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 6 - Trying to be more Thai

We're flying back to Bangkok tonight so we need to finish check out of the hotel before we have a full Disneyland day. Check out wasn't too bad. We beat the rush (and I mean RUSH!). Of course there were folks who ignored the roped queuing areas. Many had no issue interrupting your conversation with the front desk staff member with whom you're OBVIOUSLY speaking.

We shuttle it over to the park where we enjoy the character breakfast buffet. I load up on the dim sum... yum yum dim sum! (that's the name of a board book in the children's section btw)




OK... so now G is getting the full park flavor today and it's SOOOOO not pretty. Today would've been a good day to be more "Thai" and maybe not made so much of a scene or a big deal during the "trying" times... oh well. There's yelling at people trying to cut/push their way at different ride lines. There's elbowing of folks. The degree of pushing and line jumping is so overwhelming that G and I have lengthy conversations about how the 'line' culture might have evolved into what it is today. I don't think they could pay me enough to be a "cast member" at this park. It's continuous. Cast members denying entry to people who are trying to jump the line by catching up with another member of their party who "got in". Cast members repeatedly announcing the line etiquette rules. Please don't misunderstand. Every OTHER aspect of the experience was wonderful. But MAN! The cultural difference in this ONE aspect was overwhelming. And, when you've got irritated people yelling at each other about it in the line it just kills the magic.








But anyhoo, it was fun. We made it back to the shuttle in a series of swift walks between a series of serious downpours.







At the hotel we get our bags and take two taxis to the airport. Luckily, ONE of the two drivers knew which terminal held Emirates Airlines. The driver of the taxi I was in almost dropped us off at the wrong terminal... at Hong Kong Airport - the largest passenger terminal in the world.

We're almost home... We weather a flight with a REALLY grumpy flight attendant who would snatch the tray of food while you were still holding a forkful to your mouth. HELLOO-OOO!

OK, so we're now at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok and we're going to save time by taking a TAXI. ...where do I even begin? I'll start by saying that there is a designated taxi stand downstairs where you're supposed to pay a fee and get a taxi. You're not supposed to catch a taxi upstairs. If you've already got all your belongings and 4 kids in the taxi you'll have to get out to the sound of irritating, irritated "discussion" with 3 security guards, a taxi driver and a husband who hasn't slept in a few days. You'll have to haul all your bags and kids downstairs through a maze of moving walkways and hallways. Once you get downstairs you can't just catch a taxi; you must pay the fee. If you try to bypass the fee it gets very irritating for the mother and nerve racking to the taxi-van driver. Then to top it off, your oldest child will lose the precious "squishy coin" from the park because she fell asleep while holding it in her hand.

But hey... WE DID IT! We did a Disney thing...

Now we're home... bring on the magic of Baileys!

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 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...

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.

June 17 - Back to Bangkok

So it's another happy pancake morning at the hotel's breakfast buffet :o)

We check out of the hotel and head over to Raffles Plaza where we'll be picked up to join a boat tour. We've got time to kill before we get picked up so we search the hotel shopping mall looking for a uniquely Singapore souvenir... oh well. For lunch Geoff picks out a very wonderful dim sum restaurant, Din Tai Fung. I unsuccessfully lead the kids in a rendition of "Happy Father's Day to you". It turned out to be more of a pathetic duet between me and Felicia.



Then, it's off to the boat for a 3 hour tour... or maybe it was 4-ish? We cruise by several islands and disembark to explore some of Kusu Island. We all enjoy.





Next, it's dinner back at the Quayside Seafood Restaurant. We can't leave without trying the pepper crab.

The pepper crab is TONS more delicious!

We make our way, via Maxi-Cab, to our first and final Singapore destination, the airport. Before we board the taxi I notice that Cam has... smell. Whatever... I'd feel better if we were at the airport, we'll change him there. Not even a MINUTE into the ride Cam investigates the squish in his diaper with his fingers. DANGIT! I get to spend the next 25 car nauseous minutes with a smelly, squishy bottomed boy in my lap while I firmly hang on to his left hand to account for the movement and contact of every poopy digit. At the airport I fish out fresh clothes for Cam and take him to the nearest ladies room. I get poop on my t-shirt during the clean-up process. BACK to the suitcase to get a fresh shirt for me. We FINALLY get checked in. Next, I make an unsuccessful attempt to find a uniquely Singapore souvenir for the house and we go wait at the gate. After an uneventful(yippee!) flight on Thai Air Asia, we make it home... it was a good trip. I hope our next trip will be just as good :o)

April 24 - Closed for Songkran

It was a taxi kind of evening. After going bowling we catch a taxi to go to Bang Wa Pee Restaurant. Ooops, taxi driver thought Geoff said something else… no biggie… we U-turn and continue. After sitting in traffic we get there and it’s closed. So we try Samboon Restaurant next… sit in more traffic… IT’S CLOSED TOO! At this point I can’t even express how irritated I am sitting in the back of the Toyota Corolla with the 4 kids and their free balloons on STICKS from the “Mister Doughnut”. We get home, Geoff cooks, it’s better now. At least the kids went to bed with relatively little resistance.

April 11 - Chao Phraya River

With every day the need to find a driver becomes more pressing. Taxis work fine as long as you can get one to take you where you’re going and you don’t mind waiting for one in the 90 degree heat with 4 kids and the groceries.

BTW, our fine family of 6 can fit in the following taxi types: Toyota Commuter van, Toyota Corolla, and Nissan Sentra-equivalent.

For today Geoff found us a 2 hour cruise on the Chao Phraya River and a driver to get us there and wait for us to take us to a restaurant back in our town for dinner. The cruise was on 2 different boats with all the fruit, hard and soft drinks you could consume. For dinner, $40 got us a couple of 40s of beer , a squid salad, a “triple crunch” seafood salad, white rice (of course), some very tasty greens, a fried fish, and a dozen monster sized grilled shrimp. Yummmmm…. Eating out here is good :o) The seafood was fresh! Alive in tanks that the kids enjoyed… until they were scooped up into nets to be…. Well…. On their way to the next reincarnation.

Then we had to get a taxi back to our house… That took while. It was a big help to have the restaurant staff run out to the main road for us. We waited…. And waited…. A taxi finally showed up. Then it took almost an hour in traffic to go what should take 15 minutes…. In the Nissan Sentra.

April 10 - Erewan Museum

Today was a trip to the Erewan Museum. Beautiful! However, getting a taxi that’s willing to take us is getting to be a challenge.

After Waht Erewan we have lunch at the mall and try to go bowling. However, the bowling alley has disappeared. So, after 3 taxi tries we find one that will take us home.

April 9 - Sweet Dreams...

Geoff goes into Bangkok to get the paperwork going for his work permit. The 3rd taxi agreed to take him into town. On the return trip it was the 3rd taxi that would take him home.

I take the kids to the neighborhood pool. Beautiful! Thank goodness there’s a kiddie pool (50cm deep) No lifeguard. But what the hey!

All the kids FINALLY fall asleep by 8pm, the back-home bed time.