dinsdag 10 mei 2011

zaterdag 7 mei 2011

Going green by horse around Drenthe





Just back from 1 week with a lucky luck trailer. Our first horse Odin (i called him Dino)was changed in 2 days for  Pablo .Odin was the leader of 27 horses and was wild and freaky it gave me the most stress i ever had.Pablo was sweet and relaxed

Cycling in the netherlands




When the sun shines our country is a paradise to cycle.The horse is called Jamaica and Salome can drive it everyday. the owner Chantal bought a cap,shoes and real trousers for her.Salome is just 3 and already has her first horse wow.

zondag 13 maart 2011

New Pictures on www.ecoliciousfamilyonwheels.com

Back to normal life we stil enjoy the adventure we were part of in Asia.

New pictures on our website www.ecoliciousfamilyonwheels.com

We are happy with our Jobs.Our dog Mickey died 2 days ago a sweet loving boxer 17 years old is now in heaven.Thank you Mickey for all the love you gave us.

We thank you and hope to see you soon on our next adventure.

The website will be updated every week with new pictures

Love

David,Amira & Salome

zondag 27 februari 2011

Pictures




Jetlag time ,so happy to be back home but also missing the thai life.

First pictures

After 4 hours delay our plane went in the air.Fantastic journey the crew was amazing to us beacuse we were relaxed they told me when i was back stage talking with them to get some snacks,some people went very mad and wild beacuese of the delay.But for me better solve the problem on the ground than in the air.The switch in the engine was broken so quit important.The bikes arrived in 15 minutes and my mother and Otto just arrived to pick us up with 2 cars and went to their house and eat a big birthday cake with a beautifull horse on it wit Salome 3 years jipi.So impressed with our beauty house.We cleaned as maniacs and eat fresh veggies,oh nice to have some raw food love you

Now we have a jetlag and woke up at 3.30 so here the first pictures

enjoy

vrijdag 25 februari 2011

Last day, goodbye Thailand , crying hotel staff & plane delay

Today wasamazing, greatt breakfastwith fruit, noodles andcakes.Then cycled goodbye tour trough the city bought the last things for our flight and went to the pool.Our danish friends visited us witha present for sallome a beauty dress.The crew arrived when our cool big ford pick up arrived to bring us tothe airport and the staff started crying they love Salome and we love them the cook boughta teddy bear for Salo and we are touched deep in our harts.The taxi driver was great with a big traffic jam we arrived in 4 hours at the airport,then the big thing pack your bikes and try to get them on the plane.we had 8 kilo overweight but they were very coulant.Nowthe palne is delayed for already 3 hours and i am afraid it can take some moe hours but we will see.

We will miss this great country with such nice people.The smells,the different culture and the magical atmosphere.We are so thank full we could do this adventure and cycling in thailand is great.

Pictures coming soon.
Dear follower:
Thank you for your support,yoour patience and your interest in our adventure.

we will update this blog when a new adventure will come and you can join us.

we love you

donderdag 24 februari 2011

Elephant,horse & mountain ride!!!!!!!

Salome and i go on adventure everyday, our favorite spots are 3 places with elephants and their little babies.We know the Mahut(trainers) very good and we can touch& hug them.We hear the ins and outs wich elephant killed who,some elephants are very dangerous, 1 female around here killed the son of the mahut who still drive her.A lot of male elephants have 1 or 2 deaths on their name they can sweep so hard that some tourists are unlucky,this is why i always take a lot of distance to show the elephant my respect,and then we are invited to come closer or not.Salome and i drove a lot in the mountains together and everyday we had great adventures from thai boxing,playing with baby cows,birthday party of a holly monk,making music with the monks and more.Today we drove along the city ,went to a school were all kids were dancing ,making music and doing sport excercises.Then we drove in the mountains to play with our favorite elephants and went to a big temple were some crocodilles were waiting for us.Salome used today the beach swimming pool and the roof terrace pool with the crew as her audience.It's so fantastic over here.Love

laatste blogje

Mijn laatste blogje, laatste dagje rondfietsen, de laatste kilo's mango's eten, en voor de laatste keer sushi maken (t goedkoopste makkelijkste en lekkerste reis-eten) want: morgen om 3 uur gaan we met een stoere pick-up truck naar het vliegveld, we zijn erg blij dat we de grote ronkende miljoenenstad Bangkok niet meer in hoeven. Vanochtend een kooklesje gehad voor het recept "Thaise Noodlesoup" van de allerliefste kok ter wereld. Haar naam begrijpen we nog altijd niet, en ze heeft niet eens ooit die van ons gevraagd en we kunnen geen woord wisselen in t engels, maar toch begrepen we elkaar al die tijd heel goed! De taal van het hart, of is het die van de maag? spreekt schijnbaar voor zichzelf. We noemen haar Kokkie, maar dat weet ze ook niet eens volgens mij. Ik stond een tijdje in de keuken te denken, hmmm, wat is hier toch anders, tot t me daagde: het keukenblad komt tot halverwege mijn dijbenen, zo klein zijn de mensen hier, een soort hippe trendy kabouter-keuken was t. Grappige voorvallen met thaise mensen zijn er te over: in de soep zat een ingredient met een chinees etiket waarvan ik niet wist wat t was. Op de achterkant van t potje zat een sticker met t engelse woord: nutrional information. Nu dachten zij dat dit de engelse naam van t spul was en lieten me dit zien. Ik zei, nee, nee, maar.... kun je de thaise naam opschrijven (zodat ik iemand kon vragen om te vertalen). Na veel oh en ah's over en weer wordt er met veel zorg opgeschreven: nutrional information. 't is lastig te schetsen maar Thaise mensen zullen altijd beleefd doen wat je vraagt, ook al is t iets mafs of overduidelijk gevraagd uit onwetendheid. Zoals t volgende: bij aankomst in t hotel lag er een briefje dat ze een strandbed voor je konden reserveren met je eigen zonne-olie etceteraa.... Wij denken: geweldig! Dus de volgende dag vragen we: kunnen we naar t strand. Aah, yes. Loopt er een meisje mee bedolven onder de badhanddoeken, 50 meter de straat uit alwaar de golven hard tegen de boulevard klotsen, en geen strand in zicht is. Wij zeggen: ah, no beach. Zegt t meisje, no beach. En we lopen met z'n allen terug, onderwijl ons lachen inhoudend.
Tot binnenkort!
amira

woensdag 23 februari 2011

feestje salome gaat niet door!!!!

Lieve allemaal,
t feestje van Salo gaat niet door, het is dan voor haar 11 uur s'avonds en dat was ons even ontschoten in de planning ervan! Graag tot volgend jaar!
Liefs van Amira, David en Salome

Cycling in 40 degrees is hot!!!!!!

Every day it's getting warmer, you step on your bike and your shirt is totally soaked.Still great to ride and have some fun.We met a Polish girl on her bike and we gave her a lot of stuff we don't us,musquitto deet,sunblock,spoketuning material,shampoo,conditioner,crackers,maps ,routes etc. She was very happy and we too,it's nice to give and see someone smiling.Still everyday we ride around 40 km and have great adventures today we were in a  monk's home with 20 set up crocodilles,Salome loved it.Yesterday we met a bay cow and Salome played with her for 1,5 our,she walked around and the cow followed her and gave her a lot of kisses.These days we love our swimming pool so much to cool down and have some fun.We will miss it her but also love to go home but also really want to stay here.Sun is shinning and we love you all.Soon there will be a photo gallery to have an impression how it looked like.3 months out of your daily life is very good for a person,your relation and for a child to be whit her parents
.See you soon

maandag 21 februari 2011

WWW.DUNEHUAHIN.COM Best Hotel we ever saw!!!!!!!

Dune Hua Hin is a great Boutique Hotel with the best service and atmosphere we ever met.5 rooms with a modern style makes it a trendy place to relax and enjoy.There are 2 swimming pools 1 on the roof and 1 very big pool in a beautifull garden wich is looked after with lots of love ,in the gardenpool you have great seaview.A great restaurant with roof terrace and a great cook, the water is dripping out of your mouth from the lovely food this princess can make for you.The rooms are very luxury with dvd library and music system.The service is the best we ever met and is 100 times better than a Hilton or similar because of the personal contact with the staff and the deication of this amazing crew.We love it here, we feel at home and are so happy every day that we can be here.We love the crew and Salome is treathened like a queen.

Thank you Dune for your friendship.

We love you.
If you want to visit check this beautifful site:
www.dunehuahin.com

zaterdag 19 februari 2011

Surprise party & rough world cycling

After a great session of 1,5 hours with the dissabled dad who was the only one who wasn't tyred of the intensive laugh,sing,mime and massage session we ended up in the swinging pool to cool down.Round 12 it's getting to hot here so time for a nap and when we walked back from our afternoon swim our room was filled with presents for Salome, 1 big tent decorated as an shop with a window and a door with funny items as fruits,vegetables etc. airbrushed on the tent. 3 boxes of sweet cookies and a hammer wich when you hit it could sing happy birthday.So sweet.Amira started getting emotional from al the love this people bring us.When we walked into the roof terras/restaurant it was full with balloons and happy birthday salome on the walls,Party hats for the staff and us,winnie the pooh mugs and plates AMAZING so sweet.Pasta,pah-thai,fresh strawberries,chocolate malva with ice ,fresh kiwi smoothies,thai ice tea,orange juice and capochino's danced around the table and the staff keep on bringing meals till we couldn't walk around anymore.Salome was dancing around the restaurant up and down with her tent,and at a certain moment the tent was full of cooks and waitresses having fun with Salome.After this great treat of the Hotel wich we reveived as an present for Salome and as thank for my work with the owner i tried to climb on my bike to try to get some juice for Salome,the receptionist called me there was a phone call,it was the brother of Amira,Mister Sander and we told our stories of our journeys,they went 1 month to Morroco and we had the same adventures like if you;r in the mood and don't expect something,beautifull thing happen,He told me when he asked for david or amira they don;t know who he ment but he spoke the magic word Salome,aah yes Salome who was sitting naked running the reception,fax and the crew work around they now here,the new boss you mean.

Yesterday i had a hot downhill ride in dessert grounds with steep hills and heavy rocks, at a certain moment while driving 30 km downhill my handlebars got loose and i collapsed to a big rock hurted my foot but is allright now.

Happy vibes from a magical country

David the clown

I consider myself one of the luckiest people to be traveling for so many travels now with David since he is by nature a clown and we always end up in some strange and fun adventure simply because of who he is. In one of the newspaper-articles that was written about us before we left somebody wrote about him that in case he would meet somebody in a wheelchair he would want to go out and help that person, kind of as a way of serving a good cause with our travel. This is not really what we said in the interview and it seemed to us really funny when we read it: we could see that person being quite scared of us, imagine someone in Holland in a wheelchair approached by a Thai guy saying he is going to help the person....It is not how it works in the world. And yet.......life goes in mysterious ways: he really did help the one and only person we met in our entire 3 months who was in a wheelchair, was even asked to do so. So yesterday and today I saw him get the party going with our millionaire-neighbor and some of their friends, singing songs and swinging away. He got this old guy who had had a stroke 5 years ago laughing out loud, in his own very special David-way. They were really happy with him and I think partly because of this all the staff are making Salome a huge party as we speak. I am in the lobby and everybody that is supposed to be working is blowing balloons, we are expected at 5 o'clock in the restaurant. They have been entertaining her all day already, she loves to help the cleaning lady or pick flowers or fruit in the yard, having a motorcycle helmet for a bucket in her hand, or sit at the desk pretending to be the receptionist (preferably naked). So far for not giving kids too many toys: they come up with the greatest things to do! 6 more days to go! Don't forget to come to Salo's party: sunday 27th 16.00!

vrijdag 18 februari 2011

Big band performance,was a great show and i was member of it!!!!

Tonight i played with a big thai band on a party next to our hotel.I asked for the klong yaw drum wich the owner bought for the music therapy session and asked the drum to get my skills rolling after 3 months of cycling and no music.While a was practicing on the beach and went down to my room i heard a band playing and played along and they invited me on stage.After the first set the children of the party animal invited me to drink along and they couldn't believe i only wanted sparkling water(already luxury after 3 month plain water) while they are drinking loads of whisky and beer.Not for me.
Sleep well

Salome's Birthday & Music Therapy

Tomorrow Salome is getting 3 years,the  Hotel staff is aware of this and they are already singing: Lappy bilthday .Fantastic.This afternoon the receptionist came to me and told me the owner is expecting me at 5 o'clock sharp??????I didn't know what was happening but this Hotel belongs to a rich men and is right side disabled >His doughter is the manager/chief and 1/2 days per 2 weeks here from bangkok to let it run.In a little conversation  i told her my job and said it would be great to experiment with her dad but would need 2 drums.Most things her people say yes but at the ending nothing happen.Not today she took it serious and bought 2 original Klong Yaws beautifull varnished and with shawls around the neck they look 2 happy drums.So i had some time to relax near the pool but the receptionist was calling me come come.OK totally sweating in a towel stinking with my summerhat i arrived at the local king he sat on the veranda with his wife and 3 maids standing next to him.Normally i give music therapy 1 on 1 but today with maids and a great and supporting wife(his wife)It was great fun these people are serious and the rangorder between the staff and the owners are like in the middleages.They stand next to you waiting for orders so i needed a pen and paper and in 20 seconds they flew it into my hands.The man couldn't talk but with singing he could repeat all the words  i sung.I wrote some excersises for the 2 maids(his private fiso and massage therapist)and we sung and laughed hard.I developped excersices to bound them and let the assistants sing with him so they were all equal for a moment,I give him a massage,played the drums and his rhythm is very good on left but right is total gone so instructed the assistants how to build it up again(try 2).Tomorrow at 9.30 he's got another lesson.Love you

Counting down!

We have come upon our last week here, never thought we would be living in a hotel for
6 weeks, but it has been really great. I can recommend it to everyone! I think next sunday I will wake up  and then wonder why no one is putting our breakfast on the table, and wonder why no one came to clean the house, I am probably that spoiled by now!
Also wonder where did our view go of palmtrees and the sun rising on the calm sea when you open the curtains, (yes, even in the toilet you have sea-view!), the sound of birds and rolling waves. And where did the guy go to open the door for me when I leave, do I really have to do this myself??
Yes you get used to these kind of things quite easily..... It has been good fun, we keep telling ourselves we never had a real honeymoon and that this makes perfect good reason to go and have vacation such and such but it have been quite a few vacations by now haha, but I think it is the best thing to do in your life: have lots and lots of honeymoons and enjoy them to the full. We are reading a book where someone favors this idea calling it  'mini-retirement', but I like mine better!
Salome is able to count to ten in english! (and dutch!) and she swims underwater now too with goggles!

maandag 14 februari 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine to everyone we love and care about! Thank you for your nice reactions to this blog, we only found the page with them about 2 weeks ago, we thought it didn't work haha! And then there were all these sweet posts for us waiting! Great!
Woke up today with a sweet Valentine card from David and Salome! February is our month of LOOVE, since it is our wedding anniversary, the next week it's Valentine's day and everywhere you are reminded of Love in the air, and then it is our sweet baby Salo's birthday. The whole month we are in an energy of sweet love and gratitude to have found each other to share life and love. It's the LOVE PARTYTIME for us. And we hope for you as well!


We are doing a lot of research here (since we have time and access to a good Apple Macintosh with higspeed internet) on how to SIMPLIFY our lives even more in order to free up more energy and focus to do the things we want: to play, be together, enjoy our jobs and time. This is a big process called life and you can keep learning. So far we already organised many things in our lives in better ways, and to be able to go on this trip is one of the things that came out of that process! It's unbelieveable how many people we met before and on this trip who said: I would like to do it but I can't because of blablabla.
It is fun to learn how to smoothe out your life instead of being caught up in the fast lane.

zondag 13 februari 2011

Diesel Smoke Dangerous curves Red Simpson

This song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROOyZ8_9ZFw is my favorite trucker song and it fits very good in Thailand.We cycle in dark deep diesel smoke and inhale it sometimes to much.The dangerous curves can you find here on the road but also in all the behaviour of the people the way they are living.There is a market close to our hotel and we are there waiting before the attractions are open.Fantastic to see.Owners fighting one is bold and in his stress takes a brush and brushes his hair.A smoothie seller face full of cream because his machine exploded.The childrens attractions are lightend with tl tubes wich are fitted with paper ropes.Big working lights fall down electricity network is made by people who have to wear a t shirt don't try this at home..

Dangerous but funny at the same time.Your eyeballs are rolling around and you could write novels and films about this abstract live style.

Red Simpsons album is the only lp i still got the rest of my collection i gave to my friend Leo of Strandtent de Fuut.

But this record wich my father bought in the 80ies for a customer were he made an sculptor of and who loved trucker music.

I still love it and handle with car.


Diesel smoke Dangerous curves

vrijdag 11 februari 2011

Muay Thai Boxing den haag

This was a great lesson for me.I received great techniques for the best punch.I love it.Didn't knew it so great to train with the pads.You can punch so hard and my teacher smiled more and more when my power increased.Great fun.

It's difficult to find pad muay thai boxing in the hague.I don't like to fight on a partner but do the pad training

donderdag 10 februari 2011

Muay Thai Boxing

Getting ready for my boxing lesson.Did some workout,push ups,swimming and practicing a fight in the mirror.Fantastic can't wait.
Hasta la pasta

woensdag 9 februari 2011

Off Road and downhill 35 km our bikes can do it

We don't have suspesion on our bikes but steep mountains and heavy road we can handle it.
Started at 3 0 clock in 35 degrees we cycled and it was great

dinsdag 8 februari 2011

Atacked by a drunken knife holder

Today we went to a playground on the beach with our Danish friends.A drunken man asked us for money, we said no,but the guy kept on coming and we ignored him till the moment he came back with a bamboostick with a knife on it.We both were talking with our kids in our arms but kept on threathening,The dansih man 2 m tall used his voice and the drunk men left but after a few minutes stood behind us again with the knife.We decided this is not the best playground for today.Scary freaks nothing happened but the people drink here a lot of gasoline sort of drink were your mind is getting crazing after 1 sip.

I decided to start Thai boxing this week to develop my skills to have some technique to protect my family in this sometimes getting more agressive world.

I won't use the punches and kick for free but in the situations i sometimes get involved in i like to have some skills to protect and get out living.

Happy vibes from a sunny and hot Thailand

maandag 7 februari 2011

Just Maried

Today we celebrated our 3 year marriage.It's fun and great to enjoy .It feels like 1 big honeymoon.

I received the book the 4 hour workweek from Timothy Ferriss.Great info to canalise your life

Tomorrow 30 km ride

vrijdag 4 februari 2011

Cycled 115 km and Our dog is ready for heaven

Today we cycled 115 km very hot and very fast this ride was with heavy mountains and beautifull sights.For my bottoms i tried something new i folded a little towel in 4 pieces and it worked great no pain at all.Only a very hot head.
We received a message that Micky our boxer dog who is 17 and which we saved from the circus and lived with us for 12 years is getting ready for heaven here back foot is not working anymore.

If somebody knows a person who lives near the hague and can do holistic massage please contact us.Normaly i can fix  or release her pain but now we are far away and still take 3 weeks before we are there.

Thank you

love to you our family and our lovely dog micky boxson

dinsdag 1 februari 2011

Cycled 52 km. Hardcore world cycling

Today 7.30 i cycled with a group of crazy cyclists, offroad hardcore fast speedy on and of the mountains.1 australian dude was funny while riding and we were atacked by a bunch of agressive hungry dogs he took his hand under his saddle and took a metal thing(ploertedooier) and hitted it out it became a long metal bassebal bet and swept around, no one hurts but worked effective.2 flat tyres but changed very fast.Yesterday i met a Dansih man with a girl of 3 years and today she played with Salome,jipi a friend.Funny of all her birthday is on the same day as Salome 19 februari what a coincidence

Hihi

Ik zat vandaag met Salome op de fiets, op weg naar een soort dierentuin met oa. beren. Vraagt Salome: gaan ook broodjes smeren? Ik denk even na, oh ja, ze heeft net t liedje 'k zag twee beren broodjes smeren geleerd. hihi.

maandag 31 januari 2011

Slow life

Our lives are incredibly slow, relaxing and predictable these days, which is the nicest life with a child, since when they know what to expect they are more relaxed and open to fun since they don't have to put energy into finding out what's what and what's where. And so it is the same for us grown-ups! So wednesdays and sundays there is market, in itself amazing with the weirdest items on sale, like 100 pair of used running shoes selling for 2,50 a a pair but no ordinary Thai (which are the folks that visit this market) would ever think of going for a run so it's hard to imagine how this is a good business. Or fried eggs the size of a tiny little cookie, and they come in cute little cups with a tiny little yellow yolk in the middle, or again the head of the pig that we have seen more often, or a whole heap of intestines (darmen) on the BBQ. Yum! Why we come to the market is for the big jumping cushion for kids and the trampoline that you can be on for 20 minutes for a whopping 50cents. Salome loves it! And she gets better and better at it. And it is a great idea! This market is a real-life Thai experience of course complete with very loud music, preferably two or three kinds competing with each other, blaring out of the speakers.
We also get to use a big private pool in the garden nextdoor (belonging to the owner of this hotel) and everyday we have jumping-sessions of about 100 times, giving you that good old chlorined-feeling of when you were young. Salome decided she no longer needs floats (bandjes), and after holding on to the side of the pool for 2 weeks since she is well aware that she will drown without them, she now taught herself to swim, this morning she swam 2 metres by herself, in the deep pool.
Another good example of Thai culture: we were looking for a cardboard box to make a doll-house, I was in the supermarket, everywhere cardboard boxes, I ask for one, but they say: no have. huh???. So I naively think they don't understand and try to explain, pointing at the boxes, telling them what it is for, but you look at this blank face with no effort to want to help you whatsoever, and the guy says: solly no have. So this is Thailand: some people will help you in unexpected circumstances in ways beyond your expectation and others won't help you at all in situations where you would expect it to be normal. So far for the culture gap.
It is just wonderful to be here, to be outside all the time, to enjoy this easy quiet time in our lives, riding our bike in the sun, visiting here and there, reflecting on our lives, meditating, having time for dreaming and taking naps, reading books, and being taking care of by these wonderful people of Dune Hotel. So, if anyone needs running shoes: let us know!

vrijdag 28 januari 2011

Foto's and Salome's Party

I tried a few times to upload our foto's but to afraid to delete it.We lost already 1 camera full of great pictures so i promise 1 march they will be online.

Fro Salome's Party if you like to give a present wich is not necessary she loves horses and a cheap digital camera she loves making foto's,her camera died here unfortunatelly.

Love

The Monks Birthday

Today again an amazing meeting with something you cannot plan. Here in Thailand you see and meet new impressions in life. Like a mother who clean her daughters hair from lice with the fingernails and eat the founded insects, prostitutes cutting the footnails from her white lover near your breakfast table, a mothers hitting her child in front of Salome, a pig head for sale on the market & more of these interesting attitudes in life. Today i cycled along a little village passed the thai boxing school and saw a lot of people circling around, in front and nearly on me on the way to the temple on the hill. Normally no people here just a few monks, today thousands of people everywhere. I stopped the bike and walked with Salome along and through the human mass of sweating souls. Poor Poor Poor people from everywhere. They all tried to touch Salome who didn't like it and I had to punch the people away. The old women were really behaving a bit freaky today. People were standing in long rows. I didn't know what was happening and we sat down to look at this chaos. After 5 minutes a young lady came to us and explained the situation. The main monk had his 54th birthday today and everybody received free food, drinks and the poorest people received clothes and bags with food. Amazing situation. We ate great veggi food and met nice people, a young lady and her friends who lived 10 years in Holland but missed her country so now started an ice cream shop in Hua Hin, a nice man who has a company with steel attributes for your toilet and shower, bath attributes. Nice conversation about life,buddhism, greedy people, angels and their 7 levels and after that the 3 levels of the angels. Interesting and a lot in common with sant mat.
Radha Soami

donderdag 27 januari 2011

Dear friends thanx for all your mail,amazing so sweet

Today we found out how to see the reactions from the readers of our blog.Thank you it makes me smile, so happy to hear from all of you.

Love

Yade geboren!

24 januari is onze lieve Leonie bevallen van dochter Yade! Leonie is niet alleen een goeie vriendin maar ook de verloskundige die de bevalling van Salome heeft begeleid. Wat heerlijk en fijn en bijzonder dat alles goed is gegaan (spoedkeizersnede) en we wensen Orkun, Leonie en Yade een prachtig en gezond leven toe en vooral heel veel tijd om met elkaar te zijn! (Orkun woont nog in Turkije)


 Nogmaals 27 februari 16-17.30 tea party voor Salome's verjaardag. RSVP!

woensdag 26 januari 2011

Chicken fight

Just cycled into an new adveture.Cycled around today to buy Birthday presents for Salome,her 3th birthday is 19 february but we give now some presents because she can use them now and looking for a present for my beautiful wife we are 3 years married on 7 february.I saw a big fight between 3 chickens with some guys around them.Crazy ,it looked like a training for a big event but so strange that people do this.Sometimes i feel i am in the middle ages driving on my aluminium horse and meet strange and also interesting situations.

On Sunday 27 februari we plan to give a party for Salome in Holland between 16.00-17.30 tea and cake.
So if you're close send us an email and we put your on Salome's party list

Love

maandag 24 januari 2011

Salami

Oke allemaal, nog 4 weken te gaan, en voor iemand als ik betekent dat: al bijna inpakken geblazen haha! In mijn hoofd ga ik al een beetje terug naar Nederland, voorbereiden hoe het leven daar alweer zal zijn, net zoals ik al n paar maandjes in Thailand zat in mijn fantasie voordat we maar in het vliegtuig zaten.
Ik vraag me af hoe alle mooie zwangeren eruit zien die we in Nederland hebben achtergelaten, Maaike, Leonie en Babet en wanneer de eerste baby geboren zal worden, nog voordat we thuis komen! En of er nog eentje stiekem zwanger zal zijn, maar pssst dat is een geheim, en ik ben het natuurlijk niet zelf! Allemaal duimen.......en nog meer duimen.........Hier in ons luxe hotel-leven worden we heerlijk verwend. S'ochtend na het wakker worden kunnen we om half negen terecht voor het ontbijt dat op het dak in een mooi restaurantje met uitzicht op zee en palmen wordt geserveerd door n allerliefste Tai (zo heet ze echt) en het aardigste kokkie van wie we de naam niet zo goed kunnen onthouden. Die roepen in koor: Salami! Want de hele staf (en dat zijn er nogal wat ondanks dat er maar 5 kamers zijn die nauwelijks bezet zijn) vindt Salome helemaal geweldig en noemen haar dus Salami. En Salami vindt hun ook helemaal geweldig, met als gevolg dat wij rustig ons krantje kunnen lezen en genieten van lekkere vegetarische Thaise soep met superverse groenten en lokaal fruit als guave en watermeloen. Salami en de meisjes praten eigenlijk niet, het zijn prachtige oosterse meisjes met zeer veel innerlijke rust en er ontstaat n soort mime als ze met hen speelt, ze noemt hen allemaal 'mijn vriendin'. Het is leuk om te zien en ik denk dat kinderen het leuk vinden om met kinderen, dieren en andere volwassenen te spelen en leren in hun leven.
Ik hoor Salami komen en verstuur snel dit bericht, tot n andere keer!
Amira

zondag 23 januari 2011

Making holy music with the monks

Today was great.I went cycling with Salome and if you go into little villages and follow litlle streets you visit places you cannot plan.As i am a musician and hearing music the first thing i do is filtering if it's a cd or live music.I cycled in a remote street and the music catched my ears and it came from a temple. Salome and i parked the bike put of our shoes(rule no.1 in temples) and there was a big orchestra playing. 3 big gongs 3 sets of 20 gongs on wood 2 xylophones, 4 cymbal players 1 big bass drum like a dholak from india and 1 set of 20 little dholaks tuned that you can play melodies amazing tuning and 3 flute players.We sat down and listened the drummers invited us on stage while playing there parts of music we climbed on the stage  and we sat next to 3 drums and i played along. In there brake i played all the instruments and sung some impro song, they were impressed by my skills and before we knew we were members of the orchestra.I played the drums and the big gongs and learnt the repetoir.At another brake Salome played with a  big cat who scratched her after 15 minutes so we left.Again riding a way we don't now.Before we knew we were in the hart of an elephant camp were Salome hugged really big elephants.It's special but also  a bit scary.These animals are so big it's impressive to feel there nose sniffing around your body.After 40 minutes we drove back to the orchestra first we went listening and the parts i played before were sounding different to me.The gongs are so magical and important for this kind of music.They saw me and invited me back on stage it was so special.The conductor gave me a new piece of music and i was in heaven.After 2 months of not playing music it was a relief to play again, and such different music and instruments i used to play.After 3 sets they invited us for lunch and Salome loved to play the instruments as well.The magic of this orchestra is there is no competition at all.No competition but everybody thankfull to play together,This spirit is missing in most musicians i play or see playing.No ego no competition but harmony.This is how the way music is ment for religious warming the soul and having fun together.It's nice to be in the reallife as an member of an orchestra then you feel you are living the live and not a tourist doing nothing but develop and meet new skills.After this great adventure we went back and slept in our paradise.We woke up jumped on the bicycles again and went to a big market for thai people,it's great to be under the people and not in the tourist traps.There were big jump cushions and plastichorses who cyrcled with the power of a fan.The creativity here is so big.Make something of nothing.The we cycled to a luxuriuos resort because on all the signs there was organic food.We ate 2 delicious salads and Salome fried rice with vegetables and cashew nuts.Amazing service when we wanted to leave the crew gave us there number and told us the road is very dark and if we had an accident we could call them.How nice.
Sleep well xxxx

zaterdag 22 januari 2011

Cycling the roads

Everyday we tour around the 40 km.Sometimes it's very hot but mostly ok with some smoothe breezes.The people love Salome and sometimes give here little presents.It's nice to cool down in the sea or a nice pool and relax.

Love

dinsdag 18 januari 2011

Hua Hin Cycling club

Today we cycled with the Hua Hin Cyclists.We arranged an early fried rice soup and got on our way to the Railwaystation were great bikes were waiting for an wild ride.Fantastic people and a big group who lost each other in the first 20 minutes and also  the route was impro what is a great talent ofcourse for people who live here for 5-7 years.Amira kept flowing in the middle group and i was in the first group off road,down hill and gardensightseeing.Fantastic.Thank you dear friends.

maandag 17 januari 2011

Puppies

We get the ins and outs day by day.Yesterday we found a playgarden with workout garden on the beach for kids an adults.The coincidence our animal karma is still allright there are 3 puppies living there and today we cycled again to the playground and playing with animals is Salome's favorite thing so lucky we found animals again.Tomorrow we gonna cycle with the local bike club.No idea what surprises we get.

Love from a cooling down Hua Hin

vrijdag 14 januari 2011

Hotel DUNE Hua Hin

We feel like a million bucks in this beautiful hotel called DUNE, in a modern nice beachtown called Hua Hin,  it is in fact our dreamhouse! We wish we could live in a place like this with the most amazing view of the sea. There is only 5 rooms and everything is just equally pretty and welcoming and luxurious but you still feel a home and not in a hotel. Yesterday I met a woman who was vacationing in Thailand and she shared her experiences about being here 6 years ago in the very heart of the tsunami together with her husband and 4 kids, all of them swept away by the wave. They all made it safely in the end, but it changed their lives, and it was good to hear in detail this story and the effect on their lives since the tsunami-past is still so present everywhere in Thailand! To hear someone's personal story made all of that come alive for me. This trip makes us again deeply aware of how grateful we feel for all we have in our lives, to be safe, healthy, to have love, a connection with spirit, a roof over our heads, money, to belong somewhere in a place that feels like home, to have fresh foods in any quantity we enjoy, the ability to develop yourself.
And the small things like how great it is to have productstickers that actually come off again (what an invention!) (you know like when you buy something at Hema or Blokker everything has a sticker?), here they just never come off, you can scratch for hours at them but the glue doesn't come off.
So what else is really fun here: the food-culture, there are thousands or even a million people in Thailand I daresay, driving around in the most unexpected places with little outdoor kitchens made on scooters with all kinds of treats to eat, soups, stuff on sticks with little barbecues, corn on the cob, fruits, etcetera, people are always eating here, and they really enjoy it, and it must be somewhat allright stuff since there are not a lot of fat people here. One big sectret is I think that nobody eats wheat products. A street can be empty and within 30 minutes the whole place is transformed into a restaurant area with tables and chairs and fresh foods and women cooking in big pots. and of course a lot of people eating it! It starts at 4 a clock until midnight and then they all clear the place again to start all over again the next day. Our favorite is Green Papaya Salad (Som Tam) a salad with a great spicy dressing, lots of vegetables and some nuts.
Okay, lots of love from paradise!
Amira
Something peculiar also is to be in a country without any playgrounds, they just don't exist here. In all of Thailand we saw 2 places with swings that were completely overgrown and falling apart.

woensdag 12 januari 2011

Cycling in the night ,hope to find a Hotel!!!!!

Yesterday it was what you can call a heavy day &it was also fun and full of excitement. First we left our horseranch were Salome drove on very big horses.Then we went to the tourist office to change our busticket to Bangkok to Hua Hin, i asked the clerk 100 times if the minivan and the bus could take and she assured me :Don't worry.Then we went to the house of Ed & Marianne 2 dutch people who live in ao nang and are so sweet and nice people.Then we rented a motorbike to get to Krabi town to get a new Visa.It went ssmooth in 1,5 our we arrived back at Ed & Marianne were we drunk coffee ,did a swim in their pool.After 2 hours they left and we could stay to wait before leaving to get the minivan.So far so good.at 14.00 we cycled from the house to the Starbucks were the minivan would come to pick us up.It was not coming at all and i called the office 4 times and there the tough work started.1 fully loaded pick up truck with backpackers and big rucksacks arrived,the driver got out his car and the first welcome he had impossible no way you can bring the bikes and this cost you a lot of money.I ignored him asked the backpackers to help met to get 1 bike on the roofrack, they helped really fantastic and Amira left with Salome and 1 bike on the roof with a lot of nearly accidents and here bike without ropes dancing on the roof she made it.For me another pick up arrrived with even more bags and people on it but with again fantastic help of backpackers i arrived to.The new challenge : get on the big bus.The Chef called Pakman came immediately to me with the information:Impossible to bring your bikes.I told him don't worry and i help you but every minute he got more angry and stressed out,again i ignored the crazy moneywanted thai freak(ofcourse most thai are great and nice but some thai people working with tourists are sometimes big stinking rats) and stayed in my own energy.After twenty minutes he came to me and told me : Now it's no problem and all the people got in and packed the bus.I had the honour bading in sweat to try to get our bikes in the luggage compartment after giving birth to the first bike the chef came again and said you have to get out it will not fit,then i gave him 200 baht and he said no problem again.But there was a problem there was not space.But with a lot of tears and sweat i finally got the stuff in and we left the south of Thailand in heavy rain.We had the luck we had a bus with upstairs 50 places and downstairs a table with around it seats it was full with a french family,brothers and sisters who let us in their camping car vibe.It was a great time with them Salome had a new friend and they looked together to a little dvd player the movie Lion King.At 3.00 in the night i went to the bus driver if he didn't forget to stop in Hua Hin and 3.30 we arrived at Hua Hin.It was dark,some drunk people and we a family with a little girl getting the wheels on the bike and all other articles we had to remove for the bustrip.Then our night cycle tour started.In the bus i already booked a hotel but we had no clue were we were.We cycled and all hotels were closed.Then there was a tourist and we asked him a hotel and he told me were he stayed we went there and when a was calling :Heloo,Sawadee at the reception desk the clerk slept under the desk and we got in the most stinky hotel with a lot off animals who normally don't live in a hotel.But i was happy we had a room.Amira went up i unloaded the bikes,paid,locked the bikes and went to the nightmarket to get apple juice for Salome.When a walked through the hotel i heard all the beds making music of the rhythm of old white people making'love with young thai woman.We didn't saw or heard much of this industry till now but now we were in the middle of the heat.We slept got breakfast and cycled away to find a place were we feel good and can relax.In this tour we met 2 world cyclist  talked with them and also bought a new pump wich we lost during our journey.2 hours of searching and no place at all,Salome saw a place with rabbits in all colours of the rainbow she said there it is.We stopped at a imense luxury hotel and Salome played with the Rabbits,while Amira checked the room and the pools 1 on the roof and 1 at a big garden with soft grass with an amazing seaview i told here it's great &fantastic but really expensive.She told me ok now you look,i went to the room and it was a place so beautifull,there was a sweet pepermint smell and view is amazing.I tried to do my best to get a better price they started at 5000 and finally i made it to 2100 baht per night(wich is a lot in Thailand already but in Europe nothing for this quality).We stay here 7 days and then they are full and we have to look for a new place.We feel like a king,Queen and there princess.Amazing service,free dvd library,internet,toothbrush,shaving equipment etc. etc.In Thailand you live 1 moment in hell an the other in heaven.We really love it here.We took a swim in both swiming pools,went to the evening market and now we gonna look a dvd .Fantastic

Love you all

dinsdag 11 januari 2011

Leaving Southern Thailand

Hello everybody! We have decided to leave the beaches and islands of southern Thailand in peace. Our plans to bike south are impossible because of heavy and continuous rainfall all over the deep south and Malaysia, the monsoon is unexpectedly late this year, it should have passed over end of november already. Supposedly it has to do with El Nino. We have been waiting here for 10 days (again) to see if it would clear up (we have been waiting since we first came here actually) but it is not changing any time soon. So there, our cycling trip ends for now, we shift perspective from being cycling hero's to enjoy the rest of our time vacationing, we are taking a bus back north and will try renting an apartment in a little beachtown some 200 kilometer below Bangkok. Anyway our butts are sore! So we can have some rest, (we find traveling around so much with a little kid pretty exhausting!!!) enjoy our own place and space and some good wheather at last (it is dribbling raining or overcast here in Krabi as well quite often, as well as being 30C so very hot and humid). Other than this traveling stuff the BIG Event was that Salome decided she no longer wants to wear a nappy, and she is now 100% zindelijk' (potty trained though there actually never was a potty) Hip Hip Hurray!!!!!! We are very proud of her, amazing to see how she makes these kind of decisions in her own time, knowing when she is ready for something. We love her so much! So who is who: David is the guy pulling the logistics together and getting good deals, Amira is the navigator and the food shopper, Salome is making funny jokes, spotting animals and very inspiring with a sunny mood whenever mom and dad are a bit worn out from traveling and slightly lose it.

Everybody enjoy yourselves!
Love Amira

maandag 10 januari 2011

Tips for cheap ticket Bangkok Barcelona wanted

Dear friends, our adventure is injured by the weather, going south is rain only so no option.Yesterday we met 2 great and friendly worldbikers and we wish them good luck in the rain.Tomorrow we take the bus to Bangkok and want to fly to Barcelona this is our first choice.Otherwise Malaga Spain,or Faro Portugal.If somebody find a ticket from Bangkok to a place in south europe please let us know.More souls can do more.Here it's great but now we know Thailand and the culture very well and like to use our time left for a new adventure.There is a company called wicked campers and you can drive a camper from Rome to Barcelona.If you see something let us know.Our first plan was to go to Australia but with all the fluds the company advised us not to do this.

If you have ideas please let us know.

Happy vibes from Ao na Mao

vrijdag 7 januari 2011

Our country is our paradise

Traveling is great.We love the adventure but...............After some time from home we clearly see what we have and that's a lot/We have great jobs(we can't wait to start work)We live in a great house and we have lovely friends and family.We dreamed and had a lot of fantasies about emigration,travelling forever but we see now we like the adventure and go back to our own paradise.The only problem in the netherlands is the weather for us it's rainy and cold but having a place were you feel happy is the most important thing.So now on adventure and then back to our paradise.

donderdag 6 januari 2011

Cycling around Krabi & advice from the weather guru

Yesterday we met the weather guru of ao nang it's Will a dutch friendly and handsome man who advised us about the weather and what to do.He's also a cyclist and gave us a lot of info and nice routes.Thank you Wil.Today we cycled to the magic spicy garden of his friend Piet,Who teached us the beauty of nature,We now know how they make kortizonen and more.Dear Piet and Wil thank you for the support.This adventure came in the air when we met Marjan who is the sister of Wil and lives next to him.She was so kind to bring us to the MAkro(with the beauty car of Piet and Wil).Today we cycled around 45 km and enjoyed the big fish in a fish farm.Now time for sun and a little nap.Happy new year

woensdag 5 januari 2011

Animals

We are still on the horsefarm, and we are still the first and the only guests there, it is superquiet with a beautifull view of the Karst Mountains of Krabi and a supersize swimmingpool!! Salome rides the horses everyday, she now has a collection of Dutch, French and Thai animals she knows and loves and our bedtime song becomes longer and longer since it is about all the animals and Salome together wearing 'bandjes' in the swimmingpool and having fun. So we have the elephants Namphet, Lumyai, Dao Ryang, Mao and Baley, We have the horses Magnum, Smile, Jennifer, Samphet, Reglisse, Hazel, Maaike, Luna and Taelong, We have the dog Mickey, Lisa the pig and Truus the Cavia. Good thing we don't have to name the fish we see!
Krabi is on a beautifull bay, the sunsets are great, we go out to a little pier to watch the local fishermen and their boats and watch it go down, then we eat some food on the street, you can buy 3 good tasting meals on the street for the price of 1 starbucks coffee! So if you stick to the local stuff you can get by kind of cheap but not as cheap as we thought. We try to eat as raw as we can and we manage quite well, there's plenty of pineapples, mango's, apples, nuts, greens and veggies and Salome likes Durian! (THE king of raw fruit and it grows here) We add some rice, rice-noodles, yoghurt and we are thriving from the exercise, sunshine, swimming and yummie food. We have not been cycling a lot since we were warned about drunken driving around the holidays, 400 accidents a day and I read in the newspaper that some children were killed or wounded in their sleep by stray bullets that came through the bambooroof (many people live in houses made from bamboo) from guns fired by drunken people at newyearsparties in small villages up north. WOW.
So far so good, We are continuing our adventure......
Amira

zaterdag 1 januari 2011

Happy new year from Krabi

Happy new year,love and health for all our beloved ones and of course to you.Thank you for follow us, your support and tips.
3 days ago we left koh lanta and cycled to Pak man Beach we stayed there in a fishermans hut with a lot of little kittens and again a lot of heavy rain.The news was bad weather and no way to leave this strange place a boulevard with poor people try to sell their food but nobody was there because of the rain.Supermarket no food for veggies at all and even the yoghurt tasted like bubble gum.How can we leave this strange place and main question north or south it would be again a long trip in the rain.We did not have a plan did a afternoon nap and went out for our detective program to find food.There she was pink big and shiny: a touring car and in the restaurant in front around 15 tourists eating a fish dish.I walked to a lady and asked her if she speaks english: ein bischen.Next question: where you go? Krabi but then the thai touroperator interupted and told us it was a private group and impossible to join.I tried and when i picked up the plan to ask the group,Hans a german group member stood up and asked the group to vote if we could join them to Krabi...........All the hands flied in the air and the lucky guidetour travel agent called Baba Ji helped us again.Radha Soami.We ran to the fishermans hut put all the stuff in our panniers jumped on our bikes ,when we wanted to leave the hotel owner asked what we are doing: i told here it's raining we have to cycle.We hurried and the time the bikes were loaded in the shiny bus the people entered the bus.Now we felt like members of a german tour around Thailand.Funy it was.Again German friends thank you for your support.We arrived in Krabi beach and first went out for diner, we were hungry after diners with bubble gum yoghurt.After that we find a great hotel were there was place for 1 night.Next morning we arranged another hotel for 4 nights it looked great but after a few hours the smell came out the shower,toilet like rotten bodies wich were hidden there for years.Sick and not our dream we left today.For the first time Amira and were awake at 12 o'clock and saw a beautifull fire work show 15 meters in front of our room.We found after searching and following the good feeling of Amira a great place with swimming pool.It is open 1 week and it's also a horse range.Paradise for Salome,At for the owbner called us and picked Salome up for a ride. Fantastic.
Yesterday we went to another horse farm were they gave me a big horse and i walked for 30 minutes with Salome on the beach proud as an princes on a big horse.Amazing people here.

We love you.

David,Amira and Salome