Learning made fun

Bangkok - The Start Of Our Adventure

OVER the next few weeks I'm going to blog about various places we visited in our recent one month holiday to Australia. I went with Rob my husband on a 'once in a lifetime' holiday to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. We enjoyed it so much it may be more than 'once in a lifetime' now as we have the travel bug! We arranged our holiday with Bridge and Wickers and flew Qantas.

Bangkok was a city full of surprises. After a tearful farewell to our three grown up children we set off on our great Australian adventure. It all seemed a bit surreal and both Rob and I were left with the feeling of "what have we done?"

En route we had a three night stop over in Bangkok. We loved it - but what an unusual city. We stayed at the Mandarin Oriental which was very good. As Bangkok has just got over the floods and at the best of times has a mixed reputation, this hotel suited us down to the ground. We had less qualms about the water, food and sanitation although still only drank bottled water and had no ice. We were amazed to see people eating food from the street vendors. I am sure it's ok but it wasn't for us.

Highlights of Bangkok were the floating market (although this was outside of Bangkok), the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, the night market and a Thai massage. We didn't buy anything at the floating market but it was interesting to see. We had to do this with a guide because it is impossible to do this yourself, being 1 1/2 hours outside of Bangkok. Most of the market is actually not floating and it is therefore the 20 minute journey in a "James Bond" style tail boat that zips through the canals that make this fun. It was possible to go in a boat through the market and if you want to do this check that your tour operates this way.

We took a ferry bus from close to the hotel to the Grand Palace. You need to be careful as there are tuk tuk drivers outside who will tell you it is closed for an hour to take you on a tour of the local shops. This will undoubtedly not be the case. You need to dress modestly but if you have forgotten to do so there are clothes to borrow. It was a little confusing going around the palace but we found everything in the end. The highlight is the Emerald Buddah which is housed in a great big room but is itself tiny.

A short walk from the Palace is the temple Wat Pho. This houses the Reclining Buddah which is absolutely enormous. It is incredible to think anyone would have thought of commissioning something so big! Inside the grounds is the Thai School of massage. Prices are very reasonable and Rob had a half hour back massage for about £5.00. We had both had a Thai massage in the hotel the previous day which was brilliant, an experience not to be missed. We had a suite with a bath and steam room prior to the massage. We put on special outfits and were then massaged in unison by two masseurs. The massage finished with a ceremonial tea.

The night market was a really fun experience. On one side there were stalls selling all types of tourist products. On the other side were people trying to get you to go into their sex shows - usually under the title of "ping pong show". We bought nothing and didn't go to a show!

We were quite sad to leave Bangkok. This is a city that you should not take seriously if you really want to enjoy it.

Musical Minis Merseyside Work Experience Programme

Merseyside Work Experience Invitation

Coffee Morning Friday 10th Feb 2012 10 am to 12 pm at Stoneycroft Children’s Centre Scotia Road L13 6QJ. Learn more about Musical Minis Work Experience Programme

Musical Minis Merseyside in conjunction with Stoneycroft Children’s Centre and kindly sponsored by Liverpool Mutual Homes is delighted to offer training and work experience based on the popular music group for babies and toddlers. Participants will be invited to attend a day’s training followed by work experience at weekly one hour sessions lasting ten weeks. The final session will include a graduation where participants will receive a certificate of attainment.

The course will offer people the chance to gain valuable, transferrable skills such as interaction with children and families/presentation skills. It will also cover aspects of health and safety and inclusion. We hope that participants will gain confidence whilst also having fun with activities based on child development through music.

To find out more contact Cathie Flynn on 0151 486 4735 e-mail [email protected]

The Top 5 Posts In 2011 On My Blog

LOOKING back on 2011 there was one post on the Musical Minis blog, Learning Made Fun, that  had more hits than all the others.

On Saturday 9th July, the post on 'how to have a baby girl............or not' (originally published in 2010) had more than 3,500 hits. Since then the hits have continued, although at a slower pace. The success of the post was linked to the Beckhams' baby daughter, Harper Seven, being born after 3 boys. BBC news quoted the post as a feature on the health pages on Saturday. The article by Helen Briggs titled 'Sugar and spice and all things nice' was popular remaining as one of the most read articles for the whole day - even more so than the phone hacking and space launch articles, which were current at the time. My blog was a featured link and led to blog hits soaring.

The second most read post on the blog was my response to my experience of appearing in the Daily Mail also in July. The Daily Mail made up quotes and wrote a totally different article  to what I had expected to be a positive piece on my 25 year marriage. If you missed it you can read my post  'Don't believe everything you read: My experience of appearing in the Daily Mail'

At number 3 in the most popular posts was the post published in June on Politically correct nursery rhymes. This seemed to strike a cord with many of the blogs readers.

Number 4 was a guest post by Linda Jones  in September on Sarah Jessica Parker? I dont care how she does it. This post was in relation to her film and being a working Mum.

As a suprise the 5th most read blog post in 2011 was one in a series we had written about 'Where do nursery rhymes come from' and this one was in May about the song London's burning. This was also written by Linda Jones and at the time, although it was read, it wasn't a popular post. However, in the London riots last Summer, Londons Burning, was a popular search and a total new bunch of readers found the blog!

If you missed any of these posts at the time please read them and comment on them if you can. Thank you to everyone was has read, commented or shared a post on the blog in 2011. Anything you would like covered in 2012 just let me know.

Musical Minis Wishes You All A Happy 2012