Thailand

Wat Phai Rong Wua is home of the largest metal cast buddha image in the world. More interesting to me is that it also has a depiction of hell, or at least the things that may happen down there. There are statues showing all sorts of nasty things, as well as descriptions of why these people ended up in hell. Murder, theft, telling lies, promiscuity, drinking too much, bribing police officers, ... Some of the depictions are pretty gruesome. Check out the pics in my gallery. Unfortunately my camera battery went flat after just 20 minutes at the Wat.

This place is well worth a visit from Bangkok. Its about 1 hour drive from Pathumthani. I also visited Wat Thap Kradan, which houses a lot of memorobilia for a Thai pop singer. I didn't really work out the significance of this, but it was ok to visit.

Brenton's off on his 4 month bike ride from India to Australia. Lucky bugger to get such a holiday - I'm sure I'll catch him as he rides through Thailand. Check out his blog for details.

Back in July Brenton was visiting Thailand, to catch up with his family. Before they arrived Brenton and I caught up a couple of times, including a day trip to Lopburi to check out some monkeys and drug addicts. A few photos are available in the gallery.

After 18 months of living in Thailand, I've finally purchased my own set of wheels. A new Toyota Vios for 659,000 Baht. Here are notes on the car itself and the process I went through in buying it.

The Car

The car is a Toyota Vios G, which is the top of the 3 standard models (J, E and G. There are also two limited models: G Limited and S, or Sports, Limited). It is a four-door sedan, equivalent to the Yaris Sedan in Australia. It has a 1.5 litre engine, and includes dual airbags, ABS and other standard features. The Toyota Thailand website has a good comparison of the features of the different models.

It is a silver exterior, with dark grey interior. The G model includes leather seats, as well as 60/40 fold down rear seats (so you can get into the boot/trunk). Also standard on the G model (compared to E/J) are: front fog lights, an improved speedo and information display, antenna printed on rear windscreen (as opposed to sticking up in the air), and the airbags. The optional accessories that came with the car are listed later when discussing the price. The Vios comes with

The most questions I get from friends in Australia (and elsewhere) are along the lines: How is the weather in Thailand? And from Thai's here, one of the first questions they ask after meeting you is Do you like the weather in Thailand? Whatever I answer, most people do not fully comprehend, especially those:

• Australians and others that are used to seasons (Summer, Autumn/Fall, Winter, Spring), and haven't spent an extended period in South-east Asia
• Thai's that bring out the jackets, long trousers and scarves during "winter" when the minimum temperature drops to 20°C

So maybe some facts and figures will help explain the difference in weather between Thailand (Bangkok) and Australia (Mt Gambier and Adelaide). Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia, and is where I worked and lived for 12 years. Mt Gambier is where I grew up, and most of my family still live. It is about 500 km south of Adelaide, and known to be much cooler and wetter than Adelaide. The state of South Australia is the driest state in the driest (inhabited) continent on Earth.

The following table summarises the average maximum temperature, average minimum temperature, and yearly rainfall for the three locations. On average, Bangkok is about 10°C hotter than the locations in Australia! However, this is the average over the year - Australia has same extremely hot temperatures during summer. In Adelaide there 5 to 10 days per year with the temperature above 40°C. The most recent hottest day I recall was 46°C! In Bangkok, it seldom (if ever) reaches 40°C.

The difference in rainfall is also significant: Bangkok is twice as wet as Mt Gambier, and three times as wet as Adelaide. In short, when it rains in Thailand, it rains a lot!

The follow graphs show some more detail of the temperature and rainfall on a monthly basis. This is good for illustrating the difference between seasons.

In Bangkok, it is warm to hot all year. And the overnight temperature hardly drops below 20°C. The only respite you get is around December. This year (2007), there was about 2 weeks of "winter" when I actually felt cold when getting out of bed in the morning. One night I walked outside at 10pm in shorts and t-shirt and had a slight feeling of coldness. But this "winter" was brief (mid-December) - I am back sleeping with an air-conditioner on.

In Mt Gambier and Adelaide, the seasons are more pronounced: hot in summer, cold in winter. Even in summer you get cooler temperatures overnight. Another comparison: I guess I have slept without air-conditioning in Bangkok for about 20 days per year. In Adelaide, it was about half that many days when I slept with the air-conditioning on.

Although the temperature does not distinguish seasons in Bangkok, the rainfall does. A wet season (May to November) and a dry season.

In summary, although the weather is a lot different to that which I am used to in Australia, I cope well with it in Thailand. I actually like the warm weather, and am dreading going back to Mt Gambier in March 2008 (which may contain some 40+ days) and having to get out the jeans and jumpers.

Source of weather data: Australian Bureau of Meteorology and BBC.