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Come To The Cabaret Old Son


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Originally uploaded by roupiesontour

March 23rd – And So The End Is Near

Our little trip with just the 3 of us is coming to and end today as my Sister is joining us for the last part of our trip. I am very excited to see her and so are the kids but I am also a little bit sad as it has been fantastic having just the 3 of us against the world for so long.

We made a huge sign and fought against the tide of other tour reps and their signs so that she would see us at the airport – it worked and there were lots of hugs all round. The kids bored her to death in the taxi I am sure with the tales from lands far away. It is only when I listen to them that I realise how much we have actually seen and done. You forget so much as you are constantly experiencing so much all the time. We have to be gentle with her as we have been used to this travelling lark for a while now and she is fresh meat off the plane! Oh and yes for once and for the record we were browner than her! I think this is actually the first time this has happened so was a big moment for us.

March 24th – 26th

Spent a couple of days trying to get acquainted with the city. Shopping for us is now all go – as this is our last country we can actually start buying some stuff to take home. O and Josh have both gone mad with the tee shirts and I found a stunning bedspread. We went to the night market and tried to see who could get the strangest key ring, little things please little minds! I have to say that the quality was much better in Bali and the DVD’s less than half the price so annoyed I did not stock up.

We took a tour of the temples – the huge reclining Buddha is enormous, the 3 ½ tonne gold statue Buddha (complete with fortune telling machines next to it) was cool and the little emerald Buddha complete in it’s winter outfit v cool. All the guidebooks say wear sleeves but they don’t mean long sleeves – tee shirts are fine to all those who wondered. The temples are amazing and everything that you would expect them to be. We have seen lots of monks too – dressed in robes from brown to orange and with mp3 players, at the cashpoint. Even on the Skytrain the sign that signs give up your seat for the elderly and pregnant women, here it also includes monks. The tour we took also included the visit to the gem factory, we had no intention of buying but had great fun trying on huge sapphires and rubies.

The heat did not deter us from visiting The Grand Palace too. We took a river taxi up and saw up close and personal the contradiction of the city. Plush hotels and futuristic business buildings lie next to old wooden homes on stilts. The city is sinking at the rate of 2” per year and you can see who is already suffering.

The Thai people absolutely worship their royal family. The King’s sister recently passed away and the city is in mourning. While we at the palace many women dressed in black had come to pay their respects to the body, it was a very sombre site. One of the older ladies took great pains to try and explain to me that with my colour hair I should cover up and put a hat on, she kept pointing to my head. Well it was either that I was having such a bad hair day that it was insult not to cover it up with a hat. The palace itself is unbelievable – there is gold and glass mosaic everywhere – the detailing very impressive. Just think The King And I and you are there. The dress code here was very strict and numerous people were sent back to go and hire clothes as they did not pass – even shorts just below the knee so beware.

The evening was spent broadening the cultural mind – we went to see a drag queen cabaret with the kids. It was all feathers, lip synching and sparkly lycra and less drag queen more lady boy. Numbers included Pussy Cat Dolls, Destiny’s Child, Blues Brothers (go figure) – no Diana Ross or Shirley Bassey in sight. My sister made me laugh afterwards and said she thought there would be more men dressed as ladies, O and I both replied that they were all men dressed as ladies! The reason for this mix up – most of the performers had had boob jobs so it is nearly impossible to tell. There was one rather large comedy queen that was very funny so we took our chance and had our photo taken with him afterwards – it will always make me smile, Josh looks like he has no idea what to do with his hands!



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