Little Wandering Wren …. chats!

Hello, hello how are you doing? We are doing just fine and counting down to our first-ever Bangkok Christmas. Christmas in Bangkok is a tad hit-and-miss here.  It is, after all, a normal working day and not celebrated by most Thai people. You either have to search it out in the shopping centres or in the big hotels.  Christmas Tree at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Bangkok So to get in the Christmas spirit we visited my favourite lavish hotel, the one that starts with a private boat ride down the river. Does anyone else think that the Christmas tree at the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok usually the epitome of style and elegance, looks a little well, how do I say it delicately, messy this year?  Or does the designer have a great sense of humour? They have probably been given zero budget and just decided to throw everything at the tree they had in the cupboard. Ho Ho Ho. Mandarin Oriental foyer  I should say the tree looks better in the needle than in my photos. Anyway, they...

Hello and greetings to you from Bangkok. I have just finished an incredible week of travel looking at Thailand's elephant care tourism. Thailand was expecting 40 million visitors this year, the pandemic closed the borders and has decimated all aspects of Thai tourism. I was one of eight bloggers, journalists and influencers invited by the Tourism Authority of Thailand to learn more about the current situation for elephant care. I came with a clear set of assumptions that : Elephants are wild animals and should be in the wild. Riding elephants for tourism is not something I would support. Elephant circus and tourist shows should be abolished. In 2018 for my birthday, we attended the annual fundraising King's Cup Anantara Elephant Polo . The monies raised went to support amongst others the  Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort. We spent our honeymoon at this wonderful elephant sanctuary and I was keen to contribute towards their work.   We joined a dawn y...

 Question:   Why did the Chicken Blogger cross the road?  Answer:     Because she wanted to be a Travel Writer! Hello, hello how are you doing? Greetings from Koh Samui,  my favourite Thailand Island. It was first discovered by me in 1980 and last month I returned in search of the tranquil Thailand of my youth. At least that what I thought I was doing when I packed and set off for another Thailand staycation. Our Thailand staycations started in February 2020, just as the world was closing down and ended up as the dream for every Travel Writer. Whilst in Koh Samui, I was invited via my Editor at Expat Life in Thailand to stay at four luxury resorts and share the delights of Koh Samui with their readers! 'What! You want me ?!  Hang on a mo, let me just see if I'm brave enough to come out from behind my coconut tree !' HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? During our Covid-19 months of closed borders and personal lockdowns, most of my Aussie and British friends gathered t...

Hello, hello how are we all doing? All is good in my little world here in Thailand. I've just got back into my Bangkok nest from a wonderful trip to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand.  Without the 40 million overseas visitors that were anticipated here in 2020, life is tough for those in the tourism industry. I am trying to do my bit and get out and about, to see more of the country whilst things are quiet. It is an amazing time to travel, there are some incredible deals for locals, thankfully! It's a good job too as  unfortunately, I did something a bit dim!  Have you ever been on holiday without your purse? Yep, no money, no credit card, nothing! I don't recommend it unless you  A. want to lose weight or  B. want to update your LinkedIn profile with Born Survivor ! I'm on a quest to check out Thailand at the moment for the solo female traveller. We have a super safe country for female travel. I'm in the most popular demographic (over 50's) for solo travel. So I...

Hello, hello, I hope you are all doing well where ever you are reading this in the world! Thank you to all of you for your lovely comments on my last post and encouragement to Wander on Wren !  I'm glad you are happy to travel vicariously through me, I  know some of you are in deteriorating situations with COVID-19.  I am forever grateful that my Bangkok life enables me the freedom to travel the country - at the moment. So with this, I will bring you some Vitamin Sea from Phuket, Thailand. The weather was feisty and rather moody this past weekend in 𝐏𝐡𝐮𝐤𝐞𝐭, but we didn’t care. ⁣ It’s always like this here in 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 in August as the strong 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝗪𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 gathers pace. I love the rainy season and the cooling air it brings!  We’ve lost power, we’ve lost water supplies, but we know we are the lucky ones. ⁣ Turn on the news, speak to our friends and family in far off places, and we know how lucky we are i...