had to share

No more news at the moment - still waiting for the plans to be drawn.  But I did book Gary's flights home on Saturday (1/12) so he'll be home next Saturday (8/12) until after Christmas.  While I was online booking his fare I noticed this fare which I just had to share - check the amounts in the blue box.

So, if you decide to come and visit us, you can sometimes get the really cheap fares - though I think the fare shown here is ridiculous. 

have a great day

Louise

xxx

a little more news

Not to much news to tell at the moment.  The final house plan has been done by the architect and now he's doing all the other plans - you know - all those plans you need when building a house, house plan, site plan, electrical plan etc.  We've been told it will take 2-3 weeks for those to be done so now it's just a waiting process.  Gary doesn't have much to do over there at the moment - well, except swim, eat, drink and swim a bit more - hard life eh! - so he will probably come home soon and do stuff around the house here in Wynnum J Christmas will be on us soon so he will be here until after then and head back when all the merriment has stopped.... I was going to go back for the break between Christmas and New Year but the flight costs are enormous - at least double if not triple the normal costs so I will probably be staying here L That's all the news for now but I'll keep you updated if anything changes.
have a great day
Louise

A few more photos...

Gorgeous orchids are all around Thailand



Another gorgeous sunset



long boats are the way to get around in Krabi - they take the tourists everywhere
 

Krabi beach
 

sitting at a beachside bar

our table at the beachside bar - what a place to just chill!!

we did a day trip to Hong Island - they stopped in this canyon for a swim.
the water was very warm and only waist deep.

Latest news from Krabi

 
Hi - I'm back.  I arrived back at 8am on Saturday morning and after spending 8 glorious days in Krabi, I didn't want to come home. 

Firstly though, just thought I'd share the gorgeous sunrise & sunsets from Krabi. 

Sunrise from our apartment balcony

 


Sunset on Ao Nang beach


The sunrise is out the back of the apartment we're staying in and the sunset is from Ao Nang beach.  The beach is lined with tourist at this time of the day taking lots of photos of the gorgeous sky.  It's like this almost every day. I think I could get use to this.



 

 

We got our first draft of our house plans on Friday (16/11) and made heaps of changes to them - we got the second draft on Wednesday afternoon (21/11) and made a few minor changes and Gary saw the final draft on Friday (23/11).  Now we just have to wait for the architect, Jep, to do all the plans - site plans, electrical plans etc.  We've been given a tentative start date of January 2013 but that will probably depend on how long it takes to do the final plans and get them signed off.  Also they don't want to leave it too late because they will run into wet season.  I found this bit of information on the web about the seasons in Thailand - "Weather in Krabi is typically that of the tropical monsoon, providing the province with just two seasons, the hot season from January to April, and the rainy season from May to December. In the rainy season at the extremes you can get 2 weeks of beautiful sunshine with no rain, or up to 2 or 3 days of continuous rain", so we'd like the house to be well underway before May.  Things don't move fast in Thailand so we're not expecting them finalised much before Christmas.  The plans don't need council approval in Thailand - they don't have local council but they do have to be certified by an engineer, electrician and plumber before they can be used to build the house so I think that's Thailand's version of council approval.  I'll put a picture of the plans up when they're finalised.  Gary has met a few Expats there in Krabi and they have a saying - This Is Thailand (TIT's).... a reference to the laid back nature of the people - he said it to me a couple of times while I was over there and I wasn't sure if he was referring to the slowness of things or having a perv on the beach.

I got some photos of our block of dirt while I was there - here's a selection to give you an idea of how the block looks.  It's flat at the top (approx 32 metres across the front), then has quite a steep slope and then it's flat at the bottom.  The house is going to be on the top flat part and we're probably going to terrace the slope.  Haven't decided yet what to do with the flat part at the bottom.

 

 

This is the name of our street - good luck pronouncing it - we're still trying.

 

Soi Klong Thray Kaw

 

 

While we were there, Gary also made friends with our neighbours.  They were really nice and I don't think they'll be noisy (or nosy) or any problems. 

 



our neighbour

They do seem to have alot of friends visiting though and they take them out and show them the area but I don't think we'll have any issues J.

 

I took the photo above while standing in the middle of our block.  The company that does the treks is called "Nosy Parkers" and they live next door to our next door neighbour.  They take the tourists on treks through the national park and use the trail a the bottom of our block to start and end the trek. 

 

We also managed to spy these guys on the road nearby - just in case you wondered how elephants got around when the can't be bothered walking J

 

the Elephant Express

We've rented a 1 bedroom apartment for the duration of the build - it's nothing flash but it's comfortable and about 2 kms from the block.  It's the upstairs floor of a house owned by a german lady - Catherine.  She has the downstairs part and we have half the upstairs and she's renovating the other half to rent out as well - that one's 2 bedrooms.

 

Kitchen

Lounge

.

dining
 



bathroom

deck outside from table

table from edge of deck

Here's our new wheels - that huge motorcycle (ok motor scooter) I was telling you about.  I haven't had a go at riding it yet - I've been very clumsy lately so I figured I would get rid of the clumsies before I tried a solo effort otherwise I may kill myself by accident.

 

 I've taken lots more photos so I'll post some more of those tomorrow.

I'm off!!

Yep, I'm heading over to Krabi - yay.  I'm flying out of the Gold Coast on Wednesday night, getting into Kuala Lumpur around 6 am (yawn) and then I have a 1.30 pm flight to Krabi - flight is around an hour and 20 min so I will be in Krabi by Thursday afternoon.  I'm heading back home the following Friday (23 Nov) and will arrive back on the Gold Coast at 8 am Saturday morning..... and then heading home to bed to catch up on some much needed sleep.  I'll take heaps of photos when I'm there and post them here when I get back.  I'll try to get online while in Krabi but can't guarantee.
love to all
Louise
xxx

Welcome & the news so far......

Hi everyone - I thought we would start a blog and share our (hopefully) excellent adventure with you all.  This way I can keep you up to date with all that's going on, what's happened so far and share photos with you as well.

Well, as of now, we have purchased a block of land in Thailand - Krabi to be exact and to be more exact, Ao Nang.  This is a screen shot of google earth to show you where Ao Nang is in relation to Phuket.

 

 

This next picture is a google earth shot to show you where Ao Nang is in relation to Bangkok.  It's about 775 km south of Bangkok.

 

 

 

And this final map is Ao Nang - the red box is where our block of land is and the purple box is the tourist area of Ao Nang.

 

 

The block of land is just under half an acre and it backs on to a small river.  The pictures below were from the brochure advertising the land.  I'll add some more when I can take some photos of my own.



The picture above (on the right) shows the 'estate' we're moving in to and our block is centre left - 1.05 Rai. It's a bit of a multi-nation area - the other blocks around us are owned by Swiss, French & Russian.  The block next door to ours (1.17 Rai) is owned by a fellow Aussie. 

 

We are planning a 3 bedroom, open plan house so our family and friends can come and visit us and you can stay with us if you want.  Phuket is only 2 hours away, either by boat or car and Bangkok is only an hour away by plane.  Krabi has an international airport so it's easy to get to with flights from Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur daily.

 

Gary is in Krabi at the moment and I hope to be joining him on Thursday and staying for a week.  He's had a meeting with the architect and builder and the architect is currently drawing proper plans for our house.  We've also bought a small motorbike - ok a motor scooter (motorbike sounded so much more macho for the guy who will be riding it alot J  ) - to get around when we're there.  We've also rented an apartment to stay in while the building is happening.  It's much cheaper than staying at a hotel and as Gary is going to be there a lot of the time while the house is being constructed, its a good idea.  I'll take photos of everything and post them here when I get back - or there if I can get the internet. 

 

That's all the new of the moment.  I will post more as I get more so watch this space.  Have a great day.

Louise

xxx