August 4 - Maybe not so magical of a day

Today's plans for an uneventful day sure ended with a bang, or a wheeze.

Today we just go out to eat for lunch and catch our reserved van to get from Kowloon to Lantau Island where we'll spend 2 nights at Disney's Hollywood Hotel and do 2 days in the park. (They were having a stay 2 nights get a 2nd day in the park for free promotion)

I'd made the reservation on the phone a few weeks ago after several failed online attempts. Well... it turns out that the "park view" rooms I reserved and requested as "connecting" can't be HAD as "connecting" because NONE OF THEM ARE CONNECTED. A SMALL detail that would've been helpful during the reservation process. Oh! and of course, there are no connecting rooms available. So blah, blah, blah.... we'll just cope. We're glad to be in a room where the kids can veg in front of more innocent cartoons in the English language(so that they'll actually stay parked in front of the TV long enough for me & G to take a break/nap).

Now here we go...

T-boy is having a bronchiospasm episode that's not responding to his inhaler. We all go downstairs to try and eat but T-boy's just getting worse. Geoff goes to the front desk to see if there's a doctor. The front desk manager calls him a taxi to go to the Adventist Hospital. I'm at the cafe with 2 trays of food and drink and 3 kids... we need to go to the room. I can't keep them corralled. Wonderfully there's a "cast member" who sees me trying to manipulate 2 trays of food and drink and 3 kids and helps us up to our room. In the elevator I vent some of my stress about Turner... He responds "Oh, you're in room -insert our room # here-." He was one of the staff members helping G get the hospital trip together.

Once I get the kids fed and settled I get a call... I'm hoping its' G but it's the front desk manager. She tells me that if there's anything they can do to help to let her know. She's also asking me if I have any new news. I suppose that when you've got a Disney resort management position you need to know if there's a case of bird-flu at your hotel.

I finally hear from G. They're spending the night and T-boy will have IV medication. I respond, "Wha!? What about a nebulizer?" We're in Hong Kong(China)... they don't do nebulizers because of SARS. G and T-boy have also gotten the quarantine treatment once the staff discovered we'd come from Thailand... bird-flu-fear.

Well... at the least the other kids got to watch the fireworks from the hotel room. The TV read them a few bedtime stories... and we all eventually went to sleep.

... Here's where I wish we could ALL breathe a sigh of relief.

Geoff says to go ahead to the park with the other kids tomorrow. I feel off about it... but it makes sense... certainly no sense in staying cooped up in a hotel room with 3 kids.

Tonight, the luggage gets a treat... its own hotel room with a view of the park.

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)

June 25 - Back to Bangkok

I didn't sleep well last night. I woke up in the middle of the night, freezing. Looks like we went a bit overboard with the AC setting so I got out of bed to adjust the thermostat. Later (or earlier, depending on how you look at it), I wake up to the sound of DRIPPING. My investigation in the dark reveals a puddle under the AC and wetness in one of the suitcases. DANGIT! So I grab a towel to make a quieter landing area and move the suitcases. All this on top of the LOUD screaches of a particularly freaky looking lizard.

In the morning we're trying to get it together before we head out to do more touring. I discover that last night I actually turned the AC dial the wrong way and only made it colder... hence, the dripping. NICE... Geoff takes a quick shower and heads for the office to look for Internet access. Work is busy for him. While he's gone I get the kids dressed. Nui and the crew show up asking if we're ready to head out. I need Geoff to get back so I can take MY shower. Nui offers to wach the kids so I can get it together. YIPPEE! I get cleaned up; Geoff gets back; Nui's been trying to keep the kids from wrecking the arrangement of carved wood tulips.

Before we head off... we take a couple of pictures of the house and go check-out. At checkout Geoff discovers that Nui's family's connections has gotten us an AMAZING rate at this resort. WOW! Wish we could've stayed longer... next time :o)


Today, we'll go get breakfast in town and visit Wat Phra That Doi Suthep before separating. Nui's group will drive back to Bangkok and we'll tour a little more before going to the airport to fly back to Bangkok. At breakfast Geoff spends a lot of the time on a conference call. Our driver, Nui, and her driver pitch in to manage kids. Yippee! I get to eat with both hands! Good food as usual :o)

We have a beautiful visit at Wat Phra Doi Suthep. We take a diagonal elevator to get to it up on the mountain. One if the first things we notice is this beautiful tree of one of my favorite fruits, langka(jackfruit).


After we remove our shoes we head up and pray... Holding flowers, incense, and candles we walk around 3 times, stop to burn the incense and pray, then light the candles.

Next we are welcomed/blessed by a monk who showers holy water and ties sua sin around the wrists of the boys/men. His sidekick takes care of the women/girls.



Next... more picture taking and ringing bells. This first picture is of Nui's parents. They've been extremely generous hosts.




Now, the vans go their separate ways. They'll drive back to Bangkok and we'll take in a couple more sights before catching our flight to Bangkok. On our route we visit a HUGE waterfall that was made up of about a dozen falls like steps. After that we try to go to a wood carving part of town but instead end up at a furniture market... still ok. Geoff spends most of his time on a conference call anyway so it's not a real good shopping opportunity.


Finally, it's time to end the adventure and head home to the Bangkok burbs. K. Supachai drives us to the airport and we have a smooth check in. Guess what... you can enjoy your beer AT the gate while you're waiting to board.





At Suvarnabhumi we're all pooped. Cam's especially tired. We EVENTUALLY make our way to our driver's van. Given the restrictions put on hired-non-taxi vans, it's an excruciating walk and wait in the heat before we can get IN the van that will take us home. Next time we'll take a taxi. We can't wait to do this all over again... :o)

June 24 - Off to Chiang Mai

Before we check out and get out Geoff takes this picture of Lake Phayao from our hotel.


I've gotten up VERY early to get things packed before we need to deal with the kids. I also intend on getting a HOT shower before the rest of the hotel wakes up :o) We get downstairs to try and rush through the hotel breakfast... turns out that Nui and their van of 5 plus driver are running late. Cool.

First, drive through town and by the beautiful lake. Next, we go see Nui's family's property. HUGE! They're having a house built. Next time we visit we'll stay at the house instead of Thaksin's room.



Next we check out a beautiful waterfall.


After stopping for lunch at a great restaurant(also featuring a waterfall) we go for elephant rides! Geoff's elephant spends lots of time eating... which leads to other elephant activity. The kids were amused. It wasn't long before Cam would be squeeling, "e-fant POOP! e-fant POOP!". The waterfall of pee just stunned everyone into silence...



The elephant ride rocks both Cam and Ronan to sleep...


Next we got to the hot springs for a mineral bath.


Then the icing on the cake... Nui's parents treat us to a show at Khum Kantoke. It was a sort of cultural dinner theater on steroids. Outside the theater are beautiful young ladies in traditional costume playing traditional instruments, making garlands of jasmine, and carving fruit into ornate shapes. Inside we sit down to an all-u-can-eat, northern style, kantoke meal (which again was not good for my waistline). Then the show! It featured daces from all the different regions of Thailand. Cam was entranced by the whole thing.










After the indoor show we all head over to the shoe racks to get our shoes and go out front of the theater to watch the "balloon" release. Nui tells us that with prayer, the balloons will take our problems away as they float away. We ask Nui if they can get more balloons.

So we have a LATE night check in at BaanKlangDoi. It's dark so we can't see the outside. But inside it's a beautiful traditional Thai house. All wood, high ceilings... 3 bedrooms and a main center room. The bedrooms are air conditioned! But, we notice that the showers utilize the same water heater units we encountered at Tita Oyen's place in Sorsogon. We hope that once morning comes, we have better luck figuring out how to work the water heaters at this house. :o)

June 23 - We go to make merit in Phayao

So we have our final morning at the beautiful PhuChaisai Resort and hit the road to the temple in Phayao. On our way we'll make a tourist stop or two.

First, we stop by a town whose name I can't remember and do a little shopping. Cars and motorbikes drive up and down the narrow roads lined with shopping stalls. We try to keep an extra close eye on kids.

Second, we make a quick stop at the Golden Triangle to get our obligatory photos of our family in Thailand with Laos and Bhurma in the background. There's a school field trip of squeeky, teenage girls who are determined to take photos of the kids... the boys are less than cooperative. Again, we were a tourist attraction at the tourist attraction. Before we get back in the van... some important business. It's 3 THB to go to the bathroom. What a deal! It was the cleanest pay toilet I've seen! And I've paid more for more foul toilets... They were squat toilets. I'd learned from previous squat toilet experiences with Felicia that it's just easier to have her take OFF her bottoms and underpants.

Third, we stop by a very striking wat whose name I don't remember. While we're there we get the call from Geoff's friend Nui that we need to head straight for the wat for the ceremony. We won't have time to get cleaned up. We hit the food stalls and buy Pringles and sodas for everyone... our lunch on the road. Nui calls again, they're going to delay the ceremony an hour to accommodate our late arrival.

We arrive at the Gateway Hotel in Phayao and are frantically trying to get cleaned up for the ceremony and town festival at the wat. At the hotel, I'm so tickled to see we have a bug-free room with super strength air conditioning. It's a BIG room with a huge window that overlooks the town. We'd also learned that this room was also once occupied by former PM Thaksin... it's the only hotel in town.

So we arrive at the wat. We'd been coaching the kids in the van: We'll take off our shoes, Sit on your feet and don't point them at people, Girls don't touch the Thai monks, When we're at the wat do we yell, jump, push or spin? etc, etc... I'd decided to wear my dressy heels for this occasion... I only wore them for the 5 foot walk from the van to the wat. (I should've left them in Maryland.) So, it turns out that by being an hour late we were still one of the first ones there... the ceremony didn't start for at least another 1.5 hours. In that time we'd decided it was better that I sit in the van with the kids while they watched a Garfield VCD. Geoff would represent the family. He was blessed with lots of water by the monks. He was given "bracelets" for the family, a poster of a famous monk and a bottle of wild bee honey that the monks collected from the forest.


After the ceremony in the wat everyone goes outside to eat and watch traditional Thai dances. Nui tells us that the kids and folks in the town have been preparing for over a month. The dinner was a northern style kantoke meal. Very delicious! And the dances where very entertaining. Especially one that involved "fire breathing". We had to leave before they released the balloons but we all had a FABULOUS time.




Once we get back to the hotel we get the kids laid out on the blankets and pillow on the floor.

Geoff and I contemplate the next day. We're suppose to be ready to head out at 7am. I'm going to need more caffeine.

June 21 - We fly to Chiang Rai

We're going to northern Thailand!

So, today we fly to Chiang Rai. After 2 nights we'll drive south to Phayao to make merit and spend the night in Phayao. Finally, we'll drive to Chiang Mai, stay the night, and fly out of Chiang Mai back to Bangkok late in the evening. Geoff's friend Nui has made arrangements for a van to drive us around northern Thailand and for the hotels in Phayao and Chiang Mai. Geoff's friend Jack has gotten us a killer rate at the Phu Chaisai resort in Chiang Rai where we'll spend the first 2 nights.

But back in Bangkok... we've got K. Rhin's van scheduled to pick us up at 4:30 am this morning. By 4am I'm the only one awake. That's fine kid-wise because I can get them dressed in 1/2 hour while they're in that sleep-daze... but I'm not sure if Geoff's going to make it... he just got into bed from being up late working. We roll out at about 5am... not too bad. On the plane we're second guessing our get-there-early-and-leave-late-to-maximize-the-time plan. Getting up this early really hurts.

We get to Chiang Rai, find the driver, and make it to the Phu Chai Sai resort up in the mountains. GOOD GOLLY! It was sooo worth waking up early to get to the resort earlier. It's beautiful, peaceful(when the 4 kids aren't around) and relaxing. We're greeted with refreshments and ice cold towels.

A view from our balcony/back-porch.


After an early lunch at the resort we have the driver take us to a village of long neck women. We drive through mountain areas where there have been mud slides... I'm a little concerned at this point. We also drive past many Chinese villages. This far north there are more ethnic Chinese. It seems that quite a few people up north speak Thai AND Mandarin (like our driver). So, the village we're going to is actually 3 tribes of Bhurmese refugees. They are not Thai citizens. That explained why speaking Thai wasn't working. There's a man who's learned English from the missionaries and offers to accompany Geoff to the village to help translate. Geoff goes it alone on the trail hike to the Bhurmese village. The hike's too scary for Felicia. Turner's also fallen asleep in the van. So, I stay with the kids in the van. We watch the chicks and hens jump in and out of a trash basket searching for food. It's actually pretty amusing.




Finally, we have dinner in Chiang Rai, swing by the Mini-Mart(this town's so small that there's no 7-11) to pick up snack supplies for the kids, and head back to the resort to turn in for the night. At the resort, Geoff tried to let the AC continue to run by disconnecting the "we're in the room" card from the key and leaving the card in the slot by the door. The resort folks found us out and turned the AC units off so we weren't lucky enough to come back to ICY rooms with dead mosquitos and other bugs. But, the kids are were tickled by the mosquito nets that they didn't fight bedtime too bad. However, Cam's another story.



Geoff and I are SOOO tired. I can't wait to see a beautiful mountain morning.

June 16 - Note to self: When gut says to let kids skip the 4d movie... LISTEN!

First it's the breakfast buffet. The kids are sooooo happy to have pancakes and other western breakfast food. We're also entertained by one very indiscreet woman who's packing her bag, or maybe it's better descibed as a sack, with fruit and other breakfast items.

Today we take a totally see-through(like see below our feet) cable car from Mount Faber to Sentosa Island.




First, an ice cream and beer break.

Second, we indulge the kids in a ride up the Sky Tower.

Next we try the 4D movie... I'd been to the one in Disneyworld so I wasn't sure if it might be too much for the kids. But, I figure if it gets too intense we'll just take the 3-D glasses off them. BOY! was I waaaay off. In addition to the seat bumping, wind effects and 3-D visuals there was a "foot-whip" for when the crabs ran across the screen. That's what got Felicia and Turner (the longer legged ones) screaming. So, Cam starts screaming because the first two are screaming. Finally, when the 3-D swarm of bees come at Ronan he throws the glasses on the floor and starts screaming. By this point, I've got Felicia and Cam in the back of the theater while I'm feeling through the dark for an exit door. Geoff's got Ronan screaming and Turner screaming in panic, "I have to go to the bathroom!". Turner was figuring it was the quickest way to get out. We eventually all escape out a back exit. This was all withing 5 minutes of the movie. Comes out to about $10/minute.
It's raining, so we hop back onto the cable car and review the day's horror with the kids.

At Mt Faber we park ourselves at the restaurant with the killer view and have a food and drink break. Geoff watches the kids while I escape to the gift shop for a few minutes.
Then back to the hotel for a break.

After dinner at a disappointing Tapas restaurant we take a beautiful evening boat tour. But, before we hopped on the boat tour we needed to head back to the hotel and clean up Ronan's poop ooze coming out up the back of his shorts... We're pretty confident that he left a souvenier at the bad tapas restaurant.
Next, back to the hotel for the night and Geoff's conference call. OOps, we realize that Geoff didn't power-save his laptop and we have no adapter for the power supply. BLAST! So Geoff gets to wing-it on the call a bit. Of course this is the ONE TRIP that I didn't pack the outlet adapters because we never needed them before.... until now. AND we've got 2 suitcases this time! Oh well...