Bangkok and Melbourne

G’Day mates,
Ik schrijf mijn berichten voorlopig in het Engels, zodat mijn eventuele nieuwe vrienden in Australië ook kunnen meegenieten. Rechtsboven deze pagina bevindt zich de knop “Google Translate”. Daarmee kan je deze pagina automatisch vertalen naar het Nederlands, hoewel de kwaliteit van de vertaling nog wat te wensen overlaat.

I made it to Australia! But first I spent a week in Bangkok, which I think is really a cool city. I saw a real Thai movie, or actually four scary short movies (4 Praeng) to be precise. Interesting detail is that before the movie starts, the audience stands up and the national anthem is played, complete with pictures of the king. Rita Verdonk would probably love it.
By the way, all English movies are subtitled in Thai and (!) all Thai movies are subtitled in English. If you bump into someone he will instantly say “sorry” and not “khor thot”. So Bangkok is pretty foreigner friendly. The only annoying thing is The Great Tuk-Tuk Scam.
I also managed to get out of the city for a day, to see the Death Railway, ride an elephant and sit on a boat.
Compared to Bangkok, Melbourne looked like a charming little country side village at first. A very nice one though!
I am surfing the couch of some really nice folks in Richmond, a suburb very close to downtown. I split my time between exploring the city, working on my Summer of Code project and eating.
The number of places to eat in this city is insane. You can get out of a tram at a random stop, think about what you want to eat; then just walk in any direction and you will find it within five minutes. Most people put on a lot of weight in Australia; I wonder why…
In conclusion: I am having a great time, so until the next post: hooroo!