Jan 2007

hey everyone! sorry i haven't updated in a few days. we've been taking it slow.

lets see.. the last couple of days that we had in bangkok we pretty much spent sitting round reading, eating, playing cards and generally relaxing. we got some new books to read, put our photos on cd and then onto the blog, bought the new sri lanka lonely planet and some more pirated cds.

we left for the airport at 6pm on wednesday got through all the customs stuff fine and then waited around coz we were there so early! the plane took off about 11pm. unfortunately we were in the two seats that back on to the door, so we couldnt recline our seats, but the people in front of us reclined theirs right back into our faces. woohoo. i slept some, but james didnt at all. we got off the plane in colombo at bout 1.30am local time and then made our way through the airport to find the man with the sign! aaron had arranged a man with a van to pick us up. we got into his van and then started the 3 and a half hour trip to galle. the drive was long and windy and i did sleep a lot. it was kind of disorientating to keep waking up and having no idea where you were whatsoever.

anyway, finally made it to aaron's house at about 4.45am. the house is gorgeous. there isn't any glass on the windows, just bars. its all wooden and the gardens are beautiful and there are palm trees everywhere. anyway on thursday i slept a lot and then aaron made us delicious dinner.

aaron runs two businesses on his property, one a plant nursery and the other a ceramic pot company. so on friday we met aaron's business partner roshan and his employees. everyone is really nice. aaron called a friend of his, mandula, who lives around the corner and who drives a tuktuk and he took us into unawatuna beach. he dropped us off at roshan's mother's resteraunt which is right on the beach. this bay is absolutely gorgeous. think paradise and you are half way there. so we laid around on the beach, went for a swim, had lunch (james had tiger prawns), laid around some more and then raju who works at the resteraunt, and also has a tuktuk took us home. we watched a dvd (aaron has a big collection) and had a nice dinner.

yesterday we got up late, and mandula took us into galle in his tuktuk. it is gorgeous here, but you can still see wreckage and damage from the tsunami. aaron was building his office at the time and when the tsunami hit he took the building crews down to unawatuna and helped rebuild. the cricket ground is still under repair - :-( in galle we went to the bank, and then went for a drive around the fort. i'lll write more bout that when we've been there properly. we stopped quickly at the grocery store as aaron calls it and then came home for more relaxing.

aaron told us yesterday about the bombs here. we don't feel unsafe at all. we are very comfortable. but we will be and always are sensible.

aaron leaves tonight for thailand, to meet his mother who is flying in from the US and then they'll be back on thursday. on friday we are going to take a train to kandy, which is in the hills and then maybe another train to ella. we arent sure yet.

xoxox
miss you all so much
mad

traffic lights have numbers which count down the time to go! i love these things, and we should def have them in aus.

there is so much traffic here. and people don't really mind the rules of one side of the road is for one way and the other is off limits.

this is at the grand palace.

isn't james the coolest?

in front of the pagodas at wat pho.

the reclining buddha at wat pho. it is so huge! and on the bottom of the feet is a mother of pearl mosaic.

crazy busy market in chinatown

woo! beer on khao san road!

maddie on khao san road.

going tuk tuk crazy!

at wat arun. it's a cambodian inspired design.

the view of bangkok from the golden mountain.

new years eve party at the shanti lodge!

enjoy.
xox
mad

hi everyone
so to begin - we are fine. so if you were worrying - don't. ma - don't.

yesterday morning we got up and took a taxi to the train station and then the skytrain to chatuchak market. it was huge! i have photos from above it, the skytrain goes over it, so if we ever figure out the photo thing i can show you. it's like the queen vic market, only like 20 times the size and better stuff too. they sell everything. pretty much everything. art, clothes, souvenirs, clothes, lamps, puppies, fish, fishtanks, birds, bird cages, shoes, fountains, water features, kittens, squirrels, jewellery, stationary, electronics and more. the puppies were so cute, but at the same time so so so sad. the squirrels were just weird. we kinda just walked around and around without a clue. we did see this one stall with really cool arty stuff but then we lost it. we walked around and around and then found it! yay! i bought jessca and hannah presents from there. i couldn't resist the stuff was really cool, the guys were really nice as well they had an exhibition in tokyo and they are preparing for one in new york. oh the other thing we bought was some wooden puzzles coz the shanti lodge, where we are staying, had a new years party last night and they had a gift exchange. you had to buy and wrap a present worth at least 100 baht (3 bucks) and then we got to choose a number and it corresponded to a present. i got a nice little journal and james got... toiletries! the shanti lodge and my mother think alike.

the party was going well and i was dancing with the thai girls that work here and drinking beer with james coz we are real men. then this guy came in and started telling us and some other foreigners that he'd been watching cnn in the next guesthouse and that bombs were going off in bangkok. yeah. so that was a bit scary. anyway, he told the manager and she didn't seem so concerned. lots of people started looking it up on the net and reading about it kinda made me feel better. nothing seemed to be near us. we figured we would just stay here for the night, which we were probably going to do anyway. then the manager came up and said to be safe to stay here and stay away from all the crowds. so me and james went to bed. we only went upstairs to lie down for a second and then we were both asleep. whoops. so much for staying up till midnight. at midnight we did wake up and watch the fireworks from our window.

so today we sat around. i finished the 5th book i have read since we've been here. now i need a new one! then we decided to go back to the movies. it is so cheap to go gold class. we saw the holiday which i liked. james said it was corny, but thats why i liked it. now we're back here for dinner.

i've never been anywhere with real violence before. i don't feel unsafe. i guess i just feel unsettled maybe. it doesn't matter though coz we leave in just two sleeps. sri lanka - here we come!

happy new year, may it be filled with love, laughter, icecream, chocolate, stationery and fairy lights.

xox
mad