Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand

We are almost at the end of our land trip to Chiang Mai and we have had an excellent time.
Jennifer has been with us  since her arrival on January 18 and we spent the first week sailing in the Phuket area. We had intended to go to the Phrang Na area around James Bond Island but we had very strong winds from the north which  made the anchorages uncomfortable so we went south to Nai Harn bay and spent some pleasant days at anchor and ashore on the beach. We went back into Yachthaven marina after that and ordered an extension to our Bimini  and some new hatch covers and put the boat to bed for our trip up here.
It was an easy two hour flight to Chiang Mai, direct from Phuket and a very short cab ride to the historic, old city of Chaing Mai an original capital of Thailand, thus avoiding Bankok where there is some unrest at the moment.
We spent a day looking at the tiny alleyways filled with restaurants and shops and of course, visiting some of the 200 Buddhist temples in the city.
We took a Thai cooking course which was very informative and I am sue that my favorite Tom Yam soup can now be reproduced in an authentic fashion.
On the following day we went to sample some Thai massage at the Chiang Mai Women's Prison.
There are a thousand massage emporia  here and the Lonely Planet Guide book suggested this particular facility. The place was surprisingly pleasant and very clean. The ladies who do the massaging are all inmates who are being rehabilitated and are apparently not mass murderers.
My one was about 4 feet 10 tall, she was missing some teeth but was extremely strong and for the next hour proceeded to crack every joint in my body and inflict pain with knees and elbows.
I'm not sure if I'll be back any time soon but the Admiral and Jennifer seemed to enjoy it.
Next day was the elephant tour which was at a facility about an hour north of the city. We were able to get up close and personal to these amazing creatures and spent time hand feeding them and learning how to ride them. In the afternoon, we went on a long, bareback elephant ride around the camp and ended up at a lake where the elephants were given a bath. Some excellent photos will be posted once we get back to Phuket.
We took a long car ride to see the countryside of Northern Thailand on the way up to Chiang Rai another former regional capital city. The climate was very cool and the old city charming. We visited the amazing white temple and then on the Golden Triangle of Thailand, Burma and Laos where most of the opium trade was centered in the 1980's.
February 2 nd was Election Day in Thailand and we had a quiet day by the pool and planned our Japan trip for May.
Yesterday, we again had a guided tour of the area around Chiang Mai and visited the highest peak in Thailand and it's surrounding national park. Our guide had excellent English and he explained a great deal regarding life and politics in Thailand. We also saw a silk factory and some large jewelry stores so a retail experience was also provided.
The week has passed very quickly and our final activity here has been arranged by the Admiral. We are going to spend the next 24 hours in a Buddhist monastery and see what life is like for the thousands of monks who live in Thailand.  A full report and photos will follow.

Phuket, Thailand

lunch at Nai harn

our own island

Phang Nha bay

Massage on the beach at Nai harn

Thai fishermen harvesting jellyfish. The Chinese eat them for some reason. (The jellyfish not the fishermen)

2013-2014 from the Admirals point of view

I was about to write a reflection on last year,2013 , plus a few thoughts about 
this upcoming sailing year when one of those unexpected evenings that never 
happens on dry land occurred .....
It was 7.50 pm, dark with the wind picking up as predicted, there was some bad 
weather to the south of us.
We had just turned on the gen( generator to charge batteries) and finished our 
relaxed evening in the cockpit ,the wind was picking up, but no more than on 
previous days.We moved down below to start a light supper, the captain trying to 
figure out which episode of Homeland we were due to watch, then BANG , Crunch  , 
Shit ,what the hell is going on.....
We leapt up the companion way ,knocking down any thing in the way, more crunch, 
realized we are moving onto the reef, M  runs below turns off the gen,leaps up 
again switches on the engine, shouts at me to untie from the mooring, I run 
forward flashlight in hand and untie lines from the mooring ball,he maneuvers 
off  the reef and into deep water ,the mooring line had broken loose ! All 
within 2 minutes,Now to anchor in the dark in deep water, not what we would 
choose,but we are safe and much further away from the reef! But now try going to 
sleep!
Ah life on a boat!
Back to reflections.......about 2013

We began 2012/2013 by seeing the New  Year in,in Sun Valley ,so beautiful and 
so..ooo cold.,drove back to San Diego Jan 2nd and flew up to San Francisco Jan 6 
for a few days to visit with James and Katie,it is so hard to keep up with 
family when we are all scattered,especially us!
By January 18 we had flown to Hong Kong for a few days on our way back to 
Callisto in southern Malaysia. 
We spent a couple of days sightseeing in Singapore and then got the boat ready 
,provisioned and set sail up the  Malaysian  coast.We were in Penang for Chinese 
New Year in early February ,then onto Rebak island ,Langkawi where we hauled 
Callisto for a bottom paint and routine maintenance.
By February 21 we were back in the water and sailing up to Thailand stopping at 
islands with day hops on our way to Phuket.We spent 2 wonderful sailing months 
in Thailand exploring the coastline all the way up to the Burmese border.
Whilst in Thailand we had some enormous canvas covers made to protect the boat, 
a nice cockpit table made and some wood work maintenance around the chest fridge 
in the galley.
April 15 we were leaving Thailand and sailing back down to Langkawi .
At the  end of April we embarked upon a 20 day road / rail/flight  trip to 
Vietnam  ,then it was a hard working week back in  Rebak cleaning Callisto ,so 
that she was spotless ,as we were leaving her for many months closed up in a hot 
,humid and very wet monsoon season.
Next stop, London! 
Highlights were family,firstly grandbaby Sydney who had grown so much,she has 
named me "Anna" and Michael "pop pop ".It was lovely to spend time with Jessica  
and Ben,Mum and Dad and Susie.We were lucky to be staying with Ruth and Stef,and 
next door to Ralph so family was all around.
Kate,our niece had her wedding at the end of May so we had a wonderful family 
gathering, Julie, Jenny, James and Katie flew over from the USA,it was good to 
catch up with everyone again.
Whilst in England we spent some time visiting with our good friends Helen and 
Steve Southwood ,sailing pals ,firstly for a curry in Chesham and then when 
Steve was in hospital at UCH ( where both Michael and I trained)undergoing 
treatment.Sadly , I knew when I gave him a kiss goodbye that this was the last 
time I would see him.He is so missed by us all, such a wonderful person with an 
amazing mind ,always so optimistic trying to solve any problem , an inspiration 
to us all. 
We flew back to San Diego at the beginning of July, our good friends Len and 
Kathy from the desert joined us for July 4th,and then we drove up to Sun Valley 
with Josette for some R and R , believe you me we needed a holiday from this 
retirement job.
Before ,the R and R ,I drove to Portland(Oregon ) with Josie,spent a week 
finding somewhere for her to live and settling her in before she began work, 
whilst Michael was repainting the ground floor of our condo,then I flew back to 
Boise, and back to Sun Valley.
We left abruptly on August 17 due to deadly fires ,and I also felt I needed to 
visit our old stomping grounds in  Rancho Mirage, I had had a dimple in my 
breast for a little while that I was uncomfortable with ,despite a mammogram 
that was read as normal 8 months prior.
We stopped off in the desert and as  previously blogged and discovered I had 
breast cancer.
Tests,followed by surgery August 21 ,then waiting .....and waiting for my 
oncotype ,which came back with a wonderful number of 13, so no chemo was 
needed,then onto  radiation.A very big thank you to my doctors, nurses and 
radiation technicians at EMC and UCSD who made this journey go as smoothly and 
easily as they could.
Treatments ended on October 24th
My lil sis Susie came out to be with me ,thank you for all the support 
,especially Michael,Mum and Dad  and all my family and friends. I appreciated 
all your messages and contact.
It was wonderful to have Julie, Josie ,James ,Katie, Susie and the Captain by my 
side giving me encouragement on the breast cancer walk on October 21.
We had to rearrange flight plans and sailing etc,due to these health issues.We 
began our journey again at the beginning of November when we flew back to 
London, another niece ,Lisa was getting married.
Weddings seem to be the best way to gather our brood together,both Josie and 
Jenny flew in from the USA .
We visited our good friend Helen Southwood ,in her new home in Chorleywood , it 
was so good to see her and meet Sam,now we have met all 3 of her boys.
I was also able to organize one of my annual sleepover  reunions,with 5 special 
girlfriends from student nursing days ,a real recharge for my batteries.
Michael returned to  Langkawi December 4  to start getting the boat back into 
shape ( the thorough cleaning paid off and she was lovely and clean )after a 
long break,I remained in England .I had extra special babysitting duties for 
Sydney :) and spent Christmas with my Mum ,Dad, Susie ,Jess ,Ben and Sydney.
I flew over at the end of December to Malaysia to celebrate the New Year in 
Rebak with Michael.

So in 2013 we travelled 40,486 miles plus
flew ...............35,600
Car/ by rail...3650 plus
Sailed...............1236 

2014
Another Year what will it bring us?
Firstly let us raise our glasses to  our very good but not forgotten friend 
Steve ,and to Helen ,a powerhouse of hope and inspiration ,they have both given 
me courage.
This will be the year that I turn 60! 
On Jan 31 it is the Chinese New Year ,it will be the year of the Horse, my 
year,so I am going to try to live it too it's fullest,to be more assertive about 
what I want( advice from our friend Steve).Also I have changed my diet from 
vegetarian to vegan ,with some fish and cut my alcohol consumption down .I 
bought a nutribullet so I am able to pulverize wonderful " green slime" as named 
by the captain for my breakfasts!
 I have so many places to visit, life to experience and friends and family to 
spend time with.
So Let us begin.......
We set sail Jan  5 with day hops up to Thailand alongside ,Kilkea,Tahina and 
Solar Planet,good friends from our boating family
We seem to be having much more wind than last year,so we are having to choose 
our anchorages much more carefully.The advantage of this is to have  more 
comfortable temperatures.
So what do we do all day when we aren't  having beach massages and sundowners?
Well so far maintenance on our journey has been changing out end caps to our 
water maker( we can now make water again)this took about 3 hours with every tool 
box out, for me it is feels like living in a "man shed "for the day when we have 
one of these procedures!
It also feels rather like the OR nurse handing over the instruments! 
Cleaning a few barnacles off the hull, changing anodes on the rudder which 
entailed Michael using a hookah( not what you may imagine!) which burst it's 
seams on the reservoir ,but we managed to bypass it luckily! Checking for damage 
after our brief reef touching! All was well :)
Another hookah day as the prop made a funny sound, only to find a large plastic 
bag tightly wrapped around it! Otherwise all was well.
Also during this hooker experience our portable power pack died , so I was 
putting jump leads on our main battery bank , changing the leads over to a 
different battery every 8 minutes ,so as not to run down any one battery,( we 
have ordered 13 new truck batteries to install mid -march on our return to 
Malaysia  as our current ones are near their end)
That's about it so far this month.
Jenny flew in last week ,to spend 3.5 weeks with us,we have been sailing around 
Phuket ,exploring plus having our many beach massages at an incredible $12 an 
hour!
We fly to Chiang Mai on Jan 28 for 8 days,for some Northern Thailand experience. 
I have planned an array of experiences ,yet to be reported!

Yachthaven Marina, Phuket, Thailand

We haven't done much posting over the last week as we have been much too busy. Not really, just didn't get around to it.
We have had a few interesting encounters, the first being a mooring ball failure on the island of Koh Lipe. This was a little strange as this was our third day on this particular mooring and the weather was quiet. We had just settled down to watch the second season of Homeland at about 8.00 pm when we felt on unusual thump. On deck, we noticed that the dive boat we were next to was now much further away. Fortunately, despite the dark, we could see well and it was obvious that the mooring we were on had broken loose. Mad dash to get the motor started and then re anchor in 25 meters of water ensued and was uneventful. Just as well we were on the boat when this happened and not ashore.
The mooring looked ok when I dove on it but the water was too deep to see what it was attached to.
Next day, we left for Koh Lanta in about 25 kts of breeze and made the sixty mile run in quick time. We anchored on the west side in the lee of the strong wind for two days and enjoyed the restaurants ashore.
Next stop was Ao Chalong bay in Phuket after some more spirited sailing, where we did our clear in to Thailand. There were many boats in the bay that were old friends some of whom were in the process of leaving for Sri Lanka.
I send my life raft off for its tri annual service and we left for Yachthaven in the north of Phuket to meet Jennifer who arrived on Thursday night after a marathon trip from San Diego.
We are going to cruise around the Phrang Na bay for a week before going off for a road trip to Chang Mai in northern Thailand.

Ko Lanta

G and T's on Ko Lanta

Ao Chalong Bay at sunset

Rain on Ko Lipe

Solar planet sailing past Phi Phi Don

Ao Calong Bay

Ko Lanta

Koh Lipe, Thailand

We are finally out sailing again after a seven month sojourn at the Rebak marina. The Admiral arrived on December 30 as planned and we spent a pleasant New Year' s Eve with our cruising pals.
The Admiral required a few days to get over jet lag and we set off on January 4th for Koh Lipe. We were able to sail about half of the 25 miles and it was good to leave the dock after so long. Only Twenty five miles but a huge difference between Malaysia and Thailand. Clear weather and clear water and much better food.  We will spend a few more days in Koh Lipe with our friends on Kilkea, Solar Planet and Tahina and then head up to Koh Muk and Koh Lanta and then Phuket where we will meet with Jennifer who arrives on January 17.
Photos to follow.

Rebak Island, Langkawi, Malayia

'Tis the night before Christmas and I can't believe that I have been here for almost three weeks. This is a very different pace and climate from London. My time has been spent doing boat chores, reading and watching re-runs of a favorite TV series called Deadwood.
Callisto was in fair shape when I got here and the major problem was dead batteries and failure of the 30 Amp charger probably due to the fact that the battery bank was seriously depleted. The fellow I thought was charging the batteries on a monthly basis did not, in fact, do so. Hence this problem.
Not the end of the world really as the batteries are due to switched out in March anyway and the charger is under warrantee. The batteries  came up quite nicely with the 100 amp charger and will do fine for the next few months.
The air conditioner in the main salon is fixed and not before time as the weather has been quite warm. The rains have stopped and the skies are mostly clear.
I found lots of things didn't work after 6 months of disuse and I have been gainfully employed fixing everything. The domestic water pump has been rebuilt and is now better than new.
The Admiral has given me a long list of jobs and I have been dutifully wading through it. The vast majority have been completed and I look forward to the holidays and the arrival of the Admiral in time for the New Year.
Three weeks of  the single life is not all that  it is cracked up to be but at least I do have some cruising pals here to keep me company over the upcoming festivities.
The Admiral and I wish all our readers a very Happy Holidays and healthy and prosperous New Year

Hampstead, London, UK

Another eventful week in cloudy and cool London. Cousin Benny arrived for a brief visit last weekend and we had an enjoyable couple of days with him, wandering around the street fair in Hampstead and the Freemason's Arms and then an amusing play at the Haymarket. I went to the Little Ship Club on Tuesday for their club night featuring Sea Shanties with Roger and Ted who will be my crew for the cruise from Singapore to South Africa next year. An enjoyable evening was had by all.

We met with some old medical schools pals on Wednesday for dinner and Thursday again to the theater to see the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, which was very well done.

The weekend was spent with Jessica and Ben and little Sydney in Kent and Jennifer joined us after completing her cookery course on Friday. We had a combined Thanksgiving and Hannuka celebration on Saturday and the time passed quickly playing with the baby.

We are now back in Hampstead getting me packed up  for the trip back to Malaysia tomorrow.

Thanksgiving in Kent

Sydney with the Admiral's boots

Sydney making gingerbread men

Princess Sydney with tutu enjoying a tea party with her dolls

Lighting the candles

Cousin Benny and the Admiral in the pub

The Little Ship Club with a view of the river at Southwark Bridge