We’re in full swing getting ready for the Silent Auction.
Local church hall is booked.
Junk Items For Sale are gathered
(read: piled up in the bedroom).
Handmade cards are nearing completion.
Local newspaper interview has been given.
Fizzing Sherbet production line is in action.
Not wanting to use plastic bags, we’re making our own colourful card envelopes…and then using plastic straws - oh the irony!)
Homemade jams and chutneys need to be repackaged in smaller jars.
Fantastic Friend has offered to man a BBQ, so there’ll be a sausage sizzle as well (and one fewer pairs of roller blades for sale - we’ll keep them aside to thank him for his kindness).

Any locals wanting to come along…here are the details:

6-7pm Friday 23rd May 2008
Titirangi Baptist Church Hall
32 Kaurilands Road

All the items for the auction will be on display and you will be invited to write your name and bid on the accompanying piece of paper. If your name is last on the paper when the bell rings at 7pm, you win. It’s that simple. Better chance than Lotto $1 reserve on all items, which include: homemade preserves, stroller, power rider, roller blades, bicycle, teddy bears, dress-up set, wooden bead number lines (great educational stocking stuffers - be ready for Christmas!), cards, sleeping bags, portacot, classic books, clothing, balls, moonhopper, craft kits, dollshouse, kitchen gear, duvet sets….and much much more (including, of course, the fizzing sherbet stand and sausage sizzle).
If you’re feeling particularly philanthropic (as in you get absolutely nothing out of this option…..not even some sherbet to rot your teeth or a pre-loved well-thumbed book)….you might like to sign up at the Coast-To-Coast-Walk sponsorship table. We’ll be taking details of anyone who would be willing to sponsor our family walk across town to be undertaken the weekend of the auction (weather dependent)

What’s all this for again?
It’s NOT to finance our trip!!! No way.
It’s part of the kids’ effort to raise money to sponsor the printing of a book in Laos. They’ve already raised enough money to sponsor a book party (a huge flower press run secured that goal) and can hardly wait to go and meet the children who are going to benefit from their efforts. They’ve boosted the book-printing-fund by adding the birthday money just given to them by grandparents……..hopefully Auction Night will see the total rise even higher. 
We cannot imagine it happening, but IF we passed the book total, the excess would go to Chumkriel Language School in Cambodia where we’ll be volunteering for a few weeks - even the older children will be helping out with language classes. Of all the places in the world, this one caught our attention largely due to the whole-community-efforts being made. Many of the organisations are working together instead of all independently doing their own thing. At least, that’s how it looks through our computer screen! We’ll see when we get there. We were advised not to bother going to Kampot “because the beach isn’t nice and there’s nothing there.” There may not be a famous temple or market or Disneyland, but there are people.

In this town there is an orphanage for children who have lost their parents to AIDS.

There are people involved in a Recycled Plastic Bag Project.

There’s a Provincial Training Centre, where students  learn how to dye cotton using extracts from local plants, and then they weave the thread and make clothing to sell.

There’s an Epic Arts Cafe, which offers employment to deaf and disabled members of the community (as well as a workshop and exhibition space in addition - obviously - to the cafe).

There’s the Cambodia Children’s Advocacy Foundation helping support children in the areas of education, intervention and the prevention of child labor, trafficking and oppression. They are attempting to upgrade the nutrition and health of these children and give parents skills to enable them to generate an income for their families.

And there are not just people…..there’s also  Save Cambodia’s Wildlife.

There are some good reasons to visit Kampot.
If only we could raise a million dollars!

They have what we were dreaming of!

They being a family consisting of mum, dad, a boy and a girl, who are about to take a year off school/the Office Desk and go round the world. Right round the world.
The Wide Wide World.

Their website was planned to make its debut on Pilgrims’ Progress next week, but opening night has been brought forward. Why? Because I commented on their latest post today and within a few hours they had replied. That’s pretty friendly, don’t you think? Well, I *was* offering them pavlova when they make it to New Zealand, but as it turns out we’ll already be on our own adventure by the time they get here. But maybe we’ll meet them in South East Asia. Over a bowl of noodles. I hope we’ll be able to discuss how unfounded our fears were - for now, it’s been encouraging to see there are others who have little panic attacks in the middle of the night too! Others who are a wee bit scared to talk about their trip! Others who have hit the 196 Days To Go mark (actually, we’ve hit that one too. In fact, our children started the numbered countdown on the calendar in the kitchen at 194 days…and that was 43 days ago now).
It would be fun to meet this family - and we just might - isn’t that a bizarre thought?
I just hope they get an authentic kiwi family experience when they hit New Zealand!

way back when in the olden days air tickets were an impressive-looking document, with multiple pages and a cardboard outer shell

holiday scrapbooks opened with this visible proof that We Went On An Aeroplane

Of course, today it is ever-so-un-pc to hurtle through space in a metal object trailing pollution behind…it’s also un-pc to cut down trees…..so maybe that’s why our ten tickets all fit on three sheets of A4 paper. We wouldn’t want them in our journals now, would we?

The pile is dipped into - everyone has to find something they didn’t know or something interesting…..then we share what we’ve discovered with everyone else. What some of the smaller kids come out with is nothing short of fascinating! They might not be able to read, but they often see details in photos that the bigger ones of us skip right over.

The books go back to the library. And we get another pile to dip into. Everyone finds something……

how will we keep the kids safe?

are we really going to carry all that gear?

do we have enough cold weather gear?

why didn’t we go to Mongolia in the summer?

what if the kids are a nuisance to others?

is the smallest one going to be toilet-trained or not?

how accurate are the online promises we have based our finances on?

will we get everything done in five months and four days?

Singapore: 4 days transit visa free, require proof of onward travel
Malaysia: 1 month visa free, require proof of onward travel
Thailand: 30 days visa-free, up to 90 days within six months, require 20,000 baht per family
Laos: visa for 30 days with one extension possible, require onward ticket, confirmed hotel reservation in Laos, contact organisation, photograph. Available from Bangkok (US$30) or NZ (actually from Embassy in Canberra A$45 each - allow ten working days - more expensive this way). Business visa may be more flexible - would need to contact company in Laos to get authorized first. Trying to find out if they are avaiblable at Chiang Khong.
Cambodia: Business or tourist (cheaper) visa can be obtained or arrival, valid for 30 days, can be extended. Children are free. YAY! Alternatively, visas can be obtained prior to travel and must be used within three months.
Royal Embassy of Cambodia, 185 Rajdamri Road, Lumpini, Bangkok 10330, Phone: +66 2 253 7967, Email: recbkk@cscoms.com  (have emailed for details)
Vietnam: Must be purchased beforehand, valid for 30 days, probably from Phnom Penh for us, definite dates required.
Embassy of Vietnam in Cambodia, 436 Monivong, Phnom Penh, (855) 2372 6273
(855) 2372 6274 OR Consulate General of Vietnam in Sihanouk Ville, Sihanouk Ville, (855) 3493 3669
China: visa valid for three months, require proof of onward travel
Consul General: Mr. Gao Deke, 39 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam,Tel: +84-8-8292457 Email: chinaconsul_hcm_vn@mfa.gov.cn
Contacted nzembassy for details
HongKong: 90 days visa free
Mongolia: if travelling by train (yep, that’s us) you’ve got to have your visa before arriving at the border, valid for three months from issuing date, duration of 30 days, US$30 Excellent details here:http://www.mongolianconsulate.com.au/visas/bejing.shtml
have emailed kiwi contact
Russia: possible problem - may have to apply for visa in own country - have emailed embassy here, NZ$60 bank cheque…..need authorised tour voucher and tour confirmation, plus NZ travel agent’s cover letter….how do we get them when we’re making our own arrangements? have contacted http://www.russianembassy.co.nz/
Estonia: no visa required….proof of health insurance required *SCHENGEN COUNTRY so start counting days*
Sweden: SCHENGEN
Denmark: SCHENGEN spouses and children of EU passport holders receive their visa free of charge….might be useful information if it turns out the Schengen thing is not as paperless as some on Boots-n-All make it out to be (http://www.learn4good.com/travel/denmark_visa.htm)
England: no visa required for up to six months
Wales: no visa required for up to six months
Scotland: no visa required for up to six months
Schengen Countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden
“Please note that New Zealand passport holders do not need a visa for visits of up to 90 days for the Schengen states for tourist or business purposes.” from http://www.netherlandsembassy.co.nz/wa.asp?idWebPage=24561&idDetails=164
And Wikipedia backs that up: “The European Commission has dealt with the question of mutuality of the abolishment of visa requirements towards third countries on the highest political level. With regard to Mexico and New Zealand, it already has achieved complete mutuality.”
Romania: visa free for up to 90 days
Turkey: visa free for up to 90 days
Liechtenstein: visa free for up to 90 days
Switzerland: visa free for up to 90 days
Cyprus: visa free for up to 90 days
Bulgaria: visa free for up to 90 days
Albania: visa free, but minimal fee

Asia border crossings: http://www.travelfish.org/board/post/visabordercrossings/172_Visa-and-border-crossing-news—please-read-this-before-pos-ting-/0

If only I’d found this at the beginning of my searches: http://projectvisa.com/

We’ve just updated/added photos to almost every page of the blog (except the Enduring Traditions pages, which will need to wait until we have some on-the-road pictures to use).