Suvarnabhumi Airport

On my way home for the last time, and feeling pretty chipper about it all. I've been upgraded to Business Class for the whole trip, including being driven home from Manchester, thanks to wifey's carefully hoarded airmiles (I owe you a posh dinner missus).

I'm in the Emirates lounge, la di da, just had my posh breakfast in the little resh-tront here. Has anyone else observed the curious lethargy that overcomes people in Hotel/Lounge self-serve restaurants, by the way? Most intriguing. It's asif they think if they move r e a l l y s l o w l y... nobody will notice they don't know where the butter is. Since noticing this, and not wanting to run (or amble) with the crowd, I move very quickly and with apparent confidence, even though I'm probably the world's worst butter-finder. Of course this means I end up with some strange meals but I manage to cram it all in somehow.

I'm aware that this isn't exactly Manchester-based news, and that means I was slightly too eager to get the new blog going, but my excuse is that I've had a few days of sitting around waiting for stuff to happen and I needed something un-stressful to think about.

While we're on the new blog, the colour has been called into question. Let me be clear: I'll have no dissent here. The choice was driven by extremely expensive professional psychological profiling of the texts of all the contributions so far, and is calculated to induce a feeling of calm and serenity in the prospective contributor. So what d'you mean, you don't like it?

While we're on psychological profiling, has the election finished yet? I hope you all voted, or at least those of you who live in the UK. I would have, but someone binned the forms...I emailed all the local candidates and suggested that if they signed up to the "Save 6Music" lobby, I might vote for them. I got an immediate reply from the UKIP candidate which was full of vim and vigour, but basically said no. I had the impression they aren't really inrterested in music, more focussed on keeping the pound. Doesn't get my vote. I had a few other replies, the last of which, and the most supportive, was from the green party. There is no Labour candidate for the area, so some tactical voting is required methinks...

Here's the last meal I had in Bangkok:
Green Chicken Curry. Boy was it hot - that's a proper Thai curry, tastes basically like coconut flavoured battery acid.

Ah well, that's enough. Might scribble something from the Emirates lounge in Dubai.

Bye all.

Dubai - Last trip out

I'm heading back to Bangkok, to hand in my notice and pack my stuff. This will be my last trip out. I couldn't be more excited.

This trip home has been eventful to the point of hecticity (New word). We've been working on Lyn's 3rd year art piece, which is a big installation in a disused house in Bolton town centre. I also started job-hunting and managed to fit in a bike ride, and of course some (rather enjoyable) drinking.

I've also read and understood a book called "Why does E=mc2" which sets about explaining Einstein's theory of relativity in laymans terms. Most enjoyable. I'm also re-reading "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", which is equally interesting.

Badpoints: not enough time to see Number one daughter, number one brother or sisters one and three, all of which I had the opportunity to see.

Gate is about to open so very quickly, here are some photos:
View from the roof of our house in spring obviously excites me more than her..

Pub lunch, this was just the starter. Boy was I full. But happy.

Few drinks and I'm putting bags on my head. Pathetic.

For Bart. Sorry I'm leaving mate.

Don't even remember where this was. Liked it though.

Gorilla in cute ponytail. Odd.

I start a new contract in Salford Quays next month, so the blog will be either renamed or shelved completely. Any opinions?

Class

Dubai Airport - gate's just opened so can't stay long. Hope this happens again, as it did on the flight brom Bangkok...
That's class, man - Business Class.

Read it and weep, cattle people.

See you in Blighty.

Phnom Penh

No fit state to travel? This is Lyn on the first morning after being upgraded to business class...

Took wifey to Phnom Penh, the low-rise capital of Cambodia, for the weekend. We booked ahead but, on arrival at our hotel, were greeted with blank stares. Not a good start. Then after being shown to our room and informed that we'd have to move the next day because it was booked to someone else, Lyn discovered the toilet was dirty - I mean really dirty. We sat by the tiny pool full of kids' toys while the staff argued loudly about who would clean the bog, and looked through our lonely planet book for alternatives. A short trip across town courtesy of Jack, who became "Our" tuk tuk driver for the weekend, and we found a better hotel that was so new it wasn't in any books. It was called Mysteres & Mekong, and was mostly used by French people, but we like French people so it was all good. The hotel had air conditioned rooms in Colonial style, a nice leafy secluded pool area and free wi-fi. We were much happier.

We gave the next day over to the more depressing part of Cambodia, i.e. the infamous S-21 detention centre and the "Cheung Ek Genocidal Centre", otherwise known as the killing fields. S-21 is in the middle of the city and Cheung Ek is 15 km away so we got Jack to take us back and forth all day. He was happy to wait outside for us and charged a small fee for the whole day, including taking us out in the evenings. S-21 is, as is stated in other places, startling in its ordinariness. It was a school before the revolution but was subsequently used to detain and torture a lot of "Suspects" between 1975 and 1979. Afterwards they were taken to the killing fields and disposed of. All of this was meticulously documented by the Khmer Rouge guards, who were after all just young farmhands who had been caught up in the revolution, indoctrinated into Pol Pot's twisted logic, and didn't really think they were doing anything wrong. I think as they got older they became capable of independant thought, maybe began questioning what they were doing, and were subsequently sentenced to torture and death at the hands of the younger ones. Whatever aspect you look at it's profoundly depressing. The photos of men, women and children, taken on admission, are harrowing. In the eyes of the men is anger, in the eyes of the women is resignation, in the eyes of the children is bewilderment. Pol Pot decreed that the suspects' wives and children must be killed along with them, to prevent later reprisals. Anyway, I've now gone on far too long about it so here are some pics and we'll move on..S-21. Nuff said.
We just can't stop doing the wrong thing. You'd expect humility and respect for all the suffering, but..
The place is now owned by a Japanese company who promote it and repair the access roads. There was national outrage when the contract went to a foreign company but it happened anyway. Money talks, apparently louder than the dead.

In the afternoon, as became our routine for the trip, we made use of the hotel pool to cool off and get some much-needed refreshment, in the form of a couple of reasonably strong G-and-T's. Average temperature for the trip was about 38 degrees by the way.

That evening, to cheer us up, we asked Jack to take us to a nice restaurant and he did just that. On the riverfront there are loads of bars etc, but this one had traditional Khmer dancers, good service, great food and a nice atmosphere. It was called the Bopha and was attached to the Titanic night club. I didn't notice till we were paying the bill, but the whole restaurant is decked out like .. well, a deck. Lifebelts, the lot.Strange bendy balancing dancer woman gives me the eye.

Next day we went to the art quarter of the city for a mooch around, then did some more traditional sight seeing. We went to the National Museum, which is well stocked with old statues and very little actual information about them, and then on to the Royal Palace. Lyn thought it bore a remarkable resemblance to the one in Bangkok. By this time I'd bought myself yet another hat to avoid sunstroke. It was extremely hot and most of the Palace gounds are outdoors. There was one little souvenir-type area which broke up the monotony of millions of statues of Buddha. There was a quartet sitting in room playing percussion instruments. To my delight one of them got up for a rest and the leader offered me the place. I sat down, he taught me a simple routine to play and off we went. I was jamming with the monks, man!
Just watched it again, and apologise for playing flat. I'm a drummer, not a musician. By the cringe, it was hot in there. Another tourist sat down after me, and remarked at how much sweat I'd dripped onto the floor.

What else happened? Ah yes, we went strolling one evening and discovered there was loads going on in the local square...
Can you imagine UK teenagers doing this? No, of course you can't.

Before we knew it, we were in the airport coming home. This bloke walked past wearing three hats so I decided you needed to see him:
And that's about it really. Lyn goes back to blighty tonight, I follow on Friday for a week of helping out with her installation in Bolton. See you there.

Hua Hin, and bike stuff

Hua Hin:

I went (with Bart) for a long weekend down to Hua Hin, a resort on the coast two hours south west of Bangkok.

Or rather, I went to a resort near to Hua Hin.

Or rather, I tried to go to a resort near to Hua Hin but ended up in a mostly empty place 40km from Hua Hin.

Here's an enormous two-headed elephant statue I spotted en route..
*Note: The elephant wasn't en route, I was. I doubt the elephant's moved in years.

Anyway wherever I went, it was very, er, relaxing. Actually on the first night we chickened out and drove to Hua Hin itself and booked into a hotel. Horrendously expensive on top of the cost of the resort itself, but at least we managed a decent pub crawl without having to drive afterwards. The receptionist at the resort had laughingly suggested we drive into HH, have a few beers, and drive back. "haha, don't worry, it's fine to drink and drive in Thailand". Fine yes, but what if you kill someone? They just don't get it here.

Here's me wearing someone else's hair halfway through the afore-mentioned pub crawl..

A good night was had by both, and at 3.30am I was still awake. Quite an achievement for this old codger.

Bike stuff:

I was talking to squash-friend Terry the other day and mentioned that I'd been in a mountain bike race in New Zealand three years ago, and that there was photographic evidence on the internet somewhere. Subsequently I went looking for the photo's and I've finally decided to download them. Originally I'd refused due to the fee involved. Here are three of the pics, and in order you can see:


Me on the last downhill stretch at 45kph, stupidly waving to the camera. (Mistake)


Me realising that, due to waving, I'd missed my braking point and that the oncoming hairpin bend was rushing up a little too quickly


My bike, having gone over the edge in a most undignified fashion

I actually did a face-plant into the hillside and blacked out for a few seconds. When I came to I was 20 feet below the road caught up in a bush. There was a considerable drop still below me. Very lucky not to do the full plunge, or break my neck. I looked up and there was the photographer saying "oh dear". I managed to collect the bike and finish the race, albeit with a nice gash across my nose, no peak on my hat and a general feeling of second-handedness. Ah well.

In other (and better) news, I took the bike on a little spin around Bangkok yesterday. It's running well after its trip here and being reassembled by me. Predictably I ran out of water on my 30km ride, and equally predictably I got lost. Good fun though, can't wait to go on a proper offroad ride. There's a group here called Bangkok Hash House Bikers, and they meet once a month in different locations around Thailand, ride all of Saturday, have a few beers and stay overnight, then ride again on a Sunday. Then they return to Bangkok. Sounds like just the ticket for me, more to follow. I need to get up to speed though, they do 40-50 km offroad, which is a lot.

More soon, be good.

Koh Chang

Koh Chang (Thai for "Elephant Island") is quite a large island, hence the name. However, and typically, we saw only the short road to Aiyapura and (aside from one boat trip) we never left the resort. Back packers we're not, so if you're hoping for Russell's Rough Guide you'll be disappointed. I thought I'd be upfront about that. Our plan was to relax after stressful periods at work/uni, and we most certainly did.

Flying from Bangkok was a good choice I think. I don't like long coach rides and the small airport at Trat is nice, a collection of large thatched sheds with nice gardens around. From there we got a minibus for the ferry ride to the island. The minibus took us right to the resort, which is very close to the ferry port, maybe ten minutes drive. Maureen had gone ahead a few days eralier (by coach, ha!) with the Skyros group who were doing the full spa/yoga thing. We only wanted to drink, eat and sunbathe.

Our "Oriental Villa" was very nice, right next to the shore and adjacent to the pool/bar. On dropping our bags off we made a bee line for the pool and within five minutes we were sat with our first cocktail in the sun. Annnnnd relaxxxxx....

Key. Room 001 of course, la di da

Our villa

Regular visitor to our porch. He left when I didn't feed him.

Aiyapura is situated in a bay so we spent many happy hours watching fishermen put-putting along in their small boats. There is a small beach but neither of us particularly likes sand so we avoided it. From the lobby/restaurant area you can look down over the whole resort, which is on a fairly steep hillside. There are golf carts for the more lazy types to get around, chauffeur driven of course.

View from the lobby restaurant

Panorama by the pool

We sat at this pool bar on underwater stools and swigged cocktails.

View from the pool back up to the lobby restaurant.

Lyn studies a menu

On day three we went with M and the rest of the Skyros crowd on a boat trip to some outlying islands, for a snorkeling/beach bbq/general relaxation trip. Snorkeling was new to both of us, and we took to it like ducks to water - or at least one of us did. Eventually Lyn was persuaded to don a mask, but defiitely not flippers. When I managed to get her to take a breath through the snorkel with her face in the water she was fine, although doing that and actually swimming along at the same time was too much for her, bless. I ended up keeping hold of her hand and dragging her along, while we exchanged excited hand-gestures at each new wonder. Magic moments. At one point I fed a croissant underwater to about a hundred vividly coloured fish. They even tried nibbling my arm in their frenzy to get some french cuisine. Lyn gets up close and personal with the fish

By the way, there's one obvious problem for fair-skinned people - your back is exposed constantly and if you forget to use the old factor 30 in your eagerness to get in the water, then pain is the only outcome. Sunburn is famously old ground on this blog, and I'm not saying I got as badly cooked as last time, but definitely there was considerable discomfort that night. In fact I'm still itchy now.

One event during the boat trip was a stop for refreshments at Koh Wai, which is an island without proper power supply. It attracts hippy types as far as I can tell, and Lyn seemed keen on the idea of spending time there. I'm skeptical because, whether due to age or affluence, we tend to avoid roughing it. The place looked scruffy, was full of cats and dogs, and populated by bony people with dreadlocks who look like they smell of Patchouli oil.

Halfway through the trip we realised that Lyn's tolerance of insect bites is as low as ever. Most of the trouble was with her lower legs.....and in fact the problem got much worse later on. We're talking 50-60 bites, all turning into bruises. We think it might have been unwise to play volleyball in the grass with no shoes on.

That's about all really - I've run out of pictures so have nothing more to say. It was a lovely break and I don't rule out returning to Koh Chang some day.

A blog on my first Thai drumming lesson is imminent. Meanwhile, be good.

Five Flipping Hours in Freezing Frankfurt

Been here three hours already, still two `till the gate opens. Ah well, where else would I be? Don´t answer that.
Look out for a catch-up blog (titled "Catch-up" - yes I can do obvious), in which I will post some photos and video harvested from my spare phone, also whatever I can remember from the Christmas festivities will be described. The stuff from the old phone is very grainy but I promised myself I would try to show the excitement of my first day in Bangladesh. Maybe I`ll set it to music, dunno yet. Speaking of music, thanks to steve I have two long Capercaille albums to peruse, on top of my three African albums from a pre-christmas shopping spree. Must be something on there that`s suitable for a seaplane landing..
Right. bored with typing on this silly steel keyboard, time to wander around some more, listen to people talking in squares and triangles. Maybe another coffee. Nah, I want to sleep on this flight.
Be good, and remember your resolutions.

Catchup

Catchup time. This might take a while.

First my trip to Bangladesh, and some photos and video I took there. I have to say I'm only posting these because I said I would. When I finally got to see the images on screen they were a massive disappointment. I've set it to music in an attempt to make it bearable, but basically you have some grainy foootage of takeoff and landing, a reasonable exciting boat trip, a boring car trip through Sylhet and some still photos of tea plantations. Watch it for the music, I would - by the way it's Nitin Sawhney "Prophecy".


Before leaving for blighty I managed to sell the bike to an English chap, after having it on Thai Visa (A bit like Loot) for only one day. I'm sorry to lose it but the justifications were wearing thin, since I will be living 200 metres from the office. Here it is on the last night of my ownership, looking clean and sleek. I hope he looks after it...



The Christmas break was as busy, fraught, enjoyable, frustrating, fun-filled and miserable as ever. In no particular order, here are some memories - recorded here before I commit them to the "Forget" pile.

I left Bangkok in 35 degrees and arrived home to blizzard conditions and sub-zero temperatures. Quite disconcerting. Over the two weeks we must have had that smug "I've got a 4*4 and you haven't" feeling a thousand times. In fact a round of applause please for the one good purchase we made 12 years ago - the Toyota Rav4 has done everything we asked of it and 150,000 miles later, after crossing Europe several times with an overloaded trailer, taking us on summer trips with the top down, climbing impossible hills with silky ease, getting us to hundreds of nearly-missed flights at illegal speeds, carrying unlikely bits of furniture and finally dealing with this year's snow-fest without missing a beat, it still has the original exhaust, has never broken down and drives like brand new. (Clap now please)

Here's a picture of said beloved vehicle, laughing off the snow on Christmas eve:
Anecdote 1: While I was home we undertook the two-man task of clipping and bathing the moggies. Cheese wan't too pleased to say the least. Here he is in a rare angry moment, looking, well, clipped and bathed:
Anecdote 2: One of my first gatherings of the season was a funeral for my cousin Graham, who died of cancer aged 51 - how tragic is that?. When we were kids we lived in the same street in Liverpool, and basically we grew up as brothers. People used to say we looked alike, but in fact he was the good-looking one. I lost touch with him after getting married and occasionally I'd consider contacting him and going out for a few, to share memories. That won't happen now and it goes to show the danger of losing touch. The funeral wasn't too sombre - we're a fairly pragmatic family. It was actually nice to see everyone again after all this time. I witnessed a historic conversation between two of my sisters, who haven't spoken for fifteen years, so that was nice. Here are all six siblings, with a couple of partners and a daughter for good measure:Clockwise from top left: Paul, Robert, Paul, Alex, Me, Viv, Chris, Jenny and Gay.
Here's Chris and Jenny making up, with me getting in the way:(History in the making - for the last 15 years I'd need arms 120 miles long to do this)

Lyn put her best Thai-made 50's style frock for Christmas day, and was just as pretty as a picture. In fact here is a picture:(Lyn does the 50's housewife thing - very domesticated)

As usual there was lots of driving around. Occasionally I would be struck by how different the climate is from here in Thailand. One guy here actually asked if I would bring back some snow because he's never seen it. I told him to stick his head in a freezer for five minutes and the effect would be the same. He didn't believe me. Anyway I settled for taking pictures of snowcapped hills.
A panorama from the road above New Mills:

..and the view of Kinder Plateau from my study window:

We did all our shopping in one day in Manchester. It snowed. Here are Lyn and Colin happily (ahem) posing for a snap in Piccadilly Gardens:

I'll soon be in my new apartment, which is visible from the office window. It's very exciting and a little bit sad because I've been in the old place for 15 months and I do tend to get attached to places I've lived in. I get all teary-eyed leaving hotel rooms if I spend more than one night in them so imagine how I feel now. Ihope the new place turns out to be as comfortable as this one. It's certainly cheaper and that counts for a lot... I suppose. (Sniff)

(Taken from the Office window)

Blimey, that's enough catching up for now. If I dredge up any more I'll be sure to post it. For now, be good.

Suvarnabhumi again

Hello from Gate C5, and goodbye to warmth. I'm heading into the blizzard. Ssee you in 17 hours, glad I packed a scarf.

Travelling

..isn't what it's cracked up to be. I'm in Abu Dhabi again, same old same old. I'm waiting at the gate. One guy's asleep next to me, meaning I'm paranoid about making any noise. Meanwhile there are four midle-aged northerners sat opposite me, complaining more thatn I do, and quite loudly. Bloke's still snoring so far, but the key in my back is turning.

On the flight from Manchester there was a young man (about 4 yrs) with that special mix of anger, volume and, above all, stamina, that can make a flight so miserable for 20 or 30 people in nearby seats that driving all the way here in a milk float seems like an attractive proposition. His mother also made the mistake of trying to cover his mouth to save herself from the disapproving glances. That was it, in the eyes of the know-all mothers looking on, she wasn't up to the job.

Ah well, the latte isn't bad, the wireless is free and I have ... 21 minutes of battery life left. Oh bugger, better check my email and sod off. Be good.

Abu Dhabi

Trditional whinge from the transit lounge. Nothing to say, tired, grumpy. There, it's done.

Saigon

Back to Bkk tomorrow, so thought I'd check in and see how you're all doing. Ok I hope? Let me know. Meanwhile I have the following question:

Why is it impossible to enter a quiet bar with a lovely atmosphere, begin chatting, and NOT be suddenly assaulted with a barrage of noise as the sub-standard "entertainment" kicks in?

More of this enlightened guff soon. I will also give full acount of our adventures in the land of the dong.

Be good.

Uk Trip

I'm going home for a week from 21st August. Anyone who knows me, and anyone who doesn't, can turn up in New Mills during that week and be completely ignored by me. Just roll up High Street making as much noise as possible and I'll think you're one of the neighbours.

Apologies for the lack of exciting/innovative/provocative/downright opinionated twaddle this week, I'm working all sorts of silly hours to get ahead of some deadlines, so no time for blogging. Yes yes, heard it all before. Rest assured, with a couple of parties and plenty of family time, there'll be lots to scribble about when I come back to Bangkok. Then there's the state visit by wifey and her sister to report on, gosh I'll be overrun with material.

New album by Cornershop is worth a listen, also Seth Lakeman is good if you like the poppy side of folk.

Later taters.

Ha Long Bay Vietnam

Well, she's gone (sob sob) but not forgotten. We had a lovely time and a great trip to Vietnam. Here's how it went:

We got to Bangkok airport early, in plenty of time to find out that our flight to Hanoi was delayed one hour. Typi - bloody - cal. Never mind, we'd still be in time for a wander around Hanoi. As it happened, by the time we got to our hotel everything was closed except a place down the road called "The Pub". I got a beer, a souvenir t-shirt and food-poisoning. The latter was a pleasant surprise which began to take effect the next day. The "Classic Street" hotel:


..was very pleasant, in a French-colonial kind of way.

One of the first things we noticed about Hanoi was the style of driving. Basically it's the opposite of Thailand, in that everyone constantly uses the horn. I found this very annoying needless to say. Other things about Hanoi are in fact very similar to Bkk, for instance their ability to carry on as normal in situations which would bring western society to a shuddering, self-important halt...


..also their belief that there's nothing wrong with making money from someone else's genius..



Anyway, next morning after breakfast (which was nice in a French stylee) we boarded the bus for our four-hour trip to Ha Long. Problem one: I started to realise that last night's chicken was probably better the night before, or the night before that. Problem two: the Vietnamese, when presented with 23 tourists, see no problem with sending a 23 seater bus, leaving no room for luggage, and in some cases nowhere to put your legs. Problem three: there was an arch-complainer on the bus, masquerading as a smooth talking Lebanese guy called Mr. Khan. More of him later.

By the way, it had been raining hard since midnight and showed no sign of letting up. Between that and Mr Khan moaning, and my worsening stomach upset, I can't say this was the high point of the holiday. By bedtime I had horrible waves of stomach cramps and a temperature. Happy holidays!

On the way to Ha Long our tour guide Mr Sun did some very charming talking about Vietnam and about Ha Long. He was a complete star and definitely made the whole weekend more enjoyable. Here's a pic of him


Sun had a terrible time with Mr khan for the whole weekend but dealt with it like a seasoned veteran. Hats off to him - I'd have probably belted the smooth-talking, whingeing shyster. Upgrade this, free that, you owe me etc etc. It went on all weekend.
Luckily only four people had booked to stay on the Junk ..

...for a second night, so we didn't have to put up with Mr Khan on the second day. That day is the one we will remember, as it was a beautiful sunny day and we went off in a smaller boat and had a lovely peaceful day swimming, kayaking and visiting caves. Our companions for the day were an American Father and Daughter, Eric and Ashley (hello you two - I told you I'd make you famous!). We'd met them at dinner the previous night and noticed that they had a similar dislike to Mr Khan and his manipulative behaviour. It turned out we all had lots in common, and got along very well for the rest of the holiday. Here they are posing with Lyn on our day out together:


More snaps from the day:

..Lyn posing with the beautiful bay in the background..

..we'll go here, here and... er... here.

..No wonder her shoulders were sore next day..


..Our boat, our Kayaks. The meal they made for us on this boat (yes it has a kitchen) was truly wonderful.

.. sunset in the truckstop, as Eric called it. There are over 400 Junks using Ha Long Bay for overnight holidays. Needless to say it's quite crowded closer to the harbour.
Anyway, that day was over in a blink, and guess who had returned for another night on the Junk? None other than Mr Khan. We considered asking Sun to put Mr Khan on another table at dinner but thought better of it, which was a mistake. He was next to Lyn, and made two major errors which blotted his copybook completely in Lyn's eyes - namely touching her at every opportunity, and lighting up a cigarette immediately after the meal (which he complained about all the way through, needless to say). After dinner we had some cocktails and talked to our new mates until I began to slur my words, then carried on talking anyway. All in all a great day.
..I'm sure I asked for a Blue Hawaiian...

Next day was all about getting back to port, getting on yet another overcrowded bus (16 in a 16-seater this time) and heading back to Hanoi. We had another night in the Classic Street Hotel, then spent a day shopping, mooching about and drinking coffee. Here are some highlights:

..by now it was raining again...

..a lot...

..an awful lot...(yes that is a coke machine in a lake)..


Our flight back to Bangkok was delayed by nearly two hours, which meant we got to bed at around 2am. Lyn had a fittiing the next day for her party frock, of which pictures to follow.

In other news, I heard today that I'm off to the platform on monday for a 5-day stretch. I don't mind, I'd only be relaxing otherwise. Grumble grumble. On the work front, things have now quietened down somewhat and I have the chance to sit back and consider how tired I am of the whole expat work thing. I can't wait to get home but it looks likely to be some time next year before that happens. Ho hum. As they say in contracting, grin and bank it...

Be good.