Bangkok

At long last after all Ross’s excellent organising we all made it together (all 19 of us ) at the Queen’s Garden resort Bangkok! Our overnight hotel , before continuing on to Kathmandu today, was very comfortable and gave everyone a much needed rest after a long flight.
I have enjoyed meeting again with some old friends from the Peru/Bolivia trip in 2006 and meeting some new and of course great to see Andrew, our son. Seems like a great bunch of people. We are all well and enthusiastic at this point – watch this space for a progress report on everyone’s health, wealth and well-being! Russell and I arrived a few hours earlier than the others, so had a chance to take a ride in a “duck” pedal boat on the canal outside the hotel seeing some of the local ramshackly looking houses with friendly children waving, a woman washing in the muddy canal, large fish leaping, dogs lazing on the boardwalks and numerous bikes and scooters, most with pillion passengers, whizzing over the arched canal bridge.
I experienced my first Thai massage too - 350 Baht ($14 AU) for one hour. The Thai woman washed my feet first and then fully clothed on a mattress on the floor, I was prodded, pushed, pulled, twisted, pinched, slapped, kneaded and stretched. Felt good, although a little painful at times, and certainly not relaxing. Hopefully it will unblock all my energy flows in readiness for Nepal!
Gill