Parent trip to Chengdu, China

Spring has come to Daegu, and we have the cherry blossom trees in full bloom!   

Gary and I had to travel to China to visit a school, so the kids got to stay for three nights in the dorm.  The best part of staying in the dorm, other than no parents is SNACKS!  That is the first thing both of them set up.

Pooks laying out her stuff... her snacks are already done, too!

The city we went to in China is called Chengdu.  While you may not have heard of it, over 14 million people live here, and it is the 5th biggest city in China.  Don't worry, though, no one has heard of your town either!  The trees are in bloom here, too!

Here are some of the students having a snack by the pond. 

One day our friend took us to an old style Chinese area, with lots of dark wood, red lanterns, and street food. 

You can see this is rabbit head.  We didn't eat this, mainly because it was about 9:30 in the morning, and we had just eaten breakfast. 

It was a bit drizzly, but still really pretty.

Then we had lunch with two people from the school.  This is Chengdu hot-pot.  You can see the pan of steaming liquid that is set into the table,  On one side is a mild broth, and the other is a spicy broth.  Vegetables and tofu get cooked on the mild side, and meats on the spicy side.  You can see that there are some meats on the table, but I will tell you what they are.  If you have a sensitive stomach you may want to skip this part. The plate in front of the guy in the white shirt has lamb slices and cow stomach (the white stuff).  The plate in front of the guy in the black jacket has pork kidney.  One one bowl in front of Gary that you can't see has congealed blood.  

When you cook the blood it turns from clear red jello-looking stuff to this maroonish-purple clot kind of thing.  It is surprisingly good, but the Chinese guy and I were the only ones that thought so.  Anyway, if you say you will eat anything, you have to either put up or shut up! 

These are the two principals of the school we visited.  The lady died laughing when I told her about our lunch, and thought we were very brave.  When we go in June, we are going to a snake restaurant.  I will be sure to take pictures! 

Koh Samui, Thailand Round 2

After a long, cold winter we have been ready for some sunshine and heat.  So we hopped on a couple of planes and headed to one of our favorite spots, Thailand!  You may remember that we visited Koh Samui before.  It is where we went to the cobra farm, and got our string bracelets from the monk at a temple.  It has been 4 years since we visited, so we were ready. 

Hopping on the little plane from Bangkok to Koh Samui.

Our place was called the Overwater Hotel because it was not on the beach, but had an amazing view.  Usually I am the only one that goes in the ocean anyway because R-Man gets a rash and Pooks gets stingy, so we decided that we would take the view and a pool.

So, there will be lots of pictures of the view!  The aim of this vacation was mainly to eat Thai food and get massages, and that is not so interesting, but man... the view!

Our hotel did have a shuttle to the beach, so we did go there a couple of times, but even there, the kids went in the pool.

This is our new favorite place to eat dinner. 

One day we did a driving tour to get new string bracelets.  This is the temple that has the mummified monk.  I didn't take pictures of him because it seemed disrespectful, but if you want to see what he looks like, you can click this link: http://www.kosamui.com/lamai-beach/wat-khunaram.htm

 

  

 

Three of us got new bracelets, which are supposed to protect us from bad things happening. 

We also went to see a couple of waterfalls, known as waterfall 1 and 2.  They have Thai names, but everyone calls them 1 and 2. To get to the waterfalls you have to take a dirt path through the woods, and several swinging plank bridges, 

The kids didn't want to ride the elephants again, but did want to feed them. 

Cheese! We asked about the cobra farm while we were there, but unfortunately it has been shut down.  We were hoping to re-enact the scene where the cobras were standing up when my skirt accidentally brushed Gary's leg, but, nope. 

Tuk-tukking to downtown.

Drinking pina-coladas and waiting for Mexican food... does it get any better than this? 

The view from our pool. 

One day we signed up for a Thai cooking class.  We learned to make 12 different Thai dishes, and eat them.  R-Man is making chicken satay with peanut sauce.  

Pooks is making spring rolls.

I am not sure what Gary is making, but it was delicious!

Everyone hard at work.

Ready to eat some pad thai.

Ahhhhh..... vacation. 

On the last night the kids asked if they could go get some fruit shakes up the road.  You know they are pretty good travelers when they can walk up the road about half a mile, buy some shakes, and make it back by themselves. And they were nice enough to bring some back for Gary and me.  

This is how you know it was a good vacation!  Sleeping the whole way home on the plane. 

Thanksgiving and Christmas 2016

This year we spent some time in Korea for Thanksgiving, and then went to FL and NH for Christmas. 

This is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Korea, and has some special tiles that were used to print copies of one of the famous Buddhist texts.

And finally we are back home.  We had to hit all our old haunts in just a few days, so get ready...One of our favorite places, El Tucan.  Thanks everyone, for coming to lunch with us. 

And everyone that had ever visited us in Merritt Island will recognize this place.  It was great to catch up with Chie at her place, Simply Delicious. 

R-man and his new cousin. 

All of us air-boating.  After this, I will never swim in a Florida river, that is for sure. 

Relaxing outside of Cracker Barrel. 

New ropes course place in CB.  The kids loved it. 

and of course, the zoo. 

Now we are in NH!  How can you tell?  The kids are wrapped up in blankets!

Loved the snow.