When Thai time goes wrong

So at 6pm mid way through a foot spa and pedicure the school rings me to say the songthaew driver did not pick Tom and Claire up from school and the gardner will hang with them until I get there. (Yes this is 3 hours late) I ring the driver and the babysitter with a WTF, and dash like a demon to get them on the motorbike at peak hour, with one foot of toe nails red the other well not so red.

At school they are running amok, think its super cool they get to come home on the motor bike and no amount of cajoling them can persuade them to go to the babysitters for dinner so I can return to my already planned night out.

At the same time, Tom pisses his pants whilst sitting on the front of the motorbike and you know what spray is like for those of us sitting behind eg me and Claire.

So we get home and change Tom, I ring my brother to cancel dinner, we head downstairs to have a streetside fried rice and Mum an overdue consoling beer, when my friends who I had invited at last minute say they are on their way to the "real" restaurant.

FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!

Tom by this stage had eaten his dinner, been picked up by a bar girl and moved next door to the Karaoke bar and asked them to take a beer out to Mum as their beer is much colder and far more delicious than the warm crap the restaurant serve from a quasi esky (well maybe he didn't say that but he did bring me an icy cold one)

Mum is still out on the road side stall losing patience with Claire who is picking at her food, and relieved to receive a beer. So in a moment of complete need she asks the karaoke bar if they can babysit the kids.

Claire chucks a whammy, Tom thinks its can of piss as he has the mic and full control of an almost empty bar.

Claire and I race home, jump back on the motorbike and head to dinner to meet Dad, brother and new friends.

20 minutes later, new friends call to say, we're at the pig restaurant and can't see us anywhere. They'd gone to a completely different restaurant. Oooops.

On return to get Tom I am persuaded to sing to a Thai bunch from a meagre selection of English songs and am not yet drunk enough to be witty or charming, so they whip out a ball of play dough, Tom knocks out Old Macdonald, Claire the Thai national anthem and me, well I'm chatting with the bar girls enjoying a cold beer

So, if I could have planned a lazy evening at home with a PG movie, dinner, bath and bed I would have, but things spiralled out of control and I've just done story time at 9.50. Please oh please someone of higher being make them sleep in tomorrow morning.

Circle of Cultures

Today has been a very busy day. We started early and went out to Ban Tawai a wood carving area in Chiang Mai. This was great as we picked up some very nice bedside lamps at a steal, a load of wooden toys and know where we can go for anything we might need if/when we move into a real house. From here the plan was to head to Dorklag's land, yet on the way we got completely lost and ended up at a temple watching a procession of offerings to do with Buddhist Lent. Families put baskets of everything together that they offer the monks who are confined to the temples for up to 3 months in hope they will look after lost ancestors. The kids thought this was great, I found it a little materialistic for a religious gathering. We ended up at Dorklag's land and did the cooked chook sandwich picnic thing as we fished and made sure our boat and Trev's home brew was all still in order. Good news on all parts except the gardener has not been in eons and everything is overgrown again. Tom got in his row boat and is pretty stable in it now, and able to almost get in and out without help now - this will be scary as he will go MIA I'm sure and we'll find him out in the middle of the lake. The beer is definitely doing the second stage fermentation as all the bottles are tight and in a new shape. The taste test will have to wait until they are chilled. We made it back home in time to see the Doggies Saints game on Australia network to realise it was a one sided affair, Tom asked if we could play cricket so we headed down to the grassy area beside the Ping. Claire in her girly way needed to do her hair before we left, Tom had to be told to get some pants on. But Tom is coming along in leaps and bounds in his motor skills. He may even be a lefty batter, but definitely a right handed bowler. And this brought us to Saturday night food, which we agreed we'd try a new place, so we went to a place I'd been to, but the kids haven't which is Pum Pui on the same road as the Top North Guest House. Kids were well behaved in the nice little garden restaurant we shared some pasta dishes and bread, Tom tried to share my carafe of red, but was convinced a lemon shake would be better and this was finished off with them being spoilt with gelato by the Thai staff and Claire breaking out in the Thai National Anthem with enough correct they understood what she was singing.

Please please please Thai teachers at school play repetitively at 8am some useful phrases over the loud speakers and Grandpa may soon get his translator.

Thailand Queen's Birthday Long Weekend

In Thailand the Queen's birthday is celebrated on August 12. The royals are so popular here it means that Mother's Day is celebrated on this day and there is also a public holiday. Tom and Claire go to a bilingual school, so this was a big event. The regular mother's day stall and fanfare prevailed as well as a concert performed on the 11th. I was fortunate enough to be working, so Trev and Annie went in my place and the video footage they returned with was painful. I did forewarn them that these events are never run on time and the pot luck lunch that we needed to take a plate for would be bedlem with some families taking enough food and others grossly undersupplying yet still heaping their plates full. This did occur and at one stage it seemed there might have been some nasty words spoken. The loud sound system that had been ear splitting for the past 3 hours gave up the ghost just as Tom and Claire's class was about to sing. Tom and Claire came home bearing funny little hats as part of their costumes and some unique mother's days cards.

It was also my first week of school with students and some colleagues Katherine and Garry invited us out to enjoy a pork knuckle. Yes, Trev and I are still not over our year where we lacked in the pork supply although I am pleased to say we are limiting ourselves in the pork crackle consumption on our daily market trips. They took us to a place called the Country Garden which ironically was the first restaurant we ever went to when we came here for our honeymoon ten years ago. The table was full of pork legs and towers of beer with good conversation flowing freely. It's the wet season here and the heavens did open on us just as it was time to motorbike home, although this did not ruin a fantastic night.

Thursday morning we awoke ready for our first Thai roadtrip. Annie and Trev had been tasked the research for this during the week and had come up with a north eastern loop to include Chiang Rai, Mae Sai border town, the Golden Triangle and Chiang Saen town of ruins. We also needed to include an elephant ride for tourist Annie and we were sure this would not be a problem at all.

The problem came though in the amount of beer consumed on the Wednesday night from the fun beer towers. The road to Mae Chan leaving Chiang Mai is a bit windy and I get car sick when I am healthy. So with Claire and Tom both asking for toilet stops before we'd even made it off the superhighway it was going to be a long slow 180km to Chiang Rai. First tourist stop was the San Kampheng hot springs. Tom had flaked it in the car just before we arrived, so it was up to Claire to enjoy hard boiling some eggs in the bubbling warm water. The smell of sulphur was doing nothing for mine or Annie's head or stomachs but we endured this. A little further up the hill we came across the welcome to Chiang Rai province banner which advertised 3 must see sites. Lucky for us the first was another hotspring labelled as the highest hot spring in Thailand. I was not sure if this meant the geist spurting out went the highest or its physical location above sea level was the highest. It didn't really matter Tom and Claire got to finish off cooking their hard boiled eggs, while us adults enjoyed some noodle soup and roti.

Back in the car we were almost through the first windy section of road and spirits began to soar. We passed a place called "Cabbages and Condoms" which was some kind of organisation promoting alternative crops to opium as well as family planning and HIV prevention. A few funny signs including the The Rubber Triangle rip off of the The Golden Triangle were essential. Our eyes were now firmly set on the Chiang Rai Winery as our next stop. This meant about a 10km drive off the main road and as we got nearer to the final destination we noticed a distinct lack of grape vines, yet an overwhelming supply of rice fields. So the speculation and laughter began on what we would actually find. The Chiang Rai winery turned out to be a very nice setting amongst lychee and mangosteen orchards and yes were were drinking fruit wine. The kids had a terrific time playing with the dogs that were lazing around the wine cellar and a good run to stretch their legs.

Back to the car for a bit more windy hilly country to take us almost into Chiang Rai, we stopped for the obligatory corn cobs from street side vendors and soon found ourselves a little outside Chiang Rai. On our left was the second must see tourist destination from the banner we passed a few hours ago. It was an amazing white sparkly temple. Being a public holiday it was packed, however mostly packed with locals not overseas tourists. Some parts were closed but apparently there are some images of the twin towers and Neo from the matrix which aren't terribly common in these places. Again a few funny pictures were taken of signs, Trev got some odd looks as he took a "how to wee properly" sign in the men's toilets.

And then it was into Chiang Rai. Any royal holiday normally means that bars do not open because it is forbidden to sell alcohol on these days. The guest house researched and chosen was closed so a back up plan was quickly devised and we ended up staying at Jansom's which was a clean and tidy place. Dinner was at the Night Bazarre a much smaller scale place than Chiang Mai but nice and comfy all the same.

Next morning we headed north for about 50km to the the Mae Sai border crossing. Trev needed a new visa and Annie wanted a new stamp in her passport. The kids and I are still waiting for my work permit to be processed so we left the two adventurers to walk the bridge into Myanmar and we headed for Doi Tung (which is still in Thailand). At the top of Doi Tung is a royal villa that the King's mum had built when she returned from Switzerland and she also left a legacy of environmental protection and reforestation. In 1988 Doi Tung was a barren hill after it had been over logged by the locals. The King's mum in her 70s and 80s rallied for the reforestation of this area and today it is an amazing lush rainforest. The north of Thailand is also well known for its opium poppies and drug related problems so in recent years a push has been underway to convince farmers there are other financial crops. Doi tung supports both coffee beans and macadamia nuts now.

Back to Mae Sai to pick up the world travellers and then on to the Golden Triangle. Signs in Thailand are mostly in Thai language with the major destinations and big towns being in the pinyin form of Thai. We followed the signs to the Opium Hall of the Golden Triangle and found ourselves on a very muddy and slippery detour. Big trucks were losing traction and at some stages were wondered if the little sedan were were in was going to make it. Always though a Thai driving a big cat would call us through telling us it was safe to continue. We arrived in the town Sop Pruek which is where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. Some years ago Trev and I stayed in a fancy hotel so we revisited this just to see what the price was in the low season. The perk of the hotel was you could look over the river from your balcony or bathroom and see two other countries. It was insanely high for Thailand let alone in the low season so we continued on and chose to have a beer from a roadside vendor and do the same anyway. The weather was dismal and we headed on to Chiang Saen the town of the ruins for accommodation.

Chiang Saen is a not much town in good weather and in the rain is even more limited. We stayed at Gin's guest house which was comfortable enough but if you have the time I'd recommend seeing the ruins and keeping on going. We met a lovely dutch couple who were bicycling northern Thailand and some of Laos. I headed into town to pick up take away dinner and came back with a steamed fish inside a bamboo pole that had been in a charcoal fire, some corn, papaya salad, sam tom or it might be tom sam and rice (both sticky and plain) and greens with garlic. We had plenty of beer from the esky and sharing peculiar food and drinks is a good way to travel.

Next morning the kids were both up at sparrows, so Trev and I headed off for a quick drive before anything got going. A market stop and a coffee were needed and then we looked at the map for a destination for the day. We hear there are waterfalls and interesting places to visit in this area, although I am sure that this would be the case in good weather, but the mud and gunk were wearing thin. We headed back west to Mae Chan and then wound our way through some hills until we found an elephant park. Annie and the kids had a ride and then we stopped in at a few hill tribe places. Tom jumped around wearing a hat with bells all over it to the delight of the locals yet the appeal for us all was to head back to Chiang Rai and clean up.

We stayed again at Jamson's and then beelined back to Chiang Mai the next morning. No adults were suffering so the return leg was much quicker, although lil Claire may have experienced some queezy belly car syndrome so we stopped for a foot spa at the highest hot spring again and then down the last windy bit of road into Doi Saket. An afternoon at Dorklag's land near Doi Saket finished the long weekend with a bbq and Mae Sai plum wine.

Taman Negara

We just had a spur of the moment road trip to Taman Negara. After a year of coastal holidays we headed inland for the rainforest in search of some of Malaysia's great (tigers, elephants, tapirs, loris', wild pigs and mozzies). Unfortunately we managed only the wild pigs, free range chickens, one snake and a lot of insects.

As we are living in Kuantan we have our own car, so it was a 3 and half hour trip from Kuantan. Along the free way to KL, getting off at Termerloh and following signs to Jeruntut and then finally following signs to Kuala Tahun. If you are going by public transport you can bus or train to Jeruntut and then boat up the river for 3 hours to Kuala Tahun. As we drove we stopped at the bus terminal where there were a heap of accommodation signs and some hawkers anxiously looking to lure a tourist to their hostel. We mustn't have looked that inviting as no one approached us, and we didn't realise that the roadworks out the front of the school was blocking the way to the carpark of the tourist information centre.

Nevertheless we checked out a few places like Matt Leon village (looked great right in the forest and on the river but no one to take our money), then we headed down to the river and stopped at what looked to be a popular cafe. A friendly local lady pointed out the Mutiara across the river and said it was expensive, the the left across the river were some huts that she said were park ranger quarters and behind us at the top of a river rock hill were the cheap hostels, our kind of place.

We walked through a few and opted for TRV as it had some huts with fans and tables and chairs out the front with a bit of grass to set up the esky and let the kids run free. There were also some very relaxed locals in hammocks playing guitars which also suited us.

Our room cost 60RM and had a double bed on the bottom and a single bed bunk above, a ceiling fan, western loo and cold water shower. Late afternoon the shower was warm and to be honest it was sooooo humid that a cool shower was bliss. The first night we got carried away by mosquitoes and caught in a rainstorm, but after a day of travel and with two very excited kids playing flashlight in the hut we needed an early night.



The first sound of the morning were the roosters, followed by an apprentice destroying the "call to prayer" song over loud distorted speakers, shortly followed by Tom asking what's that sound to every boat he heard along the river all before the sun came up.

Breakfast was a delcious Roti Pisang (Banana pancake) and Teh O. Tom and Claire had a great time with the chef trying to stretch out the roti dough and counting in Bahasa as he cut the banana slices. A real nice icebreaker being able to speak the slightest amount of Bahasa.

After breaky we went across the river to what we had learnt was the "real" tourist centre in the Mutiara compound. We bought our national park tickets and camera licence and as we thought we were only going 1.5km to the Canopy Walk we declined a guide. The path was initially really easy with metal boardwalk type steps about 50cm above the rainforest floor, it then turned to mud and windy paths. The 1.5km turned into a 2 hour hike through all kinds of terrain and each time we were about to give up we saw another sign to the Titian Kanopi 1km further. Tom and Claire are 3 and half and were fantastic, they walked the whole way, we had to help at steep and slippery parts but at no stage were we lugging them on our backs.

Eventually we found a sign to the canopy that was 100m away, this was a rather steep climb up to a hanging suspension bridge kind of setup above the canopy. This was 5RM for adults and 3RM for kids and really worth the walk. It gave you a great appreciation for how old and tall the rainforest is. Instead of walking back to the Mutiara we found a sign to a jetty (jeti) and waited hoping we could hitch hike back to Kuala Tahun. We weren't the only ones with this thought in mind and although we didn't have guide we quickly flagged down a boat and negotiated our way back.

That afternoon we did another tour which included rapids and swimming. This was 30RM for adults and lasted an hour and 15min. We went up river over 6 or so rapids and stopped at a nice river beach for a swim. Sma our boat driver was super friendly and we watched as he swung tarzan style from a Lianna tree limb. The kids had a great time swimming with just their bubble backs. In different seasons I guess you can sit in tubes and drift down the river but this was not available.

Along the river at Kuala Tahun are about 7 or 8 pontoon restaurants and mini marts. LBK is where we booked our boat ride from, but I would not recommend the food. The one directly opposite Mutiara is the most populated and this led us to a false sense that the food would be good too, unfortunately the number of people was too many for the poor kitchen hand and food here was not great. Our best meal was at the Nusa ...... pontoon.

Taman Negara and Kuala Tahun are really in indigenous Malay areas. So food is halal and alcohol, well we didn't come across any. We took an esky with beers and had these back out at the front of our hut at TRV, but ice could not be found to keep them cold over a number of days.

Overall Taman Negara was good to visit, I would say 2 nights is plenty unless you are planning on hiking out to a hide to camp the night. I wouldn't be in a hurry to head back and if you are going for the wild life I'd consider Borneo for a better chance of seeing any.

Hari Raya

Ramadan has just come to an end and we have been seeing Kuantan decorations change from the many Malaysian and Pahang flags for Merdeka to the many green and yellow lanterns symbolising Hari Raya. The kids have come home from school with painted pelintas which are basically oil candles used to decorate the home and add light to the festivities. For the actual close of Hari Raya the nation gets on the road and heads home to their families kampungs. This is similar to the craze of Chinese New Year or TET yet somehow very different as most Malays have cars so the train and bus stations aren't jam packed although the government puts pleas out there for people to use public transport. It's almost like Easter Thursday traffic, bumper to bumper with radio reports advising people not to leave home due to complete stand stills in some areas.

Some things I didn't know before this Ramadan.

1. Muslims break fast with dates. It's a quick sugar fix to give them energy to be able to digest the big meal they are about to eat.
2. More chickens are sold during the month of Ramadan than any other month in Malaysia.
3. The green and yellow lanterns represent the food ketupat which are basically rice dumplings wrapped in banana leaves to preserve them. They are eaten with dipping sauces.

Sungai Lembing

Sungai Lembing is a tin mining town 42 km northwest of Kuantan. Lembing is Malay for spear, and "sungai" means river. Per local legend, the local ruler saw a vision of a spear in the nearby river and thus named his town after this vision. As for industry Sungai Lembing was a major producer of underground tin until the 1970s. The town dates back to the 1880s and has some cute little kampungs which are predominantly islamic or Chinese.

The pit mines were closed in 1986 due to high operational costs and low yields, but during their heyday they were said to be among the "largest and deepest in the world". The total tunnel length is 322 km, with a depth of between 610 m and 700 m. The town of Sg Lembing is in decline although it was once the richest town in Pahang, known as El Dorado of the East. What we saw were lots of wooden shoplots not open and some overgrown homes.

About 15km on the Kuantan side of Sg Lembing is Gua Charas which is a temple cave.

Still exploring and finding new things

Trev's been away for a few weeks now and you know how it can be.
You're living an idyllic life, beach, greenery, parks, birds -
absolutely everything that Hanoi wasn't and you get a bit complacent.
Well the kids are feral had a cold which has made everyone panic
except us about good ol' H1N1. I say "let's go to the beach" and I
get screamed NO by one or both of them. Or I say let's go to the park
and one wants to go to one place and the other a different place.
Remember they are 2 years old so any compromise is normally proceeded
by a lot of screaming and tantruming. Today I yelled back and loaded
them into the car for an adventure. We didn't get far as I was
curious what the local public beach would be like on a glorious Sunday
arvo. Would there be a dick pulling incident here like Ha Tien?

We headed down to Telok Chempedek which is just over the other side of
the hill from our place. If you've seen the photos there is a tennis
court, then a hill of trees behind the tennis court which is the
botanical gardens and on the other side of the hill is Chempedek
beach. The beach was busy but not crowded. The sand was hot damn hot
and the water was calm and crystal clear. There is a boardwalk which
leads into some shade from Casuarina trees so we took that as all 6 of
our feet were burning and lugging the two kids was only slowing me
down and burning my feet more. This boardwalk takes you over large
boulders which seems to be the theme of beaches around here and after
another little corner to an amazing secluded beach. Needless to say
we spent a few hours kicking the ball and making castles before
heading back to the main beach for coconut drinks and some nasi ayam
(a rice and chicken dish). Now to even kind of achieve that kind of
bliss in Hanoi would have entailed a flight to Danang - so am I
thrilled to be here? YESSSS


Next time I go I'll take some pics but for now here is where it is

View Larger Map
We live in the orange buildings at the very bottom and the big long stretch is Telok Chempedek then there's almost no beach which is the boardwalk and then the secluded nice beach. Will find out the name of it but did read something about it being a site where the Japanese invaded Kuantan during WWII.

KL to see Mitch

Michelle and Warren came to KL for a holiday with their family and it had been ages since we caught up so I packed the kids in the car and went across for the weekend. It was great to feel a little more confident in the car and KL was fine. Glad we live over here but a visit every now and then will be OK. We stayed in Ampang walkable to the Petronas Towers and that is where the kids spent most of their time. In a gigantic grass park with what seemed like hundreds of tunnel slides, swings, ladders, see saws. They went nuts.

Cherating Beach

The rocket car is turning out to be fantastic. We are able to quickly load the kids and take off. This weekend we went north to Cherating, stopping at all the beaches along the way. The road is good with decent beach scenery most of the way. Cherating itself is more spread out than Kuantan and less built up. The tourist strip has you really feel you are in an Asian beach town with food stalls and restaurants, loads of cheap hotels with cutesy names and vendors selling swimming tubes and t-shirts.

We got out at a beach a little south of the main tourist to check out the sand quality and be thrilled it wasn't as steep as our private beach. The kids loved it, Tom stepped foot on the sand and started trying to take his "clothes on" (2 year old mistake for off and on) and I wasn't sure how much attention we would create so I let him down to his nappy (I was not looking forward to a repeat of the dick pulling incidents in Vietnam) but lucky to say we had the beach to ourselves. The kids ran freely playing with washed up coconuts, wood and yelling us little crabs popped into and out of holes along the beach.

From 2009 July Malaysia Pekan, Cherating and Kuantan

At the main tourist part I couldn't resist taking a photo of a group of girls laughing and giggling eating their icecreams.

From 2009 July Malaysia Pekan, Cherating and Kuantan

Taxi's in Kuantan

We have needed a cab once or twice since being in Kuantan and like beer these seem to be elusive when REALLY needed. The other night we were out and managed to get a flat tyre on the new rocket car. It then turned out we had been given a wheel brace for normal nuts and the car had "special" don't steal my tyre nuts so we were well and truly stuck. At the servo we managed to limp to the night orderly was very helpful and when I asked him if wheel stealing was common in Kuantan he replied

"It used to be ..... now they just take the whole car"

This was happening around 11pm and there was not a cab in sight. I walked a short distance to a restaurant which was filled and asked them to call a cab. Well there are no 1 3 numbers or taxi companies to call, you need to know a cabby. This is where it got slightly irritating. I was told a good dozen times to call a taxi and when I asked for a number I was given the look of derr don't you know one. Now it seems living in a town with few drinkers you don't have a need for cabbies late at night. They all shut down around 10pm.

One of the waiters of the restaurant ran us home in his little car which hiccupped and stalled its way up the Tembeling hill and when we got to the security guard we asked if he new a taxi number. We were given Mr Haran's name and number with a big cheesy thumbs up. This would be needed the next morning.

Meeting Mr Haran the next morning was great. A friendly chap who called a few ties to reconfirm times and places. The kids loved him and his red and yellow cab. First stop was school where the kids got out and when leaving school we got caught at an ugly intersection in Kuantan morning rush (its hardly busy though). Mr Haran creeped out a little and then realised he couldn't get through so needed to reverse a bit. This he did fine, no one behind us. The problem was he was too busy teaching Trev some Bahasa and telling us he was available any time of the day until 11pm except Friday's where he was busy at the mosque to notice he had left the car in reverse. The traffic had cleared and when he put his foot down he just about shat himself as the car lurched backwards.

Pekan

We have a car, no visitors and no hangover. Hooray!!!

This morning we took a trip to Pekan which is about 50km south of Kuantan. Firstly its great to have a car to be able to explore places in comfort. The motorbike in Hanoi was great and we could get out for some day trips without the kids but it was nice to just load up and go.

It only took a little under an hour to get there and we passed over the Kuantan river, loads of road side hawker food (didn't see a beer sign though) and the scenery was pleasant enough. We arrived in Pekan which I think used to be the captial of Pahang state and were greeted with large signed arches over the street, a mosque or two and some big open public spaces with grass.

We passed a busy market and got out to wander much to Trev's distress initially and it turned out to be really great. There was the regular fruit and vege part with an abundance of the national fruit durian for sale and odour. I was surprised to see the butchery section all together with fish, chicken, pig and cow all in a row; for some reason I thought it would be separated on opposite sides of the market for religious reasons as it is in supermarkets in Kuantan (there is a special room for the pig and booze products and they are sealed and paid for then and there). Instead they just had different sellers with their goods under different tents. Also in the market were some clothing stands and then we got to the good bit, the food for purchase to be eaten. Different foods and drinks everywhere a carnival type atmosphere and no one really gave us any notice which was great. A few hello's but no pulling or prodding the kids or shouting out to get the whole town to see the foreigner.

Is this not the biggest wok you have ever seen?

From

Bad Bad Monkeys

Our new apartment looks out over a reserve and botanical gardens with heaps of nice greenery and flowers and I love having breaky on the balcony with my pot of tea to start the day. However some afternoons and only some a herd of monkeys - not sure if that is technically correct but they come in a flock of bad arses venture down cross the tennis courts and head to the balconies of the apartments in search of food. Yesterday I was having an afternoon nap (I am retired you know and had been up to almost 3 am the previous night) and left the windows and sliding glass doors open to catch a nice breeze.

About 3pm I am woken by what sounds like the kids clambering up on to the table to the fruit bowl, having a party by tipping their toy box out on the floor so I shout to "Cut it out". Only problem it was NOT the kids. There were savage monkeys in our living room. On the dining table, microwave, playing with the kids toys and when I shouted to get out they hissed me. Petrified is a word that springs to mind.

They did move on taking loaves of bread, oranges and apples. Thankfully they left the lego behind and I must say they weren't too keen on the bag they ripped open containing some dirty kids school clothes.

JEC Kindy

Tom and Claire have started kindy. They go 5 mornings a week now and are in a class of 8. Their kindy has some similarities to their old kindy, namely it’s a bright yellow building. Different from Morningstar there is a great outdoor GRASSY area, yes that is not a misprint it is green grass which you are allowed to play on. They have been for 2 mornings now and are screaming less with each day.

Today they even came home for an afternoon sleep which was terribly kind of them seeing yesterday after a very late night with the Canadian’s they opted out of their sleep in order to follow us to the beach for an afternoon of fun. Bomber had Tom crawling under large rocks into special houses called caves and Claire asking for cakes made from sand. Disappointingly as I am not 2m tall my hands are slightly smaller than the big fella’s which only led to disappointment when my cakes were smaller than his.

Happy Canadia Day

Mark RW a colleague of Jo’s at Hanoi International School and a mate to us both is currently travelling Malaysia with Jean-Mark a friend from home so as they passed by our little part of Malaysia they just happened to drop by. As it turned out they arrived on Canada Day and to quote RW’s text

“We’ll be lookn to crush some beers hope ur up for hangn out with drunk canadians on arguably the greatest day of the year”

We certainly did crush some beers with Jo piking it at 240am and the lads calling it a night somewhere around 5ish.

Happy Canadia Day Fellas! It’s not everyday you celebrate Canada day with some top Canadians in Malaysia

Bombski Arrives

For a few years now we have meant to catch up with Bomber and Erika and for various reasons we have not managed it. Last summer we were planning a trup to Italy which fell through and this summer we were planning another trip on our way to Spain but with residency visa falling through and a complete change of plans including this great move to Malaysia Bomber came to us. It was great to see the long man for a few days and talk crap about footy, navy days and footy whilst drinking way too many beers and exploring our new beaches. Thanks for coming Bombski and see you next time.

Car Shopping

We have bought a car. Hooray!! It’s a silver sedan and it does everything we need it to do.

Arrival in Kuantan

Our new home is great. Trev has done very very well for himself finding us a little pearler like this. We arrived on Friday afternoon and unfortunately had to pass the central mosque which was untimely as traffic reigned supreme but once we got to Tembeling everything ran smoothly. Cecillia our new landlord was waiting for us and had everything sorted for us and even had lined up a night at the Kuantan Club so we could meet other expats but unfortunately our clothing range was not up to dress standard so we had to take a rain check until after our removal arrived. We sussed out the swimming pool and the kids had some fun on a water slide and then we opted to take it easy and just eat in the hotel restaurant for the night as all of us were feeling overwhelmed by our new surroundings.

From 2009 June Kuantan Our New Home

The Big Move to Malaysia

We have arrived in KL finally after some extended packing and farewelling from Hanoi. Sumo and Ally came for a visit to Vietnam for our last 3 weeks and not sure if it was their influence of holiday ‘lax’ time or our ability to procrastinate, but either way we went to Hoi An for a 5 day beach holiday less than a week before we moved to a beach!

The first thing which hit me in KL was how quiet and clean everything here is. Granted I have seen only the airport, a hire car, a swanky hotel and 1 Utama shopping centre but having said this everything is calm, there are queues and it is bright and white. The second thing which kind of freaked me out was how fast we were travelling. We were doing 110km/hr on the freeway and being overtaken. Trev was driving telling me he was doing the speed limit and I was sitting in the back with the kids not even noticing the cars and trucks racing past just having that fair ride experience of far out this is fast. The Honda Wave did a regular speed of about 30km/hr with no traffic around in Hanoi! (Oxymoron that last statement as Hanoi rarely had no traffic around) This reverse culture shock is not as bad as Trev and my return from Qingtian to Melbourne where we chose to walk everywhere.

I did not think we had been roughing it in Vietnam at all and our home was very comfy. Little Claire however is suffering from her first culture shock. Examples of this include her seeing a nice plush rug in the foyer of the hotel and saying “I sleep on that bed” and squeals of delight when seeing her booster car seat for the first time with a 5 point harness “click clack”, a far cry from her metal seat on the front of the motor bike with instructions to put her hands on the dash and don’t move. Tom on the other hand is taking it all in his stride as so far this trip has meant lots of rides on various forms of transport.

This afternoon we make the trip across to Kuantan, which is set to be home for the next few months and fingers crossed longer if we enjoy.

TET Preparations

It seems in the lead up to TET this year the Hanoi government has decided that all the foot paths need some refurbishment. Now anyone who has ever tried to walk on a foot path here knows that foot paths could be renamed motorcycle parking, so as a foreigner here I was surprised they would bother, and then even more surprised that they aren't doing it in sections but doing it everywhere. Simon and I had to take a bus ride some 40 mins out of town this week for work and it is happening EVERYWHERE. We asked the Vietnamese people with us what it was all about and there are restrictions in place on doing any road work at the moment because the traffic into cities at TET times builds up and it would be toooooooo chaotic. Again this is an oxymoron as the traffic is chaotic all the time. Admittedly it does get worse though at TET time.

Lane 209 Doi Can is getting a refurb at the moment too. For the past 6 weeks we have had to battle the daily sewerage run as they reinstall or upgrade our drains. Today was the first day in the last 10 that I could get my motorbike out and the kids were going stir crazy, so they enjoyed the wind in their hair. We had a good ride and saw lots of really interesting things leading into TET. I didn't notice it until Claire pointed out the orange trees. At TET most houses have the equivalent of a Christmas tree, but it is either a blossom or a cumquat tree and all along Lac Long Quan were hundreds of potted trees for sale. And all along Lac Long Quan were hundreds of motorbikes delivering these trees to peoples homes. So with Tom shouting bus, bike or car from the backpack, and Claire sitting upfront shouting flower and orange tree we had a lovely morning ride.

Happy New Year

Wecome 2009! We are really eager and looking forward to our busy year ahead. We celebrated the New Year with Graham and Dorklag In Koh Samui. We were in Samui for Neil and Kelly's wedding on the 3rd and there was a good crew from around the globe to see in the New Year.

Christmas in Cambodia

After a busy year and with the weather turning shite in Hanoi we decided to head to the beach for an Aussie Christmas - only we Aussie Christmased in Cambodia. It was fantastic, and our previous trip there in July meant we knew where to go, what to do and this made the whole time there so much easier and more enjoyable.

Good friends from Hanoi made it to us in Sihanouk Ville for Christmas and we spend Christmas morning opening pressies with the kids, then swimming at the beach and having a very very relaxing arvo with about 10 people chasing after the kids on the beach. Nicky and Prawn juggling for the kids, Shaun chasing Tom and Claire with the ball, big Clare, Tammy and I sharing some well deserved drinks. Clare then organised a proper Christmas dinner where we managed some how to fit some Turkey, pudding and more drinks in. The plan was to party on that night - but we were soooo exhausted we called it an early night.

Fantastic Christmas

Tom and Claire are 2

Tom and Claire have had a busy end of the year. They finished their first semester of school and even received school reports - I think that was a little over the top. They had their birthday party in Hanoi with some friends on the 14th December with some little people. Our neighbours Viet Anh, Giang and Dui came to the party, as did Hannah and Abby, Brandon and Keona, Neil and Kelly, Donna, Jeni (many thanks for the games), Nadia (many thanks for the face painting). A feast of sausage rolls, ANZAC bicky's and a Lamington birthday cake were served.

International Week

International Week is a big thing in Hanoi. This year we went all out and made costumes. Tom and Claire's school held an International Week parade as did Hanoi International. Jo went as a Vegemite Jar, Tom a kangaroo and Claire was meant to be an emu although ........ with a tantrum and hate of feather hats she ended up looking more like a koala who had lost of lot of weight with a rolling polly tummy hanging around her knees.

We had a food fair, a walkathon to raise money for the Friendship Village which is a commune for victims of Agent Orange on the outskirts of Hanoi. It was a terrific week and without doubt the busiest week here in Hanoi for us, but also when it all comes together a great celebration of how little yet full of different people and places our lives have become.

Starting School

Tom and Claire started school today. They go 3 half days a week now and today they did extremely well and "shared" and are allowed back tomorrow.

On Saturday when buying school bags we had some problems with Claire who couldn't decide between the red and pink Barbie back pack. And then still hated wearing it until her prize possession pink bear was put in it. Tom had no probs choosing, or rather no problems with the first one he saw and he now sports a dark blue Spiderman backpack.

More school adventures to follow.

Sihanouk Ville, Cambodia

Tom, Claire, Trev and I have just returned from a week at the beach in Cambodia. We went to Sihanouk Ville which has been described as the premier beach in Cambodia and we weren't disappointed. After a rough and ready few days at Ha Tinh Beach in Vietnam with the kids I wanted to make sure the Cambodian experience would be enjoyable. Namely no locals harrassing us and trying to take the kids clothes off or play with Tom's willy. So while you can backpack in Sihanoukville we chose to go fancy and stayed at Sohka Beach Hotel with its private beach.

The beach was superb and clean and we all enjoyed mucking around on it. Claire got pummeled by a wave and became a little tired of the beach but both kids loved the water and if not in the beach, park, playground they were in the swimming pool. They can now go underwater and hold their breath for about 3 seconds and come up laughing which is good.

While at Sihanouk Ville we checked out the other beaches and enjoyed eating fresh seafood and cold beers at Otres Beach which is about 10km out of town. This is a terrific little place and very laid back. The main beach is Occheuteal Beach and this is packed with bars and papasans, women offering pedicures, kids selling bracelets or making them with your name in them and Beach BBQs.

At one of the Beach BBQ places a guy asked us if the kids in our walking backpacks were "con plua" (twins) when we said yes he was very eager for us to stop so they could play with his 16 month old twin girls. This was fun for all as they ran in four different directions and got up to all sorts of mischief.

Our trip was fun and we would recommend a visit there for sure.

Vietnam Swans AFL Club

Willy introduced me to some of his mates from the footy club a few weeks back and we have since caught up a few times. Nice bunch of people and excellent to meet people other than teachers - no offence intended. The Singapore Wombats came to Hanoi and played a match the day Trev left for India, which was unfortunate as I met some great people from HCMC. But the good news is the Swans will be heading to Vientiane to play the Laos Elephants on the 19th July and we all will be heading over to support. Seeing Trev hasn't been to Laos before we are going to combine it with a trip to Luang Prabang and head back to Khoun's Avocado Farm where me and the kids stayed at TET.

Duathlon Training

Good news, a month into the training and I am still enjoying it and most importantly getting better at it. Am now running 7km about 4 times a week and my time has improved out of sight. I was thinking that speed was not in my favour so I concentrated on running for a longer time, and this has worked extremely well. I am now running for 50 minutes and can do the 5km in about 36 minutes (big improvement on the 42 mins a month ago).

Donna my neighbour is also going to do the duathlon and we are looking into splurging on the weekend down in Hoi An in a fancy smancy hotel. Not sure if Trev will be around or not for the big day but hopefully he will be.

Boozy and Non-boozy

I am turning in to a gym junkie and loving it, minus the huge hangover on Saturday morning after a welcome back to Hanoi party went slightly astray on Friday afternoon and finished some time very late either Friday night or Saturday morning. Sam has found a new after work watering hole called Matchbox just near Giang Vo lake and it is great. They happy hour from 2-5pm and we made the most of that. Then just round the corner I finally made it to Q and Q Ostrich Restaurant. A group of 8 of us ate merrily there for a steal, and then Mark had to mention AFL and although we didn't need any more booze and I could have done with a huge sleep we went to Jaspas to watch the Pies and St Kilda. I met some of the Hanoi Swans lads and drank a few of my 'old' favourite drink the Mojito. You notice the word old there as I am NEVER drinking it again.

Come home soon Trev with the kids, I can't take being single and free. Saturdays with the sprites is far more relaxing than a mighty hangover and lack of sleep from partying too hard.

All this does lead me to my main reason for writing this - what alcoholic drink can I enjoy that will least hurt me and my training regime for this duathlon? I have friends on hand here to tell me when I become a freak who won't drink and ask for celery sticks, but I think we all know that won't be necessary.

Wonderful Hanoi

I was just back in Melbourne and was not giving Hanoi the wrap it deserves. Seeing I am here sans the kids I am actually getting to see Hanoi for the first time. I have even noticed the purple flowers in the trees and the weather is magic. Yes you are reading correctly, I haven't had to wade through any sewer and while it is warm it is not yet unbearable. So if planning a visit to Hanoi I would suggest April May.

I have spoiled myself with a hair cut with Mr Tu and a pedicure. I am now sporting racy red toes.

And I am in training for the Hoi An Sprint Aquathlon. That's right no more messing around I am going to swim 750m and run 5km. Today I had my first practice run and managed the distance but the time was 42min so we will have to see how I can better that. Swimming is not a problem, although I am training in a pool and can only guess that ocean swimming will be harder as well as the trillion other people kicking me in the guts.

But the aim of the game is to complete it, not break any land speed records. After twins the body is built for ..... well I don't know what but certainly not speed.

If you want to check out the details of the big race have a look here Vietnam Triathlon

Big Tom

For those of you who didn't know I have just returned from a few weeks in Melbourne getting Tom's head checked. He has a big head and the doctors were concerned about what may have been causing it, so he needed an MRI and being a little tacker who won't lay still he needed to be put under for this to happen. Hanoi doesn't have these facilities so at first it was off to Bangkok and then with some hiccups with health insurance Tom, Claire and I jumped on a plane back to Oz. Trev was India worrying for all of us.

As it turns out he is normal just with a massive melon and we will just have to watch it grow and measure it periodically over the next few months/years.

We got to catch up with old friends and must thank the Jennings' very much for putting us up while we were there. It was very enjoyable to catch up with the aqua ladies and old navy friends.

Trev and the kids are now in Tassie visiting Trev's family down in Queenstown for a week and should be back here in Hanoi next Wednesday.

Donna turns 45

Our neighbour in Hanoi has just turned 45. She is a fantastic lady and is working for the Ministry of Agriculture. Nearly all of her colleagues are Vietnamese, (unlike my situation here) and they love to Karaoke. Donna's brain child was to have a BBQ karaoke party. The Vietnamese went all out and prepared soooooo much food and when we got around to Karaoke-ing it turned out that Claire was a hit. She is particularly musical and we will have to do some kind of training with her dance moves as currently she is limited to Saturday Night Fever poses.

Qingtian Revisited

We have recently returned from a week long visit to China. We went back to Qingtian where we lived from 2003-2006 on and off. You hear and see the news that China is moving along at break neck pace but I sometimes wonder just how fast it is really moving. I now know ridiculously fast. In the 2 years since we were in Qingtian last the place has multiplied, there are cars, lights, some kind of resemblance of order on the streets and the toilets smell of bleach.

We stayed near the train station near Mr Qiu's home and quite near Tian Tian Yu Gang a favourite restaurant of ours.

And we managed to catch up with everyone. We had heaps of meals and some old times in Er Zheng's home above Kodak. The kids were a hit most places we went and like most places it can all get a bit much at times with 14 month old twins.

It was nice returning and we hope to see everyone again some time. Good luck to the expectant families in 2008.

From Qingtian we headed up to Shanghai to see our old friends the Riley's. We had some very normal time there and managed some relaxing time before heading back to work, me in Hanoi and Trev is now in India