Happy New Year

No sooner is Christmas and International New Year (as I’ve heard it called here) done with and it’s on to Chinese New Year! It’s lovely to see Beijing getting into the swing of a festival that they really care about. Decorations are being put up everywhere. Most seem to be incorporating some of the Christmas decs and adding some CNY-y sort of things on top: red packets; cute Rats (it’s going to be the year of the rat) ; cherry blossom and lots and lots of chinese lanterns.

We were away for Christmas and NY in beautiful Thailand. As we were not long out the UK, a few hours from SE Asia and keen for some sun it seemed to be a good plan.

First stop Bangkok for a few nights. Bangkok was so crazy and so fun. The Thai people are really happy, friendly and warm. There was so much to see and so much colour that we were only really able to take in a tiny amount of it. Getting out and about with the three kids in tow in 35 degree heat was no small undertaking. But we did a bit. The Tuk-this helped for sure!

(Just to explain my slacks in this vid. You need to wear long trousers to go into the temples so we bought these at the temple. )

After Bangkok we flew to the island of Koh Samui for Christmas and New year. We stayed at the lovely Bandara resort on the beach. Slightly easier to cope with the heat and occupy the kids with pools and the sea.

The resort was lovely. Easy walking distance to some fun night markets and beach bars and nice to hang out in of itself. Plus had the added value of on site close up wildlife. The family in the neighbouring room found a large black snake slithering under their kid’s legs one morning in their room. So I had to do a complete sweep of our room every morning and night before Emma would get in or out of bed.

It was a bit strange not being with family on Christmas Day and it definitely felt less festive for lots of reasons. Santa did make it to Thailand and the kids had a great time. And also Emma needed a proper break as she hasn’t stopped since we arrived and it was an opportunity to do something totally different that we’d never normally do that we had to take.

We saw a bit of the island like waterfalls and a few more temples. Including one with a mummified monk which Lyra absolutely LOVED!

The food was sensational. Absolutely incredible almost everywhere. Thai cuisine is so good and when it’s so local, fresh and authentic it’s unbeatable.

New Year we avoided the ridiculously expensive Hotel function they were pushing and just had a couple of beers with a family we befriended. We were a little bit smug when the festivities got washed out with torrential rain but we felt sorry for the staff who’d worked to put the stage and decorations etc together. 🤷🏼‍♂️

The trip back from extreme heat and humidity to (literal) snow was abrupt to say the least. Reality bites. We got through the first week and now Emma is in Shanghai for a night then travelling to Hohhot (capital of Inner Mongolia) to present the new Blue Planet film at a festival. #jetset.

And we’ll try and keep a little bit of Thailand with us to keep us warm over the next few weeks!