The Paraglider

Our son, Daniel (father of three!!) recently completed his certification for paragliding and has taken his first solo and unsupervised flights over the past few days. He originally trained at the "Point of the Mountain" south of Salt Lake where on any given weekend you can find 30-50 paragliders and hang gliders in flight.

Ploenchit Fair Bangkok

Angela selling her cards and calendars

Due to the flooding and the threat of a possible high tide, the Ploenchit Fair (which, if we believe the advertising, is the highlight of our social calendar), was moved from Shrewsbury school to Patana school.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from the Teas: Ana, Livi, Allison and Rob Johnston, Roger, Raquel (Poky), Ethan, Daniel, Ingrid and Grace. I'm behind the camera.

Moab - Day Two

On Day Two we drove out of Moab to explore The Needles Region of the area. There was little hiking to do in the morning as we drove to overlooks to view the scenery. At times it felt surreal looking down on the terrain as if it were a scene from a moon exploration movie. We couldn't have asked for a better day to be touring. The sky was blue, the temperatures hovered around 50 degrees, but a light jacket was all we needed for the day. We also had the place to ourselves - no cars, no people all morning. Delightful.

Moab Trip - Day One

Roger decided to take the full week of Thanksgiving off, so we could have a short road trip prior to Thanksgiving on Thursday. Nine Mile Canyon was our first stop on our way to Moab and Arches National Park. Neither one of us had been here before, so my expectations and reality were a bit off. For one thing Nine Mile Canyon is not a box or dead end canyon, but rather a 40 mile canyon of gravel roads which during the late 1800's was a major road to and from Price Utah and important for the development of the entire area. This may be of interest to Kim, as the road was carved through the rugged canyon by the all Black 9th cavalry around 1886. Were

they stationed at Fort Davis?

The Flood Aftermarth

More photos from Sue,

Today we went out for a walk, a real novelty. We were able to go further today as the flood waters had receded. I felt sorry for the bin men who had to clean all the rubbish from the streets, but I'm sure everyone is exteremly grateful to them. 

Snappy Sue Sends Super Shots Of Stinking Streets!

I just had to get that title in!  Our damp correspondent from across the river sends her latest pictures.  Thankfully, it seems they are out of the worst of it. 


At last we were able to walk out of the condo!!! 

Not a very pleasant experience due the amount of detritus lying around, but it was great to see the water virtually gone.

News From The Smelly Side

More from our non-roving correspondent over in Pinklao.


Life on the river is quiet at the moment, without the barges and Express Boats making their usual way up and down the river. However, their is always an upside for someone. This time it is the fishermen, who are able to go about their business unhindered. We have watched from our balcony as they haul in one huge fish after another!!!! They must be so happy.

Loy Krathong Festival

Thailand's Loy Krathong festival or Festival of Light, takes place every year, on the night of the full moon when the tide is at its highest, in the 12th lunar month.  Translation - it usually takes place in November.

This festival is celebrated all over Thailand, with the most spectacular celebrations taking place in Chiang Mai, where it also coincides with the Yi Peng festival.  I would love to visit Chiang Mai during this time as Yi Peng is celebrated by flying off into the air hot air balloons made from rice paper and heated by a little tray of oil.

Latest News From Smelly Bang Phlad (er, that's a district, not Sue).

Sue has sent us some more photos from her neck of the woods.  


These photos show our latest shopping trip of two days ago.

As you can see the water is filthy, and we have just found out that Bang Phlad (our area), is one of four districts in Bangkok with extremely polluted water. Full of chemicals, waste products and oil. So we are trying to aviod going near it as much as possible!!!  Nevertheless, we are determined to enjoy ourselves, despite all the gloomy news. 

Mary's Day Out

These are photos from Mary's trip into the dessert to see the Sudanese pyramids.  I know she is going to post some photos eventually, but as she is busy, I am giving you a taster.  I hope I haven't just blown out a post for you Mary!

From her email:
that is one harsh envirornment!!  It was just amazing to see the land, the people and their lives as well as the pyramids (they were great too).  Hot, dry scrabble kind of existence.  One place we stopped the local elder was telling our driver that the well they had (and there were lots of camels drinking there) was 250 feet deep and dug by hand...can you EVEN imagine?!?  People come from all over with their plastic jugs tied to their donkies for their only water--and I don't think they are using it for showering

Alan's office takes no chances

Alan took me to look at the water defences at his office.

 Coming around the corner from Jim Thompson's cafe.

Latest Pics from Pinklao

Sue has sent some more pictures from her area.