Hi there Alice and J, You seem to be having an amazing time - I especially liked the elephants and glad to see that the helmets are, at least occasionally, being used on the motorbikes. Luke had a really good first day at work; he already knew some people, but seemed particularly to like the members of his team. Vanessa seems very pleased with her new flat now that the settees have arrived and the dining table is in. Nicole is in Amsterdam for a few days and, like you, managed to get a message to Luke on his first day - much appreciated by him. He has probably texted you. We are leaving Carngowil tomorrow, Saturday, and just doing some final pruning and burning. Weather is still good. Did I pick up that Vietnam is out? Hopefully Cambodia will be OK. But Thailand seems to have masses to offer even if you can't go there. By the way, your talk of the baby elephants reminded me that we saw seals and their baby white pups on the beach the other day; Vanessa was bowled over by the sight.
Love to you both
Daddy x()x()
Grandad Pitt
Hello Al and J
Lovely picture show, better than the Palladium and much cheaper!--you lucky people!!
Grandma and I have enjoyed sharing your experiences from afar, and in particular, the elephant pictures that came over so well; quite a delightful group of photos. I`m feeling quite envious and feel that, if I were about sixty five years younger, I would be inclined to acquire the backpacking outfit and book on the next flight out! The last time I was in that part of the world was in WW2 at the expense of the Royal Navy and I can see from your pictures that so many great changes heve taken place, though I have no doubt that, as active tourists, you will still be able to find and enjoy places where little change has taken place.
Looking forward to further news and pictures,
Grandma and Grandad xxx
Granny I.
Great to have all your pictures, J and Al, - particularly loved the "baby monks"! I visited some amazing villages when in Chang Mai - lovely people. We also had a vaery good guide who pointed us in the right direction for good shopping - (not the usual rubbish) and my friend made some very good purchases in the jewellery line. Sorry you can't make Vietnam - they are so unhelpful withvisas, but hope you get to Cambodia. All the best, enjpy. and love from Grannyxx.
Kate (Aka Katie)
oh i love the elephants!!!!! what amazing photos! but the baby one did look like it was trying to escape! I will defo come down to brighton this term to see you where we can get up to our usual shenanigans!!! I dont care how much debt it gets me into!
looking at your photos has made me want to come to thailand instead of doing south america after uni. will have to save a fortune so that i am able to do both.
smell you later x
AL
Mummy and Daddy! Hows things? Sounds like you had a full on few weeks down at carngowil...hoping the boat palava didn't cause too much stress for you guys! It always seems to be good weather at Carngowil those last weeks of August...it's great. Don't know if i will have time to get a suit fitted now but may do so if we havesome spare time when we head to Bangkok. Its pretty good to be out of the big city now. Chiang Mai is awesome...been wizzing around on our moped exploring the mountains etc. We went on an elephant ride today which you guys should definately do at some point...these animals are absolutely mammoth. I fell in love with all the baby elephants as you'd probably imagine, they all have their own strong personalities. Some were moody, some camera shy but we made friends with the cheeky one (well, J did!!). Funnnnnnn times! Weather is generally good, sometimes a little overcast and some rain but quite a lot of blue skies too. The air is much thinner here than in Bankers so we can actually breath, thank god!! Nono it's not really that bad. How is it back home now with the empty house once again? And how is Lukey getting on with his new job?? I text him saying good luck etc which i think he appreciated. Let me know how he is anyway. And Vee? Lots and lots of love, alice x x x x x x x x
AL
Katie! Jesus...it took me about an hour to work out who you were then! haha, i recon it's because you called yourself KATE (which still seems wierd to say). WOW, it's amazing out here, loving it soooo much! We went on a wicked elephant ride today, J found a new best friend too...it was this really cheeky baby elephant who kept climbing on the fence towards him. It definately wanted J to itself because it kept hitting me with it's trunk :( haha. Yesterday was an amazing day too, took our moped up into the mountains and saw the most incredible views ever!! Yeah meeting with the girls was cool although a bit surreal seeing them out of England. Think they were ready to come home after being with each other for so long. So, whats this job you got? Good pay?! Sad to leave the wonderful Granada? Can't wait for you to come to Brighton next term and for my trip to Notts!! Speak soon, lots of love to youuuuuu x x x x x x p.s Just put up some pics of the elephants, check them out!
Kate
Hi again - yes im still at work at 6.45 pm hence why i'm online again! just read what i have sent and the '????' actually was thai writing for why, however this website was not sophisicated enough to show it. I spent ages looking for the translation as well!
Love y'all x
Mum
Oh dear, Jamie - I laughed so much at the pictures of Richard I was nearly crying by the time he pedalled back into his apartment! So glad to see he's still my little brother!! And thank you for the PWC pictures as well, just to remind me he has his serious side as well! Photos from Chiang Mai are very entertaining too - so good to see you are both having fun and seeing so much. That fruit was weird, though - are you sure the market wasn't near some malfunctioning nuclear facility? It's our wedding anniversary today - we've been out for lunch (with Becky, of course, who came back from Edinburgh last night and just about woke up in time to join us) and Dad is celebrating this afternoon by seeing his financial adviser, while I'm ploughing through piles of laundry. I've stopped worrying about Joe's curtains and am now worrying about the colour of the paint we've chosen for the walls. So life goes on as normal here, really! Haven't heard a peep from Joe, so assume he's having a good time in Spain. Lots of love to you both xxxxx
Bex
Hi pals!!!!! hope you're having a fabbo time :-) those little swearing monks are cute - you should adopt a few and bring them home. hope its nice and sunny out there - edinburgh was pretty cold! speak 2 u soon!
lots and lots of love
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Kate
Hello Al and J (as yet to meet you-can't wait!). Well just to let you know that i have a new job working for a call centre (with no windows) and today has got to be the most depressing day...'?????'(aka why in thai) i hear you ask (impressive that you can already speak the language!)...because i have just seen your beautiful photos and i'm very jealous. the photos show that ur having an amazing time, and all i ask is that you keep it up!!! can't wait to see more photos and if you could provide more stories about your adventures i'd really appreciate it. It would really keep me entertained during these dark times!!!! How was your meeting with dave, alyss and co.????
Hopefully will see you soon.
Kxxx
P.S Al keeping applying the sun cream!
J
Hi Mum and Dad, just to say I am sorry I haven't contacted you yet. We are having a really good time and have being doing lots of good things. I will send you an email tomorrow anyway to let you know what we have been up to (probably to mum's email). Check the pictures as I have just added some new ones. lots of love J XXXX
Mike Garfield
Hi Alice and Jay, we have had a gorgeous couple of days of solid sunshine here at Carngowil since I last wrote to you; so we are all quite sunburnt and windswept. Luke went out with John and Max on the boat again, but the engine failed once more. We took it to the boat chandlers in Goodwick who told us that the water pump had gone and the engine had been overheating. So we left it with him to repair, hopefully before we go back home at the end of the week. Today, Sunday, we went to Druidstone beach with Max, Luke and me to do some sea-bass fishing off the shore, but had no luck. But it was a wonderful afternoon/evening with the sun setting and bathers in the sea. We went for a drink afterwards at the Hotel above. Mummy went sailing with John and Vanessa in the Topper (without any safety-boat!!) but seemed to have had a good sailing afternoon. Mummy telephoned us to get the Coastguard's telephone number - just in case. This evening Luke and Pampa and Max and John are playing Croquet on the front paddock, though it is quite late now and getting rather dark. Luke is getting ready to go back to London tomorrow, but he intends to leave it quite late before setting off. Everything OK with us and we hope that the weather will continue fine for the rest of the week. Nicole and the rest went horse riding and Nicole had to jump off because the horse went under a low branch. But she was OK. Pampa and Audrey are with us having arrived on Friday. Vanessa and John are leaving tomorrow as well. We said that it was noticeable that you were not here, though I am not sure what they meant by that!! I think they included you in this as well. Dial up here is slow but we are getting all the pictures the right way up - so maybe dial-up has its virtues. Love to you both and enjoy yourselves. Lots of love - daddy x()x()
Daddy has given you all our news so just to say enjoy yourselves and glad evetything has gone so well so far and that you met up with Davina. Are you going to get a suit made? Spoke to Jay's mother which was nice and didn't realise Richard also knows Vietnam as well so I'm sure he can advise. Anyway, take care and enjoy yourselves much love mummy xxxxx