The 6 billion Bhat man

All this travelling is making me a changed man... literally. So far have:

- had my teeth done (cleaned, polished, etc)
- had my hair cut
- had my hair dyed
- had a traditional Thai full body massage
- had 2 foot massages
- had a Japanese facial (erm... for the guys thats one where they clean your skin and stuff)

i am also thinking about having Lasik done to cure my short sightedness).

all these instant improvements i can do... only if i could get rid of my gut.... hmm i wonder how much liposuction is?!!

Playing footsie Thailand

Had my first foot massage in Thailand and boy oh boy, doesn't it feel good!

I had a Thai massage the other day and that was ok... nothing special, but the foot massage is so much better! I understand now why more people do that and less people have the full Thai massage. First they scrub your feet clean for you, then they rub in stuff like deep heat and then knead and massage your feet for over half an hour.

Afterwards it felt like walking on clouds! Seriously, your feet feel so much better. You can climb stairs and run around with ease.

What else have i been up to in Thailand...?

Well Vicki came over the other day and we had a few fun nights, getting out hair dyed, eating fresh seafood in chinatown and getting into arguments in a strip club! See Ellen's blog (link to the right) for her write up on that.... too much to repeat here!

Haircut!!!

ok... just had a haircut... again!

i had my hair cut on Thrusday, a nice normal cut just like i usually have. at some posh place in thailand thats supposed to be one of the top 10 in the country.

then today i had it cut again. it wasn't planned at all, but met up with vicki today and she wanted to get her hair dyed, so did ellen... and i wasn't one to miss out, so i got mine done too!

this is probably the most extreme haircut i've had since i was 13 and i had an awesome grade two wedge, and a bowl on top of my head. if you've ever seen Mr Majeeka you'd know what I mean, cos i got called that throughout secondary school (well until my "take that" curtains, but that's another story!).

anyway I got my hair dyed in thailand for the first time ever. it's now mostly brown, and blonde! the guy dying my hair also got carried away and despite my hair being short anyway, proceeded to cut it even shorter, but also styled it so that it's really messy and spiky. cool thing was that the manager of the place didn't charge me extra for the haircut as her stylist did it out of his own desire to create the perfect "look".

ellen's and vicki's also look really good. will have to find some way of putting a photo of the three of us onto this site, if this style can last that long!

Greetings from Bangkok

Greetings from thailand!!

Pretty warm over here, humid and muggy just like Hong Hong. Actually everything is quite like Hong Kong here in Bangkok, just dirtier and smellier!

The flight over here was cool - Emirates are really good with nice seats, good food and plenty of it too! Had to change though to Thai Airways which was a big step down. They have older planes (i.e. without your own TV screen) and less comfy seats. The stop off at Dubai airport was pretty cool, the airport itself is amazing, really bright and squeeky clean with really nice relining sets. Still ended up having McD's!!

We haven't done a great deal yet in Bangklok, still getting over major jet lag. The gameboys are proving invaluable at the moment as the tv in our room is pants.

The weather is not too great, still in monsoon and in the city its muggy, grey and rainy most of the time, just like London!

Can't seem to text from here, but loads of internet cafes, about 70p per hourn or less. Food also very cheap, most dishes are about a quid, i.e. dinner for the two of us is about 4 quid usually.

Transport pretty good. There are skytrains, taxis, tuk-tuks (3 wheel motortrikes), underground (brand new opened Jan 2004 and totally deserted?!) and today we took the river boat which was fun and only 7p!

We've booked our stuff for diving next week in Ko Toa. Will be about 130 quid for 4 days diving to get our PADIs and incl food and accomodation in luxery villa (i.e. has air con... totally essential!!). Really looking forward to heading to the beach to chill on the sandy shores and swim.

Had a full body Thai massage in the evening. No... nothing dodgy honest! Cost about 4 quid and we got our own room for an hour's massage. Felt pretty good, a little painful and not too embarassing. Though to be honest I was steeling myself to the bit where they massage up your inside leg!! Will have to do this once every other day I reckon, will make up for all those years of carrying my dumb laptop around!

Next stop is to get a Thai haircut. I have heard dodgy stories about getting "extras" while your sitting there... will let you know what happens!!

Daily e-mail banter

Now don't get me wrong I love receiving e-mails and I love nattering about stuff, however some people just take it too far!

Take today for example, I was on my work laptop, trying to do a bit of work and had also logged onto MSN. Every bleep-ing second there would be an e-mail, then another, then another. In half an hour about 50 e-mails had built up, a bit later 100. So I start reading some of it, cos I'm using Hotmail it takes a little while to load up each e-mail but when I do what's in it?

"Hee Hee"
"LOL"
"what are you having for lunch?"
"are you going to call so and so?"
"have a nice day"

What a load of tosh!

I don't mind banter, but mind blowingly inane stuff I can't stand, some people should learn to put a little more to their e-mails, something everyone can share in and appreciate, before hitting "reply-all" to everything and writing tosh. I don't mean write more than one-word, I mean write something that is either useful, witty or has a point. If its stuff between two people then don't use reply all.

As this kinda stuff tends to put people off, no-one reads it so anything half useful (e.g. meeting up, asking for help) gets deleted.

Why do I read it? Well its better than working aint it ;)

Nothing to do except loads...

One more week at home for me until travelling. Staying at home this week, but seems like I have loads to do.

Firstly work isn't letting go of me just yet, a few things still to do and I need to go into the office on Wednesday. So much for being on holiday this week, I guess with great power comes great responsibility!

Secondly, there's the house to sort out. We're gonna be renting it out to a girl from PwC Edinburgh who's moving down to London. Means we have to sort out a contract and an inventory. Then we have to clean the house, fit locks, pack up our stuff, etc.

Thirdly I haven't managed to sell my car yet, so gonna rent it out to Dan whilst I'm gone. No idea really of how much to charge him. Useful to have someone to take it to get serviced and stuff, but the car is gonna be driven, shall we say, very enthusiastically in Dan's hands.

Fourthly, the PC is still f'cked. Got a new harddrive today, hasn't really helped, new RAM on its way. If it aint that, its new motherboard and CPU time. Hell, I'm slowly building myself a new PC!

Finally I guess there's the whole thing of getting ready for travelling. I have my sandals now, they look so grandad, but for practical purposes I'm gonna wear them... that and the fact that they cost 45 quid! Still need to get Malaria tablets, buy some more trekking stuff, but need to see what pressies arrive on Saturday on our leaving/birthday do.

September babies

Oh dear, it's September again. I should be happy as it's my birthday month (20th for anyone who cares to send me a card) but so it is for about a billion other friends! In fact two of my friends have exactly the same birthday as me (though I am a little older) and the missus' birthday is Sep 11.

In fact this year we have made a pact to say that we aren't going to buy presents between us. There's no point as we'd just be pushing money about. Suits me fine as it'll save loads of money, though I feel for those without a birthday in September....

Quite fancy an M3

Mmmm... looking at my next car again today. So far I have narrowed the choice down to:

BMW M3 - quite simply awesome, fast, gorgeous, but only has 2 doors and insurance is about £1,300. They cost about £25k for one of the new shape ones as well, so i would be stretching my budget a bit, but if i don't get one this time around, then i might not have a chance until the (future) kids are grown up.

BMW 330i - the sensible choice, espeically if I get the 4 door version (but the coupe is so much sexier). Insurance not too bad at £700 and its about as quick as my Type R right now, difference is that it will have power everywhere rather than only when vtec kicks in.

BMW M5 - very interested in this one. not quite as quick as the M3 but not far off. will stuff a CTR easily but has four doors and lots of space. seen some high mileage ones for £20k and they also have sat nav on most examples which is cruicial for me as a useless navigator. insurance the most expensive at £1,500, but looks very sexy in a sexy businessman kinda way.

Audi S4 - looks a bit pants but fast and safe handling, cheap insurance (£700) and also pretty cheap to buy. supposed to have a quality interior, but really I think my heart yearns for a BMW.
Audi RS2 - Looks a bit dated but it has the credentials, built by Porsche and faster than a McLaren F1 to 30 mph! It has 365 bhp so will kick a lot of ass and it's also pretty cheap. Saw one on 'trader for £15k. Dead practical as well as its really an estate car. Quite a rare sight on today's roads.


Problem with all the cars above is that they are going to cost loads to maintain. Not just the insurance but also the servicing and (heaven forbid) parts.

Final option is to keep the Type R, which isn't that bad an option. It's fast, practical and would cost less to run than those above. Downsides are that it's pretty raw to drive, the ride is hard and you have to rev the nuts off it to get it to move quickly.

Well, no offers yet for the Type R, so I may be forced to keep it for a while. Dan will "look after" it whilst I am away on my travels in return for a contribution towards costs... i guess i'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I'll continue looking and dreaming.... :)

Last working day of 2004.... sort of

There it went, my last day at PwC for 2004. A bit of an anticlimax really as I know that there are a few things left to do still, rather sadly I have brought my laptop and a few files home.

Key date I think will be Sep 15th, the date I hand back my laptop and won't be able to do any more work. Then it'll only be a few more days till we fly off to Thailand.

Still hasn't really sunk in that I am going away for 5 months travelling. I think I am more focused on the Group Golf day next Thursday. Team lists came out today, I have been given a 28 handicap, unfortunately so have most other people! Even Matt, who clearly seems to be one of the best players has an 18 handicap. Lots of practice for me required I think, though Gav has dropped out now from next Monday, so might give one of Ellen's dad's friends a call and play in Kingswood.

Spent an eternity clearing out my stuff. Amazing how much junk I have collected, didn't take long to chuck them away, but there was so much of it and there was so much dust! Anyway, my desk is nice and clean now. James and Pete already have their designs on it, I guess when I come back I'll have to sit with my new team down the corridor.... sniff sniff...

4 days to go!!

Woo hoo!! Only 4 working days left to go until.... no more work till 2005!!!

Am tutoring Thursday and Friday (sadly can't get time off for Victor's wedding) and then Monday and Tuesday next week to tidy my loose ends up and clear my desk. Gonna spend the next couple of weeks playing golf and packing stuff for travelling.

Exciting times... exciting times! Also considering extending my career break for longer till the end of Jan as someone in the family may be getting married in HK.

Quite a lot to sort out still. Need to check my finances, sell the car, find a lodger for the spare room, buy some hiking trainers, etc etc... Plenty of time left for going down the driving range, playing CS and updating this blog though. Will keep you posted!