Birthdays & other things

The other day a friend of ours, Liz, treated me to a birthday extravaganza. This was literally months in the planning which was done with Lindsey. Two other friends of ours went along for the ride initially but had no idea of the plans. The first step was a crossword puzzle which when completed had to be viewed with a black light to reveal our first destination. Liz hired a driver for the day which is a new feature on Grab (the Asian version of Uber). You basically pay by the hour and can have a decent size and quality of car. You literally order a driver for 8 hours or so minutes before you need them, quite amazing.

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December 15, 2019 1

Turkey Travels

Last March at our big school fundraising gala Gav and I bid with some friends on a three night stay at a fancy resort in the archipelago in southern Myanmar. Actually, for a while we were bidding against each other until we realised the trip was for four people and perhaps we should just work together and stop driving the price up. Oops. We got the trip at a hefty discount and decided that it would be a perfect place to go for Thanksgiving break.

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December 8, 2019 0

Yangon by bike…

That should be ‘Yangon by e-bike’. Last year in October we rented e-bikes at Ankor Wat in Cambodia. They were fairly low powered and ideally had to be charged during the day to keep them going well. We both loved riding around on them and Cambodian driving though seemingly nuts is actually quite calm so it was a great experience. Continue reading “Yangon by bike…” →

November 24, 2019 0

Odds and Ends

Today is Gav’s birthday. When we decided to take these jobs in Myanmar, one thing that he was excited about was the near-assurance of good weather on his birthday. Continue reading “Odds and Ends” →

November 3, 2019 2

Accidental Homestay

One of the reasons we wanted to take a trip to Laos was that we had read about the Gibbon Experience (way back when we first accepted our jobs) and thought that sounded like an amazing thing to do. Sitting on our couch in London, the thought of sleeping in the world’s tallest treehouses and ziplining along in the jungles of South East Asia seemed very exotic indeed. Continue reading “Accidental Homestay” →

October 27, 2019 5

Lounging in Laos

Here we are with our second October break of living abroad and I can hardly believe it’s come round so fast. This time last year we went to Ankor Wat in Cambodia and had a very relaxing time there. This time we planned a trip to Laos (and by we I mean Lindsey).

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October 27, 2019 2

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about the lovely colonial architecture of downtown Yangon. That is not what we are going to talk about today. Today we are going to get a little tour of the architectural crimes against humanity that are infecting our neighbourhood. Continue reading “From the Sublime to the Ridiculous” →

September 29, 2019 1

Home Improvement

As we’ve said before, this August and September has been so much more relaxing than last year’s August and September. A good part of this is that by the time we left Yangon in June we had our house pretty much sorted out with all the essentials. Continue reading “Home Improvement” →

September 22, 2019 1

Colonial Yangon

It has been pretty rainy since we arrived back in Yangon. Much rainier than we remember it being last year. A few times now I have had to wade through water that has overrun the road on my walk home from school. Continue reading “Colonial Yangon” →

September 15, 2019 2

Roads, Rain and Re-entry

We’ve been back now just over a month. Comparatively with last year, the process of coming to Yangon and starting work has been a breeze. It was so nice to come back home where all of our things are, including Nell!

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September 8, 2019 3