Chinley and buying our new home.

Hi Everyone,
For our first real week in England we stayed with Mum's girlfriend from Massey. Fiona and Nigel looked after us and helped us get started. We spent about five days in their small house but we kids slept in a tent out in the field so we had a bit more space. We had heaps of fun while Mum and Fiona went in search of our new home, we watched TV and took flossie the dog on walks around the the countryside. Fiona has been converting us to Vegetarian with here no meat polcy and great dinners. One night we went to the local Indian Cafe which was delicious and the Adults have enjoyed the odd pint at the pub or bottle of wine before bed. One day Mum found a suitable campervan and the next day Dad and William picked it up from Gary at Heart of England motorhomes in Rugby it all happened very quick but the campers perfect and with make travelling easy especially beacause the roads are so narrow and it would be impossible to tour round like this in our big old American rig. Thank you Gary for all your help, it was pleasurable and easy and the perfect for us.

The Nieuwys

Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia to Chinley, England

Hi Guys,

We arrived buy bus to the big city of KL (Kuala Lumpar) and then took a 'sky-train' to China town also known as the backpacker district. A man can up to us and led us to a "flash" little guesthouse which had everything we didn't need but it made it very comfortable. In the evening we went out and had dinner at a chinese buffet/food court. We then we shopping at all the street stalls selling cheap clothes and other junk including counterfeit rolex watches, bags and shoes. We tried some different foods and bought jandals and undies.

Next morning we got up early and waited in line for tickets to the Petronas Twin Towers (once the tallest towers in the world-452metres). The went 41 stories (half-way up the towers) to a sky-bridge between the towers and saw wonderful views of KL. Today was Mum's birthday but we didn't do anything special.

In the afternoon we flew to Bintulu, Malaysia. We took a Bus to Miri and arrived a midnight. Some drunk Taxi drivers wanted to charge us double for a ride so we started walking 5km into town, luckily some nice locals gave us a ride and we found a place to stay.

The day afer we took a bus to the Brunei/Malay border and entered Brunei, we took five or more buses to Berakas-where the Fuller/Walkers live. That night we caught up with our friends and had Lasanga and Cheese-which we had all been craving! (Thank you Claire)

The next day Dad spent all day doing washing-which he might as well have put in the rubbish they were that disgusting. We went swimming and watched Marc and Max play football in the evening. We also had fun walking in the forest and going Ten-pin Bowling while Mum and Dad repacked our bags for Europe.

On Sunday night we flew to London, stopping in Dubai to refuel. We got to Heathrow Int. Airport at 6am (it felt like lunch time) we took the 'tube' to central London, then a train to Chinley, Derbyshire (near Manchester) where we are staying with Mum's friend Fiona, partner Nigel and her dog/daughter 'Flossy'.

We have been enjoying Fiona's vegetarian cooking and are having 'Number threes' tonight. Yesterday we walked to a historic canal and had a picnic. We are staying here while Mum's on the hunt for a motorhome and we are loving the cooler climate of England.

The Nieuwys

Taman Negera National Park

After our ferry back from Phi Phi Island we travelled down to Malaysia via Buses and Trains-alot of them at night, one of the trains had lots of armed officers on it because of recent bombings. All we ate was Condensed Milk and Bread. We arrived at Jerantut at 3:00 in the morning and finally got some sleep! The next day we took the bus through the Palm tree plantations to Kuala Tahan - the town across the river from the National Park.

We had a great time in Taman Negera National Park. In the morning we took the boat across the river to the park after a Iced Nescafe, Milos and pancakes for breakfast. Yum! (We also had fresh fruit juice with added MSG. Yuck! )We had to buy a permit to enter the national park. We walked through the rainforest to the canopy walk. It was a big walk in the tree tops. It was very exciting. On the way to thee view point we saw a snake. It was red and small but still gave Thomas quite the fright. While we walked through the jungle we saw alot of wild life including monster ants, pheasants, boars or wild pigs, a bat and lots of butterflies. The pheasants were very common and stunning. Some had blue faces and very long tails. There were lots of blood-sucking leeches which sucked onto Mum and Johanna's feet. On the way back we got lost and had to retrace our steps, which left some of us in tears... We took the boat back over the river had some food and caught a bus to Jeradong which nearly hit a dead cow and got a popped tyre. We drove at snail speed for about ten minutes and then got on another bus. It was a fantastic and tiring day in the rainforest of Taman Negera National Park.

Phi Phi Island

Hello Everyone,

We left Ao Nang and after a corrupt bus ride (which we got off and walked the last 3km) and a ferry trip across the Andaman sea-we arrived at an idyllic island-Ko Phi Phi.

We are staying at Tropical Garden bungalows and we have a pool! Yesterday we had an awesome time on a snorkelling and sightseeing trip. A launch cruised around three islands stopping off at incredible bays and lagoons-where we snorkelled and swam .The water was crystal clear and really warm. Bamboo island was our favourite, we saw ‘Nemo’ in an anemone and moray eels. The glowing fluoro colours of the coral and tropical fish were amazing. We dived down into the coral and came so close to the colourful fish and other creatures .We never saw any sharks at Shark Point but enjoyed jumping off the higher levels of the boat into the water. It was an amazing day out and we want to go again.

Phi Phi is very small and it's nice walking everywhere and  have seen lots of the damage the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami did to this island. Last night we checked out the fire dancing and parties on the beach after dinner. It looked like lots of fun and a little dangerous. People were skipping and doing the limbo with the rope on fire, so we didn’t think it was safe to join in. We saw people smoking something through pipes at ‘The Stones Bar’ and it wasn’t tobacco!  Mum and Dad may venture to the Apache bar tonight where they give out free ‘buckets’ of coke, red bull and lots of whiskey!

The Nieuwys

The Beach, Ao Nang

Hello Everyone,

We have really enjoyed the last few days here in Ao Nang.  We have formed a little routine and don't want to leave.We've been swimming in the warm clear water everyday with the huge jellyfish, making sand castles while topless ladies sunbathe till they're brown. We have the whole top floor of our Hotel/Guesthouse where we drink cold beer and fruit shakes on the balcony while the traffic goes by and the sunsets over the horizon. The food on the street stalls is really good and cheap especially the Shrimp Omelet with rice and Masasman Curry all cooked on a scooter and sidecar. There is a gallery down the street where they paint your picture and we might get one of these amazing paintings to take home. We've all done Acoustic poems about Ao Nang beach and published our good work for a bribe below, (Mums homeschooling in work).

Arrive in Ao Nang, see an...

Ocean of blue.

Neat orange jellyfish...

Around you.

Nasty little nippers..

Grabbing for your feet.

Boats over the horizon that...

Everyone sees at night.

All of these palm trees...

Covered in coconuts.

Had a fantastic time in paradise.

Madeleine

Along the beach at Ao Nang there is lots of animals.

Over the hill you see a lovely view of the other beach.

Now the tide comes in and breaks your sand castle.

Across the beach you see jellyfish that sting you.

Nice golden sand right under my feet.

Going along the beach makes you feel like your just you're in wonderland.

Being at the beach just makes you feel happy.

Eating and having a picnic is all you want.

At the top of the hill waiting for the sunset.

Check the jellyfish before they sting you.

Have a nice day at Ao Nang Beach.

Johanna

Afternoons spent swimming at the beach

Or playing in the sand.

Nearly naked ladies playing soccer

And jellyfish in the water

Never big waves only small swells.

Great fun makes drip castles with my sisters.

Beach bums on the sand.

Enjoying an amazing view and a beer on the balcony.

Afternoon treat what will it be.

Cheap but delicious food off the street stalls.

Head to Phi Phi island tomorrow.

Anneke

Aloe vera massage and custom tailoring.

Ocean mart and 7 eleven for food

Neat paintings from the local gallery.

Afternoon treats and beer on the balcony.

Nudists on the beach make me feel uncomfortable.

Great shrimp omelet and banana pancake from a street stall.

Beautiful karst scenery, palm trees and clear waters of the sea.

Everyone tired from the heat.

Air-conditiong to keep cool at 7-eleven.

Ccommunicating to home with blog, email and face book.

Hhuge jellyfish floating with us in the warm water.

Thomas

Amazing lime stone cliffs stand out from the sea

Opaque jelly fish float just under the surface

Nudist women sleep in the sun

Air Conditioning a must in the heat

No cheap restaurants but plenty of street stalls

Great big omelets lie on rice stuffed with shrimp

Banana shakes, refreshing

Enjoying the sunshine

Aware of sunburn, Slip, Slop, Slap and Wrap

Crossing the road a real mission

Happy to sleep on the floor after a great day

William

Sukhothai to Krabi-Trains to the South and Burma Visa Run

Hello Everyone

We have done alot of travelling in the last few days.

We spent a night in Kanchanaburi and went to the cemetery which remembered the Allied soldiers from WW 2 who died building a railway acroos Thailand for the Japanese army. We visited the bridge they built as part of the Death Railway. From Kanchanaburi we took an locaol bus and two 3rd class trains that were both full.The first from Ban Pong to Hua Hin and the second to Chumphon.We had to sit on the floor for they journey. As we ran out of food we got so hungry we ate tomatoes or cucumbers with salt and it actually tasted good. In Chumphon we celebrated Thomas's 14th birthday by taking a bus for six hours to Ranong and then a boat to Myanmar/Burma to extend our visa so we could stay in Thailand for another 15 days. It was chaos and a little scary. We asked for lunch in Myanmar and were guided to an expensive restaurant which was uncomfortable because we surround and they watched or every move. Back in Thailand we got cake for Thomas cake which was nicely decorated as shown in the picture. We had ds to a small town very near the beach. The next day we took a taxi to here. We are in Krabi.

We bus to Krabi for the night then the next morning we went striaght to the beach. Now we are enjoying the sun, swimming and building sandcastles. We have only been stung a few times by the Jelly Fish and luckily not by the huge ones that are the size of footballs. Everyone is having a blast. Dinner is fun here to we go the the street stalls an order freahly prepared food which is cooked on the side of a motorbike.Cant wait to go snorkelling!!!

The Nieuwys