Bye Bye TCN

I have been thinking of closing this blog for some time and today is the day!
I'm just in the process of saving my posts though so you have about an hour left

Our 1st Wedding Anniversary

It's Sunday. I woke up excited because Josiah promised that we'd go to the famous Sunday markets tonight. We tried going last Sunday but it started raining heavily. It's very difficult to haggle when rain is dripping down your face and into your mouth.

The rain stopped Monday morning and all week the skies have stayed clear, the weather's been hot and I've been looking forward to our 2nd attempt at the markets.  

I woke up this morning and guess what. 

It's raining. 

Correction: it's pouring.

It's now almost 11:30am and it's been going non-stop since 6:30 this morning.

And do you know WHY it's raining today.

Because it's a Sunday, and I wanted to go to the market.

That's why.

I was pouty for a few hours, but then I decided to think about happier times so I put together this photoblog of our 1st wedding anniversary which we celebrated just last week.

It's all G rated I promise (except for the food porn)

Our anniversary started early when Josiah booked
a surprise stay at the Amari Watergate in Bangkok
The room was nice, but the buffet breakfast was epic!!

Croissants, Blueberry Danishes,  
Cake for breakfast?
Pile them on!

There was also a salad bar (which I completely avoided)

And half a dozen types of cereal

Plus there was an Indian breakfast station (ew); an Asian section with delicious chicken skewers (and other dishes that looked like they were dinner?); a waffle and pancake stand; and the usual egg station. 
I ate so much at breakfast, a woman asked me in the elevator when my baby was due.

Baby? What baby?!

We did leave the hotel a couple of times to do some shopping. 
I can't go to Bangkok and not buy something. 
We saw these (chained) elephants outside a well-known shopping mall.
Quiet sad really.

We saw a disabled man who had chosen to sell wooden bracelets and hair clips instead of taking the easy option of begging. Full of admiration for him, I bought (a rather ugly) clip, and then we bought him some lunch

That's him there. He didn't seem interested in the lunch though, and put it off to the side. Perhaps he really doesn't like charity of any kind? Shame really. I never say no to free food.

After taking a horrid 18 hour overnight train from hell (which deserves its own post), we arrived to the Shangri-La looking and smelling like, well, we'd just spent 18 hours on an overnight train from hell. To their credit, the staff didn't ask us if we were lost. 

The Shangri-La
(taken last Sunday - you can see the storm clouds looming)

Instead we were whisked straight up to the Horizon Lounge and offered a complimentary breakfast since we'd arrived so early (it was 8am). 

Woohoo! Presidential Suite!

I think I was just a little too excited when I saw the note pad next to the toilet.
That's where all my epiphanies occur!
How did they know?

After deciding to go caffeine free last month in Cambodia

I went on a mocha drinking binge  

With drinks that look this beautiful,
there really wasn't any hope for resistance

Free desserts, canapes and alcohol in the club lounge
Or as we call it: The funnest way to gain 15 kilos in one weekend.

Being the heroes that we are, we still managed to find room for the celebratory bottle of Australian wine they brought up

The piano player in the lobby
Poor guy, no customers to play too
Everyone was upstairs enjoying the free booze

After our stay at the Shangri-La we moved across to another beautiful 5 star resort, 
the Siripanna Villa.

At half the price of the Shangri-La, 
I actually thought their rooms were nicer.
No all day free food though :(

the bathroom

I thought these elephants on my bed were really cute
But I'd have appreciated chocolate more

Here are some pictures Josiah took during our stroll around the resort

How unfortunate for that person at the back
Quite a stream

Apparently the Siripanna is set on 6 acres (smallest 6 acres I've ever seen, but ok). They have really put a lot of thought into the landscaping. There are rice fields, ponds and water features behind the resort. 

And in the mornin, I'm makin WOFFLES!!

So that's all I can be bothered uploading. I'm still hoping I'll get my trip to the markets tonight. Doesn't look good though :(

Our Apartment in Chiang Mai

After a wonderful week off to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary, we have finally tired of days spent lazing by the pool and stuffing ourselves on 5 star buffets. We're now motivated to get back into work and have found ourselves an airy top floor apartment overlooking Chiang Mai where we'll be staying for the next 3 weeks until our flight back to Australia.

Here's a few pictures I took before we began our favourite ritual called "The Great Unpacking", which invariably involves our stuff being thrown to every corner of the apartment and makes us look like hobbits.

There's also a gym on the first floor which Josiah says we'll make good use of but I'm not so sure seeing as though I'm so lazy I can't even be bothered to get the lift down to take a picture of it for this blog.