August 2 - Good Eats

OK... Before we EVER LEFT the States my Inay kept telling me to be careful not to lose the kids. That DEFINITELY applies to downtown Hong Kong.


Trying to move around with 4 small kids was tiring, challenging, and stressful. BUT! we still managed to make our way to a wonderful restaurant, Yung Kee on Wellington St. We heard about it from one of G's relatives, Julie, who live lives in Hong Kong. It was DEEEEEELICIOUS. The duck kicked butt! We also had our first taste of "1000 year old egg" AKA "100 year old egg" Century Egg Info. In this region it's typically eaten with a slice of pickled ginger. Geoff and I had to sit with it a minute and decide how adventurous we were going to be... T-boy on the other hand was ready to dive in to the egg adventure. We all loved it!






During a break at the hotel Geoff takes these pictures from our hotel room.



After having Happy Hour drinks and fries we took a night boat cruise and watched the Symphony of Lights. Turner wasn't too hot about getting on a boat but once the light and "laser"(said in the Austin Powers Dr. Evil voice) show started he got over his fears. He still wasn't brave enough to venture to the upper deck where there's a better view... but it turned out. R and Cambo had solid underwear surprises that I needed to clean up and we were the ONLY ones on the lower deck.



After that we have a light dinner where Cambo and R are sleeping on chairs while Flea, T, G, and I enjoy a more quiet meal. Afterwards we walk our way carrying the 2 younger ones to a designated Taxi stand and call it a night. We're going to need more caffeine tomorrow...

August 1 - A Trip to Hong Kong

Geoff left for China on Sunday to visit a plant in Donguong and today I left with the 4 kids to meet him in Hong Kong. I'm so glad that at the gate I can corral the kids into a corner and block then in with the stroller.


We flew Emirates Airlines where Economy Class is a lot closer to 1st class in the states. After boarding the flight attendants walked the aisles of the 777 with their trays of tong handled hot towels. The seats where equiped with individual touch screen monitors and airphones. You could watch movies or TV, listen to music, or play video games by yourself or with other passengers. The food was closer to real food and served with real flatware, no plastic. All beverages, with the exception of champagne, was complimentary. They'll gladly pour you a double.

So... the flight... Totoy sooooo does NOT like to remain buckled, particularly when the "fasten seat belt" light is illuminated. What can I say, I was ready to toss him out the nearest exit(which may have been behind us), as were anyone sitting near us. They made their appreciation for Cam's screams very clear. But we survived. Thank goodness that Emirates had great video games and cartoons for the other kids.


So we land at Hong Kong and it takes us forever and a day to get to baggage claim. Per Felicia, she learned this from an airport book from The Tangredi Fam, "We are in the largest passenger terminal in the world!". I can tell... In our journey to EXIT the airport... Flea has to poop(in bathroom stall with auto-flushing toilets.... auto-flushing toilets and Flea are a bad combo); T needs to go to the bathroom; diapers need to be changed; T decides that he's just done with walking... that's it, no more walking, just done... and if he's going to walk the steps will be no greater than 2 centimeters MAX. This is all before we've even made it to immigration. It takes us so long that our baggage is going round and round with the baggage from the next flight. I'm just glad it's still there :o)

EVENTUALLY, we find the driver from the company at which G is working. I find out later from G that we took SOOOOO long that the folks at the business were starting to really freak out that they had lost their potential client's wife and children. But MAN! This guy can walk FAST! Somehow, even with our baggage cart, he was able to move at running speed without actually running. Felicia and I(with the double stroller) were definitely running. I'm not sure why, but people move quickly here. Very, very quickly.

We get to the Harbour Plaza Hong Kong hotel and check-in to one of the two rooms(the other is in G's name and he's still at the plant working). We order hotdogs and fruit from room service and the kids GO TO SLEEP. (yippee!) Geoff rolls in around midnight and we escape to the connecting room. Tomorrow.... explore Hong Kong! (after we sleep in a bit and G gets some work done and we eat breakfast, get everyone to pee, change diaper, and tag them with a hotel card)

July 22 - Chatuchak

Today Felicia and I went to Chatuchak, the BIG weekend market in Bangkok, by ourselves.

FIRST, I needed to get over my fear. So I brought Felicia with me :o) We would need to get there by taxi. I figured that I should be able to get there no problem, the challenge would be getting home. This will be the 3rd and 4th times in my life that I'll be calling a taxi for myself by myself... Extra bonus: I don't speak Thai. Felicia is very excited that she can show me "the way out of Villa Arcadia to where the taxis are". The second taxi we approach will take us into town... it's about a 1/2 hour ride... for the equivalent of about US$9.00.

I have 2 goals on this outing: Check out the famous market, pick up souvenirs to take back the the states. Well, it turns out that this place it soooo huge you need to have a map if you've got any kind of shoping objective. I was only able to pick up a few things on my "to buy" list before Felicia was ready to call it quits. AND, it started to do that "downpour of rain in spurts" thing so it was getting MORE crowded as shoppers were trying to dodge into the covered portions of the market. Without knowledge of how the market was laid out I unintentionally take the LOONG way around to get to the taxi stand. Good thing I didn't have tons of shopping success to drag around with me.

Overall, it was a GREAT outing and I wished I had visited it earlier and more often. As my friend Ali would say, "Note to self...", I'll be sure to carve out special Chatuchak time on my next visit to Thailand.

This is where Felicia and I stopped for a SIT-DOWN lunch. After all that walking around it was worth spending a whopping US$10.00 to sit down and eat. :o)



Oh yeah! BTW, we did make it back from the market without problem. First of all it helped that G took the boys to the Central Bangna Mall which made it easier for me to tell the driver(instead of having to give turn-by-turn directions to the house). So after a short exchange of broken Thai, broken English, and Taxi-passenger sign language(to indicate, "yes, take the expressway") we were on our way.

July 7 - An afternoon with Jack and Ying

Today Jack and his wife Ying treated us to some fun in Bangkok. He rented us a long tailed boat for a few hours. But before we head out we have another great Thai(with some Chinese influence) meal to fuel up for the afternoon. We also grab a couple bags of good fried stuff(banana, potato, etc) to bring on the boat :o)

First, we check out the Thonburi Snake Farm. We arrived in time to catch the show. I kept Felicia company waaaaay over on the other side of the show. She didn't care for it. There was also a small zoo. The kids enjoyed giving snacks to the monkey... until the food ran out and our hairy cousin was grabbing Turner by the shorts and Ronan by the hair.


Sadly, the snakes and other animals at the "zoo" did not appear well cared for (by American standards) or housed appropriately. It was certainly NOTHING compared to the Smithsonian National Zoo we're used to visiting and even difficult for the adults to stomach. It helps when you've got a neighborhood zoo with lots of money I suppose...

Next we head over to an orchid farm after making merit and feeding fish. The orchids are so beautiful. Too bad I can't take them back with me to the states. But then again... that's only a death sentence for any plant. Better not bring any plants to my house.


After we get back to land the kids and I have a ride-for-fun in a tuk-tuk. The kids love it! We're also catching lots of stares. Not sure if it's because the kids are screaming and waving in glee or that there's SO MANY kids screaming and waving in glee.


Finally Jack and Ying head to their football game(as in soccer) and the Howards head to dinner at Geoff's favorite restaurant. The drive to the restaurant reminds me of going to the Philippines in the 4th grade. We pass fish farms and houses on stilts surrounded by clay pot rain barrels. There's a storm a'brewin'... It's a wonderful dinner...


Jack has been a very thoughtful host who's spent LOTS of time with G. Whether it's working late or just getting us "taken care of" when we call him for help, Jack's sacrificed much of his personal time... Ying must be a very understanding wife :o)

July 5 - Communication Error

It's a Thursday so Pee's here to clean the house.

Pee has already accidentally walked in on Geoff in the bathroom so today Geoff will warn her that he'll be in there. OK... Initially, she has an odd look on her face so Geoff will check his Thai with his friend Jack.

Results:

I am going upstairs to shower. = I am going upstairs to shower.
Do not come to my room. = Come see my room.

July 1 - Suan Lum Night Bazaar and Puppets

Tonight we taxi to the Joe Louis theater in Bangkok to check out Hun Lakhon Lek, Thai traditional small puppet play. The theater is located at the Suan Lum Night Bazaar so we get there a little early to roam around the market and eat before the show.

We had dinner at the theater restaurant where they were having a "2 for 1" promotion on Singha beer. The waitstaff asked if they could take pictures because they needed to report back to Singha about the promotion... we had a little fun with it.

Finally we enjoyed a wonderful puppet theater show. It was MORE THEATER then it was puppet. The show was of the famous "Ramayana" epic, Ramakien in Thai. Live music performed on traditional Thai instruments. A vocalist performed with the musicians. We weren't allowed to take pictures during the performance but we got to visit with the puppets afterwards :o) The kids liked the show A LOT!

June 27 - Something I would've never found at the house in Maryland...

At the house, the brown pleather couch has piping that leaves a matching brown line on the wall. The homeowners have tried to remedy that by covering the piping in scotch tape. Well, it doesn't stick too well... to the couch at least. Today I found a dead baby lizard stuck to part of the tape that wasn't sticky enough to stick to the couch. It was sticky enough to trap a baby lizard. Ugh.