London:snow,delays,Eurostar delayed by 'fluffy'snow

Last Friday after a 5 hour delay at Tunis arirport my British Airways flight to London finallly took off;no announcments made or compensation given, just the continous message 'en retard' on the departures board.
However,no problems at Heathrow as there seemed to be only snow in the south which caused Gatwick airport to close for 2 hours and cancel lots of flights.Perhaps I should have flown to Heathrow!

The Eurostar trains were delayed with many irate passengers stranded in Paris and London a bizarre explanation of 'fluffy snow' was given for the breakdown of the trains.
The weekend in London was quite warm and sunny but Monday the sky grey and cloudy with a mixture and snow hitting the streets of London causing traffic to almost come to a grinding halt.

Hamanment

Lots of nice sandy beaches.There were quite a few tourists though mostly from Germany.
I had a brief swim on the first day in Hammamet.
The next day visited the fort and La Medina;good view from the top of the fort.

Laurie all cut up

To cut a long story short Laurie cut her foot on a broken bottle in the street while going to Andy's car(he as was giving us a lift back home).At first it seemed a small cut but when we saw the blood seeping out Andy's quickly administed first aid.
We went to the clinic in La Marsa and Laurie had to have stiches in her foot and later on a Tetanus injection.

Sidi Bou Said

Picnic on the beach,with Laurie and Janet at Sidi Bou Said.
A nice location but a shame about all the rubbish at the back of the beach.
Brief swim while Laurie swam for much longer enjoying the calmness and peacefulness of the sea.Janet stayed on the beach catching as much sun as she could.

Later walked up to the cafe/terrace overlooking the beach and port.
A great place to watch the sun set.

La Sousse

Had a great time last weekend in La Sousse,a seaside resort two hours by train.The hotel Majarba and Majarba Club was a great place to stay at,especially in terms of paying only 32 Dinars(15 pounds)a night(which also included breakfast).In the afternoon we went to the local port and went on a short cruise on a pirate ship.In the evening after dinner at'Trois Dauphins' we went to 'The Living Room' nightclub opposite the Bananas club.We were all under dressed in comparision to the local glitzy clientele.

Laurie,Janet(two new teachers) and I also went to El Jem and saw the impressive Colosseum.

As this was the holiday weekend the trains were jammed packed and as the train pulled in with the passengers getting off the train we ran up and down the platform desperately hoping to find a carriage with some seats.However,we ended up in the engine control room at the end of the train with some young soldiers (included two women)

Back at La Sousse the next day I had a swim in the sea;the water was a nice clear aqua blue colour and though the water was cold it was an invigorating swim.

After my swim,visited the Medina area which included:
a beautiful tiled Andalucian house with a good view of the town,the Ribat fortress,and also a quick walk through the Souks.
Later visited the Kasbah and the catacombs(not really worth the effort of finding this place;the people running the place needed some more skeltons and could also have included some information and also the mosaics could have been left inside the tunnels rather than be
put in a museum.)

In the late afternooon it was great to walk along the sandy beach listening to the waves gently crashing onto the shore before heading to the train station to return to Tunis.

Tunis

Well I'm now in the land of camels,though I haven't seen any yet.

The weather is a little wintry, sunny with lots of rain.

Looks like there are lots of interesting places to visit including Soussse on the East coast of Tunisia and Tatatouinne in the south of Tunisia.

09 09 09

Yesterday was an important day in Thailand,the ninth day of the ninth month of 2009.
With the belief that the number nine is very lucky and especially yesterday with the combination of all those nines the day could be deemed to be really lucky for any new babies born on that day or anyone wishing to start a new venture or business;Tata Young the Thai pop star launched her new album at the Don Muang Airport;which had been shut down especially for Tata.

There also was a celebration of the release of the remastered Beatles albums;and the number nine plays its part on the Beatles album 'Abbey Road'where the last ends with the number nine continually being repeated.

Krabi/Phi Phi Island

Last week with Alicia went to Krabi and also did a speedboat trip to Phi Phi Islands and Bamboo Island doing lots of swimming and snorkelling.It was nice to visit Maya Bay again but the place was over run with boats and tourists one of the beach was completely full of tourists.
Did the climb to the Viewpoint;it was woth the climb for the death defying view looking down on the island!However,the climb down to the Lagoon was more difficult because of the slippery muddy conditions and the jagged rocks that had be navigated so I only reached the second to last stage of getting to the Lagoo.About half the people who attempted the climb were brave enough to go all the way down to the Lagoon.Oh well! the next time;I was too tired from all the swimming and snorkelling to go right down to the end.

Malaysia Borneo

Nearly at the end of my time in in Sabah;it would have been nice to have spent more time here as there's a plenty of interesting things to see and do.
Anyway in Sandakan no beach here just really a different place to stay and then back to Kota Kinabalu the next day.Met an interesting guy who has been travelling aound for the past four years in search of his 'home',who has been documenting his travels
on his web site:http://www.thelongestwayhome.com/index.html

Spend a few days in Kuala Lumpur.
Visited the Putrajaya/Cyberjaya city and went on a pleasant boat cruise on the lake.

I also visited the Bird Park as I went late in the afternoon about an hour before closing time it was empty of visitors just an American woman and me.There were loads of storks in nearly every part of the park and as it was virtually empty the storks felt relaxed about walking and flying about without being annoyed by camera snapping tourists.

Malaysia Borneo

Delays with both my Air Asia flights to Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu over an hour delay for each flight so it was rather boring spending so much time at the airport.

At the moment I'm in the East coast town of Sandakan got here by the shuttle bus from the Probosis Monkey santuary,the day before I had been to the Orangutuan Sanctuary at Sepilok.
I stayed at a dormitory style place,just 5 minutes away from the Orang Utan Santuary,in English money,I guess about 8-10 pounds but in general the accomodation in Sabah is cheap;it just depends on what you want.
Actually there was a nice big swimming pool,great to cool off at the end of the day!
Today I saw loads of the 'big nose' monkeys,why do they have such big noses ?;apparently it's a sign of their male proweness and the abilty to attract the females.As well as the monkeys also saw an egret,some hornbills,a stork,squirells,crocodiles with loads of mosquitoes molesting them so quite an animal packed day. Unfortunately on Tuesday my the LCD screen of my digital camera went weird as if I'd dropped it so all I could see was a big black hole against a grey murky background so it meant I had to take photos 'blind' and hope the photos would turn out

OK.

Pat's Environment Diary(Part 6)

Australia town bans bottled water !

A rural town in Australia has voted overwhelmingly to ban the sale of bottled water over concerns about its environmental impact.
Campaigners say Bundanoon, in New South Wales, may be the first community in the world to have such a ban.
They say huge amounts of resources are used to extract, package and transport bottled water.
The discarded plastic bottles then end up as litter or go into landfill sites, the "Bundy on Tap" campaign says.

click http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8141569.stm for the complete news story.

The French are here!

Yes it's La Fete again,for the 6th year in Bangkok,and so far one of the best events I've seen so far was the show Lands End.

Pat's Environment Diary(Part 5)

China 'unfairly seen as eco-villain'

China is often seen as the main villain in contributing to the ever increasing global warming with its massive expansion of its cities and infrastructure;in addition its exploitation of the Earth's energy and natural resources isn't imroving China's image.

However,China has also made dramatic strides in protecting the best examples of natural habitats in nature reserves and other protected areas

click http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8100988.stm
for the BBC NEWS article

Pat's Environment Day Diary (Part 4)

Well this is the last day of week one of my diary.Today I took some paper and plastic bottles to the recycling bins at the entrance to the Siam Shopping Centre.
In general people don't hhave much time to recycle things and so far I've only found recycling bins at the Siam Shopping Centre.

And despite lots of promotions and advertising Bangkok does not seem to do much in the way of recycling. There are a few projects with the different coloured rubbish bins but they hardly affect the people in Bangkok;and their attitude towards recycling remains unchanged.

In fact the scavengers in Bangkok are the main form of recycling the rubbish ;in my street I often see a man with his three-wheeler collecting all kinds of household rubbish and sitting in the road sorting out the newspapers,cardboard boxes,paper,plastic bottles,metal cans.

Pat's Environment Day Diary (Part 3)

Today I didn't do many environmentally friendly things apart from remembering to switch off any unneccessary lights,the standby lights on my computer,and use the air conditioning less often.
This morning(Saturday) I took some jam jars to the recycling bins at Siam shooping centre but the two bins(extremely small ones!) that are there are only for paper or plastic/cans.In fact Bangkok doesn't seem to have big recycling containers like in Europe.

Here is some good news: Discovering a 'lost forest'
Mount Mabu, in northern Mozambique, is a vast forest untouched by the modern world.

Scientists from London's Royal Botanic Gardens came across it after looking at satellite images on Google Earth.

Intrigued, they set off on what they believe is the first expedition. Once there, they discovered what are thought to be some new species.

The expedition leader was Jonathan Timberlake.
click the link to see a audioslideshow: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7860561.stm

Pat's World Environment Day Diary (Part 2)

On Wednesday I was doing limericks with my Pronunciation class and in the last part of the class the students wrote up their opinions on saving the environment;two of the girls incorporated their ideas into a limerick! By the way I must remember to switch off the stand-by lights for my computer at home;the other night I forgot.
Is it time to take tuna off the menu? Bluefin tuna - the staple of sushi boxes the world over - is on the brink of extinction, with its plight highlighted in a new film. Sandwich seller Pret A Manger is changing its stance on tuna, but should the rest of us follow suit?


click the link for more info:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8090277.stm

Pat's Environment Day Diary

Well,what can I do to save Planet Earth and its people destroying their home?
First of I don't really do that many environmental friendly things,well I;m not a member of Greenpeace and I don't go planting lots of trees but in the mornings I try to save energy (and money;I save over 2,000 Baht a month)by walking to the Sky Train station Ari (it's only a fifteen minutes walk)rather than taking a motorbike taxi or normal taxi and I do the same thing when returning home.The walk is also good exercie.My landlady uses her car to do a ten second journey to a nearby block of flats where she rents out property!That is extreme laziness! and what a waste of petrol!

Yesterday afternoon I saw the film "Home"-very impressive;actually I had already seen the film on channel 9 on early Saturday morning but it was interesting to see the film up on the big screen.

Today: This morning I took some plastic bottles to a recycling bin;however,there weren't any recycling bins in the area of Ari but there were some at the entrance of Siam Shopping Centre;a long way to recycle things!
I've just signed up to Prince Charles's Rainforest Project.

to be continued.....

Pat

Bangkok Art Centre:prints and drawings exhibition

Some interesting prints and drawings plus you can buy a CD with images of all the prints and drawings.

Bangkok Bananas

Bangkok goes bananas with lots of interesting comtempory art shows.
On sunday watched the last show at the Paragon Parc with the fibre glass alien woman keeping a watchful eye over the various performances.
Although the drizzling rain could have dampened the spirits of the performers they were enthusiastic in their performances.

Hanoi

Mum and me had an early Pho for breakfast.Later we went to the Temple of Literature.
Then we went to the Ho Chi Minh mausolleum where mum had a little accident hurting cutting her head when she went to look at a model tuk tuk in a souvenir shop;the pavements are so uneven here.

v

Vietnam Hoi An

Lovely town- to relax in for the last part of the holiday in Vietnam!
On the first evening I ended up playing a Vietnamese version of Bingo!
On the second day went on a day trip to My Son and then on the way back we stopped at an island opposite Hoi An and visited the handicrafts workshops.
Later in the afternoon I borrowed a bike from the hotel and headed off towards the nearby beach,whihc was packed as it was the holiday weekend. The sea was a little rough and the sky overcast,grey and slightly moody;for some reason I prefer the beach like this it seems there's more atmosphere.
In the evening the town's really picturesque with all the brightly lit lanterns in the shops.

Vietnam:Dalat

Took a motorbike "City Tour" with the Easy Riders.;it's a great way to see the city and the surrounding countryside.
On the tour we visited the Chicken Village,then the Dalatana Waterfall,Paradise Lake and the nearby Mediatation temple,the Crazy House which reminded me of the architecture styles of Gaudi and Hundertwasser,the old French train station and a Chinese Temple.

Vietnam:Ho Chi Minh

Pak Chong,Petchaburi and Hui Hin

The Three Pagodas Pass

On Tuesday on a day trip in Kanchanburi I visited The Three Pagodas Pass,the Mon Bridge and also did a short boat trip to a sunken temple just up the river from the bridge.The next day while waiting by the River Kwai Bridge for the over due train to Bangkok the heavens opened up and rained really heavily for an hour;the area around me quickly became flooded.

Headless body:Italian tourist

The man who recently lost his head has been discovered to be an Italian tourist;whose life,and apparently his love life as well,wasn't running too smoothly so his way out was a rather dramatic suicide at the Rama Bridge in Bangkok.
Clues from the Italian white bag attached to the head hanging from the bridge and the Thai owner of a guest house,where he had been recently been staying all pinpointed to the identity of the Italian Tocassin.

Don't lose your head!

Your life might be in dire straits but don't lose your head -keep calm.
Obviously life wasn't woking out for one particular Russian tourist;whose head was found dangling from the Rama IX bridge over the Chao Praya river of Bangkok.
The following day the body was later found floating futher down the river.
Perhaps the ruthless killing was a warning sign to the Russia mafia to stay out of the Thai/Chinese mafia territory.
There was a note,to a mysterious woman called Cath,attached to the head.
Can CSI Bangkok solve the case;are their forensics up to it?

Chicago

The nearest thing to visiting the city of Chicago ;last Tuesday I finally got to see 'All that jazz' performed live in the Chicago musical.

Lopburi "King Narai the Great" fair

Yesterday I took the train to Lopburi to visit the "King Narai the Great" fair;it was far more interesting and spectacular than I'd imagined:the colourful historical parade,the light and sound shows,the old style market stalls the gardens and the fireworks displays.

A Cold Spell in Thailand!

A fairly cold spell of weather has hit Thailand in the last few days;a cold fron from China bringing frost to the mountains and hills of Chiang Mai.
For me it's a welcome relief from the usual hot and humid weather especially in the evening and at night.

Final Days of the Holidays

On the last day of my time in London Tony and me went to the Ian Fleming/James Bond exhibition at the Imperial War Museum http://london.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/fleming/highlights.html
and later on in the evening saw the comedy
"The Thirty Nine Steps".http://www.spike.com/ifilmdetail/2904590/share

Concert at St.Martins in the Fields

Mum,Tony and me saw in the new year with some classical music;a concert at St.Martins in the Fields.The first part of the concert was quite unusual with modern pieces,more like the background music for a film,and the final part by Hayden was more traditional.

New Year's Eve 2008

Celebrated New Year's Eve by seeing the London Eye fireworks from Lambeth Bridge;good but the bangs didn't seem particularly very loud.
http://london.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/fleming/highlights.html