LANCE:

I'm writing this while overlooking our tropical bay on Koh Tao Island, in the Gulf of Thailand - genuinely, the most idyllic place I've ever experienced. I pop my head up from behind the laptop occasionally to be thrilled by the view. (The boys however thought it was "just like Swanage in Dorset". Oh well...)
We're reaching the end of the Asia leg of our trip, almost half way through our travels and there's asense of sadness to be leaving.
Thailand (as we were told by many before we left) is 'easy'. To a large extent this has turned out to be true. Language barriers have been minimal, facilities have been advanced and familiar and once again internet access has meant we've never felt remote (the greatest surprise to me on this trip is how diluted the 'challenge' has been as a result of the www.)
Bangkok has always conjured up for me what an Asian city is all about - a busy, hot, sweaty, confusing, in some places seedy, claustrophobic, mass of humanity! Couldn't wait to see it.
As we line up at passport control, I have a habit of counting how many westerners are waiting to enter and until now have been pleasantly surprised by how few there have been - partly because we like the feeling of being four of only a few entering the country. But also because some tourists seem to display an arrogance and a swagger when abroad which jars with the humility of the Asian personality. I could now see a deluge of tourists in flip-flops and baseball caps awaiting entry. It felt, for the first time, as though we were "on holiday".
Our first stay was in an out of the ordinary, creatively designed guesthouse in Bangkok, a real oasis amidst the sweaty (over 100 degrees) disorder of the city. We could have just relaxed next to the indoor ponds here and just wallowed in its personality. Great 50s retro displays, laid back furniture with a calm, hippy, eco-friendly feel. Everything seemed to have been considered with a designer's eye. (since our journey began, in most places, we've been lucky to avoid mediocrity at no extra expense).
Food stalls outside were abundant, tuk-tuks a fun way to get about. The Wats (Buddhist Temples) in Thailand stand out for me as one of the most extraordinary sights. Gleaming gold and crimson structures following soft swirly lines as though the architect had designed them with subtle brush strokes in mind. Each one without fail is lovingly maintained and each one awe inspiring, even those in small towns. Tom has also taken to them. In fact, Tom's fascination with the various religions has lead us all to find out more - we now know the story of Ganesha intimately (we've seen the play, bought the necklace, the statue and the tee-shirt). The image of Tom, unprompted, going to pay his respects to Buddha amongst other Thai worshippers will remain with me for a long time. He knows now how to kneel and bow correctly having been shown by a Monk at Pim's local village Wat. Which brings me onto our stay in the North of Thailand.
Thanks to Pim and her family for looking after us for those few days in her village near Chiang-Rai. It was a relief to leave the tourist trail.and have the opportunity to experience "real life" again. It would be a very shallow and repetitive 6 months if we were just 'sightseeing'. The fishing trip with everyone, the visit to her local Wat, the ride on the motorbike (sans helmets) may seem run-of-the-mill for her but helps keep us all engaged and inspired.
Of course, I have to mention the Mahout Course. What was initially thought to be a possible mistake (cheap and tacky?) turned out to be an experience of a lifetime. Staying in a lodge where the full time Mahouts lived, we were woken each morning by the elephants outside the door and felt a real part of the Conservation Centre.
We're making the effort to experience as much of the culture of the region as possible. I thought there may be a danger of having to repeat ourselves here - are there enough human interest activities out there? But from traditional puppetry to Thai boxing, from Tai Chi to local Thai cookery (the food here is fantastic, no other word to describe it), we've been able to pack it all in and stay fresh (so far).
The boys' confidence in themselves and the way they handle new experiences has improved exponentially (Ben used to be so cautious - he's now first up on the elephant!) And some of the benefits to them on return to England are becoming clearer.
Roll on Australia! (via Singapore and Malaysia)

CLARE:
Thailand has offered up some fantastic experiences, but I haven't felt quite as engaged with it as a country as some of the others. Is that because it isn't 'new' to me? Too familiar from tourist tales? It was a shock when we arrived at Bangkok Airport to be surrounded by so many people on annual leave. However, as ever, the places that we've stayed, and the activities that we've done, have brought the place into focus and been really memorable. Lance has covered it all, really, but here are a few moments from me:

-Watching Ben and Tom disappear off into the jungle in their blue mahout suits, astride and driving the gentle giant elephants brought tears to my eyes and a pride in how they are embracing the experiences.
-The warmth and generosity of Pim and her family. The happy way in which one can hold a conversation with her ma or stepdad in two different languages, with no understanding of what the other person is saying - but somehow communicating. Thus we enjoyed the fishing trip with Pim's ma and aunties, understood their warm welcome and goodbyes.
-Finding the beautifully designed and welcoming sister hotels in Bangkok and Chaing Mai which provided such oases, good advice and fantastic Thai breakfasts.
-Conversely, the astonishingly laid back, no, let's face it, bad service in the paradise setting of Koh Tao!
-Hanging in the warm waters of the Gulf of Thailand watching the fish feed, clean and dart amongst the coral. And enjoying just as much watching the boys underwater swimming. Tom and I built up quite a sign communication system as he hummed his way around the depths (he's taken to whistling or humming non stop!)
-Watching Ben's face intent on learning the cycle of Tai Chi.
-Seeing the boys bow and 'Sawadee-kap' to greet the puppets from the Life of Ganesh at the Joe Louis puppet theatre in Bangkok. We had to stand for the royal anthem and the boys were enraptured by the wooden puppets and all the special effects.
-Looking out over the Mekong River to Laos, a peaceful, ancient view with so many modern connotations.
Coming to a half way point of the trip, it's interesting that we are all beginning to build up a store of memories which means we can make comparisons, get nostalgic about 'bests' and laugh about 'worsts'. The boys are beginning to build up banks of images and senses about different cultures, religions, foods and ways of life. Their short term memory appears to be shockingly lacking, but it's surprising how much comes out when we talk about the places we've been to.
When calling home people have asked about what it's like to be living together 24/7 like we are. It was the biggest anxiety that I had - but I feel as if we have all ironed out our little irritations and it is amazingly companiable and peaceful. The boys provide great company for each other, finding games to play and endless things to chat about!
It is not as intense as I had imagined - it couldn't be - we would all expire with exhaustion if we were trying to learn, analyse and discuss 100% of the time. It feels as if we simply have to live it, make the best choices that we can as we go along and absorb the experiences. We've found a pattern of pacing things which works well, building in newness and activity, balanced by down time to recoup, write diaries and do school work.
Food has been pretty successful as far as the boys are concerned. The boys have been really good at trying local food (although Tom continues to pick out 50% of the ingredients) and it'll be a shame to leave the world of rice! Fruit and veg are a bit hard to come by when eating out all the time, but we have a stock of multivitamins to make up for it!
And for all the mums out there ... yes, my preoccupation with the washing continues. Hotel laundrys seem to be rubbish, roll on another washing machine opportunity!

BEN:

Things I've noticed that are the same: I've seen lots of big Buddhas in Thailand, Japan and Nepal.
A lot of Asian food consists of rice and curries.
There are lots of tall buildings in the cities, except for Kathmandu.

Things I've noticed that are different: the architecture of the Thai Wats (places of worship) is different from anywhere else because the roofs are more vertical and straight than Chinese pagodas.

Memorable moments:

Seeing two swordfish and a crab the size of a toaster in shark bay, the best place to snorkel on Koh Tao!
Mahouting (training/driving elephants) in Lampang. See our pictures on the blog.
Fishing at Pim's: We rode on the back of Pim's moped to a long, winding, narrow river where we slid into the muddy water. We used a net attached to a bamboo pole that we put into the water to catch the fish. Pim showed us how to do it. At first Tom was the luckiest because he caught 2 fish, before I caught our first crab. In total we caught 5 fish and 1 crab, and 3 fish escaped. I found it fun because we had to try and get the fish out of their burrows and we could swim around in the water.
I've looked forward to eating English food roughly every three days, but otherwise I've eaten lots of Thai food like chicken fried rice, Paneang curry and thai red curry. .

TOM:

Things I've noticed that are the same: In most of the countries we've been to the religion was Buddhism - I've seen temples and wats and stupas and monks. In Thailand the chedis reminded me of the Nepali stupas because they are the same shape.
Hawking is done everywhere! It doesn't sound very nice.
In Asia in most countries we've been to there have been a lot of 7 Eleven shops!

Memorable moments:

I tried Daddy's Thai red curry on Koh Tao. It was spicy. When you put it in your mouth it's just like 'English' chicken curry and rice but after a while it gives you a big kick and it burns your tongue. And I had 3 mouthfuls without any water.
In Pim's village we went to her village wat and I saw her praying to the Buddha. I asked her "how do you do that?" First Pim showed me and then the monk who was in the wat taught me. You go down on your knees and put your hands together and bow your head down. Just as your head is about to touch the floor you move your hands apart so that they go flat on the floor. You do that 3 times.