I am still fascinated by the fact that I awake every morning to find that somebody has silently pushed an English language newspaper under my door in the night containing an in-depth round-up of all the news from the west but only stuff about life in Thailand if the editorial team can seriously lay into the government for no apparent reason. This, in a country where mentioning in passing that you don't like the king very much will result in some men appearing at ...

This morning, I was approached in the street by a suspiciously friendly local who wanted to know if I would like him to take me on a tour of the local temples, a service which he was quite keen to make it clear he was doing out of the goodness of his own heart rather than for any nefarious purpose. This, of course, is a bit like knocking on someone's front door and starting the conversation by assuring them that you are not there to case the joint. I must have gi...

With a soft tinkle of my doorbell (Yes, I have a doorbell), my breakfast arrived at 9.00AM sharp this morning courtesy of room service. Oh, the unashamed luxury of it all. Juice, toast, croissants and honey, pancakes with sausages, tea with cream - followed by the biggest plate of bacon and eggs I've ever seen in my life. Quite a surreal introduction to Thailand, to be provided with the most western breakfast imaginable, but certainly a nice first glimpse of loca...

Ancient Chinese proverb: "Man who walk through turnstile without care, going to Bangkok" They have a department at airports, you know, where all the staff are given special training to enable them to speak on the tannoy in a way which people can almost - but not quite - make out. This is why, having previously experienced the panic of realising that the irritated voice on the public address system was actually talking to me and that I was the one holding up the ...

I have never understood the British pre-occupation with finding things to complain about at airports. Turn on the TV at any point and you can select from a multitude of shows following the fortunes of airport staff, and these people seem to spend at least 80 percent of their time being sworn at. A more stressful job I cannot imagine. Personally, I like to look on the positive side. If there is a delay to my flight, it's an excuse to potter around the duty free s...