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25.01.2022 Here's a view of the border market near Mae Sot Amazing fun just wandering around looking at everything

25.01.2022 Part 2 THAILAND MAE SOD (also MAE SOT) Mae Sod is located 490 km N/NW of Bangkok and is a 6 and a half hour drive, which is why we fly there!... Nok Air (literally Bird Air, with their planes painted with beaks!), fly there in 45 minutes. The beauty of the flight is that the turbo prop plane flies at 20 000 feet, so you get to see the landscape below for the whole journey. It is also quite an intimate flight as it is a 2 x 2 seating arrangement with only 24 rows. We stay at the wonderful CK Hills Hotel on the outskirts of town, where a short walk takes us to Eat Street in the evening. This is a wonderful complex of al fresco dining where we are spoilt for choice. The best part, no farang (Thai slang for foreigners) and truly authentic food ranging from pulled pork burgers, through Bbqd meats to all traditional Thai dishes. The beer is cheap and there are wine and cocktail bars. Of course the night we visited cocktails were not available as she had gone to the market, whatever that means! The main reason we come here however is gems. Mae Sod is on the Thai/ Burma border and is one of the main crossing points for jade smuggled out of Burma. They also have Amber, Spinel, Ruby and Sapphire from Burma, as well as a host of other gems. There is one main street of shops entirely devoted to the gem trade, with dealers following you down the street between shops. It can be quite overwhelming, so I keep the roving dealers on a short leash, so you can enjoy your shopping in relative peace. Two of the shops have absolutely horrible prices, so naturally I take everyone there and ask the price of just about everything! This might seem mean, but it gives you a good idea of how badly you can get ripped off. I wonder why they keep giving me these prices, as I have been many times, never bought anything and they always remember my face. We also visit the Rim Moei market which is on the actual border, down at the river Moei (hence the name!) Here you just never know what you will find, gemstone or otherwise. They have some of the biggest and best gem trees I have ever seen. On the way back to the airport after two wonderful days, we stop at a small jewellery complex where I have had some wonderful bargains. It just depends on the dealers mood on the day!

24.01.2022 Since I can't get Overseas, I've headed north for some fossicking action!

24.01.2022 A non temple day today Out to Tonle Sap for a cruise on the lake and then a Lilly farm for a bit of a hammock chill out We've really enjoyed our time here, but it's on to Phnom Penh this afternoon

23.01.2022 The food court at the Jewellery Trade Centre (JTC to us old hands) in Bangkok is really good. I forgot to take any photo's as i was so keen to get back to the gems Sri Lankan sapphires anyone?

23.01.2022 This afternoons trip into the beautiful countryside around Chantaburi for a little fossicking

23.01.2022 Mmmmmmmm fossicking.....

22.01.2022 Day one at the North Brisbane Lapidary club show New venue but some familiar old faces stopping by to say hello

22.01.2022 Tours are filling fast, so get in early! I usually only do ONE Thailand and ONE Vietnam tour each time, but I already have bookings, so will be running TWO tours to each country!

21.01.2022 DAY 2 of the tour and it's a quick trip to the Jewellery Trade Centre in Bangkok. We managed to pick up an interesting 3kgs of Ethiopian Emerald rough and grabbed a good feed.

19.01.2022 Toto, I've a feeling we're not in asia any more... Good job the first show of the year is only a one dayer I'm sure walking around all day looking for. rocks and gems is easier than standing all day trying to sell them Lots of interest in our new pieces from the recent trip

18.01.2022 Good morning from sunny Winton We're out here for the market day replacing the opal show which was vivid cancelled earlier in the year It's a pick your own spot day so on the grass between 2 pubs seemed like a good idea We may change our minds when everyone else is enjoying a cold beer this afternoon and we will still be working

17.01.2022 This will be your last chance to come and talk to us about a tagalong gem tour to Thailand or Vietnam for next year. We leave for Vietnam on 8th January and again on 18th September. (Thailand 23rd January and also 3rd October) The tours are 15 nights long, cost $2 500 per person and begin and end in Bangkok.... We travel to the following places: VIETNAM Hanoi Luc Yen Da Nang Hoi An Saigon THAILAND Bangkok Mae Sai Chiang Mai Pattaya Chanthanburi Mae Sod

15.01.2022 Here's a bit of video from yesterday's adventure

14.01.2022 Just in case you think we're doing nothing at all during these tough times Here you go, up at 6am to head off to Sapphire markets Not our usual display but we have some nice sapphire rough for next weekends show at Rockhampton

14.01.2022 CHIANG MAI- Thailand. Chiang Mai is 700km north of Bangkok and is 310m above sea level. It was founded in 1296. The temperature range in February is 33 to 15 degrees and it is usually dry. October sees slightly cooler temperatures during the day and warmer evenings, ranging between 31and 21degrees. It rains an average of 9 days in October. ...Continue reading

14.01.2022 Day one is up and running Good afternoon from a now sunny Minerama Bit of a cold start for us northern softies this morning but a bacon and egg sandwich with a tea got the thaw started

12.01.2022 Want to come and say hello this weekend? We're at the North Brisbane Lapidary Club Inc show. It's at Earnshaw College in Banyo this year A load of nice new things are ready to go and of course you'll want to catch up with our great adventures in Asia and get info on the cunning plans for this years trips

12.01.2022 The last few days of a tour always involve rushing to buy something new and exciting! Cambodia is a wonderful mix of gems and temples and food. This has been our first tour to Cambodia and it won't be the last, although we will have to increase the number of days we stay here, to fit it all in. next tour will be in the 'wet' season around September/October.

12.01.2022 Countries and dates may get a bit confusing after a month or so on tour but this looks very much like a precursor to yet another JTC visit

10.01.2022 Up at 4am to get the sunrise at Angor Wat with early morning coffee while you wait

10.01.2022 I thought I might do a series on some of my favourite places that we visit on our gem tours. The next tours to Thailand, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, are scheduled for September, but who knows! Yen The (pronounced Yen Tay). This is one of my favourite places in the world!... It is a small mining town of around 2 000 people, 200 kms N/NW of Hanoi (about 4 hours in a minivan!) We usually spend two or three days here as it is the main town in the mining district. There is a smorgasbord of gems mined locally including, Spinel (in red, purple and blue), Ruby, Sapphire, Tourmaline and Tektites. Every morning from 9am there is a gem market in the centre of town with 40 dealers selling a full range of cut and rough gems. Interestingly all the dealers are women and they do drive a very hard bargain. Luckily there are very few tourists who visit and so the starting price isnt too high. We also go out into the surrounding countryside to see how the locals live and mine the gems. In the past we have been invited into the homes of local people to drink green tea, rice wine and buy gems. The locals have a wonderful sense of humour and as they dont speak English (naturally enough), we engage in lively games of charades! Between rice planting seasons, the locals dig their paddies in search of gems and usually find them by the kilo, not all facet grade of course. We buy these by the plate load and you never know what youll find until we get back to the hotel and share them out. For the more adventurous, there is an optional trip up to where hard rock mining occurs. The hills around Yen The are primarily white marble dotted with red or blue Spinel, with green Pargasite and these are beautifully carved and sold in shops in town. The trip up involves motorbikes on mountain tracks and a trek through scrub. I have seen videos but have yet to find anyone who wants to join me on the trip! The other interesting part of the town, is watching the making of gemstone paintings. The low grade Ruby, Sapphire and Spinels, are crushed into a fine powder. This is then layered onto a Perspex base and the paintings created. The artists are highly skilled and can reproduce any photograph they are given. I have commissioned dog portraits and the end result is eerily like the original photograph. Finally of course, is the food. The cuisine is not as diverse or flavoursome as found in Hanoi or Saigon, but the atmosphere more than makes up for it. Chicken and duck are the main meats and are accompanied by vegies, rice and soup. Another interesting feature is the rice wine. It is locally made by just about everyone and the restaurants serve it up in old Whiskey bottles. You only pay for what you drink and there is an endless variety of flavours, just dont ask me about the Gecko wine!

09.01.2022 Hope everyone is safe and well and has loads of toilet paper.

08.01.2022 Who knew ring design was so difficult? (Not me obviously) Our wonderful lady in Bangkok, Rayhana has come up with this design using a 2.7ct willows sapphire which came from the front garden of our newly purchased house at Willows Gemfields Sadly it was found a few years before we got there, digging in the garden will commence soon though!! What do you think??

08.01.2022 Gatton Gem Show tomorrow!

08.01.2022 Time for more gem shows, why not do 2 in a weekend? We will be at Minerama in Glen Innes and also the Caboolture show, some (well one) of us had to a bit of driving to make it but here we are Looking forward to meeting some new folks as well as catching up with some old faces from the area Already stunned a few with this particular piece , just a massive colour change diaspore ( Zultanite) even the old hands are impressed

07.01.2022 Now that I've got the video upload working Here's a bit of non gem, Phonm Penh street life for you

07.01.2022 Here are the first purchases from Vietnam!

07.01.2022 Thanks Winton for a lovely day , it's been hot but worthwhile

07.01.2022 Thanh Hoa and Thai Hoa, VIETNAM Thanh Hoa is 160km south of Hanoi and takes three hours by minivan, most of that time is consumed crossing Hanoi! It is only a small town and has nothing to offer except a couple of gem shops and about a dozen Aquamarine dealers. Vietnamese Aquamarine is known for its colour, which is a beautiful sky blue and also its size. I have held a crystal that was 15cm long and weighed 550cts. The opening price was $US10, 000, but I reckon I could have p...icked it up for $US7, 000. It was opaque, so I passed on it. I arrange for the dealers to meet us at lunchtime. We sit at a table at Highland Coffee and order our lunch, which is a choice of a delicious banh mi or cake or nothing! Even though I have been there six times, the dealers still approach cautiously, not sure if we are the buyers, even though we are the only foreigners ever in town. Once they establish who we are there seems to be a recognized pecking order. One dealer will spread out his offerings on the table and the fun begins. Culturally Vietnamese will bargain over a day or so on an important piece, but even a simple purchase can take an hour. Since we only have a couple of hours to buy, I usually start by asking how much ALL of what they have is. They never seem to know and take about 10 minutes to work out a price. This allows me time to look and see which pieces I really want. The rest of the tour group stand around behind us and discretely let me know which pieces they are interested in. I always get individual prices for a piece and then arrange a discount when we have priced everything we want to buy. While this happens the other dealers maintain a respectable distance and once the deal is done, the next dealer sits. Since the dealers generally dont speak English and my Vietnamese is rudimentary at best, we use a calculator. One dealer used Google translate to tell me I was difficult to deal with! I replied vang, which is Vietnamese for yes. After a couple of exhausting hours looking at Aquamarine (and large perfectly formed Topaz crystals), we drive another 2 hours South to Thai Hoa. This is even smaller than Thanh Hoa and only has two dealers. However one also runs a restaurant and the other has a gem shop next door. They are also two of the better dealers to buy from. So we sit down, have a beer and look at Elsas offerings, then go next door to the shop for Trans offerings. Once we have bought all the Aquamarine we need or want, its back to Elsas for some genuine Vietnamese cooking! We stay overnight as it gets quite late by then. I once bought Aquamarines at 11.30pm. The next day we drive back to Thanh Hoa for lunch and to see any dealers we missed, before heading back to Hanoi. See more

05.01.2022 DO YOU FANCY A GEM THEMED HOLIDAY IN THAILAND OR VIETNAM? Now that the vaccine is on its way, it's time to think about travelling overseas again. The Thailand tour starts in Bangkok on Thursday 21st October and ends on the morning of Friday 5th November.... The 15 night tour includes all domestic flights, transfers and accommodation and is $2 550 per person. I only take 8 people on each tour and I only have TWO spaces left. The Vietnam tour is also 15 nights and includes all domestic flights, transfers and accommodation and is also $2 550 per person. I only have FIVE places left. Both tours begin in Bangkok, where we visit the hundreds of gem dealers in the Jewellery Trade Centre. We also do non gem things, you can go to the Football, Horse Racing, shopping, sightseeing and virtually anything you like. We have two tour 'guides' on each tour, so we have plenty of flexibility. For the Vietnam tour we fly to Hanoi and head 4 hours north towards the Chinese border, but far enough away to avoid any trouble! We stay 3 days in a tiny town called Luc Yen. Here there is a daily gem market and we visit local mines and buy direct from the miners. The miners are all locals who dig up their own rice paddies in search of gems. They are usually sold by the 'plate' load! We then head for a couple of days in Hanoi chasing food and culture. We also take a day out to visit Thai Hoa, which is 4 hours south of Hanoi. Yes it is a big country! Here we find the magnificent blue Vietnamese Aquamarine and you can buy it rough or cut. The best part is that you are buying it at wholesale prices, as I buy in bulk! They also have Heliodor, which is yellow Aquamarine and is a beautiful bright gem. We then fly to DaNang and drive 40 minutes to the UNESCO town of Hoi An, for three days of R and R, tailored clothes and lots of food. We then fly to Saigon for two days, where we visit a Lacquer-ware factory, sight see and eat, before returning to Bangkok. Thailand is no less hectic, We visit Mae Sai and Mae Sot, which are both towns bordering Burma, so we see lots of Ruby, Amber, Jade, Sapphire and Spinel. We also visit Chiang Mai, an ancient walled city in the mountains. The local zoo has lots of animal feeding, including Leopards, Hippos, Giraffes and of course Elephants. They also have a Giant Panda exhibit. We also spend three days in Chanthaburi, which is where the Bangkok gem dealers come to buy their gems. Here we have a local contact in the market, who has been there for 15 years and can advise and negotiate on ANY gem from ANYWHERE in the world, they all end up here, even the rare ones! You can do both tours together, or just stay on afterwards and I can suggest other places to see. It's a long way to go for 15 nights, but well worth it and you'll be exhausted by the end. (Which is why we always stop somewhere for 3 days, to recharge!!)

05.01.2022 It's a gemshow!! An absolute pleasure to be at the Rockhampton show this weekend, it's so nice to be chatting to people about rocks and gems again The bags of wash proved popular, all gone by 1pm

05.01.2022 It's always a tough start to the tour, two nights in Bangkok with a visit to the Jewellery Trade Centre which can be a bit overwhelming. So many dealers and sooo many stones to look at. We then fly to Hanoi for a couple of nights, eating, drinking and visiting a few gem shops. This time I managed to find a few stones and specimens to buy. Once the dealers realise that you come back two times each year, they start to give you better prices. We also took an overnight side trip ...to Thanh Hoa and also Thai Hoa where we met 7 different Aquamarine dealers over two days. One of them told me I was 'very difficult to deal with', using Google translate. He is right of course, but his prices were too high so what is he to expect! We are now in Hoi An, one of the most beautiful places in Hoi An. Tomorrow we are visiting the wonderful #gemstoneartmuseum take a cooking course and relax over dinner. It's not ALL about buying gems after all.

05.01.2022 Ratnapura- Sri Lanka. Ratnapura is a short 2hrs and 45 minutes drive from Negombo Airport. About 60 000 people live here and it is a centre for the gem trade. The name itself means Town of Gemstone. Pura= Town and Ratna= Gemstone. Gem mining has been going on for thousands of years and is essentially unchanged. No mechanical mining is allowed. Although mechanized water pumps are permitted to dewater the mines....Continue reading

04.01.2022 Yen The, Northern Thailand home to the worlds best Spinel. (also Ruby, Tektite, Tourmaline, Sapphire and marble)

04.01.2022 Part 2 Checking out the big boys mining site The temptation to jump into this one was not so strong!

04.01.2022 Here we are at the Redclffe Gem Show, Hercules Road, Kippa Ring. We are in the main hall today and tommorow and THE HALL IS AIR CONDITIONED!!!!

04.01.2022 Here we are at Gemfest at Caboolture, with all of our new, rare and unusual pieces from Thailand and Vietnam.

03.01.2022 Only 221 days until the Tours start again!

01.01.2022 Here's a few random shots from todays temple visits which we can't stop talking about We also went to a tourist gem gallery which we don't want to talk about! Good gem shop tonight and more temples from 5am tomorrow

01.01.2022 MINERAMA.....GLEN INNES. It's so nice to finally have our first gem show for the year! It's as busy as and everyone is happy. There are 60 dealers and a great atmosphere.... Two more days to go!

01.01.2022 Thailand tour day??? I lose track of the day and date when we are on tour. Every day is so different! Wandering around the Friday gem market in Chanthaburi.