Hi penny lenny Guess you are now amongst the turtles of Galapogos in your rush roofed beach side hut - you lucky thing. Bye now see you in May in UK - perhaps!!!
Out of Asia Dear Rosie,
I read it all with huge nostalgia. Ankor looked just as eciting as two yeras age and I even think it was the same elephant northof Chiang Mai! Loved the posh hotels. Will this be the inspiration for the next home extention?
Love
Penny
Great blog and pictures Thanks for the funny and moving stories. Glad you survived the cockroaches. Sounds like another successful trip to wow them at future dinner parties! R xxx
Timote girl! Dear Rosie, I loved reading the blog and like Vivien, I was moved to tears and laughter. Not sure who the masked gentleman was you photographed, but I liked his head dress. Colin´s room was pretty sophisticated compared with our quarters at Haton Sonqo, but the bucket flushed loo and nails for wardrobe were familiar!
Mary is trying to contact you to link up in Aukland during her travels.
I will show off my photos when you have a spare month after 4th. May!!
All love and keep in touch,
Penny.
My loyal reader Hi Ali - you need to come on the next trip - redundancy new directions - you would never leaves boysytown. Thanks for introducing me to Joe Homan Charity all those years ago. Bye now. Home soon
How good to see Rosie's education was not wasted Rosie, your blog is fabulous and so interesting to those of us stuck in sub zero temps. Your use of digital photography and layout was well learned and made your blog such a great place to visit. I was also pleased to learn that after so many years you have come to the conclusion that staying in a luxury hotel beats a wayside hut! Think if you'd discovered that twenty years ago, I could have come with you on some of your trips. Now there's a thought!!!! Love you both for making a difference in so many people's lives. x
Thanks for the wonderful photos and commentaries... I look at and read these at work, sometimes bursting out laughing, sometimes eyes filling up (no wonder I'm being made redundant!) .... Thank you for the insights xx xx xx
Girlstown You are right Penny about the girls needing help as well and it is always in the thoughts of the trustees of boystown but it is much trickier to set up a girlstown. The Joe Homan charity has managed to fund girlstowns in India and many sponsors (including me) ask specifically to sponsor a girl which means I have a girl in India as well as a boy in Thailand.
Oh! Rosie It was heart rending looking at your pictures of the boys, especially the little lad who is HIV. But atleast they are being educated to the point where they stand a good chance of a decent income. That is a positive point. BUT,I keep asking myself here and in SE Asia, what about the girls? Their´s is a desperate future!
Keep the piccies comming please
Penny
What an amazing man! Dear Rosie,
What an amazing man the Director must be. I so enjoyed your blog about the boys town . I just wish I could make my travel blog work. I have tried loeads of times, but just cannot figure out how to download the photos. I seem to have to cancel nearly 400 to just select 3! So I will just have to stick to words!
On the cruize in Galapagos, i organised charades and it was hilarious with so many nationalities. You would have loved it!
Happy Xmas,
Love Penny
Very uplifting news Thank you so much for going there. Great to see you with the lad who was sponsored by Oxford Brookes University. I just spoke to Rhia Lay who gave me some lovely Boy Town news today too! All very encouraging.
Hero of the story Here we have a hero Dr Anukul who is like the father to all these boys. After leaving me at the airport he was going into town to the charity shop to buy jumpers for those boys he'd seen that morning out in the cold earlier that morning with just a T shirts on. He'll buy up 20 or so jumpers for 1 gbp. -Although he is so well known many of the shops just give him stuff.
Fab. Pics! Dear Rosie,
So enjoyed this first blog and it took me back to the lovely Thai countryside! Tge boys certainly look healthy and happy and clean. It is just as well I was unable to master transfering my pics to a blog, they would break your heart! Looking forward to more info.
Love Penny
The boys future Hi Felicity , great to have your feedback - wish I had your photographic skills. 10% of boys go to Khon Kaen university others go to vocational training to be welders, electricians etc. Boys are taken in on teh basis they will be able to get a well paid job on leaving and will be able (and happy) to send money back to their extended family (many only have granparents). They hope that each boy from boystown will lift at least 8 people out of poverty! More of this in next blog.
The boys Rosie, this is fascinating. What are these boys likely to do when they leave school at 18 (that seems quite old)? Are the practical things they're learning in helping around their 'campus' likely to be more useful than the formal schooling, or are they really going on to colleges with a view to being teachers or other professionals?
Keep writing and snapping. I'm following you avidly! and take care.
Felicity
November 2013, here we are as guests at the wedding of Nick and Els , the weekend before we leave for New Zealand via India. What a wonderful last party before leaving - thank you Scotties and Houlsbys. So tomorrow, Novmber 25th we leave the Uk and fly to Mumbai. We will spend 4 weeks travelling by train,plane, bus and bikes round India before heading onto New Zealand to arrive on December 22nd. This will be our travel blog which with the help of my iPad I may be able to keep updated as we travel.
Some folk really enjoy travel blogs and for others they are tedious monologue of other people'... full info
Rambling Rose
Rosemary Phillimore
Hi penny lenny
Guess you are now amongst the turtles of Galapogos in your rush roofed beach side hut - you lucky thing. Bye now see you in May in UK - perhaps!!!