Hands Across Lands

Arrived in Phuket 9th February after spending a few days in Bangkok. Bangkok as you would expect from any city was very busy but this was crazy and very hot. We were all excited to arrive in a new country and experience its culture. We all wanted to see the floating market, a river cruise and the tiger temple, which was absolutely awesome by the way…They are such a powerful animal (photos below). One  evening at Khoasan rd market, we had some delicious pad thai and experienced a tank full of tiny fish nibbling our dead skin off our feet and legs…at first it was such a tingly funny feeling through out my whole body until  I got used it…it was amazing! Then the 4 of us finished up with a lovely foot massage before heading back to hotel.

Once we arrived in Phuket, we are driven from Phuket airport  to our hotel in Kathu, however the hotel booking was not to our liking. So, we cancelled and searched for different accommodation. Eventually we ended up in a little guest house in Patong. A quiet clean 2 room place; one room with 2 beds for the 4 of us and  another for the toilet and shower. By now we were hungry, sweaty and tired. We were only around the corner , about 200 meters from the busy part of Patong. It was time to see what sort of food we could find.

We noticed some things were more expensive than Bangkok. Believe it or not we were able to have a plate of Pad Thai on Khoasan rd in Bankok for 25Baht which is about 85cents Australian…How cheap is that?! Here in Patong we noticed the cheapest was about 50 Baht, being around Au$1.65…still pretty cheap. Any way looking for healthy food has taken some time for us to find. As high vegetables and fruit eaters back home, its taken us 4 days to find the right foods to eat and we are still looking for those extra things, like  free range eggs, Bread other than white, sea salt (as we forgot to bring from Australia) and many other things. On the other hand we have been experiencing some lovely cooked vegetables and lots of pad thai when we do eat. We have only been eating 2 small meals a day…Yes we have lost some weight already!

Up till Sunday the 12th Feb we have been on the move. Yesterday we all actually got down to the beautiful beach and had a swim. Crystal clear water. It was so nice to feel the salt water against your skin. It felt like the toll of 3 days prior of sweat down our backs, kilometres of walking and trying to settle in a new townwas lifted immediately…it felt so cleansing and rejuvenating.

Did I mention the weather has been hot and hotter…especially when it’s been humid and when you’re walking for miles to look for a hotel to stay in. Its peak season here and catering for 4 of us has been a little bit of an issue but being patient has its windfalls. We scored a hotel in Kamala beach just 10 min north from Patong beach. This was an internet bargain with all the trimmings which we wanted for 7 or so days to start with before we headed North of Thailand to volunteer.

Learning the language bit by bit has been such a hilarious process for all of us  and probably more hilarious for those Thai people trying to understand us. So many things we take for granted and have had to be really aware of, like not being able to just turn on tap and brush your teeth, and not placing toilet paper in toilets and flushing. So far so good but every now and then one of us forgets. I guess practice makes perfect,Right!

Below are some pictures of the last few days…

Until the next post…Live the life you want

Lots of love

Faris and Family

xoxo

A special thanks to all those who have supported us in our preparation to purchase all our gear that’s required for our trip.  There is so much to discover in the world of adventure stores.

We would like to thank the staff Sean and Hayley at Paddy Palin store in Brisbane and Sarah from head office for all there support in helping us acquire the bulk our gear for our trip. At times we had no idea of what we needed and they went out of there way to share with us there expertise.Thank you for your patience with us Sean and your beautiful Soul. One of the most valuable things we experienced was the personal stories you both shared of  your own travels…totally priceless.

With an extensive trip like ours we sourced a few adventure stores and tried a variety of  footwear, clothing, backpacks and accessories  sourcing what felt comfortable for us. This takes me to the K2 Adventure  store in Brisbane where the staff Andrew, Toby, kyle, Andy Brad, Josh, Scott, Steve Peter and Winton the owner…Did we leave anyone out.  I know your glad to see us off because it felt it was our second home by the number of visits we made….LOL LOL . Again your amazing travel stories and support of what we needed on our trip was truly valued.

Close to home on the Gold Coast in Ashmore was the team at Mountain Design. Jimmy the manager and his staff Karen and Craig with Kelly from  the office were so accommodating and supportive with our needs. My youngest daughter Tahira felt so comfortable with Jimmy, she tried several layered outfits on that just cracked us up laughing including Jimmy, who was serving us at the time. His down to earth nature was a pleasure to work with as the rest of the team. We wish Jimmy and his partner all the best with the upcoming birth of their first child…Keep us posted Jimmy!!!

Also a special thanks to Travis from Velo-Vita Pty Ltd in Sydney  for your lovely support. We love of our Deuter backpacks. Their so comfortable! you made it a pleasure to do business with you over the phone and accommodated our needs  perfectly. We are truly thankful!

To everyone from all the stores we thank you with all our hearts for your support and contribution to our cause, preparation and gear needed for our 2012 trip. We thank you for enriching our lives through your incredible stories which we encourage you to share on this blog. You have impacted us with your stories and I’m sure others who read this blog will too be impacted by them.  We recognize that individually we make a difference but together we can make a bigger one.

A few pictures below!

Lots of Love

Faris and Family

Well here we are…yes, we’re still here in Australia. You might be wondering when are those Mouasher’s leaving? thats a great question. Not long now! Originally we were going to leave mid January however planning on travelling for a year is taking a few extra weeks.

I hope you all had a great start to the new year. 27 December 2011 we drove and spent 10 days in Sydney seeing family and picked up a few extra goodies for our trip. We had a great time swimming, going on walks, going on the ferries throughout the Sydney harbour, eating and eating and did I mention we ate. You know between the Italian and Jordanian cultures and the love of good food who could resist. After all I have been hearing from many travellers loosing over 15 kilos on their travel, so I thought why not. Lol Lol

Last friday 14 January we picked up all our gear with a few items still to come next week. We were all pretty excited as several weeks back we had been preparing what it was we actually needed for our trip. a matter of fact I couldn’t get the girls to sleep as it felt like christmas all over again as they rummaged through their things trying on stuff for over 4 hours. Our visa’s will all be finalised by this week, not to mention travel insurance, flights, accommodation and those last minute things to ensure you don’t have to deal with whilst overseas. There really is quite a lot to consider and do…So if you are considering a trip such as ours give your self more than 8 month or so. Sounds like a lot of time but it’s not.

It’s amazing to watch the family embrace this journey and what has been experienced, the challenges, the emotions, the physcal effort, the communication or the lack of at times…lol lol and the unknown. This trip really started for us when we decided that we were going, and yet the reality of getting on a plane in a few weeks sparked this expression from one of my daughters yesterday “Is this really happening dad”. I guess sometimes things can feel so surreal despite all that you are doing? interesting hey!!!

I will get some pictures up for you on the  next post and will talk to you soon

Lots of Love

Faris and family

Hello to all, yes our house sold on auction day, 2/10/11. A 4 week auction campaign with Simon Finlayson our agent for Knobel & Davis who did an amazing job – We highly recommend him if you want to sell your home.

So we have been selling off our furniture and belongings with the exception of  some of our personal items however all is going… our trip volunteering across the globe is creeping up and January will be here before we know it. the recent weekend of  the 29th and 30th October  was our moving out from the house and into our 6 week 2 bedroom apartment and then to mums over the Christmas/New Year and a bit of January before we head out.

Its been such a cleansing and clearing time for our whole family letting go of all our possessions and creating the space for the new and unknown. We have also been preparing and researching for our trip. looking at vaccinations, homeopathic kits, travel gear, health organizations and groups that will support us on our trip,  not to mention making contact with  people from all over the globe.

We thank those who have contributed information and  ideas and we look forward to hearing from anyone that would like to share their travel stories or travel tips. please feel free to post your tips, stories or contacts of places you recommend people in need could use some assistant.

Love to all xo