the lotus and me!

Can you sit in a lotus position? Check my story in the NZ Listener.

happy new year from Spice Tours

Sawat Di Pi Mai!
Happy Thai New Year!

Calm returns to Thailand

Songkran is Thailand’s New Year celebration, a fun spirited water-throwing festival, but this year it was accompanied by some untraditional political chaos. Most residents and tourists were unaffected by the April 10th to 14th demonstrations, with the government providing a step by step response that quickly restored order while dispersing the protestors without consequential violence.

Even during the height of the tensions visitors enjoyed their trips oblivious to the protests in Bangkok. No SpiceRoads tours were affected by the unrest and all our tours are running as scheduled. Sawat Di Pi Mai!

PASSING this on as I have done a bike trip with SpiceRoads and they were great :)

is travel in thailand safe?

Check out my blog on this topic at http//kiwitravelwriter.wordpress.com 

Some of my friends may disagree with my opinion as they think I''m either couragous or crazy with most of my travel so they may ignore my ideas.

Also, I have friends on facebook who are teaching in Thailand and I dont hear any concerns from them!

I love this photo of a monk being a tourist in Bangkok (taken by me - Feb 2009)

Is Thailand safe?

Although I have been blogging about my trip to Thailand last week - I suspect some of you may still be wondering: “Is Thailand safe?“

Now I have to admit when the political protesters blocked the airport I found it hard to be sympathetic for travelers who were bleating about being ’stuck’ in Thailand. That may have been unfair of me, as, as a passionate nomad, as a traveller who makes her own arrangements as to how, where and when I’ll travel, and where I’ll stay, my thoughts were ‘Thailand is the easiest of countries to leave’

So what were my conclusions? READ more here

0ff to thailand

My Bangkok plans includes exploring three very different and interesting places during a walk about in the city’s bustling flower market, a china town, a serene Buddhist temple.   95% of Thailand's population in Buddhist, there are around 400 wats (wat means temple) in Bangkok. My tour takes me to one of the most impressive: The Reclining Buddha temple “Wat Pho”. This is also home to the original and famous massage school

I will also travel by boat through the backwater canals of old Bangkok.

Nineteenth-century Bangkok was laced with waterways, giving the capital the designation “Venice of the East”. Over the past three decades many of the canals have disappeared and made way for motorways. Surviving canals and the mighty Chao Phraya, Bangkok’s River of Kings, provide a fascinating insight into the traditional waterborne Thai way-of-life that has remained essentially unchanged over the centuries.

The Royal Grand Palace is one of Bangkok’s most visited attractions and a wonder of the modern world. The royal palace, covering one square mile, was built in 1782 by King Rama I and remained a royal residence of the Chakri Kings up until the present monarch, who moved his home to the Dusit neighborhood.

Another highlight is Wat Phra Kaew (the Temple of the Emerald Buddha) which houses Thailand’s most revered Buddha image carved from a single piece of jade, believed to be the protector of the kingdom. The area is always crowded with worshippers as well as visitors trying to catch a glimpse of Thailand’s most sacred image of the Buddha.

I also look forward to visiting and maybe even dinning at the top of Bangkok's second tallest building - the landmark State Tower with its highly visible golden dome.

Book mark my blog so you can come back and see what I experienced and so help you plan your own trip to this land of smiles.