Can't wait for Monday!

Its been a futile weekend of sorts,nothing has gone as planned. Missed cricket practice on Saturday,missed the book fair as well as the motor show. I'm beginning to feel that even the weekend hours have been hit by the global recession.

Saturday was rather uneventful to start with,knowing that i had got up at 10 am. Went for a quick trip to novotel lotus to check out my booking in early july. Well it took about 3 hours to get things sorted out,thats where it went wrong. I couldn't make it to the cricket nets at 3.00 pm, and ended up havin' loads of biriyani and mutton kebabs. Finally made it to the gym at a little past 8 pm.Guess what the sauna had closed and i was feelin way too groggy to go for a decent workout.

Dinner was another culinary disaster, fried fish (thai style,plaa' nil),with shrimp fried rice and pepsi.The belly was definitely goin for a toss.Tried in vain to search for a new bollywood flick. I donno what has happened to bollywood,hardly any decent movies for the past couple of months.

Finally i hit the jackpot at 12:00 am,tried downloading Ek-the power of one,nana's name was enough for me to get goin.I was at it till 1:30 am and the movie just kinda ate me up. Dragged myself to bed at 2:00 pm.

Sunday morning started for me at half past 12,no wonder it took such a long time to get all that food recycled. Just about managed to catch 30 laps of the Australian Grand Prix.It was a an awesome race,too much drama and tension but the best team won in the end. Brawn GP,I'd put my money on them this time round,hopefully if a certain Lewis Hamilton has other plans.

The rest of Sunday was too hot to venture out,36 degrees in the shade,summer's here and in full force.Left for Silom at around 5 pm and i think i deserve a pat in the back for takin the sky train, traffic was movin at a snail's pace.Not that it saved me any time,took a taxi back home and came back to the old telly with bits and pieces of 28 Days later,Maid in Manhattan and Definitely,maybe. Was keen on a light dinner,but ended up having lamb chops and french fries and more pepsi. Can't wait for monday to burn off these extra pounds of carbs n calories.

ciao

Prem

Incredible Double Rainbow effect!

On Saturday evening,Bangkok witnessed heavy thundershowers. This led to one of nature's most unique phenomenons, the rainbow. But what was so special was that we had two rainbows. Attached are some of the pictures i took ...

Dissecting the COUP!

About two weeks ago everything seemed so surreal that it almost seemed impossible to come to terms with the ensuing coup d'etat in Thailand. Having been well read on the making of a coup,one cannot be blamed for believing that south american banana republics or at the most a few east and west african states are more at home with such an event. A rude awakening though returning home from what was supposed to be just another routine day's work.The television channels went blank, army personnel with their entire armory were out on the streets,but yet a single shot was not fired. They call it a bloodless coup,no blood on the streets and no smell of gunpowder hanging in the air. Just two days after the coup, tourists and locals alike were seen grabbing their share of the limelight,the scene resembled a gun's n roses live concert.

Well the general impression is that it was just waiting to happen...the army has always had a huge presence in Thailand...i guess they had been in hibernation for over 15 years. 23 Coups in over 70 years...and probably we think that's the lot! Well who knows....a new interim government is in place....already under a huge cloud of criticism for the wrong reasons..the average age of the entire cabinet is 63 years...people just call them a bunch of oldies.. In between the stalemate and mayhem,calm has prevailed over the thai financial markets..the currency is stable and foreign investment is generally unaffected.. reminds me of something i heard the other day they have close to $60 billion in foreign reserves,so what the heck..they can take a few pitfalls in FDI flows..

To an expat the impending rains and flood scenario is more alarming than the political imbroglio. The largest airport in SE Asia,Suvarnabhumi international airport opened on schedule and is being billed as the pride of thailand. Quite an imposing structure with a futuristic facade....44 years of hard work and 4 years of construction have made it possible.. Sadly though the chief orchestrator ,ousted PM thaksin shinawatra couldn't be part of the opening ceremony.. if he deserved to be there or not is open to debate.