Tuesday, November 28, 2006

web site update

What do you call an old update? Well whatever it is, it has happened to my main website recently with new (?) photos from back in September being added. These were taken in Uzbekistan as part of a study-group trip to see a couple of Central Asia's largest copper and gold mines. Don't worry, the photos aren't of rocks (well, most of them...).

Go look at http://www.geocities.com/thomaspsant/index.htm for the new stuff.

Life in Bangkok continues. Salvation was found yesterday with the discovery of a shop selling Marmite and Arran marmalade. I continue to be amazed at the standard of service here, we had previously used a home delivery service from a shop when buying kitchen stuff but yesterday used the delivery service for groceries. If buying before 2pm delivery is guaranteed between 2.30 and 4 pm, and you can even ask them to deliver your beer and wine cool. All for a minimum purchase of around 15 pounds (about 3 pots of marmite and one marmalade). Can you tell I’ve been living in some pretty ropey places for the last decade?

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Back to the blog!

Okay, okay, okay. So I've been totally slack during the last few months and haven't updated much at all. Some of us are just too busy...

After having the break in Thailand in July it was back to Mongolia for a while before heading off to Kazakhstan where I ended up spending a couple of months on and off in a small mining town in the NE of the country. Short transits through Almaty reminded me strongly of Sofia in Bulgaria, though the mountains to the south are a bit more serious than Vitosha. My girlfriend met me on a trip back to the UK in August where we covered around 3000 miles in 10 days catching up with people and then it was back to Kazakhstan for me and Mongolia for her. September found me in Uzbekistan looking at some gold mines on a study-tour and then it was finally back to Mongolia for October.

About a week or two ago Nadia and I moved down to Bangkok where we'll be staying for the next few months until our expected baby makes an entrance and Mongolia warms up a bit after the winter chill (so probably until May then!). That’s assuming that the hospital can extend Nadia’s visa and the change in Thai visa regulation at the start of October don’t effect my multi-entry one.

So, expect some more posts in the near future with more than a hint of red-curry and not a piece of boiled mutton in sight.