Friday 31 December 2010

Wheelchair Thailand Wishes

Thursday 30 December 2010

Wheelchair accessible holiday homes

Here is some wonderful news for our present and future guests in 2011. But also good news for everyone who is planning to stay with us this year in one of our wheelchair accessible holiday homes. We are celebrating our 10th anniversary.



Wheelchair Thailand celebrates its Birthday.
In 2011 Wheelchair Thailand exists 10 years.
Therefore we treat our guests to presents.

In the past 10 years we could welcome you as our guest in our wheelchair accessible holiday homes. Or we are welcoming you in Hungary, France or Thailand for the first time in 2011. Your loyalty, your trust and your feedback in or about our resorts is highly appreciated. To show our gratitude we treat our costumers / guests in 2011 to a local experience like wine tasting, a visit to a wellness center, a daytrip, etc. Naturally all accessible to wheelchair users.

In the future we will continue to make an effort to keep your trust and use your comment or feeback to increase our level of service and improve our accommodations to your needs.

So let us take care of you in beach resort Canet en Roussillon, France or in Royal beach resort Hua Hin, Thailand or Lake Velence beach resort, Hungary.

Hanneke Fronik

Monday 27 December 2010

Assisted living, yes or no?

November 13, 2011

Every new day has new chances. Yesterday evening Kung, the Thai nurse, went to bed without saying goodnight while we were talking to Alfie. After all we didn't see him for 5 years. Since then a lot happened. And not knowing what time we had to get up. Well no problem. We will see tomorrow when she knocks on our door. We have to get up at 6am. Departure is around 7 am. But this leaves me with Jan to be showered, put into bed and backpain. We took Kung, a Thai care taker, at this trip. Assisted living, YES.

Around 5 Kung is knocking on our door. Hanneke opens the door and I tell her to go back to sleep for an hour. After an hour she is coming back to dress Jan. Together we go outside for breakfast. In the meantime Charles is collecting our luggage. This is a friendly, helpful, hard working man and already deserves a tip.

Today we are moving to the next camp. Alfie will take us on a game drive. We follow the river Sabie and along the road we see new animals. And every time the landscape is different from the day before. Kung is sleeping during the trip and waking up everytime we stop. She is not able to take care of me anymore. So Hanneke is taking over to ensure my need of assisted living.

During the day we see a lot of nice things. Like a elephant museu, a bushbok on the terrace of the restaurant, a local wheelchair / commode and of course a lot of animals. We see a sale on Amarula, a local liqor made from the Marula fruit. We buy two bottles and get 8 glasses for free. And after a wonderfull afternoon spent with friends to be we arrive at Satara Camp.

Our quarters are wheelchair accessible cottages again built in a circle. And before Jan even has noticed he already has a flat tire due to the thorns of the trees surrounding the cottages. And thank God we have Alfie with us. He is fixing Jan's wheelchair in no time. Thank you Alfie you are the greatest.

Charles and Alfie are preparing diner while we are settling in. Before diner Jan has a chat with Kung. Kung tells Jan she is to tired, she needs sleep, she is not used to heavy work, etc. Together they decide it is best to put an end to this employment. Exit Kung. Assisted living, NO. Hanneke takes over my care.

During diner we talk to our travel companions and treat them on Amarula. Everyone likes it and the bottle is emptied within the hour. After lending our plug to Robert and wash the glasses we go to bed.

To be continued.

In case you are looking for place inThailand where you can find an assisted living situation look at http://www.gehandicapten.com/

Tuesday 21 December 2010

Treats for all guests in 2011. Wheelchair Thailand celebrates anniversary.

Here is some wonderful news for our present and future guests in 2011. But also good news for everyone who is planning to stay with us this year in one of our wheelchair accessible holiday homes. We are celebrating our 10th anniversary.


Wheelchair Thailand celebrates its Birthday.
In 2011 Wheelchair Thailand exists 10 years.
Therefore we treat our guests to presents.

In the past 10 years we could welcome you as our guest in our wheelchair accessible holiday homes. Or we are welcoming you in Hungary, France or Thailand for the first time in 2011. Your loyalty, your trust and your feedback in or about our resorts is highly appreciated. To show our gratitude we treat our costumers / guests in 2011 to a local experience like wine tasting, a visit to a wellness center, a daytrip, etc. Naturally all accessible to wheelchair users.

In the future we will continue to make an effort to keep your trust and use your comment or feedback to increase our level of service and improve our accommodations to your needs.

So let us take care of you in beach resort Canet en Roussillon, France or in Royal beach resort Hua Hin, Thailand or Lake Velence beach resort, Hungary.

HannekeFronik

Sunday 19 December 2010

Disabled friendly transport for night game drive.

13 November 2010
Sunset Game Drive Kruger Park, Skukuza Camp, South Africa

This morning we get up early again. You would expect people to get grumpy. But only our care taker / nurse from Thailand, Asia got up on the wrong side of the bed. After tea and teeth breaking biscuits we leave for a morning game drive of three hours. The scenery, the wildlife, the atmosphere is overwhelming and puts our mind to ease. The peace and quit when they shut down the engine of the car can not be found in The Netherlands. At night when we go to bed with the windows open we only hear the sound of nature.

After breakfast we go for a walk over the camp, some shopping, checking email and checking out the game drive vehicle we go back to our wheelchair accessible cottage. We have to prepare for our sunset game drive.

Around 5 pm we are present at the safari vehicle. It has a wide entrance but no lift or ramp. Alfie is using the lift of his truck to bring the wheelchairs to the same level as the game drive vehicle. Some disabled people can move over, others have to be lifted. Let the fun begin. At the start the sun is still shining but is going down in one hour. When it is dark we have lights to look at the scenery and hopefully we will spot some game. And yes we are succesful. We see lions, wild dogs, hyena, warthols, antilopes, etc. And here are the pictures.
During the drive Jan's back is hurting. He is not sitting in his own wheelchair but on a normal car seat. With the humps and bumps this is not very comfortable. He also has trouble to look to the sides. And his legs can not touch the floor. So this game drive is very tiring. Therefore he decides not to join another night game drive.

Around 8 pm we are back. Aflie helps everyone out of the truck and Charles is preparing diner. We talk about our experiences during diner and slowly another day comes to an end. So far so good. Tomorrow we leave for one of the next accessible resorts.

To be continued.

Sunday 12 December 2010

Kruger tour in wheelchair accessible transport for disabled

November 12, 2010
Kruger tour with Epic Enabled
Lunch en route

Today our safari tour to the Krugerpark in South Africa starts. Two days ago this safaritruck picked us up at the airport of Johannesburg and the next week it will be our disabled transport for me and other tour members as wheelchair users.

This morning we get up very early. Departure is planned at 7.00 am. After a quick shower and packing our suitecase we have to wait for breakfast for a short while. The group is not complete yet and Alfie wakes up the people who are not present yet. Gives us time to enjoy our breakfast. At last we leave at 7.15 am.

The drive to our first accommodation in the Kruger park is 450km and will take the whole day. We start on the highway for two hours and have a coffeebrake near Middelburg. Another two hours takes us to a parking place near Nelspruit with restaurant, shops, accessible restrooms, etc. We have lunch at one of the picnic tables and walk around a bit to stretch our legs and look into the shops. I buy a jar of Marula jam and some pineapple noga.

After the lunch we leave for a short drive to the Krugerpark gate Malelane. The scenery is changing fast. We have a glimps of the River Blyde Canyon and see the countryside change from green mountain hills into savanna. At the Malaelane gate we have a short stop and see a strange tree, a sausage tree (click here for a picture). It has fruit which looks like a big sausage.

We experience our first encounters with wildlife. We are impressed, overwhelmed and stunned by the beauty of these animals in their natural habitat. Here is a nice video how it is to be in the truck and see the animals.
We don't believe in Zoo's. We believe in animals in their natural surrounding. And it proves. Animals are much bigger here than in any zoo we have been long time ago. And in case animals cannot live in their natural habitat anymore then their environment should come close as much as possible. That is why we support Wildlife Rescue Center on our facebook page Wheelchair Thailand Hua Hin. They try to bring animals back to the wild.

In the afternoon around 5pm we arrive at Skukuza Camp in the Kruger park. Nice little cottages with outside kitchen and adapted bathrooms. Perfect place to stay. Alfie and Charles are unloading the truck and are going to prepare diner. We will have pasta. Gives us time to settle in and walk around a little bit. Hanneke is having a swim and I enjoy the last minutes in the sun.

After diner and coffee everyone is going to bed early. Tomorrow we leave at 5.00am (Is this our idea of a holiday?). First we will have tea and biscuits and after the morning game drive we will get breakfast.

To be continued.

Monday 6 December 2010

Wheelchair Thailand in Hotel Willow Park

November 11, 2011
Hotel Willow Park, Johannesburg, South Africa

Late at night we arrived at Hotel Willow Park in Johannesburg after a short drive in Alfie's wheelchair accessible safari truck. After the access ramp into the hotel we noticed Jan could drive in his wheelchair through the hotel without any steps to be taken. The ground floor room has a spacious bathroom with hand rails near the toilet and a roll in shower with hand rails. Perfect for a wheelchair user for the first two nights. We went to sleep immediately.

The first morning we started with breakfast in the restaurant. The hotel has a breakfast buffet with a small choice in eggs, bacon, cereal, milk, yochurt, fruit, coffee, etc.
 
After breakfast we walked around in the Park. And here we saw our first wildlife, a few skoorsteenveeer (South African). Looks like a stork. Beautiful to see them walking around on the grass early in the morning looking for food. Took a few pictures. One of these pictures can be seen in my webalbum. Click here to go to this album. We found two swimming pools, the bar and the reception area with wireless internet as well. So we fetched our laptop and checked out our email. And surprise, surprise, we had a online reservation for our apartment in France for mobility reduced people in wheelchairs, a returning guest. A quick answer and a shut down and of we go to enjoy our holiday again. We went for lunch in the restaurant, also a buffet with a variety of dishes for a reasonable price.

In the afternoon we went shopping with Alfie and 4 British able bodied tour members in Johannesburg. We had to buy plugs for the South African outlets to be able to charge Jan's powered wheelchair. After buying plugs, some sandwiches for tonight and some snacks and drinks for tomorrow during the day we went back to the hotel.

Around 5 pm we met the other members of the Krugerpark tour in the bar. The group consisted of 4 British able bodied persons, one disabled British woman with girl friend, one Dutch wheelchair user with two teens (arriving tonight) and the two of us. We order a drink like everyone else and listen to Alfie who tells us about the tour and also that we are leaving around 6.30 am. Is this holiday?

So Krugerpark here we come. We are looking forward to it.

To be continued.