http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BabeInTheWoods Ravings of a madwomen leaving New Zealand Thu, 07 May 2009 07:12:30 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en That night we had a rum on the guesthouse balcony, whiling away the time watching a little toad nearby hop around harvesting insects. A cute little brown guy who blended in so well with his surroundings, you'd miss him if you weren't reptile-spotting fools like ourselves. Well, Gill had a ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BabeInTheWoods/french-pick-up-lines-and-a-wee-thai-toad.html The train journey was fine. The seats were a little smaller than last time, but they still turned into good beds so all was well. We sat with another English couple - she has just spent a year in Chiang Mai studying Thai, the lucky thing. Apparently she speaks it ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BabeInTheWoods/lashings-of-ladyboys-and-an-ode-to-a-clan-of-cockeralls-2.html The train journey was fine. The seats were a little smaller than last time, but they still turned into good beds so all was well. We sat with another English couple - she has just spent a year in Chiang Mai studying Thai, the lucky thing. Apparently she speaks it ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BabeInTheWoods/lashings-of-ladyboys-and-an-ode-to-a-clan-of-cockeralls.html Once again, enjoying lolling around on our verandah, we were discussing snakes and lizards as per usual. Chow told me a story about his cat at his home in the country, who was stalking and catching a bird. Meanwhile, a large snake that he had - a python, I believe ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BabeInTheWoods/prey-versus-prey-and-loyor-enpar.html Saturday - It got up to 39 degrees yet again, so we had brunch at the usual cafe then slept through most of the day or lay around under wet sarongs right in front of the fan, wishing it was a ceiling fan. We don't know how to stop it ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BabeInTheWoods/tribal-rolls-royces-and-flintstone-lizard-earrings.html The evening after our zoo day, we had a wee party on our verandah. I had decided that a bottle of gin was in order, so I went and bought one at the 7/11 (otherwise known as a Dairy in NZ) for 260 baht (or about $12.60 NZ). Chow, Gill ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BabeInTheWoods/an-old-lady-on-a-harley-davidson-and-inspector-clouseau-shopping-expedition.html Yesterday we travelled out to Wat Umong. Yes folks, we made it outside The Wall. We jumped into a tuk-tuk with The Laughing Tuk-tuk Driver who giggled at everything he said, so we figured either he must be a very funny man or we're extremely amusing from his point of ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BabeInTheWoods/the-laughing-tuk-tuk-driver-and-fluffy-snake-fodder.html On Saturday night we went over to Waialu Road to the Saturday market.  It's held in one long line of outside stalls along the road and it goes for ages! It was nice to be in an outside one though - nowhere near as sauna-like as the inside ones. There ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BabeInTheWoods/the-case-of-the-mysterious-cupcake-lizard-and-the-meditating-chicken.html Continuing from my previous post, on the afternoon of the 14th, Chow kindly donated a large bucket with a huge block of ice in it to the NZ troops and we made very good use of it from our verandah. This made the results of our shooting even more effective ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BabeInTheWoods/thai-karaoke-cooking-classes-and-dubious-smelling-market-stalls.html Night before last: Full-scale war occurred again. This time there were guys on the verandah next to ours patrolling with huge guns. I sat across the road in front of the 'Nice Kitchen' and watched the action from a different viewpoint. Several rums were handed to me in quick succession, ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BabeInTheWoods/in-which-ma-baker-strikes-again-and-our-neighbours-live-down-the-rabbit-hole.html