Bollywood Birthday!

Our friend Becky turned 40 recently, giving us the perfect excuse to throw a surprise birthday party for her. The Bollywood theme was the mastermind of our friends, Lisa and Arlo, also the hosts of this event. I prepared several Indian dishes that afternoon, while Dart had arranged a local photographer to act as paparazzi - the "story" was that Becky (being driven to the party by Arlo) was a Bollywood star arriving at a glitzy party. So we all gathered in the dark, with a birthday sign, Sarah presenting roses and Ed, the crazy reporter internviewing her.

When she arrived we crowded her and asked for autographs on posters that Dart had made, photoshopping Becky's face into a hilarious Bollywood poster! Rose, one of the frenzied fans even pretended to faint at her feet, and Robb (the Director of our High School) had her sign his back in permanent ink.

We ate tons of great Indian food, and did henna on eachother's hands and had a great time. Becky was truly surprised (she thought she was coming to Arlo and Lisa's housewarming party!)

I figure, if you gotta turn 40, this might be the way to do it!!

Hong Kong

We had to go quickly to Hong Kong to get applications submitted for our Indian visas, since we are going there in December!!

So Dart and I headed in and had a lovely day of it, getting the visa apps in MINUTES before the office closed and then wandering around in Hong Kong for the afternoon.

We walked around Central seeing the old (but still in use) Justice building above. The skyline is wonderful, and we got some great views from Battery Park.

My favorite part was the gardens: they are so gorgeous, with a little stream winding through, beautiful flowers blooming and the peaceful sound of the water running through the tropical leaves. I could have stayed there all day.

But...we caught the ferry home in time to have a nice dinner with Jaya and Taj - a great day in all.

A Whole Month!

I realized one whole month has gone by since I blogged. In that time I have traveled to Florida for my father's funeral, spent 3 short days in Virginia and flown back across 12 time zones with my family here to China...I came back realizing that the most precious thing in life is friendship and family. Thanks to ALL of you whose love and support have made this time not a sad time, but more of a reminder that life is lived NOW, so live it well.

We had our lovely cat to come home to, and he seemed very content to have his family home again! He is growing so fast and now, he has enough notoriety that he's on Facebook! The Chairman is on the loose!

You can see more photos of the famous feline on Facebook!

And now...I hope to get back to more regular posts.

Thailand - Game over!

Last day - we'll keep it short and sweet. We played until about 10:30 and then we grabbed our shuttle back to the Phuket airport. We flew uneventfully to Bangkok, had our last delicious Thai meal in Thailand, and then our flight on Air Asia left for Shenzhen...home sweet home. However, about half an hour in, our captain announced that we'd be RETURNING to Bangkok, because the CARGO DOOR WAS OPEN!

Okay, that didn't make us feel real good...but we survived. The second time was a charm!!

Then, after the roller-derby style taxi drive home (to give you a sense: the ride TO the airport took 45-50 minutes. The ride HOME took about 15-20 minutes. It was INSANE) we plopped exhausted in to our own beds.

Happy to be home, but we'll always think of our great trip to Thailand!!

Thailand Day 6

Well, another day in paradise! The breakfast buffet here completely boggled our minds...I wish I'd taken a picture of the full spread...although I'd probably need panoramic view to fit it all in: there is a whole section of dim sum, another full table of Asian/Thai breakfast. Then the two huge tables of fruit next to the bread bar with about 25 choices from buns to croissants to doughnuts. Then there's the omelet bar where you can also order eggs done ANY WAY you want them if you are not in the omelet sort of mood! The two long tables with bacon, sausage, potatoes, pancakes, waffles, chocolate sauce and whipped cream were favorites with the boys (okay...I didn't shy away either!)

We waited long enought to digest our huge breakfast and then we played in one of the five pools, until the boys were in the beach mood and they left me under an umbrella in the shade and went off to have fun in the sun. The whole day was filled with lots of nothing (aaahhh...) until dinner. I'd called our friends Cliff and Becky earlier...they were staying at the Sheraton about 45 minutes north of us, and we'd arranged to meet! They came to our hotel and we headed out in a tuk-tuk to a GREAT rasta place on the side of the mountain that Dart had found on his motorcycle adventures earlier.

We had a FABULOUS dinner with them and their son Owen, and then went and hung out on the soft white-sand beach until way past our bedtimes! It was great.

Thailand Day 5

After another amazing breakfast, where special Thai-style doughnut treats were brought for the boys, (yum) we were taken to the Chiang Mai airport, where we said fond farewells to Nat and Da Wan.

We arrived quickly in Phuket, in the south of Thailand and were shuttled right to Kata Thani beach, where we were staying. Again, what a nice place. We missed the personal touch of Nat's place, but this place was nothing to complain about. We spent the rest of the day "chillaxing"...


...until dinner time, by which point Dart had rented some bikes: these are a cross between a motorcyle and a moped - they are TONS of fun (although you can't tell here by Taj's expression!!). We toured around until we found a good place to eat...and then with our bellies full, we played on the beach until "lights out!!"

Thaliand Day 4

We woke up and ate quickly ate so we could continue learning about the elephants and spending more time with them. Jodi, an American who has lived there (on and off) for over 8 years, gave us a walking tour. We learned about elephant friendships, rescues, torture and salvation. One example: this elephant was forced to mate with a bull, and he crushed her hips and permanently crippled her, but she is coming along well with love and care - she will never be able to have a baby, however.

We watched an ADORABLE four-month old baby frolic with his mother and "aunt" and the boys even played with "push" with it:

After our walk we had a relaxing time, chatting with other visitors, feeding the elephants again and after our lunch, they got another bath in the river. Then, sadly, 5:30 came too quickly and we had to head back to Chiang Mai. We were truly inspired by what Lek Chailert is doing to give elephants in Thailand a better life; here is a shot of her down by the river conversing with our little friend:

We arrived back in Chiang Mai tired and hungry, but were soon feeling pampered and spoiled: we took a swim in the pool while Nat and crew ordered dinner for us and we ate in their sublime pavilion, poolside. Thai food is just too good, and to dine al fresco, after a lovely dip in the pool...we felt like royalty!

Thailand - Day 3

This morning we were treated to an amazing breakfast, of croissants, fresh coffee and hot chocolate and local tropical fruits. Mmmmm!

We then hopped on a little minibus to travel over an hour to the Elephant Nature Park. This is just the most amazing place you can imagine. "Lek" Chailert is a tiny Thai lady from a northern hill tribe whose mission is to give working elephants a place to come to recover from overwork, abuse and just to have a safe haven in old age. Her philosophy is that Asian elephants should be treated not as livestock (as they are classified in Thailand) but as the magnificent, intelligent and threatened species that they are. She is truly an inspiring presence and the nature preserve she has built is a testament to her determination, and her love of ALL animals, elephants in particular. Taj and Jaya loved that in addition to the pachyderms, there were 43 dogs and 12 cats in residence, not to mention the water buffaloes and cows!

Before our own lunch, we got to feed the big guys:

And after our own delicious lunch, we got to give them a bath in the river:

And while they were drying off, they were kind enough to give us a few smooches:

Later that evening, with dinner, we were serenaded by students from a nearby village and a local shaman came and performed a ceremony blessing and welcoming us to the Elephant reserve. I was one of four people that he blessed with holy water and he tied a ceremonial thread on my left wrist, which I have yet to remove... Then off to our wonderful cabin to sleep in the glorious quiet, knowing that just outside our window, there were great beasts, happily eating, sleeping and keeping each other company in that large gentle way that only elephants have. Here is the view from our bathroom window:

Ready for Day Four!!

Thailand! Day Two.

We arrived in Chiang Mai at 7:15 a.m. after watching the gorgeous mountains of northern Thailand flow past the windows. We escaped the mob of taxi drivers - we took a tuk-tuk to a resort that our friend Susan had recommended. But our driver didn't REALLY know where this hotel was and so we got a grand tour of Chiang Mai before arriving in, basically, paradise.

The owners of Oriental Siam Resort, Nat and Derrick, live in Shekou...they are essentially our neighbors. But Nat is Thai and she and Derrick (British) built this deluxe resort near Nat's family land. We got a great discount and REVELED in the kind hospitality they provided, with the five star facility to boot! I was feeling ill, so I showered and went to bed - what luxury!Meanwhile, Dart and the boys embarked on a great adventure in the VERY COOL Jeep that Derrick and Nat provided - they headed out to distribute gifts to the local Buddhist monks that were having a ceremony that evening. I was SO sad to have missed it...but they had a GRAND time, were blessed by the monks AND got to witness beetle fighting. Much more "humane" than dog fights or cock-fights!

When they got back I was feeling much better, so we piled into a taxi and headed to the food market where we had an amazing dinner of much Thai seafood while it poured in an end-of-monsoon shower. Then we headed to the night market for a fun night of shopping. The prices in Thailand are SO cheap because of the political unrest, the flooding and the favorable exchange rate (comparatively), so we picked up quite a few things for very little money!

Then...back to our lovely abode to catch some shut-eye before heading to the Elephant Nature Park the next morning!

THAILAND! Day One.

So, we are back from our wonderful vacation in Thailand. Since I didn't blog while we were ON the trip, I thought I'd do a post for each day NOW and we can pretend I was doing it DURING, not after. Here goes:

After our (delayed) flight arrived in Bangkok at 2 a.m. we took a taxi to our hotel and crashed! Woke up, had a great breakfast and headed to the pier for a one-hour canal and river tour - it was fantastic. The river was swollen with monsoon rains, so it was quite a ride!

We were dropped off near the Grand Palace and Wat Po, but it was a holiday and the larger temples were closed...so we took a tuk-tuk (motorized rickshaw) around to some of the smaller temples. One was tucked away in a shopping district - it had a great reclining Buddha:

We saw another gorgeous Wat with amazing glass and mirror work around the doors, windows and eaves. The workmanship and the wood here in Thailand is just so stunning.

A few more stops and then back to the boat dock which had a great outdoor "food court" where we ate DELICIOUS lunch for about $6 for the four of us! Then, back to the hotel, a quick swim in the lovely pool and then off to the train station to catch our overnight train to Chiang Mai!!

The train was just great: we had a sleeper car which was really two adjacent rooms with seats that later a lovely fellow came in and VERY efficiently made into 4 beds. The real treat was dinner - the food on the train was mind boggling! We fell asleep to the lullaby of the train's rocking, happy as the Thai countryside passed outside our windows.

Taj update

This is Shannon Haggard, Taj's teacher. He used to teach in Phuket, so he was a great help in planning our trip to Thailand - we are leaving tomorrow night!! Taj is lucky...Mr. Shannon is a great teacher and lots of fun. In fact, Taj's class is going ice skating at a local rink tomorrow, and they had popcorn and movie day today! So life is treating Taj well, as you can see!
I won't be blogging until we get back from our trip, but I hope to have lots of pictures and fun things to post after we have been in Thailand for 8 days! See you later!

Chinese Traditional Medicine

So, as I mentioned in the last post, we toured the Chinese traditional medicine district in Hong Kong Central. There was SO much we didn't recognize, and all of it was very intriguing. Here are some quick shots of a few of the items on sale:
The roadside store shrines were our favorite thing, though. We found the little cubbies filled with incense and calligraphy and offerings very charming and peaceful in the midst of this busy city.

Hong Kong!

Yesterday, we all made the trek in to Hong Kong! We left by ferry, just down the road from us; it takes about 45 minutes. We landed in Central, found our bearings, and then toured the area a bit. Our first locale was ALL shops full of Chinese medecine ingredients...more on that in another post.

After riding the double-decker cable car for a short distance, we found an Indian restaurant (priorities, you know!) where we pigged out!!

Next Mission: the metro across the bay to Kowloon to find the Toys-R-Us! After some sign-language and broken English with a cab driver we found it and the boys were VERY HAPPY...they'd really been wanting some Lego! Shopping in HK is a BIG DEAL - not really our thing, but it was an adventure.

(We found a book store, so that made it worthwhile for me!) Back to our ferry and home by 7:30 p.m. - we were tired but happy.

International Brunch

Today our school hosted the International Brunch, where everyone comes in their native dress and brings something good to eat from their culture. Our school has 46 countries represented, so there was such a variety of tasty dishes and wonderful outfits.

It was so much fun; the food was ridiculously good and, as you can see, the kids are so so cute. The teachers are cute too...

Dart made a great slide show on Facebook, so if you wanna see a few more shots, go to http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30138042&l=382e4&id=1023629318

Little Readers

The kids here are just so CUTE. They really love to read, even though for some of them to read in English is a real struggle. They really make it so easy to love my work here, even though some days by four o'clock I feel like I was hit by a large truck!!

Badminton, anyone?

Wednesday night is Badminton Night for the teachers at our school gym, and this was the first time I felt well enough to go. I LOVE badminton; I played throughout my childhood, so I am pretty excited to be able to do it on a regular basis!

David, Ivy, myself, and Wendy after a fabulous game of doubles!

Old and New

Dart has captured some snapshots in which the old ways of China bump into modern ways in this town. The area around Shenzhen (The Special Economic Zone) was created as an economic experiment in the late eighties, and whole cities were built on what had been fishing villages and shoreline. So it is particulary noticeable here how traditional China mingles with the new, Western ways.