No rest for the wicked!!!

On Monday we went along to Wat Po and then had lunch at the Oriental followed by drinks on the terrace. It was really lovely sipping cocktails and watching the boats scoot up and down the river - it was also bloody expensive but definately worth doing!! (Although when we had dinner that night Derek commented that Moon's cooking was better than the food we had had at the hotel - I must say that I agreed with him!!).

On Tuesday Jo and I were supposed to be going to visit the Fatima Centre but there was a bit of a mix up and it was postponed so we went along to Crepes and Co and had a lovely relaxing lunch before Tracey and Derek headed off for their romantic night at the Oriental (They had booked it before coming and Chris and I had decided that we would treat Jo to a lovely dinner at Rang Mahal for her birthday). I took her along to Take Care Beauty Salon (on Soi 33 if anyone is interested) and we had a manicure and pedicure. It was hilarious - she is the first person I have taken that didn't enjoy the experience (Half way through she was threatening to do a Godzilla impression - roar, stand up and shake them off!!) although she did decide that she wanted her nails to match her phone and caused much amusement round the shop as the girl who was doing her nails wondered off with her phone to get the right colour!! We had a nice meal that evening but I think we were all a bit too tired to really appreciate it - we were in bed by about 10pm (It's all this wild living - we're not used to it!!)

On Wednesday Jo and I went along to the Erawan Shrine at Chit Lom. It really is a sight to behold....the story goes that when building the Erawan Hotel (This is now the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel) the foundations were placed on the wrong date causing a series of mishaps including cost overruns, injured labourers and the loss of a shipload of Italian marble intended for the building. An astrologer was brought in who said that they needed to build a shrine with the four-headed image of Brahma, or Phra Phrom in Thai. The shrine was unveiled on the 9th of November 1956 and that was the end of the building problems. It is now famous for bringing good fortune and people go there to give offerings of flower garlands, incense, light candles and, if a wish has been granted, the spirits are thanked by donating teak elephants or by commissioning the classical Thai dancers that are there. We had a lovely morning people watching then we headed to the Erawan Tearoom for lunch - If you have not been you really must!! It's lovely and was apparently the first restaurant in Bangkok to serve Chocolate cake!! We met up with Tracey and Derek at MBK (had more yummy puddings) then spent the rest of the afternoon getting prints done from my original drawings to take to Pandora's.

On Thursday Tracey and Derek visited the Erawan Shrine, Tearoom and then went to Lumpini Park whilst Jo and I went along to the BWG Coffee morning that was being hosted at Pandora's and then visited the Fatima Centre. The coffee was a strange one!!! It was actually in the Indian Restaurant next to Pandora's (the shop is too small for everyone to fit into) - I thought that Wellie was going to give a talk on setting up a business in Thailand (you know....a hints and tips sort of thing) then everyone was going to have a chance to do some shopping (hence the reason I was trying to get all my prints organised!!) but it wasn't!! She ended up splitting us up into groups and running a workshop come training course - which didn't really answer any questions about how to set up a business in Thailand but highlighted how difficult it was (which most of us already knew!!). People were coming up to me at the end saying 'I didn't get to do any shopping - I was going to buy one of your drawings but now I have to go!!' which was a bit of a bummer. (I was hoping to raise some money so I could pay for the framing I need to get done prior to the exhibition). When I mentioned it to Wellie she said that the morning had not been about shopping which is fair enough but I think she missed a great opportunity to make some money!! After the coffee Jo, Carolyn, Louise (Carolyn's daughter), Lynne, Debbie and Jasmine (Debbie's daughter) all headed over to the Fatima Centre. Sister Louise gave us a tour and Jo got to see one of the projects that is currently being run here.

On Friday I spent the day trying to plough through all the e-mails that had been building up since my internet provider had decided that we didn't live here anymore and had terminated our access!! Jo, Tracey and Derek headed off to Ayutthaya for the day.