historic city that lies in the far north-east of Thailand. It sits on the edge of a flat plain at the foothills of the mountain range that forms the border with Myanmar and Laos. As the mountains rise to the north-east there lies the infamous Golden Triangle where once most of the world’s opium poppies were grown by hill tribes. Now the poppies have all but gone, replaced with tea, lychees and others crops promoted by the Thai government and the UN.

Three Buddhas

We visited between Christmas and New Year, when it seems that nearly half of Bangkok has decamped on holiday to eat in the Night Bazaar and pray in the temples known in Thai as wats. There are five historic temples in the town, each with a wooden hall inside a square compound. Most Thais visit all of them over two or three days. To sit or stand in a temple, where everyone is welcome, is to watch the Thais combine tourism and devotion in one visit. Small family groups shake off their flip-flops, trainers and shoes at the door, approach the Buddha statue to pray on their knees then take photos of each other in front of the Buddha.

Wat Phra Singh

A monk given a blessing in Chiang Rai

Wat Phra Singh is known for its old doors and a statue of the Buddha in the style of the kings of Ayutthaya, the capital of Siam until the Burmese sacked it the 18th century. Nearby is Wat Phra Kaew, perhaps the most important of the city’s temples to Thais. It was here in 1434 that lightning struck the hall, splitting open the resident Buddha statue to reveal a smaller Buddha ornately carved from a single piece of jade. The original travelled across the region before settling in the main temple hall of the King in Bangkok. A replica on display in Wat Phra Kaew draws thousands of pilgrims every day. There is also an excellent museum that explains the symbolism and purpose of objects used in the temples such as trays, bowls and candlesticks as well as some of the temples’ architectural elements. The Buddha statues in main hall are unusual in being carved from burnished wood rather than golden.

Outside Wat Phra Kaew

Wat Jet Yot is near the Night Bazaar and is really only notable for astrological paintings on its ceiling. Two wats are sat on top of two small hills to the west of the city; approached by paths lined by snaking dragon sculptures. Wat Ngam Meuang’s claim to fame is a shrine to King Mengrai, the 13th century monarch who founded Chiang Rai in 1262 AD to be his capital. His statue is garlanded with flowers and, somewhat unusually, small plastic toy elephants. A short walk along a quiet wooded road leads to the hilltop Wat Phrat That Doi Chom Thong which has a fine view of sunset across the distant hills and a very old chedi that locals claim as built in 940 AD despite Chiang Rai not being founded for another 300 years. It was fro this hill that King Mengrai surveyed the site for his new city.

King Mengrai

The view from Wat Phrat That Doi Chom Thong

I returned to Wat Phra Singh twice but sadly I never saw the umbrella wielding soft-spoken monk again. What I did was to look at the temple doors with a deeper understanding, turning the ornate carvings from mere pretty decorations to symbols of Buddhism belief.

Boy or Girl?

2009-01-04T04:25:00.000-08:00

Guesses at whether our baby will be a girl or boy made by Thais are currently running at about 3 for a boy - 1 million+ for a girl! Very, very strangely today an ethnic Chinese man in a tiny village in north-east Thailand who has the same name as we have chosen for our kid if its a boy said it would be a man! Uncanny? We'll find out in about 10 weeks. We told him that we would name it after him if it was a boy ;)

Chian House

2009-01-04T04:08:00.001-08:00

Chian House
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

Another guest house with a swimming pool. Though the colder mountain climate of Chiang Rai made a dip enticing for only a very brief time during the hottest time of the day.

Chian House wasn't in the usual rash of guide books last time we looked. It should be. For 200 baht you get a good size ensuite double room with hot shower and a large bed set in one of the buildings around a courtyard. The owner and staff are extremely friendly and helpful. As well as the transient guests, there is a decent population of ex-pats and Thais who often gather in a semi-private area each evening to chat. The food is cheap and plentiful, though the green curry was disappointingly bland. There are also an internet computer, bikes and mopeds to rent, a small library and a TV with cable for those in need of foreign language programmes.

The restaurant and pool area is a great place for a leisurely breakfast, afternoon rest with a book or an evening when you need to put your feet up rather than explore the excellent Chiang Rai Nigh Bazaar.

John Muir in a Thai

2009-01-04T03:42:00.001-08:00

John Muir in the Night Bazaar
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

We met John Muir in Chiang Rai on the 30th December 2008. John had just flown in for a two-week holiday in Thailand and Laos. We celebrated New Year's Eve with John before he went to Laos and we stayed around Chiang Rai for a couple of days. We checked out the fantastic Nigh Bazaar in Chiang Rai for food the first night.

Changing Years in Chiang Rai

2009-01-04T03:36:00.000-08:00

Spending time in the Night Bazaar

Thai Dancers entertain the diners in the Night Bazaar

Chiang Rai is in many ways the Newcastle of Thailand. It is right up there in the far north-east corner, located on the bank of a major river with hills in the near distance. A chill wind blows from the north in the winter and a market is the main nightly drinking venue. There, the similarities end. The river was never a centre of shipbuilding, the chill wind brings down evening temperatures to maybe 12 or 15 degrees centigrade and the Night Bazaar is a far cry from the alcopop-strewn excesses of the Toon's Bigg Market. Thais and farangs flock to the Bazaar in their thousands but no one shouts, no one throws up on the pavement and there are absolutely no gangs of women teetering in high-heels and very little else.

One of the many food stalls in the Night Bazaar

Dining out at the Night Bazaar

The Night Bazaar is, in fact, a place for culture and as well as shopping, drinking and eating, a sort-of refined Camden Market or small urban festival. The core of the market is a stage flanked on two sides by rows of small eateries selling everything from stir-fries, Thai curries and beer, to tempura, fish, Indian curries and fruit shakes. The eateries corral a vast open eating area of yellow tables and chairs that are almost all permanently inhabited by groups of young and old. Many have ceramic pots above charcoal burners full of dark liquids brought to their tables for them to dip pork, fish or vegetables. The stage reverberates to an ever-chaning though seemingly always over-amplified sequence of comperes, singers, musicians, dances, comedians and drag artists. Some Thais laugh along to the comperes and comedians - but not very often. We met John Muir, a friend from Sheffield, in Chiang Rai on the 30th December 2008. John had just flown in for a two-week holiday in Thailand and Laos. We checked out the Night Bazaar for food on our first night in the city. The day after we began celebrating New Year's Eve in the Bazaar too, beginning with fruit shakes before moving on to a restaurant for dinner. John then left on New Year's Day to go to Laos.

Some of the evocatively named dishes on offer in the Night Bazaar

A somewhat Zen-like approach to food menus can be found in the Night Bazaar. The moustache is tiny squid roasts and The meatballs fries, enter the wood sound more like wise sayings of Confucius rather than a few dishes. I think it is the use of English grammar that evokes a philosophical nature. Perhaps the last dish on the menu actually translates as fried meatballs on a skewer?

Chiang Rai Youth Orchestra

The stage is only one of three in the Night Bazaar. A little stage in a corner features perfomances by the Chiang Rai Youth Orchestra. A smaller stage in another open-air piazza hosts the same artists as the main stage on alternating rotation, so you can catch your favourites or not avoid the bad 'uns twice - depending on your luck. This stage features a decent restaurant under a wide-canopied tree, a beautiful setting though the food varies from good to average. Fortunately, a mad waiter sporting a mullet speaks very good English to facilitate ordering from the extensive menu.

All around are stalls selling. Clothes and handicrafts are the main items on sale. Whether it is the latest street fashion or second hand trousers, or the typical range of Thai handwoven textiles and multi-coloured tribal hats, the Night Bazaar has probably has something to tempt your wallet or purse. There is also a speciality green tea stall and one of the funkiest shoe shops I've seen. All-in-all, there is enough to keep you in the Nigh Bazaar for a couple of hours and to make it a regular nightly haunt.

Chiang Rai day market

Happy Marketeers celebrate the end of the day shift

As well as visiting the Night Bazaar, we called in at a number of historical temples sprinkled through the town like golden fairy dust. More on these in another post. There is also a great day market for fresh fruit and veg, where we found a group of stallholders dancing and singing while packing up for the day on New Year's Eve. The annual Flower Festival was being held on Chiang Rai beach so we took one of the many long-tail boats that were ferrying people to the festival. We only had a short time because we were being picked up to go to the Akha Hill House later that day, so we concentrated on the displays of orchids having never seen so many in one place before.

When we came across a host of purple orchids

Chiang Rai is a very attractive small city because it is one of the few major centres in Thailand which is fairly tranquil. The streets are pretty quiet away from the town centre and there is very little noise at night. The suburbs, what there are, are very lowrise and wooded, with some big old rainforest trees left marooned in gardens and roadsides. Overall, if you want ro find a laidback Thai town then Chiang Rai is worth checking out.

Expecting A Shower

Moustache Squid Dish

2009-01-02T04:39:00.001-08:00

Moustache Squid Dish
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

A somewhat Zen-like approach to food menus. The moustache is tiny squid roasts and The meatballs fries, enter the wood sound more like wise sayings or riddles than a few dishes. I think it is the use of English grammar that evokes a philosophical nature. Perhaps the last dish on the menu actually translates as fried meatballs on a skewer?

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T04:05:00.000-08:00

Welcoming 2009 in Chiang Rai

Chiang Rai New Year Clock

We celebrated New Year’s Eve, of 2009 in the Western calendar and 2552 of the Thai Buddhist count, in Chiang Rai with John Muir. Thais love a party and celebrate Christmas and three new years with gusto, getting drunk and eating food for the Chinese and Thai new years in January and April respectively too.

We walked into the town centre Nigh Bazaar which has something of a Mediterranean air about it. Perhaps it is the altitude, which at 1,500 metres above sea level, brings a freshness to the evenings missing from the lowland Tropics.

We wandered with fruit shakes to browse the handicraft and clothing stalls before settling down at the main open-air restaurant below a tree and in front of one of the two stages where traditional folk music and glamorous dancing featured heavily. A slightly eccentric waiter with a slight mullet spoke great English and we soon negotiated four vegetarian versions of their dishes, including two green curries, a sour red curry and stir-fried vegetables. They quickly arrived accompanied by a silver tureen of steamed rice and a couple of bottles of Singha beer. The night before we had grazed from the small food stalls lining two sides of a much larger open square in front of a grander stage, taking an Indian curry, vegetable tempura, potato roti, stir-fried veg and tom yum from a number of vendors. Tonight, being New Year’s Eve, was a bit more special so it was good to sit down at a restaurant with a friend and take a bit more time over a proper meal.

Counting Out 2008

We headed to the town clock tower at 11pm where we were expecting, based on one poster, a countdown with fireworks. We walked into a crowd of expecting Thais and Farangs forming a packed circle around the central brightly illuminated clock tower, their faces cast upwards to the clock. A couple more beers for John and me, and we were set for the big count. There seemed to be two contradictory counts coming from the stage at the far end of the street, but we kept place with the TV screen broadcasting a digital clock and cheered in 2009 seven hours ahead of the UK.

The edge was taken off the thrill somewhat by burning debris raining down from the midnight fireworks which were shot skywards directly above the clock in a mini re-enactment of the destruction of Pompeii by the eruption of Vesuvius. Burning cinders falling into your eyes don’t make for a full celebration. I counted two skin burns and a while burnt into my shirt by the time the fireworks ended.

It is customary to let off an airborne candle in Thailand for almost any ceremony. Large thin paper balloons rise on hot air from lit rings suspended below them like inverted paper lanterns. We lit one for our baby and watched in take off to join hundreds of others floating upwards against the black night sky.

A mobile drum and percussion rig set in a frame and on wheels erupted into noise as drunk revellers were invited to bash the skins by the real drummers despite the clear anxiety that the professionals had for their equipment. There is only so much discordant fun you can have so we wound our way back to the Chian Guesthouse where the staff were still partying, playing instruments and singing. Most guests had retired to their beds and we did so at 2am. Not bad for a bunch of over 40 year olds, one of whom is 6 months pregnant. Happy New Year! It is certainly going to be quite a year for us going from two to three, from a couple to a family.

Once More Through Bangkok

2008-12-29T03:14:00.000-08:00

We arrived yesterday, the 28th, from Trat once more into Bangkok. This is our fourth stopover in the capital as we travel across Thailand. This time we are here overnight and are about to leave in a couple of hours on a night bus to Chiang Mai. You usually do have to pass through Bangkok to travel to different parts of the country. We also had a couple of important jobs to do.

First was a regular antenatal check-up which we successfully had today at the Seventh Day Adventist Mission Hospital, a private hospital not far from the Democracy Monument. The high-class private hospital made the whole process incredibly easy with friendly, efficient English speaking staff.

Then I went off to buy a replacement Nikon lens for one I damaged earlier in Kanchanaburi. I spent most of the afternoon trying to find a basic 18-55 DX VR at a cheaper price than in the UK but it ended up costing about £40 more. Somewhat ironic given that Nikon lenses are actually made in Thailand!

Snorkelling off the Elephant

2008-12-28T06:05:00.000-08:00

Koh Chang coral reefs

Our two and half weeks on Koh Chang and Koh Whai came to an end on the 27th December. There are many ways to fill up your time on these islands. Taking a walk along a beach, getting around to a breakfast of fresh fruit, rattling through a few chapters of a book. Everything you do seems to expand to fill the time available so that a small event can feel like a major accomplishment.

We spent a lot of time in the water and most of that was snorkelling. I probably did more snorkelling that just about all my previous snorkelling trips put together. This was largely because of being able to snorkel right off the beach. We both took at least one opportunity each day to take under water. I often swam three times a day for 1 to 2 hours, gauging how long i was out by how wrinkled my fingers became. We also took a fantastic trip with BB Divers, out of Bang Bao, to Koh Raum. The trip wa ostensibly a diving trip but three of us went along to snorkel. There was a guide available for us, but the water was so clear and calm, and the amazing reefs so close to the boat that we simply went off on our own.

A forest of Staghorn Coral

We have seen plenty of different types of coral and sea life between us. Hard corals include large expanses of staghorn corals, more pert chysanthymum and carnation formations, brain corals, flat plate-like corals and large coral mounds with undulating surfaces. We have also seen some rounded soft corals and individual crinoid-like corals waving their floral tentacles while secured by a hard coral tube. Sometimes brightly coloured Christmas Tree Worms and Clams can be found within the coral, having burrowed into the hard mounds below the coral's surface to find a home. Both filter feed on plankton floating by but have developed very different public faces to do so.

Christmas Tree Worms

Clams

I keep forgetting to look into a dark cracks between the rich display of coral colours, and it is in these gaps that some of the interesting sea life keep themselves hidden. We have seen an octopus, a moray eel and a baby sting ray betwee na dunder the corals. I also followed a pulsating rainbow cuttlefish across the sand and watched entranced by a small crayfish clearing out its burrow, throwing sand past its guardian fish on look out duty. I always enjoy spotting a chimney sponge reaching up from the deeper water.

A Brown Chimney Sponge smiles for the camera

There have been many, many fish to swim with, far too many to know the names of. One of my favourites is the anenome fish which can resist the poison in the sea anenome's tentacles to use the anenome as a hiding place. It peeks from behind tentacles and tentatively swims out, while always keeping close to the anenome, with a nervous curiousity. It makes a clicking noise every time you bob close to it on the current.

A pink anenome fish sneaks a peak from behind an anenome

Pink anenome fish getting curious in front of a sea anenome

We certainly recommend BB Divers to anyone interested in diving or snorkelling off Koh Chang. You can find out more info on their website - http://www.bbdivers.com - or by email - bbdivers@gmail.com. And where does the elephant come into snorkelling? Chang is Thai for elephant.

Koh Whai Christmas

2008-12-27T06:35:00.000-08:00

Christmas Kung Fu Panda Yo-Yo

We celebrated Christmas 2008 on Koh Whai. The day started with sunrise through the bungalow window and yoga, followed by breakfast of a fresh pineapple and then the exciting part - opening our Christmas stockings on Coral Beach. We each had 5 minutes in in minimart at Khlao Prang, Koh Changwith which to buy each other presents. The old adage about the best-remembered presents being the small ones definitely holds true. We managed to buy each other an assortment of smoked cashew nuts, roast chestnuts, candles, soap, chocolate covered almonds, paper streamers, balloons and a Kung Fu Panda yoyo! We then decoratedour balcony with the streamers and balloons before going swimming and doing some snorkelling. After a lunch of yellow curry and fruit salad we made our own Christmas movie in the afternoon - the sad result being viewable here - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns3MJkdXrBI. It was turning into one of the busiest Christmas's we have had for a long time.

We headed over to the Paradise Restaurant about 6 or 7pm to find a bunch of Germans around one table inside and a bunch of Anglos on a table outside by the surf. We then partied until midnight, drinking Thai Regency brandy and Samthorm rum.

Thank you to the people we shared Christmas with - Dave, Nick, Jan, Claire and Bruce. Spot which one is the Australian!

Koh Whai

2008-12-18T06:51:00.001-08:00

Koh Whai Sunset
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

We eventually landed on Koh Whai on the 9th December and have just spend a little over a week there. We’re now having a few days on Koh Change before returning to Koh Whai for Christmas.

Whai is a perfect place to stay if you fancy a remote getaway and don’t want a young crowd up for a party. The average age is probably 45, mostly well-travelled backpackers who tend to return to Whai every year. It is very popular with Germans and Austrians. Everyone we have met has been very friendly and good for a stimulating conversation.

The island is a very small jungle-covered hill with some north-facing narrow beaches. The beaches are not anything to get excited about. The attraction of Koh Whai is its sheer tranquillity. The electricity is only on from 5.30 – 10.30pm. After that the brightest light is the moon, and we were there during full moon so it was splendid, and the loudest noise is that of waves lapping against the sand, though during our stay in the regular northerly wind forced the waves and tore through the palms. The wind is supposedly a daily or nightly occurrence every November and December. It really cools the island down creating a very fresh temperature.

There are a few walks along the bays of the north coast, to the rubber tappers’ houses on the south and to a rocky sunset point on the south-west. The rocks here are some form of metamorphic or lava, dark red-orange bands forming pockets of grey rock with heat bubbles. I think the bands are formed as fissures formed in the rock, rapidly cooling thin plates of the rock while deeper inside the rock cooled more slowly.

Hot Rocks Cool

The attraction of Whai to us was the tranquillity, a great bungalow terrace for yoga, good company and some good snorkelling straight off the beach. The corals have died in many places but there is plenty of variety with many corals also coming back on the dead mounds.

We'll get some more photos of the island online when we get back to the mainland just before NYE

Sugar Cane 2, Kanchanaburi

2008-12-18T06:47:00.001-08:00

Sugar Cane is a pleasant mostly quiet place on the riverside about 10 minutes walk from the Bridge. I say mostly because the karaoke and party boats do ply the river from town to the bridge, passing the guesthouse. These are largely amusing diversions. However, we were in Kanchancaburi during the Bridge Week, which means many more boat-fulls of partying Thais and Farangs each night. There was also a lot of volume coming over from the fairground stage until about 1am. None of this really disturbed us though.

The guesthouse riverside platform. Great for morning yoga, afternoon sunsets and evening fireworks!

The little rooms with fan and bathroom were 200 baht a night and decent enough. The walls could have been cleaned, especially of the ancient splashes of toothpaste above the basin. The restaurant was good. The owner was very nice and four teenage girls, two organised and friendly, two pretty feckless, ran the place. A really nice guy was there for overnight security too. The girls even waved us off as we left.

Though the rooms are pretty small, and in that no smaller than most backpacker standard rooms or bungalows, they are en-suite which makes a difference for a longish visit. The guesthouse is arranged around a rectangular space which is part garden but mostly a gravel parking area. The Bamboo House, closer to the Bridge, has a much nicer and well-planned garden. The river-view restaurant produces good Thai food at reasonable prices and there is a metal platform over the river with a view of sunset and the Bridge. We saw the nearing of the moon, Venus and Jupiter from this platform in advance of the Sky Smile on the 1^st December.

Happy Child (We Wish)

2008-12-18T06:45:00.001-08:00

Happy Child (We Wish)
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

We can dream can't we?

Kanchanaburi

2008-12-09T21:24:00.000-08:00

We stayed at Kanchanaburi for two weeks, with a two-night visit to Erawan National Park in the middle. We have also published some thoughts on our Guest House, Sugar Cane 2.

We shouldn’t have even been at Kanchanaburi for this period because we had planned to be on Koh Whai for a few weeks after Ayutthaya. We even travelled to Trat, the nearest town to the pier for Koh Whai, but continual winds made the crossing uncertain. We travelled to the pier when we were told the boat was running only to find that strong winds were making the sea too rough for the speedboat. The forecast of a monsoon coming in from Vietnam encouraged us to head to Kanchanaburi early and let the weather calm down on the east coast. Given how much we did in Kanchanaburi and around in terms of cycling and hiking, this was certainly a good move as it would have been much harder for Georgia to be so active later in her pregnancy.

Kanchanaburi is in-effect four separate towns. There is the Thai town itself, typical in being built-up, polluted and noisy. This is where the bus station is found, along with a small night market, day market, the Allied War Cemetery and Thai Burma Railway Centre. The river beside the town forms a town in its own right, comprising restaurants, bars and the pier for the infamous karaoke boats. There is also the JEATH War Museum which is in the grounds of an interesting Buddhist temple. This area was the original backpacker locale a couple decades ago. Further towards the Bridge there is the current foreign tourist strip along a road running between the river and the main road. It is a combination of low-end and mid-range guest houses, mostly set on the river, with numerous roadside bars, restaurants, internet centres, Thai massage parlours, pharmacies, moped and bicycle rentals and bookshops, along with the ubiquitous 7-Eleven, lining the road. This is the place for 50 baht beers and the chance to meet other tourists. When we were there, most bars were sporting perhaps one to three foreigners, most of them sipping their beers in silence. This could be a sign of the worldwide economic downturn and preceded the airport blockade. Many of the tourists on view are male and heavy on skinheads, tattoos and younger female Thai partners. We guess that most of the large numbers of tourists we saw at the Bridge itself eat and drink in their guesthouses or hotels. The fourth town is where we stayed. This was a quieter area of bars and hotels on the same road as the main tourist strip. Everything is more spaced out, creating a semi-rural feel, and frequented by a mix of Thais and foreigners. Here are a series of large open-air bars where beers are more expensive at 100 baht a bottle, but for this you get beautiful wooded gardens, many lit by lanterns in the trees, that are set back from the road, some very tight live house bands, and waitresses on hand to keep your glass filled with that 100 baht beer whenever you’re in danger of reaching the bottom of your glass. Strangely the food on offer is little more expensive than that in the roadside bars further back towards the main town. One bar in particular, called the Resort, was where we found ourselves drinking when we went out at night. The double-priced beers were worth it given that I was usually only having one a night and Georgia wasn’t drinking at all. If you’re on for a few bottles you might prefer the economy of the tourist bars, but for that you have to put up with pollution and a less salubrious environment. We were happy to pay the extra, which would could a whole lot more in the UK for the equivalent level of quality. The Bridge is in easy walking distance from this area which is great because you get to pass some good food vendors on the street, including one of the main purveyors of quail’s egg wantons.

Photographing Buddha 3

2008-12-08T06:36:00.001-08:00

Stone Buddha
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

Find a beautifully stone-carved Buddha image and take his portrait in three-quarters. Use a nice short focal length that will take the Buddha in crisp focus but throw the background out. That means that however complicated and potentially distracting the background is, Buddha will have your eye.

Bangkok City-Break

2008-12-08T06:21:00.000-08:00

The King and I

Demon of the Royal Palace

Lotuses in Jim Thompson's Garden

We are back in Bangkok for the weekend. We’re passing through on our way to Trat and the islands in the eastern Gulf of Thailand. An overnight stop makes the long journey from western to eastern Thailand bearable. Two nights and we have time to see a couple of our favourite places from our time in Bangkok in 2004. These are Jim Thompson’s House and the Grand Palace with Wat Phra Kaew.

Standing in Jim Thompson's Garden behind his House

Jim Thompson was an international man of mystery. He came to Thailand to help liberate it from the Japanese at the end of WW2 but the war ended before he arrived so he worked in the region for the precursor of the CIA. On retirement he stayed in Bangkok where he helped to revive the silk industry and built a beautiful house out of five traditional Thai teak houses, furnished with Thai and Chinese antiques and surrounded it with a tame and cool jungle garden. This was 1959. Eight years later he went missing during a walk in Malaysia, never to be seen again. His house is an elegant legacy to Thai style and his own tastes.

Golden statue in Wat Phra Kaew

The Grand Palace was the home of the Kings of Thailand until recently. This massive walled sanctuary in the centre of old Bangkok is now the major tourist attraction in town. The ridges of elegant traditional steeply pitched red-tiled Thai roofs break the skyline one after the other. They compete with technicolour prangs and golden chedis to dazzle with their gold and enamel splendour. There can be few places in the world with such sumptuous architecture that renders the art of the most beautiful handwoven silks into wood, stone and clay.

Wat Demons?

The jewelled highlight of the Palace is the Royal Temple – Wat Phra Kaew. Westminster Abbey falls into the Wats deep shadow by comparison, little more than a dusty parish church next to an eruption of rubies, sapphires, emeralds and gold. Multi-hued enamel-coated demons hold up towering prangs next to the three wats that are giant jewellery boxes turned inside out. The gorgeous serene faces of mythical creatures that are half-bird and half-woman stalk the terraces in between. The Emerald Buddha, a jade statue, sits high up on a golden mound of lotus buds and attracts Thai pilgrims to pray at its feet at the very spiritual heart of the Thai Kingdom.

Ramakian Monkey

Sitting with Queen Sita

This exquisite world of make believe is enclosed within four walls on which the story of the Ramayama, known as the Ramakian in Thailand, is rendered in gold leaf pictures that together must form one of the largest figurative paintings in the world. The skill of the craftsmanship, the ornate detail, the epic scale of the story and sheer size re breathtaking. Stroll around the cool cloisters in front of this work and behold a tapestry of colour that makes the Bayeux Tapestry look like a well-stiched hankerchief. The dazzling art and architecture will hold you through the heat and beyond hunger to be refreshed and fed by splendour meant for the minds of kings.

Restoring the Ramakian

Skewered to Eat

2008-12-08T06:13:00.001-08:00

Skewered to Eat
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

Wanting Quails’ Egg Wantons

My latest Thai food craze is Quials’ egg wantons. We first discovered them in Kanchanaburi on the many fried food street vendors stalls. Most of the time when walking down street lined with food vendors there is no point in us looking at them. Invariably everything is meat or fish. Skewer of five or six fat-coated pork balls are a ubiquitous Thai delicacy. As are squares of processed fish that on first glance looks temptingly like tofu. Delicious wanton parcels hide chicken and pork, again. Less attractive are slashed shiny hot dogs. All are served dipped in pots of various chilli sauces, some with fish and prawns, others light and dark red sweet chilli. Racks and rack of skewers shove food in your face of no use to the vegetarian because of the three commandments of Thai food – thou shall eat chicken, fish and pork.

The thing is, we would really love to be able to join in the Thai love for grazing skewered snacks with chilli sauce. Vegetable spring rolls are a rarity mostly confined to tourist ghettos and tempura is totally absent from the streets. The discovery that some of the yellow crispy rice batter of wantons concealed quails’ eggs was like waking up on Christmas Day to discover that amongst all those presents with other peoples’ names on were some for you after all. We could join in the party at last!

I have never had quails eggs in Britain. A bit too much of a costly luxury. But at 10 baht for a skewer of five, which works out at about 20 pence given the plummeting pound, it was time to discover and indulge, which did mean overlooking the living conditions of the quails. I'm usually very strict to only have free range organic eggs in the UK except when going out for the occasional fried breakfast.

And yes, I did want the hot chilli sauce please, despite being a farang. Darker and hotter the better.

Kayak Down the River Kwai

2008-12-08T05:50:00.000-08:00

After enjoying our canoe journey down the River Macal in Belize last year, in fact juat about the same time last year, we decided to do the same down the Kwai. We hired a two-person kayak from Safarine, one of three tour companies offering kayak trips and rentals in Kanchanaburi. We mainly went with them because a, they were closest to our guest house and b, we had been recommended them by four lively retired Poles who we had met the first weekend in town when they reached shore at our guesthouse after a 400km journey down the River. The four men with huge appetites for alcohol, food and conversation after living on rations and with their own company for 12 days all live in Melbourne. We decided on something a bit more manageable. We were dropped off about 12km upstream at 11am and told to land the kayak at the Chinese Temple. The Safarine guide estimated it would take us about 3 hours.

The Kwai is not sluggish but we were paddling into a head wind which meant that at times we had to make something of an effort. Mostly, it was very plain going and was no where as strenuous as canoeing the shingle shallows and still deeps of the Macal. We passed between woodland, bamboo, fields as well as some very top-end luxury river resorts and architect-designed private houses. The River Kwai is clearly a play ground for the better off of Thai society.

A floating karaoke bar

After about two hours we were beginning to flag. We realised that out chances of finding a place to pull in and have lunch were diminished by most of the resorts being curiously closed. No sign of life emanated across manicured lawns or from tethered floating restaurants. Each place we passed was as quiet as a holiday resort in mindwinter, despite December being the start of the dry season and our trip taking place on a Friday which was the King’s Birthday and therefore a public holiday. Kanchanaburi had filled over the previous night with young Thais making the most of a long weekend. Upstream and upmarket was all empty hotels and proverbial tumbleweed.

We then spotted movement on one set of floating restaurants and made straight for it, hoping it was sign of life. Then we saw the sign – the Duneshine. This was Kanchanaburi’s longest established luxury resort, one we had passed the week before on bicycles and had been entertained by their brightly lit floating restaurants passing our guesthouse on weekend evenings. Our eyes lit up as we pulled the kayak on to the river bank, walked through the landscaped grounds and discovered their was restaurant was open. Glass noodle salad and noodles wrapped in an omelette refreshed us for what we knew now to be the last few kilometres back to Kanchanaburi.

We passed below the Bridge Over the River Kwai within the hour, drifted past our guesthouse like the many karaoke boats had done every night and spotted the distinctive pagoda of the Chines Temple above the trees. Our micro adventurette was over, during which we had treat ourselves to a good lunch at a luxury hotel.

Chinese Temple to starboard bow

Death Railway

2008-12-06T05:27:00.000-08:00

Through the Thai mountains across the Bridge of Sighs.

Bridge Over the River Kwai

One of the biggest draws for visitors to Kanchanaburi is the Bridge Over the River Kwai. This World War 2 railway bridge, built in Thailand by tens of thousands of Asian workers and Allied POWs under Japanese control, has become symbolic of the cruel treatment of prisoners in the 1940s. Thousands died during the railway’s construction. It is the British war film starring Alec Guinness, which has perhaps transported the bridge to this height. The film is an icon of the British stiff-upper-lip and courage in the face of appalling odds. Bizarrely a Frenchman wrote the novel that the film is based on.

The bridge is a somewhat small piece of engineering to carry such a heavy historical load. The building of the Death Railway, or Thailand-Burma Railway, as it is known is encapsulated in seven iron girder spans, each a little taller than head height. It lives up to the weighty expectations placed on its sturdy concrete pillars, ensuring that the history is not forgotten while those with memories of the events fade away.

The Bridge is just one small part of the railway that runs through more than 400km of hazardous mountain jungle. According to contemporary accounts it was a relatively easy part of the construction project. Easy here is certainly relative. The easy part compares to most people’s idea of immense suffering with the ever-present threat of beatings, diseases, malnutrition and death. The rest of the railway line got harder the further into the mountains it went. Today, you can still travel as far as Nam Tok, about 60km into the hills, and in doing so cross original wooden trestles holding the line onto the side of a vertical cliff above the river. This is the main photo opportunity for tourists riding the line.

Wooden trestles still survive to hold the railway line on to the side of a cliff above the River Kwai

The Railway was built by the Imperial Japanese Army to create a land route from Thailand to Burma, the two countries being separated by a high mountain range. The sea route around the Malay Peninsula was prone to attacks by Allied battleships. They knew it would be a difficult feat of engineering because of the inaccessible terrain. This prohibited the use of heavy machinery resulting in the line being built totally by hand – picks, shovels and dynamite. All materials were carried in by foot and mule until the track began to be laid at the working railhead could be reached via the track.

Riding the Line

While the Bridge is the main ‘attraction’, you can’t move far in Kanchanaburi without coming across evidence and memories of the suffering endured by slave workers on the Death Railway. As well as the bridge and railway line, there are two large Allied War Cemeteries, the excellent interpretation of the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre, the JEATH War Museum which was commissioned by the Abbot of the Buddhist monastery in which it stands and features reconstructions of bamboo prison huts hosting a photographic exhibition, and a memorial erected to the dead by the Japanese in 1944.

Chungkai Allied War Cemetery

Kanchanaburi Allied War Cemetery

Estimates put the total number of deaths of slave workforce at about 100,00, most of who were Asian workers lured to the line by lies of paid jobs, and about 16,000 allied POWs. The all-powerful advancing Japanese Army had captured most of the POWs during their rapid onslaught in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. By far the most POWs came from Britain, taken prisoner soon after arriving in Singapore when it inevitably fell to the Japanese. Large numbers of Dutch were captured in Indonesia. The deaths of so many of these captives building the railway have become one of the most enduring stories of World War 2.

Some of the most touching moments of visiting places associated with the railway include seeing the blank eyes of POWs stare out from black and white photos, their shrunken bodies displaying ribs. Walking around the cemeteries you are struck by the ages of the men who died, so many in their early 20s, and the way that deaths cluster on certain runs of days, presumably when conditions or work rate became extremely terrible. One story that lodges in the heart is of the man who’s father survived years of captivity to return home, conceive two children then die of aggressive hypertension. The bravery of doctors who treat sick men with primitive equipment made from borrowed and improvised materials and almost no drugs comes to the fore again and again.

These stories of brutality, suffering and of the personal strength of those who tried to live through are mere glimpses into a past of unimaginable terror and courage. They still draw thousands of relatives of these men to Thailand every year, while the number of survivors themselves dwindles.

Monk Light

2008-12-04T04:49:00.001-08:00

Monk Light
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

One of a number of monks packing up tables laid with food at Wat Panang Choeng, Ayutthaya, Thailand. The meal was put on for hundreds of visitors during Loi Krathong in November 2008.

Erawan Waterfalls

2008-12-04T04:46:00.001-08:00

Bathing with the Doctor Fish of the Elephant Falls

The bus back from Erawan had the destinations pretty clearly spelled out on the windscreen.

We saw the blunt front end of the bus slowly making its away along the road, pick-up trucks and mopeds weaving around it. Luckily the driver also saw us, standing by the side of the road, opposite a pet food store that had done a roaring trade from passing moped riders in the 20 minutes we had waited, and pulled over. Georgia shouted ‘Erawan?’ over the clunking chug of the ancient engine, to which the driver nodded. Had he really heard as pistons thumped and the whole bus rattled? A quick double-check on our way up the steps confirmed we had and we were on our way for a two-night camping stay at Erawan National Park, home of a nationally famous seven-tiered waterfall.

River View Camping

A bone-shaking hour later and we were at the campsite, completing our camping hire form. A 150 baht 3 person tent rather than the smaller 90 baht 2 person version. Sleeping bags, pillows and what we would discover was optimistically called a lantern. Thai National Park tents are both excellent quality and enjoyable designed, being covered in a muted psychedelic abstract pattern of repeating trees, trunks and white birds. Our tent, kindly upgraded to a palatial 220 baht model for no extra cost, had a view of the River Kwai Yai, which also meant we could hear every vehicle along the road opposite.

The waterfalls are worth more than the couple of hours romp that most tour companies give their groups. The clear cool blue water pours over a ridge to cascade over a series of limestone steps until it reaches flat ground 1.5km downstream. Most of the pools are created by the waterfalls themselves by depositing calcium carbonate in shelves, mounds and ridges in much the same way as limestone water furs up a kettle. Except in Erawan the process creates a series of amazing bathing pools, each with its own Jacuzzi and water massage system. Each of the seven tiers is extremely different in character depending on the nature of the waterfall and the pool created. What every tier shares is the experience of a jungle paradise with lush rainforest trees, creepers and palms crowding all around to create a vibrant green frames to cool blue pictures. David Hockney would surely be inspired to develop a Rousseauesque phase.

You can easily reach Erawan by bus from Kanchanaburi bus station. The one and a half hour journey takes you right to the Park HQ for 50 baht. There is also a 200 baht entry fee. It is easy to do it in a day as long as you remember the last bus back leaves Erawan at 4.00pm. Otherwise there are bungalows and, of course, the range of tents to hire at the HQ. By camping, we were given ourselves two and a half days to explore the falls and their surrounding jungle. It was a bit like having a festival with seven stages and numerous art trails. Each fall even had its own sound, a variation on rushing water set to different rhythms and pitches.

Erawan Two

Feeding frenzy with Doctor Fish

Levels one and two are both large bulbous falls that rush over wide, steep drops into series of swimming pools that continue downstream in wide steps. These are the family playgrounds, surrounded by bamboo platforms, toilets and food. Here, though, are the most vociferous of the ‘Doctor Fish’, a sort of trout-cum-catfish that nibbles your toes, feet, legs, in fact any part of your body while in the water for dry skin. The feeling can be a ticklish massage or a slithery hell depending on how you feel. Swimmers at level two have to brave the largest shoal of the biggest fish to get into the pool. Once swimming you’re completely safe from their raspy teeth but when you want to get out again…then it’s once more time to run the scaly gauntlet.

Erawan Four

Waterfall three is an impressive tall torrent hidden behind a bluff and difficult to get a clear view of how impressive the drop is or to slip into the pool for a swim. Quickly on to waterfall four, a large inviting pool backed by two large limestone mounds that the water seems almost to float over. A good clearing in the jungle creates a bright patch of sun-warmed water in the centre of the pool.

Water Spirit Houses

The longest trek is from four to five. It takes nearly 500m of scrambling uphill and climbing steep, rickety wooden steps, passing trees wrapped in brightly coloured cloths representing spirits houses. With Georgia being 5 and a half months pregnant we had to take it slowly. It wasn’t going to stop her however, and did enlisit one aside of ‘good girl’ from a passing tourist.

Erawan Five

And waterfall five was worth the effort. For those who have visited Pamukkele in Turkey you will have a good picture of what waterfall five looks like. Here the falls are a series of broad, level cataracts formed of beds of calcium carbonate. The water falls and bubbles from one level to another over vertical edges reminiscent of their underground cousins – stalactites. This creates a natural spa of aquamarine pools of the clearest water, limestone steps connecting one to the other, and hydrotherapeutic massaging waterfalls complete with limestone benches to sit on. It seems that Paradise really does keep getting better the more steps you take.

Erawan Five Downstream

Which brings us on to waterfall six, as tall and hidden away a gem as three, kept secret by vines and trees, and to the finale – waterfall seven. This is the one that all the tour groups head towards. Waves of Russians, French, Britons, Thais and Americans, amongst many others, take off their trekking kit to reveal a wide range of skimpy, clinging, baggy or demure (depending on nationality) bathing gear and with trepidation walk, shuffle or leap into the pool. The air is filled with shrieks, not from cold water because the temperature of all the pools is pleasantly refreshing after the hike. The Doctor Fish, waiting at the edge of the pool for tourist toes to tickle and nibble, are the cause of the shouts. For most visitors this is their first experience of the slithering fish come to feed on their dead skin cells. It is enough to put many tourists off from taking the plunge. Other visitors keep still in disgusted pleasure, photographing the brown shoals fighting over scraps between their toes.

Erawan Seven with Georgia

Like a James Bond film on a very bad day

The background to the pool is a steep series of limestone steps receding into the forest. Water cascades down them at a pace, forming a riot of many mini-falls that pound down from one to another. I scrambled up these, crossing a ‘ravine’ by a fallen tree, part of which was being ‘fossilised’ with calcium carbonate, pushing through branches and bracing myself against the force of the water. I felt almost adventurous enough to feel I could hold my own in a brief conversation with Ray Mears. Eventually the steps became too steep, the water too powerful to climb any higher. So I returned for a good swim in the pool below before descending all the way back to the very bottom via a swim and a fishy nibble in every other pool on the way. Except that I opted out of the feeding frenzy that awaited at waterfall two and instead enjoyed the recently arrived shrieking Russians discovering for themselves the Attack of the Thai Doctor Fish.

Erawan Seven as far as I went

Water Lights

Sky Smile

2008-12-03T05:13:00.001-08:00

Sky Smile
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

The Sky Smile on the 1st December 2008 seen from western Thailand. The waxing moon is bottom right, Venus top left and Jupiter top right. We saw it on a beautifully clear night while camping in Erawan National Park near Kanchanaburi.

And again with the Earthshine visible on the Moon.

Kwai Bridge Fireworks

2008-12-03T05:12:00.001-08:00

Kwai Bridge Fireworks
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

The River Kwai Bridge Week, Kanchanaburi, Thailand opens with a bang as the sound and light show is brought to a finale with fireworks.

The Show uses coloured lights, sound effects, narration, actors, smoke, explosions, remote-controlled planes, fire and fireworks to retell the story of the Japanese invasion of South-East Asia, the building of the Thai-Burma Railway, the death of thousands of workers and Allied POWs and the bombing of the Bridge Over the River Kwai by the Allies during World War 2!

The photo was taken from the River Kwai Floating Restaurant. Thank you to Rose for giving me permission to photograph from the restaurant.

Fizzy Offering

2008-11-30T05:44:00.001-08:00

Fizzy Offering
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

Offerings of food and drink in front of a spirit house in Thailand. Almost every building has a spirit house populated with small plastic models of people to represent the good spirits that are invited to dwell here and so ward off bad spirits.

Wat Tham is Love?

2008-11-30T05:22:00.000-08:00

Wat Tham Khao Noi?

This may sound like a question but it is, infact, the name of one of two twin hilltop temples just south of Kanchanaburi that we visited on Monday 24th November. We took a bus out of the central bus station to a junction near a dam then got on the back of two motorcycle taxis over the dam wall for the 6km ride to the base of the hill.

As we motored along, I sped while Georgia’s driver took it more slowly for her and the bump, I looked up for the hill and its temples. The only hills I could see where miles away and devoid of any roofs, prangs or chedis. I began to think we must be heading the wrong way, abducted by highwaymen motorcycle taxi drivers taking us deep into woodland to bag our wallets. The photos I had seen of the temples showed three pagodas crowning a steep wooded mountain top that clearly towered over the surrounding land. The guide books talked of a funicular railway to take pilgrims and tourists to the top.

The road took turns in alternate directions. The hills were not visibly getting any nearer so clearly they were more than 6km away. Then, after one final turn to the left the pagodas came into view, barely rising above the nearest banana plantation. What in my expectation had been a cloud-scraping mountain turned out to be a much less lofty hill, one that could easily be at home in Norfolk. We were delivered to the base of the protuberance right at the start of the not-much-larger-than-toy-sized funicular, a track of not more than 100 metres on which ran two silver ‘carriages’ with enough space to take maybe four or five families. We succumbed, shunning the short flight of steps next door for a 10 baht, 10 second shudder up the escarpment and on to the plateau.

The two temples are one Thai Buddhist and one Chinese Buddhist. The Thai temple - Tham Khao Noi - has a giant, golden mosaic-covered Buddha that sits within a flame shaped canopy next to red-roofed temple halls and two orange pagodas tapering to golden points. No surface is left unpainted, ungilded or devoid of a twist or turn of some form of architectural embellishment. Each pagoda contains numerous Buddha statues in window niches on seven dark floors. The small windows allow in only narrow shafts or light that are hardly augmented by strip lighting. Sometimes two or three Buddhas are stuffed into a niche or a larger group are deposited seemingly randomly on a table. The views down onto the other temple buildings and across vivid green rice paddies to distant wooded hills are those of built and natural tranquillity.

But all the time there is another presence looming. This is the Chinese pagoda of Wat Tham Suew next door. Totally different in style, the hexagonal, vertical-walled pagoda is seven floors of large, flat pastel colours, each floor under a sloping tiled roof so archetypical of Chinese style. Buddha statues could be glimpsed silhouetted in the doors. Inside, a single Buddha statue occupies the centre of each floor and the feeling is of natural light, open, uncluttered spaces that are freshened by gentle breezes. Outside the ornate clutter of the Thai pagodas make architecturally wrought attention-grabbing stratagems less anyone dwells too much within the Chinese pagoda.

The way up to the Chinese pagoda is not gifted with a funicular, but instead is a series of Escher-like stairways and walkways threading through a number of temples complete with Chinese statues of characters that clearly evoke thought-provoking stories on ways of living. Inside the pagoda, the walls are decked with thousands of tiles, each with a small Buddha image. As we descended back to terra firma we heard chanting and a bell from one of these and saw a lone orange-robed monk praying before one of the Buddhas. The long decay of the bell and the sonorous chant held peace in the air.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Poon

2008-11-27T02:29:00.000-08:00

Descending through the bowels of the earth.

Buddha in a Cave

We visited one of the many caves in this limestone region of Kanchanaburi. The karst limestone forms teeth-like hills above ground, while below are found tunnels and chambers that prompts the idea that this is what it must be like to travel inside bowels and spines. Some of the caves are used as temples, others have more harrowing histories as Japanese World War 2 POW camps.

We visited Wat Khao Poon, a temple to Buddha and Ganesha and once a Japanese field hospital. After clambering down a flight of steep steps we came into a large, brightly-lit and roomy chamber with statues of the reclining Buddha and the rotund Chinese smiling Buddha. Beyond this is where the fun begins. Snaking and ducking along a series of narrow passages, brings us to one chamber after another. Each passage creeps further and further down into the ground, through broken and weathered limestone that looms into view as angular and bulbous formations akin to bones and bodily organs. Thankfully, very few of the walls ooze dampness.

Mighty Ceiling Stalactites

Large fossilised waterfalls spring into each passage and chamber in the form of massive stalactites and stalagmites that cascade from roof to floor in absolute stillness. Some stalactites are ridged into furrows and fins, while others look like petrified ripples on a beach. Some form columns while others flow over the limestone corners and curves. In places, the stillness is broken by a gentle drip of water, showing that the processes of stalactite formation are still busy. Everything else is motionless - apart from us. The pale blue grey whiteness of the limestone is devoid of any colour energy; the warm fetid air is immobile while no sound echoes come back from footfall. But we keep descending; down, down, down between the rock.

Ganesha

This lack of movement, in many ways, makes Wat Khao Poon a perfect place for meditation. Perhaps it is this, and a veneration of natural elements, that brought people to worship down here centuries ago. Each chamber is a temple or shrine. As we clamber through each opening we find statues of the Buddha, Brahma, Shiva and Ganesha set against the background of bent limestone and ribbed stalactites. Some images are dark, others golden, but most are draped in bright orange cloths. They are accompanied by dying flowers and burnt incense, while surfaces are covered in small squares of gold leaf. Each is a testament to an unseen act of worship.

Laughing Buddha

Eventually we begin to climb, the turn in direction coming after the largest chamber with the largest Buddha statue. The air begins to turn a little fresher and at last the white fluorescence of the artificial lights give way to a warmer hue. We look up to see an opening, beyond which the green leaves and branches of a tree striate the blue sky. We return above ground, leaving the underworld once more in peace.

Photographing Buddha 2

2008-11-27T02:25:00.001-08:00

Photographing Buddha 2
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

Don’t make the Buddha look like Mussolini!

It is easy to photograph Buddha statues from below given how large many of them are. Some are 15 metres or more high and tower over you forcing you to point your camera upwards to take a shot.

This can sometimes be a bad thing because when taken in three-quarters view it emphasises the chin, making this appear larger in proportion to the eyes. Not only is this not a very graceful image of the Buddha to present but it was also the pose Mussolini ordered all of his portraits to be taken from. He thought it made him look more powerful, a leader in charge of his country’s destiny. In fact it tends to make people look like dumb self-important losers, probably because of the association with Mussolini who was thoroughly unpleasant to look at as well as a despotic murderer. This is not how we perceive the Buddha.

Bridge Over the River Kwai

2008-11-25T06:14:00.001-08:00

Bridge Over the River Kwai
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

We're currently staying in Karanchaburi, spending a few days at the Sugar Cane 2 Guest House right on the banks of the River Kwai. Yes that river, that bridge, that defiantly whisteld World War 2, that classic British film of British stiff-upper-lipness starring Alec Guinness.

The area is very beautiful which belies the terrible past it bore witness too as the Japanese forced thousands of POWs and tens of thousands of South Asian labourers to hand-build a railway line from Thailand to Burma - the infamous Death Railway. Visiting the huge POW cemeteries, of those died building the line through malaria-infested mountain jungle using picks, shovels, dynamite and wheelbarrows is very moving. Even more so, if knowing that many thousands more forced labourers from South East Asia were buried in unmarked graves, any fixed place for the memories of them being lost forever.

Thai Bicycles

2008-11-25T06:03:00.001-08:00

bicycles
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

We've been enjoying cycling around the flat land either side of the River Kwai. My how that flatness is so good for cycling, not like Sheffield!

Photographing Buddha 1

2008-11-25T05:45:00.001-08:00

Buddha Face 1
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

The face of Buddha appears at almost every turn in Thailand. Big golden temple Buddhas, giant white-painted reclining and small statue offerings in temples. This bronze-cast Buddha was in the large hill-top pagoda of Wat Tham Khao Noi, near the banks of the Mae Klong near Karanchburi. The number of Buddha faces means that there are lots of opportunities to treat the Buddha as a subject for portraiture, should you be interested.

I like this Buddha portrait because the statue was placed in and to the left of a window which at the time had sunlight coming in from the top right. This means that most of his face is bathed in reflected light while highlighted on his left.

I shot the picture from slightly above his eye line to emphasise his eyes over his chin. By emphasising the epxression of the Buddha looking downwards It also helps to give Buddha a humble, contemplative look befitting to him. I've also taken it slightly off level to give a bit of movement to the portrait.

Next Buddha photo i'll post will be taken from slightly below and I'll show why this can be a Mussolini of a bad decision!

Chilli chilli bang bang

2008-11-17T22:02:00.001-08:00

OK maybe we should have known it was foolish, but they looked so nice...

Breakfast in Trat - we wandered the backstreets thinking maybe to find some chilled pineapple, fresh lychees or.... hey what's THIS? A skewer of roasted green chillies - long, pale with an alluring sheen and char, not unlike the sweet chillies of Southern Spain. Occasionally you hit a hot one, but mmmm.

So with empty tums and watering mouths we bought our skewer and set to.

It took about 2 hours perhaps for the pain to settle down. Now we're OK if we don't walk too fast. Chilled papaya shakes helped. Lying down seemed essential.

Would I do it again?

Well, not for breakfast.

Death of a princess

2008-11-17T22:00:00.000-08:00

Last weekend 14--16 November black and white were the colours of respectful mourning as all over Thailand as people acknowledged the cremation of the Crown Princess.

The King's sister died last January, but her cremation date was on Saturday in Bangkok. An entire park was freshly turfed, stages were set for night-long performances of dance, puppetry, orchestral music, an ornate ritual house was built by fine artists and crafters to house the funeral pyre. All over the country vast images of the princess were festooned in black and white ribbon and tributes of flowers placed before her.

At 4.30 Friday, King Bhumibol lit the ritual fire. At 10 Saturday night, the funeral pyre was lit. and on Sunday or Monday the crown prince (the king's son) led a procession to take her bones and ashes to their separate resting places.

The love, honour and loyalty are a contrast to the UK. Here there are vast posters of the royals all over the public spaces and none sport graffittied beards, spectacles or worse.

This was the full works in an Oriental version of the Queen Mother's funeral. Except in Thailand they cremate the person in a specially made crematorium inside a very ornate and colourful traditional wooden Thai cremation house. There were lots of porcessions to take her body from the palace to the cremation, collect her bones and ashes, put then in seperate urns, take them to the palace then to the temples they will permanently reside in.

We didn't go down to see it but saw some amazing photos in the Bangkok Post which sadly aren't on their website though the reverential reports are - http://www.bangkokpost.com/

The regaliad soldiers were a mix of traditional eastern-looking Thai costumes and makeover English Royal Guards and Househole Cavalry. Their bear-skinned guards don't just come in red uniforms and black bearskins mind. There were soldiers in matching sky blue, purple and mauve uniforms and bear skins. With all the bearskins looking like 4 year-olds with haircuts trimmed by their mothers!

Trat-a-rat-a-tat

2008-11-17T21:03:00.000-08:00

We're now in a small eastern town called Trat, or Trrrrrrrrrrrrrrat, as you have to pronounce it before the Thais understand where you want to go. It is a maze of narrow alleys between wooden buildings buzzing with hundreds of mopeds. Walking around it is probably as close to getting an idea of what it must be like to be a slow, old hornet living in a hornet colony. The night market has probably one of the best places to eat we have found so far. All of Thailand is one big open-air restaurant with lots of vendors cooking up great stir-fries, soups and salads at each city or town's market. It is like having a vast open-air restaurant at each place with numerous kitchens and chefs to choose from. You can make up a three course meal in the same place from different cooks.

We're now on our way to an island for a couple of weeks holiday and snorkelling before our first antenatal check-up. We've already got advice on which clinics to go to, when, and translations of the questions we want to ask.

Offering to a Prang

2008-11-17T20:35:00.001-08:00

Offering to a Prang
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

As you wander around Ayutthaya you come across these offerings to Buddha in different ancient temples. Each is a little reminder that the faith that built these magnificent temples still holds them sacred.

Chedi-Chedi, Prang-Prang

2008-11-16T06:47:00.000-08:00

Navigating ancient Ayutthaya, the Venice of the East

Wat Si Sanphet

The diminutive Thai security guard approached me out of the gathering gloom of dusk, the spotlight casting his giant shadow against the illuminated chedi. We close now he politely said, beckoning me towards the exit. It was sadly time to drag myself away from the magical temple courtyard of Buddha statues, broken columns, white-flowering trees, bell-shaped chedis and towering prangs all brightly lit in yellows, oranges and greens. I had just taken my last photograph of the row of three graceful chedis of Phra Si Sanphet, each topped with spires of ever-diminishing discs, that glowed against the now-black sky. The tour parties had long departed; leaving me to watch the sunset paint the sky red behind the technicolour temples in tranquil solitude. I reluctantly headed for the exit, taking one last glance over my shoulder at the multicoloured wonderland before cycling back to my hotel through the historical parkland.

Wat Si Sanphet Sunset

Ayutthaya was founded 700 years ago on an island formed by the confluence of three fast-flowing rivers as the second great royal capital of Siam. Completely encircled by the rivers and criss-crossed with canals, it was aptly dubbed the Venice of the East by the first European explorers to set their eyes on the city in the 1500s. The city was a metropolis capital, religious centre and trading port. Ships regularly visited its riverside wharves from Europe, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, India, Persia, Arabia and China while Siamese ships sailed in the opposite directions across the Indian Ocean and South China Sea. The great Chinese naval captain Zheng visited Ayutthaya in 1407 and made a benefaction to the nearest temple to the portside warehouses. Foreign trading communities lived in specially designated residential quarters where they were allowed to govern themselves and follow their own religions. Ayutthaya flourished for 400 years until sacked by the Burmese army in 1767.

Wat Phra Ram with lotus flowers

The Buddhist Kings of Siam built monumentally beautiful temples, known as wats, to honour their departed fathers. The Burmese destroyed much, decapitating most of the Buddha statues, but the main temple structures survived the flames and hammers. Most of the temples and palaces that remain today are preserved in an historical park of fragrant trees, lotus-filled canals and white-painted bridges that occupies much of the western half of the island. Modern Ayutthaya takes up the remaining half, its streets following the same grid pattern followed by the canals. The city lies on the flat floodplain about an hour and a half drive north of Bangkok.

Buddha head at Wat Matathat

The very centre of the Siamese Kingdom was found under the prang of Wat Matathat, a type of temple that lay at the heart of every major Siamese city and under which lay buried a relic of Buddha. Following archaeological excavations in 1956, the relic has been on display in one of the city museums. Matathat is notable for a fallen Buddha head that has been taken up by the twisted roots of a banyan, a Buddhist holy tree. This growing together of nature and art is seen as very auspicious by Thais and it is sometimes decorated with cloth and offerings to request merit from the Buddha.

Nagas and Garuda of Wat Rathchaburana

Next door to Matathat is Wat Ratchaburana which has the best surviving prang in Ayutthaya rising above the trees. Each temple is laid out as a square and aligned on the compass points. The prang is in the very centre and represents Mount Meru, the holy mountain of the Buddhist heaven. Chedis surround the prang, each representing a cosmic plane. Chedis at the four corners stand for the four human universes of physical being. Ratchaburana’s prang still preserves the stucco relief statues of garudas, nagas and other mythical beasts. Robbers unfortunately dug below the prang and made off with a treasure of royal gold but thankfully two of them were caught and some of the gold objects saved.

Wat Phra Ram sunrise

Across the park, the prang of Wat Phra Ram is reflected in the surrounding canals, and best seen at sunrise or sunset. Next to it is Wat Phra Si Sanphet with its line of three chedis. This was the temple of the Siamese royal family and the adjacent remains of the extensive palace lie in manicured lawns.

Flowers for a King

These four wats comprise the core of ancient Ayutthaya and are easily visited on foot or by bicycle through the historical park. They all become magical lanterns towering into the night sky when the spotlights are turned on at sunset.

Wat Phanan Choeng

Other ruined chedis and walls pop up on the roadside throughout the modern city. Further away and off the island are three major riverside temples. Wat Phanan Choeng, the temple associated with Zheng He, is to the east of the island. Very much an active working temple, it is bustling with devotees praying in the halls decorated with Chinese script and dragons.

Wat Yai Buddhas doing here?

It is a short distance to the delightful garden temple of Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon, which is again busy with devotees. Hundreds of Buddha status, each draped on orange sashes, line the four walls of the central courtyard and gaze down impassively in front of the central chedi. Climb up into the chedi and you find seven Buddhas covered in gold leaf and set in niches. Thais come to speak merit requests into small pieces of paper, wipe them on the Buddhas then cast them in to baskets. Gardens of flowering trees and shrubs extend outside the courtyard and make a suitable environment for a giant sculpture of a reclining Buddha to enjoy dappled shade.

Wat Chai Wattanaram

To the west of the island is Wat Chai Wattanaram, which has more chedis surviving around the central prang than any other temple. Visit in the late afternoon to enjoy the breathtaking sunset then stay to watch it also come alight after dark. Two rarely-visited temples to the west of the island contain an ornate Ayutthaya-style Buddha-as-King statue and the only Burmese temple architecture in the city. These off-island temples can be visited by the more adventurous on bicycle, and Thai drivers tend to be relatively considerate, or by Sawngthaew, the small three-wheeled open-sided taxis that buzz around the roads.

One Chedi of three at Wat Si Sanphet

You can visit all the temples independently, which are open from 7.30am to 6.30pm for an entry fee of 20 to 30 baht at each, or join one of the many tours that take you around all of the main wats in one day or the five illuminated wats at night. Most people spend one hot day or an overnight afternoon/morning visiting the temples. But, if you have more time, slow down to take in only two or three temples a day, wander through the historical park and make sure you visit the Historical Study Centre and the Museum to see the gold objects and Buddha relic excavated from below the prangs of Wats Matathat and Ratchaburana.

Golden Buddha

The temples are best seen in early morning and late afternoon when the wats take on an orange hue and their architecture is picked out by the shadows of the low sun. Make sure you stay later at Chai Wattarama or Si Sanphet to savour the vibrant colours when sunset mixes with the illuminated wats. That is the time when the colourful magic visits and you won’t want to return to the black and white world outside.

Reflections on a Wat

All’s fair..

2008-11-16T06:40:00.000-08:00

We’re in the ancient capital of Ayutthaya. The ancient city is spread throughout the modern town and a stroll in the park has me threading among prangs, chedis and wats. Wat Phong never fails to make me giggle – British toilet humour as refined by years of Carry On culture.

Our days have settled quickly into satisfying routines, with Bill photographing for all he’s worth and me mainly sat on the guest house balcony editing a book on the human genome and taking dips in the pool every now and again.

The Sherwood Guest House is a great find, friendly staff, decent pool, near the main focus of the archaeology and, apparently, usually quite quiet. HOWEVER... 12 November sees Loi Krathong , where Thais flock to the waterways to Loi their Krathongs (send their lights) on the water. We expect merit making (in Bangkok this usually takes the form of dumping sacks, and I mean SACKS, of sliced bread in the waters for fishes to spume over). I think there’s also a tradition of buying caged birds or bagged live fish to release them. We expect candles in the sky and on the lotus-choked waters, perhaps even outdoing the Blackpoolesque illuminations of the main streets.

In association with Loi Krathong the fair is in town – food, food and more food, drinks, darts at balloons to win fluffy Manchester United pillows, stalls full of shades, shoes and tat, piles of wooden furniture including garden pagodas you’d need planning permission for in the UK, kitchen units galore and a glorious plant market bright with orchids, fragrant with jasmine.

Perhaps the most notable feature is the outdoor cinema – we know the thing now, for most countries except UK it seems. And the thing is this: It is NEVER loud enough until it distorts.

Last night a crocodile was eating one half of a student, while his friends tugged at the other – we didn’t sit it all out, but my guess is the crocodile won.

Poolside in Ayutthaya

2008-11-13T23:41:00.001-08:00

Poolside in Ayutthaya
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

What better place to stay when in hot Ayutthaya then a guesthouse with a pool? It is unusual to say the least to find a backpacker-priced guesthouse with a pool.

We found a couple in big, old colonial courtyard houses in Nicaragua but they were both owned by the same people who had installed what amounted to little more than puddles as part of the backpacker luxury package. Very welcome they were too.

The Ayutthaya pool is much bigger, maybe 10 metres in length, and a one-off in town. It is part of the Sherwood Inn, on one of the roads close to the Ayutthaya ancient ruins. Its very presence epitomises the attitude of the guesthouse manager of providing good, friendly service at a budget price. A double room wil set you back just 280 baht, or 5.50 GB pounds before the exchange rate worsens due to the sinking pound.

Not only is there a pool that is long enough to swim lengths, pleasantly short lengths that is, but there is also plenty of space for yoga, reading and enjoying meals from the great kitchenv Add in a poolside balcony, that has almost become Georgia's private workspace as she completes an editorial contract, and the presence of only five rooms and the Sherwood makes for a very relaxing base to explore the ruins.

Buddha on a Mountain

2008-11-07T21:45:00.001-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/billbevan/sets/72157608730241568/

While Georgia went to a local hotel pool, I headed off down the still-quiet streets at 7am to visit the Golden Mount, a temple built on top of a large artificial mound founded on a raft comprising thousands of logs. Strangely surrounded by a market and fair ground, including shooting games, the temple mount is an oasis of calm above the noisy city. A spiralling path winds around the outside of the mount to a temple topped with a red draped golden stupa. Early-rising Thais were already praying and offering flowers and incense to the golden Buddhas inside. Others were making more unusual offerings at the stupa. Marker pens were laid out amongst the flowers and incense for people to write messages on the red cloth cloaking the base of the stupa. Most people would write a message, most likely a wish, take a small orange pillow with a folded cut-out cardboard flower, kneel to offer it to the stupa then circle the stupa three or four times. After they finished, they would pin a 20 baht note onto a criss-cross of washing line suspended above head height.

Lady Boys and Tofu...

2008-11-07T04:16:00.000-08:00

...never let you down.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/billbevan/sets/72157608730241568/

It is great to be back in Bangkok again. The city reaches out with an instant warm welcome unsurpassed by any other major capital we have yet been to. It starts at the airport with the gentle smiles and easily given directions from courteous staff and continues on the quite airport express bus into the city centre that cruises along empty four-lane highways - at least until it meets the clogged arteries of dowtown. The easy welcome carries on in the reception desks of the backpacker hotels as you are handed keys to check out the rooms, but most of all the pleasant feeling of arrival is everywhere on the streets. This is due to two major cultural Thai traits. Thais don't rush and they eat on the streets. Every Thanon and Soi is lined with eateries, offering cheap stir-fries, fresh chilled fruit that varies from the recognisable pineapple and melon to the more Asian exotica that is the aptly named Dragon Fruit and the pungent Durian.

In our first two days here we have done some of our favourite activities in Bangkok. After checking in to the cheap but very clean Bella Bella Guesthouse in Banlampu, the first thing we did was to grab some fresh stir-fried food from a street vendor. We found a stall specialising in vegetarian food, so we didn’t have to hover over the dried shrimps and say no repeatedly until we had received the food without their liberal application, while enjoying fantastically cooked and delicious tofu with garlic, fried vegetables with tofu and spicy salad with tofu. Next door was a smoothie bar run by two lady boys. All around were pot plants on the street. We then took a ferry down the river to get a cool breeze and away from the traffic noise and followed that with a Thai massage in a tranquil garden. Georgia then called into a 7-11 for an ice lolly. That finished the evening, and a stretch of 32 hours flying without sleep, perfectly. We were in bed after 9pm, jetlag beating.

The next day, Friday 7th, we visited the Royal Barges Museum, a floating delight of sparkling gold leaf, coloured glass and ornate wood carving. There are four graceful boats still kept to in immaculate condition to carry the royal family along the river for major ceremonies. The bowhead of each is carved into a mythical being that carried one of Brahma or Vishnu in Indian epics, including a multi-headed serpent-like Naga, a garuda and a bird. The walk to the museum was along narrow alleys between houses given a glimpse of how Bangkok may have been 50 years ago before the rise of concrete and futuristic skyscrapers. We went on the river again then had a failed evening of shopping and drinking, the mall had closed by the time we got there, the skybar enforced a no sandle dress code. We made up for it with a beer under a tree back on the street of or guest house.

Stottie Welcome to Newcastle

2008-11-07T04:14:00.001-08:00

P_DSC_6805_1
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

Which other airport boasts a Greggs the Bakers next to the Check-In desks? Every airport should have one so that pasties, buns and stotties are available the minute you land or for a last taste of Britain before flying. I was tempted to take a stottie to show off our ethnic cultural food to Thais but the added weight would have put my bags over the weight allowance. They will have to wait another time. Even better were the normal highstreet prices, infact a cheese and onion pastie here was 10p cheaper than Sheffield city centre. Tea was good but the coffee was reportedly washing-up water standard.

Louis de Bernieres on Mandolin

2008-10-17T06:23:00.001-07:00

Read my short article here -

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/observations-captain-louiss-mandolin-963908.html

From Buccanear to F'Kinnear

2008-10-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

When Joe Kinnear held his first bleeping press conference as manager of Newcastle United.

The first press conference perfomance by Newcastle United's latest new manager takes me back to the mid-1990s. King Kevin Keegan ruled supreme and Newcastle had such a attack-minded swashbuckling style that they became styled the Entertainers and everyone's second favourite team. Keegan put all in his buccaneering football philosophy and eventually missed out on the Premiership title by a handful of points. Joe Kinnear's surprise appointment to replace Keegan after the Messiah's second coming came to an abrupt end attracted plenty of press amazement. Joe has quickly demonstrated his attacking credentials too. This time it was the assembled journalists who were on the defensive rather than a flat-footed back four as Joe launched into a tirade of F and C words.

The ensuing media attention has made most of how many words have to be bleeped before any of his conference could be broadcast. There is an old adage I have now stopped using when thinking about Newcastle. The one that goes 'it can't get any worse.' Newcastle's stock has plunged quicker than the Dow Jones and instead of the Bank of America coming to the rescue we have someone from Nigeria who, I'm all too sure, has promised to buy the club by email in return for Ashley's bank account details. I would not put it past our lager-swilling mate of the terraces to fall for the scam after being careless enough not to check out the mortgage repayment conditions on St James's Park. How can people become so rich while being so careless?

So what next in the comedy revue that currently is Newcastle United Football Club? I shudder to think what might be round the next corner, who will be behind the next own goal and when they will be next put on the spot.

Will You Buckle?

2008-09-11T03:37:00.000-07:00

Will Buckley performs as the Man Who Wants to be Read in front of an audience of journalism hopefuls at Hepstontall, West Yorkshire. Meanwhile England are beating Croatia 4-1.

Will Buckley sits, slouches and slides around in the faded armchair for an Audience with… in front of a semi-circle of 16 budding journalists. Buckley’s adrenalin-fuelled performance as the self-styled wine swigging, bar-propping journalist coincidentally coincides with England’s resounding victory against Croatia in their World Cup qualifier. It is somewhat ironic that while the Observer’s Senior Sports Writer is given a talk chaired by the Sunday Mirror’s Senior Sports Writer, England are winning their most memorable victory since demolishing Germany 5-1 oh so many years ago. There are a few England fans amongst these wannabe journalists and none of us are able to watch the historic match. At least we start with a match update from Steve, the centre manager. "England are one-nil up." The football fans amongst us are still hankering for the pub at the top of the hill with Setanta Sports. But, alas, the lottery of the journalism course schedule means we are barred from seeing what turns out to be a famous win and another hat trick from a dashing young England forward. Instead, we are face-to-face with Buckley’s dinosaur hack on the edge of an extinction brought on, not by global warming or volcanic eruption, but by the man-made disaster to thoughtful newspaper writing that is the world wide web.

This hyper-active, wiry ‘Charles Hawtrey on speed’ figure of a man with Edward Scissorhand’s haircut reads from his novel The Man Who Hated Football before tackling questions thrown in from the touchline. He stutters, murmurs and shrugs his way through each answer before catching himself digress so far from the subject that he often returns to the same query “what was the question?” He animates anecdotes with an ensemble of comic voices, punctuates points with swirling arms and occasional finger-splayed karate chops to mid air, crosses and uncrosses his legs like a well-dressed Kenny Everett. The only drag is the occasional pull on his plastic Simulated Cigarette nicotine substitute. Buckley’s humour is always to the fore from the journalist who was once, if briefly, a stand-up comic who ended his comedy career in front of a silent audience in Birmingham. The wine goes down and the fevered pitch goes up as he rails against online information overload and instant Internet reporting culled from 24 hour rolling TV news. The only interruption is Steve shouting out the latest score from Croatia. 4-1! But we are so dazzled by Buckley’s performance that the full meaning of what is being played out by England will only sink in with tomorrow's papers.

Buckley freely admits that if he were starting out now he would work on the web though he dislikes the lack of in-depth journalistic writing that it creates. “The web offers great opportunities for new journalists if you are prepared to be dedicated to sending in words, video and photos direct from locations.” He believes that the main thing the journalist should achieve is being challenged by Internet journalism. “The one thing a journalist can do is watch and write about an event and be trusted by the reader to choose what aspects of the event are important. A writer wants to be read, a reader wants to get to the end of the piece. To get the reader to the end means you have succeeded.” He vividly describes the ranks of Guardian web journalists reeling out thousands of words across the globe from the Beijing press office, most typing their copy below TV screens. “One of them wrote as many words in an afternoon as I’ve written in a decade!” The demand from newspaper editors for getting copy onto the Internet instantly is, Buckley argues, devaluing journalism.

Buckley fears for the final extinction of an older, beer-stained, newspaper culture. “The Observer office was a like a dysfunctional club. Nick Cohen could be found asleep under his desk. We used to drink in the Coach and Horses. It was owned by a friend of the Richardsons, not the Krays. No one knew who was inside the dark rooms hidden behind stained-glass windows. You could catch-up with other Observer correspondents returning from assignments in places such as Iraq.” When the traditional pub was converted to a modern café bar and the stained-glass replaced with clear “now everyone can see where we spend our time.”

The days of the drinking hack are clearly marked as the Guardian embraces the immediacy that the Internet offers. Buckley brings back the discussion to the Internet again and again. At one point he questions some of the benefits offered by the web. “Will the Internet undermine celebrity control? Will it really be as democratic as promised?” His own answer on the future of journalism in the digital age is, by necessity, inconclusive but highly pertinent “It’s so fluid now that no one knows what’s going on.”

Time Team

2008-07-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

I was up on a remote, bleak moorland top in the Yorkshire Dales National Park in mid-July filming an episode of Time Team for broadcast in February 2009.

It was a lot of fun and a very interesting experience. Each episode is filmed over 3 days. Basically there is a proper archaeological evaluation carried out with Phil Harding taking the lead in directing one or more of the trenches while John Gator and Stuart Ainsworth give suggestions on where to place trenches. At the same time 3 film crews are making a TV programme. Two separate crews connected by dirt and the past. They intersect regularly through the days - either led by the TV crew who have pre-arranged interviews and discussions to film or by the diggers when they make discoveries and have a part of the story to tell.

The main Time Team characters are mostly real archaeologists who can turn on TV-friendly lines when called upon. Tony Robinson, the only trained actor, is a master at this. One moment getting his coffee cup rained in to, the next smiling and asking the 'right' questions of one of the archaeologists with just a few minutes briefing.

Despite the daily torrential rain everyone remained good-natured and a decent evaluation was carried out. The programme is about navvies on Risehill Tunnel, part of the Carlisle to Settle line. As someone who has spent some time researching navvies through archaeology it was a great opportunity to see a navvy site being excavated, to see some of my ideas being tested and to be able to interpret the features and finds based on my experience at Tin Town. It was also great to catch up with some archaeological friends I've not seen for a while - Stuart Ainsworth, Francis Pryor and Deborah Anderson.

Word and Violin and Hebden Bridge

2008-07-06T06:18:00.000-07:00

A trip up the A629 on Friday, a first visit to Hebden Bridge, a reunion with Colm and Pireeni who we met in Honduras, an evening of poetry and violin. A day when different places, different times collided in West Yorkshire.

We had met Pireeni and Colm on a bus in Honduras between Christmas and New Year 2008. A conversation was struck, a friendship forged over bumpy hill roads. She is Anglo-Tamil Sri Lankan, he Irish and they live together in San Francisco. Amongst many things, she is a poet and he a fiddle composer/player who go by the name of Word and Violin. By luck or fate they were booked to play the Hebden Bridge Arts Festival only 50 miles or so north of Sheffield and we had the happy opportunity to meet again. No buses, no bumpy roads but lots of hills.

Their concert entertained, provoked thought, informed and transported across the globe, meeting again and again in the common threads of Sri Lankan and Irish history and politics. They are worth catching if they play near where you live. Even better for us, was the chance of reacquainting - in tea shops, on hills, by canals, while walking.