Today was REALLY hot in Sydney.

We have had a couple of really hot (40C++) days in Sydney this summer but yesterday beat the current longstanding heat record from 1936.

In Sydney itself they measured 45.8C and at the Airport which is closer to us the measured 46.4C. At our place we measured more than 43C degrees at midday.



Fortunately yesterday was a lot cooler and because we knew that there was a hot day coming up we managed to cool down the place the during the night to a pleasant 25 degrees...and out house maintained that temperature for most of the day (apart from our study which gets really hot because of the big windows).

In the evening a cool change arrived with very strong winds and a bit of rain...we quickly opened all doors and windows to take advantage of it and cool down the place again...unfortunately this also came with a very fine layer of dust on everything next morning.

2012 was a record blogging years for me...77 posts over the entire year...which means one new entry every 4.5 days, or in other terms something new to look at regularly.

I am hoping that 2013 will have equally many posts. I have now been blogging for more than 15 years and most if not all the posts can be seen here:

Click here

Here is another family photo that I had my Dad assist us with. It was easier to have him on a ladder taking the photo than trying to set it up on a lightstand.



It was lit by firing a group of flashes into the ceiling of the room...hopefully I will get a professional studio flash soon and will have some more power available for these types of photos.


I recon this is one of my favourite family photos from 2012.

For the next couple of weeks my Dad and his partner are renting a campervan to cruise down the coastline from Cairns back to Sydney (hopefully they enjoy the cool weather compared to the 41 degrees we had here in Sydney yesterday).

Before they left I managed to do a photo session with him and the kids to get some portraits.







I may try and do another one once they return on a darker background.

New Years day we organised a more of let spontaneous BBQ (well..it was organised day before) at one of our local parks with family and a couple of friends.


I think my dad was still a bit hung over from the day before, but we still managed to get him to do some of the BBQ'ing. They went to the city night before to see the big midnight fireworks while Aiden and myself went to Coogee to see the 9pm fireworks there with family (Kim stayed at home with Lucas).






...while Kims Dad was looking after Lucas.

One afternoon we made the trip to Centennial park to go duck feedking with Aiden, but also to show our visitors one of the great parks of Sydney.





Aiden was very excited playing with my dad and running up and down the hills and checking out the big trees.





(photos courtesy of my dad)

So far my Dad and Aiden are bonding very well.

The first thing AIden asks for when he wakes up in the morning is 'Play Bedstefar' (play grandad) and wants to go and knock on his door to play with him.

My dad has been very patient with letting him jump while holding his hands, so now he wants to do it all the time.





He especially enjoys the two handed jump...




...so now he also wants it when we are walking him.



The jumping has come in handy as I have used it to trick Aiden to get in the water at Maroubra a few times.


My dad also reads him his story before he goes to bed at night...we will se over the next month whether we also can get him to change nappies, brush his teeth, feed him, dress him etc.

My Dad wanted to see the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race again this year.

Unlike the last time we were there in good time this year and found a great parking spot and a fairly good vantage point of the race without too many crowds.

While waiting for the race to start the James Craig was cruising back and forth outside the harbour.





Once the race started and the boats passed the heads it became very busy both on the water and it in air with all the boats and helicopters (at one point I counted 11 at the same time) and my Dad was busy clicking away.










This year turned out to be a new course record, so great conditions all the way to Hobart.

Christmas Day we celebrated with Kims family at her sisters house.

It was the usual crowd of our familys and everyone bringing dishes to share and as usual there was a lot of different foods to try.



It was great to have the whole family together (Aiden was again eating too much).







And even Santa made an appearance again this year...Thank you so much Santa!!!!!

This year we celebrated Christmas at home with my Dad and his partner with the traditional Christmas Duck and Ris-a-la-mande.





It was Lucas' first and Aiden's third Christmas...Aiden is now getting old enough to enjoy the experience...



...especially the food



After dinner we opened presents according to the Danish tradition and Aiden was very excited about the big box from Bedstefar...



...containing a big truck.



From Mummy and Daddy he received a Lightning Mcqueen car (radio controlled).





...and also a drawing pad.





Merry Christmas...

They also had a snake show at the elephant place.

Some of the snakes were very poisonous such as this monocled cobra.





And the huge king cobra (which kept coming over the safety barrier).



Chong and I volunteered to hold the python.












I wonder how often the snake guy has been bitten by his snakes.

At the place we went riding elephants they had a group of little monkeys that we could hold and feed.

They were chained to their little houses which was a bit cruel, but the kids loved seeing the monkeys up close.










The kids thought it was very funny when one of them grabbed my nose.

One morning we went on an elephant ride with the family.

Kim had been on elephant rides before and is terrified, but she was still brave enough to do it again (She was screaming that she wanted to get off most of the way).






It was an amazing experience for the Kids.









They got to see the big animals up close.

One one of the first days we went to the beach at Kata. The hotel had a shuttle bus to the beach which was an easy 10 minutes walk away.

The beach was actually surprisingly nice with warm water.



About two months ago a sailing boat stranded on the beach during a storm. No one has claimed the boat and a few attempts of lifting it off the beach has failed.



We told the kids that it was a pirate ship, so they wanted to have a closer look.











Kims dad didn't want to go in the water, but decided to keep to his thing with wearing warm clothes in hot humid weather.

This year we traveled to Phuket in Thailand along with Kim's sisters family and her dad.

We had to fly via Bangkok, so we were a bit worried how the kids would handle the long flight (especially Lucas), but everyone handled it reasonably well.

The boys were very excited to be going on a big aeroplane.

 

Once we arrived to Bangkok it was pretty obvious to see that they were very excited.

The only thing that never made it all the way to the hotel was our stroller. We lost it somewhere between Phuket airport and the hotel...but wasn't a big loss and hopefully someone puts it to goo local use.

It is time to renew Aiden passport and like last time there were a lot of outtakes that we could not use, but which were quite funny.

Here is some more photos of my grandma and grandpa on my mothers side.

Here she is with her sisters (my grandma on the far right)



Here is some of her when she was young.






Here is one that I assume was taken in 1969 based on the date of the photo.



I think this one if my grandpa when he was young.



And here is some more.







And here is some family gathering photos.



I think it is her brother on the left. And my cousin Mette on the right.



And this is with my grandparents on my fathers side (left to right bedstefar, mormor, morfar, bedstemor, mum and Claus).

Going through some old photos I came across these of my great grand parents (on my mothers side).




I am pretty sure that the little girl on the left is my Mum (So the photos must have been taken around 1943-1944) and the other two girls are her sisters (My Aunties) Eli on the right and Yrsa in the middle.

I assume that the women in the back are their grand parents (my great grands) with the woman on the right being my grandmothers (mormor's) mum and the one on the right being grandad's (morfar'd) mum.


Here is a family photo of what I assume is my grandmothers (mormor's) family. I think it is my grandma in the middle right behind my great grandmother.


I assume this is my great grandparents, but I cannot be certain.




This must be a birthday for my grandmother.


This was taken outside the farm where my mum grew up. It is my grandad (morfar) in the middle on the right and it could be my grandmother (mormor) on the stairs with her mum. The farm is still there today owned by my uncle.






This must be some of the family on my grandads (morfar's) side, so possibly some of his siblings.

A friend asked if I would do a commissioned corporate portrait for professional usage.

I said I was happy to help and on a very rainy day we managed to get the the shoot done. This is the most corporatey of the lot.

I purchased a cheap ring flash and had a bit of a play with it one evening and took the following happy snap photo of Kim.




We are planning a holiday and I am thinking that I might bring it along.

Just outside Luang Prabang there is this amazing waterfall cascading down a limestone creek.

We decided to get up early to go a take photos, so that we could be there early before all the crowds arrived.





















At the entrance to the park there is also a Bear rehabilitation centre. They rescue bears from captivity and keep them until it is safe to release them back into the wild (if ever). The bears have a big area and seem to love climbing and sleep in the hammocks provided.

Our kids had a blast of a time in Laos. They loved each other company (for the most part) and sometime looked like real little travellers.








They were respectful at the temples and even offered a prayer.





At other times they behaved like animals and should be lock away in a cage.





But for the most part they liked exploring things that us adults wouldn't see such as this crater from a crash landed U.F.O.

What I especially remember from my last trip to Laos was the kids. One of my most cherished photos is one of two little girls holding a bouquet of flowers that I took 20 years ago (it is on this blog if you look for it through the search function).

The children are still there. They are still very shy, dirty and smiling.











They make up their own games such as these kids at a school playing marbles with tamarind seeds.







These kids were playing a game where the kid under the table had to poke the feet of the kids above the table.



And some things never change, kids teasing each other.





The girls in the school yard 'hang out'.



Visiting a local school was great for our kids to get a glimpse of how other kids live.







Along the road we stopped and a family was outside with the mother breastfeeding her son in their outdoor living room. This is where everything happened such as the cooking, washing, feeding etc.





The chicken were running around freely



Here is a rare shot that Kim took with my camera in it.



It is a very family oriented life they live

For getting around the towns in Laos we mainly used Tuk-Tuks. These are small motorbike powered minibuses and the experience can be very mixed. Most of them are generally good, but some have bad brakes have a plume of smelly two stroke engine smoke trailing behind them. We could easily fit our two families into one and I'd joke that there would even be room for another couple of adults.



The kids loved the tuk-tuks and have the fresh air blowing in their hair while riding.



The only downside is that you'd never quite know what the fare would be until you started bargaining and from town to town the fares seemed to be very different. Even though I believe I am reasonable proficient at bargaining, I'm still confident that we paid more that the locals would be paying for the same trips.











For the longer trips we would catch either local buses (mini vans) or in some instances it was worthwhile us hiring a private bus as we were enough people to fill it.

From Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang we hired a private van taking us across the mountain pass at Kasi. Last time I went through here it was in an open bus and at the pass it was raining and really cold. This time round we had a beautiful clear day with a great view of the valley below from the top.





The week before they had a lot of rain and a landslide had taken out large parts of the last section of road (I read in the local newspaper a few days earlier that the road was closed). Our little van was struggling getting enough grip and our driver had to reverse to get enough of a run-up in the next attempt to make it through the steep and muddy section.

The larger trucks were really struggling getting through.

The morning markets are interesting. This is where the locals still go to buy their fresh produce and all kinds of specialties are being sold here. It would be easy to go here and get the ingredients for some really delicious food.

There are also some unusual things that we don't see in our western kitchens. such as:

Dried Squids:



Fresh fish - of cause, but this have sharp teeth.


A protein and herb table that would make most chefs (and diners) salivate:






The Chillies in Lao are more hot than in Thailand - We loved the heat.


A pig:


River crabs:


Beetles:


Dried rats:




Caterpillar - these are yummi when fried:


Frogs:

River snails:


Dried squid, shrimps and fish:

During the dry season the people of Luang Prabang builds traditional bamboo bridges across the smaller river. This saves them a lot of time (and cost) to cross directly into the centre of town rather than a long detour to the other larger bridges.

It also earns them a small income to charge foreigners a small fee to cross the bridges.

They still manufacture silk they way they used to. It was interesting for the kids to see the process from small caterpillar eggs that hatch to worms to the production of the silk itself.






I had always wondered where the colour blue (Indigo) came from. I knew it used to come from a seashell, but I was fairly certain that this wouldn't be the case here. It turns out that they use a special leaf from a plant that when mixed with water and left fermenting/oxidising turns into a blue dye.





They also use plants for most of the other colours.





After they spin the thread they use traditional weaves to make it into pieces of garment. These days the silk garments are fairly expensive - hundreds of dollars, but it used to be really cheap.

A two hour boat ride north of Luang Prabang is the Pak Ou cave. Since we were traveling two families the best way to get there was to hire a slow boat just for us.



The flow boats are long narrow boats that are ideal for navigating the Mekong River. This part of the river is full of underwater rocks but the boats seem to navigate these treacherous waters with ease.

Having the boat for ourselves gave us more flexibility with regards to how long we wanted to spend at the cane and also meant that we have more room to move around.



The front of the boar is where the captain sits and steers the boat. After this there is a section for the passengers followed by a small pump toilet and then the living quarters for the captain and his family. Out the back there is a small kitchen for them to do the cooking.

The cave is upstream into an area full of limestone mountains.



The many boats moor at a long and wobbly floating bamboo bridge that takes you to the cave itself.





The cave itself is not big but it is full of small Buddhas that have been put there over hundreds of years. You can tell that this used to be an important place of worship.





Now however the place is so crowded with tourists (guilty here too) coming in on boats that it is hard to move around. I could not stop myself from taking this photo of Buddha holding up his hands to stop more boats arriving.



At the top of the hill the hill there is what I think is a more 'pleasant' cave. It is equally interesting and much less crowded because most tourists don's make it up the many steps to the top.

The traditional Lao Lau is still being made. Just north of Luang Prabang on the river there is a little village on the river called Whiskey village whos main income is from the production of Lao Lau.



When I was there two decades ago this is what the locals were drinking (now they drink beer instead). I still remember the foul taste from the home brew that was distilled in large oil drums after having been fermented in large clay pots. Whenever I see it I always wonder if distilling strong alcohol right next to an open flame is the wisest of ideas!?!?





The process itself hasn't changed, but these days most of the whiskey is sold to tourists and I tastes a lot more pleasant that it did back then.

The food in Laos is good. It is traditional cooking mostly still cooked over an open fire.





You see them start cooking the food well before sunrise in big pots.

The food itself is mostly a fusion of Thai and Vietnamese. It has all the noodle soups from Vietnam, but with the more street food and spice of Thailand. The picture below is a typical noodle soup with a traditional cube of coagulated blood.





We were eating a lot from small street type restaurants following the rule that is had to be popular with the locals. The logic behind this is that the locals would know what is good and would also be choosy regarding the quality of the food, so chances are that it would be fresh and not cause food poisoning (none of us or the kids had any issues on the trip).






There are some dubious food there, such as some of the meat BBQ where they sometimes have the meet cooked earlier on the side of the BBQ and then just re-heat it when you order it.







Also be careful with some of the food stalls where the food may have been sitting there for most of the day and often from the day before.





From a 'snack' perspective there are some personal favourites that I absolutely love such as the BBQ fried squid - the packet stuff is just not the same.



Also the Bamboo and coconut fried rice is delicious - they sell them at bus and train stations and especially the purple rice one is yummi!



The freshly made puffed breads over an open fire - they will use two rakes to flip them until they are done.