Summer Holiday 2008

Summer Holiday 2008

Bangkok arrival was uneventful I took two local buses to near my destination for about two dollars. The hotel location is still pretty quiet but a couple of nearby streets are full of foreign businesses from Africa, India and other parts of Asia. The area already has many freight forwarders companies but now has many local foreign buyers. In particular I found an Indian restaurant just around the corner with an amazing street for people watching which reminded me a lot of the market area of Aswan.

The Loy Nava dinner cruise was really special they sent a van to pick me up and take me to the pier. Then I was almost late for the early dinner cruise. But they came back and got me.There were only about 15 people on the boat but it was really beautiful food, the river in Bangkok is surrounded with well lit temples, bridges, palaces and hotels. It was really exotic and I had chosen the fish menu so I didn't mind eating and there was really enough for two. I bought a few light weight shirts/shorts at a large market called MBK.

Loy Nava Cruises

Flight to Colombo was uneventful and the food was very good they had grilled sea bass (hamour) a fish I have actually caught once in the Persian Gulf. Steven from BlinkBonnie was there as planned and he took me the 2.5 hours to Kandy. I had a choice of rooms and selected one with a private balcony. The first morning I took my bag and laundry to market (to have a zipper repaired) and then did a little shopping for batiks and spices/oils. Also I bought genuine Columbia travel trousers for 25 USD.

Blink Bonnie Guest House

Earlier in the week I went to the Kandiyan Dancing Hall to see their performance for three dollars. They changed location. Yesterday I went to an aryuvedic massage place I had visited in 2002 the price went up but I got a discount 37 dollars for three hours including the oil pot dripping down over the head and steam bath. I also went to the Buddhist Publication Society to buy a few books on Sri Lanka's history and culture. Then I went to the Queen's Hotel Pool for a swim for a 1.50 USD. Then after dinner ( I usually have a curry at my guesthouse) I went to one of the three bars here (in a city of 1.5 million) across the lake from my hotel.

Kandyan Dance

Queens Hotel

My schedule is tentative one day study/homework and one day leisure. I am progressing on courses in international management planning and international trade market research. I am starting fourth chapters in third week and have templates for both major assignments (international business plan and international market comparison) both done. I have hunted around for a cool internet cafe with a/c and found one a couple of days ago. As well a plan for the weekend is to walk to a tea factory museum 7km from my hotel in the morning and then go for another 1.5 hour massage in the afternoon before dinner.

A couple of mornings ago raucous monkeys attacked my patio furniture and rifled around on the balcony as I had left a banana out there by accident. They made a muddy mess of footprints and got the impression that their logic draws the conclusion that what is mine is theirs.