we're off to Krabi

We're off to Krabi on Sunday night - and we're off to do all the exciting things such as picking colours for the kitchen, picking tiles, paint colours etc.  I'll be taking lots of photos while we're there and will post on here if I can.  We don't have the internet on at the apartment we're staying at yet so Maccas is where I'll have to go.  We'll be away until the end of June.

Another element to our excellent adventure is.... we're getting married.  Yep, as if we didn't already have enough on our plate we've decided to take the big step :-)  No details at this stage but we'll be working them out over the next couple of weeks.  I'll keep you posted.

See you in a few weeks.
Louise
xx

...hit a snag - had to happen sooner or later

Unfortunately, we received a message on Friday informing us that the roof tiles we had chosen aren't available at the moment and won't be available for 2 months.  The colour we chose was Honey Brown and they have offered us an alternative - Golden Brown - but the picture we've been sent is a dark chocolate brown.  Not what we're wanting so we've asked for another alternative. 

Here's some photos taken on Friday.  They're going along really well but will come to a halt soon if we decided to stick with the original choice of roof tiles - can only do so much without a roof on.  I'll keep you posted. :-)

 

 

 

 

ready for roof installation

Here's the message we received today from our project manager Holger.

"The construction of your house stopped while Songkran Festival and will start again after the CPAC-subcontractor (they are delivering roof structure and tiles) got ready.  I guess within this week.

 
The structure is completed, roof beams are installed (see pics) and ready for roof installation. Everything is going according to plan."

Here are the photos he sent which I thought I would share.

Here is the news........

Gary arrived home early Wednesday morning - yay!! 

The ceilings of our house are concrete and at the moment the builders are doing all the work to box up for them, then they will pour them.  They want to get all the ceilings done before the rainy season starts in May.  During the time they are doing the ceilings, they will also take 2 weeks off for Thai Songkran Festival .

('Songkran' (from the Sanskrit word Sankranti, signifying the sun's shift from one zodiac to another) heralds the beginning of the solar year and is the most important festival for the people of Thailand. The festival is an annual event, and this year marks the beginning of the Thai New Year 2556. It is a joyful occasion centred on family, community and nature. The festival is celebrated over three days, 'Mahasongkran' on the 13th of April marks the end of the old year, Wan Nao (14th April) is the day after and April 15 is Wan Thaloeng Sok when the New Year begins. Sonkgran is akin to the Indian festival of Holi and the Chinese festival of Ching Ming. Though it is celebrated all over Thailand with great gusto and enthusiam, it is in Chiang Mai that the Thais hold the very important ritual of bathing the Buddha and people from all over come to be witness to this event.)  On Thailand New Year's Day, Thais pray to the Buddha, clean temples and houses, offer alms to the monks and sprinkle scented water on elders as a mark of respect. The pouring of water is symbolic of the cleansing of the spirit, mind and body. The water is also supposed to wash away bad luck - so consider yourself blessed if you get drenched! Happily, Songkran falls during the hottest time of the year and the water is a welcome relief.

Gary decided it was a good time to come home for a visit so we're going to do a few things here around the house and get it ready to rent out when we move over there to live.  We were going to go back to Thailand around 17 April, but as the roof won't be finished until middle of May we won't be needed there until then so we'll probably stay here until then.  Then we get to go back and do all the exciting things like picking tiles, bathroom fittings, kitchen etc - all the good fun stuff.  Here are some photos Gary brought home with him.  Our project manager, Holger, will send us weekly updates so I'll post some of those on here to show you what's happening.

across the pool to the dining room

drilling for the bore at the bottom of our block

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter break and didn't eat too much chocolate.
 

another 3 photos to share

I have another 3 photos to share - the slab is complete and as you can see they've started on the frame.  Might not take as long to build as I thought - I hope - cross fingers.

next phase

I have some more photos to share with you.  They're doing the slab and all the concreting at the moment. 

Check out the radio stand.  Everyone should be able to hear it from there.

The silver car you can just see in 2 of the pictures is Gary's new car.  Anyone want to buy his other car I have here??? J



front door area




front door area and looking over to spare rooms






standing beside the dining room looking over the pool to the master bedroom.





dining room





ensuite & master bedroom




looking over the spare rooms




master bedroom and ensuite




dining room




spare rooms at front of picture - master bedroom at the back



front door area

the next batch of photos

Here are some more photos of the construction.  As you can see the house will not be sitting on the ground - it's raised slightly to allow for water etc.  The picture of the completed house (last photo) is our across the road neighbour Max (he used the same builder we're using).  He's Swiss and will be using this as his holdiay house during winter in Switerland. 



Max's place