travel flashback #2 Anna Blume Cafe, Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin

postcard


Jason and Birgit's friend Sandra

Chiang Mai and beyond round 2 #10 / last week and this week

YES.. we now each have 3 months, single entry visa.

Below is the entrance area of the Indian Consulate in

Chiang Mai.

and after we collected our passports with visa stickers, stamped and ready to go...

on our way to the travel agent (where we went to enquire about flights) we stopped at this lovely pagoda.

last saturday morning around 6am... This was the day where we got up at 3.45am to travel to a distant mountain with Manop, his wife and his brother. This mountain is part of the Himalayas and we forgot it's name.. Why so early? To see the sunrise - naturally... But the weather had other plans and it was incredibly foggy, so much so that we had to drive up the mountain at absolute snail-speed so that we didn't fall off the side of it.... Half way up we were stopped by guards and had to wait for the fog to clear. It didn't clear. We drove back to Chiang Mai and arrived back home (back to bed) at about 10.30am. What a morning. But it was fun, too. Jason made a Thai friend in the fog, while Birgit fell asleep in the car.. The rest of the day was spent sleeping and feeling jet-lagged.:

a video from that morning last saturday (the fog encounter on the way up the mountain)

At the little restaurant next door to Manop's place one evening..

Not sure which exact evening. The food here is delicious, but can

be a little spicy.. (It might have been the same saturday evening that we had tried to drive up the mountain, when fog stopped us)

just 3 days ago when we found a nice market:

today after collecting our visas, getting train tickets ... lunch/breakfast/brunch...

outside Manop's place this afternoon, new wires being put in place...:

Cambodia #7 family and friend greetings

And here is Jason relaxing (on a really uncomfortable tree growth)

outside the back of Beng Mealea Temple, 2 days ago on our looong

day trip to the 2 hour journey away temple.

Today we are, without camera, spending some time on the roof of

the Elephant Terraces Hotel, where Jason discovered a pool to jump into

(at the cost of $5 a day, which of course, white as we are become more like

90 minutes or else we'll be lobster tinted..).

Birgit is laying in the shade uploading videos with just her legs

poking out into the full on sunshine, attempting to colour from very

white to lightly tan. Futile attempt.

Jason is drawing, too when not splashing like a merman (mermaid but male).

one thing we miss ...

our own cooking:

postcards from Bangkok #1 for Hitesh (23rd October 2011)

Sunshine and Sand

visiting the pretty beach with Jason a few weeks ago.

We sat in the beach forest on our yoga mats for some

time, breathing, doing a total of 108 'om' (54 each) and

climbed over some dunes to reach the sea. (we found

lots of crab shells this time)

It's a good life!

catching up ...

... on the events and things we did over the last week.

So saturday the 23rd was Birgit's birthday and below some of the day's itinerary:Jason made pancakes for breakfast on his camping stove, we waited for a replacement electric cooker to arrive (as Birgit's had given up the will to live and couldn't be fixed until after the weekend). Then dashed off to Princes Park, which is at the end of the road to see the Carnival parade of the week long Brouhaha Festival.

Then we got some veggy food in the park and saw the Hip Hop Circus (after much delay and waiting around).

This made the day great.. Then we went to Yoga class and at last had dinner, I forgot what dinner was but Jason made a wonderful tiramisu and is now ready and prepared to work in Italy as a tiramisu chef.

and Jason made coffee granita, too....

We watched a cooking program by Rick Stein, who is a well known TV chef in England and learnt about northern Spanish cooking. Jason was inspired to buy chorizo at the next best opportunity (monday). This sample video of Rick Stein cooking is actually from Morocco, so it's not what we saw, but if you want to know who Rick Stein is, this will do fine:

Sunday we cleaned the flat and as soon as we were done Birgit's friends swarmed in (in comemmoration of her birthday the day before) and we were a little surprised, it was probably obvious and to be expected that lots of people would come but somehow we were a little sleepy and had simply forgotten that people were invited..

A lentil dal saved the day. It was a lovely afternoon! And some friends also bought stuff from Birgit's 'house-shop' (we had to turn the bedroom into a EVERYTHING in HERE is FOR SALE ROOM.. ) And Alex took home one of Jason's glass works. We've been invited to visit her in Leeds where we can stay with her (in exchange for more glass - sounds like a great deal.)

Monday: we escaped from the flat before anybody could come and visit us and went to the beach. It's tough being loved and having friends.. ;)

We sat in the beech forest on our Yoga Mats and did a combined 108 rounds of OM. Jason may tell you more about that himself perhaps..

We walked along the beach and through the shallow water, collected more shells and left over homes of crabs and eventually were driven into town by hunger. So we took the train back to Liverpool Center and ordered Panini's at a Spanish tapas place. needless to say the flavour was good but our wallets got a little shock. So we do tend to stick to cooking lentils for pennies at home most days. Or at least many days. Eating out is almost always disappointing and to pay to be disappointed is just not right. But we had a nice time. Jason's chorizo panini was good and so was Birgit's (non chorizo - but veggy). We felt lazy so we just cycled to the train station and hopped on the train with our bicycles to ride the train the 3 stops home.

I bet we cooked lentils that evening.

p.s. Jason bought a chorizo, which makes him happy.

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PHOTOS COMING UP AFTER DINNER. - please return in an hour or two. or even tomorrow.x

THIS is what scones should be like! / Afternoon in London

Sunday at the Allotments

serenading those who dig

cake time

pre-visit to the allotments

our sunday breakfast: porridge, with fruit and green tea,

plus sunshine

...

and at the Allotments:

Jason with Carla (Michael and Natascha's daughter)