First Moto in Thailand

Having got my moto liscence, I do need to ride one. . . Any nervousness rapidly disappears as the semi-automatic makes it more or less like an armchair with knobs. Not the residential estates of East Oxford in the sleet then. Dad's advice clearly highly educative. (And no jacket! No padded trousers! The unthinkable!).

We stay with James and Noi. They are very very kind, and have the most lovely, calming place. Pale desert roses in pots around a dark blue tiled pool; pergolas at every turn to entice you to rest; and ponds of fat fish.

We don't stay long enough, and leave at mid-day for Bangkok, after a rapid resumé of the Fanning family tree. James has it traced back to 1730 when someone first leaves Ireland. And then the whole lot of them work in the Dutch East India Company/ the civil service in Aus or the Army in India, with occasional untraced branches off in the US. Combined with Mum's family all out in Kenya since the end of the 19th century, and Granny's family looking for silver in South America, it's not surprising we're not particularly rooted. . . Good Colonial stock - Administrators, Army, Adventurers.