This is just gonna be full of random stuff from my brain!

Firstly - have just been browsing a kiwi t-shirt site and found this - I want this shirt! Maybe if its still available closer to the time the parents head out to visit I may order it to be sent home and get them to bring it out for me! There are also some good hoodies but I picked up my other kiwi one when I was home and don't think I'll be wearing it for more than maybe the month or two when its a bit chilly on a motorbike so getting another one right now would be pretty pointless.

Last Wednesday I went to Derrys after work and Calder presented me with this article from the Vietnam News - dangerous driving the main cause of traffic accedents. Its almost like people were shocked to find that driving like a douchebag might get you killed! This was particularly fitting as on the way over to Derry's I'd got stuck behind a family of four on a motorbike. None of them were wearing a helmet and the father was driving with only one hand whilst using the other to hold his phone to his ear. They were veering around all over the place and several people nearly crashed into them. Also in a bid to ease congestion at some of the junctions they have put barriers across several crossroads closing off the junction meaning that you can no longer go straight ahead and instead you have to turn onto the other road, ride along to a u-turn area and then drive back to where you want to turn. There is one of these barriers on my way to work so I have to ride along then do a u-turn into the face of oncoming traffic, but I have seen several people decide not to bother with this and instead they decide to try and get their bikes up and over the median strip. They definitely need to do something about drivers awareness of rules of the road as curently the population act like there aren't rules and so are causing Ministers a great deal of puzzlement as to why people seem to keep dying on the roads!

Last night at Derrys Alsion showed us the new ad from one of the other language schools in Hanoi -

I'm so glad that I don't work at a school that wants me to take part in a lame advert!

On Tuesday morning I had to drive to work in really heavy rain. It had been raining for some time and showed no sign of ending so I had to just suck it up and kit myself out with my plastic shoes and poncho and go for it. The road outside work floods in heavy rain so there was a little bit of a flood for me to drive through and I managed to get the bike through the water which was impressive. I also managed to ride up the ramps into work for the first time! Usually I just get off my bike and push it up the ramps as I'm scared of falling off but on Tuesday getting off the bike would have meant standing in the flood so I decided to give riding up the ramp up the kerb and the stairs to the building a try. It worked! The only good thing to come out of the heavy rain and flooding.

Thats all the exciting info I have to share with you so now I'm going to get back to my TV box sets and enjoy my last four day weekend for a while.

How to get home from work in the crappy rain - the lovely plastic poncho to keep most of me dry and hideous plastic shoes wont turn to crap in the water. They even have holes in to allow the water to flow out when some retard stops right in your path forcing you to put your foot into an ankle deep puddle! The dodgy face mask is part of the every day ensemble when riding a motorbike to try and keep some of the pollution out of my lungs. It's a good look!

Got some pics up! I've added some pics from my detour to visit my relies on the way to the airport Home pics

I've also put up a bunch of photos from my trip to Thailand Thailand

My weekend in Bangkok with my friends involded lots of eating and some shopping with little else. We did check out an ace cinema tho. It had REALLY comfy reclining seats and they give you blankets! Check out the Nokia screen about 1/2 way down the page

The day after they headed back to Hanoi I got the train along to Kanchanaburi and got there in time to walk up to the Bridge over the River Kwai before the sun set. The next day I hired a motorbike and rode in the pouring rain up to Hellfire Pass and walked some of the way along to path of the old railway. I also went to a couple of the war cemetaries in the town. The following day I decided to join a tour thing to save riding in the rain again and went up to Erawan waterfall. It's a 7 tier waterfall and I climbed my way up to the top of it. I then slid back down and sat by the lowest tier for a bit with my book. A monkey came and eyed up my food when I was eating but soon lost interest when he realised he wasn't getting anything! In the afternoon we went out to the Death Railway site and went to the cave, then we travelled along the railway a bit before returning to Kanchanaburi and feasting on Thai curry.

On the Friday I got up early and got a bus to Bangkok where I did a bit of shopping then went to the golden mount and walked up to the top to see the view of the city. I then had to go to Kao San Road to sort ou my flight then I headed back to the hostel and went out for some ace lebanese food. The Saturday involved browsing shops so I could get my fix before returning to Vietnam and then I had to head to the airport for one last meal at Burger King before flying back to Hanoi!

Am back at work now and am dying in the heat. It set in whilst I was away and its horrible!