Ten Unmissable activities to do in Thailand : Part One

Thailand is fondly referred to as the land of smiles, and three weeks travelling through its sunlit shores was enough to convince me that the smiles are genuine. Whenever you travel abroad there are always going to be areas set up for tourists, with people pushing to sell you their wares and persuade you that their shop/bar/museum is the best, but in Thailand they tend to take refusals with good grace and smiling faces.

I was a complete newbie to the East and though I arrived armed with a Lonely Planet and heaps of advice from some great sources, till you experience it for yourself, everything else is just words on a piece of paper. Here are my top ten unmissable experiences that I strongly suggest you add to your itinerary.

Co Van Kessel Cycling Tour in Bangkok

Chinatown is a weird winding mess of crazy side streets, narrow alleys and men frying fish whilst juggling cans of condensed milk. It’s crammed to the rafters with all sorts of visitors, from locals doing their weekly shops to tourists trying to barter over jewellery. Add the sounds of motorbikes, mandolins and distant temple bells and you have a cacophony of colour and confusion. This was what I had to cycle through, manoeuvring my road bike in and out of people’s shopping bags, and the random escaped menageries that adorned the narrow paths. Bright colours, strange scents, it was strange to be whizzing past this vital thriving community on a bike, but my guide was insistent and we passed though this chaos to start exploring the hidden backstreets. Some roads were so narrow that both shoulders grazed the wall, whilst other paths meant near-fatal collisions with accelerating mopeds. Every forty minutes or so we stopped for water (provided) and there were many stops for pictures, which were happily taken by our guide. The tour of Bangkok involved two boat trips (depending which tour you opted for) and we took a ferry across the waterways to western Bangkok and spent an hour cycling through lush shrubbery.

It was humbling to view the variety of housing people lived in, from ramshackle shanty style buildings to palatial European marble houses, and seeing them built next to each other spoke volumes about the structure of society in Thailand. Lunch was held aboard a floating restaurant, a delicious mixture of rice with a variety of dishes, and there was fresh fruit for dessert. You couldn’t help but admire the guides dedication, as she spoke flawless English and had a huge wealth of knowledge on the surrounding area. ‘I did a degree in health and tourism’, she told us. ‘This is how I save for my training’. Read more…

Tags: Cycling in Bangkok, Damnoen Saduak, fish pedicure, Floating market Thailand, Gara Rufa, Renting mopeds in Thailand, Thailand, Tiger Temple, travelling

The Top Five Teenage beauty blunders that are making a comeback

My teenage days were spent wistfully perusing the counters at Boots, with barely enough money to scrape together the required 99p for a Collection 2000 lippie. I lived in lime green eyeshadow (oh the shame), sprayed Sun-In on my hair and had horrible encounters with the Silkymit and maxipads. Thankfully my beauty routine has progressed considerably (as has my budget) but there are still lessons to be learnt from the beauty blunders that occurred in those days of yore.

In fact many of the mishaps made when I was younger could now be considered cutting edge trends- and I’ll show you how to create them for yourself. Best of all, as they all pay homage to youthful errors, they’re pretty light on the bank balance.

Stripes of hair colour

I’m not sure if it was the fault of Geri Halliwell or the launch of all those coloured mascaras but I know that I desperately wanted to have streaks of purple and pink in my hair when I was young. I did try- but those mascara never worked that well, leaving the hair gritty and feeling rather lank. Once I was in my twenties hair streaks were strictly of the highlighted kind as pink shimmering sections weren’t really suitable for my career path. However, thanks to the likes of Ashley Olsen, Kate Moss and some of the recent catwalk shows, streaks are being taken more seriously, and in a sweet whimsical way. If you’re brave enough you could go for the colour block option seen on the runway at the Alexis Mabille show, but a more wearable look is simply adding streaks to the hair. La Moss went all the way and actually dyed in gray strands as highlights throughout, whilst Olsen’s take on this trend was more of a sugar plum fairy effect, with light wefts of baby blue and lilac. If you’re not brave enough to dye just yet, try clip-ins to give you more confidence, like these good quality ones from Hot Hair here. (only £2.95). Read more…

Tags: A/W 09, Ashley Olsen candy hair, Chanel Particuliere, Christopher Kane, Collection 2000, home hair dye, Impulse, Kate Moss grey hair, multicoloured nails, silkymitt

Hair Today, gone tomorrow? Hairdressing salons with dubious names

It’s difficult for a new hairdresser to come up with a good USP (unique selling point). They can offer massage chairs, miniature TV’s by the basins, and complimentary cocktails, but when you get right down to it you’re handing over cash for someone to wash and cut your hair for around 2 hours. Making this experience pleasurable (where the cocktails come in) is all very well, but you have to get the customer through the door, before they can come back. And there are sooo many salons to choose from at the moment- Yell.com says there are currently 2520 salons in London alone, and seeing as you’ll probably find a zillion on your local high street, they need to try and hook you fast. Some have gone the freebie route with half price sessions, or ‘Cut ,try and dry’ days, but others have opted for the ‘pun‘ route. Whilst that may work well in Terry Pratchett books, some of the ones I’ve spotted don’t seem to be selling the salon particularly well. It may be funny, but that’s not really what you look for in a stylist is it?

Here are my favourite salon cock-ups

Ryan Hair
This is funny in two ways, firstly because I have a friend called Ryan who’s extremely vain about his hair, and secondly because the salon is choosing to play on the association of a budget airline, known for uncomfortable seats, long check in times, and oddly timed flights. Who wouldn’t want to get their hair cut there? Read more…

Tags: funny hair salon names, hair salon, hairdressers, stylist

Speaking scales aim to help you cut the carbs

Overeating is an unfortunate but natural side effect of food tasting so DARN Good. Seriously, if that plate of fish and chips before you tasted like you were exhuming the contents of a tramps mildewing sock then you wouldn’t be guzzling so much down. Scientists, doctors and people trying to make a fast buck have come up with various solutions for the overeating endemic that’s making most of our teenagers aspirational American  citizens (broad stereotyping, I know) but aside from a couple of questionable products (Sensa sprinkles that you drop on your food to make it taste less moreish and the Alli pill that makes you poop out the extra fat) no one has yet solved this crisis. A worldwide ban of sugar might help, but till then, we need to learn to control ourselves and have a little more sense when making food choices.

The Mandometer aims to do just that, as it’s an electronic scale that you place your plate of food on.  The plate plots how quickly the food is reduced from the plate, and aims to train you to eat slower and savour each mouthful. This makes you more aware of how much you’re eating and should help you realize when you’re full. Read more…

Tags: Childhood Obesity Clinic, Eat Slowly, Mandometer Machine, slimming, weightloss

3D Burlesque: What 3DTV was created for

‘There are things that you can Not Imagine
There are things that you can Not Tell
There are things you can Only See!’

Chaz Royal, King of the UK burlesque scene, spoke the above  lines in honor to the burlesque world, and how true he is. Naturally, this saying doesn’t just apply to the world of burlesque, as there are so many things which are better experienced in person than read about in books (though Philip Pullman’s film adaptation is glaring example of when the statement is falsified). The idea of 3D burlesque seems like such an obvious pairing you wonder why no one has come up with it earlier. Prior to the recently released Avatar and Up, people were starting to get rather tired of 3D, as though it’s still an exciting innovative way to explore the film genre, the spectacles are unflattering, can tire the eyes, and prices for 3D films are still higher than their 2D equivalent. One was wondering what the huge fuss was about till Avatar came  along and now it seems people are willing to be open minded once more.

CES 2010 (on at the moment) is showcasing a whole range of 3D enabled televisions and related gizmos, but though these  may make viewing easier at home, the content has to be there first. And what better  way to entice people into this medium than jiggling ostrich covered boobs? Saucy titillation seen behind the haze of anaglyph glasses (those that use red and cyan lenses to give you a blurry 3D image) make every sweep of the fan or swing of the tassels that little more risque. Read more…

Tags: 3D, 3D sex, 3D strippers, burlesque, Burlesque Vivo

The UK Beauty Awards 2010: The judges are announced!

Not so long ago I mentioned how honoured I was to have been asked to judge a category in the UK Beauty Awards 2010. A box arrived the other day with a plethora of products for my category- Best New Hair Product, and the information about the event went live on the Clothes Show London site. At last count there were 38 judges involved in this affair, and when I realized who they were my heart went all aflutter. Though all 38 are impressive individuals, there were a few that I couldn’t believe I was working alongside, as they’d been idols of mine for many years. Amongst the judges was the lovely Eve Cameron who mentored me when I first started in beauty journalism and Sarah Vine whose columns my Mum religiously cuts out and quotes back to me.

I’m looking forward to the event, but can’t chat for long- I have hair to wash!

[from L-R:  Victoria White, Editor, Company magazine, Debbie Djordjevic,  Editorial Director, Handbag.com, Eve Cameron,  Beauty Director, Good Housekeeping, Jane Cunningham, Beauty Editor, www.beautyandthedirt.com, Row 2: Mandie Gower, Editor Zest Magazine, Olivia Falcon, Health and Beauty Director, Tatler (looking identical to Blake Lively), Sarah Vine, Beauty Editor, The Times, Zara Rabinowicz, Beauty Expert]

Tags: Debbie Djordjevic, Eve Cameron, Jane Cunningham, Mandie Gower, Olivia Falcon, Sarah Vine, UK Beauty Awards 2010, Victoria White

Barbie releases her inner Bitch

The idea of the backstabbing blonde girl is hardly an original idea, as the image of the bitchy blonde has been perpetuated in literature spanning the last couple of centuries, from Jane Austen’s Emma to the teenage bitchiness seen in books like Sweet Valley High. The blonde butter-wouldn’t-melt stereotype remains nonetheless (it’s a Madonna thing), with the advent of Barbie’s 50th anniversary seeing the archetypal blonde bimbo adorned in a variety of high couture.

Perhaps it’s time to celebrate Barbie’s inner psyche, and let the world see her true colours? After all, how can you revere something that you don’t truly understand, and though Barbie may be beautiful it’s important to see she’s multi-faceted.

The Altered Barbie collective have created a selection of artworks and still life’s based around the familiar Barbie figurine, which show in her in slightly less Mattel approved positions. All images are displayed annually at the Altered Barbie Exhibit in San Francisco, which draws an eclectic crowd of artists and Barbie fanatics.

The show uses clever imagery to subvert the notion of the Barbie doll, and juxtapose different realities on the iconic figure. I find the following images intriguing,interesting, and ever so slightly disturbing, so applaud them for the creativeness/ inner rage. Either way, you’ll never look at the doll the same way again. Read more…

Tags: Barbie, Barbie goes wild, bitch