For the brother

I write this in honour of Big Brother Dave's 28th birthday. Happy Birthday big brother. Really, there is no reason why this blog is in honour of you, other than to wish you a happy birthday and perhaps remind a few other people of the special day.

life is life. Bangkok is Bangkok... work is work.

Hectic as always. Who would have thought that getting a new passport in a foreign country could be so difficult. And who would have thought that the process of reinstating simple visa stamps would be so hard? It took ages. Not a process I hope to ever go through again. Then there was the case of the people in my old building "throwing out" half of my things. I put that in quotations marks, because really - they just stole it. They didn't throw out things that are clearly useful. I had a Thai friend come with me to try to sort things out, but they just lied to our faces. We threatened to contact the police... but this is Thailand and chances are they would do nothing... or be paid off by the building manager. So... one more thing to deal with.

Chinese New Year has come and gone, but the sights and sounds still continue apparently for a couple of weeks. Oddly enough, in the mall by my flat there is still a Christmas tree... confused by that, but I have learned not to question things in Thailand. Well, I haven't really... I think I still question numerous things everyday.

I chose this picture to include in my post, just so all of you living in freezing cold temperatures wouldn't feel so bad. This is a stormy weekend on an island - not enjoyable. No need to feel jealous.

The next trip is to Laos, in just under a week. Can't week, won't be the typical beach vacation.. should be quite exciting.