Day 2

It's been a bit difficult to find time to blog this time, mainly because the evenings before dinner when I used to write, I now chat to my kids through iMessages! Writing back and  forth with the three of them takes a lot of time, but it's been a great way to keep in touch!

The group on the ride is great! It's a very relaxed and easy going group of people, and I e had the chance to chat to or ride with most now. Everyone has their own story as to why they're here, and how they got here. It's humbling to hear the challenges and experiences that some have faced over the past year.

Mae Thiew continues to ride every km with us, full of smiles and support for everyone. However, I didn't realise how hard she's really doing it until I just spent an hour in the car with Kuhn Gae who explained. Mae Thiews tumours have grown. She spends 4 to 5 hours cleansing her stomach each night. She is in a lot of pain, yet we just never see it. Gae shared with me the details of Mae Thiews illness and the extent of what she does each night and I just can't believe she functions at all, let alone rides a bike each day............

We spent some time today with a group of kids on the side of the road. It was loads of fun, and a reminder how great it is to hear children's laughter in any language! When we left the kids grabbed their bikes and rode with us for a while, which was fun!

The ride itself was only 60 Kms today. Two problems with that. One is that clearly we need to make up the Kms on another day! And secondly, we set off to climb the big huge freakin mountain again that I described last time. I won't go into too much detail as I spoke about that last time, only to say that it wasn't any easier this time! Our legs are sooooo going to hurt tomorrow!

Adam continues to push the Kms out, and really took off today out the front of the pack several times! He rode hard and fast, and truly deserves the beers he's now consuming! I'm loving showing him all the places and experiencing all the things I've been talking about for so long now! He has, however, managed to be nominated as the ride sports reporter, so is regularly updating everyone on the cricket scores!

Off to dinner now, we've certainly burnt enough calories today!

Contemplation the day before 2014 ride

Welcome to my 2014 Hands Across the Water experience! This will be my third adventure into Thailand supporting this great charity and some awesome kids! If you scroll through my previous blogs you'll see some thoughts that I wrote down on my two previous trips, and how they both have impacted on my life in different ways. I guess for me, these experiences have been about the people that I've met and the people that I've travelled with. My first trip was with my sister, Renee, who I shared a lot with at the time and it was great fun to travel as two single women! My second trip was as a single mum with three kids, and couldn't have been further from the carefree travels with Renee!! But as different as these two experiences were, they changed me forever in very different but equally powerful ways. Tomorrow I embark on yet another HATW journey, this time with my very gorgeous, loving husband, who has already strengthend and enriched my life beyond words! I can't wait to share this with you, Adam, it will test us both beyond anything we've experienced, and through that I hope it gives you the wonderful inspiration, rewards and feelings of achievement that I have felt in the past. I love you and can't wait to do this! xox