Merry Xmas!!

Liad, Tanya and David arrived in time for some beers and Lanta Fantasy cocktails o help see in Xmas day. Santa delivered a couple of inflatable rings for the kids to play with at the pool. Happy days!

Best way to start the day

We all got up and had a good long swim to work up an appetite, then ate breakfast over looking the incoming sea. Just as our pancakes, fruit and egg fried rice turned up, three local fishermen turned up and skilfully netted heaps of fish to sell at the local market. Who needs TV?!

Put the lime in the coconut...

The freshest, most simple drink in the universe:

Beached as bro!

We're loving life at the beach so much, that we have resolved to spend as much time on various sea fronts as possible before we have to leave south east Asia at the end of February. Cambodia and Laos may have to make way for a further two months of living like sandy hippies, mostly in Vietnam, which we are heading to after celebrating the New Year in here in Thailand. Our two water babies are thriving in the pool and sea and these subsets at the end of a busy beachy day are sublime:

We're jammin'!

Bernie and I both enjoyed an hour (plus) massage on the beach before we left the bungalow that had quickly become home. We made some nice friends; a single Canadian lady called Nicky who kindly shared the costs of our trip to the elephants and old town, a German family we plan to visit in Berlin next year and some Swiss and Anglo-French families too. We ate breakfast and dinner at the nearby Sonya restaurant. despite it sharing the name with a cheesy 80's pop star, it was a Thai family owned and operated restaurant that was great value for money, had heaps of kids toys and they even took the time to take Bernie into the kitchen to learn how to make the Pad Thai dish she enjoyed most nights. Due to the hot weather and being busy at the beach, we skip lunch each day, but loved our first proper taste of Thai holidaying at the friendly beach resort.

 

This is our masseuse who can be as gentle as a butterfly and as strong as an ox at the same time - the best $12 / 5 quid I've spent on a massage!

 

Today we moved to the aptly named Dream Team resort which is simply stunning. This is what I dreamt of visiting when we hatched our travel plans. We were kindly upgraded to a more deluxe room (we always book the 'standard room' option) which has a sea / pool view and air conditioning. Plus we have no less than two double beds for the four of us rather than one - living the dream or what?!

 

Here's a fly-by of the place

 

The sea is warm, but the pool has a slide, waterfall and is crystal clear so we spent most of the day here:

Sweet little Lily: 

The lace is pretty quiet - we cant wait for Liad, Tanya and David to arrive tomorrow!

 

We had good fun playing with my cheap Chinese Go-pro rip-off today; Will's been perfecting his "Cannon balls!"

 

 

He is getting so confident in the water and his sister isn't far behind:

 

Boom!


 Merry Xmas everybody... it may be winter here, but it certainly doesn't feel like it!

Sunset at dinner!

Not too shabby a place to eat dinner; the Mangrove restaurant is next to out new resort and is the Café del Mar of Koh Lanta... but without decent music and pissed-up chavs... you can't have it all right?! As usual with phones and sunsets, the pictures do not do justice to the staggering beauty of the experience, but I want to remember this evening where Lily had an accident in the toilet department, got bitten by a dog (not badly thank feck) and nearly got her head knocked off by a rock launched by her 'energetic' brother... the sun then sank, as did a fine banana daiquiri and the world was fine again... I hope this blog doesn't fool you into thinking that it's all plain sailing and double-rainbow moments too!

Pics

Elefantastic!

We are truly living the dream here in Koh Lanta. Most of the day is spent at the beach; swimming, snorkeling, playing Frisbee, and collecting cool shells and pieces of coral. Will can now swim without flotation devices and Lily is getting more confident too. 

Our day with the elephants yesterday was truly awesome. After riding them, we got to feed them pineapple and bananas. Watching Mane use his trunk to eat whilst looking into his eye was such a great experience, one I celebrated with many Chang (elephant) beers! We have some great neighbours here and shared the cost of a driver for the day who took us and out Canadian friend around the island for the day. The Thai people are such positive and humble people. The Buddhist way of life makes for a very genuine and trusting people who will literally do anything for a few dollars. This island is very peaceful and without sleaze, but learning about the sex trade and human trafficking on other island is so sickening. I can't believe they will lock up a tourist for smoking a joint, whilst selling a young daughter to a life of pristitution. 

Rant over, life is idylic on this island. They appear to have a policy of employing 6 people for each job so staff are plentiful and appear to challenge each other for the biggest smile! Thailand is not as cheap as we thought, but we're happy to pay a little more when we hear that it goes towards paying for an education for their children; school ain't free here sadly.

This is our view from our bungalow:

And this is the beach at sunrise

Wow! Does Palin travel like this?!

So the train beds were comfortable, but we did have to share... The train wasn't the only thing running out of Bangkok, my tummy was too, so poor Bernie had to share one bed with both of the kids, whilst I went between the other bed and the hole in the floor!
Our beds were at the far end of a carriage, where huge bang's sounded out every few seconds. It sounded like a heavy metal door slamming, but came from under the floor and there was no way to stop it... Sleep was intermittent for Bernie and I at best, but our awesome kids mostly slept through it all as we rattled and banged through the Thai countryside. We were then kicked off shortly after 4.30 in a railway town and have to wait until 7.30 for our connecting bus towards the coast... We should be there by noon... Not very Michael Palin-esque and not what I had in mind, but we're somehow still smiling and as long as we get to our island, Koh Lanta (and can find accommodation for tonight!) We'll be in a much better position than before... Fingers crossed!

Rough luxury!

The toilet may be a hole in the floor, but the seats have swiftly been converted into large beds and we each have our own, which is an upgrade from the shared double bed in our hotel! Will is currently tormenting Bernie and performing somersaults behind his green curtain, but Lily is sleeping like a log... Long may that continue!

Suburban Train

We managed to get the last two beds on the sleeper train out of Bangkok today and are now happily heading towards the islands to the far south of the country. We arrived to the city of angels as zombies and leave with some good memories (and some bad!) and bellies full of cake and noodles. The kids are adapting, which is parent speak for they are coming to terms with living in confined spaces which has been very challenging at times! Leaving the freedom of rural NZ for the hustle and bustle of one of the world's most hectic city's has been a huge transition, but in reality, more so for Bernie and I who have to coach them almost continuously at times...

Bangcake!

After running around like mentalists at a huge soft play area all morning, we headed to the stunning Lotus Hotel where we have been gorging upon beautiful called made by the resident French pastry chef. Needless to say, our collective excitement and desire to eat everything available, slowly faded as we filled our bellies with delicious desserts and sipped tea.

Going loco down in... Bangkok!

Mental, truly mental. All four of us are enjoying a cosy hotel room (all four of us in a double bed because the fold out beds we were promised are all being used!) The Thai people are all lovely and love us too... I mean Lily so much we have to stop for photo opportunities at bus stops, in shops and pretty much everywhere we go! In my baggage slimming session I accidentally unpacked the one tourist guide we had and WiFi had only just been resolved so getting around had been double challenging and we've had to get double busy (Micky Flanagan style) to get around... Lily kindly wakes us before 5am and we head out after eating noodles, rice and heaps of random Thai food... The kids did get excited by the devilish MacDonald's restaurants at first, but have been bullied into a Thai diet and were sleeping the free noodles donated to us today at one of the many temples we gawped at today (courtesy to the cute little Lily and her charming smile!) The tuk tuk rides are the most exciting / terrifying experience of the day and we have ended up being shown around some of the now intimate temples and areas thanks to a little pigeon Thai that I learnt off t'internet. We are booked on a sleeper train tomorrow and look forward to "going bush" as we say in NZ, tomorrow. In fact we have been yearning the tropical island of koh Lanta ever since we arrived. Despite living in our prime in London (and we're still in our prime in our own heads of course!) we are not city people any more... We love the absolute faith of the masses towards an honourable existence devoted to Buddha, but it feels like our chickens and ducks back home in NZ have more peace and freedom than Joe Broggs does here in bustling Bangkok... Saying that, we're off to eat delightful food on the side of the street served with bigger and note genuine smile than Ronald MacDonald could ever muster! Sawatdee from Bangkok!

Just the beginning!

We have had a mental few days packing, organising and cleaning (plus farewelling friends and family over a few drinks if course!) But today the big trip began with a 5am start (Bernie only went to bed around 2am bless her!) and we soon realised that we had packed way too much gear... 

Naturally we persevered and took the short flight from a glorious Kerikeri morning, to Auckland. The plane merely skimmed over the face of the planet due to the fifteen items of luggage we somehow talked then into checking in! We then (somehow) lugged our bulging gear to a hotel and spent the day with Paul, Shirley and co. at an awesome dinosaur and mini zoo attraction before heading back to the hotel to have a bit of a luggage cull... After a few fireworks and lots of debate, we reduced the load to a much more manageable amount. Massive thanks to Paul and Shirley for carrying the rest of our gear back to Hamilton to store for us... A second inspection of our slim line luggage revealed that I had inadvertently reduced the kids clothes from lots to very, very little (Will may have to live in a ninja turtle or spiderman outfit fur the next 12 months, but to be fair, that's probably what he would choose!) 

Long story short, I was very successful in causing my over-tired, over-worked wife into further stress and repacking after endless weeks of planning and preparation... At least we'll be able to move around airports and islands without the use of an articulated vehicle! 

Tomorrow we have a 3am start and a total of 13 hours in the air with two extremely excited (and better rested) children... Please wish us luck! 

This is the luggage situation at 5.30am this morning... Rest assured it is now a buggy, one large holdall and about 5 other bags less... 

One of the best Birthday's ever!

Sorry to sound so gushy, but today has been an immense birthday, capped off by the discovery of this picture:

Bernie happened to take this shot at the right place and at the right time when Will and I surfed a wave at the same time as each other in the beautiful Bay of Islands! It might not seem that significant to you, but we've spent the last few years teaching Will to swim and surf and today I went off on my own and without coercion or planning, we both happened to catch a break at the same time on a day when clean waves were hard to come by (as you can see from this picture)... trust me, it was a chance event, even more so given that Bernie took a picture of it!

Our house, land and the whole of Northland is blooming with life and activity. Its quite hard to believe that we're leaving this paradise for distant shores - the pull of many of our favourite people is the driving force of course!

Just to gloat, this is us three surfers heading out together:

Lily is really quite fearless, she doesn't remember the time Grandag Whitaker watched her cartwheel into the drink fortunately!

I had some mates over last night for charity boxing night and a healthy serving of home kill beef and home brew beer... a winning combination!

I just re-calculated; it's five and a half days until we fly out of here! I've almost sold my boat so hopefully we wont just be living on sticky rice for the next few months! Bernie has continued to box up and clean and our abundant pantry is now down to the bare bones... we cant wait to eat exotic foods... snake, insects and scorpions are towards the top of the list, message your name and a suggestion if you have a recommendation / dare!