Janet has already gone out for the day. We had breakfast under the trees, as usual, with the goldfish swimming in ponds under the tables. Every morning it is the same breakfast and every morning it is a different price. We spread the two excellent English-speaking papers and while I read the news, Janet reads the stars and does the crossword. We mumble to each other over the sliced fruit slices, mandarin juice, omelettes, toast and tea. The Burmese waitress is very gentle and almost apologetic as she waits on the table.

I was reading in The Nation this morning that Burmese refugees were being very badly exploited; the author described a 14-year old girl as being the family breadwinner, working at top speed peeling prawns all day long for a wage of 100 B. That's about $3. The minimum daily wage, by law, in Thailand is 189 B. Employees at the numerous 7-11 stores earn 25 B per hour with an extra 4 B per hour at night. Taxis, as I have mentioned earlier, have a 35 B flagfall and that includes the first 2 kilometres. The price has not risen for 10 years.

You would wonder who can afford to shop at the luxurious Siam Center complex with its 800 designer shops and restaurants. It's amazing to see world-class brand names, one after the other, with rarely a customer, but someone has to be paying the rent. We had dinner there last night at the Vietnamese Pho (soup) restaurant. Big bowls of shrimp soup, a beer each and 10 spring rolls, all for 504 B ($15).

Then off to the night market to find a replacement for my sunglasses that I lost in Chiang Mai. I bought genuine Ray-Bans for $12. Well, the girl said they were genuine. Dior, Police, all the top names were there. They start off at 850 B, shown on a calculator, slowly dropping the price until you stop laughing. Lumpini Market had a great free song show and with a 90 B bottle of beer, I sat for an hour to watch, then went to have an hour-long foot massage for 250 B ($7.50). I spoke a little Thai, which pleased the masseur, and got a bonus 20 minutes of back and arm massage. A generous tip followed.

Today, we pack up all the things we won't need for the next month as we are about to depart at 5am tomorrow for Penang, Cambodia and Vietnam. I'll pick up three days' washing and ironing now (50 B) and maybe go to the markets for some cocoanut icecream. Wish you were here but the real adventure is about to start tomorrow.