One of the joys of living in Asia is the uncertainty that a getting haircut brings. Western hair which isn’t dead straight seems to poses certain challenges that the Asian hairdressers aren’t used to. Add to this a communication breakdown or two and some over-enthusiastic blowdrying, and this is the result:

I must admit though that once he squashed the bouffant down a bit it wasn’t actually a bad cut and he looked as handsome as ever again.

(There was also the time where I came out looking like a budgie with a perm but happily there aren’t photos of that one.)

It all started the day I mentioned to Khun Tai (our cleaner) that “I need more plants for inside!”.

“Well,” she said, “Khun Paul, if you want more plants for cheap you go to Chatuchak, my husband knows many many people, very cheap! Chatuchak open Wednesday Thursday good day to go! If you want to go, I will go with you!”

So, after a weekend of thought, I told her on Monday that I’d love to go with her on Wednesday, after my Thai lesson in the morning.

Wednesday’s Thai lesson concentrated on learning how to say “tree”, “pots”, “plant” and so on (although not much good because I forgot, anyway), and after school I took the MRT (underground subway) to meet Khun Tai near the market.

Khun Tai had her husband with her when we met, Khun Aut, and we started our expedition. Well, you’ve never seen anything like it. Nothing compares to it in Australia - it was like having the MCG filled with plants. Absolutely huge. (So huge in fact we had to take a tuk-tuk from the plant section to the pots section.) Khun Aut’s presence was invaluable because, besides being able to bargain in Thai, the sheer volume of people he knew meant that we were well looked after whereever we went. I must have been introduced to twenty people, only half of whom were relatives.

After completing our (very sociable) first circuit of the market and seeing what’s available, we went off for cool drinks and met more family members. One particular shop was Khun Tai’s sister’s, full to roof with vases, where of course I had to make a small purchase. In Thailand, the first sale of the day is special to any shopkeeper, as it brings good fortune for the rest of the day. So when I handed over my money, she took the notes and flapped them about all over the shop, touching all the stock and saying blessings. Well it must have worked because Khun Tai told me days later that her sister had a very good day that day and I was credited with bring her good fortune!

By this time I had got into my head which plants I was interested in. So, off we go and start our second lap. The purchasing lap! In one shop I bought a huge “Indian Rubber” tree (not sure about the name, it was roughly translated) with dark maroon leaves for the total price of B1400 (which was considered very expensive but only works out to about AUD$40). Actually, Khun Tai’s promise of cheap prices wasn’t wrong either; I bought another tree that was taller that me and about 4 feet wide for only B400 (about AU$14). A cute bonsai from Khun Aut’s brother (B200 and it’s 6 years old) and a 5-foot high climbing ivy type thing were the other investments.

From here we caught the tuk-tuk over to the pots section were I picked up some big pots for all these to live in - of course all the while with Khun Tai and Khun Aut guiding me around, introducing me to everyone and looking after me in every way. Really, they were so nice and wouldn’t even let me even carry anything. I felt pretty special.

Once we’d got the pots organised, a truck was telephoned to help get all this stuff home. My ride home (with the truck driver) involved some excitement when we had to bribe a police officer to let us drive on the highway (why exactly, I’m not sure).

When I got home I took all the wrapping off the plants and then when Pete got home we spent the night rearranging the plants and the furniture. We’re almost living in a small indoor jungle now, but it looks great!

(Incidentally, after the day’s adventures and lots of practice speaking Thai, I know also know the words for “plant”, “tree”, “indoors”, “outdoors” and so on quite fluently!)

In need of a trip overseas for a “visa run”, a trip to Singapore seemed like a fun idea. A nice place it is too, we had a good time.

Good time that is in Singapore, although getting there and our first experience of an Asian low-budget airline left a bit to be desired… I’d forgotten how ruthless Chinese women can be when elbowing you out of the way for a seat. Once we did get the seat, poor Paul’s giraffe legs jammed into the back of the seat in front the whole way. Not very comfortable of course and the warm beer (with ice cubes, how nice) was less than comforting. By the time we’d escaped from the bus-station-esque “budget terminal” at Singapore Airport we were thoroughly scarred - thank god the hotel had sent a Merc to pick us up. I don’t think we would have coped well with trying to find a cab at that point.

Anyway, dramas aside, Bangkok’s fabulous new Suvarnabhumi Airport is a winner and of course a vast improvement over the horrible old one, which someone told me the other day is 97 years old. The upgrade is well overdue obviously! Suvarnabhumi is huge though, bring your rollerskates in carry-on baggage is my suggestion.

We arrived pretty late on Friday night so it was just a quick room-service snack (in lieu of dinner on the plane) and off to bed. Saturday morning though, we hit the ground running and started our Luxe Guide tour of Singapore. We found great shops, interesting food and a couple of stunning art galleries before it was time for refreshments, the obligatory Singapore Slings at the place which started it all, the beautiful Raffles Hotel.

A bit more shopping for the afternoon, although I must say we were very well behaved and really didn’t buy very much, and we headed up to the highest place we could find to check out the view. Well let me say that was hardly very impressive, as Singapore at the moment is covered with a revolting haze (and has been for a couple of months) which is the result of the annual burning-off of vast amounts of forest in Indonesia. Needless to say, the Singapore government (along with Thailand, Malaysia and other impacted countries) is trying in vain to make the Indonesian government put a stop to this; the subject of air quality is front page news in Singapore every day.

Saturday finished up with a trip to Chinatown and lovely dinner and a nightclub which turned out to be a non-event. However we did have one of those wandering-around-in-strange-town midnight adventures instead.

Having had a big day on Saturday, Sunday was a bit quieter. We went for a walk up the street and saw another “Love” sculpture, just like the one we’d found in Tokyo; it turns out there are several of these around the world and the original’s in Philadelphia. Guess we’ll have to make a pilgrimage to all of them one day.

The final pleasure of our Singapore weeked was lunch with friends Richard (who’s now living in Singapore) and Sarah (who happened by coincidence to be in town at the time). Nice to see you both again!

Back to Bangkok and back to work….. ah well it was fun while it lasted!

When the boys turned up on the doorstep with six bottles of champagne we knew there was going to be trouble! Well not trouble exactly but we have just enjoyed a fun week of eating, drinking, shopping and carrying on while Will & Gavin have been staying with us.

Our local barbeque magnates arrived from their home in China with another friend, Alex, in tow. Alex had been doing the European Adventure thing for a couple of months before visiting the guys in China and then passing through Bangkok on the way home. Very happy to have met you Alex, thanks for coming!

So of course the first thing on the agenda was some shopping. And then some more shopping and a bit more shopping. Actually that characterised the whole week rather well!

Oh did I forget some fanciness? A couple of fancy dinners and nights out; one at the fave Bed Supperclub, and on their last night, what’s becoming a tradition for our visitors, dinner of the divine Thai food at Naj followed by drinks on the rooftop at Sky Bar.

Oh did I forget some debauchery? Of course that couldn’t be avoided either, a trip to some rather “interesting” bars one night may have happened, although I had a crook tum and was confined to bed that night and therefore have no knowledge of such activities.

Thanks to Gavin too for cooking a roast one night! Been a long time since we’ve had one of those.

Strangely the other major diversion of the week was an enthusiastic round of dentist vists by everyone taking advantage of the high-standard and low-price of Bangkok dentists. Who would have thought a group of people on holidays would be so quick to jump in the chair? Go figure. (Actually, I think the answer is that China doesn’t have dentists that you’d actually trust with your own teeth.) At least Will changed his mind about getting braces and cancelled that spur-of-the-moment appointment.

So overall a lovely week with lots of laughing and only a few sore heads. Thanks so much guys for coming to stay with us, it was great to have some time to hang out together. Please come back soon!