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.