May '11 Hodge Podge ~From Dolphins to Delicacies

May Day

Not many families can claim to have a holiday named after them, let alone a whole month.  But we Mays can claim both!  We thought that it was only fitting that we should start the month off with a family outing to celebrate our namesake: the month of May.

Oasis Seaworld

Our May Day adventure started out at Oasis Seaworld, a local Thai dolphin rehab center about 2 1/2 hours south of Pattaya in Chanthaburi.  The center nurses dolphins that have been injured in fishermen's nets.  The dolphins are released back to the wild as soon as possible but those that can't return to the wild are housed here permanently.  They are taught a few tricks and perform a show for a small fee, just enough to help the center remain open.  The dolphins included the pink bottlenose dolphins and Irawaddy dolphins.  This was our first time to see pink dolphins.  Lilli had learned about them in first grade and was very excited to see them up close and in person, or in dolphin I guess.

The pink dolphins were really bubble gum pink!  Each non-performing dolphin has its own natural pool.  The staff would get in the water and play with the dolphins.  This area was very "up close" for the viewers.

These performers are actually pink bottlenose but appear blue due to the blue sunscreens above the pool that are in place to keep their sensitive skin from sunburning.

Immaculate Conception Cathedral

The next stop on our May Day outing was a beautiful Catholic Cathedral in the heart of a very Thai village.  Chonthaburi is not an ex-pat area, English is not spoken here, and Thai culture is still very traditional here.  But still a beautiful church is located smack dab in the middle of all this.  The church was founded sometime before 1711 by 130 Vietnamese immigrants.  Over the years the small chapel grew to a congregation of 8,240 and the current building was built in 1900.  It has undergone several renovations since then. All the Masses are in Thai as there is no need for English Masses. 

Chanthaburi is known for its jewel and gem mining.  This statue of the Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception is made of  white, blue, and yellow sapphires, and rubies all from the local area.  The statue was a gift to the church from the Chanthaburi Christian Gem and Goldsmiths Association.

This was, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful churches I have ever visited. 



Most Unusual Swim Meet

Lilli had another swim meet on a Saturday morning.  She swam the 25 and 50 meter backstroke and the 25 and 50 meter freestyle.  Her favorite event was a surprise event at the end of the meet...

The Inner Tube Relay!

Lilli in the foreground takes the lead for her team.

After the swim meet Lilli said to me, "I wish I could float down the Buffalo River in an inner tube like I did last summer." 

It's not exactly the Buffalo River but we now have an inner tube to use in our pool, a good alternative for now. 

Fine Arts Festival

ISE holds a Fine Arts Festival every May.  The kids had three days of special classes and then a presentation day for the parents on Friday.  Chloe and another American girl taught a dance routine to a Beyonce song.  Smyth took Korean and Thai cooking classes.  And Lilli took Korean fan dancing.

Smyth is to the right of the director, back row.  Just look for the hair.

Beautiful Sunset

Dinner at Infinity overlooking Pattaya Bay

ISE Prom

My handsome baby boy.

Smyth and Kat

Soo Bin, Smyth, and Jenny

Delicacies

May also brings the season of many delicious and some not so delicious Thai fruits.  Our favorites are mangos, rambutans, and mangosteens.  Some not-so-pleasant fruits that come into season now are the infamous durian and jackfruit.  Smyth's thoughts on durian are  "Whoever thought of eating it in the first place?  It's high in a tree, it's ugly with knobby things all over it, and it smells like rotting gym socks."

Robert's favorite Thai fruit, the mangosteen

Mango

Smyth, Chloe, and Lilli's favorite Thai fruit

Rambutans!

My favorite Thai fruit

This is the infamous durian. 



The durian has such a strong odor that you will see stickers with a picture of the fruit crossed out on doors to buses, hotels, taxis, trains, office buildings, and my house.  Robert is the only one in the family who has been brave enough to try the fruit, and he did not like it at all.  The rest of us can't get past the smell to even put a piece in our mouths.  The Thais, however, love this fruit and can't seem to get enough of it when it comes in season.  They will smuggle it in to places that are clearly a durian free environment, like the Solvay offices. 

Robert returned to work from lunch one day, and as soon as he reached his floor he knew that someone had opened a durian.  He went to opening windows to air the place out, a couple of people in the office even took the afternoon off, and Dow Chemical, next door, called and complained about the smell coming from the Solvay offices.  A memo was drafted and distributed to everyone about the zero-tolerance policy on durian in the work place.

With the end of May always comes Memorial Day.  I have always enjoyed seeing flags flying on this holiday in all the communities where I have lived in the States.  This year I was a little sad that I could not drive by a cemetery or a courthouse square and see flags flying in honor of fallen service men and women but I did my part in my little corner of the world.

April '11 (Part 2) Sacraments, Swim, and Cinderella

Sacraments

The second part of April was just as busy as the first part. Lilli had been in religious ed. classes since September preparing for her First Reconciliation and First Communion. Both sacraments were planned for Easter weekend.  We enjoyed the opportunity to witness two more sacraments for one of our children here in Thailand.  Although we are in a predominantly Buddhist nation it is so good to know that we are allowed to celebrate our faith as we would back in the US.  We are so thankful to have such a supportive parish here in Thailand.  

Lilli's First Reconciliation was held on Saturday the day before Easter Sunday.  The priest gave a short demonstration on sin and how we can wash it away.  While each child went to confession the parents stayed in the church and prayed the rosary.  It was a beautiful ceremony that we enjoyed so much.

No, I did not sneak up on Lilli and get a picture.  The coordinator had a volunteer photographer take pictures for both Sacraments and then give a cd to each child with their pictures.

Smyth was unable to attend Lilli's First Communion, or Easter Mass for that matter.  Again, living in a Buddhist nation school events are planned around the many Buddhist holidays and not the Western Christian holidays.  So, Smyth was in Vientiane, Laos playing in an international school basketball tournament this Easter.  We missed him but know that we will have many more chances to celebrate holidays together.

One other note of interest regarding Easter in Thailand, the church did not sponsor an egg hunt for the kids after Mass but instead the priest gave everyone attending Mass a boiled egg.  Not being real sure what to do with the eggs, we took ours to the coffee shop and enjoyed them with our usual Sunday morning lattes.

Yes, this is a strange collection of items.  Chloe went through my cache of treasures at the coffee shop and was amazed at what I had stored in my purse. I blame it on living in a foreign country, you never know what you might need.  Notice there are 4 driver licenses, two different currencies, boiled eggs, a padlock, a candle, playing cards, and several other necessities.

Swim Meets

Both Chloe and Lilli participated in swim meets with other international schools here in the Pattaya area.  Chloe's preferred stroke is freestyle while Lilli prefers the backstroke.  Both girls did well in their events and in the events that weren't their preferred stroke.

Lilli in the foreground manages to tie for first.

Chloe in the foreground managed a second place tie.

Cinderella

About every three years Smyth gets bit by the acting bug and tries out for a school play.  This year's production at ISE was Cinderella (the German version).  Smyth played the father of Cinderella.  All the students did a fine job.  We volunteered to have the cast party and viewing of the video at our house.  I do not have pictures from the play because I was video taping it.  

As previously mentioned, we knew that April was going to be a very busy month.  Looking back on it now, it seems to have flown by and I'm glad I got pictures as it seems now to be one big blur.  Definitely a month to write home about!

April '11 (Part 1) Songkran and Hong Kong

April at last!

We knew going into April that it was going to be a busy but exciting month for us.  The first day of the month Lilli had a spring program at school.  Spring may not exist in Thailand but it is spring somewhere in the world, right? 

Lilli performs in The Hidden Rainbow

ESAC

Smyth and Chloe both had tournament games in the Eastern Seaboard Athletic Conference here in Pattaya.  Smyth played basketball and Chloe played soccer.  There are four local international schools that compete in the ESAC tournament.  We had a very fun, hot, full day of tournament action.  We had to alternate between watching Smyth play in the gym and Chloe play on the field.  Luckily both tournaments were at the same school which happened to be the Regent's School which is located in our neighborhood.

Smyth takes a foul shot and makes it!

Songkran

Songkran is the Thai New Year.  It is traditionally the time that Thais go back home and pay respects to their elders.  The holiday is scheduled from April 13-15 but has come to be celebrated from about the first week of April until the 20th of April.  Thais would sprinkle waters on the hands of their elders as a sign of respect.  Now it has become an all out good nature water war.  Thais will arm themselves with water guns, buckets of water, garden hoses and an occasional elephant to squirt any pedestrian, biker, or car that passes by.  It's a fun time for Thais but is also the time of the year when ex-pats will leave the country to avoid the chaos.  More on Songkran at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songkran

These cute little girls greeted the members of the Pattaya International Ladies Club as we arrived for the monthly luncheon meeting.

The girls also paid respect to the elder ladies in the club by sprinkling water on their hands and presenting them with a flower wreath.  No, I was not respected at this event.  They only wanted ladies 60 and older.

Robert also attended a Songkran celebration in a village close to the Solvay plant.  Thai girls perform for the elder monks and the people from the village.

During Songkran it is customary to wear a Songkran shirt.  They are brightly colored floral shirts or brightly colored shirts with Thai symbols on them.   

Although we did leave town for most of the Songkran festival we were around for a couple of days of the real craziness.  I stayed home for the most part but did get out to go to my Thai language class and to do a few errands. 

Pickup trucks will drive around with barrels of water in the back for kids and adults to scoop out and throw on people standing in the streets. 

Kids stand on the streets and sidewalks and shoot water guns at others.

Here a Jeep full of people get sprayed by the people on the sidewalk with water hoses.

A non-Thai rides his motorbike with his Songkran shirt on and a dread lock wig.  I'm not sure why he was wearing the wig.

Another truckload of kids riding around waiting to drench people along the road.

Escape!

As I mentioned we managed to escape for most of the Songkran holiday.  I booked a trip in December for us to go to Hong Kong and Macau.  As we were driving to the airport Lilli asked, "How long is the flight to Hong Kong?"  I said, "About 2 hours and 20 minutes"  She said, "REALLY????  What can we do in such a short flight???"  I guess she has gotten used to the long overseas flight.  

We stayed at the Hollywood Hotel at the Disneyland Resort

Jumping for joy that we are at Disney!

Lilli loves the chocolate fountain at Chef Mickey

"Riding the Rails"

Hong Kong's MTR subway train

Robert's friend from college Shirlee and her husband Ted and their language instructor met us for Dim Sum on Sunday morning then showed us around Hong Kong.

   

Hong Kong is a very pretty city with many parks nestled among the high rise office buildings and condos.  The streets and sidewalks are very clean but due to less strict environmental laws in China the air quality of Hong Kong is poor.  The people are friendly to talk to, most everyone speaks English and often will stop on the street to ask if you need directions anywhere.  However, when it comes to queueing these people know nothing about how to form a line or to wait their turn.  We were forever being trampled getting on and off the subway, funicular, escalators, basically anywhere where there was limited space.

Hong Kong skyline

View from Victoria Peak

The funicular that goes up to Victoria Peak

Sea view through the haze from the peak.

Hong Kong attracts a lot of shoppers with high end stores.

Our first day in Hong Kong was great.  We got to visit with a friend we hadn't seen since 1988. We had Dim Sum at a truly Chinese place, as we were the only non Chinese people in the restaurant.  We muscled our way onto the funicular to get to Victoria Peak where we sipped good wine while enjoying the great view of the Hong Kong Harbor and the IFC Building that the Dark Knight jumped off.  We rode on a portion of the world's longest elevator, which is actually a series of escalators, and we had Mexican food for dinner in the Soho (South of Hollywood) District.

Hong Kong Disneyland



We have only been to a Disney park once before this trip.  In 2005 we went as a family with Robert's parents and sister to Disney World in Orlando.  Lilli was only 2 years old at the time and does not remember too much about it other than the pictures she has seen.  She always wanted to go back and we always thought we would go to Disneyland while living on the West Coast but we never got there.  So here we are in Southeast Asia planning a trip to Hong Kong and someone mentions, "Are you going to Disney?"  I couldn't pass it up.  Lilli would get her trip to Disney after all.  Hong Kong Disneyland is only 5 years old and is the smallest Disney park.  The park was perfect for one day. 

There were three must do's for this trip to Disney.  The first, Chloe and I had to ride Space Mountain, because we ran out of time in Orlando and never got to ride it while we were there.  The second,  Smyth had to ride the teacups because he was sick with a fever and headache when we were in Orlando and to this day will always remind us, "I was sick when we went to Disney World!  I couldn't even ride the tea cups!!"  And lastly, the whole family had to ride It's A Small World because it was closed for maintenance in 2005 and we didn't get to ride it.

 Although the park was geared more toward the younger set I made a challenge for the older three "kids" that I hoped would keep them occupied through the day while Lilli enjoyed her time at Disney.  They had to find a Mulan pin and a Nemo pin, there were none for sale in the gift shops so they had to find one from a cast member to trade.  This kept them busy talking to every employee that had pins for trade.  Robert found a Mulan pin and guarded the employee while I went and got Chloe so she could make the trade.  Heaven forbid someone would snatch it before we got it.  A Nemo pin was never found. 

We also thought that we might get to see Mulan since we were in Hong Kong.  However, we were told that Mulan wouldn't return until June.  I guess she was out fighting the Huns.

Asian culture at Disney is interesting and is very educational.  We knew from experience here in Thailand that the Asians think small white kids are cute, much like we think small Asian kids are cute.  The difference though is we generally don't ask to pose for pictures with an Asian family when we see them.  I guess all of our whiteness and our bigness was just too amazing for them and had many people taking our pictures.  Every time I was taking a picture of my kids there was some Chinese, Korean, or Japanese person taking a picture of them as well.

 The Chinese guy that took this picture for us also had to take a few shots of us with his camera.

 Main Street

 Ride on Space Mountain..... check

 Found a ride much like the Flooded Mine at Silver Dollar City.  This was the Buzz Lightyear ride, we had to shoot targets.  Of course as highly competitive as the May family is this was a favorite ride.

Cinderella had a southern accent.  Lilli asked her if she was from Florida.  She was!

 Tinkerbell's Castle all decked out for the 5 year anniversary.

 It's A Small World.... check

 Smyth riding teacups.....check

 The mouse that started it all.

 Fun day at Disneyland Hong Kong.

Next stop, Tokyo Disneyland!

Day 3

Hotel Pool and off to Macau

Robert needed a work morning so the kids and I hung out at the hotel pool during the morning.  Later in the day we left Disneyland Resort and headed to another Special Administrative Region of China called Macau.

 Lilli enjoys the hotel pool.

Lilli met a nice girl from a traditional Muslim family from Ireland at the pool.  They talked about their favorite DS games and what they enjoyed most at Disneyland.

Day 4

Macau

Macau was a Portuguese colony until 1999 at which time it was handed back over to the People's Republic of China.  It is to remain an SAR until at least the year 2049.  Macau is the Vegas of the East with many large casinos and hotels.  Actually, Macau has a larger gaming revenue per year than its Western counterpart.  We saw many of the same casino resorts in Macau that we saw in Las Vegas.  We stayed two nights at The Venetian, the largest Casino in the world.  Macau is so unique with its blend of Portuguese architecture in elaborate Catholic churches to the ornate decor of Chinese Buddhist temples, not to mention the American glamor and glitz of the casino industry.

Waiting for a bus in Macau

 Chloe tries a drive simulator at the Grand Prix Museum.

 Lilli poses at the Macau Wine Museum

Not sure what this is but so many Chinese tourists were having their pictures made in front of it so we did too!

The Sands Casino and Resort

St. Dominic's Church

Ruins of St. Paul's originally known as Mater Dei

Na Tcha Temple

Day 5

Taipa Island

Macau

This day was a very relaxing day yet we seemed to pack a lot in to it.  We started with a gondola ride on the Grand Canal of the Venetian.  Then we spent a few hours lounging by the pools of the Venetian before heading to lunch at the Hard Rock Hotel poolside cafe.  We then did a self guided walking tour of Taipa Island before boarding the hydrofoil back to Hong Kong.

The Performer

Chloe and Lilli enjoy one of the five pools at the Venetian

We liked the appropriately chosen words for the check in area of the Hard Rock Hotel

Our Lady of Carmel Church

Original Portuguese church

Original Portuguese settlers homes

Chinese restaurant with temple next to it.

Street in Taipa

Beautiful little neighborhood of Macau

Day 6

Lantau and Kowloon

Disneyland and the Disney Resort are on Lantau Island. Just a subway stop away from our room we hopped on a 25 minute cable car ride up a mountain to the world's largest seated Buddha.  There are many shops, a couple of multi-media museums, a few hiking trails, and a monastery at the top of the mountain.  Our favorite shop was Chopstick Gallery, a unique shop that sold nothing but chopsticks and had such a wide assortment of designs.  There were chopsticks that looked like pencils and some that looked like actual sticks. 

I wonder if Chinese brides are as picky about their chopstick pattern as Southern brides are with their silver pattern.

Half way up the steep 260 steps to the base of the big Buddha statue

The Wisdom Path is marked by 38 wooden pillars each bearing a portion of the Heart Sutra

What are these things that are placed along the hiking trail?

 Oh,  well that explains it. 



 After spending most of the day on Lantau Island we boarded the subway again and headed for Kowloon.  Kowloon is the perfect place to view the nightly laser light show that is projected on buildings on both sides of Hong Kong Harbor.  Here we walked along the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars and saw the the hand prints for Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Bruce Lee as well as Bruce Lee's statue.  We had dinner at the YMCA which was highly recommended by my Frommer's Hong Kong guide.  Thinking we were going to get an inexpensive meal at a soup kitchen we were surprised to sit down to white table cloths and napkins, and waiters with jackets. 

I'm not sure why we couldn't get Smyth to get in the family picture with us.  Most likely had something to do with him being a cool teenager.

  Dinner at the YMCA

Day 7

Aberdeen and Stanley

We met friends Shirlee and Ted again for a tour of the south side of Hong Kong Island.  We took a sampon tour in the harbor and saw many fishing boats and floating homes.  This is a way of life for the fishing village.  Our "tour guide" spoke limited English and would yell random words to us when he had something of interest to show us.  "Dark Knight! Dark Knight!" we figured meant "This large houseboat was used in Batman: The Dark Knight"  or "Air Conditioning! Air Conditioning!"  meant "Oh look, someone is putting a window unit in their houseboat."  We got a glimpse at life in a junk fishing village and then were deposited at the famous Jumbo Kingdom where we had a huge brunch buffet and enjoyed visiting with our friends.  After our meal we took a taxi to Stanley Market.  We enjoyed exploring the stalls of the market and seeing a variety of items for sale.

 A Sampon

 Jumbo Kingdom

Famous for being in Jackie Chan, 007, and Bruce Lee movies

Ted, Shirlee, Bob 

Heading Back Home

Honestly, I don't think I ever had Hong Kong on my list of places to see and I'm not sure I even knew about Macau until I started planning our trip to Hong Kong.  Maybe it was one of those "Well if ever the chance just came along sure I would go, but there are other places I'd rather go first."  I can now say it was a wonderful trip and I'm so glad we took advantage of our close proximity and planned this vacation.  We learned a lot about the people, we saw many sights that we have seen in movies, books, and other people's blogs, and we experienced a perfect example of culture blending of the Chinese, British, and Portuguese.  I'm certainly glad the chance came along!