Easter Calendar and Lisa's video

The Easter Calendar of events for Next week's Cypriot Easter celebrations in Pissouri.

This week Rob's cousin, Lisa, make a video for Gwent Police in South Wales (UK)  highlighting domestic abuse...in Lisa's words ......

"This is Part of my Story...These are my Words.

This video was written by me and filmed by Gwent Police and is currently being used to train all Police Officers in Coercive Control.

Please share and raise awareness of this all too common and very damaging form of Domestic Abuse.

Controlling and Coercive Behaviour is now ILLEGAL and carries a maximum sentance of 5 years imprisonment."

Dust Cloud and The Cardiff Bay 10k

The Dust cloud over Cyprus from Space

The village of Pissouri was shrouded in dust this week as a dust cloud blew in from the East. To add to the mess we have a downpour of rain on Saturday... and guess who washed his car on Friday ?

Photos by Steph Morris

Back in the Old City of Cardiff, Sarah completed the Cardiff bay 10k race and at the finish line there were 2 special spectators to congratulate her.

BARC Charity dinner and Lisa in Oz

This weekend we drove over to the Ajax hotel in Limassol to attend a Charity dinner for BARC ( British Forces Animal Rehoming  Centre.) The evening began with a performance from The Military wives choir, this was followed by a Charity Auction. After dinner the guests were entertained by Kirsty Dewar and The Decoys.





















Meanwhile, Rob's cousin, Lisa, made another visit to Australia. This time she made her way to Western Australia and caught up with some old friends.

International Woman's day and Seven shades of Grey

Friday night saw us attending the first quiz night of the year at the Hillview restaurant. Our team, "Seven shades of Grey" made an impressive start but faded in the latter stages. A lovely meal, a couple of drinks and some good laughs with friends made for a lovely evening out.

To celebrate International's woman's day, Mandy joined the lady's of Pissouri at "The Plaice" restaurant in Pissouri square for an evening of food, drink and some Live music.

Sunday lunch in Nata and a Little Girl Stands

On a bright and breezy day we made our way up to the village of Nata and had a lovely, traditional Sunday lunch at the "Periklis tavern". We were joined by eight of our friends as we celebrated Arthur's birthday.

Meanwhile, back in the UK, our Goddaughter, Cari, learns how to stand up and crawl.

Green Monday and Another Birthday

The residents of  our small village met up at Panarama, a spot on top of Cape Aspro, to mark "Green Monday" which is the begining of Lent.

It was great to see the Cypriot and ex pat community mixing together and sharing food, drink and some dancing.

There were a number of kites flying in the sky as is the tradition and we had a "tug of war" competition this year. 




















On the weekend, Rob celebrated another birthday with a Sunday Lunch at the Hillview restaurant and we were joined by Jan and Alun.

A Beach walk and a trailer

This weekend we took a walk down at Pissouri bay, it a different place in the Winter with hardly a soul on the beach and warm jackets needed. Sadly we noticed the damage to the walkways that was caused by the Winter storms.

We also managed to finish the video trailer from our recent visit to Thailand/Vietnam.

Leaving Krabi and heading home....Day 25

This morning we said Goodbye to Krabi and took a flight back to Bangkok to Connect with our flight back to Cyprus.

So that's it, the end of out tour in South East Asia, we have seen and done so much, the people we have met have in Vietnam and Thailand have restored our faith in the human spirit with their kindness and happy and positive outlook on life. Thank you all and until next time.....it's over and Out.

Railay beach and a night at cookery school....Day 24

The first thing this morning we hopped on a long tail boat at Ao Nang beach and set out for the short trip to Railay beach (return ticket cost 200 baht each.)
Railay beach is only accessible by boat as the peninsula is surrounded by high limestone cliffs. 










The beach is beautiful, soft sand that shelves slowly into the warm, crystal clear sea. It's best to get there as early as possible because as the day progresses the beach get busy.

In the evening we visited Ya's Thai cookery school, we learned how to make  4 types of curry paste, 3 types of soup, 2 types of rice, papaya salad and a sweet dish of mango and sticky rice.























A fun night was had by all and our fellow students came from Finland and the USA. At the end of the evening the six of us sat at a table and enjoyed all the food that we cooked.

Ao Nang beach...Day 23

Once again we used this day for rest and relaxation by the pool of the Krabi Resort and the adjoining Ao Nang beach.

At lunch time we walk over to the Ao Nang beach home restaurant, we have eaten four of our meals here and we keep returning because the food is so good.

While we were relaxing by the pool we were discussing the various modes of transport we have used on this trip and below is a list of the ones we could think of.

Ground transport.

Private car  - Taxi.
Private bus - Local bus.
Mini bus  - Open  back van.
Sea ferry /Long tail boat
Siamese wooden junk / Dragon boat.
Various river craft.
Cyclo.

Airline transportation/ Airlines.

Royal Jordanian / Thai airways
Vietnamese Airways /Scoot airways.

Airports used

Larnaca- Cyprus / Amman- Jordan
BBK - Bangkok - Thailand / Hanoi - Vietnam
Danang -Vietnam / Nha Trang  - Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh - Vietnam / Changi - Singapore
Krabi - Thailand.

Aircraft
EMB 175 Jet - Dreamliner - 787.
Boeing 777-200  / Airbus A321

A trip to the Phi Phi Islands.....Day 22

We took the short drive to the local pier and boarded the local ferry from Ao Nang to the Phi Phi islands. The journey across the Anderman sea took about one hour fifty minutes.











As soon as we landed we stopped off for brunch before wandering around the local markets in the narrow streets. There are no vehicles allowed on the island, so for the only time on this trip we did not have to look out for hordes of motorcycles.

We then made our way down to the local beach for a cooling swim in the beautiful turquoise sea. After a few hours or exploring the sea front it was soon time to reboard the ferry and return to Ao Nang.