I've been thinking.....

Now this phrase usually has Chris running for cover whilst muttering 'Oh God!!'. Sadie uses it all the time.....I have tried to find an alternative (I usually start my sentence with 'So....' and then share my words of wisdom.....you can stop laughing at the idea I may have words of wisdom!!) but I think 'So' wouldn't really work as a blog title.
I seem to have digressed a bit.

Anyway, our lovely friend Alex e-mailed me over the weekend and in her e-mail she said 'I do hope that you and Chris haven't picked up any of the local accents!!' and it got me thinking.....Now before this sends any of you into a blind panic neither of us actually sound Thai but I have actually picked up a Thaiism (Is that the right word?) - I should explain.

The Thai's have a word/noise which sounds a bit like oooooooooeeeeeeeee (think ooooo as in loo) which can be used to cover a multitude of situations - a short ooeee could be used to express shock, a ooooowheeeee to express exasperation, an ooooooooooooeee to express pain - I'm sure you are now getting the picture. Well I have picked up this delightful little expression and I have discovered that I now use it on a regular basis (I have even stopped swearing.....shhhh......don't tell my Gran I ever swore!!). I hadn't really thought about it till Alex's e-mail and was shocked to discover that there are other things

I now find eating with a knife and fork a bit odd. Normally you eat Thai food either with your fingers (such as spring rolls) or with a fork and spoon (Thai food is a bit like Chinese in that it's usually bite size). If I have something on my plate which needs to be cut up I either cut it with the edge of my spoon or, if I really have to, my knife and then eat it with my fork and spoon!!

I no longer like ordering a plate of food just for me. It feels wrong (rude almost) not to order something and then put it in the middle of the table for everyone to share. (I love this way of eating....I no longer suffer from food envy!!). Recently Chris and I went to an Italian restaurant - we ordered pizza and pasta and then had to ask for two extra plates so that we could put everything in the middle and share it.

When did this happen and why didn't anyone tell me about it?

Phuket Plane Crash

A One-Two-Go Passenger jet with 130 people on board has crashed whilst trying to land in bad weather at Phuket Airport. It's reported that 90 people have died and many of the survivors are in hospital. I've just been onto the Bangkok Post website and am very thankful to say that no-one I know was on that plane (I have friends who were heading there this weekend).

Our thoughts go to anyone who has been, or knows someone who has been, affected by this tragedy.

I just had to share this with you

Last night we went out to Cheap Charlies for a drink before grabbing some dinner. We met an American guy called Clayton who comes to Thailand once a year for the big Jewellery fair that's held here. Now......don't ask me how the hell we got onto the topic (he was very interesting....I learned all about fish tongues but won't go into that!!) but he ended up telling us a very funny true story (well we laughed in between eeeuuuwwws)....

The setting is Alabama. All the neighbourhood kids congregate at one house as they always do because the woman who lives there is not just Mom to her two kids but acts as a sort of Mom to all the kids. Their house is the biggest on the street and their garden backs onto the forest - at the house the boys are allowed to play with their catapults, climb trees etc. Well, one morning the Mom spots one of the boys munching away on something - She has lemonade and sandwiches for the kids but has not called them in for lunch yet so she goes over
'Whatcha eating?' she asks
'Dog Chocolate' he responds
'What on earth is Dog Chocolate?' she asks
and the little boy points to the ground where there is a dried up dog poo and says
'Dog Chocolate'

Eeeeeeeuuuuuuwwwwww - apparently that boy is now in his mid 30's is married with kids and works as a fireman and everytime the Mom see's him she points him out to whoever she is standing next to and quietly says 'That's the Dog Chocolate boy'


The truth is stranger than fiction!!!

Chris is chuffed to bits.......

Those of you that know Chris will know that he is an avid reader of The Fortean Times and has been for some years (We have a big green box which is full of past issues). Well, when we visited Kanchanaburi with Sadie and Margaret we visited a cave at Wampo wooden Viaduct which had been used as a hospital (You can read about our trip here). Most people that were treated in that cave didn't make it back out again - It's a very odd place!!. Whilst we were there Chris spotted a spiders web that really looked like a skull and he took a photograph of it (It's a bit creepy isn't it!!).

For ages he's been talking about sending it into The Fortean Times and on Tuesday he finally got round to it. It's now on their website - you can see it by clicking here

Busy couple of days....

Yesterday I got a phone call from my friend Gabrielle who is launching a new lingerie company here called Smoochie Smoochie (It's is going to be bliss to actually be able to buy a bra that fits!!!) asking if I would donate one of my pictures for a door prize at their launch - of course I said yes. I then met my friend Jen for lunch and we went and collected her drawing from the framers (She bought one of my originals!! Happy wiggle in chair) and dropped off another print to be framed. I then hot footed it over to Pandora's to collect two framed drawings that I had said I would was deliver to my friend Steph (I was seeing her on Thursday anyway so it saved her a trip) got home and did some marketing stuff for Gabrielle. It was a busy day!!

Today there was a BWG coffee morning at the Neilson Hayes Library over in Silom. The Library was founded in 1869 as a way of serving Bangkok's large English speaking community and it's the oldest non-profit in the kingdom of Thailand. I had never been before and I have to say that the building is stunning. It's got a huge dome which they use to exhibit different artists work, all the shelving inside is original and they have a wee tunnel that runs round the back of all the book shelves which serves as an old fashioned form of air-conditioning - it was fascinating. I ended up having a chat with one of the board members who is responsible for putting on the art exhibitions (It looks like I may be having another one!! So watch this space........). I grabbed some lunch with Louise and Julie, spoke with Allyson about becoming a vendor (I will now be selling my art work at the November and December BWG lunches so will have to get cracking on some new stuff), spoke to a Tailors about getting a dress made for the St. Andrews ball and then headed home to get ready to go to the Smoochie Smoochie launch.

The launch was really good (I bought a very cool necklace) and Chris was a happy camper as he got to see lots of women in their bra's and knickers.....We didn't stay long enough for me to get the chance to buy some of the lingerie but my friend Sue is going to host a party at her house at the end of the month so I will get some then!!

Ceramic Touch Programme

I've mentioned before that I am helping put together 'Touch Tours' for Bangkok's National Museum so that blind tourists (There is another working party putting something together for blind Thai's) can still appreciate the art and culture of Thailand. (You can read about it here.)

Well yesterday our working group went back to the ceramic museum to try out their learning by touch programme - The idea was that it would give us a better understanding of what we need to be considering for our tours. It was absolutely brilliant. We were taught how to identify three different types of ceramics -

Chinese - this is usually quite fine and has a glaze over the entire surface including the base (In the photo on your right you can see Chinese and Sisatchanalai)

Sukhothai - the base is very roughly cut and has no glaze on. Often you can find four or five small indents inside the dish this is because when they are being fired they are stacked one on top of the other with a little stand between them and it's the feet on the stand which make the indents. (If you look carefully you can see the dents in this one)

Sisatchanalai - the base is smooth and the glaze comes right down over the edge of it. When this type of pottery is fired it sits on top of a little chimney which forms a small circle inside the base and when you touch it you can feel the ring inside it . The other give a way is that the clay usually has some kind of design carved into it.

When we removed the blindfolds I discovered that the bowl I had was from an actual Shipwreck and was made in the 15th Century!! (OMG!!!.....put the bowl down and move slowly away from the table). We then went into their actual Museum area - it has been designed to resemble a Thai kiln so you walk through a long tunnel before getting into actual body of it......they had some beautiful pieces of pottery!!. I spoke with Dr Roxanna Brown and she has given me permission to go back to draw some of the pieces (Some of the designs were absolutely out of this world!!) - she has even said that they will open up the cases so that I can take photographs for reference. How cool is that!!

Happy Anniversary

We are officially celebrating this weekend........

One year ago today (I know.....can you believe it!!) we arrived in Thailand with two mammoth suitcases wondering what the hell we had let ourselves in for!! We both love the place and have had a fantastic first year - It is amazing how things that we used to think were really strange are now common place.

In saying that I don't think I will ever get used to seeing things like this.....