Tired...

A full day of entertaining and being entertained. Wife's family here this morning until after lunch and then out all afternoon until the evening celebrating Christmas with friends for the kids. Sadly we haven't actually planned anything for tomorrow so it could turn out to be a bit of a let down once all the gifts are opened.

Christmas seems to have been taken to new levels of commercialism here in Bangkok. You really can't escape it. At every shop it's completely in your face hard sell, and tacky glitz wherever you look. News is that more Christmas decorations are being sold in Thailand than back in the UK. Largely because most companies (I'm told 75%) have had to ban celebrations of Christmas for fear of offending Muslims and thereby possibly being sued. A sad state of affairs if true. My wife and I once lived next to a Muslim family who weren't in the slightest bit bothered by our festivities.

The wave and storm stricken south is still not managing to make the front pages here, though widely reported on Thai TV. Apparently there are many people still stranded on Koh Tao where they're suffering from a lack of oil for generators that power many of the establishments. Having been to Koh Tao I still can't imagine any foreigner being too sad about being stuck there, it's a very nice island.

Too much red wine to concentrate anymore.

Tired...