april 2012: thailand / hong kong

WARNING: There are loads of photos this month, many, but not all, of Willow…

We lived in an apartment in Phuket. We moved back aboard Zinc. We flew to Hong Kong.

PHUKET

BOAT. Zinc remained where she should not be for most of the month. The work took twice as long as we anticipated. When one issue was resolved, another arose. Not surprising really. Ah, the life of a cruising sailor. We are living the dream.

LIFE. Boat Lagoon was our life.

…The view from our apartment. If you look closely, you can see Zinc on the hardstand; she is the tiny speck in the center.

…The lunch spot.

…The pool.

…The weekend market.

…The main drag.

…The boat yard.

…The fish-spotting spot.

LIFE. When the sun moved position from Pisces to Aries we celebrated Songkran and the beginning of the Thai new year 2555. We joined with the Thai people to sprinkle water in a show of respect.

DRAMA. 40+ earthquakes in the region, four significant (i.e., with a magnitude of six or greater, occurring at a depth of 100 km or less). Two tsunami warnings.

BOAT. Zinc went back in the water…

… under the watchful eyes of the new crew…

… but remained a work site for a few more days.

BOAT. Zinc’s remodelled engine hatches and steps are beauties. The quality of the work is outstanding. Mr Chan is a brilliant craftsman, and a perfectionist. He is in high demand and has (too?) many projects on the go. This is why the work on Zinc took such a very long time. Frustrating. Worth it in the end. We are very happy. We would use him again.

BOAT KID. It seems we have a “girl” on our hands. Willow is obsessed with shoes, handbags, jewellery. We are puzzled about from where these fancies have stemmed and conclude that it is nature. It certainly is not nurture. Unfortunately poor Willow is proving to have her mother’s bad taste in accessories. The “handbag” she insists on carrying everywhere is a multicoloured pencil case…

… and these are the shoes that she refuses to remove… Crocs. Ugh. They are so darned ugly but so darned practical for boat travel in Asia.

… Furthermore, she takes her stroller, trolley and suitcase pushing very seriously…

… and loves to smell flowers.

… Nevertheless, we retain hope that she will not be too girly; our hopes rest on her passion for racing cars and her boisterous tendencies.

… I am fairly certain Willow should not be standing on the drum. I am completely humbled by this parenting thing; each day I judge people less, parents in particular.