Krabi - Haze escape

What better way than to get away from the Haze in Penang and fly over to Krabi (1 hr flight) with like minded mothers with their kids.  We only left for 4 days and other mums joined for the rest of the week.

Happy hour 2 for 1 drinks always puts a smile on my face...drink selection is so my family.....beer is me, chocolate milkshake is Seren and water is normally for Mark. (But in this case it was Seren and me).

Tuk Tuk..with a flat front tyre.

 This monkey was behind Serenity with the coconut and threw it on the ground and it splashed all over her.  Freaked her and me out...pack of girls! Chased it onto the rooftops..... this type of monkey is very aggressive and bad mannered.  Lots of them in Penang....scary.

Part of our pool at the hotel....it was huge (photo doesn't do it justice).

Off to Railay Beach via longtail..

Alot of people are here to climb. Very cool to watch and such skill.

Beautiful beach - lots of longtails. Spent time on the beach, chilling and went into Walking Street for a look around and sometime to drink and eat.

A very happy girl.  Can't beat a green coconut and a super healthy sandwich on holiday.

Back to the hotel for a 2-1....some of the kids and mums.

Off for dinner, quick route via the beach into Krabi Town.

Wonderful dinner and view.  Mums on one table and kids on the other.

Glynis

Haze - Pollution

Though i would do a post on Haze we all suffered thru for 5 months this year... due to Indonesia doing their yearly slash and burn. This year was so much worst ...Indonesia  totally lost control of the fires which had implications for their neighbouring countries. Singapore and Penang were engulfed in Smog!

Just a bit of an indication on colour codes for the levels as follows:

Green - moderate 51-100
Yellow - unhealthy 101-200
Orange - very unhealthy 201-300
Red - Hazardous - more than 300
Blue - no indication for this ...as off the scale
Wine - no indication for this ...as totally off the scale

So Penang was sitting in the Red/Blue band.....

View from our front Balcony with Haze

Same view but without Haze

View from our rear balcony with Haze

View from our rear balcony without
Haze







Conditions at the moment are back to normal.....as we are in Monsoon season and rain hits normally from 3.30 pm onwards.....clockwork.

Glynis

Serenity's 8th Birthday Party - Harry Potter

Serenity decided she would like a Harry Potter theme party.  So Mark and I set to work. Here are a few photos.

The kids entered via 9 3/4 platform and were given a train ticket, which they exchanged for a Report Card showing all the classes they needed to attend. (ie: games and experiments) which would be happening at the party.

They also had to put on  the 'black out' Harry Potter glasses and 'The Wand' selected them. (Made the wands with chopstixs, hot glue gun and paint).  The spell-book were also given.   Spells and wands were flying everywhere.

Dining table set in Gryffindor colours (colour plates should had been gold...but no one picked up on it except Seren).

Labelled everything. Had Professor Snapes pizza, butterbeer, pollyjuice, eyeball jellies (lychees with blueberries inside), Fruit Kebab and Vegetable sticks (forgotten the HP name).

Mark made the two dementors. Their eyes lit up.

This Dementor is guarding the potions table.

Kids pretending to be Dementors.

Potions Class - they got to try out an experience here which put them into the relevant house colours. Via using food colouring, baking soda and vingear. Fizzed everywhere.

The dementor was guarding the 'Potions Class table'......

Spells & Charms Class - Lined up the Harry Potter books and had balloons filled with notes or lollies and the kids had to use a spell from their spell books to levitate the balloons before popping them.

Lots of concentrate and fun.

Dark Arts Treasure Hunt - Mark is amazing at
Treasure Hunts...kids found the tricky clues. Along with the Spaghetti one..a bit messy and the kids couldn't believe how it got inside the full tin of Spaghetti....bit of magic!

This clue was the cue to sort out the Pinata!

One super happy 8year old. The Dementor Pinata...(another of Marks creations) jammed filled with toys, candy.


Cake Time.....

All a bit frightening for Seren...as the sparkler 8 candle...was a blast.

HoneyDukes Candy Shop



After completing every class and game on the Report card and
smashing the Pinata, eating birthday cake then it was time to shop at
Honeydukes candy shop......and filling up their treat bags with goodies.



Fun making up some of the names..but full credit to Pin interest and the amazing people on there for lots of ideas and names.
,
We also had white balloons - with owl faces on them to give out to Serens friends as well.

Was a brilliant party and our friend Annette helped Mark and I.

Serenity reckons it was the best birthday party she has had ever! and is already planning her 9th birthday party at home.  We are up for it!.

Glynis

Laos .. Vientiane

It rained while we were in Vientiane the capital of Laos. Just makes it more fun to play in.

We thought we would try and find the main shopping mall because at least it would be dry. We got as far as this Stupa (the abode of a seven headed dragon) then decided we were to lost and had to get a Tuk Tuk.

The Tuk Tuk driver must have been laughing his head off when he dropped us off one street over.

To add insult to injury the mall was closed.

Nice cafe to spend some time

 The Patuxai standing in the distance. It is a memorial to those who fought in the struggle for independence from France.  The structure was built with concrete donated by America to build a new airport. For this reason it is known as the 'Vertical Runway"

View across the Mekong river

Apple pancake.

Alternately known as a pancake with some apple on top of it. Order the cheese pancake. You will get a pancake with a square piece of processed cheese on top.

We love Karma

We visited COPE which tries to ensure that people with physical disabilities have local free access to the support they need.

From 1964 to 1973, the U.S. dropped more than two million tons of ordnance on Laos during 580,000 bombing missions—equal to a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes, 24-hours a day, for 9 years – making Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita in history. The bombings were part of the U.S. Secret War in Laos to support the Royal Lao Government against the Pathet Lao and to interdict traffic along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The bombings destroyed many villages and displaced hundreds of thousands of Lao civilians during the nine-year period.

Up to a third of the bombs dropped did not explode, leaving Laos contaminated with vast quantities of unexploded ordnance (UXO). Over 20,000 people have been killed or injured by UXO in Laos since the bombing ceased.

• Over 270 million cluster bombs were dropped on Laos during the Vietnam War (210 million more bombs than were dropped on Iraq in 1991, 1998 and 2006 combined); up to 80 million did not detonate.
• Nearly 40 years on, less than 1% of these munitions have been destroyed.More than half of all confirmed cluster munitions casualties in the world have occurred in Laos.
• Each year there continue to be over 100 new casualties in Laos. Close to 60% of the accidents result in death, and 40% of the victims are children.
• Between 1995 and 2013, the U.S. contributed on average $3.2M per year for UXO clearance in Laos; the U.S. spent $13.3M per day (in 2013 dollars) for nine years bombing Laos.
• The U.S. spent as much in three days bombing Laos ($51M, in 2010 dollars) than it spent for clean up over 16 years ($51M). 

                   Soaked but happy. Our final night in Laos

Laos ... Luang Prabang ... Mekong cruise

All ready to cruise the Mekong river. Our final destination was the Kuang Si waterfall 25 km south of Luang Prabang

Not all time spent on the boat.
Visited temple inside a cave complex. Lights were not working so could not explore deeper

Passed monks on the trail

Wat Long Khoun is Buddhist temple which was built in the 18th century.

It was also known as 'Monastery of the happy'. Any new king would come here for three days of cleansing and meditation prior to his coronation.

Back on the boat again.


before transferring to a pickup truck for transport to Kuang Si waterfall

Almost hit that silly old cow.

I think she heard me.

Next to the waterfalls is the bear rescue center. This is for endangered Asiatic black bears which have been rescued from poachers. They really enjoy chilling and the jungle vibe. Just the bear necessities.

Don't worry about the excessively hairy caterpillar under the seat.

Lets go swimming.

 

Fresh water and a beautiful turquoise colour. In my element.

Do you know how long I had to hold this awkward pose before someone bothered to take a photo.

A dragonfly landed on part of a semi -submerged tree. How did it get to be so perfect.

The boss was indicating our time was up.

Unfortunately I was to busy examining my toes to notice.

Then it stated to rain. Why didn't someone mention this earlier. We risk dampness.

Everyone drenched but happy

The ducks were happy

The drinkers on the boat were happy

The girls were happy

The guys fishing were happy

The old lady having a bath was not happy.