Our Year 2006
I remember telling to Griet that 2006 will be 'our' year. I don't know why I knew it but I had this gut-feeling and should be proven right. It was an excellent and exciting year and I thought I share some of our moments of 2006 with you.
January
We had a a fabulous start into 2006 as we stayed with friends (Sophie, Sven, Rikke, Jenny and Derek) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We just had returned from Con Dao Island and enjoyed a couple of nice days in the city at their home. Next stop was Hanoi in the North where we met up with Nicole, my (Thorsten) sister. It was a nice coincidence Nicole had decided to fly over from Manila to visit Vietnam at the same time. So we had a little family reunion.Mid January we went to Europe for a short visit to visit our families. On a short stopover in UK we visited some of our friends there and I surprised Griet with a ticket to a 'Cirque du Soleil' performance in the Royal Albert Hall in London. There we also decided that we know each other well enough to get married! However we decided also to take it easy with the wedding and postponed the ceremony to 2007.
February
We had a couple of lovely visitors from UK at our place in Bangkok and so much enjoyed their company. Elaine, Jenny and Derek made our time so shortwhile with their presence and we loved having them around. Amazing how much we laughed and what fun we had.
For Thorsten it was also the month he got a new manager at work. After much time without any direct manager Mark's arrival was a welcome one. In the meantime he has proven himself a fantastic manager and working under him is a pleasure.
March
Griet had a hard time during the last half year or so as she could not find a job in Bangkok. Unfortunately Thailand has a relatively strict labour market for foreigners and it is rather difficult finding jobs in the health sector. Luckily Griet came across an advertisement for a Masters in Public Health (MPH) offered by Mahidol University in Bangkok. She enrolled and started the pre-course in March. This course has catapulted her from a relative calme to an extremely busy live schedule. Since then her free weekends and evenings are of past memories and the words 'nothing to do' are history. In April 2007 she is expected to complete the course, something Griet is very much looking forward to.
April
In April Thorsten took on a permanent position as Country Program Coordinator at RECOFTC, the organisation he had worked for as secondee of DFID. He has a two year contract and is glad he can work longer for the organisation as he really enjoy working with them. The decision to stay was however not easy. Bangkok is an exciting city but not if you are unemployed. Therefore we are both glad Griet enrolled for the Masters and is occupied with something that is of interest to her.
With a friend of ours - Tanu - we made a stunning jungle trek in the South of Thailand. That was so amazing that it is difficult to describe in words. We actually stayed in the middle of the forest in our own tents and mosquito nets and enjoyed the company of millions of bugs and other insects. We were accompanied by a couple of village boys who went out for hunting. They returned
with our breakfast a couple of hours later: loads of Mountain Frogs. We have to say they tasted delicious. We also bumped into a group of Sak Gai - a nomadic tribe living in the dense forests of Southern Thailand and Malaysia. That was very surreal as their features resemble the ones 
of Africans far more than Thais. They were such lovely people living in and from the forest without any modern amenities. The only luxury was some local tobacco for the cigarettes. Very little is known about the Sak Gai and many Thais themsleve have never heard of them. Thailand has a range of different ethinc groups and tribes with the Aka, Karen and Mongs being the more known ones. Unfortunately the remaining native forests in Southern Thailand are declining and with that the livelihoods of the Sak Gai. More and more are forced to work in the rubber tree plantations as cheap labourer.
April is also the month of Songkran - Thai New Year! That is the time when everybody celebrates and trows water at each other. Especially in the North of Thailand this can get extremely crazy. We went to Chiang Rai and enjoyed the Songkran festivities there.
Songkran is the only time of the year when everybody in Thailand can really behave like crazy. Old and young gets their water guns and splashes the water around. It is great fun and is accompanied by loads of parties and celebrations in the evening. An extra 'treat' is to add some colour and ice to the water - even at 35°C that's a special feeling. The downside of the event is the excess of alcohol that is consumed and accidents caused by drunken drivers. The target of the Thai government was to keep the number of through accidents killed people under 450 (!) down from 600 (!!) a year before. We are speaking of 5 days only and trends in traffic death's are horrific in Thailand! We ourselves rented motorbikes but had to realize it is too dangerous! After Griet crashed on the road when she had a bucket of cold water mixed with soap thrown in her face, we decided to give it up and returned the bikes.
May
We went for vacation to Koh Chang, an Island near the Cambodian border. Unfortunately we managed to pick the only week with solid rain in the whole season which left us no choice but to explore all coffee shops on the island and play many, many times Rummicub. Nevertheless it was beautiful and good for both of us to get out of the 'City of the Angels' - The official name of Bangkok. May was also the month we finally bought our own Vespa! Now we are exploring Bangkok on our own two wheels and enjoy the freedom. Even though Bangkok is somewhat lunatic if it comes to traffic, one has to adapt and adjust to the Thai driving style.
June
What else can we add than the King's celebrations. King Bhumibol (or King Rama 9) has been on the throne for 60 years, the longest reigning king in the world. And when Thai people say they are going to celebrate it, they mean it! We had 2 extra public holidays, which were packed with celebrations and activities all over Bangkok.
The King gave a speech which was attended by milions of people. One of the most remarkeble things during this times was the colour yellow... In Thailand every day of the week has a colour. Now, the King is born on a Monday, which happens to be a yellow day hence yellow is an auspicious colour. Since June Thailand is yellow, where ever you look.
The draw back though is that people 'have to' wear a yellow T-shirt on Monday, especially if they are working for the government. If you're not wearing one, you do not love our king... And that's the worst one can do in Thailand. Hence every Monday for the whole year, it's like a walking field of daffodils. In the streets, on the skytrain, in offices, even in Griet's university, the professors wear yellow T-shirts every day of the week...
To join the celebrations, royalties from around the world were invited to join the King's celebrations and to watch the famous royal barges on the Chao Phraya River. We did not make it to the river, but had a much better view on big screen in town centre. It was beautiful!
July
In July, not much happened worth mentioning. Thorsten went to work and Griet went to Uni. We did go away for a long weekend with Tanu (our friend from the jungle) to Trat, in the South East of Thailand. It wasn't as spectacular as our trip to the jungle, but still a very nice break from Bangkok.
August
We were honored by a visit from Belgium, Griet's cousin Lore came over for a couple of weeks with her boyfriend Roeland. As ususal, we act as local travel agents and give advice and recommendations where to go.
The university also organised a trip for the MPH students to Ayuthaya. We had been there before in 2005, but it was quite an experience going on an 'asian' tourist trip. It was very well organised (we're not used to that, when we travel, it usually isn't organised at all...) but it was also 'in the bus -out of the bus - visit temple, take pictures - in the bus - up to the next temple - out of the bus etc. It was nice to see our friends and students in a different setting and go out with them in the evening for a drink - although the majority preferred to stay in the hotel singing Karaoke, we did manage to go out with a few. And it gave Thorsten the chance to meet some of Griet's classmates and get them to know better. It's a very nice and mixed group of people from countries like Myanmar, Bhutan, Tibet, Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal etc. It gives us the opportunity to learn more about these countries and only have made our passion for travelling bigger... now we have so many more countries we have to go and visit!!
September
The big headline of the month was the Coup d'etat that took place on 19 September. Political problems were mounting in Thailand as the Government of Prime Minister Thaksin was accused of corruption, nepetism and fraud. Speculation of an overthrow of the Government was widespread however reality took us all by surprise. The coup was bloodless and resembled a festival more than anything else. Nevertheless it was scary to see tanks and armoured vehicles at major junctions and at our Universities. I could not help myself but tried to see it with my own eyes to take some shots. See for yourself.October
End of September and beginning of October Griet had a 2 week semester break so we spent some time in Europe to visit parents, grand parents and friends. Unfortunately the time was again too short to catch up will all of our friends but we both had a very good time. During our trip to Belgium and Germany we also announced our pregnancy! Yep, we are expecting a baby and are looking forward to receive a little family member in early May 2007!
November
November was unspectacular but we enjoyed the beginning Xmas decorations in town. We spent a nice weekend out of town with some friends - Michael and Claire - and very much enjoyed their company. Again, we tried to see some places we haven't been before so went down the coast, south of Hua Hin, visited a small but beautiful national park with mangrove forests and 300 peaks with beautiful views over the coast line.
December
The year flew by and we found ourselves celebrating New Year in Nan province in Northern Thailand. New Year's eve was a bit tempered when we heard about the bombings in Bangkok, but luckely nobody we knew was affected. Finally temperatures came down to the twenties and every body caught a cold and shivered at night. We are not used to temperatures below 30 degrees any more!
Nan province is absolutely lovely and we would love living there. So much nature and fantastic people (we got lost in the mountains and drove about 100 km in circles, but it didn't matter, it was just too beautiful). That is really a hidden treasure in Thailand. We spent a night in a hill tribe village but needed a bombfire and 5 blankets to keep us warm at night... Watching the sunrise in the early morning, with the dew on trees and grass is quite an experience when you're used to 30 degrees and more.
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