We have been busy these last couple of weeks. Saturday before Christmas we went to the market in
Dan SingKohn right by the border to Burma (Myanmar). It was fun to see all the things they had that were quite different to the other markets around here. I got to pick out two necklaces and two small boxes as Christmas gifts. Mathias is hooked on sarongs (pa kao mah's) so he got yet another pair. The wrapping had the text "Longyi for Executives" which should fit be appropriate! However I am not sure executives back home would dare wearing them to work, that is yet to be found out... Sten had a good time, Axel did too. I bought two small gifts for them aswell, a xylophone for Sten and an egg for Axel that would crack when put into water and magically turn into a turtle. I would love to go back there but I don't think there will be time, and there is only so much space left in the suitcases...
Christmas was like any other day, except for the gifts exchanging. Luckily, Santa had heard Axels cry for a tablet-PC and he is now hooked on Angry Birds and Cut the Rope. We had rice porridge for lunch but that was just about the only traditional Swedish food we have eaten this winter. No ham and mustard on hard Swedish crackers and no salted herring. Strangely enough, I don't miss it much. I haven't had potatoes since we left home, not counting french fries & chips (which isn't much potatoe anyways!).
Christmas Day we took a trip to Thap Sakae in the afternoon and bought a small three-wheel bike for Sten that we tied onto the roof of our 3-wheel motorbike. He got to try one at a shop that he really liked. Unlike the Winnie the Pooh-bike at home, this one seem to go both backwards and forwards. He has yet to learn the pedalling. But this is one way of telling how much he has grown since we got here. Two new teeth explained the unwillingness to eat anything with solid bites. He babbles away in all tones he can think of, and maybe his first word here will be "rice".
Our house area Jasmine, had new guests arriving and among them a family with a 6 year old boy. How fun for Axel to finally have a friend to run over to and play with in the pool!
We had to go to prolong our Tourist Visas and combined that with a trip to Prachuap Kirikhan. It is a nice, little town, the closest one from here, and like Huay Yang it feels genuinely thai. We went to the market area and strolled down on the promenade by the pier. The kids got to play on the playground, which is the only one I have seen since we got here. Both boys found their ways easily, just look at this little happy toddler!
Shopping there was fun and cheap- six t-shirts in different sizes for 200 bath. We also got to see the making of coconut milk- cold pressed shredded coconut. We learned that there are two types, the fat milk and the second press, which is more watery. When asking for a litre, Mathias got two liters, one of each. Back home, the only thing you see is the canned type (normally from the first press)
On New Years we went for lunch at Hat Wanakorn. The restaurant there has finally opened. Lots of thai people had come to the camping ground, mostly with jeeps or trucks, fully equipped with tents, hammocks and other camping equipment. They have a few days off and when we went back on the 2nd they had all left. I bought tickets to Kaew's evening party. The food was thai style with fried chicken in bananaleaf, shrimp noodle salad, spicy pork soup, dragonfruit and watermelon dessert. I found it delicious. Sten ate at home and we brought the stroller and his little black and white pup.
2013 came down hard on us as always when having yet another party to think of- Axels 5th birthday! I had ordered a precious cake from Nöng that was decorated with animals of all kinds. It had a chocolate spunge cake (no filling ) and frosting. Of course red Fanta for the kids! The neighbours boy came by to have some.
My birthday passed without celebration or presents, except for a homemade creation: a net bobber with a rubber band and a baloon (unsure of what it should be used as). I took a trip to the hairdresser's and the masseus and got to choose restaurant for the evening- Jacks on the beach. It suits us well since Axel can run around the beach and Sten stays put in their IKEA chair. Axel got a friend and we spoke to a family with a 15 months "old" girl. It happened they were going to Hua Hin the next day like us.
Since the tablet would be a present difficult to breach we decided to take Axel to the Water Park in Hua Hin. Arrangements were made with Ann and Arnold and their regular taxi driver Oddie. He brought them down from Cha-am Friday morning and we went up to Hua Hin with him. Sten got to stay with grandma and granddad, and Mathias, Axel and myself went to the big city. We went for a walk on the beach were Axel went horserideing and later off to the Village Market and the Night Market. Sorry to say I am not too impressed by either one. It might suit you if you want to by cheap trademark clothes or tourist souvenirs to a spiced up price. I think we have gotten too used to the "village" market prices. A visit to Starbucks made us run into guess who? well of course the Huay Yang-couple we met at Jacks the other night. They had taken the train for 25 bath and would do the same on their way home. It would have been fun but maybe we'll do that some other time.
One night at a so-so hotel with a rooftop swimming pool and then off to the Black Mountain Water Park. It was much more fun than I expected it to be. Good thing we did not bring Sten as one of us could go ahead and the other one help Axel on his way down. I went on all slides- even the scariest wasn't too bad when finally getting on to it. The best was going backwards on a tube down "the Bee".
Some pics here http://www.blackmountainwaterpark.com/
Dan SingKohn right by the border to Burma (Myanmar). It was fun to see all the things they had that were quite different to the other markets around here. I got to pick out two necklaces and two small boxes as Christmas gifts. Mathias is hooked on sarongs (pa kao mah's) so he got yet another pair. The wrapping had the text "Longyi for Executives" which should fit be appropriate! However I am not sure executives back home would dare wearing them to work, that is yet to be found out... Sten had a good time, Axel did too. I bought two small gifts for them aswell, a xylophone for Sten and an egg for Axel that would crack when put into water and magically turn into a turtle. I would love to go back there but I don't think there will be time, and there is only so much space left in the suitcases...
Christmas was like any other day, except for the gifts exchanging. Luckily, Santa had heard Axels cry for a tablet-PC and he is now hooked on Angry Birds and Cut the Rope. We had rice porridge for lunch but that was just about the only traditional Swedish food we have eaten this winter. No ham and mustard on hard Swedish crackers and no salted herring. Strangely enough, I don't miss it much. I haven't had potatoes since we left home, not counting french fries & chips (which isn't much potatoe anyways!).
Christmas Day we took a trip to Thap Sakae in the afternoon and bought a small three-wheel bike for Sten that we tied onto the roof of our 3-wheel motorbike. He got to try one at a shop that he really liked. Unlike the Winnie the Pooh-bike at home, this one seem to go both backwards and forwards. He has yet to learn the pedalling. But this is one way of telling how much he has grown since we got here. Two new teeth explained the unwillingness to eat anything with solid bites. He babbles away in all tones he can think of, and maybe his first word here will be "rice".
Our house area Jasmine, had new guests arriving and among them a family with a 6 year old boy. How fun for Axel to finally have a friend to run over to and play with in the pool!
We had to go to prolong our Tourist Visas and combined that with a trip to Prachuap Kirikhan. It is a nice, little town, the closest one from here, and like Huay Yang it feels genuinely thai. We went to the market area and strolled down on the promenade by the pier. The kids got to play on the playground, which is the only one I have seen since we got here. Both boys found their ways easily, just look at this little happy toddler!
Shopping there was fun and cheap- six t-shirts in different sizes for 200 bath. We also got to see the making of coconut milk- cold pressed shredded coconut. We learned that there are two types, the fat milk and the second press, which is more watery. When asking for a litre, Mathias got two liters, one of each. Back home, the only thing you see is the canned type (normally from the first press)
On New Years we went for lunch at Hat Wanakorn. The restaurant there has finally opened. Lots of thai people had come to the camping ground, mostly with jeeps or trucks, fully equipped with tents, hammocks and other camping equipment. They have a few days off and when we went back on the 2nd they had all left. I bought tickets to Kaew's evening party. The food was thai style with fried chicken in bananaleaf, shrimp noodle salad, spicy pork soup, dragonfruit and watermelon dessert. I found it delicious. Sten ate at home and we brought the stroller and his little black and white pup.
2013 came down hard on us as always when having yet another party to think of- Axels 5th birthday! I had ordered a precious cake from Nöng that was decorated with animals of all kinds. It had a chocolate spunge cake (no filling ) and frosting. Of course red Fanta for the kids! The neighbours boy came by to have some.
My birthday passed without celebration or presents, except for a homemade creation: a net bobber with a rubber band and a baloon (unsure of what it should be used as). I took a trip to the hairdresser's and the masseus and got to choose restaurant for the evening- Jacks on the beach. It suits us well since Axel can run around the beach and Sten stays put in their IKEA chair. Axel got a friend and we spoke to a family with a 15 months "old" girl. It happened they were going to Hua Hin the next day like us.
Since the tablet would be a present difficult to breach we decided to take Axel to the Water Park in Hua Hin. Arrangements were made with Ann and Arnold and their regular taxi driver Oddie. He brought them down from Cha-am Friday morning and we went up to Hua Hin with him. Sten got to stay with grandma and granddad, and Mathias, Axel and myself went to the big city. We went for a walk on the beach were Axel went horserideing and later off to the Village Market and the Night Market. Sorry to say I am not too impressed by either one. It might suit you if you want to by cheap trademark clothes or tourist souvenirs to a spiced up price. I think we have gotten too used to the "village" market prices. A visit to Starbucks made us run into guess who? well of course the Huay Yang-couple we met at Jacks the other night. They had taken the train for 25 bath and would do the same on their way home. It would have been fun but maybe we'll do that some other time.
One night at a so-so hotel with a rooftop swimming pool and then off to the Black Mountain Water Park. It was much more fun than I expected it to be. Good thing we did not bring Sten as one of us could go ahead and the other one help Axel on his way down. I went on all slides- even the scariest wasn't too bad when finally getting on to it. The best was going backwards on a tube down "the Bee".
Some pics here http://www.blackmountainwaterpark.com/
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