Six am found me in the Bangkokair lounge of the Chiang Mai airport delighting in Panda White Iced Tea and clearing out their popcorn machine. What the hell, I was about to fly to Bangkok after a mere 4 hours sleep and I wanted my snackies.

Bangkokair is no cheapskate Canadian airline. They're class and they promise a meal on every flight, even if your flight is less than an hour long. As soon as we ascended I was handed a tray that promised something utterly unexpected and totally Asian - tofu prune - which is exactly as it says. Fried tofu squares folded over a prune. It was a fabulous breakfast.

But then there was a short taxi from the airport and a very long taxi ride into downtown Bangkok and, as some of you know, my stomach doesn't like taxis - at all. Add to that multiple hours standing in the hot sun in borrowed clothes gazing at the disco mosaic that is the Grand Palace complex, a strange trip through the amulet market (we specialize is dried penis!) and a crazy tuk tuk ride (they don't come in any other fashion) and we were all feeling weak and queasy.

What would make this better? How about ordering Japanese tempura from an Irish pub in Thailand?

After some upper alimentary canal cleansing, they doped me up with some no name Gravol and ibuprofen to get me back to the hotel; but now I've sucked back a pink milk and I'm wondering where we should go for dinner...