Just Don't Mention The Food

We drove back the next day, Sunday - taking our time for lunch at a restaurant overlooking a beautiful lake - no photos as my camera has broken - and then we stopped off at Tesco Lotus to do some shopping. Yes it is a joint venture with Tescos and it is doing very very well - very busy with 36 checkouts full. Fantastic to be in a place where there is quality and choice…

Shopping bascially consisted of all those things you can’t get in India - which is a lot and a couple of others too.

Its Monday now and we go out to film Sombat Bigley - Kens wife. We meet her where she is staying with her sister- just north of Bangkok. Given that her husband is in a dire situation she is coping very well. We go to the local temple to film her praying for Ken.

The monks were very accomodating though one of the younger ones wasn’t too happy when we asked him to ring the bell ‘ loudly’ for us. He thought it would alert the locals to trouble at the temple. As if we would cause trouble.

At the end of the ceremony the Abbot was very kind and gave us all a little Buddha, so that will now travel with the Crucifix that Aaron gave to me a while back.

Story done and fed, Richard and I went to have dinner at the hotel buffet. I do not usually feel guilty about eating but the food was very very good. Absolutely fabulous infact - fresh prawns, fantastic salads, meat to die for…. I could go on… all fresh and superb it made me feel very guilty knowing that the family would be eating the terrible food available in Delhi.

I still feel guilty even now.

Moving Swiftly On

So many things things happen so fast around here on all fronts (both at home and work) its hard to keep up so a lot of stuff gets missed. However I will try to cover the last few days….

We didn’t stay long in Bangkok as by 2pm we are on the road to Surin looking for Ken Bigleys home. As it was known back in London as ‘the great mango hunt’ as he was supposed to have a mango farm. No flights were available so we drove for 6 hours eastwards towards the cambodian border though wonderful lush countryside. Towards the red dot.

Arriving at night we checked into the hotel, had some dinner and then quickly went off to see if we could find some farangs (foreigners /big noses), farang bars were we could find out where Ken lived. The great mango hunt because we didn’t know Sombat’s (ken’s wifes) maiden name - so we were looking for a white guy who lived somewhere in the province. The only farang bar was closed - 11pm so we didn’t get much help… tomorrow the search would be on.

Based on the sketchy information we had we headed nothwards towards the area we had been told he lived stopping off asking people here and there and doing a little filming. Lunch soon arrived so we stopped at at roadside cafe for some soup noodles. The team being Yan Long and Kum Kon (right) the driver.

Not getting very far, having asked the restaurant owner we headed off in search of a new farang who new him. In all of this the Thais are very helpful in looking for a needle in a haystack but in reality they don’t know and should say so. Another wild goose chase but as we are talking to the American we had found we get a call - another local journalist who was also looking found his home but south of the city. Making our excuses we head back to Surin to pick him up an on to the village.

Driving swiftly we found his home in a beautiful rural village where the kids played football in the strees whilst the cattle were driven home … a nice play to retire to. All the villagers were very concerned for Kens plight and told of what a nice kind and normal person he was who helped everyone out.

Job done having we headed back to the hotel to edit and feed back to London - putting up with equipment problems - meaning we lost the headlines on the 5 O’clock news but got everything done for the 6 including a live from the hotel swimming pool. Now 1.00am Thai time - time for dinner at a beer garden next to the hotel carpark where we were the last customers.

From the 11th Floor

At the moment I’m here at 201 ft - I think thats due to being in the 11th floor of the hotel though.

We arrived on the overnight flight from Delhi. The flight was fine its only 4 and a bit hours but it took us 2.5 hours to check in. We have to leave some stuff with customs when we come and out of India at the moment and it just takes forever to pick it up - yesterdays arguament was that it would be impossible to collect it - but we did. Everytime we learn a little more of the process and how to avoid unnessecary red tape.

Why are we here - Ken Bigley’s wife lives here and given his dire situation we are here on standby to interview his her- hopefully when he is released.

On to nicer topics - looking out the window of the hotel is a huge shopping mall so I have my list from Kathy for Boots / Watsons. I will be like a kid in a candy store after Delhi. Off for breakfast now though as a tad peckish.

Finding Some Colour & Food

We are in some dire need of colour in the garden it is far too green as you can see… no flowers to speak of, which we do need to change.

I know that this is asking too much as usual but getting flower seeds here is nigh on impossible and surprisingly the garden centres are not that good - full of green plants only.

Therefore we have a new wish - for flower seeds - not sure what but stuff that will flower every year and is quite ‘big’ as the garden is large and to have any impact they will need to be too - fox glove type of thing. Given the weather out here I think that most of the year is growing season as we do have sun, heat and water readily available.

At the end of the garden we have these arches which would be quite nice to fill - to use as a frame… same on the other side…

Our Mali’s - gardeners, have also started to work over the kitchen garden and have planted some veg already though once again there is stuff that you can’t get here - namely cucumbers, courgettes, iceberg lettuce, cherry & BIG tomatoes, and most needed onions - we can only seem to buy red onions - but for some reason I don’t think you can buy onion seeds - it has to be onions…. bit hard to post huh.

We have already - lady’s fingers in the photo and have planted: carrots, spinach, aubergine, cabbage, tomatoes, corriander, cauliflower, brocolli… and probably a nother thing or two.

Fresh lettuce…

I know it will be too much for us to eat so the staff get some, as do freinds when they visit. Good fresh veg - better then the market stuff.

To send seeds out - bit by bit - it would be best to either office - london or delhi. Just need to hope that they will get through customs.

Lastly - which will be a job for somone when they visit - to build a chicken coup to go here so we can have our own chickens and fresh eggs.

Now I wonder who that could be?

Its a Big Big...

Yes the answer is TRAIN… well Ben had the day off today so we thought that it would be a good idea if we set up the train set whilst the others were beingtake to school…

The only thing I can say is like grandfather like grandson!!

Where's Wally?

Finally I have found a way of mapping where we are and go… so to start with here is home…

The link will take you to Multimap where you can zoom in and out.

Click Here

Tooth Fairy Alert

Jessica’s tooth fell out this morning…

Though you will have a hard time seeing where - bottom center ish…

More Pak Photos

Here are some more photos from Pakistan that Richard took.

My my, a Japanese driving school bus - wonder how that got here - must be importing them on the cheap!! Now who would do a silly thing like that?

This one is about an hour before I was carted off to hospital… such dedication…

And just after I had come out of the hospital. In fact the bruise on my arm from first attempt to get the drip in has only just gone.

Think the tiger needs more attention that me anyway. And this is the route down from the camp. It was like this for 40 mins - single carriageway and a sheer cliff - big sheer cliff on one side.

Aaron's Football Foot

Poor Aaron was playing football in the garden with his friend Zubin on saturday morning and decided to kick one of the water sprinklers that was lying on the ground.

Biggest concern apart from a possible broken toe was the fact that he wouldn’t be able play in his football match on Wednesday.

Off to the hospital on Sunday as the swelling hadn’t gone down as you can see Aaron proudly looking at his bones.

Thankfully nothing was broken as you can see…

Back and Front

I am getting bored with this already so it will become alot more selective, but here are more pictures - some in the ‘Back Of’ series and some showing more things with wheels…

Going to work…

Old Bedfords are still going strong…

An old loco at Peshawar station…

Even older ways…

And the Back Of’s…

Any more…

Fantastic Buses…

Thats where all the Transits went - someone made a fortune selling them here…

Pak Pictures

This is a typical clean & quiet street in Islamabad. It isn’t the most excitingplace on earth but it is pretty.

Moving swiftly on,

Here is the local tea shop - just like Betty’s…

And as you can see I need a hair cut… Think it is the longest it has ever been - doesn’t stop it turning grey or falling out though…

Just to show that Richard does some work too, here he is swallowing a fly.

Whilst out, we did pop down to the local gun shop to pick up an AK47 or too. 60 quid being the starting price!! Here a picture f me with the salesman…

Just to check he wasn’t a plant, he assembled the gun, cocked and fired it very quickly too.

And lastly we have a lovely shot of the motorway on our trip from Islamabad to lahore to catch the fight home - we saw about that many cars the whole journey. The motroway has a 2 pound toll so the locals all use the old road. A 3 hour journey then becomes 8.