Day out at the Rim Kok pool

Today we took a sangthaew, a little bench taxi, to the Rim Kok Resort - one of the posh riverside resorts in Chiang Mai because it allows non-guests to use the pool. It did take a while for the driver to understand where we wanted to go which seemed strange as it is a major resort. First I tried Rim Kok Resort, then again slower, then Rim Kok Hotel. Eventually he got where we wanted and repeated back to me the name - Lim Kok Lesort. Silly me, we're in east Asia of course.

The resort is a pleasant 10 minute ride over the Kok River Kaya loves being on sangthaews and tuk-tuks, specially if she can get the breeze on her face. We spent most of the day there. We all had a swim, and two lengths were about enough for us as the pool is about 50m long. Kaya enjoyed a pool side lunch then Georgia and me took turns doing some yoga while Kaya first snoozed, though only for a short time, then she met some friends - a gentle German guy with his Thai partner, then had a tour of the grounds.

It's only 80 baht a person to use the pool. There's also a jacuzzi, bar that plays music over shot speakers and a lunch time buffet for 150 baht though you need to order dishes when you arrive if you're vegetarian. The resort is right by the river opposite an army camp.

I think we'll be going back again soon. We'll just ask for the Lim Kok.

Red Curry

Chiang Rai

We arrived in Chiang Rai, a quiet small city in north-east Thailand, a bit like a small version of Newcastle without such a good football team, on the afternoon of the 5th November, just as people were waking to Bonfire Night in the UK.

We are renting a two-bedroom house from a Canadian ex-pat who spends time teaching English in China. The house is part of a street owned by Mr Chian of Chian Guest House which is over the street so we have access to their pool, laundry service and wifi as well as restaurant if we need it. We're just settling in now. We have a kitchen and are cooking ours and Kaya's food again! She is loving carrot and sweet potato with coconut milk and scrambled eggs as well as new fruit to her - pineapple, watermelon and papaya.

We shop for fruit, veg, eggs, tofu, rice and noodles in the local produce night market. Today we came back with two types of long green veg that we've never cooked with before. No idea what they are, except one looks like a sort of aniseedy flavoured vegetable seen in Thai dishes. One cost 2 baht.

The Mae Kok river is nearby with a fancy new concrete prom. Also at hand are a couple of play grounds, the public library (where we went this morning and read Kaya a story about a baby with two mouths who ate lots and worried his parents but went to see a wizard and lost a mouth, got upset he couldn't eat his huge lunch by a pond, was advised by a stick person to go back to the wizard and next thing you know he is on a three seat bike singing songs with his happy parents!), some shops, an on-street 1 baht a litre water dispenser and a som tam stall.

We've been into the Saturday night Walking Market today, a long street packed full of stalls selling all sorts of gifts, clothes and handicrafts, a few food stalls (thought not as many as you'd expect in Thailand), live music and lots of people. Kaya loved it. We bought her two rattles and a pair of long pants. Thai's worry we don't cover her feet as the cold weather of winter is setting in and its only getting up to about a nippy 29oC during the day. That's much higher a temp that in Britain parents would be worrying about getting their children out of the heat.

We also visited a temple yesterday where Kaya rolled around on the carpet in front of the Buddhas and poked the carpet a bit. It is the beautiful old Wat Phra Singh temple which is all wood with red and gold decor inside. Today we saw the Chiang Rai Youth Orchestra perform at the Doi Chaang Coffee Shop.

We should be here for three weeks and then plan to move on to Pai, Koh Lanta and either Bangkok or return to Ayutthaya for the few days.

Kaya in Thailand

Were here! In fact we've been here two weeks already. This is the first time we've had a chance to blog. Our first two guesthouses were without wifi or easy reach of an internet place and my mac has gone down with a kernel panic so is now in the Chiang Mai Apple Centre.

We had four days in Ayutthaya at the Sherwood guesthouse and six days at Orichid Hibiscus in Sukhothai, both places we stayed before with great managers and staff who were all excited to meet Kaya and see us again. We're now in the White House [no relation] Chiang Mai.

Kaya is taking everything in her stride. She didn't have any problems with flying, take off or landing, except for the first part of the first flight when her recent constipation caught up with her and her bowel movements made her cry. Once that was sorted she was fine. She was awake for most of the first flight, falling asleep just before landing in Dubai at her normal bed time. She had already slept through customs leaving the UK. She then slept through most of the second flight, first in the bassinet cot then on us. Her first long bus journey was fine for the first four hours but then she filled her nappy and it came loose due to her squirming and crying! We did a quick change on the moving bus and then she was happy again.

She enjoyed Thailand immediately as Thais love babies, and go ga-ga over them, especially farang babies. It means she is having lots of lovely happy interactions but we do have to be on guard against strangers pawing at her hands or going in for cuddles. Its men and women both who are gooey, but especially women. She returns their smiles with great smiles of her own and wiggles her legs with excitement. She also took to the smiling Buddha in Sukhothai with a big smile for his.

She is an absolute trooper. We sorted out her night time routine once in Sukhothai and have had a few late nights out with her recently as it is Loi Krathong so there are lots of fun things to see. She usually falls asleep in the sling about 8pm-ish but then wakes about 10 for a feed and a great big play. We'll have one more late night as it is the finale of loi krathong tonight with floating candles on the river (River Ping here in CM), a big parade, chinese flying candles and fireworks. She has slept through thunderstorms and not noticed fireworks. She is a star.

We've just about worked out routines and food for her. Restaurants and stalls with good english cook her something with no salt. Breakfast at the Orchid Hibiscus in Sukhothai was a big hit - scrambled egg, coconut pudding, toast and banana. The pumpkin soup with coconut milk was a big success, the pureed watery vegetable soup on rice as popular as her first attempts at parsnip and avocado. She definitely prefers food she can chew now. She has also learnt to drink water through a straw but then I guess sucking is something she has plenty of practice at!

Everyone says how good-natured and happy she is and she certainly is. She usually wakes up in her excellent LittleLife cot singing and rocking on all fours.

She has been coo'd at by a Buddhist monk on a bus and yesterday a young monk sang Old MacDonald had a farm to her in a temple in Chiang Mai! Now how many 7 1/2 month olds from Sheffield can say that. And if they could tell you about it would be something of a miracle anyway.

Cockerney of Errors

A Duff deflection finally relegates Newcastle United with an own goal during the last game of the 2008/09 season when all Toon fans were preying for an Owen goal at the other end. Why does it not surprise me, a Newcastle fan since I was a child, that this season's Comedy of Errors ended with such a signature? The likelihood that the season would have one more pathetic twist of the knife has been signposted for a few weeks now that is for sure. And I think pathetic is the right choice of word as it is defined as 'having a capacity to move one to either compassionate or contemptuous pity'. Though there is nothing about piercing humour there.

Mike Ashley has managed to preside over a season that has gone from bad to worse to sublime and in doing so has showcased his amazing lack of ability for owning a Premier League football club. First he brings in Dennis Wise as Director of Football, presumably somehow fooled into thinking that the taxi door kicker possesses some form of footballing acumen. Well Collocinis to that idea. Then he manages to upset Kevin Keegan by allowing Wise to buy and sell players without consulting Keegan. Whether you would go the whole way to supporting Keegan as a tactical genius is one thing, to confront him so bullishly while preferring the advice of the Wise Man is another. Few, very few, club owners would surely do that.

Ashley, again following the Wisened advice in his ear, hires a Joe Kinnear, a manager with a known heart problem to step in to a highly stressful situation. When the heart attack unsurprisingly materialises and Kinnear undergoes heart surgery, Ashley thinks it a good idea to save money by allowing the gifted coach Chris Hughton to manage. The season drifts along, Newcastle plummet. Did Ashley not know from his business dealings that a small investment up front can reap riches, on in this case, avoid a massive income cut. Your not selling trainers here Ashley, and I'm certainly not going along to where you do offload them to buy any from you now.

So, one last throw of the dice brings Shearer off the Match of the Day pundit's couch to try and save the season with eight games to go. An untried manager backed by Iain Dowie.

No sodden luck Mike. You blew it good and proper. Perhaps your business sense has never been too hot for you didn't undertake due diligence on buying the club and so didn't find out in advance the mortgage on the ground would have to be paid off immediately on a change of owner. It takes a lot of hard work to make Freddie Shepherd and his annual round of sacking the manager, look like a safe pair of hands. But you've done it. You've blown it. Two seasons and you've ruined Newcastle.

Newcastle fans also have to broaden their horizons. We have to stop looking for a Messiah and we must widen our opinions of who is suitable to manage the team. There has been too much Cockney bashing on fans' sites this and last season. Harry Redknapp was mooted as a manager after Allardyce was sacked last season but the fans howled in protest. 'No 'Arry the Cockerney!' Then Newcastle and Spurs began this season disastrously. How our fates have parted since Redknapp became the Spurs manager. Personally, I'd rather have spent the last couple of games of the season fighting for a place in Europe with a Southern manager than being relegated with a Geordie one. Our fans must end the calling for the hangmen within a few games of each season with a new manager that is not totally to our taste.

There was a time, at the dawn of the 21st Century when Chelsea and Newcastle, then managed by Bobby Robson, were regularly vying for third spot in the league behind Arsenal and Man Utd. How the two clubs' fortunes have diverged since then. One is taken over by a Russian Oligarch, wins the league and challenges for Europe. One is sold by Tweedle-dum to Tweedle-dummer who thinks changing manager once a season not often enough. Here is a plea to you Mike. Consider a return to peddling cheap trainers on the High Street or learn about football very, very quickly, coz' so far you have demonstrated you and your Managing Director Derek Llambas, are clueless n goalless.

Day 106

Day 106
Originally uploaded by jess_leclair

Found this wonderful joiner on flickr today.

Edale

I've recently published a short travel feature about Edale on my travel blog - Travel for Breakfast. The article is at http://travelforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2009/04/edale.html.

Radio Sheffield

Inside Radio Sheffield

I appeared on the Rony Robinson programme on Radio Sheffield this afternoon. It was a very interesting experience. I have been on radio and TV a number of times but always to talk about an archaeological site or project I have been working on. Today was very different and in many ways a much more relaxing appearance. I was asked to talk about myself including my childhood and family, my education and jobs and my influence on me as a person. It was a very enjoyable experience due to the absence of key messages to convey. All I simply had to do was rabbit on about some of the things I'm interest in, much as I'd do down a pub with friends on new acquiantences. Rony is a stalwart of Radio Sheffield, a signature voice of the region, who made the interview a very relaxed affair while the production crew of Katherine and Rav made me feel immediately welcome and at ease.


Rony Robinson at work

Strangely, as I waited outside listening to the show go out live I recognised the voice of his previous guest, Mel Jones, a South Yorkshire historian who I've met a number of times in the course of my work.

I've no idea what the Radio Sheffield listeners made of me talking about Pacifism, Buddhism, Rastafarianism, Emily Davison, Dove Cottage or Hepscott but I know that one friend, Jane Rodger, had a surprise at my voice coming over her car stereo! Glad to say no accidents ensued.

Kaya Photos