Catch-Up

You may have noticed a slight disconnect between these blog posts and pictures I've been posting on Facebook. That's because I am trying to catch up on our Vietnam adventures, but we're already in Sri Lanka. This post will attempt to bridge some of that gap. 

We left Vietnam on March 6th. This was earlier than anticipated but (for boring reasons) we weren't able to easily extend our visa. Our plan was to spend a few days in Ho Chi Mihn and further south with our Kingston friend Johanne Wagner and some of her family who we know through the boys' school, Madeleine de Roybon. Johanne has a long relationship with Vietnam both as an adoption coordinator, and as the adoptive mom of four children from Vietnam. Johanne's two youngest children, Bihn and Phuoc, have Alagille Syndrome and both underwent liver transplants a few years ago. Once the girls were healthy, Johanne started Twins For Hope, along with Chris Chung, who was the liver donor for Bihn. The charity supports children and their families in need in Vietnam and has worked with disabled children, helped build a school, brought support to Vietnamese people living with AIDS as well as supporting with several vocational centers for disabled adults. We had hoped to help Johanne out with her charity work for a few days, but unfortunately that wasn't to be. You can read more about her work at twinsforhope.org 

With a week to fill before our flight to Sri Lanka, we decided to take an inexpensive flight to Thailand. Both Rob and I have great memories of Thai beaches, as well as Bangkok. We spent five days on Ko Jum, a

lovely, and very uncrowded beach in the Krabi area. We walked on the beach in the morning, explored various restaurants for lunch, and bobbed in the ocean using coconuts as floaty toys. Our lodge was a step-up from our previous Thai trips where we stayed in thatch-roof huts on the beach and we also ate well. Although Ko Jum wasn't the most beautiful Thai beach Rob and I have ever stayed at, we really enjoyed the relaxed pace of the island. 

Bangkok is, of course, very different from any beach. It's big, loud and has amazing things to see. It was also VERY hot when we were there, over 37 Celsius.

We chose one place to to take the kids - the palace. I'm pretty sure when I went to see it back in 1997 with my friend Aileen, we were one of a few tourists,
and the hall which houses the emerald Buddha was a calm place open to meditation. Not so now! There were thousands of tourists, and many of them were comically (at least to me) wearing the cheap elephant pants you can by in SE Asia, (or rent at the temple) because you have to wear long pants or a skirt, and cover your shoulders. You'll see in the photos below, that our boys wore sarongs. 

The boys were fascinated by the palace and its ornate decorations and withstood the heat well. I won't try and describe it as it is really something, but just let the pictures speak for themselves. 

So now we are in Sri Lanka, and I'll have lots to stay about that in a latter post. For now I'll let you know that we are loving this country and having a great time. We are all in good health, and not a day goes by where I don't say something like, "Omigod, I'm doing yoga outdoors and there are birds calling," or "I just washed an elephant," or "HOLY SHIT- THOSE ARE COBRAS!" Also, not a day goes by where I don't turn to Rob and say, "I am so glad I'm not in a classroom." 

Having said that, our travels have not been without some minor mishaps, and I thought I'd share those for a balanced view of our trip. 

We have experienced: 
-many mosquito bites (Rob, and especially Dassa)
-one infected mosquito bite (Makaio)
-multiple spider bites (Dassa)
-one tick bite (Rob)
-one jelly fish sting (Leanne)
-one fall onto a bicycle (Leanne- I tripped on my bicycle while backing out of traffic and fell on my arm)
-one fall on the beach by being knocked off my feet by a dog who misjudged where he was going (Leanne)
and
-a whole lot of 'funny tummy' (Leanne, and Dassa, but mainly Dassa) 

You'll notice that most of the stuff happens to Dassa and me. Poor Dassa, as noted before, has inherited my very sensitive tummy, although he has finally figured out that certain things are a poor choice- ie anything fried. We've also noticed that Dassa has the same tendency as me to flush bright red when hot. I'm convinced this also makes you feel hotter, then you flush more, all in a vicious circle. 

Where is Makaio in all this? Having a fantastic time and eating his way through Asia. Just this week I thought he was going to break down in tears of joy when he had his first thali. I even suggested we might have to say "a shechichanu,"  a Hebrew prayer to mark this special occasion. He ignored this comment.

For those of you not familiar with Indian cuisine, a thali is a meal usually served at lunch on a metal tray that includes many small dishes. This particular thali had ten different curries, pickles, yogourt, dessert etc. He was adamant he was going to eat the whole thing. Below are the before and after pictures. 

Makaio is excited to continue eating his way through Asia and also to write about his first experience taking the train in Sri Lanka, which was in his words, "the craziest thing I've ever seen." 

More adventures to come!