To get to the beginning... or to be a bit destination specific...

Click HERE if you want to read in chronological order.

Or, here are links to the beginnings of trips during our trip:
Philippines
Singapore
Chiang Rai-Phayao-Chiang Mai
Hong Kong
Japan

To read the next post click on "Newer Post" at the end.

A review of some of the unexpected...

Number 1: Buying hair clippers was more complicated than we expected. It's easier to just give the boys a bad haircut than to drag them to a barber to pay for one. (Toddlers and young boys are known for their ability to sit perfectly still during haircuts) So, we went to the store to buy hair clippers... cheap ones. OK, so on the signature line of Geoff's credit card is says, "CHECK I.D." And no, 'Geoff' is NOT a nickname for 'CHECK I.D.'. A few managers later.... we were the owners of a cheap Remington hair clipper set.

Number 2: Upon return to the U.S.A., we needed to reprogram the kids to put the used toilet paper in the toilet, not the trash cans.

Number 3: Felicia learning to count to ten in Thai by watching pirated Garfield VCDs. But she's already forgotten.

Number 4: Hearing Turner yell, "OOOO Squid! I LOVE squid!"

Number 5: That smell in the air after a few days of rain... The sour smell of everyone wearing clothes that never really finished drying on the line.

Number 6: Child abduction fear adjustment... It seems that it's common (at least for the restaurants that we've been) for your waiter/tress to pick up the baby of the family and walk around the restaurant showing the baby off to the staff and patrons. Really freaky at first... but ya know what... it gave us a chance to eat :o) No one ever took a child out of sight.

Number 7: Thumb suckers beware. Wherever we went we could count on a random Thai woman to detour toward Ronan and pull the thumb right out of his mouth. It was a swift and efficient maneuver. Before Ronan knew what hit him the thumb was out with a 'pop' and the woman had already disappeared into the crowd. After a couple months Ronan got pretty good of seeing a woman coming to try and avoid the removal of his permanent pacifier.

Number 8: Bathing suit differences in Asia... at least where we went... most females were bathing in a T-shirt over their swimsuits(if they had one).

Number 9: Now that we've spent the summer in Asia our body-thermostats have been adjusted to better tolerate the heat of Maryland summer! As of the 4th of July we've only run the AC 3 days :o) We've never seen better electric bills for the summer...

Almost forgot - July 24 - Our favorite nearby restaurant

Just a few photos from our favorite neighborhood restaurant... Bung Wa Pee. It's just off of Srinakarin road in walking distance from Seacon Square Mall.

August 15 - We're home!

Today we'll fly out of Narita into Chicago O'Hare then connect there to a flight to BWI.

We take the Airport Limousine bus to the airport.

On the plane it already feels like America. There are a number of U.S. military and their families travelling on this flight. I'm tickled by the discipline that these military kids have on the long flight.

At O'Hare we have an "incident" that wouldn't have happened in Thailand. To change from the international to domestic terminals we need to catch the tram/train/whatever. It's not the longest of layovers and G's concerned about us missing our flight... but even more, he's determined we're going to make it. So we SQUEEZE on to the tram. More people SQUEEEEZE in behind us and Felicia's getting smashed into other people, luggage and the pole. She's yelling and starting to cry. So, Geoff shoves back. There's more shoving...
There's words flying in our end of the car among a variety of people:
"Stop pushing!"
"You're crushing my daughter!"
"You think that just because you're a big man you can do this!"
"You're just trying to protect you child..."
"I'll call the police"
"Yeah, go ahead."
"You're stupid"
"You think that just becasue you're a big man you can do this!"
"You don't have to push her."
"You're stupid!"
it goes on...

Ahhhh... welcome to America.

So, we taxi it back home and we're greeted by the most welcoming presence of my in-laws who've started the AC and stocked us up with food and diapers :o)

We made it... we're glad... and sad...

OK... now we need to relearn where we keep everything in the house. Man! we need to relearn where we live! We almost didn't remember what to tell the taxi driver :o)

Amen! What a blessing and a privilege it was for us :o)

Now it's time to get the kids ready for school in less than 2 weeks!

August 14 - 1 day of Japan

Today we're lucky to get to do one day in Japan.

We start the day with the hotel's breakfast buffet and then take a taxi to the Imperial Palace . Geoff's been there before and he has a plan. We'll taxi to a particular gate; walk a particular route on the palace grounds and end up over at the science museum. I suppose it's just OUR luck that on this freakishly HOT day that particular gate is closed and we'll have to walk a WAYS to get to an open gate. It's all a good time :o) I never thought I'd get to see where samurai stayed!




After exploring the palace grounds and the science museum, we have a mini happy hour at the hotel's Manhattan Lounge up at the top of the hotel. Nice views :o) While we're there Geoff gets a noodle restaurant recommendation. Now we know what we're doing for dinner.


Now a side note: Tokyo has the coolest taxi action ever! (Not that I've had tons of taxi experience) They drive the Toyota Crown which is LOTS more roomy than the Toyota Corollas of Thailand. (Actually, they also drove the Crowns in Singapore) The neat thing about the Crown is that it has an automatic door. The driver can remotely open/close the rear passenger side door. The taxi drivers in Tokyo are also very presentable. They wear WHITE GLOVES. If they weren't wearing a suit, they at least had on a vest over their button down and tie. Every taxi we rode had a GPS/navigation system. Just cool.

OK, now back to dinner... We'll go to Tsurutontang in Roppongi. The concierge helps us get a reservation and we catch a taxi out front with the help of the doorman/porter/taxi-guy. The taxi drops us off at the streetcorner and points toward the restaurant. Cool! Pay driver... climb out of taxi... okaaaaaay.... which restaurant was he pointing to? Geoff asks a random nice person which restaurant goes with the name on our restaurant-info-print-out provided by the concierge. Cool... we're good now. We're now IN the restaurant and OFF the street where the pimps are trying to drum up business for their "staff". (It really wasn't that bad, if Geoff hadn't pointed them out I don't know that I would've noticed) We enjoyed a deeeeeelicious dinner in our own private room.



Just needed to ring the bell for service :o)


This is not very "American"... it's raw horsemeat.


Yummy, yummy curry udon in my tummy!


After a wonderful meal we taxi over to Ginza and take a few photos among all the big lights.... It's closed by the time we get there. Just perfect... seriously! That way we aren't even tempted to spend the money we don't have :o)

August 13 - Airport farewells...

It's a sad and glad day. Peter will take us to the airport and we'll stay in Japan for 2 nights.

We get to the airport and I'm shocked to see that Jack and Ying are there to see us off! Will the hospitality EVER end? Or maybe Jack just wants to be sure that we get on the plane so that after 4 1/2 months he can finally get a break :o) (Just kidding Jack!) Well, I feel bad... there, of course, was some morning airport chaos and we needed to get over to check-in a 1/2 dozen aisles away and I didn't give a proper "thank you" and "farewell" to our exceptional hosts. I thought they would be walking with us.... OOPS!

So, we fly ANA to Japan. The kids get to enjoy airplane toys and don't really give us any trouble. I'm a blob of emotion. Sad to leave a beautiful place with a less "American" pace of life. Although more logistically complicated... life was more simple for us in Thailand. There's been something good for the soul by stepping outside of our American life and getting a sample of a different way... of living, of thinking, of appreciating.

Once we get to Narita we bus shuttle over to the ANA Intercontinental in Tokyo. There's SMOKING INDOORS! Like in the lobby! I feel like I'm back in the 80s. I half expect to see those ashtrays with built in fans and "filters". Don't you remember them from office buildings and holiday-season-infommercials?

There's pretty lights to look at from our connecting hotel rooms.




To make it easy on ourselves we eat at the hotel sushi restaurant. The kids like tuna rolls! OH YEEAHHHHH! Should they EVER be left alone with chopsticks? OH NOOO!

August 11 - Packing? Who needs to pack? LET'S EAT!

I was planning on packing today. Geoff informed me this morning that we'd have the Delta van(with Peter the driver) available to us. So much for packing.

We went to Geoff's favorite restaurant in all of Thailand. It's down by the water. On the way we pass fish farms. There's no "city plumbing".
Houses are on stilts. Flush the toilet by dumping water into the toilet from the rain barrel. Homes have large clay pots to catch rain water for home use. At the restaurant... When you first walk in, take off your shoes and put on a pair of slippers at the door. There's toys for the kids to stay entertained. It gets chilly with all the strong bay breeze so the restaurant keeps long sleeve shirts and light jackets on hangers for guests to borrow.

While you're watching the tide come in you're entertained by the lung fish and crabs in the mud below.
It's comfy, casual, and of course... The food ROCKS!







After that we stop by a market an pick up dessert. It's sweet coconut grilled in banana leaves. YUMMMMMMMM. We should've bought more. I could've eaten that all night long... ok, it's good that we didn't buy more. We have a few other sweets and smoked buko(young coconut) juice. People are STARING at us BIG TIME!

We visit another striking wat.










Finally we meet Jack and Ying and their niece and nephew for a kick butt dinner. It's going to be sooooo hard to enjoy Thai food restaurants in the States after having the real deal. I'm beyond words. The kindness and hospitality is endless!

The restaurant is practically floating. It's in a neighborhood equivalent of Orange County. Live music, private karaoke rooms, and water features are ALL OVER the place. Unfortunately Felicia did get a small 2nd degree burn when she grabbed on to a light. But she got over it pretty well. It was a spotlight for one of the waterfalls. There's also lots of coy and the kids are having fun feeding them. It tickles me that in the photo you can see my kids have finally learned the "Asian squat". Sitting... without really sitting :o)