Thailand with Family

We had a total blast spending the Chinese New Year break with Christine, Dominic and my Mom in the quaint little beachside area of Hua Hin, Thailand. We've never been big sunseekers so our holidays are usually spent in urban areas or bustling from scenic spot to scenic spot, but I am totally ready to give up my anti-beach travel ways. It was so nice to just veg out for four days and accomplish absolutely nothing other than reading, playing with Ingrid, spending quality time with family, and operating under the perma-buzz of watery Thai beer.





Christine scored huge points on her selection of Hua Hin. It is not very well known by western tourists who favor Phuket and Koh Samui, instead it is known as the place where upscale Bangkokians vacation. The King even has a big palace there so we knew we were in good company. We were actually a fair bit south of Hua Hin so we missed the mega resorts in favor of a more remote community vibe. It was perfect.












The little bungalow villa that we rented was also perfect, well done Hiss. We had a view over the Gulf of Thailand, a little lawn in the back and steps that led right onto the beach. The perfect setting to enjoy evening cocktails, let Ingrid run around without fear of her hurting herself, and to stroll the beach whenever we wanted. Other than a gruesome insect bite on Ingrid that required a trip to a (very) local clinic, the vacation was totally stress free.


We never had a bad meal, largely because we found a great outdoor restaurant and went back to it 3 nights in a row. When you've got it so right, why change? Dominic found his A-game look with the pith helmet and was on a first name basis with our waitress by the end of our trip. We were sad to leave.

My family is really great about getting together as one big group, and with four sisters and extended family that can be quite large. So it was nice to be with a smaller group and spend extended and manageable time with Christine, Dominic and Mom. We're really looking forward to visits by other sisters (hint hint).

One Night in Bangkok

We spent one night in Bangkok last week en route to meeting my family on the beach in Hua Hin. I surprised Lizzie and Ing with a stay at a really nice colonial-style boutique hotel and a chauffered ride in from the airport in a 1964 Jaguar S-Type. We were even greeted with coconut drinks on arrival. Wow, how grandiose, too much so for our currently crummy economic environment, yes. But Thailand has always been cheap and with the recent political unrest it is even cheaper. The price you don't pay for possibly getting caught in the middle of a bloody coup d'etat!




Most taxi rides in from the airport along Bangkok highways are death defying enough, but without child safety seats it is galactically irresponsible to have Ingrid in tow. The vintage Jag did not have a child seat either let alone proper seat belts, but the car is like one big safety seat in itself. No one on the road wants to smash into it, and the driver surely doesn't want to be the sorry sole who crashes such a beautiful vehicle so he just toodles down the highway in the far left lane at a safe speed. The safest ride in Thailand!











Bangkok is fast becoming one of our favorite cities in Asia. We've only been a couple of times and have never spent extended time there, but there is an energy and frenzy to the city that is quite exciting. It is choked by smog and traffic and has a very seedy underbelly, but otherwise it is an incredible city to explore. And Thai food is our fave, so whether you're eating street food or in upscale restaurants you're assured a great experience.

A brief but great visit, we'll be back for more.

Stalker-azzi Thailand style

I couldn't help myself. Once the bartender at our resort tipped to me that there was a Thai "superstar of movies" doing a photo shoot on the beach in front of our villa, I had to take a photo. I still don't know who it is, but if TMZ, OK!, or any of the other gossip rags are reading this, I will sell the rights to the highest bidder....

Chinese New Year Sky Lanterns

 
 
 
 
While in Thailand we were treated to a beautiful Chinese New Year celebration. Last Sunday night around midnight, the Lunar New Year's Eve, we were sitting overlooking the beach when a group of local Thais came down onto the beach and began lighting what are called Sky Lanterns. As you can see from the photo's below, they are like large tissue paper balloons with a heat source at the bottom and when lit they rise into the sky like hot a hot air balloon. One after one they released them into the sky and they rose thousands of feet until they were tiny little specks until either the oxygen got too thin to feed their fire or they ran out of oil. Very beautiful site and quite a treat for us to see.

In the same boat

http://backatthedoylelewisranch.blogspot.com

Since our arrival in Hong Kong we have loosely followed this blog by a couple of fellow expats living in HK with their young family, and it served as inspiration to start our own weblog for family and friends. In the early going it served as a really valuable handbook to getting ourselves up and running in HK -- finding a flat, hiring a helper, places to visit, etc. But as time went on it was remarkable, almost eerie, how parallel their lives were to ours -- not only that they were Americans of similar age in HK with a small daughter, but also the frustrations, fears, homesickness, ups and downs of being so far from home base.

Sadly, the similarities have become even closer as the author recently lost her father. While I was not quite as open and eloquent in our blog with my feelings on my dad's recent passing, I can sure relate to the numbness and grief she feel's being halfway across the globe during a time like this.

Thought I'd include a link to their blog. Like our blog, they have elected to keep theirs public for anyone/everyone to read.

bob

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year, the Year of the Ox! People born in the Year of the Ox (1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997) are patient, speak little, and inspire confidence in others. They tend, however, to be eccentric, and bigoted, and they anger easily. They have fierce tempers and although they speak little, when they do they are quite eloquent. Ox people are mentally and physically alert. Generally easy-going, they can be remarkably stubborn, and they hate to fail or be opposed. They are most compatible with Snake, Rooster, and Rat people.

We just returned from our apartment building's Chinese New Year party. We arrived just as the Lion Dancers were doing their thing, warding off evil spirits and eating choy cheng vegetables. They danced around our lobby and then threw lettuce all over the place as a symbol of good luck and prosperity for the coming year. It was all lost on Ingrid who was terrified by the drums and the dancing lion, though she did enjoy playing with the little marionette lions.

So long, George

Love him or hate him George W Bush leaves office with a compendium of goofs, snafus and spot on impersonations that we can all laugh about. Weighty issues that actually matter aside, his time on the podium and in front of the public was rich with humor. He was likened to a primate, hilariously spoofed by Will Ferrell on the Global Warming Topic and a take on the Bush presidency Chappelle-style (parental guidance suggested...).

Here are just a few of the things that made me laugh in the past 2 terms....Leading off is Election Collectibles, a video that provided hour after hour of inane humor to my group of friends back in 2000.

Family Trip

Apologies for not being more on the ball about posting photo's of the family's trip to Asia. Mom, Christine and Dominic have been making their way thru Northern Vietnam with a brief stop in Hanoi before boarding an overnight train to see the hill tribes in the highlands of Sapa. All email accounts that I've gotten from them sound like they are enjoying the trip. The Streets are crazy and hectic but they are staying at nice hotels which offer sanctuary from the outer madness. Mom has become a spectacle because of her knitting -- Women sidle up beside her to check out her skills with the needles. Christine has been an avid photo taker and has had people taking pictures of her taking pictures (see below). And Dominic and I share the same phenomenon when traveling thru the land of the Lilliputians -- people want to have their photo's taken with the big guy.

All in all, the trip seems to be going well. They travel from 'Nam to Chiang Mai, Thailand where they'll be for the next several days. Lizzie, Ingrid and I will be meeting them for a couple of relaxing days on the beach in Hua Hin, Thailand.

These pictures are a mixture of my own and whatever I could rip off of Christine's Facebook page.

Before and After

Ruff ruff! That people in Asia eat dogs for food has been a joke for as long as I've been alive. But these photo's from Vietnam help to validate it....

Martini time

Last night we battled our way through the legendary hustle and bustle of the Temple Street night market. The big winner was Christine who bargained her way into a kitschy set chopsticks with Mao's face on them. A close second was Lizzie who picked up some cheapo figurines.

To reward ourselves for the siege we sat for martinis it the lobby lounge at the Intercontinental in Kowloon. As we watched replica junk boats cross before the dazzling Hong Kong skyline, we toasted Dad who stayed there nearly 30 years ago and watched real junk boats pass. It was always a favorite spot of his, and when you're there looking out over the view and sipping a martini you understand why.

All Aboard!

The holidays are a time to be with family, and in China everything happens on a large scale. Chinese authorities expect upwards of 200 million (!!) people to take to the rails ahead of the Lunar New Year celebration with the majority being the country migrant workforce who use Golden Week as the only extended time to visit family. Freezing weather last year led to transportation gridlock in China and kept many migrant workers from traveling home to be with family so this year is expected to be extra busy.

The trains are so jammed with people that many migrant workers have taken to wearing adult diapers for the long journey because sanitation conditions on the train are so dire on the long journey.

I pulled some online photos that show the madness of train travel in China during the New Year. File this experience under the ‘I’d rather be absolutely anywhere except…’ category.

Weekend

We've had a great weekend exploring Hong Kong with Christine, Dominic and Mom. They are still shaking off the jet lag but it hasn't stopped us from hitting the streets. We've taken them to some of our favorite dining haunts for dim sum, spicy Sichuan and Indian food. We took in the Botanical & Zoological gardens today and hooted it up with the primates. Having a blast, more pictures to follow.

Tigger, Pooh, Ing

Ingrid is back in the HK swing of things, making friends wherever she goes. Today she met these two cute little kids dressed up as Tigger and Pooh.

Homecoming, with visitors!

Lizzie, Ing, Grandma, Auntie Christine and Dominic all arrive this afternoon in HK. Hooray!

Nacho Ingrid Libre

Ingrid aspires to be a luchadora. Chancho, I need to borrow some sweats...!

Santa Tantrum Awards

Funny article on SFGate this morning on children who freak out during Santa photo's....

Charlie Bit My Finger

Most downloaded YouTube video ever...so simple, so funny, one of the best things of 2008.

New Year's Day

While Bob is up in Tahoe with family, Ingrid and I spent our New Year's Day with Cheryl, Craig, Duncan and Mac.

Happy New Year 2009