I am a Belfast boy, born and bred and proud of it.
I am a boy from a country where civil war has killed 3 innocent people in the last 3 days. I am not proud of that.
For all the highs I have felt while Norn Iron (as it is affectionately known) has been soaring on the high of peace, I feel today as if someone has put their hand inside my chest and twisted my stomach around. There is little more that I can add to this discussion on top of what all the people and politicians of my wee country have already said, except my personal experience.
I am thankful that I grew up in Northern Ireland when I did, in a time when there was relative peace compared to the Northern Ireland of my parents in the late 60's, 70's and early 80's. I was born in 1984 into a country that was deeply divided and killing itself one person at a time. I remember being woken in the middle of the night by a massive bomb exploding in the Drumkeen Hotel, a five minute walk from my house. It broke the massive living room window in my best friend Tim's house and shook ours until I was sure it was going to fall down. That was the 27th of May 1993 and it was the fourth time in 12 months that the hotel had been bombed by the IRA.
I had a friend whose dad served in the police and every morning he had to check underneath his car in case there was a bomb waiting to explode when he started his engine.
My Mum used to get evacuated regularly from her office with bomb scares, and without mobile phones you never knew exactly what was happening until you got a phone call to say everything was alright and she was back in the office.
Nostalgia isn't so rosy when you look hard at these things.
Those days were gone... until Saturday, and now they are back. It makes me sick to my stomach that the terrorists who the government chooses to ignore, who are somehow excluded from Britain and America's 'noble' war on terror, who were released early from their life sentences, are once again giving Northern Ireland the kind of reputation 98% of us have worked so hard to get away from over the past few years.
What makes it even worse is that for some reason or another, I feel guilty that I'm not even at home anymore. I don't know what's causing it. Maybe I feel guilty on behalf of the bastards who murdered those two soldiers on Saturday, both of them younger than me. Maybe I wish I was there to share in the mourning over the first police officer to have been shot dead since 1998... the truth is I really don't know what's giving me the sick feeling that I should be at home. Maybe it's just true that you can take the boy out of Belfast, but you can't take Belfast out of the boy.
For the first time I can remember properly I am worried about my country. I'm worried about my friends who are now in the police. I'm worried about my parents and my sisters and my brother. I'm worried about all my friends and family still living at home. I'm worried about taking Fiona and my future kids home to see my family. I'm worried about the people whose lives are going to be turned upside down because their son or husband is going to be shot by people claiming to do it in the name of 'freedom'... I'm worried that my country is going to collapse back into everything we have learned to hate in ourselves, and all I can do is pray to God that it doesn't.
Martin Luther King said "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." I am demanding my freedom.
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
the white stone
"To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it."
This is one of my favourite passages in the bible. It's a strange but stunningly beautiful piece of writing, absolutely striking imagery. Skipping past the hidden manna bit for just now, what really grabs me is this bit about the white stone. I don't know the ins and outs of all the imagery at play here, but I do know that in the ancient near eastern and hellenistic traditions, to know the name of a god or a demon meant that you could control it. Seemingly that's what John is playing on here.
It seems that in this world we have so many things that control us... advertising, friends, television, music, films, magazines, newspapers, radio, the internet... we can't really claim to be free anymore can we? We are prisoners trapped in the very thing that we built ourselves, our owntower of Babel
How do we smash all of this? How do we break out and reach for freedom?
..........................................................................................................................................................................
As I spluttered awake I saw through blurry eyes someone looking down at me. Eyes blazing like fire in a fog of blur. As the haze lifted and the blur cleared, I saw steam rising from the nostrils of a horse in the clear blue morning. A white horse. Its rider was dressed in a robe that dripped blood from the hem, and I could see white hair bursting out from underneath his helmet, escaping like beams of light at every possible crack and opening. Eyes glowing fiercely that burned through me, made a hole in me. I knew without him even saying anything that he knew me... but how? Who was he?
I looked down at myself, dressed in my grubby rags, covered in grime and dirt from the place I had been lying. I felt the tears begin to roll down my cheeks. Without a word he stepped down from his horse and walked towards me. My chest almost exploded... hurt and pain and emotions buried deep for so many years suddenly rushing to the surface in a tsunami of salty tears.
As he got closer I lifted my head a little, trying to avoid those eyes and I saw something written on his crimson stained cloak. Something I couldn't make out. A name that I didn't know. But there was more. I squinted and strained my eyes... the words KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS slowly shifted into focus. Nausea hit my stomach like a tonne of bricks. Anyone but him. Anyone. Now I knew why he knew me. I knew why the shame spilled uncontrollably out like a shaken fizzy drink.
Anyone...
Without a word he walked up to me, slid his hand out of his glove and wiped my grubby tear stained face down. He lifted my hand in his... his skin was rough and his hands well worn. Working hands. Hands that knew what life was all about. Suddenly I felt something smooth and cold pushed deep into my palm. He closed my hand over and whispered in my ear , "If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed"
He slid his glove back on as he turned, jumped back onto his horse, shouted behind him and began to ride away. As I dared lift my head for the first time I saw the huge army dressed in white riding behind him, an army of vagabonds, each one with something strange written on their own cloaks that I couldn't make out. Each one unique and glistening gold in the slowly rising sun. How had I missed them?
As I watched for several minutes the huge army rode straight past me and off to some new port of call, some new rescue, some new battle. They rode with vigour and purpose, and I knew why. I knew where they were going. I knew why they were riding. And I knew why they were following their fiery eyed, white haired leader.
As they disappeared into the distance I suddenly remember the cold smooth thing still pressed hard into my palm by my now vice-like fingers. Hardly daring to, I slowly peeled back my fingers, and found, to my surprise, a small white stone in my hand. Small, but perfectly smooth and unblemished white. That was it... one small stone. As I picked it up to examine it I turned it over and saw my name written on the other side, I don't know how I knew it was my name, but it was. That I knew for sure. And I knew no-one else but me and the rider on the white horse knew what it said on that stone. I can't explain it, but I knew that I was free... No more tears, no more sadness, no more pain, no longer a prisoner, bought, paid, for and free... totally free, at last.
This is one of my favourite passages in the bible. It's a strange but stunningly beautiful piece of writing, absolutely striking imagery. Skipping past the hidden manna bit for just now, what really grabs me is this bit about the white stone. I don't know the ins and outs of all the imagery at play here, but I do know that in the ancient near eastern and hellenistic traditions, to know the name of a god or a demon meant that you could control it. Seemingly that's what John is playing on here.
It seems that in this world we have so many things that control us... advertising, friends, television, music, films, magazines, newspapers, radio, the internet... we can't really claim to be free anymore can we? We are prisoners trapped in the very thing that we built ourselves, our own
How do we smash all of this? How do we break out and reach for freedom?
..........................................................................................................................................................................
As I spluttered awake I saw through blurry eyes someone looking down at me. Eyes blazing like fire in a fog of blur. As the haze lifted and the blur cleared, I saw steam rising from the nostrils of a horse in the clear blue morning. A white horse. Its rider was dressed in a robe that dripped blood from the hem, and I could see white hair bursting out from underneath his helmet, escaping like beams of light at every possible crack and opening. Eyes glowing fiercely that burned through me, made a hole in me. I knew without him even saying anything that he knew me... but how? Who was he?
I looked down at myself, dressed in my grubby rags, covered in grime and dirt from the place I had been lying. I felt the tears begin to roll down my cheeks. Without a word he stepped down from his horse and walked towards me. My chest almost exploded... hurt and pain and emotions buried deep for so many years suddenly rushing to the surface in a tsunami of salty tears.
As he got closer I lifted my head a little, trying to avoid those eyes and I saw something written on his crimson stained cloak. Something I couldn't make out. A name that I didn't know. But there was more. I squinted and strained my eyes... the words KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS slowly shifted into focus. Nausea hit my stomach like a tonne of bricks. Anyone but him. Anyone. Now I knew why he knew me. I knew why the shame spilled uncontrollably out like a shaken fizzy drink.
Anyone...
Without a word he walked up to me, slid his hand out of his glove and wiped my grubby tear stained face down. He lifted my hand in his... his skin was rough and his hands well worn. Working hands. Hands that knew what life was all about. Suddenly I felt something smooth and cold pushed deep into my palm. He closed my hand over and whispered in my ear , "If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed"
He slid his glove back on as he turned, jumped back onto his horse, shouted behind him and began to ride away. As I dared lift my head for the first time I saw the huge army dressed in white riding behind him, an army of vagabonds, each one with something strange written on their own cloaks that I couldn't make out. Each one unique and glistening gold in the slowly rising sun. How had I missed them?
As I watched for several minutes the huge army rode straight past me and off to some new port of call, some new rescue, some new battle. They rode with vigour and purpose, and I knew why. I knew where they were going. I knew why they were riding. And I knew why they were following their fiery eyed, white haired leader.
As they disappeared into the distance I suddenly remember the cold smooth thing still pressed hard into my palm by my now vice-like fingers. Hardly daring to, I slowly peeled back my fingers, and found, to my surprise, a small white stone in my hand. Small, but perfectly smooth and unblemished white. That was it... one small stone. As I picked it up to examine it I turned it over and saw my name written on the other side, I don't know how I knew it was my name, but it was. That I knew for sure. And I knew no-one else but me and the rider on the white horse knew what it said on that stone. I can't explain it, but I knew that I was free... No more tears, no more sadness, no more pain, no longer a prisoner, bought, paid, for and free... totally free, at last.
"O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel."
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
"elephant, elephant, elephant... have you ever seen elephant?"
hello my lovely blogettes...
ok so lots to catch up on after nam. it was crazy there, really busy, loads of traffic and beeping horns all the time. it did begin to drive me a wee bit mad after a while, but loved it at the same time. hanoi is a weird city, it's like paris meets bangkok 20 years ago. so random with loads of little cafes etc to go to. biggest disappointment there was that we didn't get to see ho chi minh's body. after arriving at the masoleum at 11.30 we discocvered it was shut from 11-2 so we waited for it to open again, which it did at 2 o clock. we paid our admission and took the tour but to my massive disappointment there was no dead revolutionary leader to be found anywhere... turns out he's kept in another building outside which only opens til 11am... rage.
trying to pull myself up from that disappointment we headed off to halong bay for our cruise. man that place is beautiful. its loads of limestone islands in the middle of this bay which you can take a boat tour round and stay on one for a night. the story is that God sent a big dragon to help the vietnamese fight the chinese and as it made its way to the sea to destroy the chinese boats its tail carved out the limestone islands and when it jumped in the sea the newly formed bay filled with water. halong literally means "descending dragon". it's a pretty cool, if slightly dubious story. you can watch a pretty crappy video about it here if you're really that interested. we spent one night on the boat and one on cat bah island. all in all a cracking trip, except maybe for trekking up a mountain in flip flops and 40 degree midday heat. a long story which if you really want to know you can ask me about when you see me next. needless to say it ended up with me being EXTREMELY sweaty and grumpy, which is a very bad combo in anyones book. sigh.
on a more positive note, perhaps the most exciting thing was that i lost my toothbrush in vietnam, so when people ask me a toothbrush related question (which doesn't often happen but humour me here) i can say with pride "i lost it in nam..." quality.
after a stop over back in bangkok we wee off on a flight to chiang mai in northern thailand. this place is awesome. we're just back from a 2 day trek in the jungle which included elephant rides and "white water" rafting. more like brown boring water rafting, but i'm not one to moan. the elephant ride was awesome. i think they might be my new favourite animal. our guide toon taught us a song in thai about elephants, it's very funny and the title of this post is the first line of the song. i'll sing you it sometime if you're lucky.
tomorrow we're heading for a thai cookery class which should be wicked good and then we're back to bangkok on friday and leaving for home on sunday. can't believe our adventure is almost over, but theres still lots to be done and plentiful banter to be had before then, so keep praying for us and reading the blog.
we love you all
peace
ok so lots to catch up on after nam. it was crazy there, really busy, loads of traffic and beeping horns all the time. it did begin to drive me a wee bit mad after a while, but loved it at the same time. hanoi is a weird city, it's like paris meets bangkok 20 years ago. so random with loads of little cafes etc to go to. biggest disappointment there was that we didn't get to see ho chi minh's body. after arriving at the masoleum at 11.30 we discocvered it was shut from 11-2 so we waited for it to open again, which it did at 2 o clock. we paid our admission and took the tour but to my massive disappointment there was no dead revolutionary leader to be found anywhere... turns out he's kept in another building outside which only opens til 11am... rage.
trying to pull myself up from that disappointment we headed off to halong bay for our cruise. man that place is beautiful. its loads of limestone islands in the middle of this bay which you can take a boat tour round and stay on one for a night. the story is that God sent a big dragon to help the vietnamese fight the chinese and as it made its way to the sea to destroy the chinese boats its tail carved out the limestone islands and when it jumped in the sea the newly formed bay filled with water. halong literally means "descending dragon". it's a pretty cool, if slightly dubious story. you can watch a pretty crappy video about it here if you're really that interested. we spent one night on the boat and one on cat bah island. all in all a cracking trip, except maybe for trekking up a mountain in flip flops and 40 degree midday heat. a long story which if you really want to know you can ask me about when you see me next. needless to say it ended up with me being EXTREMELY sweaty and grumpy, which is a very bad combo in anyones book. sigh.
on a more positive note, perhaps the most exciting thing was that i lost my toothbrush in vietnam, so when people ask me a toothbrush related question (which doesn't often happen but humour me here) i can say with pride "i lost it in nam..." quality.
after a stop over back in bangkok we wee off on a flight to chiang mai in northern thailand. this place is awesome. we're just back from a 2 day trek in the jungle which included elephant rides and "white water" rafting. more like brown boring water rafting, but i'm not one to moan. the elephant ride was awesome. i think they might be my new favourite animal. our guide toon taught us a song in thai about elephants, it's very funny and the title of this post is the first line of the song. i'll sing you it sometime if you're lucky.
tomorrow we're heading for a thai cookery class which should be wicked good and then we're back to bangkok on friday and leaving for home on sunday. can't believe our adventure is almost over, but theres still lots to be done and plentiful banter to be had before then, so keep praying for us and reading the blog.
we love you all
peace
Monday, 11 August 2008
good morning vietnam!
well today has been an up and down day. team t is down to 5 nomads. craig has some things going on which meant that last night he decided to leave us early and head back to the uk. we were all a bit gutted but we respect his right to head back and we're all praying that he got home safely and without hitch. as i sit writing this he should be back in the uk and adapting to life back in glasgow again.
on the plus side we arrived in hanoi today after a 2 hour flight from bangkok and possibly the slowest minibus/taxi journey that i have ever had. vietnam is a totally different world to thailand, poverty is much more obvious here and things are a lot quieter except for the crazy ass motorcyclists who fly round the streets what seems like all day long. i have never ever seen traffic manouvre in the way it does here. you take your life in your sweaty hands every time you cross the road. the plan goes something like this...
1. look left and right at motorbikes flying at you in every direction
2. close your eyes
3. pray... hard
4. step out into the road and pray that no-one on a bike hits you and instead decides to swerve round you
5. don't stop walking or take a step back until you reach the other kerb
not gonna lie, it's pretty crazy and scary, especially when there seems to be a thousand bikes around you at any one time, however we've all managed to get through day 1 unscathed. fiona did have one hairy moment but thankfully i was behind her to lovingly shove her forward again.
tonight was spent in an awesome jazz bar in town here called minh's jazz bar. it's very cool and the music was a treat for all the senses. reminded me somewhat of the fast show "welcome to jazz club... nice." we also booked our trip to halong bay, 3 days and 2 nights for 49 dollars each. pretty good when it comes to what you get for your cash these days. we've been told its beautiful there and the trip should be a winner. pray for us and the 8 other folk on the trip that we have good chat and Jesus shines through.
as for where we're staying tonight it has clean sheets and air con and we're in a shared room with some other folk. pray for chat and safety for us as we meet them all. tomorrow i think we're going to see ho chi minh's enbalmed body at the masoleum and to the water puppet show at night which, gay as it might sound, comes highly recommended by the lovely people at lonely planet. i trust those people so it better be good or there'll be issues.
hope all is well back in the lovely uk, and iain and suz we're all praying that your visas arrive in time, let us know how you're both doing.
peace out my friends... bed calls
xo
on the plus side we arrived in hanoi today after a 2 hour flight from bangkok and possibly the slowest minibus/taxi journey that i have ever had. vietnam is a totally different world to thailand, poverty is much more obvious here and things are a lot quieter except for the crazy ass motorcyclists who fly round the streets what seems like all day long. i have never ever seen traffic manouvre in the way it does here. you take your life in your sweaty hands every time you cross the road. the plan goes something like this...
1. look left and right at motorbikes flying at you in every direction
2. close your eyes
3. pray... hard
4. step out into the road and pray that no-one on a bike hits you and instead decides to swerve round you
5. don't stop walking or take a step back until you reach the other kerb
not gonna lie, it's pretty crazy and scary, especially when there seems to be a thousand bikes around you at any one time, however we've all managed to get through day 1 unscathed. fiona did have one hairy moment but thankfully i was behind her to lovingly shove her forward again.
tonight was spent in an awesome jazz bar in town here called minh's jazz bar. it's very cool and the music was a treat for all the senses. reminded me somewhat of the fast show "welcome to jazz club... nice." we also booked our trip to halong bay, 3 days and 2 nights for 49 dollars each. pretty good when it comes to what you get for your cash these days. we've been told its beautiful there and the trip should be a winner. pray for us and the 8 other folk on the trip that we have good chat and Jesus shines through.
as for where we're staying tonight it has clean sheets and air con and we're in a shared room with some other folk. pray for chat and safety for us as we meet them all. tomorrow i think we're going to see ho chi minh's enbalmed body at the masoleum and to the water puppet show at night which, gay as it might sound, comes highly recommended by the lovely people at lonely planet. i trust those people so it better be good or there'll be issues.
hope all is well back in the lovely uk, and iain and suz we're all praying that your visas arrive in time, let us know how you're both doing.
peace out my friends... bed calls
xo
Saturday, 9 August 2008
back to bangkok
today we got back to bangkok after an amazing week in ko samet.honestly it is one of the most beautiful places i have ever seen in my life. white sand beaches, scorching hot weather and lovely blue water. it reminded me of the old school bounty adverts!
so much to catch up on after a week there... we swam every day, took a boat tour, saw sharks and turtles (i even touched a tiger shark... hardcore), rode on a speedboat, ate breakfast every morning on the pier, played volleyball, played guitar and darts with a random bar owner who spoke almost no english... man it was sweet. we stayed in 2 bungalows about 10 metres from the sea and loved every minute of it except for the cockroaches and mosquito bites. true to form fi has come off the worst on that front and been muched alive by mozzies, i on the other hand have escaped relatively biteless.
on the down side though i did get the worst sunburn ever which blistered and proceeded to peel off my right shoulder in a lump about the size of africa which then went red raw and stung really bad. thankfully its started to heal over nicely now and should be cleared up soon so don't worry anyone, it's all under control... kind of...
so after a week of amazing island life we took the worst three hour minibus journey ever in a crappy old daihatsu van (with no air con, very few seatbelts, a leaky roof and a mad driver) back to bangkok. i think everyone was tired and a bit fed up when we got back but thankfully the next travel is via air to hanoi (in north vietnam) on monday. tomorrow we'll experience church in thailand for the first time.
on the people front we met a couple called sam and sophie from switzerland who were great craic and hung out a bit with them including a meal last night. sam is an awesome guitarist so we jammed together... that was sweet. also met a girl called debbie, who very randomly is from aberdeen, who is hoping to catch up with us in bangkok tomorrow. we might be taking her to church with us so please pray for that and also pray that we have managed in some way to share Jesus with sam and sophie through how we lived or lives.
internet time is almost up so i better say peace out for now, hopefully update you all soon...
one love
so much to catch up on after a week there... we swam every day, took a boat tour, saw sharks and turtles (i even touched a tiger shark... hardcore), rode on a speedboat, ate breakfast every morning on the pier, played volleyball, played guitar and darts with a random bar owner who spoke almost no english... man it was sweet. we stayed in 2 bungalows about 10 metres from the sea and loved every minute of it except for the cockroaches and mosquito bites. true to form fi has come off the worst on that front and been muched alive by mozzies, i on the other hand have escaped relatively biteless.
on the down side though i did get the worst sunburn ever which blistered and proceeded to peel off my right shoulder in a lump about the size of africa which then went red raw and stung really bad. thankfully its started to heal over nicely now and should be cleared up soon so don't worry anyone, it's all under control... kind of...
so after a week of amazing island life we took the worst three hour minibus journey ever in a crappy old daihatsu van (with no air con, very few seatbelts, a leaky roof and a mad driver) back to bangkok. i think everyone was tired and a bit fed up when we got back but thankfully the next travel is via air to hanoi (in north vietnam) on monday. tomorrow we'll experience church in thailand for the first time.
on the people front we met a couple called sam and sophie from switzerland who were great craic and hung out a bit with them including a meal last night. sam is an awesome guitarist so we jammed together... that was sweet. also met a girl called debbie, who very randomly is from aberdeen, who is hoping to catch up with us in bangkok tomorrow. we might be taking her to church with us so please pray for that and also pray that we have managed in some way to share Jesus with sam and sophie through how we lived or lives.
internet time is almost up so i better say peace out for now, hopefully update you all soon...
one love
Sunday, 3 August 2008
today i drank pepsi with a buddhist monk
well today was an awesome day. we made it up and out of the hostel for 9, some of us having had more sleep than others (i got a cushty 8 and a half hours), and headed straight for the grand palace in bangkok... what a place! awesome architecture and amazing sights. i wish i had a cable to upload the photos, it was unbelievable. we had the tour there, ably assisted by our tour guide, and saw the emerald buddha which is a really important buddhist religious shrine and then headed back to the hostel, avoiding the tuk tuk drivers and their dubious propositions, for a dip in the pool and some lunch. one bowl of noodles later and we were off to wat pho temple to meet some buddhist monks. thus was to begin 4 of the most surreal hours of my life...
when we reached wat pho we saw the biggest reclining buddha statue in the world (45 metres long and 15 metres high!), heard the monks chanting, and hung out with ajan, a monk who had been looking after steve while he was here last week. he took us back to his house and we drank pepsi together. deadly cool. it was realy interesting chatting with him, getting the story first hand and seeing how a monk lives. can't imagine most people have had that on holiday in thailand!
we hung there with him til about 6 then headed back to the hostel for a change and out for dinner. had some indian and then walked back to the hostel for a chat and then off to bed.
tomorrow morning we rise at 6am to head for ko samet, an island about 3 hours bus and boat south of bangkok where we'll spend the next week or so. not sure how internet access there will be but i'll try to update and get some photos in soon.
hope you're all well back home. keep paying for us as we start meeting folk for real tomorrow.
love, peace and God bless
when we reached wat pho we saw the biggest reclining buddha statue in the world (45 metres long and 15 metres high!), heard the monks chanting, and hung out with ajan, a monk who had been looking after steve while he was here last week. he took us back to his house and we drank pepsi together. deadly cool. it was realy interesting chatting with him, getting the story first hand and seeing how a monk lives. can't imagine most people have had that on holiday in thailand!
we hung there with him til about 6 then headed back to the hostel for a change and out for dinner. had some indian and then walked back to the hostel for a chat and then off to bed.
tomorrow morning we rise at 6am to head for ko samet, an island about 3 hours bus and boat south of bangkok where we'll spend the next week or so. not sure how internet access there will be but i'll try to update and get some photos in soon.
hope you're all well back home. keep paying for us as we start meeting folk for real tomorrow.
love, peace and God bless
Saturday, 2 August 2008
bangkok-a-doodle-doo
i'm currently sitting in our hostel in a toasty bangkok. the temparature outside is a sweaty 31 degrees centigrade despite the fact that its after midnight here. phew!
today saw us setting off from glasgow on a 7 hour flight to dubai, then a mammoth 9 hour layover in dubai with free food courtesy of emirates. i also managed to pick up more dunkin' donuts there... result! after that we took the last leg of the journey to bankok, or "the kok" as it has come to be affectionately known by our group. well more accuractely me, steve and craig to be honest. boys will be boys and all that. we arrived in bangkok at around 7:30 local time (1:30 back home) and i in particular was suitably grumpy after 20minutes sleep in the past 29 hours. delightful. steve met us at the airport though and after the jaunt back through the middle of bangkok to the hostel we got some pizza together and bought bottled water before praying and retiring to our rooms... well all except for me and craig who went for a beer in a bar beside the hostel. nice one.
so now i'm blogging and then heading straight to bed. tomorrow holds more fun times with a visit to a buddhist temple and meeting some real life buddhist monks... rock and roll!!!
i did have some awesome photos of arabian coke tins that cost 25p and the horrible heated toilets, along with some photos from our not so banter filled (and mainly sleeping filled) stopover in dubai but i forgot my camera cable to upload them. doh! hopfully find one soon so i can get some pics up on here. in the meantime peace out people, more to come soon... SKADOOSH
today saw us setting off from glasgow on a 7 hour flight to dubai, then a mammoth 9 hour layover in dubai with free food courtesy of emirates. i also managed to pick up more dunkin' donuts there... result! after that we took the last leg of the journey to bankok, or "the kok" as it has come to be affectionately known by our group. well more accuractely me, steve and craig to be honest. boys will be boys and all that. we arrived in bangkok at around 7:30 local time (1:30 back home) and i in particular was suitably grumpy after 20minutes sleep in the past 29 hours. delightful. steve met us at the airport though and after the jaunt back through the middle of bangkok to the hostel we got some pizza together and bought bottled water before praying and retiring to our rooms... well all except for me and craig who went for a beer in a bar beside the hostel. nice one.
so now i'm blogging and then heading straight to bed. tomorrow holds more fun times with a visit to a buddhist temple and meeting some real life buddhist monks... rock and roll!!!
i did have some awesome photos of arabian coke tins that cost 25p and the horrible heated toilets, along with some photos from our not so banter filled (and mainly sleeping filled) stopover in dubai but i forgot my camera cable to upload them. doh! hopfully find one soon so i can get some pics up on here. in the meantime peace out people, more to come soon... SKADOOSH
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