In The Land of Smiles

Bangkok, Thailand

We just returned from an amazing trip to one of our favorite places in the whole world - Bangkok!! We visited many of our Thai friends and were treated like royalty, ate our way through the city, shopped our favorite Jatuchak market, traveled to a remote resort in Khao Yai National Park and ended our trip with a night at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and a celebratory dinner at Lord Jim's.

The Erawan Shrine is in downtown Bangkok and has always been a favorite spot to watch the Thais make  offerings and light incense as they silently pray. It is a familiar landmark to us now and serves as a great meeting place in this crazy city!

Erawan Shrine

The 100 degree heat and intense humidity brought back many memories but did not stop us! Phil and I went to Jatuchak Market on Saturday for 5 hours and I went back with my good friend Neda on Sunday for 5 more! We had to buy extra suitcases to bring our purchases back with us. I wish we had taken pictures but you never think of it while you are lost in the maze of hundreds of stalls selling everything you could think of!

Outside the market, the tuk tuks were lined up to take us home!

Taxi anyone?

We took a dinner taxi from Bangkok on the Sea to a a seafood restaurant built out on the bay with our good Thai friends and their kids. The trip out was at sunset and was beautiful, but the trip back in the dark was a bit scary with all of the kids!

Dinner Taxi

Our hosts took us to Khao Yai National Park to enjoy some fresh air and a gorgeous resort! Everywhere you turned the flowers were beautiful!

Bird of Paradise

Floating Orchids

We enjoyed a lunch of local fruits - 

Fresh Fruit

Hand made glazed baby fruits

Our travels took us back to Bangkok for more Thai food, shopping and a dinner celebration. We headed to the newest night market on the Chao Prya river. It was still 96 degrees so we decided to cool down with a round of Singhas before we shopped.

Asiatiques Night Market

In the market, there were lots of interesting Thai handicrafts and things to buy. One of the first stalls we came across took us by surprise. There were tanks of water filled with hundreds of little fish that nibble at your feet to soften the skin - Fish Pedicures! Very popular in Japan, we were surprised to see it here!

School girl getting Fish Pedicure

Close up!!

The Oriental Hotel was a great place to spend our last days here. An impressive chandelier in the receiving hall was made out of flowers and crystals. Every detail was perfect!

Mandarin Oriental Hotel

The guys treated us to an amazing dinner at Lord Jim's. We toasted to another amazing trip in the Land of Smiles and finished the night at the Bamboo Bar.

So fancy!

Too pretty to eat!

We have been many places in the world, but Bangkok remains to be one of our favorite. The Thai people are the friendliest we have ever met and we already look forward to our next trip in November!

Sawasdee Ka

Suzhou Pearl Market

Earlier this year Phil and I went to Suzhou to see the canals and beautiful gardens. Yesterday, I returned with the Shanghai Expat Association to learn about pearls! There are pearls available in all of the markets wherever you go in China and now I know why!

Once in Suzhou, we stopped at a pearl farm where we met a couple in their shack by the river. They were hauling up baskets with 3,4 or 5 clams (not oysters) to check their progress and safety. One of the baskets was four years old and ready for harvesting.

On the side of the river in a rudimentary shack with a rickety old dock, the man of the house opened one of the clams for our inspection.

Opening the Clam (or cRam as they say here)

Pearls!

The pearls are harvested from the clams and the meat is used to make soup for dinner! The closer the pearls are to the edge of the shell where the Mother of Pearl is present, the more colorful the pearls. They take on the color of the shell where they grow.

The reason there are so many pearls is each mollusk is because they are implanted with flesh from a different clam. The implanted clam then tries to secrete fluid to get rid of the foreign tissue and creates pearls. Kind of sad for the clam that it is abused this way for the sake of jewelry!

Harvesting flesh

This woman was "harvesting" flesh from the outer edge of the shell with surgical precision. The thin pieces of clam were then inserted into another clam that she opened slightly to master the implantation. That clam went back to the farm for a four to ten year dip in the river!

Our tour then took us to a pearl factory where all sorts of jewelry is made for purchase! Not sure how I feel about the mollusks and the treatment of these creatures - they don't have a brain or feelings but they are living things after all.

Sorted pearls ready for making jewelry

Guilty Pleasure

Crazy for Mosaics

Recently I took a class in the art of mosaics and I have to say, I am hooked! From searching local vendors for the perfect tiles to creating patterns and then cracking and gluing them, it has been great to have a new hobby!

Here are some of the bowls I have almost completed (I learn how to grout them this week!):

First attempt at cracking and gluing

Fun Bluesy Bowl

Lotus Flower

Hippie Flowers

Phil has asked me, "What are you going to do with all of these bowls?". He has no sense of humor . . . 

Sunday Hot Pot

This past Sunday we met several friends and enjoyed our first Hot Pot!

A hot pot is set over a flame in the middle of the table and ours actually had a hot side with chilies and a mild side with mushroom broth. We ordered lamb, beef, fish, all kinds of mushrooms, veggies and noodles.

Once the pot started boiling we cooked our lunch and dipped it in our own hand made sauces and it was so good!

Hot Pot with spicy chili broth/ mushroom broth

This fish was actually swimming until we ordered him and they prepared him for our lunch!

Fish Head and Tail at the top

When I asked what kind of fish it was, I was told "Fresh!", no name, just "Fresh!"

We really enjoyed cooking and eating our own lunch! We will have to see if we can get a fondue pot hot enough to try this at home - with all vegetables, of course (I don't think Andy would have been very happy at this one!)

Styrofoam Man

Just a quickie as we have been trying to get photos of one of these guys and Phil was successful on the way home from work!

We call him Styrofoam man! The government has outlawed travelling this way as these guys cause many traffic accidents because they are impossible to see in front of! I love him because he is collecting all of the recyclable styrofoam and heading to turn it in for money!

Styrofoam man!

This guy is cheating a bit - he has a 3 wheeler - usually we see this much travelling down the street on a regular bicycle! Ha! Ha! Kudos Phil!

Chinese New Year in YuYuan Gardens

This was a week of celebrating bringing in the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Snake. There were  non-stop fireworks and all businesses, stores and restaurants were closed so the world's largest migration of people could take place. Most of the Chinese people left Shanghai to go visit their families and celebrate the new year which made it quiet for those of us left behind. Well, except for the fireworks.

We enjoyed geting around the city with no traffic and got a better feel for just how big Shanghai is. Phil taught me how to use the Metro/subway and we crossed the river using the ferries and we even jumped on his electric Vespa and buzzed around.

YuYuan Garden is a 5 acre section of the Old City in Shanghai and had a lantern lighting each night so we headed down to see it. Apparently so did all of the other locals that chose not to migrate. It was mobbed!

Here are some shots of the lanterns before and after they were lit . . .

This was the PepsiCo wall of lanterns . . .

2013 -Year of the Snake

Today, most people are returning to their homes and jobs and the stores and eateries are in full swing. The quiet was fun while it lasted!

Xin nian kuai le! - Happy Chinese New Year

Langkawi, Malaysia

From the frigid temps of Harbin last week to the tropical heat wave in Malaysia we bring you the island of Langkawi! Our first day we settled in at the beach bar and quenched our thirst before exploring this very lush and tropical paradise.

Tiger beer at the beach bar - it was 95 by noon

The sun was blistering hot but we had the calm Andaman Sea at our feet and a beautiful pool behind us. Phil lasted one day sitting on the beach then decided to sign us up for every event possible!

Berjaya pool

Our cottage actually sat on pilings in the Andaman Sea just outside of the canopy of a lush forest full of  critters entertaining us the entire week.

Sproger cottage was 2nd from the end

We were intrigued by the squid fisherman who sat in the water just off of the resort in their boats from dusk to dawn. In the early evening, this boat would arrive and anchor for a beautiful sunset.

Squid Fisherman off of our deck

After the sun went down, the fisherman would turn on these obnoxious lights to lure the squid to the surface so he could net them. Needless to say, we had to keep our drapes closed to shut the light out because he was there til dawn every day.

Green eyed fisherman

The wildlife was incredible . . .

Collared Kingfisher on our deck

Pacific Reef Egret

Stripe tailed gecko

Bats huddled under a palm leaf

Monkeys, monkeys everywhere . . . 

Our favorite monkeys at Happy Hour

Monkeying Around

We took a cable car to the top of the island to explore on the Langkawi Skybridge. Unfortunately when we got there, it had been closed for repairs for a year. I was relieved as I could not even get close to the railings to look over the side!

That is actually Thailand in the background!

Skybridge closed for maintenance

  
 After an amazing and relaxing week, we readied ourselves to head back to Shanghai to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year. This was in the lobby as we left the Berjaya and headed to snow and ice and freezing temperatures in Shanghai.

Happy Chinese New Year!

xoxo, Phil and Kathy