Our new home

It's been a month of uncertainty. We weren't at all sure that we had made the right decision to accept a year's contract on a house that we had viewed for just half an hour in an area of town that we don't know. What if we had made a major mistake and would feel isolated away from our cosy town-centre life? Fortunately, two days here and we love it! We moved in on Thursday and have been finding what's here, exploring the local shops, learning how to order water, garbage collection etc. And today Trevann's starting to tackle the garden!

It's a good 30 minute walk to the normal bars and restaurants. But there are tuktuks if we feel too tired (or wobbly) to get home! And we've done there and back twice in one day without feeling exhausted.

It's a lovely peaceful place to sit and watch the world go by!

The views from our terrace are fabulous. We're facing north across the Mekong and up towards the mountains of Nong Khiaw. There's often a gentle breeze. Every day at 4 o'clock the monks in the temple on the left of this pic start up with the drums

At night we can leave the blinds up and enjoy the view across town. Because we're high up we're not overlooked

The garden is newly planted so needs to mature. This is the front garden which gets most sun in the morning. Once the bourgainvillea gets going it'll get more jungly

The little house sits on the side of the hill.

The terrace faces north and stays shaded all day, which is great.

Just the one room plus bathroom suits us fine. It stays nicely cool so far. Today the terrace was 32 degrees but inside was 23 (without air con). Comfortable, very clean and modern. We even have hot water!

Probably looks a bit smaller than it is in this view. We'll be gradually adding colour.

From our house there's a dirt road down the hill.

This is the main street through our village with general shops, hairdressers, mechanic, vegetables, etc. No toilet paper, milk or butter though! Everybody is friendly so far

Drying chillies and peppers.

Most of the houses in the village are now block and tile but there are several with corrugated tin rooves

 and even thatch. Plenty of construction always going on

On old-style wooden house

Remodelling the back garden. Because we're on the hillside the small back garden is terraced. The soil is red clay(?) and sets like concrete when dry. Trevann is making a start on improving the design. We have a mature mango tree plus young papaya and banana. I'm looking forward to mango season!