Posted at 09:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sho! owning and living in a house sure has it's cons, especially in SA. Namely security. We moved in at the beginning of May and already have had 2 incidents that I am aware of of our property being breached. The first was my ipod was stolen from my car. The second and hopefully the last was in the early hours of this morning, our gate motor stolen.
O Adorable Lord of Mercy and Love !
Salutations and prostrations unto Thee.
Thou art Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient.
Thou art Existence-Consciousness-Bliss Absolute.
Thou art the Indweller of all beings.
Grant us an understanding heart,
Equal vision, balanced mind,
Faith, devotion and wisdom.
Grant us inner spiritual strength
To resist temptation and to control the mind.
Free us from egoism, lust, greed, hatred, anger and jealousy.
Fill our hearts with divine virtues.
Let us behold Thee in all these names and forms.
Let us serve Thee in all these names and forms.
Let us ever remember Thee.
Let us ever sing Thy glories.
Let Thy Name be ever on our lips.
Let us abide in Thee for ever and ever.
Posted at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
May is almost over. The house has been successfully upgraded. Work on the studio has started.
Posted at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
It is March 2010! Less than a hundred days to the Fifa World Cup hosted by South Africa. It feels like the entire country has been waiting for this forever and now it is almost here. The gautrain, the BRT bus system and the never-ending roadworks is finally all coming together and taking shape. The energy this year feels different. More of the positive is happening and I trust will continue to happen. My photography business is building up slowly but steadily. I am getting more photographer work opportunities, expanding my network and building a name for myself. I am so appreciative of the time, support and feedback from friends, family and people who like my work.
Posted at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Played an amazing game a couple weeks ago. The Transformation Game. Played it with Alison, Sher and Nevanya. Carol was facilitating the game which really added value to the whole experience. The game mirrors your life, the patterns of your life or at least how things are at the moment. It is eerily accurate. Felt like our angels and guides were communicating with us directly. Best to play with people who are open and generous with their feelings/comments/feedback. I learned more about my sister during that game than I all these years we've been sisters.
Posted at 09:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
When I arrived back in JHB from Thailand I realised that the transfer of my apartment had gone through in December. I didn't want to pay rent so I decided to give myself a week to move out. The first step was to move the boys to Carol's and integrate them with her girl cats. They were amazing. For indoor cats who had not interacted with other cats before- they did great and were so chilled with their new environment. After a few hours they were completely at ease. The trouble was with the resident girl cats. It took about 2 weeks for them to adjust and allow the boys to roam freely. By the 3rd week Charlie and Igby were ready to go outside and decided to push a window open.
Posted at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Have not been too good in posting updates
We left Krabi on the 23rd of December. Almost a whole day of travelling. Arrived in Koh Samui airport at 3pm, took a airport shuttle bus to the Big Buddha pier where we then waited till 5:30pm for the Lomprahya catamaran to take us to Thong Sala on Koh Phangan. From there the hotel shuttle picked us up at the pier. It was a good 45min slow bumpy ride across the island to Thong Nai Pan Noi beach where we're staying at the Panviman resort.
It turns out that I've been to this beach before. In 5 years not much has changed in terms of the roads or lack of them. The village though has grown a bit with a more restaurants, bungalows and some 5 star resorts such as Ra Sa Nan Da.
During the last few days in Koh Phangan we've been doing as little as possible which isn't hard to do. we're staying in one of the remotest parts of the island - it's quite hard to get around here without a 4x4 vehicle. Luckily the village is just a short walk from the resort. We found a great local spa called Tanaporn Spa (named after the owner) and have had a few really awesome massages at a fraction of the cost of a JHB spa. Also discovered a nice little local restaurant called 'Again and Again'. Best food in the village so far.
On Christmas eve, the hotel had a big buffet supper and had some local entertainment. Met up with the Chundras afterward who are staying in a really amazing hotel called Santhiya. Didn't do much on Christmas day, spent it on the beach and went swimming mostly.
The beach is beautiful. it has some waves unlike the beaches in Krabi, which makes it a little more interesting to swim in. On Carol's birthday we went on an elephant trek in the forest. Our elephant was only interested in eating, peeing, and pooing. haha! so we didn't get very far in the 40min that we were on it. After the elephant trek we went to the spa for a 2 hour body care package. my massage lady was a bit too 'thorough' for me... when she did the full body scrub :/
we went to a half-moon party at Haad Rin beach - across the island from where we're staying. Didn't have such a great energy as it used to. There were a lot of young european teenagers who probably just finished high school on a school break. they have no respect for the place, the people. boys just lining up peeing on the beach, while just a little way from where they are peeing, people are swimming. it was disappointing and gross. Just didn't have the same feel as the last time... like the thai people have just rolled over for the tourists ... after the tsumani. Guess you do what you have to to survive. The thai's rely almost purely on tourism to make a living.
the part of the island that we're staying at though is still a little more untouched by the young foreign folks.
3.5 days left on the island, then its back home to SA and it's heavy traffic and road construction.
I'm looking forward to the New Year, looking forward to 2010, to things going a little easier, to dreams becoming reality, to our new home, to my photography business expanding, to discovering new talents and nurturing the ones i'm aware of and making them work for me in the best positive way possible.
Posted at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Departed from Bangkok and arrived in Krabi in about 1hr30min.
Worst landing of a plane ever!
We're staying at the Krabi Resort in Aonang, which has the same feel
as Phuket did way back in the day. Our bungalow is 5 meters from the
beach. We wake up to stunning views. The massages which are fantastic
cost 300 baht for an hour which is about R75!
Yesterday we took a long tail boat to Rei-Leh West beach to organise a
snorkelling day trip. The entire area looks like it does in the
post-cards. It almost doesn't look real it's so beautiful. Truly
paradise. Went swimming in a cove, blue, calm, warm water. Had dinner
twice at a great Indian restaurant across from the resort. We ate and
ate till our seams were bursting.
leaving on our snorkelling day trip in 10min
Later!
Posted at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
its our last night in bangkok. actually feeling a bit sad about
it.today we were on our own... just browsed around siam, bought a
couple t-shirts (that will probably end up shrinking in the wash), had
lunch
at a great food court.
Believe it or not, the highlight of today was watching the new Avatar
movie in 3D. What an amazing movie. James Cameron seriously has outdid
himself. A must see movie - and if you can see it in 3D at IMAX. its
amazing
how time flies when you're in those huge never-ending multi-level
shopping malls.
south africa can learn a thing or two from the thai people about service and
tourism.
the smell in the city is vile (the mix of the food being cooked by the
street hawkers and the stench of the drains/air pollution) the air
pollution is really bad. jhb air seems clean compared to here. it's
probably
the humidity that doesn't let the fumes rise but instead just lingers.
for some reason there are not many flies around despite the seafood
being cooked on the side of the streets. And litter is also minimum
with a very few public bins available. south africa has tons of
litter on the city streets with a lot of available public bins
at the cinema, just before the movie starts, everyone stands up and
pays homage to the king. its strange to us but cool - instilling this
feeling of oneness with your country people.. that's patriotism.
Got to th e hotel at 11:15pm. Gotta check out in the morning. Leaving
for Krabi. Watched a show on the History channel this morning about
the Tsunami in 2004. Scary stuff.
Posted at 08:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
last night after we arrived and showered, carol and i walked from our
hotel about 2km to Chit Lom station, then caught the skytrain to Siam
square. from there we walked to MBK. Met up with the chundras at Siam
Paragon afterwards at about
9pm. they were having Burger King. Paragon is this really larney
shopping centre a lot like Harrods. Got to the hotel late, then
showered again Oh yes, took a tuktuk back (scary exciting fun)
we had a really good day today. had a good breakfast then met up with
jow wendy and shameme at about 11am. Took the skytrain to the Central
Pier then got a ferry taxi boat thing to the Grand Palace. Spent most
of the afternoon there. The best part was going to Wat Po where the
reclining buddha is and afterward going for massages. Best best ever.
Took the boat back, then skytrain to chundra's hotel (which is on the
other side of town from our hotel). We found a really nice local place
to eat and had an amazing supper. Even that whole deep fried fish with
chilli and lime like the one we had the first time with dad in Phuket.
The whole bill for 7 of us came to 2200 baht. food was better than
wang thai.
we just got a taxi back to the hotel now. its about 11pm.
Posted at 08:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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