Here it is

World Trip 2006

San Francisco
New York
Helsinki
Berlin
Bangkok

Bangkok

17th Oct - Berlin to London to Bangkok - Have I mentioned I hate travel days now? The only thing I really wanted to do today was eat at the KaDeWe department store again before I left Berlin. But I was delayed by a trip to the laundromat and the German Post Office. Rules are rules in Germany and they must be followed. Actually it wasn't so bad, but I could not send home as many things as I would have liked to. One small box cost $100 so the rest was going back into my bulging suitcase.
I met Ricardo at Tegel Airport because he wanted to claim the tax back on a bicycle he had bought. The poor boy rode it all the way to the airport. There was some drama with British Airways in that they had a reservation for me but no ticket. Eventually they let me on the plane and I had to go through the same hoops in London. I've just realised I'm with BA again on my next leg.... so I guess I will experience the same thing again. I'm not sure why BA still insists on paper tickets. They flight over was fairly uninteresting. I think the south American couple next to me were getting it on during the night... but I was too whacked on sleeping pills to care. And nothing could prepare me for Bangkok....

18th Oct - We Love to Shop - Daniel flew across from Singapore to meet me and had already spent a night in our hotel.   I got put in a room which had a sign saying that a pest fumigation was going to be carried out in my room while I am there.   Now I'm in a new room on another floor.   The hotel is grand in size and seems to have everything including a mini zoo downstairs.   But it pretty old and faded.   I doubt we will be spending much time here.
So I found Daniel and last night we wandered about and eventually had dinner at the "Condoms and Cabbage" restaurant near here.   I'm not sure why the naming is, but the food was amazing!   And afterwards instead of an after dinner mint they give you a condom.   And there are dummies all over the place dressed in outfits made from hundreds of condoms.   Later we were deep in chat in a bar by the road when an elephant came up to our table.   And some guy asked us if we would like to pay him some money to feed it.    I couldn't help but notice how tightly squeezed the elephant was on the footpath between our table and someone's brand new SUV.    I guess in Bangkok you can expect anything.
I woke up with a dreaded cold and must have looked like death warmed up.    So instead of temple touring we caught the train down to the shopping area and the massive MBK building.    After 12 hours of shopping we staggered back to the train station.   Highlights of the day were:
- an hour long foot massage
- amazing Thai food in the food court of the Siam Centre (2 courses for $2!)
- tea at the True Cafe
- buying 1000 new t-shirts
- seeing Daniel change his pants in the middle of the shopping centre (he's usually so shy)
- buying illegally copied DVDs
- the Thai people
Okay... I have to say that certain parts of Asia really do have some amazing things.   Daniel and I popped into the True Cafe in the Siam Centre where absolutely everything technologlical seemed to be happening...   yet it was a cafe and a florist as well!   Funky furniture... 24 inch monitors for the net surfers...   cameras, computers, magazines...   these guys really knew how to attract and keep people in their store.   And it seems far away from the crazy city outside.
Daniel also took me up a road that was full of massage parlours and girls calling out to us.   But it seems our whole area is full of them.   Even though it seems like the busiest areas in the city, cats and dogs prowl the streets between the hundreds of street vendors that squeeze onto every inch of the footpaths.    This is an amazing place and I'm sure I'm gonna love it here!

19th Oct - Barefoot in Bangkok - We had a great day hanging out in Bangkok today. After the huge shopping expedition yesterday we decided to be tourists today. This morning we headed down to Saphan Taksin... the last train stop before the river and jumped on a tourist ferry to take us down the river. The river appeared to be full of junk. All sorts of things appeared included a very large bloated dead dog and what appeared to be a dead upside down crocodile.... Daniel didn't see it but said it was probably some kind of large lizard (about the size of a teenage kid!) After that I was watching the contents of the river rather than the amazing buildings on the shores. First stop we went to the Grand Palace... and what an amazing place it was. We had to rent long pants to be able to go inside. And then we jumped on a tuk-tuk to Wat Pho... the home of the world's largest reclining Buddha. That was pretty amazing too. We had to take our shoes off to go inside and leave them in small pigeon holes. Unfortunately that would be the last time I would see my New Balance shoes I had just bought in San Francisco. They served me well for 3 weeks but I guess they have gone to a better home now. We walked just a few blocks before we found a beautiful old lady selling sandals. She took us in and as well as giving me a great deal on some new footwear she also sent us off with a bunch of bananas. There is something about the Thai people that really makes them quite beautiful. They are not at all mean spirited, and seem to be always kind and helpful. After our big day out touring we returned to the hotel for a lie around the pool, then back to the pub for dinner.
Tonite we walked around this neighbour and saw some pretty amazing things. A dwarf man helping a full grown man in a wheel chair into a naked girl dancer bar, transexuals calling out and trying to get us to go into their bars, beggars lying in the middle of the footpaths with missing limbs, and loads and loads of westerner men with young Thai girls in tow. It really is amazing how many bizzare things I saw today. Now I'm exhausted.

20th Oct - Last Day - What happened to my vacation? Later today I will be squeezing everything back into my case and heading to Bangkok Airport to make my way back to Australia. I feel like I've only just scratched the surface of Bangkok. I will have to come back sometime. But I don't think it's a place I would come to alone. I'm up early to use the last of the net access before it runs out and then meet Daniel down in the dining room for the free brekky.

21st Oct - Isn't Jetlag a Funny Thing - The flight home seemed long and laborious.   It's interesting how stubborn I was as I told the old lady (who had been helped onto the plane) that she was sitting in my window seat... and no I would not swap her for her middle seat at the back of the plane... oh the stern looks I got from her daughter and the German tourists in the next row.   If it wasn't long haul I might have considered it.   Funnily enough the daughter took the opportunity to stay in my row.
British Airways took me all the way home.   And now that I have flown with BA, American Airlines, Finnair, Qantas and Alaskan on this trip....   I can say that Qantas is the best. Best service and best entertainment systems onboard.   Next time I travel I will try to book flights which go further with Qantas.
When I arrived home I had the house to myself and some serious jetlag.   I made myself stay awake till 10pm.   But during this time I started to hallucinate.   As I watched TV I could see people looking at me from the corner of my eye in my empty loungeroom.   And then not long after I had gone to bed I woke up needing to go to the toilet... I lay there for quite some time not letting myself get up because I was not familiar with where I was.   I thought I was in someone's house somewhere in Asia and I had no idea where the bathroom would be.   It took some serious convincing that I was in fact in my own bedroom.   Last night I slept for 13 hours. It was so sweet waking up in my own bed and hearing the sounds of the trams clattering past the loft.   Home sweet home !

I will catch up shortly with the photos from Berlin and Bangkok. If you enjoyed the travel log, the photos or the photo shoots in the private room please write me and tell me what you thought. Travel gossip is also welcome!

Phillip

PHOTOS

River cruise
				Don't site too close to the edge Daniel

finding a cool place to rest		Daniel at the Grand Palace	This place was amazing!		Dig the pants we had to rent to enter the palace?


				Our first tuk tuk ride was quite an experience
Wat Po		The world's largest reclining Buddha
Back on the river				Siam Centre for lunch
	Bagging up for the rising river	We actually ate here and the food was great!
Noodles at Siam Centre			Monsters at the Siam Centre		MBK centre
	Markets near Wat Po
					Riding on a tuk tuk
	This is where I last saw my shoes	Shopping for sandals
	Enough shopping!	One of the many red light areas			Condoms and Cabbages
Condoms and Cabbages				Halloween in Bangkok?	I'll take one please
	True cafe			My favourite spot in Bangkok in Siam Paragon

YUM!	A very odd painting in the boys bathroom			We all love MBK
	A hour long foot massage to break up the shopping day	Why are these DVDs sho cheap?	Daniel shopping at the MBK centre