Monthly Archive: July 2010

Sign Language

Sign Language

One of my spawn’s many endearing qualities is that he generally, as here with his new friend Solène, looks as though butter wouldn’t melt in...

Cheong Fatt Tze blue mansion, Georgetown, Penang

The Rockefeller of the East

This is one wing of the Georgetown mansion of Cheong Fatt Tze, the last great mandarin of China, known in New York, where he did...

Smells Like Drains, Tastes Like Syllabub

Ahhh… The sweet scent of durian. Known across South-East Asia as “the king of fruits”. Celebrated at festivals across Malaysia and Indonesia. Freighted cross-continents by...

Z in scuba gear exiting a boat with a giant stride.

Into the Deep

Why learn to dive? Well… Scuba diving opens up an entire new world. There’s the fluid, graceful movement in three dimensions, moving up or down...

African penguins exploring their rocky home, behind glass at Siam Ocean World Aquarium, Bangkok Aquarium.

Penguins in Bangkok

We didn’t come to Thailand for the penguins. But there’s something surreally magical about stepping out of 35 degrees of sweaty, humid heat and coming...

city skyline of bangkok at night, seen from Vertigo, Bangkok.

Vertigo, Bangkok

This is the view from Vertigo, the aptly named, open-air bar which sits on the sixtieth floor above the Banyan Tree hotel, Bangkok. And I...

curving white spiral walkway inside Bangkok Centre for Art & Culture

Imagine Peace

Junior remarked the other day, “I do hope the shirt war doesn’t start again while we’re in Bangkok.” And my mother asked me over the...

Pink and yellow leopard's head with tuk-tuk, Bangkok

If Bangkok was a Colour…

If Bangkok had a colour, it would most definitely be pink. Hot pink. Like a bar girl’s brassiere, or those gorgeous metallic fuchsia and violet...