Phuket, Thailand

We arrived here on the tropical island of Phuket on our anniversary, January 19th and didn't leave until January 30th. It perhaps was appropriate that we arrived here on our anniversary as this in one of our favorite places in the world!

Phuket is approximately 30 miles long and 12 miles wide. It has the best shape for an island in my opinion, as it is shaped like a sprocket, divided up with multiple crescent shaped beaches. Here's a picture from the plane as we were landing...
and here's a picture from the top of one of the hills/mountains where you can see how the beaches are divided up.
In July 2005, Phuket was voted one of the World’s Top 5 retirement destinations by Fortune Magazine. There are indeed lots of retirees here from all over Europe with their "perma-tan" skin... you can tell they've been on the beach for a long time.

Phuket's natural beauty (along with Phi Phi Island that we'll post about later) rivals any beach destination, including Hawaii...

So enough talking, this place is about the beach! So here's what we have to show from it...

We were a bit worried when Ryann cried and cried about her first experience on the sand...
but she quickly found the joy of playing with, and even eating, sand!
Our daily "commute" to the beach... a casual 5-minute walk from our hotel.
We often were greeted by locals along the way...

Ryann also enjoyed getting wet!

and she enjoyed getting sandy AND wet!

Tally and Adayla loved being Daddy's "little swimmer girls" Tim taught them to say "Water, get out of my way!" as they swam... it worked, they kept on swimming and swimming.Adayla loves getting thown into the water... Tally prefers swimming and jumping into the waves.

The girls spent hours jumping into the waves...

Even when she got knocked down...she got right back up to do it again, and again, and again!

When the waves weren't trying to drown Tally, Mommy was!

It was also nice, too, when there were no waves and the water was perfectly calm.

Then it was time to rest by playing with the sand toys. Hey Ryann, can you save some sand for the beach?

The traditional burying of our kids...

Playing with our hermit crab named "Crabby"

How can you pout in paradise? Tim found a way... here's his pouty-face. Perhaps the fruit tray took five minutes to come out? What else could there be to pout about? Perhaps we should have called him "crabby" here...

Then some well-deserved rest.

A few family pictures...

One of our favorite beach activities was one of us getting on an air-mattress with Adayla and Tally and swimming it out a bit. The waves would gently push us back over about 10 minutes, and then the gentle, relaxing ride became a bit more exciting...

Where did Tally go?

and then quickly retrieve the air-mattress and do it again!

What a life. In some ways, going to Phuket early in our trip was like eating our dessert first. It was wonderful, but we also wished we could have ended our trip here, too. Regardless of when we ate our dessert, it was so good!

AFTER.....

5 Countries
11 Cities
37 Nights, some in "interesting" hotels
8 Flights
3 Long Distance Buses
2 Sleeper Buses
2 Ferry Boats
1 Sleeper Boat
1 Motorscooter
And after miles and miles of walking, a few days of gastrointestinal difficulties, amazing sites, a variety of friendly people and of course, thousands of memories....

...we arrived back home in Shanghai!

We were so busy, no time for blogging... once we recover, we will start to blog our adventures.

MIA

This is a post I wrote back in February and was going to add a few pics, but that never happened and so I never posted it. I want to post it for our journaling purposes. Mostly an update on the kids and a few of things they were doing.... Though I must mention that Ryann woke up that night and read all the kind things I had to say about her. Over the next few days, she grew 2 teeth and screamed the entire time of one of our last flights. Buster!

Thankfully we haven't been kidnapped on our adventures, but instead Tim was busy using the computer at night after the girls went to bed for two weeks working on a final paper for one of his classes. So between that and just being busy with our fun we haven't had time to blog.

Right now we are in Vietnam and I am thinking I could live here. It is a beautiful country with friendly people and SO much to see, we could have spent a month here and still missed things. So more to follow soon....

As for the girls, they SUPER travelers, using Tally's new favorite word. We have packed those kids around, they have walked, and gone all over with nothing more than a "can we go home(back to the hotel) yet?"

A few quickies on Cryin' Ryann as we sweetly call her (the name rhymes, yes, but she does not cry... good baby!). I think she has gained a few pounds just in the last month. She has been attached to our back or front using either the Baby Bjorn or the Ergo Baby Carrier. (Did we mention earlier....we have NO strollers on this trip and I LOVE it!!) So she has spent few moments crawling around and lots of time eating. All the food must have given her lots of spunk. She has learned to hit Tally whenever she gets near her, as Tally is usually lovingly teasing her. She squeals and squeaks to get her way. Someone today asked as she was hidden, what was the noise? She let out a good one! She still is toothless, yes 10 months and no teeth. Little Miss Ryann could have made this a VERY long trip for us, but she couldn't have made it any easier. She falls asleep wherever and whenever she is tired. She is such a delightful little thing that I think we will take her back to China with us!

Tally and Adayla have been busy using their imaginations to make up for their toys. They have perfectly imitated the kids in Cambodia who sell things to the tourists (more later on that). So they spend their time bargaining with each other and us. It has come in handy as we have bargained for things here and there. But we can't forget about the empty yogurt containers and little plastic spoons that can be played with for hours or the bars of soap from the hotel. We have laughed and smiled watching them happily play here and there . Adayla wore a shower cap on the way to the airport thinking that she had found the coolest hat.

Adayla will be ready to go back to Shanghai as she has mentioned many times that she just wants to go back to Shanghai. This is usually when she is tired, tired of walking, or mad at us. Tally is busy gathering new scrapes and bruises from each of the countries we visit. I don't know how that kid gets stuck, loses a shoe, falls down, or runs into a tree. But once we unstick her, find her shoe, or pick her up, she is ready to move on. Whereever we are, vendors are always trying to sell us stuff, and she lets them have it....NO or Don't Want!

KL - did we take a wrong turn somewhere?

As previously mentioned, Kuala Lumpur is a salad bowl of people and religions. We were walking through one of the Indian sections enjoying the markets and looking for a place to eat. As we continued walking the surroundings changed and there were no longer any Indians, but we were now in a Muslim section. While we were enjoying the diversity of it we stumbled upon this sign: Yup. Anti-American propaganda because of America's relationship with Israel. So this sign is calling for all Muslims to stop buying American products such as Coke, Starbucks and even Colgate toothpaste because, in their thinking, buying those products supports the U.S. which then supports Israel.

They listed two websites to find out further information on the topic. These sites tell you which products to buy as alternatives to evil American products. One is:
http://www.muslimconsumer.org.my/
The other, as you may be able to see in the picture, is a blog on our own blogspot.com!
-- uh, so let's boycott American products, except for blogspot?

Two of the products featured on the sites are Coca-Cola alternatives... Qibla Cola and Mecca Cola. Qibla Cola's president is quoted as saying that his brand is "a real alternative for people concerned about the practices of some major Western multinationals who support causes that oppress Muslims."

However both products look remarkably similar to Coke cans and from what I've since read they taste so similar that they are on the "verge on infringement" but that Coke would never win a lawsuit in countries where these products are sold and that Coke would end up looking bad in the Muslim world if they actually sued these "Muslim" companies.

I asked my Olmsted Scholar friend in KL about this sign and come to find out this program is actually a Malaysian government sponsored program! While the government is technically separated from any affiliation with religion, the official religion of the country is Islam... yeah, my friend couldn't quite explain that one either.

At any rate, Malaysia is currently pushing for a free trade agreement with the U.S., but at the the same time they are promoting a boycott of American goods. Makes sense, right?

Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia, a city that interested me ever since seeing the movie Entrapment with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. We came here last year on our trip and we came back for two reasons... it's Air Asia's hub and because we really like this city. So we stayed here from January 16-19.

Kuala Lumpur, more popularly known as "KL" is similar to Shanghai and Tokyo in that they were all small, unimportant towns in the 1800s. Suddenly the mining industry was discovered/developed in the area and KL boomed. As there were not enough Malay workers for the demand, migrant workers came from India and China.

Today KL is a "salad bowl" population. America was often referred to as the "melting pot" as cultures mixed to develop a new American culture. Of the 7 million or so people who live here, KL is comprised of four main groups... Chinese 43%, Malay 38%, Indian 10% (both Hindu and Mulsim-Indian), and 9% other. For over 150 years these cultures have interacted and worked with each other, while keeping their social and cultural interaction virtually completely distinct.

So two of the benefits that this "salad bowl" provided us on our trip were that anybody who looked Chinese in fact spoke Chinese and we had the girls talk to several of them throughout our stay in KL... they need to keep speaking Chinese! And the other benefit is that great Indian food is never far away!

First, the beautiful towers!
The Petronas Towers define Kuala Lumpur. When they were completed in 1998 they passed the Sears Tower in Chicago to become the world's tallest buildings. They were subsequently passed in 2004 by Taibei 101 in Taiwan as the tallest and passed by Shanghai's own recently-completed World Finance Center. But while those buildings passed these in height, I don't think they passed them in beauty... I've been to them all! My pictures perhaps don't do these towers justice, so here is a borrowed picture that I found on the web:
Do you see those fountains in front of the towers? They provide an excellent place for kids to have fun and pass a little time, so that's exactly what Adayla and Tally did!

The base of the towers is connected by a HUGE shopping mall. You can get everything at this mall, from LV & Tod's bags to Auntie Anne's pretzels. Like last year, we opted for lunch at Chili's... yup the American restaurant chain. I should have counted how many bowls of chips and salsa we (Morgan) went through in one sitting. They were so good!As you may be able to tell by the big red lanterns, the mall is decorated for Chinese New Years. While we were there we also saw a traditional Chinese lion dance. Again, the comment to be made is that you have to LEAVE mainland China to see Chinese traditions...Also available for sale at this mall were these Obama shirts:
In case you don't want to enlarge the picture, the shirts say: "OBAMA, The New Color of America" It just fascinates me how the world has an opinion on American politics... more so than even Americans have on their own politics.

It is just so fascinating to go shopping in such a diverse population. Fortunately English is the common language here!

The backside of the the towers is a beautiful park with dancing fountains and a free, publicly-accessible swimming pool for kids.

Some more pictures of the towers:Morgan and the girls in KL... 7 million people, world's tallest buildings, 3 kids... no problem!

We just had fun exploring the city. One of the tourist places is a chocolate factory. Malaysia produces a lot of cocoa, but if you come to KL, you can probably skip this place. At least the location was pretty!

The Monorail

Like most major cities, KL has a mass-transportation system. But KL is unique in that instead of having an underground subway, they have an above-ground monorail. The trains as you can see below are smaller, but more frequent so you really don't have to wait. It is also very quiet and we didn't even hear these trains passing over us.

The monorail also winds through the city so you can get a good feel for the city relatively quickly. It's just nice.

That's probably too much for one post, but what the heck, it was an action packed couple of days!

Who is that?

On New Year's Day Morgan and I went out on a lunch date, just the two of us. While we were walking to the restaurant, I took this picture... know who it is?
Yup, that's my wife. Seven years ago today we were married in the Salt Lake Temple and you know what? She still has "it," the "it" that made me want to marry her then and the "it" that still makes me stop and look at her today. I loved her seven years ago and I love her even more today.

Happy Anniversary Morgs!

Let's go Explorers!

That's what Dora would say in starting her new adventures, and that's what we'll tell the girls over the next month as we go exploring Southeast Asia.

We have just embarked on our 37-night trip from January 16 - February 22. Here’s the plan…

Malaysia:
- Kuala Lumpur

Thailand
- Phuket
- Bangkok

Cambodia
- Siem Reap
- Phnom Penh

Vietnam
- Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
- Hoi An
- Hanoi

China
- Guangzhou

This trip is made possible by our sponsor, the Olmsted Foundation, and by Air Asia, Tim & Morgan’s favorite airline in the region!

We have five sets of flights… Shanghai-Kuala Lumpur, KL – Phuket, Phuket-Bangkok, Hanoi-Guangzhou (through Bangkok), and finally Guangzhou-Shanghai. All of our flights are with Air Asia, except the flight home since Air Asia unfortunately doesn’t fly domestically with China.

The stretch from Bangkok through Cambodia and Vietnam to Hanoi will all be via ground transportation. That’s going to be INTERESTING!

One of the nice things is that we have friends staying in our place in Shanghai while we’re gone. Good deal for them and good deal for us. It just worked out perfectly.

For our newest Explorer, Ryann, this is her first time out of China. The Customs worker in China was funny as we cleared Customs on the way out. He looked at her passport and then remarked that Ryann was born in China and had never left China... he said she was Chinese and we agreed!

Hot Pot... Gratifaction?

Some things just don't get old. We went out to enjoy the evening and find a place to eat. I really don't think any Chinese eat at home for dinner... Restaurants are everywhere and everyone of them is packed during dinnertime.

This was actually a "hot pot" restaurant. Hot pot is fun the first time you do it, but there is something about being tricked into thinking that cooking food yourself at the restaurant is better than letting the chefs do the cooking. And then the charge a premium for the "privilege." It really reminds me of Tom Sawyer when he tricks his friends into painting his fence telling them that it's fun and that he gets "gratifaction" from it.

Well we were the only Westerners in this restaurant, and we also the only people to not do "hot pot." Coincidence?

The food was actually wonderful, and they had a great sweet and sour pork dish. Reminded us of Americanized Chinese food... very good!

And to finish out the evening, Tally suddenly felt the urge to "xiao bian." Well, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in China...

(and no, this is not "hot pot")

Is flying safer than driving?

Of coarse it is! But there continues to be a false perception that flying is somehow "dangerous."

The news today reported that it has now been two years since a commercial airline had a fatality in the United States. You think about all of the passenger miles flown the U.S. over the last two years.

Compare no fatalities from flying with, say, driving. Yup, you get the point.

Just look at this guy I took a picture of. Don't you think that's distracting to have that GPS display in the middle of the windshield? It's a beautiful 3-D picture, but he really should be looking at the real road and not the GPS:

Unfortunately a picture that I took of a gal driving a beautiful Mercedes while texting on her phone didn't turn out. I'm sure those texts she was sending were more valuable than the several thousand dollars of damage she could cause rear-ending somebody. But that's not dangerous... no, flying is obviously more dangerous (sigh).

So can somebody explain why my life insurance premiums are higher because I'm a professional pilot? It's safer to be in an airplane than many places I could be. Whatever...

China says "Merry Christmas"

This is a bit late in posting... oh well.

We've read that a popular bumper sticker this year in America has been one that states "We Say Merry Christmas" with the implication that they do not say "Happy Holidays" or some other generic or 'non-offensive' greeting.

Well China doesn't take the middle ground... they say Merry Christmas, and say it proudly!

Isn't it interesting... you can no longer say Merry Christmas in America, a country that guarantees free speech and freedom of religion...
but you can say Merry Christmas in a Communist country where the government doesn't allow free speech or freedom of religion. Go figure.

Here are some pictures from one of Shanghai's trendy and really fun areas, Xujiahui, showing how the area was decked out for Christmas.

Nothing says Christmas like a Swarovski Crystal Christmas tree...

All of the street lights were even decorated festively...

The girls just couldn't contain themselves and broke out into spontaneous dancing...China in some ways has taken Christmas to commercialized extreme that America has yet to reach. Every worker in the mall, whether at a restaurant or store, wore a Santa hat. We just had to laugh at seeing every worker in the mall in Christmas hats!

And finally, Adayla's kindergarten did not have a "Holiday Program" but a "Christmas Program"
Adayla is holding some flowers there on the left. Do you like that Santa wannabe? We're still not sure what he was supposed to be... but Merry Christmas!
And the crowd loved it! Pushing, shoving, blocking each other's view, and encroaching so far forward that the teachers had to ask the parents TWICE to back up because they were on the performance area.

Yup, Christmas was EVERYWHERE here...

One final note...

I had a class that met for a week in December and a week in January. After our last class in December the teacher, who is from India, wished the class a Happy New Year. My classmates, all of whom are Chinese, responded with "Happy New Year" but then all wished the teacher "and a Merry Christmas to you!" My teacher never responded with a Christmas greeting, but again said Happy New Year. I'm sure my classmates didn't even notice. It's just funny to watch.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody! We had a GREAT evening partying with our international group... American, Chinese, Australian, Cuban, Russian, British, Mexican... it was a party! The girls did amazingly well and just went to bed at 1:30 in the morning... let's just hope they sleep in a bit!! But fortunately for us our Ayi insisted on coming in the morning so we can sleep in a bit longer.

2008 was a banner year for our family and what a year to be in China as well. We are going to cherish this year forever, and we look forward to all the wonderful opportunities 2009 brings with it.

So now we go to bed in 2009. When we wake up tomorrow, as long as we wake up before 1 pm here, we'll be able to celebrate New Year's again as the ball drops in New York City. I never realized how "behind the times" America is! ;-)

And with that, we are off to bed...