THE FOWLER FAMILY'S TRAVELS

Last night in Phuket

2011-04-28T17:09:00.000+02:00

As I sit down to write this I am reflecting over the last 14 months of our life here in Phuket, Thailand and all the adventures we have had, mostly great, good and amazing and a few not so wonderful. It's almost hard to imagine life back in the UK again. I have thought as far as France and that is it. Imagined the joy of seeing and cuddling my little nephew for the first time and hugging my family once again.

We have met so many amazing people and made dozens of new friends.
If I thought this was it, I would be rather depressed but the plan is to come back. We have a few cards to play out over the next six months which will hopefully mean we can come back over the winter. With that in mind we have managed to leave a couple of boxes with our long suffering friends, so have avoided having to ship anything more than one small box back. It will be touch and go on the weight limit at the airport though so not sure how that will be. We have tried to be careful but it is not easy for a family of four to pack their last 14 months into a 20kg bag each!

We have spent the day today downloading some podcasts for the journey, relaxing by the pool and eating out with our friends this evening. Tomorrow we don't have to leave for the airport until 7pm so we have the whole day to soak up the sun and swim in the pool.
This will probably be my last blog post for a while. It has served it's purpose to keep family and friends informed of our nomadic life and will also be a great source of reference to look back on in years to come.

Leaving paradise

2011-04-08T06:40:00.001+02:00

Well we are getting ready to leave this wonderful island, exactly 3 weeks from today. We have very mixed feelings about it as you can imagine. On the one hand we are dying to see our family and friends back home but on the other hand it's hard to leave such a beautiful place and such an amazing congregation. Many of us here are leaving this month so it will be lots of tough goodbyes. On Wed we said farewell to a lovely French family who have become special friends. They are off to Reunion for a few months. Hopefully we will see them later in the year in France.
This month 18 out of our 22 publishers are pioneering. What a great time we are having. It's not easy in this 35 degree heat and by the time we finish mid afternoon we are exhausted but it is so wonderful to be spending the day with our brothers and sisters. Many have been invited to the memorial and lots have promised to come.
We are determined to make the most of our last weeks here though and have been spending all our spare time at the pool. Nick is many times to be found on the golf course. It's going to be a tough transition to life in the UK again!

Recent shenanigans on Naka Island

2011-03-03T10:10:00.000+01:00

Awesome day but certain people thought they were still in their 20s and ended up injured!! One friend got a broken toe, another a cracked rib and Nick has a nasty cut on his leg that gave us our first visit to a Thai hospital. All from playing football on the sand...........ah boys will be boys, I guess.

Friendly Bank Managers

2010-12-17T06:25:00.002+01:00

As always it's been a busy week. Plans are afoot for our trip to India and Nepal. We can't decide whether to go at the end of Feb or middle of March. Either way we will fly to Dehli from Phuket and then overland to Kathmandu.
The aim is to travel super light so now we have to plan on what to do with all that we have accumulated here in the past ten months. Ah, the challenges of the nomadic life.

Last night I went into the bank at central (big mall in the middle of the island) to find out why the 200 Baht payment for phone credit I had made with the online banking system had not worked. (Bear in mind that 200 baht is about £5.) I had about 3 women helping me on the phone to see what had gone wrong. While they were doing that the bank manager came to chat to me and started showing me photos on his computer of his holiday a few weeks ago to Austria and Germany. Only in Thailand would you get such friendliness and people being so helpful over such a small amount of money!

The weather has finally picked up and we have lots of sunshine. Whoopee.......more beach afternoons!

On a sad note my friend Chika is in hospital and is very sick. They think it is dengue. This is very worrying as it is now the 3rd person in our little circle of friends here who has contracted this illness. I have been super strict with Nick and the girls about keeping up with our vitamins and the homoeopathic tablets that mum sent.

Our weather last week

2010-12-09T11:58:00.001+01:00

Stuff is nonsense

2010-12-05T12:13:00.003+01:00

So I have been thinking lately about all the 'stuff' we saddle ourselves with. All the crap that we think we need. In reality there are very few things in life that are really necessary. Living here in Asia for 9 months or so has opened my eyes to what we in the western world think of as 'things we desperately need and cannot live without'. I have come to the conclusion that life is less stressful if you manage to keep it simple and lean. Experiences are what count, not things.

So we had a trip to Bangkok. It was so good to get away from Phuket for a few days. The manic hussle and bussle of the big city was ironically a well needed break from our island life. Our days have become very predicable and serious. Not a good thing at all. Not to mention that we are now in high season and the driving has become even more of a nightmare than before. It was refreshing to regroup and think about being true to ourselves and how we have always lived. Starting this week we will be changing a few things and planning a two month adventure trip before we go back to Blighty. Nick has always dreamed of Nepal so that will definitely be on the itinerary. I would love to visit Tibet, so maybe that too. Our tentative plan is to get to Nepal and then make our way through Tibet and China and down through Vietnam. Bhutan would be amazing but not sure if we will fit it in on this trip. So first we will just book our journey to Kathmandu and see where the wind takes us. No definite plan on how long to stay or where to go. All we need to do is get back to KL for the flight back to London on the 30th April.

I read half the LP Vietnam book on the beach today. So exciting. The planning of a trip is almost as exhilarating as doing the actual trip itself. Tomorrow I am going to buy the Nepal book. We have a rule about LP books. They are a sort of souvenir of where we have been but we are not allowed to buy one unless we are definitely going. So all the books in our collection are places we have been to.
Today we went to Nai Thon beach, and although there were more tourists now the high season has hit, it was still a haven of peace and tranquillity. We swam in the sea and it was amazing to see the change in three weeks since we were there last. It is so much calmer and the lifeguards were obviously not needed as much, no crazy big waves or rip tides. Nothing on earth is as relaxing as a long afternoon at the beach reading James Paterson and eating ham sandwiches. Totally rejuvenating.
Back to crazy madness tomorrow but with a difference.

The art of Non Conformity

2010-10-13T11:49:00.002+02:00

Well I have been very remiss in keeping up with this blog.
I think part of it is that I am not sure how many people actually read it. So if you do please encourage me by commenting at the bottom of this post.
Even if not many read this, it is a great record of our unconventional life for my girls to look back upon. It's amazing what you forget!
I have been reading a great blog over the last couple of days: http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/about-the-project/
It's called The art of Non Conformity. A great read, but I must warn you, you are liable to loose a few hours of your life getting sucked into his excellent writing. I thank my friend Jamie from Florida for introducing me to it.

Well what have we been up to....
Mum came to visit, which was awesome in so many ways. It was great to show her around. We went on some amazing trips. One of which was Phi Phi Island. Now that was a trip of a lifetime. Between snorkeling with the fishes and swimming in a bottomless lagoon where the water was the colour of dreams to walking where Leonardo Di Caprio has trod it was unforgettable. We even saw a Leo lookalike which totally made Candace's day!
We also did the James Bond Island trip again which was a beautiful experience. Even after being totally ripped off by a so called Marine National Park 'warden' it was a day to remember.

Apart from the excitement of all of that, life has just been very ordinary really.
We have all been pioneering over the last few months and also working our butts off. Some of us on new ventures and others on the 'same old, same old' stuff.
Life got a tad stressful after mum had left, with us all feeling a bit 'Thai'd' out. Not being able to afford to go away for a couple of weeks, which is what would have fixed it, was tough. All of a sudden everything here seemed harder than it had been. We were desperate for some Western influences. I think we all miss our family too. Not being able to be a part of Brychans first little year of life has been harder than we all thought it would be. It seems like a very long seven months till we go home.
Mum very kindly reminded us what great work we are doing here and how we are needed (thank you Mum!) and Victoria who experienced the same gave me an understanding ear. When I thought of the alternative..an ordinary life back in the UK, I cheered myself up and remembered to be grateful for all we have here.
It will just make next year spending time with our family in France (and Liverpool) that much more amazingly special.
This weekend we are off to Bangkok for the long awaited convention. Lara is getting baptised (and we have a part too) so it will be super exciting. It will be nice to leave the island for a few days. I even got some ironing done this afternoon so everything is ready for our flights tomorrow afternoon. We only live 15-20 mins away from the airport now which is very handy.
I'll leave you with a couple more photos. The first is mum's last day at one of our fave beaches, Layan. The other is on the JB island trip in the longtail boat. Yeah I know life isn't that bad right now! At times though I would give it all up for one little Brychan cuddle...........

Oh and how about this to see how time flies!
Our trip 2007 is the first one. The other is a recent 2010 one.

Koh Lanta

2010-06-20T07:28:00.001+02:00

Did I mention that life couldn't get any better?! Well I was totally wrong. After exploring some lovely beaches and driving across the middle of the island we found an amazing place to stay our 2nd night. Moonlight Bay Resort. As soon as we saw the beach bungalows I knew that we had to stay there, even if it stretched our budget somewhat. The stilted houses were right on the beach and overlooked the sea. Each had a huge bed, kitchenette and awesome bathroom, oh yes and a jacuzzi on the balcony, overlooking the sea (have I already mentioned that!). It was without doubt the most wonderful place we have ever stayed. It even had a swimming pool just off the beach.
The place was so wonderful that we didn't even want to go out for dinner, so we popped down to the 7/11 and bought picnic stuff to eat on our balcony (overlooking the sea!!). Ham sandwiches and crisps have never tasted so good.
It was everything I wanted and I just sat outside, listening to the surf and reading for hours. I can't actually remember the last time I felt so relaxed.
The next morning after a wonderful nights sleep we did some beach combing and found lots of lovely little shells and loads of sea glass. We left it as late as possible before we left, but the 4 hour journey home meant we couldn't stay too late. Just as well we didn't as most of the trip it poured with rain. Coming through the Krabi region was amazing though as the tall karst cliffs were topped with clouds and mist and looked almost surreal.
It was a bit of a shock coming back to Phuket with all the business and traffic, but for now it's home. We can't wait to go back though and are definitely planning to in September, when the Moonlight Bay reopens for the season. A week in one of those beach bungalows is definitely something to look forward to. Who knows maybe we will stay longer!!

Malaysia and Koh Lanta - Day 1 and 2

2010-06-09T09:48:00.000+02:00

Up at 6am to get all my emails done before heading off at 7.30 for the trip down to Malaysia. It was a gorgeous run down and so nice to see more of Thailand. Once we got to the north of Phuket the traffic started to thin out and after leaving the island it was quite calm and quiet on the roads. Candace had made a load of sandwiches so we only had to stop for the loo and to stretch our legs. We got to the border around 3.30 in the afternoon and it was the easiest crossing ever. Just stamped out of Thailand and into Malaysia then the same on the way back. After a quick stop at the duty free to load up the car with White and Mackay and some other amazingly cheap booze bargains. At least a third of the price that we would pay in the UK. Now all we have to do is not drink it all at once when we get home!
After looking at the map we decided to head for Hat Yai to find a hotel for the night. After a lovely trip through some Thai countryside looking for the right road we arrived just as it was going dark and found a hotel that was very basic but nice and clean. After a nice shower, and a whiskey of course, we headed out for something to eat. What a lovely surprise that right around the corner was a decent looking Japanese restaurant. Even better the food was amazingly delicious.
After another early start we drove back up towards Krabi to catch the ferries to Koh Lanta. This is somewhere we had wanted to visit for a while so we were rather excited. There are two Lanta islands. The first is not very inhabited but you have to drive across it to get the ferry to Koh Lanta Yai which is where the tourist spots are.
It was definitely not what we expected at all. It reminded us of Koh Chang somewhat in that it was not as developed as Phuket and a bit scruffy. Obviously as soon as we got off the ferry there was all the trashy tourist bits and cheap digs. The further we got away from there though the better it got. One of the best things being the lack of cars, bikes and people. It is low season now in Thailand but this was so wonderfully quiet after Phuket.
We found a lovely place to stay the first night called Clean Beach resort! Great, if rather warm bathish, pool and across the narrow road was a super beachfront restaurant. The girls dived in the pool and Nick and I went for a walk on the beach. I had spotted as we came in that there was a massage place so after our walk I went and booked a foot and head massage. The place where they did it was part of the restaurant and right on the beach so as I lay there smelling of coconut oil and listening to the waves and surf I wondered if life could get any better.
We finished off a lovely day with dinner at the restaurant which was extremely tasty and with a location that couldn't be bettered anywhere in the world.
We sure slept well that night!

Life for now

2010-05-29T10:21:00.000+02:00

Another weekend and another week gone. How time flies when you are having fun.

The end of May has been busy with work and ministry. We have had some wonderful experiences talking to the Burmese, Nepalese and Indian tailors and market workers. They are so grateful for time we spend with them talking about the bible etc. What a contrast to the UK, US, France, in fact everywhere we have lived before. THIS is what it is all about. Everything else, is secondary. What a wonderful privilege we have to be here.

We are very much enjoying the use of our new pool. Nick and I swim most mornings before we go out on the ministry or start work. Today we have a rainy day but everyone is swimming anyway. Cool! The girls make good use of it too in the afternoons. Mr Pong, our landlord, has just fixed the lights too, so now we can swim at night.

My sweet and gorgeous little nephew is doing much better. He is still in hospital and his poor parents are exhausted but he gets stronger and stronger every day. He is slowly learning to feed properly and we are praying that he will be able to go home very soon.

Next week is our first visa run. Our plan is to drive down to Malaysia. It's a 9 hour drive from here but we will just do it in a day and then stay in Ko Lanta for a couple of days on our way back. It will be nice to see some more of Southern Thailand and to have a change of scene for a week.

We are having a party tonight, yeah! Our lovely friends, Mayumi and Yomiko, are leaving to go back to Japan so we have invited some friends over to say goodbye. Hopefully it will stop raining so some can swim. I love our international brotherhood here. Tonight we will have friends from Japan, Australia, Thailand, The UK (of course!) and the good ole US of A!

I'm Back!

2010-05-24T07:34:00.000+02:00

Sorry haven't written for a while.
Well it's been a very eventful time since my last blog post. I am now an Aunt to a gorgeous boy, Brychan Wyn. He has had a tough start in life and is still in hospital, but we are hoping he will be able to go home soon. He was born a couple of weeks early and had some big problems with his little kidneys, heart, lungs and platelet levels among other things. The time he was in intensive care was probably one of the worst weeks of my life. My heart was breaking for what my sister and her husband were going through. He is much stronger now though and as soon as he starts feeding properly we are hoping he will be able to go home. I don't think there have ever been so many prayers said around the world for one little baby.

We have also moved to a better house. At least we thought it was better until someone came in yesterday and stole Nick's phone and £100+ from my purse! We were in the house at the time too. Scary. Anyway it was a wake up call as we had been rather lax about locking doors etc. Not any more!
The pool is gorgeous though and right in front of the house. It is only shared with three other houses, and we are actually the only ones who use it anyway.
We now have AC in the living area and kitchen too which makes a huge difference to concentrating on our work and enjoying watching a film in the evenings.

We had a wonderful 20th anniversary on the 5th. Nick and I went out for breakfast after getting some lovely presents from the girls. We then found a super beach with absolutely no one on it. The day was finished off perfectly with a meal at Da Vinci's with cocktails. The money mum gave us as a gift enabled us to buy loads of gorgeous plants for our new house including some amazing orchids.

We are looking forward to a trip down to Malaysia next week for our visa run. It will be nice to see some more of Thailand and get away from Phuket for a change of scene. We haven't seen much since we came here and are definitely ready for a trip. Two other places we are planning on visiting are Vietnam and Nepal. Not sure which will come first.

Troubles and other fun happenings

2010-04-11T16:19:00.000+02:00

A very eventful week indeed.
Lots of great ministry done and bible studies started.
Unfortunately we came home on Thursday after a nice early start at the pool for a swim and breakfast, them a couple of hours running errand to find that not only did we not have electricity but that our electric meter had been removed. No electric is more uncomfortable than it at first sounds. It wasn't just that we couldn't work as we had planned as we had no internet but also no AC, no fans, no water (it works off a pump from the well)..not anything. It seemed that our landlord hadn't paid his bills for a while! It had already happened with the internet about a week after we moved in. Nick was merrily trading and all of a sudden no www. We tried resetting etc and finally went down to the local office where they told us he hadn't paid for 5 months. It was all sorted after a few hours and quite a big loss for Nick.
So as you can imagine this was the last straw. We had lunch, a very hot and sweaty one, and got a call from the landlords friend who speaks English saying she was sorting it out and it would be sorted by 6pm. Great but that was 5 hours off so we phoned some friends and decided to meet in an air conditioned coffee shop for the afternoon. It was very nice and relaxed and by the time we got home at 5.30pm the meter was all back in place. We told the landlord though that we were not staying there the 6 months now though, that he could use the deposit we paid for next months rent and we would leave after that. We figured that if he can't even pay a 1400 baht electric bill the chances of us getting 23,000 baht back is virtually nil!
We have a whole month to find somewhere though so we will take our time and make sure all is correct before we say yes.
Today we are watching the sad news reports from Bangkok and wondering if our assembly will be cancelled at the beginning of May. It hasn't affected us here in any way and hopefully it won't.
This week though is the Thai new year, Songkhran, so a few things are cancelled such as ministry Monday and Wednesday. For two reasons, some drink too much and drive so it is not safe to be out Tuesday and Wednesday, also they throw water as part of the festival, which is only OK if you are dressed in shorts and t shirt. Anyway it will be a good opportunity to catch up on some work and laze about by the pool.

Memorial and Ministry

2010-04-02T08:30:00.000+02:00

Well it has been a very busy week. Last Tuesday which was the memorial we went on the Thai ministry for the first time. We all worked with someone who could speak Thai and they helped us to learn a few phrases so we could greet the householder and leave a leaflet. It was lovely to get to know the Thai brothers and sisters and also to see how differently it is done here. It is so laid back and easy going. Everyone goes to the same little street and stands next to each other to knock on the doors. 10.30am sharp we stopped for a drinks break for 15 minutes. Then on till 12 by which time we were very hot and sweaty and definitely ready for lunch.
The memorial was lovely and we had 76 attending which isn't bad for a group of only 22ish.
Yesterday we had the best day we have had since we got here. We went with some friends, Philip and Katy to a beach they knew near where they live towards the north of Phuket, Nai Thon beach. It was an overcast day so we were able to stay in the sea for hours. It was so clear and blue and the waves were amazingly strong but fun too. The sea was so clear that we were standing in water up to our shoulders and could see our feet down below. We ate lunch at a little restaurant right on the beach and stuffed ourselves with delicious Thai fried rice, cashew chicken and noodle soup. We did get a little too much sun though, so today we are a little burnt. We also took a couple from Mexico, Amy and Levi, that are staying here for a few weeks. They are so much fun and have some great experiences to tell so together we all had a great day, finished off at Nick's new favourite restaurant where the food is awesome and cheap and the place is spotlessly clean and best of all is only round the corner from our house.
This morning was ministry again but English this time, which can be a bit frustrating because of the type of people you meet. We are looking forward to doing some with the Burmese people here next week though.
We received our tea bags too this week from mum so can start the day off properly once more!! It is about the only thing I can't do without, a decent cup of tea. Very British, I know!

2010-03-25T07:11:00.000+01:00

As I sit here listening to the birds chirping outside and I feel the fan blowing intermittently on my neck, I realize how much life has changed. We live such an outdoor life now, with windows constantly open unless we have the AC on in the bedrooms. We swim in the pool every day, eat outside at night, either here at home or at a restaurant and visit beaches almost every other day. I compare this to our year in Chester where for a large percentage of the time we were shut in with the heating on, wrapped up in layers and layers of clothing. Even when we wanted to go out it seemed such an effort to drive somewhere for a walk. Going to the movies required almost a 2^nd mortgage (not that we had one of those, a mortgage I mean!). There always seems to be something to do here that doesn’t require money or much of it anyway.

Another thought is that we eat much healthier here. Lots more fruit, smoothies for breakfast etc. Salads galore and no pasta, no cheese (It’s very costly here), not nearly as much bread as we used to eat, just rice dishes and the occasional pizza to satisfy our western needs.

We took the girls to see Alice in Wonderland on Monday night. Lara in particular had been dying to see it and we had already gone the previous evening and been very disappointed to find that we had missed it. Fortunately we found another cinema on the island that was still showing it and for just 120 baht we sat in air conditioned luxury in seats so comfortable that had the movie been boring we could have fallen asleep. For 500 baht you can have a reclining seal with a blanket and pillow with food and drink delivered to you while you watch!! Anyway we all loved the movie apart from Nick as it wasn’t really his ‘thing’. Mr Depp had seriously strange eyebrows and emerald green eyes but was his usual wonderfully talented self.

We went out on the ministry yesterday for the first time. Richard took us on some of his calls to ease us into it gently. It was nice to see so many out. There is a lovely French family here for a few months from Toulon who don’t speak much English so it has been great for us to practice our French. We went for lunch at a Thai restaurant with a family from the Thai congregation. The setting wasn’t so great, near a busy road but the food was awesome, probably the best we have had yet. The lady who ran the restaurant had tiny twins and Richard told us that two days after having delivered them by c section she was back working in the place. That is how hard people work here. There seems to be a much greater divide now between the rich or well off and the poor. The Thai brother we ate with works a 12 hour shift for just 600 baht (£12).

We are off to find a hidden beach this afternoon. Apparently it is one the tourists don’t know about, just the locals. We also need to go to the market for our fruit and veg.

Don’t forget to check out the photos I upload regularly. Just click on the link to the left of this page that says ‘travel photos’.

A week of Phuket life

2010-03-19T13:28:00.001+01:00

Well we have been in our house for a week as of tonight. I can't believe how much we have packed into it actually. I'll start at the beginning. When we looked around this place a week ago we told the lady that we wanted to move in asap as we were in a guest house but that it may take us a couple of days to get the rent and deposit money. She said 'Oh just move in tomorrow, we'll worry about the money later'!! Don't you wish everything was that easy. No credit check, no asking what we did for work and needing proof, just a friendly Thai lady who was willing to let us move in without paying a penny first.

Not that everything was that simple of course! It took us a whole, very frustrating, day to sort out the internet. We found out that the club house and pool was not included in the rent and would be an extra 23,000 Baht (a lot of money!!) for a years' use. So we thought about it for a day or two and realised that you can't exist here as a farrang (foreigner) if you haven't got a pool to cool off in.

It was lovely to go to the meeting on Wednesday night though and meet everyone. We had a great welcome and quickly realised that we will be kept very busy here with only about 20 in the cong.

It has been a challenge learning how to shop and cook here again. Wine is def out here as Jacob's Creek is about £12 a bottle!! The rum and whiskey is about £4 a bottle though which could be good or bad depending on how you look at it!

The three kitchens in our house are interesting! The inside one has the fridge, cupboards and a sink and we use it just for making drinks. The next one is in a room like a laundry room that has an outside door and it is where I cook on a large version of a camping stove. It also has a sink. The third one is just a sink really outside for doing the dishes. That is a good idea as it keeps any waste food outside so cuts down on bugs. For the style of house you would imagine a much better sort of kitchen but I think the Thai's eat out a lot as it is very cheap to do that, also it is really too hot to cook. We went to a food market the other day and I have never seen such an array of perfect veg. Such great quality and so cheap. I got a huge bag of strange mushrooms for just 50p. We stayed clear of the meat though. No fridge, just out in the dusty open air, no thanks!

Today we found our perfect beach again, Layan beach. So quiet and peaceful. The water was refreshingly cool though so we just chilled for a while.

I had forgotten how great it is to wear minimal clothing. It is so much quicker to get ready to go out. Although you do see some rather disgusting sights of Europeans baring almost all!!!

It's 7.30pm and we are going out for some dinner. The girls want pizza, I want Thai, not sure about Nick. It will probably be pizza!!

Journey to Phuket

2010-03-14T06:28:00.003+01:00

We finally got to visit China Town, which was an amazing experience. The incredibly narrow alleyways were packed tightly with a mixture of people and stalls with mopeds and delivery motorbikes narrowly missing everyone. I think it would have been possible to buy absolutely anything you wanted and in any quantity. It takes a strong constitution though to cope with the smells of food, drains and people along with the constant throng pressing past you and towards you.
The rest of the day was spent getting some things sorted out. Changing money, getting some Thai sim cards for our phones and booking the trip down to Phuket.
Our plan was to go by 1st class sleeper train but unfortunately as it is a Thai holiday at the moment it was fully booked all week. We have already tried the 2nd class option and didn’t fancy that again so the option was to fly or go by bus. We opted for the bus as it was only £20 each compared to at least £50 to fly. The ‘VIP’ coach ride was a 12 hour journey that was a grueling endurance test which only took us to Surat Thani where we had to get a mini bus to take us the rest of the 4 hour journey. Fortunately it dropped us right outside the Talang guest house where we quickly checked in after a quick scare after being told that there was only one air conditioned room. After some persuasion we managed to change it to two, thank goodness. As after hauling our heavy bags up the steep stairs, with the temperature hovering around 35 degrees, to the 2nd and 3rd floors where our rooms were located, we were in desperate need of some cooling down. Rarely have we felt so filthy and sleep deprived.
By the time we had showered it was just 11am so we all collapsed into very basic but clean beds for a couple of hours sleep. It was so tempting to sleep on and on but we knew if we did that we wouldn’t sleep that night. So all feeling a bit grumpy we dragged ourselves out for our first decent meal in well over 24 hours.
What a treat! Curry, chicken, noodles and rice for all of us for 300 baht (about £6 / $9!) The little restaurant was obviously owned by a vintage toy enthusiast as there was a long cabinet down one wall with everything from VW Beetle corgi cars to an old Mickey Mouse toy. Our table had a glass centre with star wars toys displayed in it. The walls were covered with old advertising signs and Chinese medicine ads. With the front all open to the busy street it was a perfect place to watch the world go by and while away the hours till bedtime.

First few days in Bangkok

2010-03-10T11:04:00.000+01:00

Well after a leisurely morning at mum's and counting the slow moving minutes until the taxi's arrival we were finally on our way to Manchester airport. Everything went well at the check in, no over weight bags etc.
Our first flight to Dubai was excellent. Yummy food and plenty of drinks and movies. We even managed to sleep a bit. Our arrival time there was tough, 4.30am UK time but we only had a couple of hours to wait until the next flight so by the time we checked in again and sent a few emails we were ready to board.
A nice surprise was that it was one of the new double decker airbus a380 planes. It almost defied logic to imagine that this huge object could take off never mind actually stay in the air! Plenty of room and so comfy it was almost like business class (well, maybe not quite that good!).
Our arrival in Bangkok went very smoothly too, nice friendly immigration (unlike a certain other country we have spent time in.....) and in no time at all we were in a taxi heading for the city. It may be that we happened to get stuck with the most annoying and irritating taxi driver ever. Most drivers here double up as kamikaze pilots, however this one found it hard to break 30 miles per hour and the more he talked the slower he went. Not easy to cope with when you are as tired as we were. His main rant seemed to be that he wanted to drive us around for the next few days while we were in BK. Erm, no way Jose!!
Finally we reached our hotel, which was quite a bit more expensive than last time we stayed and we needed two rooms as they wouldn't put an extra bed in for us like last time. However it was just nice to be here and get a shower.
Our meal at Hippie Hi was all we had looked forward to for so long. It was great to be back breathing in the fumes as we whizzed along in the tuk tuk and winding our way through the madness of the Khao San Rd.

9 days to go!!

2010-02-26T18:56:00.000+01:00

Well things are a little mad around here! Boxes everywhere that we keep tripping on and stubbing our toes on (esp Nick!). We are counting the days now and getting organised. Our shopping trip yesterday yielded t shirts and shorts for the girls, a travel bag for Nick and all sorts of other goodies. I ordered loads of Burt's Bees stuff today, sun cream, insect repellent, hand sanitizer etc. My local health food shop loves me at the moment as I have spent a fortune in there on vitamins and supplements to keep us healthy while we are there and to build us up before we go. Much better than inoculations that aren't really necessary. I am nagging everyone multiple times a day at the moment "have you taken your vits?!".

I can't decide what I am most looking forward to. Obviously it is the trill of the trip and the challenge of something new but also having something meaningful in our lives again instead of being consumed by the materialism that is prevalent here in the UK. It is impossible not to be caught up in this rat race. I am looking forward to having time on my hands again. Time to just take a picnic to a beach for the afternoon, time to explore, time to walk, time to try new things. I am looking forward to living a more outdoor life again. I hate being cooped up inside.

I am looking forward to meeting new people, learning a new language and working hard in the ministry and congregation where there is such a great need.

We're off again!!

2010-02-06T11:53:00.003+01:00

Well the Fowlers are off again on some travels. Slightly different this time and probably the biggest move ever.
Ok start at the beginning...When we last visited Thailand we saw what a need there was for witnessing there, particularly in the English speaking field. Fast forward a couple of years and our life in the States is finished and we are back in Chester, UK and not very happy campers. Total rat race and miserable weather, not what we signed up for! So.. we started looking into the possibility of making another trip to Thailand. We wrote to the Bethel in Bangkok and got a lightning fast response telling us they would be delighted if we would join the new English speaking group in Phuket as they needed help. So that was it, the start of the biggest life change so far.
Initially we thought of going for 3 or 4 months to set things up but when we thought of the cost of doing that there seemed no point.
We have worked harder than ever in these last few months to get some money together but funnily enough everything has gone so smoothly. A wise person once said that you 'don't need to see the whole staircase just a couple of steps at a time'. In other words, don't worry about everything, just plan a bit at a time. This is what we have tried to do and as I said everything is going to plan. We sold the window cleaning business without any hassle whatsoever, which was a major part of the plan.
We now have our year long visas as of this morning! and we booked our tickets last night! We are so excited but also a little fearful. Moving to the USA and France is one thing but moving to Thailand is a whole different ball game. We are a great team though and are all working together to make it happen.
We fly from Manchester on the 7th March. It will be so fun to be back in Bangkok for a week. A much needed weeks vacation!!
I am happy to be starting up this blog again as I finally have some interesting stuff to post!!

My latest article on Helium

2009-05-26T13:55:00.002+02:00

Back in Chester, England

2009-05-13T17:34:00.000+02:00

Tough as it is, we are settling down to life in jolly old England again. Back in Chester after 12 years, which is lovely as we have been catching up with friends after being out of the country for a while. Enjoying the takeouts and pubs and moaning about the weather.
Trying to find work here there and everywhere, wheeling and dealing to make a buck or two! :)
Still trying to sell on etsy, but half of my stock is back in Florida, so I will have to wait until we have saved enought to ship everything back......soon hopefully.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

2008-08-12T23:47:00.008+02:00

I am participating in The Simple Woman's Daybook today. If you would like to join in, please click on her name and join in!!

FOR TODAY Tuesday
Outside My Window...Trees blowing in the wind as there is a storm coming.
I am thinking...That the house is a mess and my mum arrives to stay in two days.
I am thankful for...Living in such a beautiful place
From the kitchen...Not much, I need to go shopping!
I am wearing...Fat Face top, flip flops and my favorite skirt that has seen much better days and that my girls have banned me from wearing outside!
I am creating...A silver and glass bead bracelet.
I am going...To be a published writer
I am reading...Jodi Picoult's latest, Grapes of Wrath, books on freelance writing,
I am hoping...That our new business will be successful and will be less stressful
I am hearing...My daughter watching TV while she knits and the wind in the trees outside my window.
Around the house...Clothes that need putting away, an ironing board still out, books on the floor, tables and every surface, pictures of our trip around Asia.
One of my favorite things...When I'm working and one of the girls comes in and says " Is there anything I can get for you mum?" That my husband brings me a cup of tea every morning and wakes me up.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Tidy the house, take Lara to Barnes and Noble, make some earrings to match a necklace I have made for mum.
Here is picture thought I am sharing...

The girls having fun after visiting the Dali museum

Review of digital edition of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

2008-08-12T22:59:00.008+02:00

This is one of the easiest digital magazines I have ever come across in the way of finding my way around it.
You click one button to see the whole magazine laid out in thumbnail size pages and them click on the one you want to read. To turn a page or zoom in there are arrows.
One feature that makes it much better than the paper version is the search button. How many times have you read a magazine only to remember a point you wanted to share and not be able to find it again. It is also much more eco-friendly too, as you are saving trees by downloading instead of buying the paper version. You can print from it too though if there is a particular article you want to keep.
You can even share it with a friend by clicking on the button and filling in their email address.
It works out much cheaper too. For just $16.95 you get a whole years subscription as opposed to $39 for the paper version.
I loved it and being a homeschooling mom I am always looking for new resources and ways to save money.

Mothers and Sprouts

2008-08-12T22:37:00.003+02:00

This week is countdown until mum arrives on Thursday. It's going to be a busy few weeks I think, as we are leaving for Orlando on the Monday as some really super friends have arranged for us to stay in a luxury apartment for the whole week. The girls are really excited as it has swimming pools and loads of other activity stuff.
I have started writing for a new online publication called Helium. Just trying to make some extra pennies as Nick sets up our new business venture.
Our car is definitely dying. So we have booked it in for fixing the week we are away as we were going to hire a car anyway (we didn't trust it to get us to Orlando and back!). So we have to decide whether to buy another or put the money into fixing this one.
Nick put up our new washing line yesterday and I can't tell you how good it feels to not be using the tumble dryer. All the washing smells great too. I bought a sprouter this week too as I was fed up of having plates all over the kitchen with alfalfa and mung beans in various growth stages. It seems really good, and we ate our first crop yesterday in a salad and I put some into the bread mix this morning which turned out really delicious.
I have been experimenting with different bread flours, much to Lara's unhappiness! All wholemeal is just too heavy, so I mixed it half and half with organic white. Then I tried a mix of white, spelt and wholemeal which was great. Then I tried a cup of brown rice flour in the mix and it was dreadful. I think the best is a cup each of wholemeal, white and spelt with some flax and sunflower seeds thrown in. It just tastes so yummy and with a generous helping of Irish butter, it's all we eat for lunch some days.
I am happy to say we are getting greener all the time. xx

Product review The SchoolHouse Planner

2008-08-11T21:38:00.003+02:00

When I was first asked to review this product I must admit I didn't think it would be that great, not being much of a planner myself. How wrong I was. It is one of the best resources I have come across in a long time and I only wish that I'd had it ten years ago when I was first starting off on our home school journey.
It is actually 247 pages long and can be printed off, if you prefer. It is also very easy to use as a pdf document as you can put little post-it notes on the calender and weekly planner.
It has much more to offer though than this. There are website addresses for everything from curriculum to holiday resources, delicious recipes, info sheets on subjects such as a time line of inventions, a page on famous composers and tips on everything from teaching writing to learning a foreign language.
It covers from July 2008 to June 2009 but it really can be used in any way you see fit and for as long as you like.
It also has an annual planner, a twelve year planner and yearly goals page. Also a prayer journal page and a bible reading schedule that will enable you to read the bible in just a year by reading between 2 and 4 chapters a day.
I think that this will definitely help me to get everything done and planned over the next year and for just $39 it is a home school dream, everything in one place, and able to be looked at either with the click of a mouse or the turn of a page.
For more info click here.

Overheating Gardening and Rehearsals

2008-08-05T15:38:00.005+02:00

It's been an interesting few days! Friday we took the day off to do some gardening and apart from some severe thunderstorms, pelting rain and Nick getting stuck on Gulf to Bay as the car overheated, we managed to get quite a lot done. It was cloudy all day though which was great as it meant that it was much cooler. By 4pm we were exhausted and filthy and a shower had never felt so good.
That evening we were meant to study our WT but instead we practiced our part for the rehearsal the following day. Both of us were quite nervous really, so goodness knows how it will be on the day!
So there we were standing outside the Holiday KH at 1.30 on Saturday afternoon all dressed up in 90 deg heat. The three brothers all togged out in suits and nobody turned up! Guess what... we had the wrong place it was another half hour North which meant that we arrived at the rehearsal 30 minutes late, which meant that instead of being first we got to do our part last...argh!! Three hours later, when we should have been finishing off the garden and cleaning the house for our visitors coming the next day we were still just leaving some booney town an hour North of where we live.
To make matters worse the car overheated again on the way home which delayed us another hour. So there was Nick in his suit leaning over the engine and wondering how we would get home. Some really nice guys at an auto discount store kindly lent him some tools and we managed to limp home.
So no meeting the next morning though, as the car needed to be fixed. While Nick laboured over the engine (yet again!) and finished off the garden, Lara and I spring cleaned the house, which was long overdue.
We have decided to sell the Land rover in England so that we can get a more reliable and economical car here. It's a tough decision as we will lose quite a bit of money on it. Nick rebuilt the whole engine and did loads of upgrades, so he is a bit sad. It's no use to us there though. We are just praying that we get a decent price as it's not a vehicle that sells well at the moment.
I have been reading this awesome book called Gorgeously Green.
It gives you some great ideas on how to live greener and some real eyeopeners on what chemicals are in our cosmetics and cleaning products, even stuff I though was ok. So yesterday I went through all my toiletries and looked at the labels more closely. Most of it I won't be buying again. I had already switched to greener cleaning products a while ago though, so I was ok there. It really bugs me how little people recycle here. Having lived in Dunedin and now Clearwater, our neighbours really don't bother much.
Now that the garden is tidy Nick is going to put a washing line up so we don't have to use the dryer as much. Much more eco!!
I have ordered some soapnuts to try out instead of laundry detergent, as although I buy the Seventh Generation stuff, it is rather expensive. Apparently these nuts work great and are much more economical.
Mum is coming in just over a week, so we are all excited about seeing her. We have thought of some great places to go while she is here and of course there is the convention which will be very special.

Life in the jungle

2008-07-21T23:03:00.003+02:00

What have we been up to?! Work, beach, ministry. Nothing exciting really. It's still really hot and we are all dreaming of the autumn when it gets cooler. Last night we went down to the beach to meet up with some friends who were having a cookout.
I have been writing for a couple of internet newspapers suite 101 and Associated Content.
I am also flogging my jewelry left right and centre (well trying to, anyway!).
The economy is crazy here and everyone is moaning about the price of gas although in Europe it has been a ridiculous price for years. It's now at $4 a gallon which still doesn't seem too bad to us, but is quite shocking when you think that only a few years ago it was at a dollar a gallon.
We don't know where the next year will take us but are just enjoying where we are and what we are doing.
We are planning on getting lots done in the house at the weekend. We have been here for 8 months and still haven't fixed the jacuzzi, so that is first on the agenda. An ice cold tub to jump into would be wonderful right now. We also have to try and tame the jungle outside that used to be our garden. It has just exploded recently and needs major attention.
Anyway it's 5.30pm and definitely time for a glass of something. Got to get through the summer somehow!
Happy whatever you are doing, sewing, knitting, making jewelry, taking photos........ xxxxxxxxxxx

Snakes and other lovlies

2008-07-02T00:32:00.001+02:00

Yesterday was one of those days where you wonder if it would have been better just to stay in bed. As usual Nick brought me a cup of tea to wake me up. I heard him and Candace whispering and banging about in the dining room and wondered what was going on. They told me it was nothing to worry about, which immediately made me suspicious. I glanced around the corner and thought that they were trying to kill a cockroach which everyone knows I loath, but it was too big to be a roach and longer. They had only found a snake in the dining room! It was black with a yellow ring around it's neck and a bright orange and yellow underneath. Once it was dead Candace rushed to the computer to find out what kind it was and to see if it was poisonous or not. I informed Nick that if it was there would be two choices, a hotel, or a plane back to England. Fortunately it was not harmful at all. However that was just the start to the day. It was to get better....
About an hour later, after we had done our study and bible reading, Nick called his parents to say hello, only to be informed that our storage place with all our boxes and furniture had been broken into. The dreadful thing was that we are the only ones who really know whats in there so until we go back to the UK we won't know what's gone. We do know that whoever it was took our hi-fi speakers and a small antique dressing table and maybe some of Nick's woodworking tools. Hopefully nothing else though. It's not like there's anything of value to anyone but us though. It's mostly books, clothes and other bits and pieces. It's horrible to think that someone has been through your stuff though. Apparently the boxes had been opened and rifled through. So after a cup of tea and lots of moaning we decided there was nothing we could do.
Next on the agenda was a dreadful afternoon at work dealing with awful people.
We were in two minds whether to go out to Kelly's for dinner like we planned as we wondered what could go wrong there. It turned out lovely though. The meal was delicious and we had a nice walk down to the marina where we chatted to some friends who live on a boat down there.
It felt good to get into bed and realise that we had survived the day!!! Things could only get better tomorrow. Right?!

Crazy dayz

2008-06-24T12:47:00.000+02:00

So this week I had my first sale on Etsy...yeah!! Hopefully there will be many more. I have been busy querying editors left, right and centre so just waiting to hear back. It doesn't look like we will be going on a big trip in September but hopefully we will still get to see the Grand Canyon before we leave the US. Actually we are determined to!
The weather is still VERY hot. 90 most days and humid and sweaty, but what do we expect, eh, living in Florida in the summer. Most of the sensible people have left to go north or to cooler parts of the world.
Candace has been busy knitting a beautiful blanket for a friend who has just had a baby. She has started an Etsy shop too, called simplesurfer. She makes knitted stuff and cute handmade origami boxes.
Her tomatoes and sweetcorn are ripening so we will be having some lovely salads soon with homegrown produce.
Ooh.... I sold a load of jewelry at my local hairdressers last week too, very exciting!!We are off to the Dali museum in St Pete on Friday so can't wait to blog about that as it is years since we have been. Lara has been busy reading up on him in between her other studies.
We went for a lovely walk last night, just Nick and I, and we couldn't believe how busy the beach was after sunset. I think everyone was enjoying the lovely cool (well cooler)breezes after such a hot day. We went all the way down to the Carlouel Club and tried to find the house on Eldorado that was the first permanent home to be built on the island. I think it had been knocked down though as there wasn't anything there!

Writing and other bits and pieces

2008-06-08T00:15:00.006+02:00

I was thinking today about this blog and I realised that I don't really know who looks at it anymore. It was started originally so that our family and friends could keep track of our travels last year. So if you still look at it let me know. I would love to know what you think of it and what you would like to hear about.
It has evolved into more of a normal everyday blog now I think so I will try to update whoever looks at it about our lives.
Life in the US is great and living on the beach is wonderful, a situation we could never match and which we are grateful for every single day. We are working hard at the moment to simplify things even more. I have been trying to get my jewelry business started and Nick has been very supportive, of course. I have also been busy doing some freelance writing which I really love to do. It's all about balance though and that is proving difficult at the moment, a real juggling act. Maybe that is what everyone does though in trying to balance out our worship, family responsibilities, work and hobbies. We do get so caught up in our own lives that it seems that we are the only ones around.
Anyway the work day is done and Monday (the worst day of the week) is over. I am writing this with a whiskey next to me as everyone deserves a stiff drink after surviving Monday in this house (as long as you are over 18!!!).
It's hot here. There is no more to say, no more description of life than walking out the front door at 7.15 in the morning for early morning ministry when the heat envelopes you in it's sticky embrace and you sweat before you can get the car cool enough to relax . We hop from air conditioned house to air conditioned car to air conditioned....well you get the idea! I am not complaining though..honest....

The latest news

2008-05-22T19:52:00.003+02:00

Well the most exciting news we have is that Candace is getting baptized at the district assembly in August. We are so proud of her.
I have started my writing again, far more seriously this time. I am determined to make it work. I have also started a website for my jewelry apart from selling on Etsy. It's www.candaradesign.com.
Another thing we have put in place is something we have wanted to do for a long time and that is to expand our photography. We both enjoy it and have started selling it on a website called yessy - http://www.yessy.com/candara/gallery.html.
Life is very busy with all of this but exciting too!
Lara has signed up for a couple of courses with the Oxford university home learning system so we are just waiting for it all to arrive.
Our trip for September has evolved into a months journey across America. We plan on leaving at the beginning of September and driving to the Grand Canyon and then up to Wyoming to meet everyone and then back down to Florida. It will take a lot of planning but what a trip!

Life's a beach......................

2008-05-15T22:50:00.004+02:00

Well May is proving extremely busy and we are working everyday just to fit things in. Work is busy but we are trying to develop some new ideas that will give us a bit more freedom from the internet and mean we can travel more. We are looking forward to our trip to Wyoming in September. There is a group of about 12 going so far so it will be lots of fun. We will be staying around the Jackson Hole area and doing lots of exploring of Yellowstone. The whole family is excited already and planning tons of hiking and maybe a night or two camping also.
I have finally got around to listing my jewelery for sale on Etsy. If you haven't checked it out it is a very cool site full of handmade stuff. Hopefully I will have some buyers soon!
We have been having fun with our new camera too. It is so wonderful to finally have a decent one and I am driving everyone mad with photos at the moment. I have had some good reviews on flickr (another great site) and some not so great! It's all in the learning process though.
The last few days we have had amazing weather. Hardly any humidity and lovely and cool at night. We have still managed to hold off using our air conditioning as it is nice and breezy all the time here on the beach. Unfortunately by the weekend the humidity levels will be back up, but we will cope.......
The pioneering is going great and I now have a lovely study and we all have great progressive calls. It seems worth all the hard work when we have great days on the ministry and the girls are enjoying it.

18th ANNIVERSARY

2008-05-03T19:15:00.003+02:00

Well it's over a year ago that we started this blog for our trip and I just wanted to update everyone on what's been happening in our lives.
We are now living back in Florida. My last post said that we would be moving back to France but circumstances changed and it wasn't possible for us to do so. We also realised that it would be better for the girls here for various reasons. So here we are somewhat settled on Clearwater Beach. We have been auxiliary pioneering since December and are loving it. We have some wonderful calls and a great study. Business is good and so is the weather! WE have a new member of our family...MOJO. He is Candace's Chihuahua and is very small and cute and very good. The girls have made some great friends locally and are growing up fast.
We are so fortunate to be able to live in such a gorgeous place, which brings me to this weekend....... It is our 18th wedding anniversary on Monday and we had planned to go away for a few days down to Pine Island but realised how silly that would be as we already live on the beach. So here we are having a weeks holiday at home. No packing, no traveling, just lots and lots of relaxation. Eating, drinking and being merry!!! Rosemount & Ben & Jerry's (Not together though)!!! We have loads of movies to watch. Last night we started with The Great Escape and tonight it's probably My Big Fat Greek Wedding..........again!! Appropriate as we are cooking a Greek meal.
Anyway no future plans at the moment. Well not definite anyway! Travel will always feature very largely in our lives. Sometimes we do feel the East calling us again but at the moment we have to stay put and save some money. One day the wind will blow though and we will be off on another adventure. We don't 'do' established or settled but at the moment we couldn't be happier. We LOVE life on the beach. We have had 18 amazing, fantastic, wonderful, exciting and fun filled years together and plan on much more excitement for the next 18++++. Who knows where we will end up??!! That's part of the fun.......................

FULL CIRCLE

2007-10-23T17:34:00.000+02:00

Well this is it! We have come full circle and come back home to France. Our last travel picture was Bergerac airport where we took our first almost 7 months ago!! It has been so great to be back in France. Everyone at the KH gave us a wonderful welcome. All our travels have definitely made us realise where we want to be and the place we will call home for the next few years. Definitely here in France! We have loved catching up with all our friends here and the girls have enjoyed it too, we have hardly seen them all week.
I also think that a part of each year will be in the USA as that is the way business is taking us at the moment.
The weather has been glorious blue skies all week and much warmer than England. We have had a wonderfully relaxing week with Mark & Cath, drinking gallons of wine and eating delicious meals.
Half of me wants to just stay here and get settled but I realise too that we need to be back in the USA for the next few months to make our new business work. Hopefully though we will be back at the beginning of April ready to find ourselves a little house and get started.
We leave in the morning about 9am for the drive up to Boulogne so hopefully the Landy will behave and all will go as planned.
Our trip has been such an amazing experience and life changing in different ways for us all. The next post will be thoughts from all of us about the trip.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK!!

2007-10-10T13:55:00.000+02:00

After leaving our cosy beds at 5.30am and stopping off at Einstein’s for a much needed coffee and bagels we arrived at the airport in plenty of time for our flights to New York. We thought we were very clever only having carry on luggage, after all we are the masters at traveling light now. We forgot about the ‘ I’ve got a uniform on and can steal anything from your luggage under the guise of it being not allowed under the new security rules’ lady. I specifically checked the website of the airline we were flying with and it said that nothing over 100ml’s. Anyway when my bag was checked I had a brand new Clinique moisturiser that was 10ml’s over and she put it straight in her pocket saying ‘well you can’t take that’!! Needless to say I was rather miffed. Never mind...on to NY.
We arrived at La Guardia at 11.30 am and the flights out from JFK were not until 6pm so we thought we may have time in the city to see a couple of the sights. As we were contemplating all this a guy came up to us and asked us if we needed a taxi ride. He said he could take us to see all the sights and get us to JFK for 4pm for $250. This seemed a huge amount until he said that just to get to the other airport would cost us $60. He promised us that he would be able to take us everywhere we wanted to go and to see everything including having a snack of the best New York hot dog we have ever tasted (not that hot dogs are really our thing, but when in Rome etc..!!). So we decided to go for it and hope he was not ripping us off.
Well what a day! I can’t think of one NY sight we didn’t see. From the Statue of Liberty to Times Square and the Watchtower building across the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park we saw it all. The hot dog was as good as he promised and so was the slice of NY pizza. The day could not have been better weather wise too. It’s a mad city and we all agreed we could not live there. The high rises seem endless and it makes Paris seem very calm and quiet.
The flight from Jfk to London was pretty uneventful, not great (no free booze, a first for us on a long flight) but not awful either. The films were good and we all managed to sleep a bit.
There was a nasty welcome for us in London though as the weather was dreadful. Cold and very rainy, so we piled on most of our clothes and quickly found the hire car we had booked and turned the heater up full blast. The drive up to Liverpool seemed endless and we had to stop once at a services to have a sleep, as although Nick does all the driving I am the official ‘keep awaker’! The girls slept all the way of course. We headed straight for Nick’s parents house which is where we were supposed to be staying as they were in Venice (we thought), dreaming of their lovely comfy beds that we would just crawl into. Unfortunately when we arrived it was to find that they had returned from Italy early as Fran was really ill with a stomach bug so we headed over to my mum’s and straight into her beds.
After a couple of hours sleep we dragged ourselves out to get the Chinese takeout we had been dreaming of for months and for a quick drink at the local (of course!). It’s lovely to be here with our family despite the weather and we are looking forward to catching up with some old friends here to before heading to France next Tuesday. Everyone’s excited about that!!!

The Fowlers are coming..............!!

2007-09-21T14:54:00.000+02:00

Just a quick update to let everyone know we are back for a visit on 8th October for many different reasons. One of which being to see Tom get baptized! We will be in France from the 16th and are dying to see everyone and catch up on our cheese consumption.
As for our family.............well you know how much we are looking forward to seeing you. Be ready for lots of boring travel tales!
We will be back until the 5th November so plenty of time to catch up.
See y'all real soon!!!!
xxxxoooo

Update on life in the good ole US of A!!

2007-09-15T23:05:00.001+02:00

Well it's finally starting to cool down here a bit so we have started going to the beach and of course Nick is back into lots of fishing. Candace was stung by a sting ray yesterday though, but she was very brave. Fortunately we had just visited the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and learnt all about them so we knew they were not poisonous just painful. We think we have found a house to buy just a couple of streets away. Not big but with lots of potential for expansion.
Business is back to normal now we are working on it regularly instead of from internet cafes and the new business we have started here is also going very well.
The congregation is lovely and we had a fantastic assembly where we saw loads of old friends that we hadn't seen for years. The girls got thoroughly fed up of being told how much they had grown!!
We do miss France and are looking forward to visiting in January and then hopefully coming back next year for the summer. I don't think we could live here year round, we love French life too much to give it all up. Need to think of a way to import the delicious Australian wine we have been drinking here though!!
We finally (after all these years) got around to taking the girls to Seaworld about a month ago. We had a wonderful couple of days and felt really privileged to have seen these amazing animals up close. One of the highlights was feeding the dolphins and being able to touch and stroke them. The shows were breathtaking but I couldn't help comparing it to other places we had visited and feeling sad that so many wonderful people we had met could never even imagine seeing anything like this. One just that day hundreds of people like us had no problem dropping a couple of hundred dollars on just two days entertainment, never mind the extras like food and souvenirs. It just reminds you how uneven and unfair the world is.
Sometimes I find it hard to spend out on things that I didn't think twice about before. Things that I didn't consider not buying, now I realise that I don't need them. I guess that is why taking this kind of trip is considered life changing, it really makes you think about what is really important in your life. In the western world we are brought up with things, even if we don't have them someone else does. The people we met are just happy to be clothed and have food and shelter. They don't care about brand names and what car they drive, most of them can't afford more than a moped anyway.
We are looking forward to lots of things at the moment. Our trip to the Bahamas at the beginning of October and the Clearwater Jazz festival at the end, our assembly (another one!) at the beginning of November and a trip somewhere, hopefully Arizona, around Thanksgiving.
What are we missing at the moment? - Family, friends, Candace - her books in storage in France, Me - my shoes in storage, esp. my Campers, Nick - his precious watch collection, Lara - her Polly Pocket collection (in France) as she has made a fortune on ebay selling the ones she had here!
ANYWAY.............next update from the Caribbean!!
Love y'all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

16th to 21st July

2007-07-21T01:11:00.000+02:00

This week has been spent looking for a house and recovering from the journey and the 13 hour time difference. It has taken the whole week to adjust to Florida time and we have finally found a house in Dunedin, near the library and the Pinellas trail (a walking bike track that stretches for miles). It is old style and has a garage for Nick to drool over, it is so big!
Our friends, Ryan & Kyndall are going to the Keys tomorrow so we have the pleasure of looking after Boris. He is a Bichon Frissee and is so well behaved that we want to adopt him! Not to mention extreemly cute too. We also have the pleasure of their gorgeous home all to ourselves until they return in a couple of weeks - lucky us!
We can't wait to get our stuff out of storage and see what we have - none of us can remember what is in the boxes so it will be fun.

Back home (one of our many!!)

2007-07-21T01:00:00.000+02:00

After a filthy lie in and a cooked breakfast and mimosas we headed out to do a bit of shopping. Lara finally got the book she had been wanting since we left France and Candace found stuff on origami (which she has become very good at lately).
The rest of the day was spent recovering from the journey and that evening we got to see some more of our friends, Ryan's sister Paula and his parents, as they all came over for a BBQ. It is a strange feeling being here as it is like nothing has changed at all.
We have a lot to sort out this week, house, work etc but for now it is good just to catch up with old friends and chill out a bit.

San Jose to Denver to Tampa (finally!!)

2007-07-21T00:40:00.001+02:00

The flight to Tampa, Florida was at 10.30 am so we had to be at the airport by 8.30ish. Fortunately we were only about a mile away so we didn't have too much of an early start.
All went great, apart from the $50 excess baggage we had to pay! We had about four hours in Denver. Just enough time to relax and have a lovely lunch before getting the last flight to Tampa.
It was a long day as we didn't get into Tampa until 11.15pm but our wonderful friends, Ryan & Kyndall were waiting for us with a big hug and a big car to whisk us back to a comfy bed and a long awaited sleep. They couldn't believe how little we had in the form of luggage although we thought we had a lot as we had added a huge suitcase to our backpacks to carry all the extra stuff we had bought. Us Brits travel light!!
We finally got to bed at about 2am after catching up on everything we had missed since last October.

Santa Cruz & San Jose

2007-07-21T00:17:00.001+02:00

After a breakfast of croissants, OJ & fruit from the supermarket we headed towards Santa Cruz. We both really wanted to go to Monteray but it was just too far as we had to be in San Jose that evening to fly to Florida the next day.
Santa Cruz was a typical movie style California scene. Teenagers playing volley ball on the beach and fairground rides all along it. Not really our sort of place so we just stopped for a quick coffee for us and milkshake for the girls at a lovely beach front cafe. We decided to head to the downtown and look for some sights and a supermarket to get picnic stuff for lunch.
After leaving Santa Cruz we headed back inland towards San Jose which is the heart of Silicon Valley but also a nice historic place to visit. I had booked the cheapest place I could find nearest to the airport to make it easy in the morning so we were expecting a grotty motel that would be ok for one night. When we got to the Doubletree hotel we were amazed to find that it was really nice and the room was huge with all amenities and most importantly for the girls - a pool! This meant that we had to rethink our plans to visit some historic places as they just begged us for a swim. In the end it was really nice to be totally lazy for a few hours as the last couple of days had been rather hectic and we had done a lot of driving.
We did manage to get to a Starbucks though to add to our collection of mugs. We thought that in view of how we earn our crust we really should have a San Jose mug!!

12th July – Driving down the Pacific coast

2007-07-17T18:09:00.000+02:00

After a lovely breakfast of coffee and bagels we made the tough decision to leave the Inn and head further down the coast. It was a slow drive as the road is very windy but some of the most beautiful and dramatic scenery imaginable.
Again we found a little supermarket and got picnic stuff and this time stopped at an historic state park for lunch. Fort Ross state park is the site of an old fort from the late 1700’s when Mexico ruled California. It was a trading post also for some Russian merchants. The onsite historian gave us an interesting talk about the history of the place and showed us some photos of the damage it sustained during the earthquake.
We had a short walk after along the cliffs before getting back in the car to dive further down the coast.
The weather was again perfect with unbelievable blue skies so we decided to get back to SF to get some better photos of the bridge. After seeing a few more sights in the city we thought we would head south and find somewhere to stay.
We ended up in Pacifica at a hotel just across from the beach and ended the day with a meal at a Mexican restaurant.

11th July – Napa Valley

2007-07-17T18:08:00.002+02:00

As the weather was still very overcast and cold we decided to head up to the Napa valley as we had been told that inland the weather is often better. They were right. After just an hour or so driving the clouds cleared to reveal fantastic blue skies and beautiful scenery. It reminded us of the Med area of France but on a much vaster scale. Vineyards as far as the eye could see and for miles of driving.
We decided to stop at a little supermarket and get some bits for a picnic including of course a bottle of California red! We found a lovely little quiet park in Calistoga and the weather was perfect. Not too hot, no humidity.
The Napa valley is 30 miles long and is a bit bigger than the parallel Sonoma valley. After reaching Calistoga we had driven the whole of the Napa valley so we headed over towards the coast for our first glimpse of the Pacific ocean.
I had heard from many people about California’s beauty but never having been I just thought that it was another nice place. After all there are many pretty places that we have been to. Some dramatic, some grand and some unusual. Now I know what the big deal is about California – it has it all!! That day we drove through beautiful vineyards, towering forests and alongside a dramatic coastline. All in the space of a few hours.
We drove down Highway 1, the Pacific coast highway, to Point Arena and found an idyllic place to stay called Wharf Master’s Inn. It was a restored home from the late 1800’s. For about the same price as a Travelodge in London we got two rooms overlooking the ocean with Jacuzzis and open fireplaces. The only disappointment was the awful $30 pizza we had for dinner.
We lit the fires and filled the Jacuzzi tubs and settled in for an early night with a G & T (us not the girls!).

10th July – Malaysia to Korea to San Francisco

2007-07-17T18:08:00.001+02:00

It was a good if very turbulent flight to Korea and we arrived at 9am. We had until 2.15pm to wait for the flight to SF so we found a quiet corner and crashed out on some chairs. Nick and I got about an hour’s work done too, which was tough but necessary.
The fight to San Francisco went well and we arrived at 9am rather tired. Everything went smoothly though in getting our bags, finding the hire car and the hotel. It was a bit of a shock as it was cold. We had just left average daily temperatures of 38 degrees and now were in about 15 degrees!!
We knew that the best way to get into a different time zones sleep pattern quickly is to go to bed at the right time no matter how you feel, so we set the alarm for 2.30pm and zonked out for a much needed three hours sleep. It was the hardest thing to wake up and we were all very grumpy but we knew it was necessary if we were to get any sort of decent sleep that night. There was a 13 hour time difference between Thailand and SF so we had some serious adjusting to do.
The first thing we did was head straight to the nearest Starbucks for a much needed coffee and to get another city mug to add to our collection. Even then we were all very tired and knew we had to do something other than just going back to the hotel or we would all just fall asleep again. It was the perfect opportunity to go to visit some famous SF sights. We drove first down to the Golden Gate bridge which was just as impressive as we hoped it would be. We managed to stop shivering long enough to take some photos of it and of Alcatraz. Next we drove up to the Haights, those steep streets we had seen in so many movies. The houses were gorgeous and many of the older ones had survived the 1906 earthquake.
Next stop Ross as we needed some warmer clothes. We managed to all find what we needed and a couple of things we didn’t.
We finished up the day (a very long one!) at the IHOP for dinner. We had forgotten how huge American portions are and ordered way too much food. We could have actually dined on half of what we got!

9th July – Day 3 KL

2007-07-17T18:07:00.000+02:00

We didn’t do much exploring today as the weather was bad and we had such a long journey over the next couple of days we decided to hang out at the hotel and be lazy.
We didn’t have to leave for the airport until about 8pm so we had a last meal at the Indian restaurant and a swim in the pool. The hotel let us check out late at 4pm and we were able to use the pool showers and changing rooms to get cleaned up for the journey.
Our flight was at one o’clock in the morning and we knew with all the time differences it was going to be interesting.

8th July – Exploring Kuala Lumpur

2007-07-17T18:06:00.000+02:00

After a great night’s sleep in one of the comfiest and biggest beds I have ever slept in we dragged ourselves down to breakfast to a feast of a massive selection of just about any type of food you can imagine. From Japanese to croissants and beyond it was there to be eaten. We contented ourselves with a couple of coffees and some pastries before leaving to climb up the KL tower.
It was again a great experience to see the city from so high up although it was rather crowded and very touristy. After seeing all we wanted to we stopped to admire a Malaysian band playing some strange instruments.
It is a nice looking city with some very interesting buildings and better planned out than other cities we have been to so far. It is obviously very wealthy and there is no evidence of a huge divide between the rich and poor as is so obvious in Thailand and other places we have been.
We spent the afternoon visiting a couple of shopping malls and then headed back to the hotel so the girls could swim in the pool.
It was the girls’ turn to choose where to go for dinner and they chose the Hard Rock Cafe. The food was great and the only complaint was when I asked for a glass of wine and got about a third of a glass! They made up for it though when Candace got a refill on her iced tea. She handed it to me and said it tasted funny. They had brought her a Long Island iced tea!!! Very alcoholic, so I just had to finish it for her.
We got some great photos of the Petronas towers all lit up on our way home.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2007-07-13T16:50:00.000+02:00

We left early today to get to the airport in plenty of time as we were a bit worried about our bags being over weight with Air Asia. As it turned out they were fine and we had loads of extra time to check in and find our flights.
We hadn't booked a hotel but had a recommendation from a fellow traveler to stay at the Shangri La. We called them from the airport and asked then to hold two rooms for us. When we walked in we were wondering if maybe we had got the price wrong on the phone and had misunderstood as it looked so posh. We thought how embarrassing it would be after getting the taxi here, if we would have to walk out with our bags and find another place! It actually turned out to be 30 ringitts cheaper than we thought!! We were all very excited at the thought of living in this luxury for the next two days. The rooms were just as impressive as the lobby and the girls were delighted to find that there was a huge pool at their disposal.
We had dinner at a fantastic Indian restaurant, the real deal, not UK palate stuff!! On the way back to the hotel we got our first glimpse of the Petronas towers all lit up.

6th July – Last day in Thailand

2007-07-13T07:00:00.001+02:00

We didn’t do much really apart from last packing and a last walk along the beach. Dinner was had at Banana Corner and was super. The pool was swum in for the last time and everything ready to go for in the morning.
I am half excited about a new place to see and half sad about leaving Thailand. We have seen so much here and have been fortunate to spend enough time in the country so as to get a real feel for life and how things are run. It is a beautiful country but there are many things we will not miss such as the driving conditions and the locals lack of rubbish disposal understanding.

4th July – Ao Phang Nga marine park

2007-07-13T06:59:00.005+02:00

For our last big trip here in Thailand we decided on visiting the Ao Phang Nga marine park which is known for it’s unusual and very beautiful karst island formations. One of which was made famous by the Bond film, The Man with the Golden gun, and is now known as James Bond Island. They are composed of over 40 islands with sheer cliffs with the largest Mangrove forest in Thailand. The area from which we could get the boat trip was about an hour’s drive from our house so we set off early and managed to find a big long tail boat to take us for 1500 baht (£20). The trip would take 2-3 hours so we figured that was a really good deal, especially as we had the whole boat to ourselves.
We soon realised as we headed out into the bay that this was going to be a very special trip. The scenery was breathtaking and like nothing we had ever seen before. After motoring right through one of the caves we stopped at the famous island, which was definitely so unusual no wonder they used it in the movie.
On the way back we stopped at Ko Panyi, a small island built entirely on stilts and nestled against the huge limestone cliffs. It is a Muslim fishing village and along with the alcohol ban no dogs or pigs are allowed on the island either. The food was fantastic though, if a little pricey. There were quite a few tacky tourist stalls but once we got beyond these and walked towards the mosque and the school it was nice to see evidence of ordinary life.
All too soon the trip was over and we were heading back towards the boat. We all agreed though that it had been one of the highlights of Thailand and definitely one of the most beautiful sceneries we had ever seen.

5th July – Last minute shopping

2007-07-13T06:59:00.004+02:00

We all had a few last minute presents we needed to buy and a few more souvenirs so we headed up to Patong to brave the tacky tourist stalls to see what we could find. We also needed to find a bookshop to sell quite a few of the books we had accumulated.
We sorted out some stuff when we got back, some to throw and some to pack and realised that we would have to be very careful with the big suitcase we had bought or it would be overweight.
We had a dinner of what was left in the fridge, which turned out to be rather good and finished off the day with a walk along Nai Harn beach.

2nd July - Big decisions and last days

2007-07-13T06:59:00.001+02:00

We had to make a big decision today on whether to stick to the plan of going to Australia or go straight to the USA. The business needed some attention and was not getting it by us working a couple of hours a day at an internet cafe. We realised a long time ago that this was the means by which we can do this travelling so we needed to think carefully about our next moves and some big trips were involved either way and we needed to pick the right ones. We had already booked our flights to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 7th but now we needed to decide on San Francisco or Australia. After much deliberation we chose SF as if we ended up in the same situation in a house with no internet in Australia things would be tough. The difference being we knew the USA and could definitely get what we needed as soon as we got to Florida and very quickly. The trip to OZ and NZ could easily be done next year or the year after. We managed to find a flight to SF via Seoul in Korea. A mere 23 hour trip!!!
Decision made we had to plan on how to get the extra stuff we had bought back to Florida. The choices were either UPS / FEDEX or the regular slow post that we used for our box from Koh Chang. As the box had not turned up in Florida as yet (rather worrying) we decided on FEDEX. An expensive option but even more so if your stuff goes missing altogether. Until I had the bright idea of buying a big and cheap suitcase and hauling it with us, saving us about £50. We thought that with some careful planning and packing we could keep it under the 30kg regulations.

1st July

2007-07-13T06:58:00.001+02:00

Well we are officially the parents of two teenagers today as Lara turned 13!! We had a nice lazy day by the pool before heading up to Kata for the girls to get their hair braided and back down to Rawai and to Mandos for a nice dinner.

30th June – Burma

2007-07-13T06:57:00.000+02:00

Up early for our trip today. First we had to head over to the immigration office to get stamped out of Thailand and sure enough there was our boat guy waiting for us. After formalities we set off with him, whose name was Mr Rambo, to the pier. It was a mass of long tail boats waiting to ferry goods and people over to Burma. We had to climb over a couple of other boats before getting into his. A long tail boat is powered by a car engine strapped on the back and steered by a huge long pole with a propeller on the end of it. It’s also rather noisy. Mr Rambo turned out to be very helpful and pointed things out to us on the half hour journey across to the Burmese mainland.
We stopped on the way at a small island which seemed to be a sort of immigration and he took our passports to show them to an official while we stayed in the boat. There didn’t seem to be any other foreigners doing it this way which was a surprise to us as we expected to see lots more expats. We found out later that most fly to Malaysia and get a three month extension there at the Thai embassy. After the short stop we soon arrived at the border port of Kaw Thoung. As soon as we alighted from the boat we were surrounded by people, mostly men. ‘You wanna buy whiskey, cigarettes.’ ‘ I show you good shopping’ etc, etc. We managed to get to the immigration office, where it was a quick procedure and a good money maker for the officials as we handed over $40 for the privilege. I really wanted to have a look around the market area before we headed back and maybe explore the town but we were suddenly conscious of the watches we were wearing and the cameras and wallets I had in my bag. It felt very different from Cambodia where we were often surrounded like this and we decided to abandon the idea of exploring and head back to the boat. The only problem was that Mr Rambo seemed to have disappeared. A woman came up to us trying to sell us some awful food wrapped in newspaper, a few men were standing by Nick talking about football one minute and the next asking for money. One man had followed us all the time since we got off the boat. Mr Rambo finally arrived back with a stash of whisky and we got on our way back, much to our relief. It was not a good experience but made us even more determined to visit again and see the country properly at a future time.
It was a quick procedure when we got back to Ranong to get stamped back into Thailand and we decided to start heading back to Phuket straight away.
We stopped at a place called Bang Niang on the way back for some lunch. It was quite sobering when we walked down to the beach as this whole area was the worst hit by the tsunami. It is quite flat so in some parts the wave reached up to 4kms inland. The devastation at the time was incredible. There is a memorial about 1km from the beach of a police boat that was washed up and left as a reminder. All the houses, hotels and restaurants here are brand new and there is still a lot of construction going on.

29th June – Ranong

2007-07-02T09:11:00.000+02:00

We left early this morning as we knew that it would be a long journey up to Ranong. The trip took us up the Andaman coast and though some national parks. It was one of the most beautiful journeys we have had in Thailand as the road was often canopied by lush trees and the scenery was very tropical and mountainous. This is one of the wettest areas of Thailand which could be seen by the dense vegetation either side of the road.
We arrived in Ranong at lunch time so our first stop was a little restaurant recommended in the Rough guide. What they failed to say was that it was necessary to be covered in mosquito repellent so as to enjoy your meal! So I popped off to the local 7/11 to get some while Nick ordered.
Next stop was to find the immigration office and the pier from which to get the boat across to Burma. Again we followed the guide book, but managed to take a wrong turning that took us miles down a track to a dead end where we happened upon about six children breaking up large lumps of coke for charcoal. A sad sight and a reminder that on the surface this may seem to be a rather stable country but really is still extremely third world in many hidden and not so hidden places. Eventually after backtracking a bit we found it but decided to leave it until tomorrow so as to have more time to enjoy it instead of rushing back as the immigration closed at 5 pm.
Back in the car again, this time to find a place to stay. As it is low season we thought we would check out the poshest place – The Royal Princess, to see if we could get a deal. It was lovely but still rather expensive so we went to look at another place, which turned out to have closed down since the guide book was published six months ago! Finally we spotted a place that looked in between expensive and cheap, which also said it was a spa hotel. It turned out to be a wonderful find with a lovely pool and hot spa drawn directly from the mineral springs nearby.
We decided on a quick trip to the local ‘department’ store for a bottle of wine and drinks for the girls. They went off to choose some goodies while we pondered over the meagre selection of wine. All was great until Nick spotted a sign which said that they couldn’t sell alcohol between 2pm and 5 pm as it was the law. As it was only 4.30pm we didn’t feel like hanging around until 5pm just for a bottle of wine. Being Thailand however and remembering that most Thais take no notice of laws, I thought it was worth asking if I could buy it now. So I went up to a lady, smiled nicely and asked. She had a quick conflab with her supervisor and said that it was ok they would sell it to me if we paid cash and they would just put it through the till after 5pm. Can you imagine doing that in Sainsburys?!!! It got even better before we left the shop as there was a stall with a big pile of T shirts that we started looking through mainly because they were all 39 baht (about 50p), only to find that they were genuine diesel, von dutch, ck and other makes. All together we bought 11 t-shirts for just £6!
Back to the hotel and while Nick relaxed for a bit (he had just driven over 300km!) I answered some emails. Then we swopped and Lara and I decided to check out the pool and spa. I don’t think I have ever felt more relaxed in my life after going in the spa. The water was 40 degrees and at first seemed way too hot but after getting used to it – wonderful. We both felt like crashing out in bed afterwards.
We ended the day with a VERY spicy meal (delicious too!) in the hotel restaurant and crashed out and read our books for a couple of hours before getting an early night ready for our trip to Burma / Myanmar in the morning.

19th June to 26th June - Life!

2007-06-26T13:03:00.001+02:00

Not a lot to report really.
We visited the local congregation and endured an hours group in Thai and then the watchtower study in English. It was lovely to meet the brothers and sisters. Apart from our family there were only four others for the watchtower so we got lots of answering up done. We went again on the Sunday for the same watchtower!! We managed to stock up on some literature though and found out about some ministry arrangements.
Well we have changed our minds lots of times this week. We had all planned to spend the next few months here as the guy we are renting the house from has been promising us an internet connection and we love it here. Unfortunately this has not materialised and we have had to change our ideas as we are very fed up with visiting internet cafes every day. Also after visiting the KH we realise how different it is to sit through a meeting in French and understand some and to sit through a Thai meeting and not understand anything at all. Also there are no young ones for the girls to hang out with. So the latest is that we leave the house on the 6th July and visit a few more places like Koh Samui and Krabi before flying to Kuala Lumpur and then getting the train to Singapore. A bit of a compromise that as I want to go by train and Nick wants to fly. That way we are both happy and the enviroment doesn't suffer quite as much!
Our assembly in Australia is in Townsville, down the coast from Cairns, is at the begining of August so we have plenty of time to get settled and find a house and car. Lara is looking forward to getting to OZ but Candace will be sad to leave Thailand.
We bought a lovely set of bamboo wind chimes the other day as a souvenir and before we leave for KL we will be shipping back another box.

18th June – Central Festival

2007-06-26T13:02:00.000+02:00

Bit of a monsoon day today. We had a huge storm last night and there are a few trees and power lines down. It’s still raining so we decide to visit Central Festival, a massive indoor mall. It apparently has 256 shops so we have plenty of things to look at to pass the time. Inside on the ground floor there is the biggest fish pond we have ever seen with frighteningly large goldfish in. We manage to last about an hour or so before getting rather bored so we head up to the top floor to check out the restaurants and find a bookshop with quite a good selection of English books. Lara gets a reading book and a French puzzle book and Candace finds a good book all about world flags. I find another couple of books about Cambodia, one fictional and the other about a woman who worked in a refugee camp in Thailand. We finish our morning with lunch at Starbucks.

10th June – 17th June – Life in paradise

2007-06-17T12:47:00.002+02:00

Working, eating, exploring and finding more and more beautiful beaches is what occupies our days. The girls do some maths and reports on different places we have been and we swim every day.
The best beach we discover is Layan beach further north. It is deserted apart from some local fishermen so we spend three glorious hours sunning ourselves, fishing, reading and playing.
We finally find out properly about the meetings and plan on going to the Thai cong on Sunday as we can’t seem to get in touch with the brother for the English group.
One day Nick and I find a lovely little stall selling the most gorgeous clothes, so we decided to treat ourselves and splash out 1000 baht (£15) on two shirts for him, a skirt, a pair of trousers and three tops for me!
Another day we visit Patong as we have been told that it is a good place for dvds and stuff for kids. The girls find a pair of shorts each and we get some new movies to watch. Apart from that Patong is full of girly bars and dreadful tourist stuff and not a nice place. All the stall holders are quite aggressive and we quickly get fed up of the constant hassling.
We have some great BBQ’s after Nick discovered a shop selling firelighters. We also find another supermarket that sells more western food, so we treat ourselves to some cheeses, olives and sundried tomatoes. It is much healthier to eat like the Thais but we have missed our cheese!
We finally find the Kingdom Hall after driving around for over an hour and asking about a million people for directions. We are too late for the Sunday meeting but manage to meet some of the brothers and sisters and plan to go back on Tuesday night for the English Watchtower study and the group. It's a small congregation of about 55 with the whole of the island of Phuket to cover. We are looking forward to helping them while we are here.

9th June –

2007-06-17T12:47:00.001+02:00

We thought it was about time that we tried to find out about the English group that apparently was here, so we phoned the bethel in Bangkok for a phone number. Unfortunately despite many tries there was no answer so instead we phoned again about the meeting times for the local Thai congregation.
We decided to visit some of the areas that were badly affected by the tsunami, like Patong and Kamala beaches. It was a strange feeling being there after seeing photos and news footage of the devastation. Most areas are now completely rebuilt and there are signs everywhere about an evacuation route and also warning you that you are entering a tsunami hazard zone and what to do in the event of an earthquake, to move to higher ground. It’s very sad that it is only now that there are all these warnings as almost 1000 people died in this small area alone, around 10,000 on this coastline of Thailand.

8th June – Life in the mansion!

2007-06-17T12:46:00.001+02:00

We all had a filthy lie in this morning and all emerged around 10am! It was nice not to think about whether or not we had missed breakfast.
Stan, the owner of the house, had said we could go over to his other place and help ourselves to his DVD player. However when we got there it was a whole surround sound system which we didn’t feel like dismantling and setting up again at our place. Instead we decided to go to Big C and buy our own that we could then ship to Ryan in Florida for when we get there.
We found a lovely little German bakery and cafe for lunch just around the corner and then did some more exploring of our part of the island. We are right in the south between Nai Harn beach and Rawai beach. It’s nice and quiet here without the bustle and touristy stuff of the other places like Patong and Kamala.

7th June – Finding the house

2007-06-17T12:45:00.000+02:00

The day started off well with Nick getting a good deal on a hire car for two weeks. We piled all our bags into the little Yaris with difficulty but were all really happy that we could now explore properly without having to worry about how much it would cost for a taxi. The only map we had was the one in the guide book so we decided to just drive and see where we got to heading South. We had to meet Wellta, the lady who had some houses to show us at 11am so we thought we would have a look around ourselves first to see what we could find. It seemed as we drove around that there were plenty of houses for rent, but we were looking for a particular combination, pool and internet. A few that we phoned said they had a minimum rental of six months or a year, we wanted a max of two months. Wellta showed us the house we had already looked at the previous night, which the girls turned their noses up at, and one that was absolute paradise but a bit expensive. We had just decided to go for the more expensive one, which we were going back to have another look at, when we passed a large gate with about ten houses inside. A sign in English read that one was available for rent. When we called the number and spoke to the guy he said that normally he rents it for 40,000 baht (£600) per month, but as he had been let down, it was empty and he was desperate to recoup some money so he would let us have it for 25,000 baht (£375)!!! We couldn’t believe our luck when we were shown around it. It was gorgeous with three big bedrooms, a beautiful pool and he also said he would try his best to arrange internet access for us. It was better than we could ever have hoped for, like something out of a magazine. We even have Sam, a housekeeper, with the house, who comes in everyday to clean, make beds, tidy up and look after us.
Having dumped our bags we headed over to the Tesco Lotus to get some supplies to cook our own dinner for the first time in over two months. We got a massive shop which unsurprisingly enough cost almost half of what it would have done in England or France!!
When we got back Sam had made up all the beds and helped us put all the shopping away. It was great to be eating in our own home for a change and a real treat to have so much space. We all agreed that travelling in and out of hotels for the past three weeks has made us not only appreciate what we have but also small things like being able to do our own washing and cook our own food.

6th June – Bangkok to Phuket

2007-06-11T11:25:00.001+02:00

The train journey wasn’t until 7.30 pm so we had the whole day to fill. We went back to MBK to pick up the camcorder and also the second halves of the Lost 3 and 24 series’. Candace got a new skirt and Nick bought a long sleeved top for any cool nights we may encounter way in the future!
Everything was going well until we got to the train station and found that our tickets were for second class instead of first class. We had stressed to the guy who booked them for us at the hotel that we wanted first class where you get a cabin and some nice privacy. Instead what we got was a rather old train with seats that turned into beds with just a curtain across. There was no dining car and we were all extremely disappointed, especially me who had planned and researched the whole thing. The only choice was to grin and bear it or get off and go the following day which would mean us going back to the hotel and paying for another night. We decided to grin and bear it. They made up the beds for us quite early just after we had eaten so we all decided to bed down and read our books. The girls slept fine but Nick and I kept waking up with the noise of other people and for me, worry about the safety of our bags. We arrived in Surat Thani at 7.30am rather bedraggled and managed to grab a couple of yoghurts and chocolate bars for breakfast before catching the bus for the four hour journey to Phuket.
We had decided to stay the first night in Phuket Town as it sounded quite nice and cheap. The plan was to find a house to rent asap. So we found a cheap, clean but very basic guesthouse where we crashed for an hour or two before going out to China Inn for a fantastic meal, just what we needed. We went to see a house that I had been emailing a lady about and decided that it would do if we didn’t find anywhere better as although it had a pool and internet it was not very nice inside, needed a good clean and seemed to be miles from anywhere.
As we were all a bit dejected and absolutely exhausted we all decided to have an early night and hope to find better in the morning.

5th June - Bangkok

2007-06-11T09:15:00.000+02:00

Finally able to catch up with some much neglected work today before heading out into BK for some last minute things. We needed to swop the camcorder as there was something wrong with the battery and as it was our last time in BK there were a few places we wanted to go like Asia books for Lara and a watch place for Candace.
Our plans to get the sleeper tonight were foiled when we found out that the only four seats were not together so after much deliberation we decided to stay another day and go the following night. The hotel booked it for us and we were all looking forward to what we thought was a 1st class cabin the following night. Little did we know the fun we would have!!!

4th June – Leaving Cambodia – Journey from Siem Reap to Bangkok overland

2007-06-11T09:12:00.000+02:00

Taxi arrived at 8am for the trip to Poipet. When I had read about this trip previously I knew that it wasn’t a good road, unpaved in parts and pot holed. The reality was a four hour ride over what must hold a record for the worst road in the world. How the car was still in one piece and driveable was a complete mystery. It ranged from just very bumpy to total bone shaking madness.
The guide book had said that the best thing about Poipet was leaving it and it was totally correct. Dreadful place and thankfully all customs and departure stuff was dispensed with quickly and it was a short walk in the crushing heat, laden down with backpacks and souvenirs, to the Thai border. We had never crossed a border on foot before so it was quite an experience.
We managed to get a tuk tuk to Aranyaprathet for the train to Bangkok. There were only two 3rd class trains a day to BK and when we arrived at the station it was like traveling back in time to the Victorian era. The train was another story also, as how do you describe a six hour train journey on wooden bench seats?! The open windows provided great air conditioning and we certainly got to see a great deal as we inched slowly towards Bangkok. We met a nice Belgium guy who was a professional photographer so chatting to him passed the time somewhat. By the time we arrived at 8pm we had been travelling for 12 hours and looked and felt like it. Arriving at the Hotel de Moc (our home in BK!) felt wonderful and so civilised.

3rd June - Bantrey Kdei & Sunrise Village Orphanage

2007-06-11T09:11:00.000+02:00

We tried calling some orphanages that we had found online but to no avail so Vandy said he could drive us to one and we could make an appointment to come back later and find out what to bring for the children. He took us to Sunrise Orphanage and the director told us that if we come back at 2pm we can see the children perform an Apsara dance and afterwards we could play and talk to them. So we thought we would go off to our last visit of a couple more temples and then come back. First we headed out to Bantrey Kdei as there were some more of the stone faces that Nick wanted to photograph. As it was out third day walking around the temples I don’t think we were able to appreciate it as much as we should but again it was amazing, huge and mind blowing.
We headed back to the Angkor Cafe for a quick lunch before stopping off at a convenience store to buy some little gifts for the children. There wasn’t a lot of choice but in the end we chose some huge bags of sweets to share and loads of glitter pens and pencils.
It is hard to describe our visit to the orphanage. In many ways it was like something out of a movie. First the children did their dancing which was beautiful and funny too. Then we were given a sort of tour and were then allowed to just spend some time with the children. We handed out the small gifts and one thing that impressed me most was when I held out a handful of these pens with the children gathered around me not one of them grabbed for it, not even the tiny ones, they all just gently took one and every last one of them said thank you to me. Nick sat at a table and drew pictures for them and some of the older ones just wanted to practise their English sentences on us. Most of the little ones just wanted to be picked up and held. Many times we all had lumps in our throats, especially for Nick and I when we met a beautiful girl the same age as Candace who told us she had been there for five years. The children are so very polite and really look out for each other, the older ones taking care of the little ones. As we got back into the tuk tuk after our visit nothing much was said, we were all rather quiet. Quiet and with a massively changed perspective on life.
It was hard to enjoy our meal that night as all we have seems too much. I didn’t even want to think about our previous life in France. It seemed so unfair that we should have way too much and these children, our children’s age, should have so little.

2nd June – Angkor Wat & Ta Phrom (Tomb Raider)

2007-06-03T12:56:00.000+02:00

2nd June – Angkor Wat & Ta Phrom (Tomb Raider)
Up early again and off by 9am to visit Angkor Wat properly. It was a perfect day for photos, being blue sky with just a few clouds, so we took full advantage of it. First we walked around the walls with all the many detailed carvings on them before heading to the centre where we climbed the steepest steps I have ever climbed in my life. When I got to the top, gasping for breath the thought of having to come down again was extremely daunting. There is a very good reason why this is one of the most photographed places in the world as we saw from the top. It was amazing! I didn’t think we would see anything better than we saw yesterday but the sights just get more and more impressive. After a few hours exploring we head over to the Angkor Cafe for a cool air conditioned lunch as we have all sweated a few pints and are hotter than we thought it possible to be.
As Vandy pulls into the parking lot in front of the cafe we are surrounded by children selling stuff. One little girl tells me she will be waiting for me when we have eaten, so I promise to buy some bangles from her when we come out. The cool air hits us as we walk in but it still takes us a long time to cool down, we are helped by the lovely iced towels they bring us – nothing has ever been more welcome!
As we step outside the cafe about 20 -30 children surround us like ants. I have promised to buy from the little girl so get a set of ten bangles for $1. No sooner have I handed her the dollar than at least ten more kids are clamouring for me to buy from them, postcards, bracelets, scarves and more. I changed a $10 note into ones but it is soon gone. Nick is not faring any better and Candace has soon spent her $5 too. The children hand us notes they have written wishing us good luck and telling us they are very happy to meet us – obviously phrases they have learnt in school. The lovely thing we notice about these kids is that they look out for each other. One older girl points Nick to a young boy and says we should buy from him as he really needs help. We finally extricate ourselves from the group with far more scarves and postcard than we will ever need (guess what y’all will be getting for presents!!) not to mention about 70 bracelets!! I think we all had a big lump in our throats as we got back into our tuk tuk.
On to Ta Phrom and the setting for the tomb raider film. Again an unforgettable place with sights we will never forget with or without photos to remind us. We are constantly amazed at things we are seeing here whether the ancient sights of the Angkor temples or the heartbreaking everyday sights you see just driving down the road.
Dinner tonight was at the Red Piano where Angelina Jolie (apparently) invented the Tomb Raider cocktail that is their speciality. We passed on that but the meal was fantastic and it was lovely to relax for a while on their balcony and watch the sun go down over Siem Reap town. This is the poorest place we have been to but it is actually the nicest looking in some ways. There are many beautiful colonial style buildings and nicer houses than we saw in Taiwan, which is ironic really.
Again we all went to bed absolutely exhausted and rather sobered by things we had seen that day.

1st June – Angkor Thom

2007-06-02T16:33:00.000+02:00

Got up early today to get some work out of the way before our driver came for us at 9am. We decided that we would visit Angkor Thom first and leave Angkor Wat for the afternoon. Vandy, our driver, took us first for our tickets which were a bit more than we expected at $160 for the four of us for three day passes, but as soon as we got our first glimpse of one of the gates to Angkor Thom we realised that it would be more than worth it. It is a vast place with sights straight out of a National Geographic magazine.
The temples of Angkor all together cover 500 km2 and the walls of Angkor Thom are 3km along each side. The main temple is the Bayon with 54 huge stone faces carved in stone to represent the 54 Cambodian provinces. We both cannot stop snapping photographs as there are so many awesome things to see. We end up spending the whole morning exploring Angkor Thom and then ask Vandy to take us somewhere for lunch. He takes us to his sisters cafe for a quick plate of Vegetable fried rice. It is an open air cafe though and we are sweating and gulping water like it’s going to run out. We plan on an air conditioned lunch tomorrow! After lunch we get waylaid by some of the children selling postcards, flutes, bracelets and scarves. It is almost impossible to say no to them as they are so adorable and extremely persistent. We end up with a few postcards and some pineapple. Unfortunately as we head back to the temples some more are lying in wait to ambush us and we end up with more postcards, three scarves and an elephant bag that I will never use! These children walk around with either no shoes or broken flip flops and their clothes are all raggy and dirty. They are all very small and can’t believe the age of the girls especially Lara who is the same age as many of them but towers over them.
We finish off at Angkor Thom and head over for our first look at Angkor Wat. The main entrance is a bit disappointing as there are so many people there but it still does not detract from the sheer size and magnificence of the place. It is the largest religious building in the world and was built in the 12th century by King Suryavarman II. It is surrounded by a huge 200m wide moat which has been a protection from the jungle so it is very well preserved. As we are all rather tired by now we decide to just have a quick look and save the tough climb up the steps for tomorrow. We go around the back part and it is much quieter with less people. Nick gets talking to a young monk who is learning English at his pagoda. He asks us lots of questions and asks for our email address so we can write to him. I promise to send him the photo we took of him and his friend. Our first sights have been mind blowing ones we will never forget.
We just about had the energy after much needed showers to go to the Blue Pumpkin for a bite to eat before collapsing into bed.

31st May – Cambodia – Phnom Penn

2007-06-02T12:24:00.001+02:00

31st May – Cambodia – Phnom Penn
Horribly early start this morning – 4am!! To get our flight to Phnom Penn. We all felt pretty crappy but also rather excited to be going.
Flying over Cambodia was amazing if rather surprising. It seemed like an awful lot of countryside with hardly any roads. It couldn’t have been better weather as there were no clouds, so flying into Phnom Penn we got our first glimpses of the country and it looked like nowhere we had visited up to now.
The airport itself was very small, smaller even than Liverpool and the visa process was very quickly done. Our pre-arranged driver was waiting for us with a comfortable looking Toyota Camry and so started our long trip to Siem Reap. The journey took four and a half hours and at times we wondered whether we would make it in one piece. The road is the best in Cambodia and if they have road rules we didn’t spot any apart from the fact that the biggest vehicle has right of way.
It was immediately apparent as we drove through PP that this was a much poorer place than anywhere we had seem in Thailand. We stopped about half way to use a bathroom at a restaurant and a very dirty little boy of about six came up to the car and asked for money. There was a snack bar outside the restaurant so I beckoned him over and with some hand gestures asked him what he would like. He chose a packet of mixed dried fruits, so I bought those and three packs of crisps for us. I handed him the fruit but he still stood there so I gave him a packet of crisps too. Even in Thailand we never saw children begging so it was a bit upsetting, although he didn’t look hungry, just awfully neglected.
After a very long drive we arrived at the Two Dragons guesthouse. Very clean and basic rooms with ultra helpful and friendly staff. We were all rather hungry so we decided to get a sandwich at the restaurant out front. Having been up since 4am we had all started to feel it so we decided to rest for a bit before going out exploring.
Unfortunately a huge storm ruined out plans for exploring so we caught up with some work and the girls had a snooze.
Everyone felt like pizza so we caught a remorque – moto (tuk tuk) to a restaurant we had read about in our guide book. All the streets are just dirt really, only the main ones are actually paved. There seem to be an awful lot of small children just hanging around. While we were eating our dinner a young boy came and stood outside the restaurant with a man who could have been his father or grandfather, it was hard to tell. This man had no eyes – not just blind – his eyes had been gouged out, probably during the Khmer Rouge’s reign. I think we were all so shocked that we didn't do anything. After we felt really bad that we hadn't helped at all.
I think being here is going to give us all a lot to think about.

30th May

2007-06-02T12:23:00.001+02:00

Loads of boring shopping but great bargains as always. Had to get our US dollars for Cambodia and a new camcorder plus better footwear for the temple trekking and of course a new stash of Dvds!!!

29th May – Back to Bangkok

2007-06-02T12:21:00.000+02:00

Pretty uneventful day – last look around Taipei and then we were off to the airport via bus to fly back to Bangkok.
So happy to be back here again. To sum up Taiwan – a great experience and definitely not a tourist spot so we really got to see a different life and culture apart from that usually promoted for foreigners. It was a beautiful country with lots of greenery and amazing mountains...............but apart from that basically a concrete jungle with lots of apartments and ugly town centers not very well planned out. Very glad we went but I would probably not bother going again.

27th May – Journey back to Taipei

2007-06-02T12:13:00.000+02:00

Pretty uneventful, bumpy and hot journey back to Taipei. WE got the bus from Sun Moon Lake, fortunately we were early, just as well as it left ten minutes ahead of schedule! Only took about three hours and we managed to get the train to Taipei with only an hours wait. Got back about mid afternoon and checked into our old home – Delight hotel ! Nice meal at the Italian restaurant and an early night.

26th May – Sun Moon Lake

2007-05-27T12:12:00.002+02:00

Managed to get the right train this time and got chatting to a student that was on an exchange program from Canada. Her parents were originally from Hong Kong and she had been here for a year. It was interesting as she told us about many cultural differences she had come across and what her life was like here.
We arrived in Taichung at lunch time so before racing for the bus to the lake we grabbed a MacDonald’s which was the quickest we could see near the station. We managed to find the most rickety bus for the hour and forty minute ride to Shuishe Village on the lakeside where we were going to stay. Fortunately we all had our iPods to drown out the lovely? music and rattles on the bus. When we arrived it was my turn to go hotel hunting, so with guidebook in hand off I went to look for a bargain. Before I had gotten to my first place a little old lady with very bad false teeth dragged me inside her hotel and asked if I needed a room. At least that’s what I think she said as it was all in Chinese! There was a younger woman inside though who spoke some English and showed me to one of the nicest rooms we’ve had so far. It was more like a suite with the first room having a double and a single bed and the second room with a double bed, TV in each room and a bathroom between. All for the grand total of 2000 NT a night which is about £30!! But the best thing by far was when I asked her if she knew of a laundry where we could get some washing done, she took me up to the 4th floor and showed me a washing machine that she said I was free to use. Now when you have had a washing machine available to use whenever the mood takes you there is no way to appreciate how wonderful this was. To be able to do my own washing without having to think of weight and cost and whether and how it would come back was wonderful. I will never take having my own washing machine for granted again!! Actually there are quite a lot of thing we will not take for granted anymore.
After resting in our room for a bit we decided to explore a bit and get something to eat. It was quite a nice little village with a pedestrian only (supposedly) cobbled street. It is now quite a popular tourist spot for the Taiwanese people but is also home to the Thao aboriginal tribe. There wasn’t much in the way of choice in restaurants so we decided to be brave and have some local food. If we thought we were getting stared at before it was nothing to when we walked into the restaurant. Definitely no chicken fried rice on the menu here!! In fact when we started to look at the menu we didn’t know whether to laugh or be shocked. We could have eaten a whole zoo. The heading at the top of the menu page was ‘edible wildlife’!! I chose the mushroom soup and Nick went for the beef with the girls opting for some fried rice. I think the general consensus was disgusting! The soup was actually really nice but the beef was awful and the vegetable fried rice we asked for just had a few pieces of sweet corn thrown in and was horribly greasy. We eat what we could and made a quick getaway putting it all down to experience. and was horribly greasy. We eat what we could and made a quick getaway putting it all down to experience.

25th May – Tainan

2007-05-27T12:12:00.001+02:00

Decided to do some cultural stuff today although it was very hot when we stepped outside so instead of a walking tour of the old city we thought we would go to the Anping fort by taxi. Interestingly enough this place had been originally built by the Dutch in the 1600’s and there were a few bits left of the old walls to see. The most interesting thing was to see some old paintings inside of the fort and to see that it had been surrounded by water at one time because the sea had come up this far. Now all you can see is the city, no water. Apart from that there wasn’t much else to see so we headed over to the Anping streets which the guidebook said was the oldest part of Taiwan. Now I presume they were talking about the actual roads we were walking on a there was nothing else very old to see. But we wandered around for a bit looking in all the little craft stalls and quickly glancing away from the food ones. By now we were all extremely hot and desperate for a shower so we decided to head back to the hotel for a bit and cool off before going out again.
We stopped off at the station on the way back to find out about trains tomorrow to Sun Moon Lake. No direct trains but it would still only take us about 3 or 4 hours to get there with a train to Taichung and then a bus the rest of the way. The plan was to do the walking tour around fiveish when it had got a bit cooler but the girls spotted a poster for the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie and of course we gave in (who can say no to an evening of Mr Depp & Mr Bloom?!!). It was of course excellent and everyone went to bed happy.

24th May – Train journey to Taitung or not!!

2007-05-27T12:09:00.000+02:00

Got an early start today as we needed to get work out of the way before getting the train. Being as usual not entirely organised we had no idea what time the train would leave for the journey to Taitung on the East coast. We left the hotel around ten and got a taxi to the main Taipei station and for once our timing was spot on as we only had 10 minutes to wait for the train. There was a bit of confusion as everything was written in Chinese (wish you were here mum!) but after asking a few people we got to the right platform and the correct place to stand and wait. Our tickets said No.1 on so we were in the first carriage which when we first got on we had all to ourselves. Large reclining seats and loads of leg room, definitely seemed like first class although we hadn’t asked for that and we had only paid 1500 NT dollars for the four of us which is only about £20. The man who sold me the tickets at the counter spoke hardly any English so we had no idea how long the journey would take or where to change trains as he told us we had to get three or so we thought!
All was great until we got to the coast and the sea was not on our left as it should have been but on our right which meant that we were not travelling south but north! Despite the fact that I had shown the guy at the ticket counter a map of Taiwan and pointed to where we wanted to go he still sold us tickets for Taichung on the West side instead of Taitung on the East. How do you make that mistake?? So we quickly re-planned somewhere to go and decided to get off at Ershui and get a bus to Sun Moon Lake. What we didn’t plan on was the fact that the train wasn’t going to stop at this station at all. So Ershui flew by and out came the guide book again and we decided to go to Tainan which used to be the capital before Taipei and was the oldest part of Taiwan.
Finally we reached Tainan and Nick left us at the station while he went to check out a couple of hotels in the guide book. He found a great place for us if a little bizarre. It was a massive old 14 storey office block now converted into lots of hotels, a different one on every floor. We stayed in the Takatama on the 3rd floor with 2 rooms which is nice after being stuck all in one room for the week in Taipei.
Negotiating this city is a little more difficult as there are less Romanised signs but we decided to go out exploring and look for a restaurant the LP had recommended as serving western food – by now we were definitely off Chinese. We eventually found it down a back alley and up about four flights of a winding staircase with the help and a lot of gestures from a friendly local. It was scruffy to say the least but looked clean and after all our effort we deserved a drink and something to eat. As usual with this type of unassuming place the food was great and there was a whole shelf of English books to browse thorough while we were waiting. We asked if we could buy a couple and the lady said we could just take them they were free. Excellent – our kind of bookshop!!

23rd May – Snake alley

2007-05-26T02:30:00.000+02:00

Not a very exciting day really. Had loads of bits and pieces to finish up before leaving the city tomorrow.
I had read in the guide book that unless you visit one of Taipei’s night markets while you are staying you really haven’t experienced Taiwan properly. So we decided to go to Snake alley, otherwise known as the Huaxi Street market. What a sight. As far as the eye could see were stalls selling absolutely everything from pornographic dvds to flip flops as well as many types of food also. Before coming we had planned on grabbing a bite to eat here but on closer inspection none of us fancied any of it, infact as we moved deeper into the market the smells were making us all feel rather sick. The only way to describe it was that whatever many of the stalls were cooking smelt like poo so needless to say nobody felt like eating!
But we still hadn’t seen the snakes so off we went down another alley to see what we could find. There seemed to be lots of puppies for sale, which the girls liked until we saw how drugged they all seemed. Although one guy had two little Huskies in a cage and when the girls went over to ask if they could stroke them he handed them each one to hold which was really kind as he must have known we were not going to buy them. They were very cute!
Down another alley and we finally found the snakes. A huge boa constrictor was curled up at the feet of a man in front of the restaurant. He (the man) had on a little microphone and was calling to people, not sure what for though as it was all in Chinese. Further on were many more restaurants with various types and sizes of snakes in cages in front. By now we had all seen enough and were ready to head back towards the hotel and find something more ordinary to eat.
Unfortunately what we had forgotten is that most places stop serving at 9pm and everything closes at 10pm so we ended up in the food mall at the local supermarket with a subway sandwich which was actually just about what we felt like.

21st May - Danshui, Taipei county

2007-05-23T04:16:00.000+02:00

After our success yesterday finding the zoo the girls and I decide to take a trip out of the city to the end of the MRT line to a place called Danshui. It's to the NW of the city and is a lovely ride past some mountains and along the river. When we get there it is a nice change being by the water. It's right where the Danshui river meets the sea so on the one hand it's a bit touristy as it is where a lot of Taiwanese people come to escape the city, but on the other it's quite quaint.
The girls enjoy going into the little shops along the front and we do some exploring up some tiny little back roads with stalls selling unrecognisable foodstuffs. It's a lovely experience just to be here although we do feel like outsiders as we are definitely the only foreigners here. We get stared at all the time and one lady even stops to talk to us. She asks if these are my children and says how hot it is today. Although it is very different it all feels very safe and ok for us to wander wherever we want.
When we got back we talked about our plans for the next week and where we will be going next. We looked into flying directly to Cambodia from here instead of going back to Bangkok but it is too expensive. So we will stick to our plans and leave next Tuesday, stay a day in BK and then fly to Phnom Penn. We hope to go to the bethel on Thursday but haven't had the directions emailed to us yet so will have to phone again for them. After that we have decided to explore Taiwan a bit more. We have tried our best to hire a car but it just seems impossible here. Hertz don't even have a branch so that tells you how rare it is. It's a bit disappointing as we would have been able to see so much more by car instead of the train or bus.

21st May - Taipei Zoo

2007-05-23T03:57:00.000+02:00

AS Nick had meetings and stuff all day the girls and I thought we would go to the zoo. Now those of you who know me well will understand what a feat it was to find my way across to the far SE side of the city and get three different MRT (subway) lines not to mention finding my way from our hotel to the station in the first place. However we did find it no problem! It was a lovely day, hot but not too sunny and the zoo wasn't crowded at all. I had read that it was one of the best zoos in Asia, if not the top one and it certainly seemed to be looking after all the animals properly. They all had plenty of space and the signs in English told us about some great conservation projects that they are involved in.
They had some really unusual animal too that even Lara (animal expert) had not heard of. Our favourites were obviously the monkeys as they had a tiny baby monkey that was so cute. I also loved the penguins and some tiny little Lemurs that we saw.
What can you say about the zoo - pretty much the same as any other really.
When we get back about five Nick is already in the room and full of his day. We sort out some laundry to drop off on our way to eat dinner. It's a bit more expensive than Thailand but necessary. We eat again at the Italian / Taiwan restaurant as it is just around the corner from the hotel and we are all rather tired.

Sunday 20th - 5 meetings in one day!

2007-05-23T03:30:00.001+02:00

Having phoned the bethel for meeting times and directions we found out that the WT and talk were at 1.30pm. Nick found the road on a map and we decided to leave in plenty of time as we needed to get a taxi etc. As usual we were early but thought it would be nice to talk to the brothers and sisters anyway. Imagine our surprise when we got out of the lift on the 6th floor to hear the singing at just five past one. Opps wrong meeting time given! Anyway we sneaked in to find that there was no talk just the wt followed by the school, service meeting and revelation book! Normally five hours of meetings but today just four. We stayed for the Watchtower and Theo school which was really nice as we had not been to a proper meeting since Bangkok. The only sad thing was that we didn't get to talk to anyone as their meeting was still going on. Maybe next weekend we will still be in the city and be able to go again.
Interesting thing on the way back home from our meal. We rounded a corner and heard music like an ice cream van and saw lots of people standing outside a large apartment block with plastic bags in their hands. It was a bin lorry, well two actually with large bags hanging from the sides. When it stopped everyone came forward and separated their trash into different recycling bags and bins. Amazing sight really that everyone would just wait patiently with all their rubbish and then in a totally orderly way separate it properly. When you do see a piece of trash on the floor it stands out as it is an unusual sight. What a city! It's obvious really that the Taiwanese people really respect their country.

Taipei fine arts museum, Confucius temple & Bao-an temple

2007-05-20T11:09:00.000+02:00

Totally cultural day today! After a couple of days feeling really crappy with the worst cold I've had in years I woke up feeling much better and in the mood for exploring. Lara fancied the fine arts museum and Nick fancied some temples, so we decided to do them all.
First of all we headed across town via the MRT for the arts museum. Like most things here it was very reasonable to get in. The first exhibition had work by an artist called Su Hsin-Tien and was amazing. They were called cyclical space paintings and the colours and sheer genius of the man was awesome. The rest of the museum was a little less inspiring.
Next on the agenda was the Confucius temple. Having been to a couple of Wats in Thailand I was pleasantly surprised by the lovely colours and elaborate dragon carvings in these Chinese temples. Both the Confucius & Bao-an temples were equally beautiful, though highly pagan as Lara so aptly pointed out! Seeing the local people worshiping there and being the only visitors and westerners was quite an experience. It was amazing seeing something so totally different and alien to anything we have ever seen before. As the smoke from the incense swirled around we almost felt like intruders as this was definitely not a tourist attraction but was just a glimpse of Taiwanese life.
When we got back to the hotel we all felt like we had walked at least 1000 miles but had learnt much more about the country we are in for a couple of weeks. We were all too tired to go out for a meal so instead had a snack of bread & salad from the local supermarket washed down of course with some lovely Australian wine. The girls watched a couple of episodes of Lost 3 and we watched some more of 24 (Kevin -it's better than ever!!! We'll send it on!).
Great day - again!

Taipei 101

2007-05-20T05:27:00.000+02:00

Today we leave the hostel early to find a better place to stay before check out time at 11am. We decide on the Delight Hotel and move all our bags over.
After getting work out of the way we decide to visit Taipei 101 which is the tallest tower in the world (at the moment). 509m is rather high!
Our first impressions of Taipei are correct. This is probably the cleanest city we have ever been in. No litter anywhere and all the sidewalks are very tidy.
The MRT metro system is very easy to use so we have no problem getting over to the tower. It really is very impressive and has a five floor mall with ultra posh shops inside and everything is perfectly kept as if it's all brand new but in fact opened in 2003. We head over to the lifts that will take us up to the top wondering how much we will have to pay for the privilege imagining something similar to the Eiffel tower. Surprisingly it is less than £10 for us all to go up. The lifts are actually the fastest in the world. They travel at 1010 metres per minute and our ears pop as we go up in no time at all up to the 89th floor which is the indoor observation deck. It really is amazing being so high up and there are lots of very interesting facts around about the building of it and the new records it has set. It is rather a cool feeling to have been to the top of the world's tallest tower.
After seeing everything we want we send a postcard from the 'world's tallest postbox' and realise we need sustenance in the form of Starbucks next door. We take our time wandering back over the city just enjoying the sights. Non of us feel like Chinese food for dinner and we spot an Italian that looks good so we decide to go there after a quick shower. Good choice as it is fantastic! Great day had by all is the general consensus.

Taipei, Taiwan

2007-05-16T05:57:00.000+02:00

Having experienced rather a lot of the Bangkok traffic situation we decided to leave early for the airport in case it is a slow ride. In actuality it only takes about 35mins so we have plenty of time to check in, answer a couple of emails and eat the usual airport rip off food for lunch!
The flight with KLM is fine and only takes about three and a half hours which means we get out of the airport around 7pm. After a ride in the poshest taxi so far, a rather large leather seated BMW, we arrive in Taipei just after 8pm. We had already called the Happy Families Hostel from the airport so he was expecting us. Mr Lee tells us that we were on the 5th floor, sorry no elevator! So we drag all our bags up and quickly decided to stay just one night. It's very clean but rather dingy and the two rooms are not close together. After dumping our stuff we realise we need towels and some loo roll as this is a BYO place! Anyway we are all dying to have a walk around our new city.
After Thailand which is crawling with tourists this feels like you are at a really foreign destination. There are not many white people here and we seem to get stared at a lot. The people are lovely though and very friendly and helpful. We find our towels and other stuff and as nobody is very hungry we pop into MacDonalds for some french fries before heading home to guzzle a bottle of Australian wine we have bought at the airport.
Our first impressions of Taipei are that it is very safe and immaculately clean and well kept. Probably something to do with the fact that it was ruled by the Japanese for 50 years until the end of WW2. We are all looking forward to seeing more of it in the daylight tomorrow when we go searching for a better hotel.

Bangkok

2007-05-16T05:44:00.000+02:00

Well Candace is much better today, thank goodness. She slept until 9.30am so we just managed to squeeze in for breakfast before it finished.
Nick went off at ten for a tour of a factory and some other business stuff so us girls decided to have a lazy day to give Candace time to recover properly for our flight tomorrow to Taipei. I did some work and Lara surfed the net and wrote emails while Candace just stayed in bed and watched some TV.
Nick came back about four so we headed over to MBK to pick up some movies. The girls got room service for dinner and Nick and I went out for a quick bite before heading back to the hotel for a relatively early night so we could get a good start in the morning.

13th May Journey up to BK

2007-05-14T07:07:00.001+02:00

Not a good start as Candace was up in the night with a bad tummy. All was ok until we were waiting for the coach in Trat and she passed out outside the toilets. Needless to say Nick and I were rather panicked but some lovely people helped us. One lady gave her a bottle of camphor stuff to sniff and another old Thai lady gave me some herbal pills to revive her which I was cautious about but she made me have some to show they were ok. They did work but poor Candace felt terribly sick for the whole 9 hour journey. Eventually one of the homeopathic remedies finally seemed to work and she managed to eat some crisps and a drink.
I am writing this as we reach the outskirts of Bangkok so hopefully we will just be able to get to our hotel and she can go to bed. Thank goodness it’s the Thai hotel which now feels like a second home.
A few hours later...........................
Well she is feeling much better. While Nick and Lara went out for a pizza and to buy the Lonely Planet Taiwan, I stayed in the room with Candace. I ordered some room service and we watched Bewitched on the TV which cheered her up a bit. She was fast asleep by 9.30 and hopefully will sleep late in the morning.

12th May Last day on Koh Chang

2007-05-14T07:06:00.000+02:00

As the morning was rather wet we decided to do our packing first thing before going to have a last beach hang out.
As we have been here for five weeks it has really started to feel like home and we have made some good friends. So we said a last goodbye to them all and let some brochures with some locals for the last time.
We are all a bit sad to be going but also excited about the next part of our trip to Taiwan.
Had our last meal at Ta Tum’s which was excellent as always then headed over to Roland’s for a last drink and to say see ya!

11th May The waterfall

2007-05-14T07:05:00.000+02:00

We were determined to see one of the waterfalls on the island before we left and last night at the bar we got talking to our neighbour and she told us of this amazing waterfall that nobody knew about except the locals. As it had rained a lot in the night and we only have a couple of days left we thought we should do it today.
We were told that it was quite easy to get to and got rough directions. Not too bad at first until we got into the jungle a bit and Lara started to get bitten by mosquito after mosquito and then Nick managed to spot a snake! Admittedly it was only a very small one but it did mean that we were all very careful. It was quite a trek and definitely an adventure. Talk about being in another world! In the middle of the jungle. Nick kept going ahead to see if it was safe to carry on. After clambering over boulders and walking along rather narrow edges for at least an hour and a half we could hear the waterfall, finally! The last bit was the toughest of all over rocks and under fallen trees, wading through small pools of water we came upon the most beautiful sight. Huge cascades of water falling 100 feet into a pool surrounded by ark greenery and canopied by the jungle.
WE were all exhausted and wanted nothing more than to jump straight in but as the rain had been so very heavy it was very murky and being very British we were, of course, very cautious!! In the end after debating for at least five minutes and getting courage up for another five, Candace was the bravest and jumped in. WE all followed and although I couldn’t help thinking that I couldn’t see what was underneath me I was so glad I swam in that gorgeous place.
We all agreed that as experiences go it was definitely up there with the elephant trekking.

6th May

2007-05-14T05:32:00.000+02:00

We had the car until 2pm so we thought that we should go to Funky Huts again before we leave the island to see Chris and what he thought of the Purpose brochure we left and sample another delicious burger. We decided to leave our watchtower study until the afternoon instead. So after a lovely lie-in we set off about 11ish and stuffed our faces again with a meal that cost less than McD’s but was way, way better. After the meal we asked him what he thought of the brochure and he said he had read it and thought it was really interesting but that he could never go around telling other people his beliefs like we do. We had a super discussion though about the state of the world and why we do what we do and he said that he would definitely read anything we wanted to send and to keep in touch via email.

2007-05-12T06:55:00.000+02:00

5th May 2007 – 17th Anniversary!!

2007-05-11T13:35:00.000+02:00

No one could decide what to do today but we started off by giving our gifts and getting lovely ones from the girls.
We thought we would get a taxi to Bang Bao and go to the Buddha View restaurant for a special meal. The taxi driver wanted 400 baht one way and for 1000 baht we could hire a car for 24hrs which is what we did.
We headed down to Bang Bao and went exploring down a different road we hadn’t taken before going for lunch. It was the coolest place with Thai style tables but instead of just sitting cross legged they had cut a huge hole under the tables so our legs dangled over the water. The food was delicious and the place totally relaxing. We all agreed that it was probably the best anniversary meal ever.
Lara wanted to visit Lonely Books again so we stopped off on our way home and she bought a couple of books.
We bummed around for a bit and walked on the beach.
Nick wanted to take me back to Buddha View again at night as it looks fantastic all lit up. So we got the kids some stuff from 7eleven for sandwiches and a couple of movies for them to watch from Roland’s.
We had a relaxing couple of hours just chatting over a drink and lovely sandwich before heading home and treating ourselves to a long awaited bottle of wine. We didn’t expect much, as we have sampled rather a lot of wines since living in France, but it was gorgeous and we managed to make it last 2 days!!
All in all a wonderful day and one that will be hard to beat next year – but we will try!!

Back to Koh Chang

2007-05-10T11:54:00.004+02:00

1st May

Left BK at lunchtime as we decided to get a bite to eat on the way. Bit of a mistake as there wasn’t anywhere (no where we wanted to eat anyway!). So we stopped at a gas station and bought some crisps and drinks – very healthy.
Got back sixish very hungry, so we dropped all our stuff and headed off to Roland’s for a feast. Pizza and Greek salad really hit the spot.

BK

2007-05-10T11:54:00.003+02:00

30th April

Business today, boring! Nick had a meeting and then we had to go and meet a couple of other guys about more stuff. Not too bad considering back in France we used to work all day everyday 5 days a week!! Just shows how much time we must have wasted as we still seem to get everything dome ok.
We got sidetracked by a jewellery manufacturer. Not commercial like the other one. This one makes exclusive designs for Chanel, Dior, Cartier etc. the guy was very nice and told us all about his families mines in Chanthaburi. We had no intention of buying anything but Nick said he would like to get something for me as it was nearly our anniversary. So an hour later we walked out with a lovely ring for me.
The girls were very patient today and did some of their new workbooks, surfed on the internet and watched some TV.
We are all looking forward to leaving BK tomorrow. Nice to come for a couple of days but great to leave.

River trip in Bangkok

2007-05-10T11:54:00.001+02:00

29th April

As the meeting wasn’t till 2pm we thought we would take a boat trip to the Grand Palace this morning. It was a great experience as it took us to some really interesting places. Bangkok used to be like Venice, without roads, so it was just like driving and exploring the back streets. We all felt like we had been given glimpses of the real life here not just all the touristy stuff. Unfortunately when we got to the Grand Palace it was closed until that afternoon as the king was there for a special service because it was the last day of the Songkran festival. Instead we got rather scammed by a tuk tuk driver who took us to a gem factory. It was rather interesting as they told us all about the different gems and history of the trade in Thailand, but they clearly expected us to buy something, which we didn’t! Next he stopped outside a tailors and told us that would we please go in as if we did he would get a coupon for 5 litres of gas free. How could we say no?? Anyway…talk about pushy those guy were not going to take no for an answer but we had to get back for lunch and to change for the meeting (thank goodness).
It was lovely seeing everyone again. They all asked us about what we had been doing and when we told them how long our trip is we got the same funny looks that we got back in France!!!! Great talk and watchtower but we decided not to stay for the book study as we had already done it and a 3 hr meeting just seemed a bit too much especially when the last hr was the Revelation book!!
Found a great book shop that sold loads of English books so we stocked up on some maths and science workbooks for the girls and reading books too.
Had a nice dinner back at Hippie HI on the Khao San Rd but we all got rather drenched in the rain on the way back.

Bangkok

2007-05-10T11:53:00.002+02:00

28th April

Boringish day really as we needed to buy a couple of GPRS phones to use with our laptops. We also needed the guy to set it all up for us. So the poor girls were stuck with us in the MBK centre for 3 hours while we set it all up.
We bought Miss Potter to cheer them up and watched it at the hotel.

Travelling up to BK

2007-05-10T11:53:00.001+02:00

27th April

Decided to drive to BK as we can hire a car for 4 days for about the same as the bus journey would cost and we would get to see loads more along the way. So we had booked the car for 9am as we wanted to start out nice and early so we would be at the hotel in BK well before dark. Got up early and while I packed a few things Nick went to collect the car. He came back after 5 mins minus the car! Apparently it hadn’t been returned yet but they promised us that it would be with us by 10.30. Ok no problem, we thought. So we hung around and watched some TV for a bit and off Nick went at 10.30 to collect the vehicle…………..30 mins.. we were promised again. So we thought we would fill our time by doing our group instead of doing it later at the hotel. So off Nick goes AGAIN and this time loses it a bit with the guy demanding our money back he promises to have it in 30 mins (again!) and offers us an extra free day if we wait. Anyway to cut a long story short we had the car delivered at 12.15!!
So our plans of arriving before dark are now not going to happen but off we go and have a fairly uneventful journey, only getting lost once and arrive in the outskirts of BK around 6pm. Not too bad but we also managed to hit rush hour. Amazingly we manage to get in the right vicinity of the area that we are heading for but by now it is very dark so someone (Nick) has the brilliant idea of asking a tuk tuk driver if he will drive to the hotel and we will follow him in our car. We offer him 50 baht and he laughs and agrees. Then follows a hair raising ride across the city including driving the wrong way up a one-way street. We made it though and boy did we enjoy our dinner that night.

Koh Chang

2007-05-10T11:52:00.002+02:00

22nd to 26th April 2007

Just life on the island. Working a couple of hours in the morning and then on the beach or in the pool in the afternoon.
Almost bought an internet café business this week. Very cool and trendy place with all equipment and furnishings for just under £8000! Very tempting, we even met with the guy, but way to tying for us and not great for the girls here as after a couple of weeks there is not that much to do except be a total bum.
Planning on going to Bangkok at the weekend as we have some business stuff to look at there and it will be nice to get off the island for a couple of days.

Koh Chang

2007-05-10T11:52:00.001+02:00

20th April 2007

We hired a jeep today to explore the island. The side we are on, the West, is the most developed side so we were looking forward to seeing the East coast and what it was like. Unfortunately you cannot drive around the whole island as the town Bang Bao in the South West side has been stopping the development from going any further as they get all the business at the moment as it is as far as you can go. There is about 500m of unpaved track between. The road just literally ends. To see the other village the other side you have to drive North around the whole island, which we did.

We decided to do some ministry along the way so went prepared with some leaflets and brochures. Wherever we stopped we gave the Thai people a leaflet. The great thing was - nobody said no to us!! We stopped at Funky Huts for their 'world famous burger' for lunch. The place is run by an English guy from the Lake District so we were able to have a nice chat with him and left him a purpose brochure which we said he would be pleased to read.

The East coast was totally undeveloped with only a couple of places to stay and no towns really just a few fishing villages. The people live very poorly in huts and shacks but are some of the happiest we have seen. It really is 'the land of smiles' - Siam.

It was lovely to explore properly and Nick really enjoyed getting behind the wheel again. We made the most of it and went to the book shop in Lonely beach and then took the girls for an ice cream in Bang Bao which is a fishing village in the South. It is mostly built out on the water with narrow walkways between the huts and little shops and restaurants. We wondered how many people fall in!!

Koh Chang

2007-05-10T11:50:00.001+02:00

19th April 2007

Finally got around to elephant treking this afternoon. We were picked up at the Organic coffee shop by a taxi after lunch and it was about a 40 min drive to the treking place in the North jungle of the island. This place is so lush with huge palm and plants everywhere especially as we got further into the middle of the jungle area. We must have used half a bottle of citronella spray and had doubled our daily dose of vitamins as although we had been told that the areas that the elephant camp were in are regularly sprayed for mosquitos we were not taking any chances.

When we arrived it was to a very primitive looking place and amazingly elephants everywhere, about 20. No cages or fences here! It was quite a shock at first to have one of these huge beasts walk past you only a foot away. We were given some bottles of water to drink and some freshly cut pineapple, which we all agreed tasted better than any pineapple we had ever eaten. Then it was up a ladder to a rickety looking platform to climb onto the elephants for a ride. What an experience!! Lovely trek through the jungle. We saw banana plants, grapefruit trees, rubber trees and more including the popular durian tree. For some reason it is extremely popular here. One French writer described the smell of the fruit once it is opened as 'the smell of the putrefying flesh of a dead animal'!! We have to agree, it's disgusting!! After an hours trek we returned back to feed the elephants from a huge bucket of bananas.

This was, we all agreed, the best thing we had done so far, even if we did arrive back looking like we had crawled through the jungle backwards!!!

Arrival in Bangkok, Thailand

2007-05-10T11:45:00.000+02:00

Well here we are finally. After a wonderful flight we arrived at 5.15am rather tired but VERY excited. Found a gorgeous hotel for the first night ( a two room suite for a little more than what you would pay for a Travel Inn in London!!) and then we managed to find a more reasonable place for the rest of this week. Pool for the kids and free wi-fi for us.
Bangkok is a filthy city but absolutely wonderful too. Just like the flight attendants on the plane all the hotel staff wear fantastic traditional Thai clothing. There are so many amazing things to see, along with the extremely bizarre also! We are constantly pointing things out to each other.

8th April 2007
Just managed to scrape in for breakfast at the Asia Hotel before checking out and leaving for the Hotel De Moc. Fantastic lobby area but the corridors are a little reminiscent of The Beach! The girls checked out the pool straight away before we decided to brave a Tuk Tuk ride. They are built to take a maximum of 3 passengers but it's nothing to see 4 or 5 people squashed into one. So we decided to do as the locals and squeezed ourselves (Lara on my knee!) into one for a memorable experience.
We visited the Khao San Rd, saw strange sights and had two currys for just 50 baht (75p!!) and got a 5 min taxi ride home that took an hour as the driver took us to the wrong hotel. As we have heard of many scams with taxi drivers we were rather worried. He kept insisting that as he drove many officials and politicians around Bangkok he knew where he was and was in the right area. Finally after much nail biting on our part he admitted he was in the wrong area and realised his mistake.

9th April 2007
Feeling a bit jet lagged today. Not quite with-it! Just finishing our work and then hoping to go to the Bethel later if we can find a better taxi driver than last night!
Girls have just been in the pool for a couple of hours. Need to do some lessons later I think, but at the moment everything here is an amazing education for all of us.

10th April 2007
We got up early today to finish our work and leave before lunch for the Bethel. We managed it despite it starting to rain again. The guy at the front desk wrote out the address for us in Thai and ordered us a taxi. They were laughing at where we wanted to go and we were worried it was a bad area ,but it seemed that they were laughing at the chances of getting a taxi over there. When it rains everyone gets in a taxi and there are traffic jams everywhere. It wasn't too bad though and only took about 30 mins. We found the address no problem and walked down a little side street to a building with a large fence around. Nick rang the bell and we were hoping that someone would answer after all our effort. A couple of minutes later the door was answered by a tiny little sister (she was almost a head shorter than Lara!) who told us that it was no longer the Bethel but a missionary home. She invited us in and got us all some water to drink. We all introduced ourselves, her name was Lita and she is from the Philippines. She has been here since 1960 as a missionary and there are six in the home. The Bethel was moved in 1980 but still has it's registered address here for legal reasons. She told us that there was an English meeting that evening not far from us and also gave us some Thai literature and the address of the Bethel. We told her that we would try and make the meeting but had to collect our laundry so were not sure.

Next stop MBK centre for some mobile phones. This turned out to be the hugest shopping centre we had ever seen. Full of stall after stall of absolutely anything you could imagine. The fourth floor was phones, Ipods and other gadgets. Some genuine and a lot fake. We just got the phones though as none of us were in a shopping mood.

Came back around 4pm and had a quick doze before heading off to see if our laundry was ready. We decided to go in our meeting clothes and see if we could make it to the Kingdom Hall. We got there 5 mins early but it was all ready and beautifully ironed. Two bags all for the grand total of £3!!

After asking about five or six taxis to take us ( for some reason the all shook their heads when shown the address) we found one. The little sister had said it was just around the corner from the Khao San Rd but Nick (sensibly) said we should go right away in case we couldn't find it. Good job he did!! 45 mins later in the taxi we arrived, not quite around the corner! It was on the 14th floor of a large tower block. As soon as we walked in Lita saw us and showed us that she had saved seats for us at the back in case we were late. Everyone was so welcoming. 18 different nationalities!!! Truly united every where we go. One of the brothers took Nick to one side and asked if we would be willing to move permanently to Chang Rai in the North as there is a huge need there. Even for us thats a bit too much when we have only been here for 4 days!! It was a lovely experience though to meet all the brothers. The girls commented that it is amazing how it is all the same even though we are virtually on the other side of the world.

As we were all really hungry we ended up back in Banglampu at 'Hippie Hi' for a lovely meal. It's a bar and restaurant in one of the old Bangkok teak houses. Great atmosphere and wonderful food.

11th April 2007
Did some maths and history with the girls this morning. Lara chose Malaysia and Candace chose Cambodia. Bit of a long work morning but we were finished by 1pm and had lunch in the hotel here before deciding to get a taxi to the Bethel. The guy at the front desk said it should take about an hour. We decided not to dress in meeting stuff as we had worn it all day yesterday we have each only brought one outfit and also and we weren't absolutely sure that it was going to actually be the Bethel.

Anyway after an hour and a half ride in the taxi we arrived outside some huge gates at what was obviously the right place. We thought that if we explained about the lack of smartness we would be ok!! Not a chance. We had to borrow some clothes which was rather funny really. Anyway this old brother who came over here in the 30's as a missionary showed us around the place. They don't actually print here, it's all sent from Japan. The Thailand Bethel distributes to the congregations here and to Cambodia, Laos and Burma mostly. They are mainly concerned with the translation and most of the Bethel is geared up for that. Then it is sent to Japan for printing. Well we felt really good after the visit. Missionary home, meeting & Bethel all in a couple of days!!!

13th April 2007
Got up early today as we were getting the bus to Trat and then a ferry over to the Island of Koh Chang. The minibus came to collect us at 8am to drop us at the coach. It took about 2hrs to actually leave Bangkok as they had pick-ups on the way. The coach was packed to capacity but not a bad journey with reclining seats and a lunch stop. Seven long hours later we arrived in Trat to catch the ferry which only took ten minutes.

All went well until we got in the taxi. The taxis here are like pickups with bench seats along either side in the back. Ok so far. Our backpacks got thrown on the roof and we climbed in. We knew that it was the big Thai festival Songkran, the Thai new year with big water fights, but what we didn't think of was how wet we would get in the back of the pickup. It was fun at first but then we started to panic as we had the laptop backpack in with us with our two new computers in and the bag I was holding had our lovely Nikon in that we had bought for the trip. There was nothing we could do though so we just asked the driver to drop us at the nearest Place we could see to stay on our now very soggy guide book. It turned out not too bad as it was some huts right on the beach. Rather primitive but nice and cheap. More importantly when we checked, everything was ok and not damaged by the water.

We laid everything out to dry and found a lovely place to eat overlooking the beach. Rather hot that night as we had just one fan and no aircon. France prepared us well however and we decieded to stay for three nights till the festival was over.

14th April 2007
Basically just got VERY wet all day today while exploring Klong Prao beach. We bought a few sarongs and bits that we needed. We asked around a bit to see if anyone knew of a house to rent for a month or so. Also found a better place to stay for the week on Kai Bae beach just a bit further south.

Spent two hours in an internet cafe catching up on some work while the girls read some books and looked in the shops.

15th April 2007
Studied our watchtower outside the hut. Great spot for a meeting! Then we decided to have a lazy day just on the beach as we did not feel like getting wet again. After three days of it we were a bit fed up of trying to dry things out!!

16th April 2007
Packed up quite early and got a taxi to Kae Bae. Thank goodness no more water fights (never thought I'd say that!!). We've got two huts here next to each other, one for Nick & I and one for the girls.

We got settled in, unpacked a few things and found a fantastic place for lunch. It's a restaurant / bar right on the sand and totally built around some palm and banyan trees. The most amazing place we have ever seen. You sit on cushions on the floor to eat and there are also hamocks near each eating area to relax in after your meal. The downside is the name - Porn Restaurant!!

Found a little wi-fi cafe just down from it overlooking the beach so that is where we will work for the next couple of days. For a Monday work was good and we were finished in about two hours.

We plan on doing some elephant treking tomorrow.

17th April 2007
Plans went awry as straight after breakfast Lara was ill. She had bad stomach cramps and we were a bit worried. Homeopathic kit to the rescue however and a belladonna remedy later she was tons better. We thought we would leave the treking though to another day and just let her take it easy.

Had a lovely swim in the sea, even Lara felt up to it. Went back to Porn's for lunch and had the most gorgeous vegetable tofu & noodle soup.

Found a lovely little organic coffee shop this evening whose owner is trying to do so much for the fairtrade coffee industry in Thailand. He says that the problem is that a lot of Thai people don't want to help as their Buddhist religion teaches that if you have it bad in this life not to worry, just wait till the next one and it will be better. He tries to promote the coffee from the growers in the North of the country.

2 and a half weeks to go!!!!

2007-03-20T14:44:00.000+01:00

Well we've just come back from a lovely weekend up at Nigel & Michelle's. After a 5 hour drive on Friday with 2 cars and a trailer we arrived to find gorgeous sunshine and Nige's cooking. We managed to leave in the snow though which was lovely as the girls made a snow man and went sledging with their Uncle. Had a lovely meal out on the Sunday at a village fete in aid of the local school. Excellent food and wine as we have all come to expect in La Belle France!
It was a sad goodbye on Monday though, knowing we will not see them for over a year now probably. Thank goodness for webcams and email!!!
Back to reality this morning though, with work to catch up on and still a million things to do before we leave! Bit stressful at the moment but it will all be worth it. Can't seem to concentrate on work today though, I wonder why??!!

The why & when of the trip

2007-01-14T19:31:00.000+01:00

First of all the idea was just to move back to Florida. Then Nick said 'hey! why don't we go to Thailand for a holiday first'. So that was decided and very exciting. Then one day whilst sitting round the dinner table Nick said 'why leave it at Thailand. why not go to a few other places as well while we are over in that part of the world!' So then the idea of a world trip was born.
We have tried very hard to live the sensible settled life, first in the UK and then now in France.......and it's just too hard!! Not our thing really. We are much happier being totally irresponsible and dragging our kids around the world. So much more fun!
So it's started. We put our notice in on the house last week and we leave on the 8th April. Some of our stuff has been sold but we have a lot more to go. Yes we have decided to sell it all. Apart from the beloved old Range Rover that is going up to Bonjean for Nige to have fun with (hopefully he will have very good breakdown cover for it!!)
So up to now the plan is Thailand, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand San Fransisco and driving across to Florida. There is a new thought that we will somehow fit Dubai in too! Haven't figured out how yet though.