HERE AND THERE

We've headed about 80 km north of Bangkok for the day, to the historic city of Ayutthaya, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (I do love visiting UWHSs.) Ayutthaya flourished for about 400 years, between the 1300s and 1700s, as the capital city of the Siamese Kingdom. It was built on an island of rivers, far away enough from the sea to prevent warships from other countries reaching it easily. At that time Ayutthaya was one of the world’s biggest cities, with sophisticated technolog

One member of our travelling party (not me) is a keen market-goer so today it's train market and floating market day! Okay, I have to admit, they're fun destinations. We start at Ban Laem Railway Station, about 80 km south of Bangkok, in a little village where even the dogs take it easy. We travel about an hour by train to the Mae Klong Railway Market. The market stalls are laid out next to the rail lines. When a train enters the market, stall-holders have to pack up their go

It's not the first time we've been to Bangkok.* Still, how much could have changed in 30 years? We're staying in a hotel on the Chao Praya River. It's 33 °C and humid, which makes a welcome change from Melbourne's chilly winter. (Although we have all come down with congestion, runny noses and coughs in response to our endless battle between humidity and air-conditioners.) About 6 million people live in the city of Bangkok, the largest city by far in Thailand (population 71 mi

It's not the first time we've visited Byron Bay (in fact it's the third), but I've got such good material from this trip that I've decided to put it all together. Timing? A special birthday to celebrate and special visitors to meet for the first time. And of course an opportunity to visit our older son. But first a bit about location. Byron Bay is in New South Wales, just south of the Queensland border. From Melbourne it's a two hour flight to the Gold Coast Airport and a 45