Monks and shoes

Today we went to the Royal Palace and it's very beautiful. On the buses in London there are signs reserving certain areas for those with pushchairs or the disabled. Here, I love the fact that on public transport there are areas that are reserved for monks, who get to travel free.

You have to take your shoes off when you go into the Temples. But apparently only if you're a size 4 and are wearing very 70's style footwear or anything that rolls.

If anything happens to me then you don't have to take your shoes off. In fact, there will be some sort of post-Helen party and you can only attend if you wear fabulous shoes. Please ensure this is enforced in the event of my demise, thanks!

During a lengthy cab ride across town we got chatting to the driver (lovely guy) whose English was very good indeed. Well, I say lovely guy. He was incredibly lovely until we got on to the whole 'are you married' question. When I said 'nope' he then asked how old I was. I stupidly told the truth. He then laughed and shook his head a lot before asking if I was worried about it and proceeding to tell me that in Thailand as a single woman over 30 you are completely written off. This led to a conversational cul-de-sac where he then tried to tell me that maybe my best bet was one of the Western guys in their sixties/seventies who comes over to Thailand looking for a young bride. He was genuinely trying to be nice.

I of course laughed it all off and didn't let it bother me in the slightest. But his tip was somewhat reduced.