Colorful Cambodia

We will forever remember our visit to the country of Cambodia. We were surprised in many ways at some of the things we saw during our quick 72 hours in this country. We flew on Air Asia airlines from Bangkok to Phnom Penh, Cambodia which took less than 2 hours. The day we flew into Phnom Penh was a historic day as the Khmer Rouge leaders were going on trial for the first time in 28 years. The Khmer Rouge took over this country by force and ruled with brutality for nearly a 4 year period - 1975 - 1979. While their leader died in the late 90's (Pol Pot), five of his leaders were finally going before a judge and the country to answer for their crimes.


The kids are now professionals at checking through immigration and obtaining visas which cost us about $20 each to enter the country. (As a note to future visitors to Cambodia, when you leave the country the cost is $25 per person.) They know how to walk up to the security guard, hand them their passport, smile for the picture taken, answer any questions (if any) and then walk forward when done.


We stayed one night in Phnom Penh which is the capital city. We checked into our hotel (called the Indochine II) which was near the river and close to the boat we were taking the next morning to Siam Reap. The hotel was ok, but not one we would stay at again with kids. We decided to check out a restaurant called "Garden Bar in the Shade" which was a short 2 block walk away and which came recommended from our Lonely Planet book on Cambodia.


We were HUMBLED as we saw things we have not seen in all of our travels through Asia. People who were sincerely hungry approached our table asking us for food. It startled us and we were not prepared for this experience. The kids will remember what happened at our table for the rest of their lives (as will Kristin and I). There we sat eating our food with people who had nothing, asking us not for money, but for something to eat. They stared at our food, just inches away, some severely disfigured and born with challenges that we will never know or understand. We did what we could to help them, but we all walked home to our hotel that night in silence, thinking about the children, teenagers, and adults who looked desperately at our plates a few minutes earlier. Anna made one comment the next day - "I don't want to see any more sad things, ok?" We knew it wouldn't be the last sad situation we would see in Cambodia, so it was a promise we just couldn't make to her as parents. We also knew this was part of the real world we live in and it was good for our kids to see that not everyone receives several meals a day with no effort or thought. I don't think they will take future meals for granted, which is a good thing.


The next morning we had a taxi take us to the nearby boat dock. We bought tickets the night before for $35 and negotiated Anna a free ticket because of her age. The boat ride to Siem Reap took about 6 hours, but was fabulous site seeing. We saw Cambodia life from the river's point of view. It included seeing many happy people in their little boats fishing the river, gardens being irrigated from little hoses, and seeing all the Cambodians waving to us as we passed. Not to mention the skinny cattle, which seemed content even though you could easily see each of their ribs. It was great for sight seeing and I would recommend anyone to take the boat to Siem Reap from Phnom Penh - it was also a very smooth ride with air conditioning on the inside.


We arrived at Siam Reap and checked into a fantastic hotel called "Angkor Tara". Another internet deal we can thank Kristin for as it was new, had a great pool and one of the best breakfast buffets we have enjoyed. It was also only 5 kilometers from Angkor Wat. The driving here is something to see as driving is relatively new here and there is NO rhyme or reason behind who is driving on what side of the road. We hired and became instant friends with our driver - Loy Busneak. He had a nice air conditioned van and took all five of us, plus my mom around Angkor Wat for $30 a day. Angkor Wat, I believe, is one of the "new" seven wonders of the world and I didn't know much about it before coming.

What we saw at Angkor Wat was amazing. It was an archaeologist's dream. About 25 miles of ancient, incredible ruins built between the year 900 and 1300. It was better than any of the temples you see in Indiana Jones and in fact, we saw the temple where the movie "Tomb Raiders" was filmed. We took a day and a half to see as much as we could, but you could spend weeks and never see it all. One of the highlights was seeing a beautiful Cambodian sunset over a lake from one of the ruins we hiked up to. I was proud of my mom who climbed up some very steep ancient steps that were more vertical than any stairs I have ever hiked up. (I hope my sister Renee is not reading this as she was worried we wouldn't take good care of mom, lol.) These pictures won't do Angkor Wat justice, but it's a place that despite the heat, I would say is a must see for anyone coming to Asia.


We had another memorable experience with our driver, Loy Busneak. Kristin asked him if he knew of anyone personally that had been affected by the Khmer Rouge regime in the late 70's. He said yes. We asked him if any of his family was affected and he told us that his mother, father, and five of his siblings had been killed by the Khmer Rouge in the late 70's. Again, it was one of those moments that stopped us all in our tracks. He said he had one sister and one brother survive because they ran away and hid while their family was taken away. He was 10 years old when this happened. Can you imagine the tragedy this man had to endure as a child? We didn't ask him for any details, but told him we were sorry. He said it is okay, as he knows he will be reunited in the next life with his family. Loy has been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for 8 years and is currently serving as a Branch President at his church.


We took a 6 hour bus ride back to Phnom Penh for our flight out of the country. The bus was very nice, air conditioned, included a meal and drinks for $10 a person, so I guess $1.70 an hour. The bus was clean and very nice...another nice way to travel between cities.

We arrived back in Phnom Penh about 3 1/2 hours before our flight, so we decided to hire a driver to take us to the Killing Fields as well as the S21 prison. The S21 prison reminded me of a holocaust museum. This prison was a former junior high and high school that the Khmer Rouge took over in 1975 and turned into a torture chamber. The kinds of torture they did to thousands of people here was abhorrent and indescribable. What is scary about the Khmer rouge is that they killed between 1/3 and 1/2 of the entire country's population - over 2,000,000 people. The people they tortured and killed were the educated - school teachers, business people and all government and civil service workers. Pot Pole was trying to eliminate religion, art, history and anyone that he thought would try to stop him as he "trained" the remaining young people into his idea of a perfect society. A truly sick man.....it is very scary that this all happened during my lifetime. We also went to the killing fields which was where many people went to be killed after being tortured at the S21 prison. We saw a building containing thousands of skulls and bones which they display in their honor...and for people to see so history never repeats itself.

One last thing I will mention is that one taxi driver told us there are very few elderly people living in Cambodia, due to the age of people affected by the Khmer Rouge. It was eerie as we rode through the town. We didn't see any elderly people anywhere. I'm grateful to live in a country where regardless of their political affiliation, we know our leaders are looking to protect the individual.


Cambodia is a country that is still developing, but a country of people that are survivors. They all still have a great sense of humor as you communicate with them. We can learn a few things from them about overcoming trials and tribulations. I've also realized that no matter how bad our economy is, we all will always have a lot to be grateful for and be around friends that would help in any situation. I'm grateful for the chance to visit Cambodia, as we left Cambodia a changed family.

We now move into the great country of Laos! Expect an update around next Wednesday. Again, we hope all our friends and family are doing well.


DEAL OF THE WEEK: I always have three or four for this category, so it's hard to pick one. This week I would go with flights we bought on the internet from Air Asia for $14 (ok with tax it was almost $20...darn airport fees and taxes). The flight was a nice jet with all leather seats lasting about two hours. Nice...six months ago I could have used the same amount of money and bought 3 1/2 gallons of gasoline.


FUNNY STORY OF THE WEEK: I can't think of any funny stories in Cambodia outside of Anna having a bat dropping land in her hair inside a dark ruin we were exploring at Angkor Wat. So, here is a story from our second week in Phuket when we were staying at the JW Marriott. Kristin decided it was much easier to buy the spray on sunscreen for the kids instead of applying the lotion by hand on everyone. She bought a bottle of "spray on" and one morning was spraying the kids to protect them from the ultra violet rays. I asked her to spray me as we were in a hurry to go swimming. We first went into the ocean and body surfed in the waves for a couple of hours and then we hit the pool. We all got a little sunburned that day and gradually started noticing designs in our bodies. Mine was the most embarrassing as it had what looked like was an S in my chest and stomach. This was 3 weeks ago and I still have the "S" I received in Phuket. I'm wondering now if there will be a way to get rid of it before we go boating in Utah this summer. We don't know if the spray wore off in spots when we were body surfing at the beach or if it was a result of the techniques of the the "sprayee". You decide.

Bangkok - Take Two

It was fun to return to Bangkok, especially with our familiarity of the city from our prior visit. Bangkok has a lot to offer tourists and Kristin and I both agree you could find things to see and do for months or even years. We used the internet to find a very nice serviced apartment - Ascott Somerset brand which was in the downtown financial district - a good place to pick up taxis or ride the BTS. The hotel offered a free "tuk tuk" service (which is basically a motorcyle with a cage behind it holding passengers) to the BTS, if you didn't want to take the 10 minute walk. We had a nice two bedroom, two bath condo on the 19th floor with an incredible view of the city. It also had a nice excercise room, pool, laundry room and spa. The hotel spa offered a 2 hour massage and salt body scrub treatment for $38.....expensive for Thailand, but worth every second of it.

We really enjoy walking the streets here and taking in all the street vendors selling food and a variety of products. It's so different and is hard to explain without the sights, sounds, and smells (both good and bad smells). You have to be careful when you walk the streets because some of the sidewalks have large gaps or cracks. Crossing a street can be dangerous, if you aren't careful with the fast paced traffic of buses, cars, motorcycles and pedestrians.

We had another nice dinner at Robert and Michelle Gibbons home. Their housekeeper (named Apple - she is from Burma) prepared a wonderful Thai dinner. One of the dishes was full of my favorite nuts (cashews) which are plentiful here in Asia. The entire dinner and fresh fruit was delicious. Adam and Lexi attended the youth church activity that evening and Anna went to activity days with Michelle. What did Kristin and I do??? What any good parents would do without children - we hit the spa and tried the swedish massage. The massage was very nice and made us want to visit Sweden someday, ha. We also toured the International School where the Gibbons children attend school (IBS - International Bangkok School). The school has about 1,900 students attending and they represent 52 countries using a US based english speaking curriculum. It was fun to see students after school playing baseball, swimming, and running track and field - in February. Adam also had a chance to practice his piano for the first time since we left in the Gibbons home. Adam said he felt rusty after not playing for a month, but those of you who have heard Adam play can imagine he sounded awesome as usual. We also had a chance to "hang out" with the Gibbons family and their good friend Mary Phelps and her daughter on Friday evening. Somehow, Adam and I found ourselves with a bunch of girls going out for Mexican food (very yummy) and then to a beautiful brand new mall to see a movie...we were totally out-numbered and saw "Confessions of a Shopaholic". Guys back home....I'm sure maybe some of you did worse on Valentine's Day, right? At least I am admitting it. We bought 5 tickets for the movie, had drinks and popcorn at a cost of about $19. It always feels like we are back home when we do something like a movie or a mall, until we walk outside into the warm air, sights and different sounds.

My mom flew into Bangkok late Friday night and I took a taxi to the airport to pick her up. She was tired from the long flight, but happy to be here. It was fun to watch her face as we drove to our hotel and through the streets. The kids were excited for her to come and to experience Asia with us over the next 3 weeks. We also stayed at the same hotel, but upgraded to a room they had for $60 more a night. The room was almost laughable when we saw it. It contained 3 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms on the 25th floor. We told our kids not to get used to the spaciousness we were experiencing over the next few days.

Adam and I finally got to see a Muay Thai kickboxing fight. We had to spend some quality "man to man" bonding time, after watching a ""shopping" movie with all the girls. We bought ringside tickets (3 rows from the center ring) for $28 each. It seemed pricey at the time, but I would recommend it to anyone just for the experience. It was very interesting to see the entire fight, which starts with a very interesting dance by both the fighters. They walk around in a fighting costume and calmly dance by each other. Next thing you know they are coming out hitting and kicking with elbows, legs, and boxing gloves. If Muay Thai was a video game, it would be rated V for violence, as one of the scoring methods involves receiving points for wounding your opponent. A band plays music like we have never heard before during the pre fight war dance and during the bouts. They fight for about 3 minutes for each of the five rounds. The main event was a fight that had their heavy weights weighin in at a whopping 135 pounds. I'm not sure what division they would put me in, but I don't think I have to worry about it, thank goodness.

We also visited the Grand Palace which was built in the 1700's for their King, as well as some administrative buildings. Great to look at and for picture taking. We saw the very large reclining budha, the emerald budha, gardens, temples and some artwork.

Another fun thing I would recommend to anyone was seeing a show called Siam Niramit (sp?). We bought tickets that included an awesome dinner and show for about $43. This was probably the most expensive ticket we bought in Thailand, but with the dinner, and a visit through what reminds me of the polynesian cultural center in Hawaii, and then the show - it was definitely worth it. We stood for the Thailand national anthem, which is also played before movies in theaters in this country. Didn't they used to play the US National anthem in theaters years ago? I can't remember.... The show had a theme of the history of Thailand and contained great technology, dance costumes, an on stage river, animals and even elephants walking through the isles. Very impressive.

The last item I will mention was our last minute decision to hire our own longboat for the day and to travel through the canals of Bangkok. It was very interesting to see how people live along the river. We had a few boats pull up next to us looking to sell us something. We bought some drinks for us and our driver. He seemed very appreciative. Our long boat driver also stopped a few times along the way and we got out to look around. The most memorable stop was a snake farm that cost about $4 each. The kids had a chance to hold a young monkey and feel a king cobra that was held by one of the workers. The snake show had pythons and cobras leaping at the workers, catching poisonious snakes with their mouths, milking snakes a few feet in front of you. You know, like any other snake show back home.....yeah right.

We ended our trip to Bangkok by celebrating Adam's 14th birthday. We toured through Jim Thompson's home (famous American exporter and developer of Thai silk), attended a world class aquarium (it allows one to dive with their sharks...we are saving this one for next time), and we ate at a fun Italian restaurant at the Four Seasons hotel. They actually lit a candle for Adam and placed it in his dessert.

DEAL of the WEEK: Probably an internet cafe we found for twenty eight cents per hour or holding a monkey for fifty cents. Seemed like decent rates...

FUNNY story of the week: We had a taxi driver that didn't speak english and yet he didn't want to take us back to our hotel after getting into his taxi. He kept chanting the number 50 (50 baht equals $1.50), slowly hitting his head on the steering wheel and making these obvious loud breathing noises. I would ask him if he was okay and he just ignored me. We think he was upset because of the traffic and downtown location of our hotel. Or maybe it was because we had six of us in a taxi. I don't know, but we have laughed about this story several times always wondering what was concerning him.

As sad as we were to leave our "home base" of Bangkok, we are now excited for all of us to see a new country - Cambodia. We hope our friends and family are all well. We just about hit the mid point of our trip.

*****A special thanks to Duane, Jonathon and Brandon for doing some snow removal from our driveway while we are traveling. We heard about the snow and the plow leaving us a six foot snow mountain at the end of the driveway. Not sure how to thank you for your kind acts of service. Maybe we can go get a massage on your behalf?????

Singapore - Great island country - extremely clean

**** Added Editor's note - I just realized that some may believe Kristin's legs are in the close up shot on picture three since I show her dipping her feet in the tank in picture two from the top. The close up shot with fish all over them are in fact Adam's legs. I didn't want anyone to think Kristin quit shaving her legs over here in Asia. I regret any inconvenience or bad jokes which this may have caused Kristin. :) ******

I'm very glad we decided to come to Singapore as it's definitely a very unique country. This country was ruled by the British for 80 years following a rule of 40 years by the country of Malaysia. (It's only a 3 1/2 hour drive to Malaysia from Singapore.) In 1965 it gained its own independence and was recognized as its own little island country. The rules are quite strict (littering - fine of $1000, spitting - fine of $1000 and if you want to get whacked hard with a bamboo cane as a sentence from a judge, just try vandalizing something) but it is the cleanest city we have ever visited. It's also considered a botanical country as the trees, flowers and plants are well arranged everywhere. Picture New York city with no garbage, beggars, or intimidation and you have Singapore.

Anyone moving to Asia would find Singapore as one of the easiest transitions from the states. Many US companies are represented in Singapore. The financial district has Citi and HSBC skyscraper buildings. Walking down Orchard street you will find a dozen high end shopping malls. They say there are two hobbies in the country of Singapore - shopping and eating. We have had some excellent meals and all kinds of food - Italian, British, Chinese, Indian, etc. I believe this is the only country in Asia where one can drink the tap water which is nice. The national business language is English which is great, although it is all spoken with strong accents. We have also become very fond of the ice cream sandwiches you can buy off the street - Wall Brand. They have about every flavor you can think of (my personal favorite is peppermint chocolate chip and the kids and Kristin enjoy the Mocha Chip). There are a few that I wonder if they ever sell (yam, sweetcorn, etc).

We bought some travel passes here which I would recommend for anyone visiting. They cost our entire family of 5 about $35 each, and we rode the HIPPO buses all over town for several days. Included in the cost we also rode the world's largest travel wheel called the Singapore Flyer (ferris wheel type contraption which holds 30 people in each air conditioned capsule). At the top we could see as far as neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia. We also rode a bus that could drive from land directly into the river. I think the kids were a little embarrassed getting into the "Wacky Duck" bus/boat, but it was quite fun.

One of the highlights was a trip to a neighboring island called Sentosa. About 60% of the island is under construction as coming in 2010 is a Universal Studios. (I'm sure Mike Nash will be here in the future.) They are spending $30 US billion on the construction alone including their first casinos on the mainland. They say Singapore is in a slight recession, but you would never know by how many people are shopping and hauling bags out of the malls at all times of the day. On Sentosa Island, we did something very unique as we found ourselves in a foot reflexology spa. They washed our feet and then took us to what looked like a large fish tank. You placed your legs in the tank and hundreds or thousands of little fish swam up and started exfoliating your feet and legs. I believe they nibble on the microscopic skin cells on your legs and excrete some enzyme used in some skin creams. It took me 10 minutes to get my legs all the way in and to not laugh as this is NOT for the ticklish at heart. Kristin was the first to submerge her legs and to enjoy the "sensation". Anna and Lexi dipped their legs in the pool with smaller fish and loved it. While it seemed very funny to us, we all came out with very smooth feet, so whatever they do it works. They also provided a reflexology massage following the nibbling fish which left us leaving feeling great!

We are staying at a very nice hotel called the LeGrove Service Apartments which is only a walk from the famous Orchard avenue. While we were here, we attended the Singapore 1st ward and it was as large as our ward at home. I met a few executives working for companies such as Chevron, McDonald's, BP Medical (guy from Sandy, UT) and Goldman Sachs, to name a few. Very nice people and since this city is so close to the equator, again the weather is perfect with sunshine 12 hours a day.

One of our recommendations to anyone traveling to Singapore is to see the Night Safari. This is like a zoo of sorts, except it doesn't open until 6:3o pm. We rode in a tram at night and saw animals in their natural habitat, as they have acres and acres of open land. Anteaters, elephants, giraffes, lions, tigers, hyenas....all with no cages. We also walked through a flying fox and fruit bat area and we found ourselves laughing and ducking the entire time. The flying fox is about the size of a cat or dog flying in the air. Not sure if the pictures show the size...but it was amazing. We also paid a couple of bucks as the kids wanted to hold some python snakes at the zoo. One was a reticulated python and the other was an albino python. They had fun, but Adam (our animal handling expert) actually got a little nervous as it went into an S pattern which he told us later is not a good thing.

We tried to visit the US embassy on our last day as we thought this would be a great learning or teaching moment for the kids. The taxi dropped us off and we were quickly informed they have a NO VISITOR policy for security reasons. Oh well, we grinned and got into the next taxi to take us back to Orchard avenue.

Deal of the week. As you know, some things can be found much cheaper in Asia. I thought I would mention our best deal of the week. This week it was no doubt an internet special that we found as we were searching for one way flights from Singapore to Bangkok. It is a 2 1/2 hour flight and we found one Maylasian airlines called Tiger Airlines and found airline tickets for one dollar. I thought it was a mistake and tried to book the flights. With taxes, airport fees and all country surcharges it added about $29 per ticket. Still, at $30 each, we found ourselves on a very nice jet and a quick flight back to Bangkok. We will be here for about a week before we leave for Cambodia. We found an excellent service apartment and have a nice 2 bedroom room on the 19th floor with an incredible view. It's located in the nice financial district which is near most of the embassies in Bangkok.

(Some of the pictures above include our visit to China town in Singapore where they had an electric light parade. We also enjoyed some watermelon which is yellow on the inside but tastes like the red ones we eat at home. Lexi's 12th birthday with a delicious brownie cheescake.

Southern Thailand - Koh Yao Noi, Krabi and Phuket

Hello Everyone!

We have been having a much different experience down "south". After flying into Phuket, we hired a driver ( or I should say Kristin negotiated one) to take us to Bang Rong Pier. It was only a 20 minute drive, but the time passed quickly as we spoke to our very friendly Muslim driver. He was extremely nice and even asked us a bit about American politics and current events. We were dropped off at the pier and found a very small village, with one public bathroom, and a small and old wooden pier. There were only 3 or 4 other locals waiting for this longboat taxi which we heard would take us to the island of Koh Yao Noi. (Unfortunately, Adam had the 24 hour stomach flu and was only about 5 hours into his flu bug. Kristin is convinced it was a bad chicken gizzard in Bangkok, but I still hold that it was the flu.) As we were waiting for the boat, a tribe or flock or whatever you call a group of 30 monkeys came running into this village out of the jungle. They were jumping on cars, on rooftops and going through some of the garbage cans looking for food. I saw one take out some fruit and start eating it. They came within five feet of us and I'm sure I could have pet one of those cute monkeys. We will never know because Kristin told me not to.....

Our longboat arrived and we boarded. It took us about an hour to get to our island, but it was one of the most beautiful and memorable boat rides we have ever taken. It was our first view of the Andamen Sea and the majestic limestone mountains jetting out from the ocean all around us. We arrived an hour later to our island and moved our backpacks to a Tuk Tuk driver. We told him to take us to Sabai Corner which was a bungalow we read about in our Frommer's country guide. The ride was interesting as we noticed everyone was Muslim. The women were covered from head to toe, but that didn't stop them from riding their mopeds on the small streets. As in the past, we received many, many smiles and polite stares from those on the side of the streets which made us feel very comfortable. We arrived as it was getting dusk and their was only one "jungle home bungalow" left for rent. It was about $40 and it looked "ok" especially since we didn't have any other options.

The night was eventful. The insects outside were very loud. We had a water buffalo grazing 50 feet in front of our new pad. All of the "beds" had mosquito nets over them. I was bit by my first several mosquitos (rethinking the malaria pill decision now). As we were settling for bed, Kristin saw what looked like a decoration or a book end on the wall. It wasn't a decoration but some kind of colorful tree frog. We weren't sure how to get it out, so we assigned the task to Adam (our animal expert). He started approaching the frog every so slowly, when suddenly (and I mean with lightning speed) it jumped onto his bare chest and stuck. It was so fast that he screamed, jumped and smacked it off him. We soon discovered these tree frogs can jump 8 feet at a time and stick to the walls. To make a long story short, we couldn't get the frog and so I walked down and got the owner to come get it. He covered his hand with a napkin and it took him about 5 minutes to get the frog. Anna was mad at this point and looked at me and said "Why did YOU get us this dumb bungalow???" We finally got everyone in bed and Kristin and I giggled about where we were and how we got here. Everyone made it through the night with actually a good night sleep. Although Lexi had a few spider bites on her leg.....this was days ago and she is ok. :) We rented two mopeds the next day for $6 each and had a great time exploring this island. The food and views were fabulous.

We took a speedboat the next day from the Thakao pier to Krabi. After a longer commute by public bus and private taxi, we arrived at the Aree Tara hotel. It was a more expensive hotel, but only 2 months old and it had a very nice pool. It was a 5 minute walk from the Aonang Beach. We spent the next three nights at the hotel which had also had a great restaurant. We rented our own longboat driver for the day ($50) and he took us snorkeling and beach hopping. We snorkeled at Chicken Island and then found a great beach at Poda Island.

We hired a driver to take us on a 21/2 drive back to Phuket and we arrived at the JW Marriott Vacation Beach Resort. This place was nicer than we ever imagined as it is a five start resort with private beach and 3 of the best and largest swimming pools we have enjoyed. The kids had a chance to eat some hamburger and fries and our room had all the conveniences of home. We made some good friends from Scotland (John and Mary) and from Spain (Malcolm and Ann). We also attended church here in Phuket and there were only five other members who attended. It was on the second floor of a nice hotel and they only held sacrament service. The people were very nice and very glad we came.

Besides lots of beach and pool time, we left once to take a John Gray sea caving tour via kayaks. It was a lot of fun, as we explored numerous islands and limestone caves with a guide in our kayak. Some of the caves required us to lie down as flat as we could to get into the caves. We also entered very dark caves with hundreds of large bats hanging upside down. We had a chance to kayak on our own and swim which was fun. We also learned about the jellyfish species here and found ourselves holding a few in our hand. Another interesting item to see was a cave that had "glow in the dark" plankton in the water. As we swished our hands in the water at night, the water lit up and looked like underwater fireflies. We had never heard of let alone seen anything like this.

I feel like I am leaving out so many things, but these are the highlights. The beach here at the hotel had great smooth sand, a fun under current to play in, beautiful sunsets and yes Mynah birds. Kristin and I fed some wild Mynah birds on our pation this morning and they made some very peculiar sounds. We also celebrated Lexi's 12th birthday here in Phuket with a brownie cheesecake from the hotel bakery. It was fun and I'm sure one of the "warmest" birthdays she will remember.

We are now changing some of our trip plans as we bought airline tickets yesterday to Singapore. While it was not in our plans, the fact that we are so close was just too tempting. We leave in the morning (Friday) at 10 am and will be in Singapore through next Tuesday before we head back to Bangkok. We hope all of our family and friends are well back home!

(In the picture above, Adam is holding some of the items found in the local supermarket in Phuket....chicken feet, octopus, and some kind of angry looking fish with teeth.)