2008 The year that was

A bit more of a stable year this time, I needed that!

January saw me get my teeth into my new job, it involved working outside on site, getting dirty and meeting loads of new mates.

Febuary and March followed the same pattern, no curve balls or bolts from the blue, I like that. I also started working on the website at work, I now know how easy it is to do a website! I have created my own http://www.chrisslife.co.uk/ take a peek at it, its a work in progress but a few good tit bits in it.

April and may saw us back as a family in Thailand, we had a good time, however a relaing holiday for me it wasn't, i've just booked for next may and this time i'm definately going to relax more.

August saw me discover face book, its been great. I have found old friends and relations including my cousin Darren.

All this year Elizabeth has been getting bigger and bigger and brighter and brighter, September was a bit of a busy month, we moved to our new house which we love and Elizabeth had her 2nd birthday, we had a great party for her.

October and November saw me back on site, we built a warehouse at Mickleover. I learnt hell of alot and can't wait until the next one we build. The site work in the cold saw me catch a bad chest infection and then a cold and bad sinus, so as I write this i'm struggling with my health a little. Christmas was quiet, but that suited me.

Thai Smile

Here's the latest thing to make you feel better when the Boys in Brown extort money out of you!

It is the latest version of the famous Thai smile - motorcycle policemen with a bright red goofy grin painted onto their white anti-pollution masks.

For the first week of the year - and longer if people seem to be smiling back - highway policemen in Thailand will wear the masks "to lift the mood of motorists," according to police officials.
"For our highway policemen, we have the policy that the police must be friendly and smiling all the time, but the problem is, when we're tired, it's hard to keep smiling," said Colonel Somyos Promnim, the Highway Police commander.

Maybe if they didn't rip you off at toll booths and always take the sid eof Thai's then maybe people would smile at plod more.

Another christmas done!

The after christmas day is always a bit of a downer, only 364 days till the next christmas.

We got up at around 7am and has predicted Elizabeth had way too many presents, a full wheelie bin full of wrapping and packaging, special thanks to everyone who sent her and Nuch and I a present.

We had lunch at Elaichi Restaurant in Belper, even though its an Indian, I had traditional christmas dinner. Unfortunately it wasn't up to scratch, i'm not sure what I expected???

The afternoon and evening was as predictable, drink, sleep and watch TV, you can't beat it.

Robbing, Bastard Landlord

Well not the landlord, but his agent. Just before we left our last place Nuch dropped a hot iron on the carpet, it left a burn mark the same shape. We tried to repair the carpet and in all fairness I made a complete botch of it.

I knew I would have to pay something out of my deposit and so waited to find out. Well the company called Managed Exit eventually told me that the cost would be £481.00 + vat!!! They want me to pay for the whole carpet even though we are only talking a six inch square.

The upshot is that they have now said £481 inc vat, so i'm only going to get £100 back, so i'm not going to release the bond which is held at an independent deposit holder. I'd be prepared to go halves, I know that some monies are owed.

So watch this space!

19th January. Today I had a letter from the deposit protection scheme (DPS), they informed that the agent as not complied with the terms and conditions of the deposit. They went on to say that I would be entitled to my deposit! Not sure what means, i'll contact them and find.

So watch this space again.

Thailand Time

While i've been working my ass off, Thailand has been through some mega upheaval's.

The most striking of all was the occupation of the two main international airports by protestor'e aligned to the PAD organisation. This lawless band of middle class thugs and their paid muscle breached every conservention of lawful protesting when they more or less held 300,000 tourist hostage in Thailand. The harm they have done to the country will only come and bite them on the arse next year when tourist will vote with their feet and go elsewhere in the region were the political regime is more stable, maybe somewhere like Burma or Cambodia!!!!

The old PM as been booted along with his party the PPP, they were found guilty of vote buying, der! this is Thailand, if you can get a few thousand baht for voting for the party you'd have voted for anyway, then why not!

Today, a new PM has been voted in. Abhisit Vejjajiva the young Democrat and Bangkok Governor as finally become PM. Even though his Democrat party came second in the last election, he as managed to get (buy) enough votes from smaller opposition parties and get the job. Although i'm not happy with this, give the bloke a go and see what happens to Thailand. He was born in Newcastle , so a bit of Geordie humour and fight would be helpful.

The old PM Thaksin Shinawtra is still stirring the pot, with several address's to his party via video he says he should be allowed back into power. Maybe he should, he was deposed in a military coup, and although he was alledgedly corrupt, he seemed to want what was best for thailand's large poor community. What as soured it a bit for me with Thaksin is he said that Britain would pay for revoking his visa, bring it on thaksin!!!!

Lets see what the next month brings to Thailand, hopefully a bit of peace and quiet.

Work

Over the past five weeks the number of entries on this blog jave been few and far between, the reason for this is that i've been working like a bastard!!!!

We have been building a new warehouse near Derby, i've been there from digging the footing out all the way to putting the finishing touches to the building. Its been very rewarding and as you can see from the picture, its a big piece of kit.

At least were not in Thailand

I know that living in the UK at the moment is fairly poor, what with the recession, troops in far lands, knife crime and X-Factor.

Thailand seems to have missed the worst of the global recession on the surface, however scratch just a little bit under the skin and not everything is rosy in the Land of Smiles.

Political woes still plaque the country, the leader of the anti goverment movement PAD who is fighting the goverment on sleeze charges has just resigned over the precurment of a load of fire engines, seems his fingers have been caught in the till himself. The south of the country as erupted in to violence again with insurgents kicking off, and today a bomb was thrown into a market that had been refusing to pay higher rent charges wounding thirteen.
The biggest problem is the state of the baht against world currencies, unlike the pound which is on its arse, the baht is very strong. Today is was only 51 to the £1, when I first went to Thailand it was 71baht. Thats a big difference, people will stop importing goods from Thailand and tourists will think twice about going there because of the near same same prices with the UK.

Hopefully by the time we go over next may, the baht is a little better against the pound, 70 baht to the £1 would be nice.

Belper Fair

Its that time of year when Belper Fair pays us its annual visit, This year Elizabeth was old enough to appreciate what was happening. She went on loads of rides and had a go at hook a Duck.


Check out the video below:

Mini Parker Reunion

Later today, my cousin Darren Parker is coming over for a visit. He will be our first overnight
guest so looking forward to that. Later Ann and Andy will be coming over for a Thai dinner and then its off round Belper for a few pints.

Andy and Darren being sociable on Facebook

Nuch's Thai dinner was superb as usual, everyone enjoyed the meal, at around 10pm we moved out to Belper for a few jars, sadly the last week at work and the long day caught up with me! By 1am Darren and I were on our way home and left Ann and Andy to it.

The photo below shows that Elizabeth has switched illigence to Darren, she loved him!!!!!

Cheers for the superb lunch Darren and come back soon.

Thai UK Differences

There are a whole load of differences between Thailand and the UK, with all the troubles going on in Thailand it has bought seceral closer to my mind.

Driving is a major difference, I know I've gone over it a million times but driving in Thailand id mental. The picture you can see a motorbike taxi coming towards me in my lane, this is common. When a Thai driver flashes you, it doesn't mean after you, it means get oit of the way i'm coming through and know one will stop me.

Politics in Thailand is altogther a different ketlle of fish, we have a few fanatics over here but on the whole we go with the flow and mess the goverment about at by elections. Thailand as many more fanatics, maybe because democracy is still pretty much new and is taken very seriously, even worth dieing for!

Worry for Thailand

I'm becoming more worried regarding the events that are unfolding in Thailand.

The on going political strife is causing the most arm, one group PAD is seriously under minding Thai goverment and with their anti democratic, dictatorship led policies, Thailand will be marginalised by the rest of the world should they ever get what they desire. I cant understand why the authorities are not cracking down on them.

The situation on the Thai-Cambodia is becoming more serious, Cambodia wont back down, that country as the biggest chip on its shoulders after what happened in their recent history. They resisted carpet bombong and a clandestine invasion by the US, so resisting Thailand will be a pip.

Current global finacial problems are slowly starting to hit Thailand, this will mean local difficulties and has the credit crunch grabs the rest of the world, fewer people will be able to visit the country and that will put a big dent in the coffers.

Also a worry is the lack of real news in Thailand, Nuch keeps in touch with the Thai news agencies. I recently showed her some pictures on the TIME website and she couldn't beleive the level of violence that is happening in the protests, and pictures of ten captured Thai troops in Cambodia shoecked her as the Thai news agency said it was a false report.

For the sake of all the people I know in Thailand, I hope things sort themselves out soon.

Lord Jim

My cus Jim in OZ is something of a musician, he is into death metal and his brand as a slight twinge of nordic viking warlord!

Sounds a bit mental to me aswell, but then again I am twice his age and my music taste sort of stopped in the mid 90's.

His band "Claim the Throne" had its debut CD and book launch tonite in Perth, according to early reports it went superb, click on the link to listen to the band.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=26490079

Good luck Jim.

England doing well

As of last night England sit top of their world cup qualifying table. Four wins out of four games!

New manager Capello must be doing something right, lets hope this carries on next year.

Thailand v Cambodia

Today saw fighting between Thailand and Cambodia at the disputed Preah Vihear temple. The temple is on the border and has been disputed for decades. In the 60's the UN gave the temple to Cambodia, but the area around it was never decided.

Over the last few months, the Thai's and Cambodians have been ramping up the tension by moving in large scale armed forces. There was a skirmish last month which resulted in wounded on both sides. Today it erupted big time. Two Cambodians were killed and ten injured, the Thai's suffered ten wounded and had ten taken prisoner.

What worries me is that both countries don't like loosing face so will not back down, also both goverments could use this to divert attention from their respective problems. Also both sets of soldiers, particually the Khemar's are good fighters, the Thai's have some exceptional special forces and the Khemar's have kicked the US's as in the not to distance past so you'd think they'd cope with Thailand.

Lets hope everything sorts itself out.

More Elizabeth

This picture is of Elizabeth playing in her new sand and water pit. She loves the outdoors and kick a proper fuss up when its time to come back in.

Thai protests get deadly

The following is from the BBC website, they say it better than me:

Protesters seeking to force the Thai government to resign say they will continue their demonstrations, a day after violent clashes in Bangkok.

The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has accused the government of having blood on its hands, a day after two people died in violent protests. More than 400 people were injured in the clashes. The streets around parliament were quiet overnight after the military deployed unarmed troops to help police. The demonstrators were attempting to disrupt the inauguration of the new government, which they claim is being run by proxies of the ousted prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.

The protesters barricaded the building and trapped lawmakers inside for several hours as police outside fired volleys of tear gas in the crowds to try to clear the area.
The new prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat - who has refused to quit - was forced to climb over a fence to escape. Mr Somchai, who is Mr Thaksin's brother-in-law, has sought to calm fears of further unrest, telling foreign ambassadors that the government will "resolve the domestic problems through the democratic process", the Agence France Presse news agency reported.

I'm still struggling to understand PAD, they are intent on messing Thailand up. Seriously, they want to take the vote off the common people, because they are not clever enough to use their vote. WTF!!!!

Thats like UKIP saying northerners cant have a vote because they wont use it properly (not vote for them).

Elizabeth's Party

Last year Elizabeth was a little too young to appreciate her first birthday, even this year she wasn't sure what was going on, but in Elizabeth style she just went with the flow and really enjoyed herself.

I did the english food and Nuch made some excellent Thai food that went down very well. Altogether there were a dozen kids and even more adults. I hope everybody enjoyed themselves. I did, even though it was very hard work.

Elizabeth is 2

Time is flying by at the moment, the day after we moved Elizabeth had her 2nd birthday.

We bought her a wendy house, a see saw, a slide and sand and water table. Now we have moved house we can put these things outside and Elizabeth can play with them when she wants to.

Elizabeth is a lovely girl, i'm sure all parents say that about their children. She is well balanced, has good manners and seems to be quite bright. I like to think Nuch and I are doing a good parenting job and with the help of my Mum, Elizabeth seems to enjoy her lot.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PICKLE xxxx

Moved again again

Today we moved house again, this is three times since I came back to the UK. I must admit i'm getting very bored with the whole situation and hopefully this is the last time for a few years. If any one would like my new address, just drop me a line and i'll send you the details.

New Thai PM

Thailand has got yet another new PM.

PM Somchai was sworn in the other day and you would think everything would now be rosy in the house of Thailand. Sadly Somchai is the brother in law of the ex disgraced PM Thaksin Shinawatra who is currently slumming it in the UK.

PAD have said that they aren't happy with the appointment and will keep the protest going, in a fairly significant move, the King of Thailand as has endorsed Somchai which will be a relief to him.

So its more watch this space until the next instalment.

Thailand - Arse - Elbow

The latest goings on in the Thailand political circus have reached new heights of ridicule!

Celeb Chef "Samak" gets the boot

Earlier this week, PM Samak was forced to resign over a curve ball issue. It seems he had received money for doing a cookery show, when you hold public office youre not able to participate in other paid work. So it seems he had to go. PAD must have loved this!

Then today, low and behold, Samak's Party (PPP) try to vote the bloke back in as leader and then defacto PM. Just when an impass looked even slightly possible, they go and revert to type. Let Samak go and pick an unblemished, non Thaksin PM, then call another election to shut PAD up.

Thailand is beginning to see a downturn in tourism, that is the last thing they need at the moment, but while the country is unstable and the Baht is poor on the exchange rate front, tourist will keep away.

Luckily at today vote, there weren't enough MP's to form a quorum and the vote on Samak had to be posponed.

Come on, someone in Thailand sort this mess out.

National disgrace

On the radio this morning was an article about a british soldier who had been on injury leave from Afghanistan, he had tried to book into a hotel in Surrey and once they found out he was a soldier refused him.

He had to sleep in his car and drive back home the next day. Now Coporal Stringer is back on active service in Afghanistan and his local MP is taking up the matter.

Yes, the hotel may have had problems with pissed up squaddies in the past, I would have thought any young blokes on a night out can be rowdy, but to turn a member of the armed forces away is disgraceful.

The hotel is called Metro Hotel in Woking Surrey, until they give an explaination why the soldier was refused a bed then i would urge no one to stay at that hotel.

Update

The Hotel has apologised and blamed a junior receptionist for the incident. Pretty big of them!

It gets no better

Thai PM Samak

In bangkok today, a state of emergency has been declared.

This is after running battles between PAD and Goverment supporters, this will only get worse in the near future.

PAD (Peoples Alliance for Democracy) seemimgly don't want democracy, they seem to prefair a sort of military rule. It just seems strange that a few 10,000's protesters can try and dictate the will of the whole 60 million Thai population.

PM Samak hit back with a possible referendum on the issue's at the moment. PAD say it will ignore the vote, they only want Samak out of Office. Thai version of taking you bat home. I watch with interest the goings on, having been there during the last coup, i'd hate to see another one and people being hurt this time.

Baby no more

Elizabeth is growing so fast, I wish she would slow down.

She will soon be two years old and is walking, talking and being a proper little girl. She still does pretty much what I say, but sometimes, just sometimes can be super defiant.

She is moving up a class at nursery in a few weeks and doesn't want help feeding anymore. I suppose the next big thing will be in a few years when she starts school.

Bangkok Troubles

I didnt put "Thailand Troubles" has the title, being has most of the troubles seem to be in Bangkok. Now the "People's Alliance for Democracy" (PAD) are demanding the elected goverment stands down, they are protesting and have now put demonstrators at State TV and Goverment House.

Bizarre that a democracy party wants to oust a democratically elected party! Stranger still, leave bangkok and there is very little support for them. A little like people in London wanting to get rid of the goverment and the rest of the UK not really interested.

Personally, I think its time for the boys in brown to wield their big sticks, get them working for a change and stop ponsing off drivers at the side of the road.

Thai - UK Festival

Elizabeth getting in on the act!

Today we went to the Thai UK festival at Kings Bromley, this is an annual affair and this year it was huge.

There were the usual thai food stalls selling their thai wears, I had a lovely PadThai dish. (Fried noodles and egg in a sweet sauce), which was very nice. Obviously several bottles of Thai Singha Beer had to be drunk.

I entered a raffle for two tickets to Thailand and Chang Mai, sadly I didn't win, but one of Nuch's friends did.

Taking it up the Gary

World famous Peedo, Gary Glitter is back in the news, unfortunately he survived jail in Vietnam and after his release today was deported and put on a plane to Britain via Bangkok.

This guy, who was booted out of Cambodia for Kiddie Fiddling, then decided to shack up with an 11 and 14 year old in Vietnam. He was apparently giving them english lessons, i've never heard it called that before. Rightfully he spent over two years in jail.

Whilst on the flight back he decided to fake a heart attack and refused to carry on with his journey to the UK, knowing the kind of reception he was going to receive, I don't blame him.

UPDATE 20th August 2008

Gary "Take it up the shitter" Glitter, refused to bored a plane to the UK from Bangkok and was last seen boarding a flight to Hong Kong, i'm surprised at this, HK has always had a strict policy on peedo's and we'll see what happens when he gets there?

UPDATE 21st August 2008

Gypsy Gary, has now been booted out of HK, he is now said to be on a plane back to Thailand. I hope the Thai authorities don't buckle and let him stay. He should try Georgia, USA. I've heard they have the most laxed peedo laws in the world!

UPDATE 23rd August 2008

The Peedo has landed!

Old Siam Restaurant

Today we visited the new Thai restaurant in Belper.

The Old Siam is located in the North Mill Courtyard and has lovely surroundings, Belper wier is only a few metres away.

The food like most thai restaurants in catered towards the western pallet, this is not a bad thing. The first time we ate there, I had fish fillet in a red curry sauce, it was very nice.

At the opening, there were three monks who did alot of chanting and a free buffet was laid on. There must have been fifty people in total and the thai dancing was first class. good luck to Old Siam!!!!

Bookings can be made on 01773 882493

Elizabeth in the wars

The video above is of Elizabeth at her friends Princess party earlier today.

She came out of the incident fine, i'm debating whether to send it up to you've been framed?

Well done Morrisons

At last the price of fuel is beginning to come down, last month you couldn't keep up with the price hike, rising daily till it topped out at 119p for unleaded.

The price has dropped to 109.9p per litre.

Hopefully the main petrol suppliers follow suit and bring down their prices.

My Thailand by Chris Parker

My Thailand by Chris Parker

This is a link to my new website that i've been cracking on with in the evenings. Very much a first time effort and a work in progress.

tell me what you think of it please.

Thaksin does one!

Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has said he will not return to Thailand from the UK.
In a statement released to the Thai media, Mr Thaksin said he and his wife would remain in the UK, "where democracy is more important".
Mr Thaksin is on bail over corruption charges but failed to make a scheduled Bangkok court appearance on Monday.
Thailand's Supreme Court has now issued an arrest warrant for the billionaire, who owns Manchester City football club.
Mr Thaksin says the charges are politically motivated and an attempt to remove him from politics.
The former leader had been due to return to the Thai capital on Sunday after a court allowed him to attend the Olympic Games opening in Beijing.

This means there s a real chance that the UK courts will now have to decide the fate of Thaksin and family!

South Beach Bridlington

South Beach at Bridlington is very nice, large, with clean sand. Sadly it is in the UK.

The weather is very rarely good and the sea is always that dirty brown colour. Around there is very little to do and short of it being a blistering hot day with no wind then visits to it will be short and sweet.

Today we walked on it jumpers and coats and poor Elizabeth got sand blasted legs. i know its not the beaches fault, the geography of the UK means we always have shit weather, but come on! At least get some infrastructure together to make it a place people visit all the time.

Oh Yes

Happy Birthday Lindsey

Bike Rider

I've had a MTB now for a few months, I could use it more but looking after Elizabeth sometimes restricts that.

So to combat that I bought a child seat, sadly elizabeth is not too keen on the whole deal. She as to go slow and have nuch in sight at all times, so unless nuch is prepared to run by the side of us on rides then slow steps in getting her out are called for.

She does look cute in helmet though.

Hardrock Cafe Bangkok

Near the end of our holiday, Nuch wanted to meet up with some more of her friends, so we met up at the Hard Rock cafe in Bangkok.

Always a good venue with a superb happy hour, expensive by Thai terms but it wont break the bank whilst on holiday.

Downstairs is pretty well full of working ladies looking for tomorrows breakfast and tonights pay check, but upstairs is an excellent restaurant and good view of the preceedings going on downstairs.

Elizabeth and i went home at about 8ish, anyone who see's Nuch, ask her what time she got home? Answer 3am uuuummmm!

Trip to Pattaya

After we got back from Hua Hin, it just seemed to be one rush after another, usually entailing waiting around for Nuch as she caught with her friends and did a load of shopping.

So we decided to spend the night in Pattaya. There is a seafood restaurant there that Nuch really likes and Elizabeth would get chance to play on the beach again. We stayed in a huge suite at the Cosy Resort on the central beach, it was a nice hotel, a bit of a stiff walk up and down to the beach, but the room was superb and only £35 a night, well worth a visit.

In the evening I scoped out a mexican restaurant in Town, so we caught a taxi and away we went. The restaurant was great, unfortunately in was smack bang in the middle of the Go-Go scene which I don't have a problem with and Elizabeth loved all the attention she was getting. The meal was great, up there with the best mexicans i've had.

The next day was spent on the beach, as predicted Elizabeth loved every second of it and kicked a mega fuss when we left.

Hua Hin

Hua Hin is one of my favourite resorts in Thailand, only 250km away from Bangkok and some of the best beaches out.

We go about 5km south of the resort to Takiat Beach, the beach is long and the tide is out before you get up. One of the main reasons for going to Hua Hin was relaxation, sadly this didn't materailise! Thai's don't like just lying on the loungers, reading and having a beer. They always need to be on the go, and this included me. The trip however was more than made up for by Elizabeth's reaction to the sea and beach. SHE LOVED IT!!!!!!

She actually ran from the deck ckairs straight into the sea, she was a monster, hurling herself into the sea and choking when trying to breathe under water. When it came time to get her out then she got all pazzed up. She played in the sand with a bucket and spade set we bought her and loved the swimming pool.

The three day break was over all to quickly and it was back to Bangkok and home. Next time I think a week will be in order when we go to the coast.

The Thai House

After over a year away from the house, I was glad to get back there. As I stated in the previous blog, Nuch's parents did a superb job of looking after the place.

In the garden we had many new plants including a mango tree, later in the week we ate the mango's with some sticky rice "lovely".

The orchids I tried my best to kill had been bought back to life and the grass had been freshly cut.

So a big thanks to Nuch's Mum and Dad.

The first day

After a well earnt rest and a nice breakfast we left the hotel and went back to our house.

I was really looking forward to seeing the house again. Nuch's parents had done a fantastic job of looking after it. Nuch and i then went to do some banking and a shop. It was good to get back to daily Thai life, it also bought back alot of comparisons between Thailand and the UK.

The supermarket is case in part, as well as showing up the different products that each country sells, it also showed up the price that we pay. Believe it or not, the UK isn't always more expensive. We bought Elazabeth some nappies, these were more expensive and bearing in mind I always use the 3 - 1 ratio. Meaning people in thailand at a minimum earn three times less than we do, items that are three times less on ratio are the same price to average Joe in the UK. So nappies costing more in Thailand really cost three times as much as the UK. Baby milk is the same price, there aren't many own brand products and the choice in the aisles is limited. Some products are better priced, or should I say anything made in china is a top price.

In the evening we had a nice meal at one of my favourite restaurants and went home. Elizabeth is struggling with her Grandad, which is a real shame. He loves her too bits, but she is having none of it, especially if i'm about. I have too leave the room and listen to her crying for me until she looses interest. Not something i'm pleased with. Oh well, Hua Hin on wednesday.