SURPRISE!!!!!!! Amy, Sarah, Scott and Jeff drop by......

For over a month now we have been scheming behind the scenes to plan the biggest surprise of Katie's life. On Saturday September 23rd, Amy Halpenny, Jeff Magwood, Sarah Burton and Scott Langley flew into Bangkok - unknown to Katie. I managed to arrange with some of our friends over here (thanks Lisa, Ellen & Matt) to take Katie out for the day while I picked up our guests and got things ready.

That evening Katie was expecting me to come down to join her at a party. When I called her and told her I had "food poisoning", she, like the great wife she is, hopped in a cab and hurried back to take care of me. Expecting to find a sick husband lying in bed, she got the surprise of a lifetime when the covers flew off the bed and there were Amy, Jeff, Sarah & Scott in addition to me. We also managed to get the entire surprise on tape. Click here for the video replay.

It was a magical moment! (And really funny) The rest of the night is a little bit of a blur thanks to the Thai Red Bull and Absolute but it was an amazing kick off to what was to be an incredible two weeks.

Our first holiday - Krabi Island

Stories to come.................

Pantip Plaza - The Pirate Mecca

Thai word: Pantip

English translation: 6 floors of counterfit DVD's , electronics and software

The translation may be fake but the place is not. I have found my mecca!
If it is digital, it's here, and for a fraction of the cost of Future shop :)

Put your Christmas orders in early!

Snacks

From country to country, it is always interesting to find out what the locals are snacking on to gain some insight into the culture. Here are a few questions that I have asked so far:



1. Could smelly dried fish heads be tastier than they appear?

2. Is drying rather than cooking fish the better way to go?

3. Why hasn't fruit/hot chilli combo made it over to Canada yet?

4. Are deep fried locusts the next Dorito?

Day Trips - Grand & Summer Palaces

Nice to finally leave the gates of Nichada and get out see some of the sights that this great country has to offer. We visited the Grand Palace of Bangkok which was really interesting. I managed to get lost and hooked up with another group for a while (first pic :) ) but joined Katie and the others to finish the tour of this gold plated palace. No joke! All of the gold temples you see in the pictures are indeed covered in gold leaf, possible only by the proceeds from the millions of tourist's that pay to visit the palace each year.

Next up was the Summer palace near Ayuthaya (the old capital). Why walk around when you can rent golf carts for 5 dollars that let you buzz around the monuments at top speed. Perfect for people with short attenton spans ;).

Day Trips - Ayutthaya the old capital

Founded c. 1350, Ayutthaya became the capital of Thailand. It was destroyed by the Burmese
in the 18th century. The Thai's are still bitter! Like a mini Angkor Wat, this series of temples only 1 hour away is really refreshing to experience as it is like a step back in time and a sharp contrast from greater Bangkok.