L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

After three relatively late starts, we set the alarm for 6:45am this morning and managed to be on the road by 8am. Not bad! Though we did also manage to leave behind the kids' bowls. Bugger. Nevermind - just another excuse to visit a French supermarket to buy more.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE the supermarkets here? My first one was a "U express" in Paris (like new world metro, but smaller) and even that was mind boggling. As soon as Monday rolled around, I checked out the closest Monoprix and almost passed out. HEAVEN. Aisles and aisles of cheese, bread, yoghurt, meat.... And the fruit and veges are amazing too. The most frustrating part is, now that we're outside Paris, even the supermarkets seem to close for 2.5hrs for lunch. Not useful when you're trying to buy bread for lunch!!

So, a long drive today. The kids did pretty well up till the last hour or so. I really need some good ideas for keeping them occupied in the back seat.. There's only so many action songs you can do in a car! And not much to point out on the side of the road when you're on motorways.

We've lucked out again with our accommodation though. We didn't realise there was going to be any outdoor space so it was great to walk through a wee (fenced) garden on our way to the front door. We're walking distance to the centre of town and around 20km from Avignon.

Time for me to get stuck into another €3 bottle of rosé...

Photos -
Kids playing in Caillac (last place we stayed, in the Lot)
Valentre Bridge in Cahors
Milleau Viaduct on our journey here today (impressive!)
Smiley Daniel :)

We're still alive! (and still having fun)

We arrived safely in Paris, France on August 19 after 5 awesome days in Hong Kong. I absolutely loved being back, especially catching up with friends and eating dim sum, but was reminded that while it was a fabulous place when Mike and I were in married and both working, life with two young boys in a small apartment was TOUGH and it certainly wasn't as child friendly as Singapore.

Paris was amazing, I can't even describe how amazing! We arrived Sunday morning and picked up the car and even navigated to our place near Canal St-Martin without too much trouble. We tried to get out for the afternoon to keep the kids (and ourselves) awake till a "reasonable" te to avoid being up all night. It worked, and while the kids were a bit peeved about going to bed while it was still light outside (and during a major heat wave) we had a pretty decent night.

Spent the next 2 days sightseeing, mostly from L'Open Tour buses and a lot of walking around. We went in Notre Dame one morning on the spur of the moment but plan to go up the Eiffel Tower when we're back in October.

From Paris, we drove down to the Loire Valley and were blown away by our next accommodation - a holiday home on the edge of Chisseaux, a tiny village a couple of k's from Chenonceau (also pretty small). It was an old farmhouse that had been beautifully renovated, sooo much space for the kids to run and a great place to relax in the evenings after they were in bed too :)

Saw just a few of the zillions of chateaux in the Loire valley. Kids weren't too interested in looking around inside them but have really taken to picnic lunches and are loving all the croissants for breakfast too ;)

Arrived in the Lot valley on Sunday. We're staying in another restored farmhouse. This one is far more "original" and the kitchen not quite as flash, but the garden is fantastic yet again and the kids are really enjoying it. We're all sleeping late in the morning - shutters seem far more effective than any blackout curtains I've come across!

We are here another night and the heading down towards Avignon. After that we only have a couple more nights (either in France or Italy) before we plan to arrive in Tuscany!

Internet access is proving to be a lot harder to come by here than in Asia, so expect the updates to be a little less frequent the further we get into our trip (sorry).

Needless to say, we are having a great time over here. Mike is doing a great job driving us all over the place and the kids are (mostly) coping really well and enjoying themselves too. Fingers crossed we actually manage to find somewhere to get online sometime soon so I can post this and we can double check the directions for our next place!!

Bangkok - Day 2-4

Bangkok seemed much easier once Mike joined us on Thursday night.  He had more success with the hotel staff on the phone too ;)

Our "first" day got off to a slowish start, but we eventually made it to the aquarium at Siam Paragon.  YIKES it was an expensive morning, but worth it for us as both the kids had a ball there and it kept them happy for a couple of hours.  We even found chicken rice at the food court upstairs for lunch afterwards.  Needless to say, Callum was "so exciting!"

We had a quieter afternoon - a movie and a swim back at the hotel and then a picnic dinner on the coffee table in our room.  With the space and the peace compared to the noise and chaos outside, it was very easy to just hide away in our hotel when we needed too.

The next day was spent seeing a few other sights - the Golden Palace (and the emerald buddha temple), Kho San Rd (jeepers I felt OLD) and a trip on Chao Praya river.  Callum particularly loved the boat ride, we just jumped on an express boat and watched the world go by until the kids had had enough (which was conveniently right by a train station).  Took the train home again, with a brief pitstop to buy matchbox cars for the boys (the day's bribe) and then it was another afternoon of swimming and playing cars and chicken on sticks for tea.

Our final day in Bangkok was Sunday which also happened to be the Queens birthday.  A lot of places were closed or nOt serving alcohol due to the public holiday and it seemed pretty quiet walking round.  James and Holly came and met us at the hotel after an early flight down from Chiang Mai. Unfortunately our visit to Terminal 21 was cut short by the boys being particularly grumpy and Callum suffering from a serious case of cloth ears.  We walked towards Sukhumvit and spent an hour at a fantastic playground/park where the boys were able to burn off some energy (and Callum earned two lollies for having his photo taken with a girl and her family who were taking graduation photos).

We had an amazing lunch at Lemongrass, a restaurant recommended by James and Holly after their previous stop in Bangkok.  Then it was back to the hotel for - you guessed it!- swimming and a quiet afternoon :) Our swim was cut short by the weather this time.  We watched some very dark and scary looking clouds gather and roll towards us in the space of about 30 minutes.  As we were getting the kids out of the pool the clock blew off the wall and smashed, so it was pretty windy.  The kids, including Mike and James, had fun watching the rain arrive once we got back to our room too.

We said goodbye to James and Holly who are now in Hua Hin and making their way south to enjoy some time on the beach to finish off their trip around South East Asia.  It's been great catching up with them and sharing part of our holiday with them and the kids are already looking forward to seeing Uncle James and Aunty Holly when we get back to Christchurch.

Where it all began...

What an early start today!!! Up before 4:30am to catch a taxi to the airport in Bangkok, still almost (but not quite) the last people onto our flight, and finally arrived in Hong Kong in time for lunch. I am ashamed to say we ate McDonalds. Or, more accurately *I* inhaled a Big Mac while the kids played with Happy Meal toys and waited for some real food! In my defense, it was me with the two boys, tired and starving and looking for food in IFC Mall at 12pm on a weekday. Chaos.

Mike took our bags to our apartment (our first place booked through airbnb) and then came back into town to meet us. We marveled at the 2-storey Apple store - not just huge, but rammed with customers and staff. We didn't go in - but appreciated the wifi :o)

In the afternoon we jumped on the ferry to Discovery Bay. The kids were thrilled with the boat ride and with the space to run at the end of it. Poor old Callum was obviously very tired (despite a nap at lunch time) because within 5 minutes of running around the plaza, he ran straight into a pole and now has a black eye to match the egg on his forehead from walking into a glass wall yesterday. Poor kid!!

Had a nice walk round the beach and the kids enjoyed playing on the playground before dinner back at the plaza and the ferry home. Callum was a little disappointed with the lack of "bumps and splashes" on the return journey, but I think he got his money's worth in the final 10 minutes. I know I was feeling a bit green on the walk to the train anyway.

Made it back to our apartment in Wan Chai and got the kids off to bed. I'm still amazed at their ability to go to sleep in yet another different bed/room/city with such little fuss.

I am so excited to be back here, Hong Kong has such a great buzz from the minute you arrive. It's not the easiest place to push a pram or carry a 15kg toddler but I wouldn't change it for the world. Watch this space - this week is going to be awesome :)

Bangkok!!

I've managed to survive over 24 hours in Bangkok without Mike!  I've been tempted to give the kids away several times and felt mortified as I tried to ignore a screaming Callum after I put him in time out in the middle of Siam Paragon (for deliberately tipping up the pram while Daniel was sitting in it), but we've still managed to have fun and we've even left the hotel room - twice!

Just a short flight down from Chiang Mai yesterday, so now we're 3 flights down and 7 to go till we get back to New Zealand in November.  We're at Hotel Vie here in Bangkok which is lovely but there's still the inevitable language issues (or just plain old stupidity, who knows?!) - I called room service earlier for some veggies for the kids' tea and asked what the soup of the day was today.  "Cream of pumpkin" was the answer.  What showed up?  Sweet corn soup!  Delicious but definitely not pumpkin!  The boys enjoyed it though which was the main thing.

Mike gets back late tonight so hopefully the boys will be a bit happier tomorrow.  Daniel has been quite emotional day and very clingy.  Callum woke up about an hour after he went to bed last night crying and saying, I want to go home!  I'm not sure he was actually awake, but it still gave me a major attack of the guilts!  I think we have already been guilty of forgetting just how big an adjustment this is for the kids :(  Still, hopefully one day they'll thank us for dragging them around the world!

At last, a day to relax!

Having seen most of the sights we wanted to here in Chiang Mai, we decided to have a quieter day today and didn't head into town until almost lunch time.  The kids spent the morning exploring and hanging out with the rabbit (they actually sat IN the hutch with him).  We met up with James and Holly at Chubby Panda (again!) for lunch.  

 Daniel "trying" my banana smoothie (I had to order another one)...

  

 Daniel in his Happy Place, eating banana pancakes!

After lunch we went for a wander through town.  It was so freaking hot with Daniel on my front today, but we took the stroller for Callum and he was asleep within a few minutes after lunch.  Daniel was just a pest ;) but he was lots of fun at our coffee stop and kept everyone entertained.  Poor old Callum woke up in a bit of a state as he had no clue where we were!  Fortunately, Daniel fell asleep on our walk back through town to the bus stop so he wasn't so fidgety.

Posing with James and Holly by Tha Pae Gate

Our songtheaw trip home seemed to take forever today, probably because the truck was the most full it's been since we've been here and the driver also seemed to be operating a delivery service on the side! 

We've had a rather long evening: lots of admin to do as Mike is heading back to Singapore tomorrow to pick up the rest of our luggage and do a few more errands.  I'm a little nervous about spending the first 30 hours or so in Bangkok on my own with the kids, but our hotel looks fantastic so at the worst we can spend the day in the pool and eating pizza :o)

Footnote: it's now almost 10pm and we've just discovered Callum squirting all my lipgloss down the loo and Mike's chapstick is missing too (well, the contents of it are).  Not to mention all the things I've just fished out of Daniel's cot - towels, sheets, pyjamas, books, drawers!!! and goodness knows what else.  Far out.  Note to self - naps are definitely OUT!

Siam Rice Cooking School

Day 11 - Siam Rice Cooking School

Chiang Mai

Monday, 6 August, 2012
Had the most fantastic day at Siam Rice Cooking School with Holly. Picked up from Holly's happy house at 9am and taken to a local market which was fab but made me realise what we'll be missing out on by moving home!! Holly bought a cleaver and a knife to do crinkle cut veges for under THB100 and then it was time to head to the cooking school.
Our teacher was Pot, he was so lovely and very funny. Very encouraging with adding more chillies ;) I chose hot & sour soup, drunken noodles, chicken with basil, spring rolls, Massaman curry and sticky rice with young coconut for dessert. 
After a full day of cooking and eating Holly and I met up with James back in town and then the three of us came back to the Secret Garden together. The boys were ready for bed early after a full on day with Mike so the four of us were able to enjoy dinner in the restaurant here after the kids went to sleep.

	Vegetables [Map]		Hot & Sour soup ingredients [Map]
	Holly at the wok [Map]		Hot stuff [Map]
	Delicious [Map]		Not quite as nice as Margaret's, but they'll do :) [Map]
	Massaman curry [Map]

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Sent from my iPhone by My Vacation app (www.myvacationapp.com)

Chiang Mai Day 3

We decided to hire a driver and car today so we could see a few sights in one trip. We met up with James and Holly at Tiger Kingdom which was amazing. Mike and I took Callum in to see the smallest tigers which were aged 2 months and 4 months. He was shy at first but soon got into it and was very gentle with the tiger cubs.

Next up was the insect zoo. There was a lot to see there, Callum loved the "insect crabs" (beetles) and looking at caterpillars and cocoons. The butterfly garden was nice too.

The boys were both very tired after that so we went up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep in the hills which gave us a great view over Chiang Mai and an interesting look at the beautiful golden pagoda. Unfortunately we left one of the ergo carriers at the top and didnt realise till we were halfway down the hill. Back we went, Mike ran up the 300 steps to retrieve the ergo (phew) and then on the way back down Callum got car sick :( So I am a little bit nervous about 2 months driving in Europe now!

We arrived back in town around 5 and met up with James and Holly again. We briefly checked out the market but it was a bit too crowded to comfortably carry the boys around so instead of eating there we went to Chubby Panda where once again I over ordered ;) and we ate delicious Khao Soi, Massaman curry and fried rice and then the boys wheedled bananas out of the owner for dessert :o)

Chiang Mai Day 2

Another huge day sightseeing with the boys on our backs. Very, very happy with our decision to get another Ergo carrier before we left Singapore, they have been invaluable over the past couple of days.

We left the Secret Garden just after 8 this morning and took a songtheaw into town to do a walking tour (thanks to my trusty iPhone!) We spent the morning discovering gates, wats, monuments, parks and 7/11s around the old city before meeting up with James and Holly at lunch time. After lunch, James and Mike left us to go watch the Super 15 final (well done Chiefs!) while Holly and I took the boys back to Suan Buak Haad park and a playground that reminded me of the one by Johnny Martin's back in the day!

The kids had a ball making friends and climbing on the jungle gym and forts. They must have been knackered by the end of it as both of them fell asleep on our way to the pub to meet up with Mike and James (in the Ergos again!)

We found a Burmese restaurant for dinner - the highlight of the kids' day as they spent the evening eating sunflower seeds and playing Connect Four with the restaurant staff! The food was great too. In fact we haven't had a bad meal here yet (touch wood), although lunch was interesting as we picked a place that looked cool, had a cheap Thai menu, wifi and room for the kids to play... However they only had two staff doing EVERYTHING including cooking everything from scratch. We had our first two dishes and drinks 45 minutes after we arrived and then - just as I had commented to Holly that I thought it was forgotten - our Tom kha Gai arrived 30 minutes after that!!! It was nice but not really worth the wait (or the stress containing the kids for that long).

Chiang Mai with kids..

.. is flipping hot work! But fortunately not as bad as I thought it'd be.

Arrived here safely this afternoon after a slightly less cruisy flight from the boys but still not too bad in the scheme of things ;) We were picked up and whisked away to the Secret Garden which is a wee way out of Chiang Mai centre but easy enough to get to and hopefully will be worthwhile since there's a pool and plenty of space for the kids to explore.

Met up with James and Holly this afternoon. 2 hours on a plane with two boys didn't seem so bad after we learned that their train was 4 hours late arriving in Chiang Mai. It was great to catch up with them both over coffees and then dinner (amazing pork curry with ginger!!)

Mike and James are planning on watching the Super 15 final tomorrow afternoon while Holly and I entertain the boys. That's IF they can find a place that'll show the game!