Anywho, our adventure is getting close to those jaggy rocks for climbing and I'm going to positively inspire Keith to do his climbing Tom Cruise, MI 2 style - you know, at the start of the movie when he's rock climbing with no shirt on. Whey hey!

Enough babble on that fine thought.

We've been out and about and topping up tans for the last week. I've read another 2 books and just been to buy another one today. See, when one's brain is not active in accountancy, one's brain turns to mush. Lets hope my Barbara Taylor Bradford novels keep the logic cells working.

Now, c'mon, you must have thought "WHAT" at my choice of author. Well, I hope you did anyway. Stranger things have happended!

Going to walk down to the pier in Rawai now to watch Keith do some fly fishing.

Reminded that as I type this, it is fast approaching Friday afternoon in the office and those ice cold beers will be a shouting at you. Enjoy and have one for me too!! If you are not in the office, enjoy a beer anyway, it's not like you need an excuse

La Di Sawat

Pamela x

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We left Preychrouk on 22 March and then left Cambodia on 23 March. To say that I shed a few tears is an understatement!!

When you have the opportunity to share in such a wonderful experience, it is tough to say 'see you later' - as you know, I don't believe in goodbyes - people cross your path for a reason and the reason and people should always be appreciated. Anyway, enough psycho-babble from me

Our students finished up at school for Khmer New Year so we thought it was best to head off then. If we hadn't, I think I would have been asking Pip for her job as volunteer co-ordinator!!

As for now, we've just spent a real chill out week in Koh Chang (Elephant Island, although we never actually seen any efalumps!) and I've got sun back on my shoulders. Don't know if I said... it is quite offensive for women to show their shoulders in Cambodia so I was well and truly covered up for the 6 weeks we were there. Bizarre as it may seem, I actually felt quite physically cold when I put my wee strappy tops on again in Thailand.

We were supposed to catch our flight back to the UK on 3 April and, after much, much, much deliberation (not!!) we have decided to extend our stay by another 6 weeks. So much to see and do.

We headed from Koh Chang to Bangkok and it was amazing to see the difference in ourselves from when we first arrived. No longer rabbits in headlights, hee, hee. We even got to converse quite well with the local katoeys - great fun!

After heading back to the Isle of Man, David (Keith's younger brother) flew back out to see his beloved Nok after only 5 weeks. The love bug, eh! A week later, John (Keith's older brother) decided to jump on a flight and come out too. Fab

So, I'm surrounded by 3 fantastic Irishmen and I'm loving every minute. They are fiercely protective so no late night ping pong shows for me, ha, ha, ha.

We came back down to Rawai a few days ago and have spent our time catching up with all the friends we made last time around. Even the folks at 'Yer Woman's Place' recognised us!!

We're going to be heading off to Koh Phi Phi (where "The Beach" was filmed) in the next few days, then to Krabi for some climbing - yippee, then...hmmm...who knows where.

Now, I'm giving you guys the low down, where are your updates for us?!

La de sawat, Ley high, Adios, Au reviour, Goodbye and Cheerio.

Pamela x

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We've reached our monthly photograph upload limit so the next instalment of Preychrouk will continue soon.

Pamela x

P.S. The temperature really was 40 on 22/03/07!

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First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always great fun.

We drank water from the garden hosepipe and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem .

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no text messaging, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents .

We played with worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

Made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out any eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Local teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

If YOU are one of them... CONGRATULATIONS!

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

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This is the first instalment of Cambodia and it is our best bit = Preychrouk School.

Hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we did taking them.

Pamela x

P.S. We've reached our monthly upload limit on our website so the next photo instalment (Angkor Wat, Tomb Raider Temple, etc) will be in a few weeks time.

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http://www.asiatravel-cambodia.com/SAGE_Foundation_Dec06news.pdf

If you can't open the pdf, by copying and pasting the URL above, go to the website: http://www.asiatravel-cambodia.com/ and open up the Sage Foundation newsletter.

Keith and I are so very grateful to Andy, Pip and Phalla. They are amazing and we will always be inspired by their contribution.

x

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Forgot to mention that on the social front, we went to Phalla's sister in laws wedding last Monday. Fantastic. Will put more details when we upload the photos.

On a personal social front, we have met Harri and Rob - a wonderful young couple from Surrey. Many, many great conversations and nonalcoholic beverages later (yeah, right) they have decided to come and help us out at school.

The world really is filled with generous souls

Ok, ok, must get in gear now. I could type updates to you all day, things are so bleeding marvelous in Cambodia.

Bye

x

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Ajopolies (yep, I did type that!!) for not posting an update sooner. We've been a positively busy with our volunteer work and social functions. To keep you up to date, I'll give a brief summary and then try and fill in the details with photos - once we get them updated!!!

Our second day at school was teaching 2 more classes of the high-school kids. We followed the colour theme from the day before and it worked a treat. Many of the kids had heard about the colour stuff from the day before so were waiting for us with eager anticipation.

There are about 50 kids in each classroom and another 20 standing at the door/looking in the windows. Cripes, just as well I have a passion for presentations [and the ability to remember to breathe]

On our third day at the school, Keith got busy painting - the absolute superstar - and the groupies clambered in! The leader of the groupies is none other than the village elder! That man is so cool, he makes me laugh and smile always.

Pip and I dragged ourselves away from the painting furore and taught the primary grades 5 and 6 the English language alphabet. To do this, we used the ace colour posters Pip had bought from the class room and sounded the letters out so that the kids could hear and repeat back to us. The day before, we had drawn letters of the alphabet on separate pieces of paper (both upper and lower case) and had them photocopied. We handed them out to the class and had the kids colour all the letters in. When we handed them out, we made sure they were in random order so that the kids really had to think. We then had the kids come up to the blackboard with their letters in the sequence of the alphabet (both cases). They were amazing!!

Pip and I had to show many of the kids how to hold the coloured pencils for colouring in...they'd never coloured in before. Get your head around that one and share a smile knowing the joy the kids had doing this.

Pip was a great teacher, not showing any nerves at the audience of 70!!! Yeah, again, 50 in classroom and 20 at door/windows

The energy from Wednesday kept me high for teaching the high school students on Thursday and Friday. To try and expand their knowledge and teach understanding of numbers, we decided to play bingo. I drew 15 squares on green A4 paper and randomly placed numbers between 1 and 50 on them. Keith and I then cut up small pieces of red paper for the kids to use as covers for their numbers on the bingo cards - of course, I am thinking of the recycling!!. I then made big numbers (1-50) on yellow paper and placed all the numbers in a bag. When Pip and I began to teach, we wrote the numbers on the blackboard and had the kids copy them to their jotters. After great feedback and requests for me to repeat my age (yep, they have picked up on my sense of humour on age!!), we started bingo. Wow! Use your mind to imagine 55 high school kids hyper. The excitement and joy in the kids spurred me on to (again, I must add) start running around the classroom, having the kids clap their hands and sing wee songs. They are amazing From a learning perspective, the random use of numbers from 1 to 50 really made the kids learn. The excitement of playing bingo raised their energy to extortionate levels and magically evoked their awareness.

Keith was busy on the classroom and Thursday saw more undercoating. By Friday, Keith was ready to fill the holes in the walls with filler. With an audience of kids, Keith started. After a little while, the kids realised what Keith was doing and started to walk in front, pointing out where he should fill!!! Hysterical, comical and so very heartwarming.

Off now to prepare for primary lessons on Wednesday.

Gosh, this is the most amazingly rewarding experience of our lives.

Ley high (goodbye in Cambodian)...

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Keith and I are just back from our first lessons at Preychrouk. We had the secondary (high-school) kids for 2 lessons today and we have the same tomorrow.

It is amazing. The children are so very receptive to learning and, whilst the school is very basic, they spent an hour cleaning their classroom for us yesterday. We were told that the kids have been waiting a whole week for our lessons and, of course, their excitement drove me to great things. We even got to singing!

We took in a world map and showed the kids where Cambodia was as many of them have never seen a map before. We also showed them where the UK was. They thought it was a long, long way!

We also covered colours today - red, yellow and blue. I wrote the letters on appropriately coloured paper, Keith cut them out (until 11:30 last night - yep, I am so excited about this, there's nae sleep!!) and then we both muddled them up. Today, when we had gone through the colours on the blackboard with the kids, we gave them the letters and asked them to spell the colour words. Their responses were wonderful. After only 2 or 3 attempts, they were doing it without the words on the blackboard and without looking at their jotters. More and more colours were (and repeated x 3!), then countries, then numbers, then ages (yes, I did confess to being 22). From then, the only way was up so we sang the alphabet song! Fabulous positive energy!!!

The village elder came and sat in on our second class and kept saying the Khmer (Cambodian) word 'sabai' which is the same as 'sabai, sabai' in Thai. it means 'happy'. You can imagine how darned thrilled we were with this response. The school is very much influenced and actions take on what the village elder says. Great!

When the kids left the lesson, they were very happy and excited and kept reciting Pamela, Keith, red, blue, yellow (the colour that makes Pamela sabai). The best bit was the huge cheesy grins on their faces!

Roll on tomorrow...

Love and light

Pamela x

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Hope you are doing fantastic.

Take great care

Pamela x

P.S. Can't get our white-water rafting on the PC but have managed to upload a video from our camera...

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Keith and I both have an amazing intuition about Cambodia and, since arriving, we have been overwhelmed at the generosity of spirit around us.

No matter where you go in the world, it is the people who make it.

Cambodians are wonderful people and we already have such a fantastic vibe.

We're meeting Pip (the volunteer co-ordinator for the school in Preychrouk) tomorrow morning and heading out to the school afterwards. Wow!!!!

There will be many, many photos so keep your eyes on this blog!

Slater - ok, Sandra might be the only one to get this salutation, so - tarra for now.

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Took an amazing bus and long boat ride today, so proud of myself for now being able to go across a river without fearing the sound or fin of Jaws - go on, chuckle out loud.

Had wonderful news about our volunteer stuff and Keith and I are very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very excited. Hey, you guys know me - always up for amazing contribution! Fantastic that Keith is of the same spirit.

Had a local beer tonight and am humming "It's My Life' by Bon Jovi. Marvellous (although somewhat intoxicated, hee, hee).

Must head for sleep now, we've got a 6 hour boat trip tomorrow to take us to our next destination.

Gosh, I love life...

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We're just back from an amazing day quad biking and white water rafting.

Pictures to follow soon.

We're also getting a DVD of our white water stuff and will try and load it up to our site - I promise you, you will laugh your cotton socks off. Or, for the ladies, your black opaque tights (yep, I've heard it's darned cold back home - great wellies, hats, scarves and gloves weather. It's colder up here in Chiang Mai - only about 24 degrees, sorry, I know, I know...)

If we can't load it our DVD, there will have to be many popcorn nights around mine (wherever the heck that's going to be!).

Sawasdee ka

Pamela

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We came to Chaing Mai last night - amazing 12 hour bus ride - woah!

Going to stay here for a week then we're thinking of going to do our visa run to Cambodia instead of Vietnam. There is a new school looking for volunteers to help out. Keith would like to do some painting/decorating and I'd like to set their computer up and write out some jotters for the kids to start school. Now that will be contribution if we can get it all organised.

David and Nok travelled with us and we're going to meet up with Ben and Dave from Aus and hang around here for the next few days.

I'm going to try and keep this a wee bit more up to date - keep your fingers crossed!!!!

Sawasdee

Pamela x

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Thought I should post something just incase you think we'd deserted this planet and gone to Mars

Haven't made it to Patong yet, although the 'ping pong' show is still on before we head to Krabi. Giggling even more now coz I know what it is. Perhaps my feedback will only be a few descriptive words - don't want to get anyone in trouble for reading dodgy stuff on our blog!

Keith is teaching me how to play poker - good to get the brain going (at least once on our trip!). It is a major step up from my classic 'SNAP'.

Off now to... I don't know. Sit in, chill, watch the game and have a bud. Hee, hee - a large glass of Spy Classic, I reckon.

Hasta La Vista

Pamela x

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We spent Hogmanay on Nai Harn beach. Saw some fantastic fireworks and consumed one or two alcoholic beverages. Everyone knows I'm such a cheap night out - two beers and I'll dance on any table! Well, for the record, I had 4 glasses of wine and got home on 1st at about 10am - really proud of this old gal for staying up so, so late.

What did you get up to? C'mon, share those insights.

Keith is having a well deserved lie in today. Bless, the guy is coping marvellously with my early mornings.

Heading to a strangely named 'ping pong' show in Patong on Saturday night. Not too sure what it will involve - everyone is saying that I will giggle even more than I normally do so I am intrigued. Somewhat concerned, however, that the guys are being cagey and it all seems a bit 'hush-hush'. Will report back with the details at a later date... any new experience is an education (I hope!)

Off to sing Zipadeedoodah whilst walking back to the bungalow.

Zipadeedoodah, zipadeeday, my oh my what a wonderful day...plenty of sunshine coming my way, zipadeedoodah, zipadeeYEAH

Go on, go on, sing it too

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Hope you all had an amazing Christmas and are looking forward to a fantastic 2007.

I know the SL guys will be amazing at Q4 - hope you all remember to giggle when it gets tough and laugh when it gets good. And trust me, it will get good. Superstars you are

Thanks to Jill and Marie for the great message - fabulous to hear from you all. I smiled and smiled and smiled when I read it. Hope you do too when you read this. Go on, go on, it is truly infectious. Remember, if you see someone lacking a smile, give them one of yours.

We're still in Rawai, venturing to Krabi in a week or so. Krabi is the best rock climbing place in Thailand so we will, for sure, be spending some time there. Going to try and get Keith to scale a rock face. You know, if Keith can handle my face, he can handle any rock that comes along (haa, haa, haa - mega laughs).

Heading off parasailing today so will try and take some photos and get them loaded to the site. Had one or two challenges with photos and PC's so far so we'll let you know - be prepared, you're going to get about 40 photos in a 'one-er' (is that how you type it? Go on Mrs K, please correct my grammar!!)

Ladiisawat

Pamela x

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Hear from you soon

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It's utter bliss to break from the tourist route and stay around the locals. This is the Thailand we hoped for . Learning Thai pretty darned quick - deep end and jump are both real pertinent words - hee, hee!

Hope the countdown to Christmas is well underway and all purchases have been made. No need to get our address for pressies - hah, hah, hah, hah.

Off now to the beach, keeping well clear of 'timeshare' reps. Yep, they don't just exist in Spain!

Gonna keep smiling - please do so too

P.S. The temperature really is 35!

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Had an amazing night last night, although a few instances of somewhat bizarre - first was the offer of 5,000 Baht to be entertaining for local thai men for the night. The bloke obviously didn't realise that I was a Scottish accountant - with teuchter blood. Bartered for a decent price and then, of course, had to let him down gently. Oh my god!!

Second was the real, true blue thai boys - goodness, I wish I had a figure like that

Off for now - will type more when I locate a PC in Phuket.

Adios and Au Revior

Pamela x

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Weather suiting extremely well - cactii sublime, I reckon. Bangkok is an experience not to be missed. Buzz, heat and haggle great. Sure do miss the wet, dark, damp days though. Hmmmm, maybe need to think about that thought again

Went to an 'out of this world' veggie restaurant last night and am in my element with the fruit/veg. I really should have considered this destination before my 21st birthday...well, at least I'm doing it before my 25th, so that's ok. LMM (Laugh Mega Much).

We're staying on here for 4 days and then headed down to see Keith's little Bro, David, in Phuket. We'll try to stay there for a couple of weeks. Been researching the net for a bungalow on the beach. Gosh, there really isn't going to be a better way to wake up on Christmas morning. Miss my stocking at Mum and Dad's, though, so will borrow one of Keith's socks and surprise him with a tangerine and penny sweety

Anywhooo, this is a quick one to say hello, "Hello", and to let you know that we got here in one piece - well, two pieces - one Pamela, one Keith.

Enjoy your day.

Namaste

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Weather wasn't really sunny - it is always bright when Craig's around.

P x

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It's 18:00hrs and I'm at The Dudes - bless, real education in uploading photos from 'phone to internet. Where would I be without Craig's technological genius

Need to get back to parents pronto - oops, left packing to the last minute. As long as the 3 bikinis are in there, who cares what other wonders sneek in, hee, hee.

Finished downloading tracks to my nano - wow, amazing. Again, thank you, thank you, thank you to the office clan - my gift is ace!

Managed to get some photos on here so have a scan and share a smile.

Tarra (as Cilla would say)

Pamela x

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Keith and I are putting the final touches to our 4 month Thailand travels - the word fantastic is constantly in use!

We're meeting up in London on 06/12/06 and then jetting off to Bangkok on 07/12/06 for 4 nights - whey hey (now, hmmm, is hay what horses or cows eat?... hmmm... anyway...).

Words really can't describe how ace this is, although, you guys know me never to be stuck for words so here are just a few:

- amazing
- fantastic
- wonderful
- fantastic
- fabulous
- marvellous

Must get this heart pounding seen to, hee, hee.

Will upload some photos before we leave - just incase you need reminding of what we look like.

Namaste

Pamela

P.S. Save our blog to your 'favourites' as http://pamandkeith.travellerspoint.com

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