Up, Up And Away!

Diana goes to the Philippines to visit her family,

Diana is all smiles as she gets into the truck,

we made super fast time to the airport, the roads were surprisingly uncrowded,

all set ready for the off, I wish the people that designed Heathrow airport had come here to see how a airport should be designed, it is light and spacious, with ampule parking and lifts, not like Heathrow, nowhere near enough lifts and appalling parking faculties,

also I liked the displays of flowers in the main concourse,

after our goodbyes it on to Bangkok itself, the skies looking very menacing,

with rain liniment,

we eventually arrived at this cul-de-sac,

and the reason for coming here?

the 4 story building is the Bangkok home and office of,

Joe Conrad magic,

the offices are on three floors,

decorated with pictures of some of Joe's many illusions,

another view of the downstairs office, this is one of Joe's leaflets, notice at the top of the flyer just some of the famous company's he has performed for, and this is another one, levitation over 5 meters high!

then it was follow Joe for a lunch time drink,

before long the bad weather had caught up with us, all around this area near Nana Plaza there are lots of street stalls, so it was time for the waterproof covers to come out,

just as it started we got to the Beer Garden on Soi 7, it was a huge place, with 60 or 80 young ladies there, they must have known it was going to rain, their clothes were so nice I guess they all headed in here before us so their dresses would not get wet, Joe told me this was a popular day time bar for people in the area,

after our drink there we made our way to Gulliver's for a lunch time snack,

it would have been nice to sit outside and watch the world go by, but the rain had started again,

again this was a huge place inside, only one third of the area was being used behind us was more seating and 4 or 5 pool tables,

Joe had French fries, I had a prawn cocktail and a nice bottle of wine, which I thought quite reasonable at 795 baht considering we were in Bangkok,

hanging like the Sword of Damocles above the heads of the bar staff, or I should say supported, was this car that revolved, I could not be sure of the make and model,

all through the meal Joe's phone was ringing with bookings coming in,

there are two sides to this, one one hand it is pleasant to be able to shop whilst you walk,

on the other hand sometimes there is to much store and not enough pavement!

we then made our way to see Sam at Gulati's, this is where I have my trousers, shirts and shorts made, yes my shorts are made to measure and also where Joe has his suits made,

Sam said to say Hi! to Steve and is hoping to see you soon,

so many materials to chose from,

and even more on the other side of counter,

this is Sam's card, just right on the corner of Nana 3 Road and Sukhumvit,

so if you want a recommendation for a good tailor go and see Sam.

as well as having stationary shops on the sidewalk there are also mobile shops, like this travelling tropical fish shop,

yes, we have no bananas, as the song goes,

or durian's

but plenty of fruit here,

and as many flowers as you want,

one thing about Bangkok, it never stops growing, especially upwards!

this is a small market by the sky train, a great way to travel around town, the triffic in the city is often gridlocked,

then the drive back to Pattaya, Steve very kindly asked me to drop off a present from him to Juu in Champions, so I was on a mission!

Soi Marine Plaza looking slightly less crowded than usual,

a few people in Diana's favorite pizza resturaunt,

past the shoe store, no stopping there tonight!

and into a quite Walking Street, well I had a great evening with Juu, one of his many brothers called in so a fine time was had by all Steve Juu sad he will wait to see you then open the bottle, so hurry over here!!

as I did not have time for a evening meal I decided to stop on the way home to get some take home French fries,

and very nice they were to, an exhausting day so home for a kip, "Cheers!"