Gone skiing

We arrived in Bangkok after another 20hour travel time from Adelaide. Norman met the Maggie Peter and I at the airport. Norman now drives his large car around Bangkok,a fact that impressive me no end!
Mary's was arriving from Singapore and as her plane was late we headed for the hotel which is situated across the street from Norman and Karen's house. We have now heard Karen reporting from Islamabad. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has urged her to cover stories from the hotel press area, and not to venture too far away from where the foreign press have been placed. I hope so!!
We all had a reunion in the morning and what a lot of laughs we had. Various last minute shopping had to be done, and some serious lounging by the pool side(for Mary).
We then adjourned to their house, to celebrate our Christmas.. stockings to empty, far too many presents to open, and a nice call from Karen who has missed both Adelaide Christmas with the Percy's and now Bangkok Christmas with HErmants, poor kid. And I gather life in Pakistan is not a lot of fun!!
Then with some supervisory help from his sisters a turkey dinner was produced by Norman.. Of course now he knows the great secret about all of this--it is not big deal to cook a turkey!!
We had corn, mashed potatoes, lots of gravy (NO GREEN VEGETABLES!)--well Mary and I had a salad, and Norman muttering "look how much is left" We then all wandered back to the hotel for a nightcap and to show off the Christmas decorations in the hotel. Norm reports Christmas is a big deal now, although most Thais are buddhist they still love the celebration.
This morning we were back at Norm's with lots of "Cannot decide whether we like turkey better hot or cold the next day" devoring the left overs. Peter and I decided to just keep the day quiet so that we will be ready for tonight.
Norm and Karen have a special evening organized for tonight's New Year' Eve. and we will carry on with plans missing Karen all the way.
Bangkok remains a quite fascinating place..

Christmas in Adelaide.
We rented a little apartment near West Beach --Maggie and Norman were able to stay with us. Such a time we have had with the Percy family! (daughter in law, Karen's parents) They have shown us the most wonderful Australian hospitality. Christmas Eve found Peter and myself at St. Peter's Cathedral for the Lesson and Carol service... a most beautiful church with all the traditional music and carols sung by a good choir, then on to Christmas eve dinner with Lee and Annie(Karens sister)
Christmas Day starts at Joe and Maura Percy's house with a drop in at 10am with the neighbours and the neighbourhood children doing their version of the Christmas story. It is a lovely tradition. From a Canadian prospective this works because you can just pop over across the street for a morning drink and not have to worry about putting on the kids snow suits.
After the play was over and the neighbours head out, we then all began the start of a marathon lunch with all the Percy's, beginning with Damion(Karen's brother) special scallop recipe(involves lots of butter) then oysters and shrimp the size of small boats served with a most delicious seafood sauce secret ingredient being vanilla ice cream!
This is all washed down with copious amounts of great Australian wine(of course)
Along the way there are stops to have the four beautiful Percy grandchildren open presents, then ham and turkey and many other dishes, then more presents, then more food and so the day went. We rolled back to our rented apartment about 6pm..(an eight hour party!!!) and collapsed till we dug into the ham and turkey left overs we had been given in case we got hungry.
It was a great Christmas day and will always been remembered when we remember Christmas's past.
Lunch with Sue and Damion, a whole day wine tour of the Mclaren Vale wineries (spectacular)
and some golf for Joe and Peter,watching some filmsv(including a hysterical viewing of Caddieshake outside at the local golf course), good walks on the beach and then it was all to quickly, time to go.
Adelaide is a quite special little city(around one million people) and it is no wonder the Brits have discovered it
The week before we arrived the English morning talk show GMTV broadcast for a week from here, with hundreds on the newly emigrated in the back ground. It is not nearly as expensive as Sydney, miles and miles of beaches and one of the great places in the world for "foodies" We had great meals everywhere including pub grub. So if you are planning a trip to Australia, don't forget this part of the world.
We are off to Bangkok to meet with Mary and Norman. Karen has gone to Pakistan to cover Buhuttas funeral. Hopefully, her work will be done quickly and safely and our paths will cross sometime on this trip!
We missed Karen and Mary at Christmas, but the Percy family filled us up with so much food, great good cheer and good fun to make up for it. Thanks guys and g'day!

For those of you checking in we have arrived in Adelaide Australia after a 46 hour trip. Still we are here along with Norm and Maggie.. It is now Christmas eve here(we are a day ahead) and we are already in the laid back Australia mode . We have booked a lovely little apartment near the shore (nothing in Adelaide is very far from anything else!) and have been spending time shopping in a charming suburb village of Glenelg.(if you should ever appear this are is recommended.)
We are all missing Karen, of course, but we have been hearing her updates on a regular basis, on the election results from Bangkok. For you that follow these things, the party that was in, before the coup is back in. Still things are calm there which is a good thing for all of us.
We will post again in a few days and Peter will install some pictures of our Merry Christmas