Love, Poetry and Revolution - Thursday 1st August 2024

Pinch and a punch etc.

In the last post (hopefully not) I suggested I'd cover Thailand and RIAT in the next post, i.e. this one.  At the time I envisaged writing a detailed travelogue.  Ain't gonna happen. Time passes (much more than I anticipated) and I'm preparing for another, much shorter, journey.

A whistle-stop summary of Thailand...

The headline summary is that Phuket is beautiful, but full of Russians. Bangkok is an assault on the senses: on my first full day there I went into the seven-storey shopping mall that adjoined our hotel. Crazy place! So many bright lights, so many shops and market stalls, and so many eating places - I had to return to our room for my brain to adjust.

The holiday was split in two, the first week was spent in Phuket with twelve people: six from Q's family and six from mine (depending on where Q sits and assuming son #2's gf is part of 'my' family).  The second week was just Q and I in Bangkok (although my sons plus one did leave the airport in Bangkok to visit the city on their way home), where I played the role of 'conference widower' during the OMEP conference.

Phuket highlights: The food!  (Mango Sticky Rice, to name but one thing) We went on a memorable boat trip, lasting a whole day, visiting Phi Phi Island (Maya Bay, featured in the film, 'The Beach'), Phang Nga Bay and Kao Phing Kan (also referred to as James Bond Island ('The Man with the Golden Gun').  There was swimming, sea canoeing and a great meal at a restaurant by the sea called Baan Rim Naan. I had a fish in a spicy sauce. It was the second hottest Thai food I've ever eaten!  Delicious fish!

Phuket Elephant Sanctuary was incredible. We all got to feed an elephant - the closest I've ever been to an elephant! The elephants have all been rescued and most have injuries as a result of the torture used to persuade them to do tricks or work in logging etc. A very moving place.

There was lots more to Phuket and we never found ourselves sitting around twiddling our thumbs. Sadly, the week went too quickly and the original twelve started heading home, wherever in the world that may be, with the last six of us leaving for Bangkok on Sunday afternoon.

Bangkok, what can I say?  Crazy place, spoilt by tourism.  There are loads of malls, some specialising in luxury Western brands, and it would seem most tourists must come to buy stuff.  Too much rampant capitalism for my liking, which has to be set against the fact that so many Thai people depend on tourism to make a living.  

Q and I were there for the OMEP World Conference, well I guess I wasn't as I had the days to myself and went with Q to the two OMEP evening events.  A highlight of my visit to Bangkok was catching up with an old friend who I went to secondary school with and his Thai wife.  We met up several times, with Q one evening, and had a great time chatting about life.  There's never enough time.  On one day we all went to a Thai temple and all dressed up in Thai costumes for our tour of the temple.  I looked like an extra from 'The King and I'.

Q and I went on an amazing night boat tour of the city on the Chao Phraya River.  An excellent meal was served and accompanied by live music(!!) and Thai dancing.

We had a great holiday and it was super special to get so much family together from across the World. Even though this was the first time some of them had met, everyone got on well. Some like houses on fire!!

Thailand is beautiful, especially away from the biggest cities.

I may well go to another OMEP World conference - next year's is in Bologna.

The day after the long flight home, five of us went to the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire. A stark, and much noisier, contrast.  We all had a great time, staying until after the end of the flying display so we could wander the static park and talk to some of the pilots.

Since then I've been in Liverpool for a few days, which I'll probably save for the next post. 

John Carroll Kirby /  'Mates'  / 'Blowout'

[[]]