Happy New Year everybody....!

Once again, I now have about a month to catch up on eek, this time I didn't think there was much point blogging given that our most avid readers have been here in Thailand with us. In the last two hours the last of the family members boarded the UK bound planes back to reality.

What has happened since the 18th Dec then? Well.......

After two more days of solid work in Kuala Lumpur it was time to catch our flight to Bangkok :) as always with Air Asia the flight was delayed but this was nothing compared to the mayhem in Heathrow airport. We arrived in the city of tuk-tuks, lady boys and temples on the afternoon of the 20th and were welcomed with open arms by Kim and Thomas (Adds' auntie and uncle). It was so exciting to see them
after so log and we had load to catch up on. The following day Sio (Adds' cousin number 1) finally made it to Thailand after 5 days of hanging about in freezing cold airports thanks to British Airways and we also met Cordie (Adds' other cousin) and Barry (Cordie's partner). The evening was spent in a pub drinking, eating, chatting and laughing as we all caught up on eachothers news.

Over the next few days we were treated
to an amazing Dim Sum lunch in a restaurant overlooking the Chao Phraya River, Bangkoks huge river and we also welcomed Karen (Adds' mum), Rich (my brother), Marilyn (my mum) and Kevin (my dad). I was also treated to a full body massage at a gorgeous spa by Kim and Thomas, so me and Sio spent an hour laughing as our bodies were contourted in ways I never new possible, all whilst wearing nothing but some black string vest style cycling shorts....sexy! We all spent a few days eating yummy Thai food, drinking plenty of Thai beer and spending far too many hours in the local supermarket shopping centre, Emporium! Then it was Christmas Day!!!!!!!!! :)

First things first, it was 32 degrees on Christmas Day so the obvious first choice was to go down to the pool to sunbathe and swim for a few hours, naturally!! After that, the preparations began. All my side of the family arrived around 2pm and more present swapping occurred then it was time to feast......sushi for starter (prawn cocktail is so last decade), turkey with the usual yummy trimmings for mains, then a chocolate tiramisu and a tropical fruit trifle for desert, oh yeah, then the obligatory cheese board. All flushed down with Gin and Tonics, beer, red wine, white wine, Jack Daniels or rum and coke....and a headache!

Boxing Day was brilliant, I went off with Mum, Dad and Rich for the day while Adds chilled with his Mum and family. We rented a Thai long boat for the day and we went down the Chao Phraya, venturing off down one of the side canals where you get an up close and personal view of traditional wooden Thai houses on stilts. The locals were so friendly, always taking the time to smile and wave from the front of their houses or whilst doing the laundry in the river. We stopped off at the floating markets which were incredible and had some Thai snacks.....who thought of having a BBQ on a boat in order to sell fried shimp to passersby! After this our driver dropped us off at Wat Arun, sometimes referred to as Temple of the Dawn. It's a popular landmark in Bangkok and sits just on the edge of the river. There are little bells hanging from various points and when you walk up the steep stairs leading to the top of the temple the amosphere is incredibly peaceful and spiritual. When the sun got too hot for sightseeing we headed back home and found a brilliant Thai restaurant in which we filled our faces with delectable food and ice cold beer.

The following day I cashed in my second pampering Christmas gift from Kim and Thomas. This time it was a 90 minute Japanese facial.....wow, it was so luxurious, i felt like a celebrity!!!!

Pamper city.....me and Mum had a foot massage on the 28th which also included a head, back, arm and leg massage. Obviously! Not complaining though. We then went to Lumphini Park with Dad and Rich followed by yet another delicious meal out :) thanks guys.

We packed in more eating, more river trips and more sunbathing over the days leading up to New Years Eve. One morning the Mortons got up early and spent a good few hours wandering around the STUNNING Grand Palace which is home to the famous Emerald Buddha.

2011 was welcomed in by Adds, Mum, Dad, Rich, Karen and myself. We went to where all the local Thai's celebrate the western new year with a huge street party, just outside a massive shopping centre called Centralworld. There were thousands of people and some incredible fireworks (even though we almost got crushed in a stampede ha ha). This was all post a yummy Indian meal. Kim and Tom had gone to Kuala Lumpar for a few days and the girls headed back to the UK.

New Years Day was like any other, food, sunbathing!!!! and a trip to the cinema to see the new Narnia film. Over the next four days we did lots of touristy stuff. We went to the famous and humongous Chatuchak Market, this place is incredible and sooooo cheap. We even managed to squeeze in lunch which came to about 60p for a main meal! We visited Wat Pho, temple of the very impressive Reclining Buddha. The Buddha is 46m in length and 15m in height and is plated in gold..... breathtaking! Adds also took his Mum to see the Grand Palace. In the meantime Rich had to go home, back to the snow, very sad he had to leave so early :(

Addison spent two days in a beautiful beach town called Hua Hin with his Mum, where they relaxed and visited an elephant sanctury for rescued elephants. Whilst he was there, I spent three days with Mum and Dad up north in Chiang Mai. It was nice to have a bit of cooler weather and the pace of life was a lot slower to that in bustling Bangkok. We filled our days with lots of touristy stuff. On our full day together we went to an elephant camp and got to watch the poor things paint pictures, dance and do other obscene things like play football. After that we had a 45 minute elephant trek through the jungle and through lots of rivers, it was so peaceful and lots of fun getting to feed the elephants sugar cane and bananas. We were dropped off at a tiny market belonging to the Lisu hill tribe where we bought jewellery, clothes and a slingshot...! Our next form of transport before lunch was an ox drawn cart, slow, but again, lots of fun and we got to see plenty of Chiang Mai's countryside. Post lunch we took an hour long bamboo raft ride down the river where me and Mum even had a go at punting. Once again surrounded by nature at it's finest. On the way home we stopped off at an Orchid and butterfly farm and took some great pictures of lots of colourful life. That evening we ventured into the centre of Chiang Mai for another Indian and the parents had their first taste of some mental tuk-tuk driving.

Day three in Chiang Mai included food, food and more food and a beautiful long boat ride down the Mae Ping river before I flew back, alone, to Bangkok and met up with Karen, Adds, Kim and Thomas for Karens farewell meal :( it's not been much fun saying goodbye to everyone again I can tell you that for sure.

We've spent the last two days sunbathing (it's a hard life!), eating (nothing new there) and reuniting ourselves with our backpacks. Me and Adds managed a night out on Khao San Road (backpackers bustling street where all the nightlife is) just to make sure we were still cut out for backpacker life.......we are!!

The final days with my Mum and Dad were sad, we had our last two proper meals together and went to the cinema to see a nice depressing film called Hereafter with Matt Damon. Then it was time to say goodbye, I'm not going to ponder on that though as it was not nice at all :(

Tomorrow we are heading to an island called Koh Chang (elephant island) to catch up, once again, with Cat and Sam and get back en route to nowhere in particular.

Anyway, here we are, three weeks after arriving in Bangkok, only now we have had all our expectations of a fabulous christmas and new year with the family fulfilled, and we don't smell half as bad. We've had haircuts, massages, facials, manicures and pedicures just to prepare ourselves for another long haul of non-washing and non-brushing. We're back to just the two of us once again, Liz and Adds, off in search of paradise.......off exploring!

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