Back from Thailand

We arrived back in Kathmandu from Bangkok on Saturday, and although we were screened at the airport, we still managed to get swine flu!! That is not the only souvenir that we got from Thailand. We collected lots of great memories and a few purchased items as well...

So, how was Thailand? It was great! A really nice holiday from Nepal. While it is true that Kathmandu has pretty much whatever you need for daily living, Bangkok has whatever you want. Jenn and I both marvelled at the modernity of Bangkok and the tropical beauty of the island Koh Chang. So what were the highlights? Here is a list in no particular order.

1) Going to see the movie "Up" in 3D. The Siam Paragon theater in Bangkok is the nicest movie theater I have ever been in.

2) Relaxing by the pool at the Siam Beach Resort in Koh Chang.

3) A night on the town with Craig, Kristin, Paul and Emily on our first night in Bangkok. We had a wonderful meal and a great time just hanging out...

4) Shopping and more shopping. Bangkok has great markets, from the tourist area of Khoa San Road to the Suan Lum night market, to the grocery store in the Siam Paragon mall! It was nice to be somewhere where everything is at your fingertips. The grocery store at Siam Paragon was unbelievable (better than any Canadian grocery store I've seen!)

5) Wat Po. An amazing complex of temples. Jenn and I went in the evening and were there pretty much all by ourselves. Peaceful, relaxing and beautiful!

6) Cobra Show in Kanchanburi. This was fantastic. People were kissing cobras on the head, capturing snakes with their mouths! Crazy stuff!

7) The Tiger Temple. A group of monks are operating a tiger reserve where you can go in and actually hang out with the tigers! You can only pet the young tigers, but the experience was really cool.

8) The food!!! The food in Thailand is really good and we had some excellent meals and some indulgent ones as well. I must admit, after 8 months in Nepal it was nice to see some of the familiar fast food chains. We had lots of sushi and was introduced to the Japanese Mos Burger. Yum!

9)Minime.. We were at the Patpong night market and an entourage of people walked past us. One of those people (riding on an electric wheelchair), was Vern Troyer or Minime from the Austin Powers movies. We were a bit stunned, but he did say "Hey" to Jenn. Kinda creepy actually, we think he was on his way to one of those infamous Bangkok "shows".

So that about sums it up. Our first time in Thailand was way back in 2001, and I don't think we enjoyed it as much last time as our most recent trip. Perhaps it is about perspective. Having spent time in Nepal with load shedding, burning garbage and dogs barking all night, Thailand was a breath of fresh air and a step into modernity.

We've Got Fleas.....

So, as an addendum to our "little visitor" story that I wrote about a couple weeks ago. I think you know where this one is going... Jenn woke up one morning a week or so ago with some little red dots on and around her ankles. At first we thought that a mosquito or mosquitos had attacked her during the night. Her leg must have been exposed. Then the bites turned into little open sores and they did not heal like mosquito bites.... hmm. That's weird.

Jenn speculated that perhaps this was an outbreak of bedbugs? But the bites didn't have the characteristics of a bedbug bite (usually small bites is a straight line, not far apart from each other). These ones were more random but grouped into two's. I must admit, I kind of dismissed them as something that would go away, but over the past week they have been proliferating on Jenn. I don't seem to be as greatly affected by the bites as I don't have big welts, but I have started to feel as though I am being bitten.

So, when Jenn discussed this with other friends she found out that what we are experiencing are flea bites! Apparently, fleas are very tiny in Nepal. Almost too tiny to see. So, guess where we got them from??? You guessed it, our little visitor that I wrote about earlier... Now I am not so enamoured with that little dog anymore!

So, now we are in fumigation mode. I bought some flea killer spray this morning and we apparently have to vaccuum the entire apartment every day for the next while. Loads of fun. Sure am glad we are escaping to Thailand tomorrow....

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

It's that dreaded day of the year. My birthday has rolled around again and it has been a good one so far! How old am I??? It surprises me sometimes when I tell people that I am 38 years old... where have the years gone??? I still feel like I am not yet grown up... I think Jenn feels the same way about me sometimes.

Last night we went out for a birthday dinner with our friends(actually it was a birthday celebration for Paul and myself). The food and company were both great! We went to a restaurant in Thamel called Kilroys and had good old fashioned north american style cuisine! The dinner was followed by brownies/cupcakes that were baked specially for us by Jenn. They were the highlight of the meal! Wish I had gotten a photo of them, as Jenn had placed a letter shaped candle on each cupcake spelling out Happy Birthday. How fun is that?!?

So, after a fitful night of sleep with our ever present mosquitos I woke up to a wonderful breakfast of pancakes with syrup and coffee! Another nice birthday pleasure. So, what did I get for my birthday? Well, first Jenn bought me a plane ticket to Thailand and a bit of a vacation! Sounds pretty nice huh? We head out on Saturday afternoon and will be gone for 2 weeks. I am really looking forward to this! Second, I had received a birthday gift from Jane a couple months back and I had been waiting to open it. Very patient of me, if I may say so.... I opened it up last night at midnight and low and behold it was a box of "Hot Tamales". Candy from home is always a treat. Does this mean Jane thinks I am a hot tamale???

I am busy at work today trying to get some progress done before I take time off. I should have time for one more blog entry before we go....

How liveable is Kathmandu???

Well, the results are in and it doesn't look pretty. Paul, our neighbour upstairs, who is a fellow volunteer from Vancouver pointed an article out to me the other day. Every year the Economist's Intelligence Unit puts together a ranking list of the most liveable cities in the world (and least liveable...). It is a ranking out of 140 cities around the globe. So, to put things into context, the index is rated from 1 to 100. 1 being completely intolerable to 100 which would be ideal. Each city is scored on 30 factors broken into stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. To give you a sense of scale, the top city this year scored 98 and the lowest 37.5. So, where is the best place to live in this world of ours??? Well, it's Canada's own Vancouver! In fact, Canada placed three cities in the top 10, as did Australia. Pretty good huh? Vancouver placed 1st, Toronto 4th and Calgary tied for 5th!

So, where does Kathmandu fit into that list?? Well, not so high... Of the 140 surveyed cities, Kathmandu came in 133rd. So folks, I moved from the 5th most liveable city in the world to the 7th least livable city in the world. Was it a good move??? I guess I know now that if I can live in one of the least liveable cities in the world, I can live pretty much anywhere.

Apart from the pollution, bandhas (strikes), and the load shedding, there is much to enjoy in this city. Yes, the infrastructure is bad, but the city is also intensely interesting. Where else can you go and see on your street wandering cows, altars and shrines, prayer flags, street vendors on bikes calling out what they are selling, incessantly honking cars, and the bustle of people everywhere... This city is full of life and a world apart from the clean, almost antiseptic streets of Calgary. So much living goes on in the streets of Kathmandu, I am sure it will be something that I will truly miss when I depart in 4 months time.