Halloween at the gecko school

Loads of kids arrived bright and early this morning, all fully dressed up. 

Esme and Rowan obviously had no costumes and Celi and Huw kindly lent them some. 

Esme was delighted her costume wasn't a 'scratchy' one 

And she was dressed up by the other children. Her costume included a wand, a fairy bag and a Spanish flamenco fan;) 

Rowan, on the other hand, became quite upset when he saw the grim reaper arrive and insisted that he change out if Spider-Man (first choice) into Batman

But that didn't last long either as it was 31c by mid morning! I did feel quite sorry for him.. It was all a bit overwhelming. 

We had lots of fun all day, with various games lined up including apple bobbing (in a old bath!) 

Creating witchy egg faces, 

Making and icing gingerbread Men and then finally ghostly story time! 

The kids had an amazing day and were totally wiped out by 7 (will it always be like this?!) and I too was totally exhausted after helping with the teaching and parenting on a larger scale! 

Tomorrow we are going for cocktails on the beach from 3! Yay!!

Then on Sunday we are leaving beautiful Thailand and heading to Malaysia.. And that will be the next chapter of our amazing adventure.. 

Sarah xx

Gecko Hat Yai beach

We were offered the aiceternoon off so off we went about 20 mins on the bike. To the north inserted in the north west of the island

No one there as still not the season but beautiful

As we were without lotion we kept running in and out of the sea according to the clouds. Airplanes every ten mins landing at Phuket international but still peaceful. There was a lot of seaweed in the water that lapped around my feet

Later realised the seaweed was plastic bags

we then found a huge market and got gorgeous deep fried chicken

if you look carefully you can see the beak in the deep fried carcass as nothing is wasted after the prime cuts are used. I thought my work mate Mr D might find this a thought provoking use of chicken remains!

sarah took this. We didnt try them

quail eggs are more normal here ie not expensive so they sell pre fried 9 of them and cook them in the holey frying pan 

Above iS filled with ice then the metAl tubes are filled with different flavour squash and 

inserted in the holes with a wooden stick too then when squash is frozen it becomes a lollipop when taken out

Xxx

Gecko-to shopping centre

Celi and huw came back from their break and we got a lift to shopping centre ended up spending a fortune on ice cream but only after we had gound some grapes for the kids first

Guy bought waitrose extra mature cheese slices even though no waitrose shop

many farangs then out for food in evening

We also found a playground but both wanted to go on the same thing

Xxx

Shopping centre

Today our hosts were back from their week long holiday - in Bangladesh of all funny places (it's only 2 hrs flying time from here!) and they took us to massive shopping centre somewhere in or around Phuket. (I have no sense of direction so am like a goldfish)..

The shopping centre was great but I must say I felt really disappointed to see the number of 'Farangs' there.. It almost felt as if our little bubble of Thailand was popping for the day.. 

Guy and I lamented about all the crazy/wonderful things we'll miss when we leave this amazing country.. Seeing whole families crammed onto motorbikes, pick-up trucks with 12 people patiently sitting in the back, the mosquitoes (NOT!), the smiling and happy faces of the lovely Thai people, the strangeness of not being able to buy table knives for eating with, the crazily balanced trucks and motorbike sidecars perfectly packed (and 12 feet high!), the barking dogs and wailing cats that keep me awake all night.. I feel a little bit sad that this part of our trip is nearly over! 

Anyway, enough of that! I also realised (and yes girls, you'll be able to recognise this feeling!) that when we hit the bright lights of the western world - I'M GONNA HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!! 

My packing was reduced and reduced and reduced before we left home and allI came away with was two pairs of shorts, three vest tops, two pairs of flip flops and some underwear. None of which is suitable for going out in Singapore, Brisbane or anywhere else! 

So I spent my time in the shopping centre feeling thoroughly fed up and worrying about this latest fiasco I find myself in. I can hear you all thinking, 'Oh Sarah you poor thing, I bet Guy said something encouraging to make you feel better'. 

Unfortunately not. I know- it's disappointing. Guy came up with his standard line, - 'You can buy something from a charity shop can't you?!' Great. 

It's not that I'm against charity shops, and yes, I have bought many great things from them, but I must also admit that I do LOVE  the thrill of a new purchase, the excitement of trying it on at home, and then discarding it when I realise it doesn't look quite as nice as it did in the 'thin mirror' at the shop. (Not really Guy- if you're reading this!) 

But the kids and Guy had a great time. Guy bought a drill for the school and he was quite delighted with himself. And we had two ice creams each. Even better as Guy loves ice cream.

I still have the dilemma of lack of clothing. No birthday coming up soon. (For me). Bummer. 

Gecko - getting the tools out

Newly purchased , the manual was for a different machine but I saw a half pea sized empty rubber nipple just like on my Saw and when squeezed it the fuel pipe filled up and then Bingo it started

The lawn is huge it took a couple of afternoons  to do luckily had help

Rowan could push it ok but needed help with the deadmans handle to keep it squeezed back

Chopper wanted to attack the newfangled machine so we kept him out of the way. Later even Esme called my shirt "stinking"

Then later the kids latest hobby obsession is washing - but not themselves

They seem to get maximum pleasure from going for the "soapy face shot"

Then out for food

Xxx

Travelling 'Thai style!'

We have recently taken to travelling on a scooter -'thai style' which means all four of us on it.. This usually means Guy driving with a child standing between his knees, a child standing or sitting behind Guy and me usually bringing up at the rear. 

On our first major jaunt of +30 mins, I was resting my foot on the exhaust pipe exterior when I noticed a sensation of hear coming up through my new flip flops. We then got lost for about ten minutes and eventually stopped to try and find directions. It was only then managed to grab a moment to look at my flip flops.. To discover that one foot had melted! It now fits the exhaust pipe perfectly but doesn't fit my foot so well!! So I am walking with a pronounced limp until we find some more! 

And the saga of the hair cut was finally resolved today. Some of you know how keen Guy was to test out his hairdressing skills on me. Thankfully I found a hairdresser and didn't let Guy loose on my barnet! He told me he would, of course cut it carefully and concentrate with every snip.. I tried to explain a comparison would be him trying to delicately cut a topiary tree with his chainsaw but when we saw a great little hair dresser who would cut it for £10 with wifi (and selling ice creams).. That was the clincher! 

Gecko night food market

Stumbled onto this bustling throng of locals

chick breast + squid /stuffed squid

top red curry sausage/ chick thigh + ? (Think might be chicken in each which comes from ribcage)

bottom square of kind of seaweed+round green leaf stuffed

chopper got the bones

in the market the only other Farang was busking In a language I did not know

papya salad+chicken+prawns

three less well off locals were trying to scrape together some free baht by holding fingerless hands out. Another one had a cup in each hand and a coin In each cup which he shook alternately making a rhythm

today also i got into a well known local delicacy using unconventional tools for the job

Xxx

Gecko - scooter to Surin beach

So with our growing confidence on the bike

we all set off

and all seemed well apart from the beach seemed to be further away than we expected. So we stopped for a map check as we approached a new obstacle of huge 3 lane roundabout. Helpfulocal told us we had done a wrong turn and had already done two sides of a triangle instead of one

Not too much of a problem apart from the "your life in their hands" approach of the roads and Sarah's melting footwear

As we were 4 on the bike she was sitting far back so feet could not reach the proper support peddles. Instead it was on the exhaust, after a while she said I can smell burning!

The sun was baking. Every right turn into traffic flow took me ages to negotiate. Kids were fidgety and hungry so we had couple of other meltdowns on the way to the very beautiful beach. As we often spot a turn first, then work out how to get to it safely secondly, we overshot to this beautiful view instead of the beach

When we got back to the bike it was Scorchio on the seat so we had to run water into it to make it sittable on. Eventually we headed off the stomach derived rioting with

And

Then found the motorbike stands

Then back to the sea

Still we all came back in one piece despite being side to side with a truck at one point

Xxx