http://www.peteandpaulinbangkok.com Expat adventures in the Land of Smiles Sun, 31 Dec 2006 08:39:45 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A short while ago our friends Gavin & Will (the Barbeque Magnates) were good enough to send us one of their new 'balcony-sized' BBQ models. Thanks guys!! It's taken us this long to find a gas bottle and suitable plumbing to get it all going, but finally we've done it! ... http://www.peteandpaulinbangkok.com/2006/12/31/bringing-a-bit-of-australia-to-thailand/ I decided to take Pete to a place in Bangkok he hadn't visited yet, the Grand Palace. Built in 1782, it houses the Royal residence, throne halls and the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It's magnificent; let the photos speak for themselves. Pete thought this was a great idea & ... http://www.peteandpaulinbangkok.com/2006/12/29/the-grand-palace/ Well, our first international Christmas. We decided to host lunch at our place with some of our close Thai friends. Lunch comprised roast pork, roast turkey and of course a ham - the latter took a lot of walking-around tyring to find a half-leg, not such a common thing here, but ... http://www.peteandpaulinbangkok.com/2006/12/26/christmas/ Six months ago, we received a cryptic email telling us to be in Hong Kong on December 9, 2006. No further details would be divulged, just be there! Gavin's 40th birthday celebrations were to be a mystery until we got there, but were not to be missed! The only other information ... http://www.peteandpaulinbangkok.com/2006/12/10/happy-birthday-gavin/ In preparation for the next project I'll be working on, I needed to make a quick visit to the office in Toronto to learn about some of the new technology we'll be using. So let's just jump on a plane for a quick 20 hour trip to Toronto for a ... http://www.peteandpaulinbangkok.com/2006/12/07/pete-visits-toronto/ Just in case you all thought we spent all our time mucking around with foreign visitors, I thought I should share with you that we actually do do Thai cultural things from time to time also!! Loy Krathong is a festival held in Thailand once a year which signifies a person ... http://www.peteandpaulinbangkok.com/2006/11/07/loy-krathong/ It's a really useful thing that I went to hotel-management school - hot on the heels of Geoff and Deb (and Gavin) leaving, our next round of visitors arrives! On Friday night, Juliana and Jon, Jon's brother Nick, (who all live in Aus) and Richard (Aussie but living in Singapore) ... http://www.peteandpaulinbangkok.com/2006/11/06/visitors-central-juliana-jon-nick-katie-richard/ My brother Geoff and his fiance Deb coming to visit on the 29th October marked the start of a very hectic week of house-guests, entertaining and carrying on for us! All lots of fun of course. Geoff & Deb have been living in the UK for the past 5 or 6 ... http://www.peteandpaulinbangkok.com/2006/11/02/geoff-deb-visit/ 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 ... http://www.peteandpaulinbangkok.com/2006/10/30/nice-hair-paul/ 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! ... http://www.peteandpaulinbangkok.com/2006/10/29/plant-expedition/