The time of new beginnings dawns

Praying that the year ahead places you

 more snugly in God’s hand

More steadily on His path

Increasingly immersed in His grace

Another gorgeous day in Paradise

Penang-orchidaceous in its "holiday" celebrations is still playing piped Christmas carols in all the malls.Tinsel and artificial snow abound in every available space.
Rita went and had her hair cut and was subjected to an hour of "Santa and Mommy kissing", "Jingling Bells", "Silent Nights" and repeated "Sleigh Rides"! Mid January all that will change to Chinese New Year song repeats at full volume! Which of course is only on the 3rd of February, but will be alive and well for a good two months!

We were blessed to spend an afternoon with friends on Wednesday, we shared hearts and a meal and even had celebratory cake!

Yesterday had us galavanting around the Island with Workers into Kalemantan showing them the 'tourist haunts' of this wonderful place.

Some interesting sights experienced as we travelled around Penang.

At the end of the day we were all 'templed out' and came home to put our feet up. Being on the nineth floor of the apartment block, we were then treated to an amazingly 'close' Fireworks display.

It was the day before Christmas.....

 Some People get silly and others have fun

 on top of this tree is a star... a blue one

 Decorations are quaint with glitter and shine

 Uncle Clause created with balloons and much time

 The rest of us go about our chores like fuelling up

While others stand in the front - living it up!

under the radar

We have been rather studious in our keeping under the radar, but it seems we have become a blip on the screen.....
Last night, while out trawling for dinner, we were discovered by some dear friends.It was rather amusing getting this shot as Rita decided to plonk her camera in the unsuspecting hands of a stranger at the next table. Which in itself is nothing too strange, but when the poor victim starting looking for his spectacles which were not on the top od his head, his nose or even hanging around his neck, Rita solved the problem by whipping hers off and giving him no choice but to use them. Amid much shocked laughter and giggling, this was the result!

This afternoon we have a 'tea time' with some workers here and already have plans for the holidays.

the day dawned bright

This morning was amazing....

the aircon faithfully hummed as the King Fisher trilled from the roof of the building next door, welcoming a day bright with tropical sunshine. The whole day open before us... what shall we do today? Whatever we want!

much ado about nothing!

It’s been a while since there has been any update, so here goes!

Note to self: it’s rather tricky to give updates on what one is doing when one purposely tries to do as little as possible...

 

 trawling the market for Dinner on Tuesday

 Finding dinner!

There are only so many times one tell others about the wonderful place one is staying in. About the freedom of just deciding at whatever time to go out and get something scrumptious to eat for next to nothing.

About how wonderful it is to have a swimming pool on hand that one does not have to worry about the cleaning and care that a pool involves.

About watching the people play on the water outside ones window.

The abundance of tropical fruits that others will have no idea about and the books consumed at the rate of knots. Then of course there’s the clement weather and wonderful sunsets. 

The ease with which one is able to get ‘hot off the rack’ videos to watch at ones’ leisure....and well within a non-existent budget.

We are purposefully staying ‘under the radar’ so to speak, catching up on ‘me time’ and truly still doing as little as possible.

We have the use of a car if it’s raining, and a motor scooter when it isn’t; which we certainly prefer to make use of. I have become very apt at carrying groceries while balancing on the back of the scooter hurtling through the traffic, avoiding the bumps in the road and skirting strangely different plethora of vehicles sharing the streets. Unfortunately here the wind does less ‘blowing through ones hair’ as bike helmets are a compulsory drag here, nonetheless the breeze is muchly appreciated. Careening around pinion with my camera held aloft is rather a thrill, though admittedly the focus on pictures taken leaves much to be desired.

I have taken to walking in the humid warmth for about an hour every second day or so, where Jean-Pierre is more inclined to go for a run on the beach.-------No... no pictures please...

In the mornings, if we deign to get up and out in time we have breakfast at the local wet market which usually consists of noodles, something else (unidentifiable mostly) thrown in the mix accompanied by great multitudes of chillies. 

Breakfast sorted we might go for a drive somewhere on the Island or simply haul ourselves back to the apartment to do some serious reading, sleeping, movie watching or nothing at all... what a life.

okidoki, so we are on the Island of Penang

........now on our own. We are oh, so grateful that we were invited to stay here for this time. Thank you Friends. Today our Friends left for Oz to visit with their family till January, leaving us to 'house sit' for them. We are thrilled.
While trying to stay out of the way as final packing was happening upstairs...erm, we were down at the pool.... and the sun caught us-even though we were in the shade... ho hum!

pictures will follow

 Here in the Old City of Chiang Mai, we managed to find the home of the best Phad Thai on just our second day here. Needless to say it has become our 'local dining space' as we are reliant on ready cooked food. Food is so cheap here that it pays to eat out anyway.




there are some places we would choose not to eat at, for obvious reasons......

 In a place where a pedicure is the same price as the cost of a sandwich.....

 Life continues in its eternal cycle.....

 This was before we hired our motorcycle..... and the weather is temperate enough to actually walk... but who wants to do that when you can have the wind in your hair?

For fear of who we would meet, or what, there are some places we will surely avoid....

just some stuff

 This is a shot of JP at the dodgey 'Mickey Mouse" shaped pool in Chiang Mai... we really don't care - the water is wonderful! This is a timeout space for us and we are enjoying the breather.

 Breakfast...this is likely to top the Dodgey list! Somehow these hostels insist on 'western fare' when they have little or no clue... why they don't serve rice porridge or noodles is anyones guess... alas, we brave breakfast each day!

A view of Bangkok housing on the Klong, let's face it, we live differently!