Crazy Elephant, Singapore

From Singapore 2012

My itinerary included two days in Singapore, to visit various friends living there, to see what's new, and to revisit some of my favourite haunts. I managed to fit in my two favourite music venues: Harry's Bar at Orchard, and the Crazy Elephant on Clarke Quay.  Good to see the Blues Machine still doing their stuff at the Elephant, currently fronted by an Aussie called Dave, and as ever featuring the inspired guitar playing of the owner, Johnny Chee.

Erawan Waterfall

From Erawan Waterfall

The Erawan National Park is about an hours drive from Kanchanaburi, and its main attraction is the waterfall, which is said to be the most attractive in the whole of Thailand. Its distinguishing feature is that it is comprised of a series of seven linked cascades, each feeding a pool, most of which offer great swimming. It's quite a trek from the base to the seventh level, but well worth the effort. Level two offer a large bathing pool, which thankfully was not particularly busy on our way up, so I took advantage of it to cool down. All the pools are teeming with fish, some quite large, but it's the smaller ones you need to watch out for as they are keen to nibble your feet. A bit disconcerting at first but quite pleasant when you get used to it. By the time we got to level five, I felt inclined to give my feet the extended fish treatment, and they were soon swarming around. Presumably it is much the same as the fish foot spars that are springing up all over the place, but here it is for free rather than having to pay 150 baht. Then on up to level seven and another refreshing swim. The waterfall and its pools are really very attractive, with a clear water that look turquoise from a distance, presumably due to the limestone that it is flowing though.

The return downward journey was much more rapid, and time again for another swim at level two before heading back to Kanchanaburi. I had wanted to visit one of the local limestone caves on this trip, but the tour company that provided our driver for the day wanted to charge a ridiculous amount for the extra 12km, so reluctantly we gave this a miss. Nevertheless, the Erawan waterfall was enough in itself to make a very worthwhile day out.

Hellfire Pass

From Hellfire Pass

The plan for today was to travel on the Death Railway to its terminus in Nam Tok, and then take a bus to the Hellfire Pass Museum, which commemorates the building of the Thailand-Burma railway. Unfortunately I managed to miss the train. Having been told that the train is always reliably 1 to 2 hours late, I had adopted a relaxed schedule. However, on this occasion it was only half an hour late and so I managed to miss it by five minutes. So the journey to the museum was on the local bus, which was quicker than the train, but missed out on some of the scenic train route.

The museum exhibition itself duplicated much of what I had seen the previous day in the Death Railway Museum in Kanachanaburi, but its main selling point was that it provided access to some of the most challenging engineering feats on the rail route, including the notorious Hellfire Pass. This is the deepest cutting on the route and was given its name on account of the flickering lights that the PoW workers used to illuminate their activities as they toiled though the night.

Bridge Over the River Kwai

From Kanchanaburi

The plan for day one was to look around Kanhanaburi, including of course the famous bridge itself, and the Death Railway Museum, which recounts the construction of the Thai-Burma railway.

I had assumed that the bridge standing today was a new one built some time after the war, but it turns out that most of it is still the original construction apart from the middle section, which was repaired after it was destroyed by allied bombing towards the end of the war (not by daring commandos, as the film would have us believe). It was certainly an unusual experience walking across the bridge while pondering on its history.

The Death Railway Museum is one of three or more exhibitions in Kanchanaburi related to the railway, but probably the most informative one. It provides a well presented history of Japan's objectives in SE Asia, and the planning and construction of the railway, concentrating in particular on the use of PoW labour to undertake this project, and the appalling conditions under which they worked, and in many cases died. This is brought home by the presence of a cemetery adjacent to the museum containing the remains of over six thousand allied PoWs who died in the construction of the Thai-Burma railway.

Train to Kanchanaburi

The first hurdle was finding a taxi driver who had even heard of Bangkok's Thonburi station, let alone one who knew where it was. This small station is miles from the main Bangkok station and a far as I can see, it only serves the line to Kanchanburi and Nam Tok. The journey was on 3rd class coaches, at a cost of 100 baht (£2) for foreigners, and free for Thai locals. It was billed as taking 2.5 hours but in the end it arrived at Kanchanaburi over four hours after departure, due to having to wait for several trains going in the opposite direction on the mainly single track line. Just as well I was not in any hurry.

Back to Bangkok

Our workshop session with True seemed to go well, and I think we now have a good understanding for what they need in phase two of the project. It could take some time to develop the customizations they need, so not sure when I will next be back here in Bangkok for a site visit.

In the evening, another chance to hit the town with the i team. Over dinner, Vince took the time to introduce me to his chosen religion: pastafarianism, and explain the powers of its supreme being, the flying spaghetti monster. It made more sense to me than most other religions I have encountered.

Another unexpected bonus of the evening was getting Vince's advice on places to go in Thailand. I had originally planned to go diving in Koh Samet, but that came to nothing when I discovered that all the accommodation on the small island was fully booked due to some local island festival that was on that weekend. Vince's suggestion was to spend a few days in Kanachanaburi, otherwise known as Bridge Over the River Kwai town. Not only that, but Mike, another member of the i team, was also planning to go there, having had to cancel the previous week due to pressure of work. So I would have the benefit of a traveling companion. Watch this space.

Kooking in Khon Kaen

From Khon Kaen 2012

Currently spending a long weekend in North East Thailand, visiting various friends.  It's too hot here at this time of year to get out much, so basically just chilling out (is that possible at 40+C ?), drinking beer and playing guitar (on a previous visit, I left one of my old instruments with friends here, for just such an occasion).  Also enjoying eating some of the spicy Isaan food.

Bangkok with the i team

Flew into Bangkok from Doha on Qatar Airways.  Quite a civilized flight except that I only got one hours sleep thanks to the time difference and being woken up 2 hours before arrival for breakfast, which the clock said was at 6am but my stomach said was 2am.  As a consequence, suffered jetlag for most of the day.
In the evening I joined up with some of the i-conX team working on the Thailand project, to get an update on how things were going with the customer, and also celebration our successful project completion in Qatar.
We ate out in a very pleasant restaurant that actually served genuine Thai food as opposed to the usual stuff they serve up to tourists.

Qatar - maybe the last time?

Back to Doha again for the final customer meeting in this phase of our project.  All went well and they are very pleased with what we have delivered over the past 6 months.  Probably no need for me to visit again for quite a while, if at all.  I can't honestly say that I will miss the place.

Damien Hirst, Tate Modern

Love him or loathe him, its hard to deny that Damien Hirst is one of this country's most successful artists.  Now, the chance for us all to see most of this better known works together in one show, at the Tate Modern.  It was all there, from his signature spot paintings, pharmaceutical and medial collages, bisected sharks and sheep, via musings on the meaning of life and death in the form of cases of flies and rooms full of butterflies, to the totally OTT 'For the Love of God' - his infamous diamond encrusted platinum skull.
Although this was the first time I had ever seen Hirst's work up close (apart from the now defunct Pharmacy restaurant in Notting Hill), I felt that his pickled animal carcasses had lost some of their shock value because we have all become desensitised to these works via constant media exposure.  On the other hand, his spot paintings were much more accessible as works of art in their gallery setting than they ever were in a glossy magazine, and his butterfly collages were simply stunning, looking more like elaborate stained glass windows.
Exiting though the gift shop, we resisted the temptation to splash out £36,800 on a Damien Hurst hand painted plastic skull (hand painted by one of his many assistants no doubt).  Not even the £9.95 fridge magnet set could tempt me.  But go see for yourself. The exhibition is open unto 9th September 2012.

Gandalf Murphy, The Borderline

It was great to see these guys again on their 2012 UK tour, thanks to the efforts of Jim Driver of Rhythm Events fame.  Although they had slimmed down to a four piece, they were still more than capable of delivering an expansive sound as they took the audience through some of the material from their new Grand Slambovians, interspersed with various classics from their back catalogue.  The first track from the new album, Trans Slambovian BiPolar Express, with its slinky slide guitar playing, proved an instant sing-along hit with the audience, whilst Talking With The Buddha was probably the most requested number from way back.  A fine night out, to the extent that Alison was easily persuaded to buy the Grand Slambovian CD!

Pretty Things, Eel Pie Club, Twickenham

I have to confess that I was not really into the Pretty Things first time around - too young I think!  However, when I saw that they were on just down the road at the renowned Eel Pie Club, I thought it would be too good an opportunity to miss seeing a band that could be said to be one of the forerunners of punk. Turned out to be a great gig, with some excellent blues guitar and harmonica playing. Sounding a lot like early Rolling Stones, which is not too surprising since Dick Tayor was one of the original Stones, along with Jagger and Richards.  An excellent evenings entertainment.

Lake Constance, Germany

The plan was to be unpatriotic by making use of the four day Jubilee weekend to take a short break to the shores of Lake Constance in Germany, thus avoiding all the street partying and pageantry associated the royal event, to say nothing of getting away from our wonderful UK spring weather.

Alison and I flew out to Zurich, with Tim and Clare, and took the train to Konstanz on the Swiss-German border, before boarding the ferry across the lake to Meersburg, where we were staying for the long weekend. On the Saturday we meet up with Suzi and Ben and headed over to visit Clare's friends Krista and Hans Jurgen, who were kindly loading us some bikes for our expeditions, as well as providing some great hospitality.

From Lake Constance

Day one highlights included swimming in Lake Constance and dinner in a restaurant situated on the island of Mainau, which contained a monastery and a botanical garden. The meal included what was to be the first of many asparagus dishes, which is a local seasonal speciality.

Day two included a visit to a hilltop fort followed by a view of the Rhine Falls.  On the way home we stopped off for a short a walk around the very picturesque Swiss village of Stein am Rhein.  Once back in Meersburg, we dined on yet more asparagus in our hotel restaurant.

The highlight of day three was a visit to one of the many thermal spas that surround the lake and are enormously popular with the Germans. I tied out most of what was on offer, including the water slide, thermal baths, and saunas, but drew the line at swimming naked in the lake, unlike some of the braver members of our party.

Our final day included a visit to the Zeppelin museum at Friedrichshaven, where the famous Hindenberg and Graf Zeppelin were built. Then to end, a ferry trip back across Lake Constance into Germany, and a train back to the airport and our flight home.