Saturday, February 21, 2009
Hal's Streetside Haircut
As you tool around town in your taxi or on your bicycle, here and there you will see a mirror nailed to a wall with a chair in front of it. We have one of these salons in our neighborhood and today Hal took the plunge and tried it out....
Saigon Pony Club
Clara has continued her horseback riding lessons at the Saigon Pony Club. Today she got to canter! She was soooo excited - she has been looking forward to cantering for ages. Just a reminder that if you click on any set of pictures you want to see they should open to a larger size in a new window.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Don't Drink the Water
Water...water everywhere here but don't drink it from the tap! Just a little thing to be thankful for in America....along with stop lights and traffic rules....
Bangkok
Sawansadee! (place hands in prayerful pose in front of nose and bob your head while saying) Hello from Bangkok! The Chao Phraya River flows through this modern, sprawling metropolis of 10 million. We stayed riverside at the luxurious Marriot Resort and Spa - a 600 thai bhat/45 minute ride in from the airport. Approximately 35 thai bhat equals one US dollar. Special note to international travelers: try to find out what the average taxi fee should be prior to arrival. Everything is a negotiation here and it helps to know what you should be working from...
After a relaxing afternoon poolside we headed out for cocktails on the terrace at the Oriental, which involved taking our shuttle boat to another pier and transferring to the Oriental shuttle. Ooops...they wouldn't let us on because we weren't dressed properly! After 6:00 the ladies need skirts/dresses and nice shoes, and the men need slacks and jackets. Ironic really because we do enjoy getting dressed up every now and then and there are so few places to do that in Vietnam or even Maine. No one went with my suggestion to hit the local mall for a new wardrobe so we ended up in a tuk-tuk trying to communicate that we wanted cocktails somewhere up high near the river with a view. I know you are laughing right now because how on earth do you communicate that in another country which speaks another language? Well, after one false stop Hal did get our point across but the new place was "same-same" - dress code after 6:00. We ended up at an english pub before heading off to the night market. We loved the night market! And that is where we should have gone in the first place. The center of the complex is a stage and seating area surrounded by restaurants and the shops are in the adjacent buildings on either side. If you ever go there without remembering to pack your dressy-best, simply wait until 7:00 p.m. or so and head out to the night market for your evening meal and entertainment.
Hal had meetings all day Monday so Silas, Clara and I went with our fabulous tour guide - Miss Chulee - to see the Grand Palace, and the Emerald and Reclining Buddhas. BTW - dress code here too. Slacks for men, skirts or long slacks for ladies, no sandals or flip-flops. We had another stop scheduled at the Marble Temple but decided we'd had enough culture for one day and needed lunch and a boat ride! The Palace and Buddhas were fantastic - we really enjoyed the craftsmanship and architecture that went into creating them. It was great to take a longtail boat along the river and through some of the canals. The homes are charming - each one has their own little float and little boat. Our driver had several pick-ups/drop-offs along the way. He showed us the stretch of canal where Pierce Brosnan piloted a longtail for one of the 007 movies. Our guide also talked about Angelina Jolie's recent visit for childrens charities. Later we wondered if the Thai's are that interested in celebrities or if they share those fun facts with us because they think we are that interested in celebrities. We wondered about that on Phuket too - the tour coordinator at our hotel kept trying to interest us in an ATV tour where you stop and shoot guns among other things. Regardless of what our stereotype is in Thailand, folks seem quite happy to have tourists here and quite worried about the impact of the recent airport closures and global recession on the industry.
After a relaxing afternoon poolside we headed out for cocktails on the terrace at the Oriental, which involved taking our shuttle boat to another pier and transferring to the Oriental shuttle. Ooops...they wouldn't let us on because we weren't dressed properly! After 6:00 the ladies need skirts/dresses and nice shoes, and the men need slacks and jackets. Ironic really because we do enjoy getting dressed up every now and then and there are so few places to do that in Vietnam or even Maine. No one went with my suggestion to hit the local mall for a new wardrobe so we ended up in a tuk-tuk trying to communicate that we wanted cocktails somewhere up high near the river with a view. I know you are laughing right now because how on earth do you communicate that in another country which speaks another language? Well, after one false stop Hal did get our point across but the new place was "same-same" - dress code after 6:00. We ended up at an english pub before heading off to the night market. We loved the night market! And that is where we should have gone in the first place. The center of the complex is a stage and seating area surrounded by restaurants and the shops are in the adjacent buildings on either side. If you ever go there without remembering to pack your dressy-best, simply wait until 7:00 p.m. or so and head out to the night market for your evening meal and entertainment.
Hal had meetings all day Monday so Silas, Clara and I went with our fabulous tour guide - Miss Chulee - to see the Grand Palace, and the Emerald and Reclining Buddhas. BTW - dress code here too. Slacks for men, skirts or long slacks for ladies, no sandals or flip-flops. We had another stop scheduled at the Marble Temple but decided we'd had enough culture for one day and needed lunch and a boat ride! The Palace and Buddhas were fantastic - we really enjoyed the craftsmanship and architecture that went into creating them. It was great to take a longtail boat along the river and through some of the canals. The homes are charming - each one has their own little float and little boat. Our driver had several pick-ups/drop-offs along the way. He showed us the stretch of canal where Pierce Brosnan piloted a longtail for one of the 007 movies. Our guide also talked about Angelina Jolie's recent visit for childrens charities. Later we wondered if the Thai's are that interested in celebrities or if they share those fun facts with us because they think we are that interested in celebrities. We wondered about that on Phuket too - the tour coordinator at our hotel kept trying to interest us in an ATV tour where you stop and shoot guns among other things. Regardless of what our stereotype is in Thailand, folks seem quite happy to have tourists here and quite worried about the impact of the recent airport closures and global recession on the industry.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Phuket - Initial Observations
Initial observations of Phuket: From Clara and Silas: It looks cleaner and there are fewer motorbikes. The houses look nicer. From Sharon: Wow! We haven't gone this fast in a vehicle since we left Maine. From Hal: There are actual rules of the road being followed here, and our driver is going too fast! Our driver tells us that if you can drive in Phuket you can drive anywhere in the world. What can you do except laugh after that and tell him to visit Ho Chi Minh City....
We're staying at a fabulous resort- The Movenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach. The amenities, rooms, service, food and landscaping here are incredible. Our fellow guests hail from Korea, Australia, France, Germany, and England near as we can tell. The retailers in the small town next to our resort feature restaurants, tour operators, massage, pedicures, manicures, and soap carved into flowers, colored, and displayed in a cute little box. Popular tours include a giant buddha (200' x 300') which sits atop a nearby mountain. You can also snorkel, scuba, ride ATVs or elephants, and visit temples and monkeys. Golf and shopping are also very popular.
The first day on Phuket (pronounced poo - ket) Hal headed off to work and Silas, Clara and I spent the day trying out two of the three swimming pools and spending some time at the beach. So much for cultural enrichment...Yesterday we booked a tour to Phi-Phi Island (pronounced pee-pee). The tour started with a 40-minute speedboat ride out to a group of islands in the middle of the Andaman Sea. We saw the lagoon and beach where they filmed the movie "The Beach", fed some monkeys at another little inlet, passed near the caves where birds nests were being harvested for birds nest soup, snorkeled in several limestone-enclosed lagoons, and ended the day with a rough ride back to a beach to chill for an hour before returning to the marina. Although the day was a little frantic, what can you expect when you are LIVING the discovery channel?
We're staying at a fabulous resort- The Movenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach. The amenities, rooms, service, food and landscaping here are incredible. Our fellow guests hail from Korea, Australia, France, Germany, and England near as we can tell. The retailers in the small town next to our resort feature restaurants, tour operators, massage, pedicures, manicures, and soap carved into flowers, colored, and displayed in a cute little box. Popular tours include a giant buddha (200' x 300') which sits atop a nearby mountain. You can also snorkel, scuba, ride ATVs or elephants, and visit temples and monkeys. Golf and shopping are also very popular.
The first day on Phuket (pronounced poo - ket) Hal headed off to work and Silas, Clara and I spent the day trying out two of the three swimming pools and spending some time at the beach. So much for cultural enrichment...Yesterday we booked a tour to Phi-Phi Island (pronounced pee-pee). The tour started with a 40-minute speedboat ride out to a group of islands in the middle of the Andaman Sea. We saw the lagoon and beach where they filmed the movie "The Beach", fed some monkeys at another little inlet, passed near the caves where birds nests were being harvested for birds nest soup, snorkeled in several limestone-enclosed lagoons, and ended the day with a rough ride back to a beach to chill for an hour before returning to the marina. Although the day was a little frantic, what can you expect when you are LIVING the discovery channel?
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Obama Tuesday Morning
We listened to Obama on the BBC this morning - CNN is not reliable here and usually comes through in digital fragments. So refreshing to hear America's problems enunciated in plain English and not disguised as poli-speak. He speaks of "crisis turning into catastrophe" but I wonder if the folks in the Midwest would agree - they may feel they are already in catastrophe. Also good to hear him speak of repairing infrastructure and healthcare. Of course, the money has to come from someplace but I have always said that I would be willing to pay more for healthcare if I thought someone was getting a benefit from it! And the ancient school he spoke of down south is just one example of how we are failing our future. We don't pay too much more per student for the school over here than what the taxpayers spend per student in Maine, yet the school day here is longer and the math curriculum more rigorous. And all the kids speak two or three languages. There has to be a way to transfer the quality of this experience to public education if we want our kids to succeed in the global marketplace. Let me know when you figure it out!
We have a great group of residents in our building. On Sunday there was an Argentinian bar-b-que (or should I say meatfest?) in the common area. Most of the families here work in shipping or the oil and gas industry. The host of the bar-b-que hails from Colombia, then lived in Mexico for 6 years (three different cities) and now is here. Another neighbor began in Aberdeen, moved to Houston, and are now here. The shipping couple started in Denmark, did 6 years in Namibia before coming to Vietnam. It is a whole corporate lifestyle that you choose - apparently you fill out a personal profile which helps the company decide where they are going to put you so there is some choice involved. There are also different pay scales and benefits packages depending on where you are posted. For example, if you are motivated by money you can make a ton of it if you choose Angola! None of the wives would do that - when you go there you live in a military compound and can never go anywhere. If your husband has to go out he is escorted by the army. The family who came here from Mexico said things were getting pretty bad there too - a lot of kidnappings and a lot of increased armed security anytime they wanted to leave the compound. A British/Vietnamese family is here while they apply for dual citizenship in Vancouver - apparently the economy is pretty bad in England too though the BBC doesn't speak of it like they do the economy in America. They applied in the US but the legal process was too daunting.
More later. We're off to Phuket and Bangkok on Thursday.
We have a great group of residents in our building. On Sunday there was an Argentinian bar-b-que (or should I say meatfest?) in the common area. Most of the families here work in shipping or the oil and gas industry. The host of the bar-b-que hails from Colombia, then lived in Mexico for 6 years (three different cities) and now is here. Another neighbor began in Aberdeen, moved to Houston, and are now here. The shipping couple started in Denmark, did 6 years in Namibia before coming to Vietnam. It is a whole corporate lifestyle that you choose - apparently you fill out a personal profile which helps the company decide where they are going to put you so there is some choice involved. There are also different pay scales and benefits packages depending on where you are posted. For example, if you are motivated by money you can make a ton of it if you choose Angola! None of the wives would do that - when you go there you live in a military compound and can never go anywhere. If your husband has to go out he is escorted by the army. The family who came here from Mexico said things were getting pretty bad there too - a lot of kidnappings and a lot of increased armed security anytime they wanted to leave the compound. A British/Vietnamese family is here while they apply for dual citizenship in Vancouver - apparently the economy is pretty bad in England too though the BBC doesn't speak of it like they do the economy in America. They applied in the US but the legal process was too daunting.
More later. We're off to Phuket and Bangkok on Thursday.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
suoi tien waterpark!
Hello everyone, Silas here! We went to the Suoi Tien water park on Saturday, It was pretty cool. First we went to the water park. The walk over was interesting, with tons of fake Vietnamese dragons, and temples decor, fake but really cool. The water park was awesome. there were three main pools The first at the top, was the deepest with a bunch foam floats that were so buoyant you could stand on them! There was also a bunch of little green circles that were attached to a rope with starting and landing floats that were bigger. What you had to do was get onto the big float (that spun on the water on the rope) and skip across the little green ones as fast and lightly as you could. I only got to 7 steps (not even halfway) and fell off the spinning green floats (though i tried time after time to get farther). The next pool was less deep with one of the lame water slides in it and then the next pool was a little kids water jungle gym. so that was pretty cool.
Next we went to the actual rides, basicly the swings, hall of mirrors, the swinging boat thingymajig, a thing that makes you go in upside down in circles, and a lame roller coaster.
So basically the park was only half as good as fun town splash town (all the Maine people reading this will know what that is) probably not even, but it was fun anyway!
Silas.
Next we went to the actual rides, basicly the swings, hall of mirrors, the swinging boat thingymajig, a thing that makes you go in upside down in circles, and a lame roller coaster.
So basically the park was only half as good as fun town splash town (all the Maine people reading this will know what that is) probably not even, but it was fun anyway!
Silas.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
