Godzilla

This weekend we went to a park in Bangkok (not the one where all of the demonstrations have been!). We went to Lumpini Park which is nice open space with a big artificial lake in the middle. We hired out a few peddle boats and were having quite a nice time until we spotted some massive lizards (probably over 4 foot long - see below) on the banks! If that wasn't bad enough - a couple of them got into the water and started swimming after us (well that's what it looked like at the time)! I'm sure they were harmless (probably vegetarians) but I have to say that I think it's pretty strange that not one of the guidebooks even mentioned them...a couple of them mentioned something about feeding the turtles...forget the effing turtles, that's what I say!


There's a stadium near Lumpini Park where they have Muay Thai (kick-boxing)...I really want to go while I'm over here but am currently a little put off by the fact that foreigners get charged much much more than locals...my plan is to go along and say in my best Thai "I'm a volunteer and I haven't got any money - could you please give me a discount?"...anyone think I've got a chance?

One thing you really notice when you go into Bangkok (and it was the same on Koh Samet) is the number of old western men walking around with much younger, much more attractive Thai women...it's not a pretty sight, and I think it's something that I will never get used to seeing...

Since I've been here, I've obviously been trying out loads of new things...something that it's been very easy to do this with is fruit - if you see something weird, buy it and eat it...anyway there is a particular fruit that you will read about in the guide books and that I've been searching for, called a durian (below)...some of you may have heard of it - it's banned from hotels here because it smells so bad! There are signs saying "No Smoking" and "No Durians"...it's supposed to be a delicacy (things that taste funny generally are) and it's relatively expensive...anyway I bought some and it wasn't too bad actually - definitely tasted better than it smelled! The only thing is, my housemates didn't really agree...I had to keep it outside...in a bag...the thing is, you could still smell it!



Right, one more "interesting" observation for the day...I bought a paper at the weekend and I was looking over the weather forecast...it said "Cool...high 36 degrees Centigrade...". It described 36 as cool! Maybe I should be concerned about the approaching hot season afterall!