Well the wheels are polished, they tyres pumped and the buttocks clenched! We are back on the move. Nice easy 50km start for us today, it was so lovely to get back on the road again. We have had a wonderful month off, but we all got pretty lazy. The bungalows at Klong Son were just wonderful (as already mentioned) we had a delicious and thoroughly enjoyable dinner with Mohummed (Mud) and his family last night. Everything was on the menu, squid, cockles whole fish, chicken musaman (yum) prawns, chicken, crab. Really nice it was. I was a bit sad to say goodbye to the whole area, but you know it is time to move on when you walk intot he bakery and they walk up to you with your order!
We had gorgeous scenery today, lots of limestone karsts, small villages etc. We have finally convinced the garmin that 'avoid major roads' is the way to go. We had a hilarious lunch today where we are just pretty much stared at and laughed out - and i thought they said those chimp tea parties were inhumane!! We didn't mind too much. I think that the best part of being on the road is the adventure of it - we don't know where we will be staying or whether it is okay until we actually get there and then if the hotel is shite or \the meal is awful we just think - better luck tomorrow!
School is going really well (ish) We still haven't got anything from correspondence school from Sam which is a bit disappointing, but hopefully it will work out - Jake took ages to start and then it was all go - so hopefully that will be the case with Sambo too.
Tomorrow we are heading into tiger country up towards Khao Lak and Phangnga penninsula. We were heading over to the east coast for some islands, but did a count up on our visa and realised we will need to make a quick sidetrip to Myanmar to renew. That's okay because West coast is pretty good and then we just head east and north towards Bangkok - planning to get there in about 3 weeks.
So thanks again for all the messages and lots of love to you all.
xxxx
All the best for the next leg, hope all goes well. It sounds like you have been well looked after. Who does the dishes after these banquets?
ReplyDeleteLook forward to reading some more soon. Keep safe.
Davidsons
Please do not stay at the Downtown Inn in Thailand
ReplyDeleteNew Zealand not satisfied that tourist deaths were coincidence
Mar 9, 2011, 23:07 GMT
Wellington - The New Zealand government is not satisfied with claims that the deaths of five tourists, including one of its citizens, in Thailand early this year were simply a coincidence, Foreign Minister Murray McCully said Thursday.
He said Thai explanations of the deaths that occurred within a six-week period were 'not wholly convincing and we intend to give them closer scrutiny.'
Governor of Chiang Mai, Pannada Disakul, said at a news conference on Tuesday, 'We have to admit that these deaths, coming one after another, are nothing more than coincidence.'
'That's the sort of language you get with a cover-up,' Richard Carter, father of Sarah Carter, 23, who died on February 6, told reporters.
Convinced that the deaths were not a coincidence, he said, 'It doesn't sound like there is any real investigation going on here.'
McCully told Radio New Zealand there was no evidence to suggest that the deaths of Carter, an American woman, a local tour guide and a British pensioner couple in Chiang Mai between January 11 and February 19 were not a coincidence.
But he added, 'It's clear that we need to ask some more questions.'
McCully said that while Chiang Mai officials were keen to restore confidence in the area as a tourist destination, his ministry would consider putting a travel advisory on its website to record any concerns that New Zealanders should be aware of before travelling to Thailand.
Four of the victims, including Carter, died in the same hotel, the Downtown Inn. Two other New Zealanders travelling with Carter also became sick but recovered.
The Thai health ministry said there was no evidence they suffered food poisoning after eating at a local market.
The husband of American Mariam Soraya Vorster told the New Zealand Herald she had similar symptoms.
The son of British couple George Everitt, 78, and Eileen, 74, said Thai officials claimed they both died on February 19 after heart attacks.
'They were active and healthy for their age,' he told the Herald. 'They had no history of heart problems. It doesn't make sense. How can it be coincidence?'
Hey groovers,
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear you are up and running again and have really been enjoying keping up through your blogs. Hopefully Max and Jake have kept in touch through FB also, as have seen a couple of abusive messages going back and forward.
All well here in Marlborough and it looks like we will kick into vintage next week some time which will be fun.
The time in the bungalows would have been great and will get Max and Maia to keep up with your travels as you go along.
Happy travels and will be in touch soon, Brian