Hi All,
I have been
very slow in getting another post up, sorry about that! Just saw the last one
was written in August! Time has flown by as usual and Christmas is just around
the corner. Christmas trees have already been popping up in Bangkok at the big shopping centers! Hard to
believe!
Well the last
couple months have been jammed packed as usual. August is a bit of a blur now! I
have been travelling so much still, China
and Japan
again in August, my two un-favorite places! The customers in Japan are hard work and the food in China is
terrible! I will always find something to whine about!
September was a
bit more relaxing, I managed to get about 3 weeks at home, at the same time as
Mike – has to be the longest we have been home together for a long time, years
maybe?! Mary and Gina also came to Thailand in September and we
managed to eat and shop up a storm as usual. Mary packed a leg of lamb,
sausages and chops into her luggage (as she always does) to bring with her!
Lucky me got a roast lamb, home cooked by Mary for my birthday – it doesn’t get
much better than that! The sausages and chops don’t last long – so if anyone is
planning a visit, remember the lamb!
Also in
September I attended my first Bangkok AFL grand final do! It’s a big event on
the expat calendar and I finally got to go! Its $100 a head with free flow
booze and food from 9am – 3pm! Because of the time difference, it’s an early
start here! They always bring over an Aussie celebrity to ‘host’ the day. Last
year they had David Boon! This year they went back to an actual footy star and
we had Ron Barassi! It was a great day – we got pies at half time (which is a
big treat for any aussie), sang the anthem and a guy on our table won $1000 by
guessing the margin! It was a big and fab day and I will be definitely going
again. I ‘kinda’ got my photo taken with Ron and I also managed to pass him on
the way back from the loo – I said “Hi Ron, good show” and Ron said “Sure is”
and smiled! My little brush with AFL royalty!
Back into
travel for October, China
a couple more times. We have expanded our operations in China so I will
be spending a lot of time there for the foreseeable future! Mike and I managed
to have a weekend in Singapore,
staying with a guy he works with. Also in October, we got another sneaky
weekend away to Seoul Korea! I was already in Beijing and
Mike was in Korea, so I flew across Friday night and I know an aussie guy in
Korea, so we had a bit of a look around and had a fair bit of Korean BBQ! Its
delicious! When you go into the restaurant, you sit at a table with a mini-bbq
on your table! They then bring out raw thin-sliced meat (beef or chicken etc)
and you cook it yourself on the table in front of you! It’s delicious!!! We did
a fair bit of that!
Mike’s birthday
was also in October! Hard to believe it has been a year since his big 30th
bash in Malaysia,
but yep, he is now well into it at 31! He got a great cooking class voucher from
Mum and Rick to learn Indian food, which we love, so we will be doing that
really soon. Notice, I said ‘we’ – he may learn but I am the one that will be
doing the cooking!!!
That gets me to
November and there was another BIG aussie-origin event which I went to for the
first time! MELBOURNE
CUP – and my, do they know how to put on a good show. Once again, $100 a head with free flow booze and food
from 9am – 3pm, this time its 90% women done up in all sorts of combinations of
hats and dresses! There are fashion parades and prizes and its bigger than
anything I have seen in Australia
for the cup. I was done up and feeling pretty lucky with myself. I got Viewed
in both sweeps I went in. So much for the favourite, I think its still running!
Anyhow, after we get kicked out at 3pm, there is an afterparty at an expat pub
up the road and that managed to go on for hours – lets just say, you don’t want
to count how many hours the entire day took! Great day, but I definitely need
another year to decide if I can do it again!
Christmas is around the corner
and Mike and I are both coming back home! I land in Melbourne on the 16th
of December (and counting) a couple days work in Melbourne then land in Tassie
on the 22nd till the 4th of January! It has to be our
longest trip to Tassie since we moved away and we are both looking forward to
it! Dad is also heading home and after Christmas, the whole gang (+ the Tiller
family and a few straggler mates) are heading to St Helens
where we have rented a holiday house! I cant wait to sit on the beach and enjoy
a ‘real’ Tassie beer – only 36-ish days to go!
Hoping to get to see
everyone this time around, with the extra days gives us a chance to relax after
a hectic year and also catch up with everyone! I have a wedding in Perth in March and I need to present at a chicken
conference in Sydney in February so Ill be back in Aus a
couple times in the first half of the year! 2010 see us staying in Bangkok, so anyone that is
thinking of a tropical holiday – do it!
Hope that gives you all an
update on what’s happening Bangkok-side. The rainy season has just finished (a
bit like Tassie I hear!) and winter is about to start. I say ‘winter’ very,
very lightly. On average Bangkok
most days is around 30-33 degrees. In the full 3 weeks of winter we will
probably get, it may drop to a max of 25 degrees during the day and maybe a bit
cooler over night – an my-o-my, the Thai people do complain! In the mountains
it gets a bit cooler – maybe 18ish overnight and old people and babies die most
years. They are just not used to, or prepared for the odd cold snaps that come
through! Madness!
Ok, well happy end of the
year to everyone, keep counting to Christmas!
Tara-lee xxx
