Countdown in Bangkok

We spend the last night of our holiday saying goodbye to 2012 and welcoming 2013. It will be our second time spending a new year in Bangkok, the first in 2005. Iman was short of 3 and Jack only 6 months old!

The streets around Central World should be filling up with people now. Earlier this evening it was gearing up for the thousands that will be there for the countdown.

We wish all our friends and family a Happy New Year and all the best in 2013!!

A Lanta Christmas

It was a very simple Christmas day for us - pool time in the morning and our local beach in the afternoon. Thanks Santa for the gifts. Bags and cool headphones went down very well with all three along with new swim towels and sunglasses from us. Iman, Jack and Ayden are enjoying the company of the Scholar boys. And we are all having a very relaxed time together.

Royal Trophy 2012

It's not often we get a major sporting event here in Brunei, so when it does happen, we take advantage. The Royal Trophy took place over the weekend here at the Empire Hotel and we spent a great 3 days following some of the worlds top golfers. The Royal Trophy pits Europe against Asia in a format equivalent to the Ryder Cup and the European Team did have a number of Ryder Cup players.

As is common here, people complain about the lack of events to entertain them but yet, when the opportunity arises, they don't take the chance to get up close and personal with some of golf's stars. The kids joined us for Day 1, Iman on Day 2 and the boys on Day 3 - golf etiquette had to be explained but by their second visit, they had really got into the experience !

Maria really enjoyed the freedom of catching some actions shots of the various team members but always remembering to click once they had followed through !!

The Empire course is set up for watching play from various vantage points and we struggled to keep up with the fast moving golfers. Thankfully, we knew a few shortcuts to grab some great photos !

We really enjoyed getting to know some of the Asian players including Aphibarnrat from Thailand above. Unfortunately, with Olazabal retiring on Day 3, he didn't get to play as planned !

As you can imagine, there were not so many Europeans on the course with most of the cheering in support of Asia. Despite having no Irish involvement, I still wore some colours !

Quite a lot of people were drawn to games involving Jimenez and Maria managed to catch a great photo below of a relaxed pro before his final game on Sunday !

Ultimately, the result went against Europe and it proved to be a historic victory for the Asian team. We hope that the tournament will return to Brunei - We absolutely loved it !!

Revisiting Ladybird

When we lived in Bangkok back in 2005/2006 Iman and I spent a couple of weeks visiting several kindergartens and Iman did not like any of them until we visited Ladybird. While I was speaking to the headteacher she voluntarily sat in one of the classes and I knew we had hit the jackpot. Iman had a wonderful time in that little school and made so many lovely friends notable Rahul and Rosie. That was all five years ago and visiting Ladybird last week was a big priority for Iman.

We made our way to school in what Iman loved best back then, a mini songthaew which is like a tuktuk but on a minivan which you only get in some areas of Bangkok.

And at Ladybird, nothing had changed.

And here are some pictures from when Iman was there. Happy faces and happy memories.

Jack too loved Ladybird

Iman and Rahul during International Day

Jack and P'Bank

More Bangkok pictures Dec 2012

Enjoying a cold 7Up after a morning in Chatucak. A first for all the kids and they loved it.

This restaurant's always a great stop after walking around the market

Revisiting Seacon Square and one happy customer

Iman and I both love Japanese so there was never too much discussion of what to eat for dinner

First of many

Coming first in one of her heats

 One of the many playgrounds in Bangkok Pattana

The JSC team

Iman bubbled tea herself round Bangkok

A shrine surrounded with all these Zebras

In Terminal 21. We loved this place. The "London" floor

"San Francisco"

Central World

And Pegasus at Siam Paragon