2011-03-28: Next adventure - USA and Barbados

We have temporarily given up our plans to buy a boat. The development around the Mediterranean sea has forced us to postpone any purchase at least in that geographic area. Our plan would have been to sail the Med for a while, and then go through the Suez channel. The unrest in many countries in combination with escalating piracy in the area south of Suez has made us think twice. At least one US and one Danish sailing ship has been subject to piracy during the last couple of months.
We probably need to start looking for boats in other areas, but that will be earliest this autumn.

We have decided to make one of our dream trips, and booked tickets to spend 7 weeks abroad - 5 weeks in USA and 2 weeks in Barbados. If we have a chance we will try sail in Barbados, but nothing yet decided.

During our time in USA we have rented a mobile home, and have made a huge list of places we want to see:

California:

• Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park
• Yosemite National Park
• San Fransisco
• Los Angeles

Wyoming

• Yellowstone National Park
• Grand Teton National Park
• John D Rockefeller Memorial Parkway

Colorado

• Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
• Rocky Mountain National Park
• Mesa Verde National Park
• Dinosour National Monument
• Colorado National Monument 
• Curecanti National Recreation Area 

Utah

• Arches National Park
• Bryce Canyon National Park
• Canyonlands National Park
• Zion National Park 

New Mexico

• Bandelier National Monument
• Taos
• Santa Fe

Arizona

• Grand Canyon
• Petrified Forrest
• Painted Desert
    
   We will start our trip in Denver, Colorado and it will probably look a bit like this:
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  We are of course very grateful for any suggestions about places to visit and things to see.

2011-02-03: Time to move

A couple of weeks ago we signed the contract to sell our house in Hofterup. A nice young couple will  be the new owners, and we hope that they will be as happy as us with the house and the lovely surroundings. There is no question about it - we will miss our house, but it is more practical for us to have an apartment in the future.

Today we pack all our stuff and move to Hästveda, which will be our base when we are in Sweden.

Regarding our near-term plans we have not really decided. What is decided is that we will leave Sweden again before end of February. Potential project are:

• Boat search in the Med area (we now decided for a catamaran - Lagoon 410)
• Sailing with our friend Kaj in Caribbean
• Travel around in US for a month or two, possibly in a mobile home

2010-12-20: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all readers

A week ago we came back to our home in snowy Sweden. It is beautiful, but very cold for us that have been in the tropical heat for so long time. Now we will spend Christmas and New Year with family and friends. Our plans after that are not 100% set yet, but we will continue our quest for a nice catamaran as soon as possible.

We wish all our followers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2010-12-10: Bangtao Beach, Phuket

We have spent a week in Bangtao Beach. Another nice place in Phuket. We love the fantastic beach and the clean water. After an upgrade we are also very happy with our bungalow - it is more or less on the beach and we have wonderful sea view.

The pool area at the hotel is magnificent, and we are almost alone to use it.

During the week there has been some celebrations. It was the king of Thailand, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyade´s birthday. The Kings birthday is celebrated all over the country with a lot of fireworks.

Also the kids in school honour the Kings birthday. Anne was invited to a dance show at Kem´s school. The girls were sooo cute and it was a fantastic show.

















Some more pictures from Bang Tao: BangTao

2010-12-01: Phuket - Nai Yang Beach

We are now in Nai Yang Beach since a couple of days. Nai Yang is a small village in the north west part of Phuket, close to the airport. The atmosphere here is relaxed and friendly - very similar to how we experienced Langkawi. The restaurants are situated right on the beach, and we enjoy the sundown every day. We love the long beach that isn´t crowded, and the crystal clear water. Both north and south of the main beach there are a lot of wonderful old pine trees, only meters from the water. It is magical to take a walk there.

Click this link if you want to see more pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/107331556466319051223/ThailandAndMalaysia?feat=directlink

One of the first evenings we walked the beach after dark. Were we planned to turn back there was some lights, and a restaurant, so we stopped for a beer. We were the only guests, so the owner joined our table for a chat. We had met Mr Poon - the owner of Poon´s restaurant. He promised that he made good food, so we decided to try - we let him decide what he wanted to serve. The result was impressive, and we have been guests to the restaurant every day since that evening - either for lunch or dinner.

At the restaurant we have had the pleasure to meet some lovely locals. It is a privilege to get to know them, and learn a bit about their life. They are all very hard working, and put in 12-15 hours a day, 7 days a week - with no vacation! Jack is a very gentle man. He walks around on the beach and sells corn that he barbecue. The perfect lunch, and fantastic taste!

We also met Kun and her 6 year old daughter Kem, at the restaurant. She is a sweat girl that sells wonderful pearls on the beach, when she isn´t serving at Poon´s restaurant. Kun´s English is very good, so it is very easy to communicate with her. She sometimes helps with translation when we speak to anyone else in the group, but most often we understand each other well with limited English.

Yesterday we rented a longtail boat for 3 hours. We had asked to be taken to a nice place for snorkelling. We asked Kun and Yupin (Poon´s wife) to join us, which they were happy to do. The snorkelling was excellent, and we all enjoyed the trip.



Some more pictures from Nai Yang: Nai Yang

2010-11-27: Kata - some places to eat

In general we were not that lucky with the restaurants
we visited in Kata. We found many places that we considered highly priced, but didn´t deliver good food. So we asked around with the locals and found a couple of restaurants that served good food and gave value for money.



Red Snapper

Very good sushi and sashimi. Nice and friendly staff. Recommended by Urai. Our last dinner in Kata was at Red Snapper with Urai, her boyfriend Herwig, and some of their friends.




Dome
Very nice thai restarant. We found this place more or less by chance, when we asked in a tailors shop about good thai restaurants.We spent a lovely evening at Dome together with new found friends from Frankfurt.




Rugantino
Owned by a former Italian fotball pro, that claims they serve the best pizza in Phuket. He is probably right, but they also serve other good italian courses.
We ended up at Rugantino one evening when we walked back to our hotel, that is just opposite the road from the restaurant.

2010-11-23: Kata Lucky Villa

After a couple of days in Karon, we have now moved to Kata Beach and a very nice hotel here called Kata Lucky Villa. The service is really good at the hotel, and everyone are so friendly. This is the best hotel we have had so far during our trip.

Link to Kata Lucky Villas
www.kataluckyvilla.com/

We have a very nice spacious 2 room apartment just 10 meters from the pool. We spend the days either by the pool or at the beach, reading or playing backgammon. The beach is a bit away - 10 minutes walk, but the hotel offers a free shuttle that leaves every hour.

Working hard as we do, we also need someone to take care of our bodies. Lovely Urai gives us massage and takes care of us in best possible way. We feel 10 years younger every time she done something with us - we are soon teenagers!
Urai also knows Kata well, so we get good advice were to eat.





Some more pictures from Kata Beach: KataBeach