Cheese… is a bit of a no brainer, its not available even at a high price – yep Australian cheddar doesn’t come close (sorry cobber).

But on of the main things I’m finding difficult to live without is a ruddy good supermarket that has online ordering and home delivery (ala mysupermaket.com). People that know me will realise there isn’t much time to in my day to go outside, hell there isn’t even much time to leave the bedroom (insert joke about being a male hooker).

Ok so I could make time, and go to ‘Tesco Lotus’ and realise nothing is fresh, and nothing is worth getting for that matter. Maybe I could go to Villa Market and be charged through the roof for a ruddy onion!

I could do that I agree.. however unfortunately I was not born an octopus or born near a Pakistani Nuclear power plant  therefore I only have 2 spare limbs to be used to carry the upwards of 10  bags.

I really hope some wise crack realises I’m hungry and can’t be arsed to go to the shops and thus seeing the potential to make a buck (actually I don’t think anyone would be desperate enough to make a buck, so lets say a Pound) and sets up a decent online ordering system for a supermarket – one that actually allows you to buy what you need unlike ‘Tops’ that only allows you to buy coffee.

Sort it out!

Thailand may be considered a third world country, its electric cabling might leave a lot to be desired. But somehow amoungst all this chaos, they get it right, and they get it better than the UK.

Imagine the effort and money required if the UK wanted to upgrade to a 100meg network. Digging up the roads, upgrading exchanges, and no doubt no guarantee on actually getting the speed you pay for.

• T-Mobile: Unlimited mobile broadband (with a 3gb limit)
• Fasthosts: Unlimited bandwidth (with an undisclosed limit)
• BT: 8meg broadband, Unlimitied downloads (up to 8meg so you will probably only get 6meg on a good day, and a download limit for about 30gb)

Where as in Bangkok;

• D-Tac: Unlimited mobile broadband (no limit)
• True Internet: 8meg Broadband unlimited downloads (I actually recieve 8.1meg, with no download limit)

Plus if I am willing to spend the money I could get a 125meg line (nothing that quick in the UK).

1-0 to Thailand!

Cheese, although readily available in supermarkets here are priced somewhat shockingly. Firstly there is a distinct lack of cheddar, perhaps only a couple of brands. Most cheese appears to be the tasteless French, American and Dutch kind. You can also not get cheddar in anything less that the small 150g packets – that being said at around £15 for 150g I would dread to see the price for something bigger.

Finally, and more worryingly – there is no chocolate in Thailand!!! Ok so there is the usual American junk if you search around a bit. But nothing that remotely resembles a UK chocolate bar.

Double Decker, Snickers, Mars, Boost… nothing!

I guess this ultimately would be a good thing for me – but some times you just need some sugar! and I don’t want to develop a Thai red bull addiction!

From inside the apartment / condo it feels no different from my place in London. However as soon as you take a look out the window you, or listen to the background sound it soon becomes apparent that I am far away from the environment I have become accustomed too.

Buildings are closer together, with few high-rise buildings scattered around. Humble local dwellings zig zag around the ultra modern residence towers. Suprisingly greener than London, with trees lining every street and roof / terrace gardens on most buildings.

I was imagining with this kind of numeric alignment would bring a colossal change for the year ahead – and I guess it sort of has! This month has seen me move 5,930 miles away from freezing London to Blistering hot Bangkok, if all goes according to plan I should be residing here for the foreseeable future.

There is still a lot of sorting out to do before I’m properly settled here, shipping most of my possessions here being one of the most important. Hopefully within the coming weeks we should be all sorted.