Hello there and thanks for
joining us to hear about our 3 ½ month Thailand family adventure !
We are now 2 1/2 weeks into our trip, and up to this point, not even a sight of a blog as
promised to myself and several others !
I did actually
start to set one up, or explore which blog host to use, on a rainy afternoon
in Singapore on Day 2 or 3, but that is as far as I got.
Today we are
slowed down a little by Matthew with a stomach upset, so some time to turn to
this task again.
Most of the
‘action’ is probably almost past, in a week or so we should be moving into time
for ‘reflection’. So I will try to
capture first some of the highlights so far.
Jetstar from
Auckland to Singapore wasn’t one of them !
We had got to the
airport tired, but in one piece, with the hectic last few weeks having been
dominated by cleaning out the house, passport and visa applications,
vaccinations, getting ‘affairs’ in order/on-line, saying farewells and enjoying
departure celebrations. Thanks to
everyone who helped !
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| the journey begins |
The kids enjoyed a
dip in the pool on our arrival night in Singapore – this has turned into
somewhat of a now 3 year ritual, with the novelty of the heat, city lights, and
it being about 2am NZ time – which is where our body clocks were firmly
anchored at that point !
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| breakfast local-style in Singapore |
With some
trepidation we decided to launch straight into action, going to Universal
Studios on our first day - with the Borries, who were also in the same
hotel. It was a real success, heat and
tiredness notwithstanding. Of all the rides and shows, the Terminator ride
and the Shrek 3-D show were voted the highlights and certainly featured in the kids
diary writing for that day.
Delicious noodles
in a nearby foodhall recharged batteries enough to make it back for a swim and
to bed in good humour
The next day Mike
and Grant had some (successful!) meetings so Shel and I hung with the kids by
the pool and when the rain started had a surprisingly relaxed time hanging out
in the room with kids entertaining themselves with various games. Thanks to Connor for teaching Matthew poker !!
Singapore Slings at Raffles and chilli crab at Boat Quay and our 2 days were over.
Singapore Slings at Raffles and chilli crab at Boat Quay and our 2 days were over.
The next day was
a flight to Kho Samui in Thailand. Samui is
pretty much unrecognisable from 20 years ago when I was there as a backpacker,
but we did know what we were in for, having visited 2 years ago on a family
holiday. The beaches are fairly dense
with hotels, the roads chaotic and with innumerable opportunities to shop, eat and
have massages. A tantalising selection of fine
dining also.
We had a few days
on our own in the North of the Island in Bophut, spending evenings at the,
still charming, Fisherman’s Village.
Days were spent cooling off in the pool in between doing a couple of
chores such as hiring a jeep (with no aircon as it turned out – hot!), opening
a bank account (finding the right branch, then two visits as there was a powercut on
the first, understanding the fees etc – not as simple as it would be at home!),
getting laundry done, checking out venues for a party later in the week and so
on. Our slightly surreal first evening in Thailand was spent in a beachfront reggae bar & restaurant as it was the closest
when the kids need for food become paramount !
A highlight for
us all was visiting the Samui Learning Centre - an international school of
about 200 children in Lamai in the South of the island.
We are hoping that Annabelle and Matthew will go to school for a couple
of months of our time in Thailand. I had
enjoyed my communication with Emma the director and was drawn by their motto
‘Educating Minds, Nurturing Souls” . We
were greeted by painted flags of the many countries of origin of all the
children there, heard about their camp last month in the jungle and we
appreciated stepping inside the aircon classrooms! It seemed a great school, going up to Year 10
with about 20 in a class, following the British curriculum. There was a real focus on sustainability and
health - the provided lunches were sugar free with brown rice and lots of fruit, and their commitment to the environment had extended to swimming pool had just been filled in, to turn into a vege
garden !
We moved to the
Centara Beach Resort at the quieter end of Chaweng beach for the long planned
week with friends. The Borries were
there a few days before us, the Simpsons checked in not long after us, the Tomblesons
arrived late that night and the Balls the next day. A group of 10 adults and 10 children from
Auckland, Tauranga, UK and Kenya.
The hotel was
brilliant for us with large pools for active games of water- basketball and
volleyball, some organized activities which kids enjoyed such as soccer,
fan-painting and extensive grounds for kids to roam between rooms, pools,
beach, activities, games and the ‘Club”.
We had joined the ‘Club’ which gave meant we had breakfast, lunch,
afternoon tea, evening nibbles and drinks available all day long – great for
kids being self sufficient and able to satiate thirst and hunger at whatever
point in the day. Also a meeting point
for us all at cocktail ‘hour’, which usually went on well past the designated
time. Although we learned on the first night not to tip ourselves onto the
street and start looking for a restaurant to host 20 of us at 8pm, and so got a bit
more organized after that.
Highlights
included catching up while lazing beside the pool (reading Fifty Shades of Grey!), games
in the pool, shopping, frequent massages at 200B an hour ($8). In my usual organizer mode I spent a while in
the lobby planning a few trips for us all.
We spent a
fabulous day on a private charter boat racing out amid spray and sun to the
Angthong Marine park for snorkeling amongst a multitude of fish and coral (and a
few biting sea-lice), kayaking on mirror-like bath-temperature water, a visit to
a fishing village for lunch and a climb up a series of steps/ladders to view a
green marine lake which left several of us with sore legs the following day !
Another morning
was spent being true tourists to Thailand and riding elephants and feeding them bananas, which the kids loved and
produced about a million photos – it was baking up there on the back of an elephant !
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| look mum, I can ride an elephant... |
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| ...and get up the courage to feed one too |
We had a very
special evening to celebrate the upcoming 50th birthdays of John T
and Mike S, where we set the kids up with babysitters, games, movies and dinner
and the adults headed off for cocktails at The Pier in Bophut, which Mike and I had checked out earlier in
the week. This place was overlooking Kho
Phangan and the sinking sun, with the juxtaposed old and new piers in front of us, and a magnificent
tall sailing ship moored ready for departure. The 'Plantation' cocktail was the hit of the drinks we had throughout the week !
Just as the
sunset was turning to its most spectacular we moved to an intimate beachfront
restaurant, Oceans 11, where we had a sublime Thai-Mediterranean fusion meal in
a private dining area. Bubbly, speeches, and quite the biggest portions we’d encountered since
arriving, left us able to enjoy a mouthful each of the birthday cakes and the trip
back to find the kids tired but enjoying a movie. A lovely way to recognize the birthdays and
punctuate the week with a little adult time.
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| sunset at Oceans 11 |
Another night we
went to Poppies just along the beach for a family celebration of the big
birthdays and also Tania’s 10th birthday on that day. I had quite the best Thai salad I have had so
far and the generous establishment (a friend of the school's director who
recommended the place) a provided us with yet more bubbly and birthday cake too
! Impromptu entertainment from a wedding
in a neighbouring restaurant included an elephant walking along the beachfront,
lanterns being lit and sent to float into the air way up high, almost certainly
into a flight path or two ! And to cap it off as we walked back along the beach
after dinner there were some spectacular fireworks.
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| all set for lantern take-off... |
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| ...and there they go |
I had been biting
my tongue all week to not give the game away that Julie McK was arriving as a
surprise for the last 2 days – it was great to see John and Anna’s faces when
she sashayed out from behind the curtain !
Farewells were in
order as everyone parted to go their separate ways home of continuing trips in
variously NZ, Chang Mai, Melbourne, Singapore, Rome and for us – on to Kho
Phangan, Kho Samui’s sleepier neighbour.
We are here for
five nights to get a feel for the island and visit the school. We are enjoying the quieter pace, emptier
roads, less hassle from vendors and it has rained less ! We have decided to stay here for the duration
of our stay. Our bungalow guest house is in a quieter part of the island, and a lovely spot.
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| Annabelle, Matthew and new friend Axl enjoying the incoming tide, taken from the poolside. |
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| diary writing in a cool spot |
The Si-Panya
school is small and new and quite hard to find! We drove around for about 20 minutes trying
to identify the small ‘road’ it is on – distinguishing between roads and tracks
that end in peoples' gardens seemed to be our main challenge. At the school there are less than 20 students across three classes, and it only started up this year. The director and teacher Nicola (English) was very friendly, welcoming and
necessarily prepared to adapt lessons to the level of each student with each
class a composite of 2 years.
Now we know the
areas and distances, we have been madly emailing dozens of places and driving
round to visit a few houses – there seems to be a huge range of quality and
price, and the listed price is not what you need to pay. Although had we realized it was high season we may have organized ourselves a bit more before we left ! Thanks to John and Anna’s friend, Tanida, who
lives in Samui for advice on this !
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| lunch in a glass...papaya shake |
Matthew has a
nasty stomach upset, which is hopefully now going to come right with
antibiotics, but has laid him low with vomiting and diarrhoea for the last 36
hours. The rest of us seem fine so far
and we have been eating and sharing the same foods and drinks, so can’t
identify where it has come from. This
has meant Mike has been driving around doing most of the house-seeing today and
also booking our travel for the next few days.
We think we have
found a house, on the beach in Baan Tai, the same village as the school, so a perfect
castaway location. Not as inexpensive as
we might have hoped, but hey….we’ll only be doing this once ! We may be able to do without a car too.
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| fishing boats in the Thong Sala port |
However I feel quite proud of myself for publishing my very first ever blog today !
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