To dispel all myths, the number of shoes in my wardrobe has increased only by 3 pairs since I left Malaysia... Not bad for six weeks of shopping time :-) Now if I am honest, that is four new pairs minus one thrown away pair, but who is counting!!

I have passed on all comments to the appropriate people – pleased that Sharon is managing to keep you all amused.

Andrew tells me has nearly found me a new house to live in – yeah. Looking forward to checking out his taste when I get to Hong Kong in just a couple of days.

See all you Aucklanders soon! Love, Sonia

A rather verbose Sharon here...

Hello all, especially to Daryl, Braden and Lauren.
We have returned from our jaunt to Kovalam Beach, which Kyla enjoyed more than I did. More about that later.
We arrived at Chris and Karyn's just before midnight on Friday night. Our first few days in Ooty were spent at Chris and Karyn's house and it was great to see where and how they live. We went into town and were shown the market and "Modern Stores" (actual name) where Karyn and Wendy shop. We also went to Cafe Coffee Day which is the Indian equivalent of Starbucks... this does not bode well for the quality of coffee, but it was in fact the best cup of coffee I have had since leaving New Zealand. On the way back to Hebron School, walking, it began to rain. Now I have been told that rain in Ooty is not just drizzle, and it is very true.

The photo shows clearly that any part not covered by a waterproof jacket does not stand a chance of staying dry.

Kyla enjoyed exploring the school with Samantha, and generally catching up. She experienced a bath Indian Ellwood style and here is the photo to prove it. While she bathed, Samantha sat in the bathroom so they could continue giggling and talking and then they swapped places. On Saturday afternoon Karyn, Wendy and I went for a bike ride which started off on the road, which was slightly rough, got rougher and didn't seem like a road but apparrently still was and then went truly off road. It was a lot of fun, and apart from the first couple of hills, wasn't too difficult. That night we had a Kiwi BBQ atEllwoods with another kiwi family from Hebron and the McCabes. There were a total of 9 children there that night, so it felt very normal.

Sunday night in Ooty, we all had dinner at McCabes, a beautiful dish called Kadai Chicken, served with rice, Dahl (Kyla really liked this), Nazima's famous chapattis (she is Wendy's cook) and a few green chillis on the side. Ian assured Chris they were not really too hot, so as you can see, Chris tried one. Ian conceded that the chilli he got was in fact somewhat milder than Chris's one after tasting Chris's one. All very amusing watching boys try to be staunch in the face of a hot green chilli. Daryl would have fitted in perfectly!

On monday morning we organised ourselves, ready for our trip to Kovalam Beach in Kerala state. Our train trip down was an eye-opener, much as Chris had hoped it would be I suspect. We were located at one end of the Sleeper carriage, too close to the toilet, which was odourous (that is definitely putting it mildly). I woke in the morning (after waking numerous times in the night) to discover that someone I didn't know had decided to sit on the end of my bed, and another sleeping on half of Mikaela's bed opposite me. Apparently it happens in India.

Kovalam beach is lovely. At one end of the beach is a working lighthouse, red and whie striped, and I thought of you, Braden, when I saw it. You would have liked it. Here is a photo of it for you, and I have a picture of it that Alex drew for you. The beach has good waves for Boogie boarding and Kyla spent a lot of time doing so. I joined her on the first day. There were people walking along constantly trying to sell sarongs and wrap around skirts, or fruit. They are very persistant and telling them no is not enough. You have to then ignore them or they will just keep trying. Day two, I woke with a headache which then became a temperature and dihaorrea. Samantha also came down with the same type of bug. Samantha was largely recovered by Day 3 but I stayed in bed feeling yuck and homesick. During these two days Kyla still went to the beach with the others, and it became apparent that her togs really are too small. They had crept up a bit far at the back and she ended up with a sunburnt bottom. Daryl, if Chris's phone had been working he wanted to text you...."Mr Palmer, wife sick, Daughter has sunburnt bottom, please advise." My being sick did affect Kyla, and she came back from the beach on her own on the 3rd day and was a bit upset and missing Daddy and just wanting to play with Braden and Lauren. That was kind of hard to see when I was feeling much the same. The trip back to Ooty was long and slow. The train was okay, we were in the middle of the carriage this time, and so a reasonable distance from the odourous toilets. We took a minibus up to Ooty from the train along with a whole lot of others from Hebron school, and it appeared that the driver's aim was not to get to Ooty as quickly as possible, but in fact to do other things along the way... which he proceeded to do, so we didn't arrive back until about 3pm after having left Kovalam at 9:30pm the previous night. It is a long time to be travelling. It was a relief to be back in Ooty. We are now at Ian and Wendy McCabes, enjoying being waited on and having to do very little. I am mostly recovered and had my first proper meal in three days last night for dinner (albeit a very small one). Over the next two days we plan to eat, drink and be merry, in other words, not a lot apart from relaxing and enjoying ourselves. Possibly a little (more) shopping.

Well I have been in Ooty 3 days now. After a slow climb up the hill from Coimbatore (poor Sammy was sick more times than I cared to count!) we made it to Wendy's house around 11.30pm. I think the earlier flight makes life a lot easier - I think next time we will go back to staying overnight in Chennai before heading off for Coimbatore.

Saturday we spent catching up with all the news. Chris and Karyn took Kyla and Sharon to the markets in the morning, and then we met them for Dosai for lunch. Saturday afternoon we had an Indian cooking lesson - expect Sharon to be producing rather yummy Chicken for you next time you are invited for dinner!

Sunday Wendy and I went to church - do not know where the Ellwoods were!! Oh yes we do - we saw them at Cafe Coffee Day having Sizzling Brownie and coffee!! How naughty...

Sunday night was a barbeque at Chris and Karyns with some other friends of theirs from NZ. More yummy food - the jeans are getting tighter...

Sharon and Kyla have now headed down the mountain and off to the beach. Hope they have a happy time... No photos today sorry - will try harder next time :-)

Sonia

Reminder

The other blog (the old one) is still going. Now in Hong Kong. http://asrick.blogspot.com/

With Kyla and Sharon in Bangkok

It has been a few days - never will be as verbose as Andrew...

First of all, Happy Birthday Mum!! Sorry I never managed to get hold of you on the right date... I will bring you home a present - promise!!

I think that as she has never had a turn, I will let Sharon write this one... here goes :-)





I discovered how useful Kyla could be while travelling, when just after going through the gate at Auckland airport she spotted a sign that said Cafe Espresso, and she pointed it out to me. What a useful girl. We will keep her I think.

The flight here was 12hrs 10mins. It doesn't take long to say but seemed to be never ending. Still, Thai airways has individual consoles now, so Kyla watched Beauty and the Beast, and a couple of other movies to keep her occupied. The plane was not full - perhaps New Zealanders are scared of tanks? (We haven't seen any.) Arrived in Bangkok, and after being met by Sonia and walking out of the airport, Kyla's first comment -"I can smell the heat". We are getting used to the heat a little, and even felt the need for a jacket when returning to our air conditioned hotel room today.


Yesterday, Wednesday was shopping day, local mall in the morning - tiny shops crammed with stuff, and 1 or 2 sales people as well. It was tempting to ask to see the bag at the bottom of an enormous pile but we resisted the temptation. Found a dress for Jayna - it is beautiful and I am sure Jayna won't want to take it off. Sandra may not be quite so thrilled, but it is so pretty! The flash mall is a complete contrast - huge designer stores with prices to match, and a very cool gourmet market that even sells Mainland Cheese, very strange to see that here. So who did the sign in the photo remind us of...



Back at the hotel we watched the Banyan Tree staff practice their fire fighting skills on the roof of the building next door - nice to know they will be able to protect us if the building goes up in flames! Bizarre though - who in Auckland would let you use their roof to light multiple petrol files which the staff then take turns to put out... Spectacular.



Then we bowed to junior pressure and headed to the pool. Someone was very hot by this point... Nighttime came while the swimming continued. The pool is lit up really nicely.




The night market was a little disorientating - so many stores that sell the same stuff that you feel like you are going in circles. We learnt to barter, a little, but are not as good at it as Sonia is, she does a very good "So expensive, kah!" I think she is a little more convincing than Kyla and I who tend to look quite hesitant.

We caught a tuk tuk back to the hotel, after Sonia negotiated a 100Baht fare, (about $4) however the driver seemed determined to show us that he thought it was too cheap, which involved going very fast and scaring the living daylights out of Kyla who was woried that I may fall out. At the traffic lights he would kill the engine, and when we did arrive back at the hotel, he killed the engine and swept around the little traffic island in such a way that I nearly fell out of the tuk tuk because I was laughing so hard.

Today we woke at 6am , Well, Sonia tried... we nearly rang Andrew to ask him to tell her to get out of bed but eventually she surfaced. A 1 1/2hr van ride took us to the floating market, which begins with a high speed boat ride through the canals, continued with us walking through parts of the market, and then being paddled through the rest, where we were continually accosted by people trying to convince us to "buy this for baby" meaning Kyla.... who wasn't thrilled about being referred to that way.

She was even less thrilled about our guide "Rabbit" who kept holding her hand to guide her. Suddenly I found her holding my hand, a rare occurrence. It was effective however.






Here are some other floating market photos - note the beautiful framed bat - a popular souvenir!! MAF may not be so thrilled, and they speak so little English it is not worth trying to explain. This little girls only English words were 'buy hat'. Very cute.


















The ride back to Bangkok was very different to the ride there, about twice as long, and instead of all on Motorways, it seemed like the driver was determined to show us the rest of Thailand, narrow back roads that had us hoping he knew where he was going. Lots of traffic when we did get back to Bangkok meant a lot of sitting in traffic waiting.

Kyla is enjoying herself, although perhaps affected by the heat a bit. She swings between full of energy (in air conditioned spaces) and wilting when outside. She is not particularly adventurous about trying the thai food, just as well the breakfast buffet has croissants and fresh fruit.

About to go out and post postcards. That's all for now.