Temples and Cooking School

     Our first full day in Chiang Mai began with a little bit of walking, a little bit of eating, some reading, and a couple drinks. We decided to just wonder around the city and see what there was to see. We found a couple of temples just down the street from our hotel, so we started there. It was a little odd being there with no other tourists. Every temple we have ever been to is always full of people. At the two we went to on this day, we were the only ones. It led me to believe we were not supposed to be there. I totally thought we were trespassing and I kept waiting for someone to come and yell at us. However, I was put at ease when a monk came out and began to talk to us, so then I figured we were fine. Here are a few photos from them.

 I don't know the name of any of these. There were no signs in English. I thought this one was gorgeous!

 I tried to be like the dragon...

 It was actually locked, so Travis couldn't go in either. :)

 The details are amazing!

 LOVED this one!

 Lots of little Buddhas

 Up close, this one was about the size of my hand, maybe a little larger.

They are just amazing!

     The next day we went to a cooking school at night. I am really glad we did it in the evening because it is much cooler then. The days are really hot and when you are cooking, it can be a little too much heat! We found the number one cooking school in Chiang Mai called Siam Rice Cooking School. It was perfect! We really enjoyed the one we did in Cambodia and we were looking forward to this one. We were picked up from our hotel and taken to the market to learn about the foods in Thai cooking. Then we went to the school and began. There were 10 people in our group, four of us from America and six from Holland. It was a fun group! We made a soup, a noodle dish, curry and veggies. Here are some photos.

 At the market

 Our teacher, Mink was fantastic! He was very knowledgeable and fun!

 This is where we did most of the cooking.

 Travis hard at work.

 Making Drunken Noodles! I was afraid of the fire, but Travis was a champ! The noodles were delicious.

 My Drunken Noodle dish, yum!

 Making curry paste by hand is a LOT of hard work!

 Making curry

 Taste testing

 My Pumpkin Curry and sweet and sour veggies, I rocked them!

Travis make another curry (I can't remember how to spell it though) and holy basil veggies. Yummy!

     Today we are just relaxing in our room until we move to our new hotel. After that I have a 3 hour spa appointment! What a lovely way to celebrate Christmas Eve! Then we have a date night to eat dinner and watch It's a Wonderful Life. So far we have done a lot of reading and relaxing, which was really needed! On Christmas we are out to explore mountains and waterfalls. I can't wait! The day after we are headed to an Elephant Farm to learn all about the animals and play with them. I am super excited! I fell in love with elephants when we went to Bangkok two years ago and I can't wait to see them up close again. December 27 will be our last full day here and then we are off to Luang Prabang, Laos. More updates to come...

Merry Christmas Eve!

C & T

The beginning of our Winter Holiday

We are traveling for three weeks…that’s a long time! I have never traveled for more than 10 days at a time, so this should be interesting. To start, I have to say that when we planned this trip I was very excited. I thought it would be a perfect way to spend our three week winter holiday. However, I didn’t think about how much Christmas mean to me, and how much I love being surrounded by family and friends during this time of year. What I was thinking about was how chaotic last Christmas was as we tried to drive between Detroit and Jackson numerous times. On top of that, we took a side trip for four days to San Antonio. It was so busy and not really restful. It was amazing to be with family though. I thought this trip was a great alternative. Well, when we got here I was a little mad at myself for choosing this over America. I even went as far as looking up flights back to Shanghai and then flights to Detroit. I’m a nut case…I fully admit it.

So anyway, back to our current trip. We arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand with no problems. The flights were quite quick and nice. The flight to Bangkok was on Thai Air. I absolutely recommend that airline! We had a five our flight and could watch lots of movies or TV shows. I was in heaven! I managed to watch Chicago and Step Up Revolution (don’t judge me, I was in the mood for movies with dancing) all the way through and then part of one of the Harry Potter movies. The second flight was only an hour and I began to read the latest Stephanie Plum book…still love how entertaining those books are. Oh, and for the record, I LOVED Step Up Revolution! Bring me Twitch and Sandy Cohen any day and I am happy!

Moving on…we arrived in Chiang Mai and took a taxi to our hotel. Immediately noticing green trees, fresh air, less craziness. We were happy to say the least. We were brought to our hotel, The Castle and noticed the photos online were perhaps enhanced a bit. The so-called pool was more like a giant-sized Jacuzzi tub and the rooms looked a little different. To be fair, we are only paying $35 a night, so I didn’t expect much. However, after traveling in Asia for almost three years, I also know that $35 can get you quite a lot! Any who, I was a little disappointed. Travis and I have a slightly completely different opinion when it comes to hotels. I am not saying I have to have a 5 Star hotel experience every time (I would never turn one down), but I would like a hot shower, a sink that I can actually wash my face in without pouring water all over the floor and a bed that is not a rock. Do I exaggerate here…maybe a little. After all, we are in Asia, all beds are hard, but seriously as I type this, my butt is going numb!!! And I am not lying- the shower is not anywhere near hot.

We move to a new hotel today. I have high hopes for a fabulous bathroom, comfy bed and better location. I do know the latter is a for-sure. I will keep you updated, so don’t lose any sleep wondering if my new hotel is good enough for me.

Once I was done complaining to Travis and whining about as many things as I could (of course there were tears too), we began to plan the rest of our time in Chiang Mai. Here is what we are looking at- going to temples, a cooking school, spa day, visiting Waterfalls and Mountains, going to an elephant farm and petting tigers, oh and shopping and eating a lot! I wanted to go to the snake farm, but Travis was not up for it. Ha! Totally joking, neither of us would ever go to that. So, as you can see, I sometimes always over react to things. I am happy to be here now and am looking forward to it all.

Side note- next year we will definitely spend Christmas in America. I am already looking forward to it.

Merry Christmas from Thailand!

C & T

Christmas Party 2012

It began and ended in the same dramatic way…someone being carried in or out by four people. Yes, in true SCIS fashion, it was a night to be remembered...well hopefully remembered, I guess it depends on how much wine was consumed.

Last night was our annual staff Christmas Party. Each year has a different theme to encourage us to be creative and to feel inspired. Year one was “Wild West”, last year was “James Bond” and this year was …Ollywood. Nope, not a typo, that’s what it was. They wanted us to decide whatever we wanted, such as Hollywood, Bollywood or anything else that ended in ollywood. It was a fantastic theme and I really loved seeing everyone dressed to the nines in their own personal ways! Check out these amazing dresses and tuxedos.

 The sign that greeted us :)

 Is this Bri and Matt or Audry and Humphrey?

 Aren't we cute?

 Lovely ladies!

 More lovely ladies...it was a bit like posing for prom pictures!

 Christmas colors!

 Some good looking men!

 I loved the Bollywood!

 And then these two show up! I love it!

So sweet!

Now, back to people being carried. After many of us took the big bus out to the Shanghai Art Center, we arrived at a very modern, unique venue. It was gorgeous. Christmas lights were strung all around, the wine was flowing, cameras were flashing in every corner and compliments were heard from all. But there was one important moment we were all waiting for...our Head of School was to make a grand entrance. Everyone gathered near the doors with cameras pointed, ready to shoot. The doors flung open and there he was…wearing his white themed Bollywood outfit, raised into the air on a platform and was being carried by four men. It was a moment we will never forget. See the pictures below for an idea.

 The Grand Entrance!

 Look at that headpiece!

The night went on, more pictures were taken, lots of dancing was happening, but most of all the wine was flowing. We were totally over-served as per the usual. The glasses of wine were more like bottles of wine. And as I stated at the beginning, someone was carried out, poor girl! Anyways, it was a fabulous night and we feel very lucky to work at a school that always provides such awesome parties. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Our next adventure is to Thailand and Laos for 3 weeks. We will keep you updated on that as we experience it all.

Merry Christmas!

The Klumps

So…Hanoi, Day 3…

After a fantastic first two days, we were expecting much of the same for our third day.  We booked a City Tour and were excited to see all of the sites that Hanoi offered.  I’ll have to back track a bit to our first day in order to tell this whole story.

Arriving in Hanoi we were anticipating a similar experience to Ho Chi Minh.  While we were there we walked around and found our own way to multiple destinations for a complete city tour.  In Hanoi, we found endless tour companies selling trips all over, offering a variety of different tours.  While walking, we stumbled across a sign advertising a City Tour for roughly half the price of anywhere else.  We ventured in expecting to walk right back out after hearing about a crappy version of the City Tour.  Shockingly…we listened to the sales pitch and decided the company was legit.  Christy seems to think I had something to do with our decision because it was cheaper, but I’m convinced that we decided on this mutually (I’m not sure why she thinks I’m drawn to cheaper things). 

Regardless, we woke up on the morning of the tour in time for breakfast and arrived at the lobby in time for our pickup.  We waited…and waited…and waited!  The hotel staff approached us numerous times to confirm that we actually had a tour.  I began sweating.  Somehow I knew that this was going to be my fault.  I began hoping that the company would arrive and watched with bated breath as every van or bus passed our hotel.  It didn’t pay off!

After over 40 minutes of waiting a guy on a bike pulled up and let us know that he was here for us.  I, obviously celebrated…Christy on the other hand began to question him.  Through the questioning, it was determined that things were not going well.  The guy seemed to have no clue about what was going on.  We eventually went back to the place we booked the tour with the tour guide and decided the best option was to go as planned. 

We ended up leaving with our “Tour Guide” almost an hour after the planned time.  Our first stop was the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.  We were quickly notified that we were not going to be able to see Uncle Ho because he was shipped off to Russia for his yearly exhuming and touch ups.  That disappointment was just the beginning!

 Outside of the Museum.

Regardless of not seeing Uncle Ho, we were allowed into the Museum.  There we were surrounded by lots of quality notes, letters, pictures, and information.  Unfortunately, most of the information was illegible.  What was translated, was written in small manuscript and extremely time consuming.  As we were trying to decode everything we were notified that the exhibit would be closing soon and we needed to hurry (obviously because we were late).  We were only through a quarter of one of the three floors at this point!  We then decided to start asking more questions of our guide.  Hopefully that would speed things up so we wouldn’t have to do some much reading.  Not the case!

As we began asking questions we quickly found out that we know more about Vietnam History than our quality “Tour Guide’ did (and that isn’t saying a lot).  We ended up rushing through and not really getting much out of it. 

After, we were walking to the houses of Ho Chi Minh, and we were quickly lost.  Our tour guide was calling people on his phone and making wrong turns.  After a bit of questioning the locals, we headed in the right direction.  However, we were stopped after a short walk so our “Tour Guide” could find his girl friend, who joined us.  What do you do?...We continued…Not the best choice!

During the next part of the tour, Christy noticed a sign that stated where Uncle Ho’s house was.  She asked about it and was told that the sign was wrong.  We check our pamphlet and went back to the sign and questioned our lovely tour guide and his response was, “Maybe I’m wrong…Yes, I’m probably wrong.”  Things continued like this for most of the day. 

To say the least, it wasn’t a great day.  However, it was a very entertaining day.  I think we came to the realization during this experience that if something is soooooo bad, it can actually become funny.  At the end of the day and the horrible experience that our Day Trip was, we were laughing on the side of the road.  All in all, we got to see everything that we set out to see, and we ended up being entertained by a horrible guide in the process.  We’ve laughed about it multiple times since including today while writing this.  Oh, the adventures and experiences of traveling abroad! 

Pagoda that was closed :)

Hanoi Day 2- Hoa Lu & Tam Coc

Day 2 started with a long bus/big van ride. Today we were heading out to Hoa Lu and then Tam Coc. Hoa Lu is south of Hanoi and was the capital city of Vietnam between 968 and 1009. Here we just visited what remained of the city. It was interesting, but a little smaller than we expected after a 3 hour bus ride!

After a brief tour of that, we headed over to Tam Coc. This was an additional 15 minutes in the van! When we arrived to this destination we were served a mediocre Vietnamese buffet lunch. It was nothing special, but we were pretty hungry so it did the trick. We were then shuffled across the road to get on a boat. Now, this boat was really small and I was told I would have to be on it for an hour! I was not all that excited at this point…sitting in van for 3 hours and now sitting on a small boat for another hour. However, the view on the Boi River was quite amazing. The towering limestone peaks all around were something we had never seen! It was a great preview for Halong Bay. We snapped several pictures on this peaceful trip. We were really amazed by the man who was rowing the boat. Instead of using hands, he used his feet! I was impressed. There were many boats out, but it was so quiet. It was a nice change of pace from Hanoi.

The final thing we did out here was go for a bike ride. Yes, I Christy, went on a small boat and a bike ride! I know! I am so proud of myself. The bike ride was something indescribable. Just to be surrounded by nature was fantastic! We only cycled for about 30 minutes or so, but it was really nice to see another side of Vietnam. There were only four of us on this part and it felt like we were the only ones around…until you came across the billy goats and then the water buffalo…

It ended up being quite a day. It was a lot fun, but a lot of traveling. Another highlight from the day was dinner. I know, shocking. We do love to eat! Today we tried an Indian restaurant (I know we are in Vietnam, but we love our Indian food the most!). It was the best Indian food we ever had. The owner came out and talked to us and made some suggestions for us for the next night, when we would return again for dinner…

Day 3 was a bit different. I think I will let Travis tell that story!

Hanoi Part I

Our third October Holiday while living in Shanghai…it really is hard to believe that! This is our first without the Watt Family, and it’s just not quite the same. Greg is not falling into parked motorbikes, Di is not becoming best friends with the locals and Alysha and I are not eating street pancakes. Nonetheless, it’s still pretty awesome so far!

Things started off on Saturday morning quite well. We left our apartment and got to the city airport in about 10 minutes! The line for China Southern was speedy, customs was quick, all was well. Our first flight was to Guangzhou, one of my least favorite airports. The flight was much shorter than anticipated and it was a quick stay in the Guang. Our next flight was straight to Hanoi, another short distance. We landed and were off to get our Visas on arrival. Of course we didn’t bring US dollars for this, which we were told was the only form of currency they would take. We only had RMB, and although I think we paid more than others, they took it and it was time to find our driver to the hotel.

It was another 45 minute ride to the Meracus Hotel, making our trip now about 10 hours since the time we left our apartment in Shanghai. However, when we arrived, I saw one of the most amazing sights…SHOES! Shoes were EVERYWHERE!!! Our hotel is on the street of shoe shops. I couldn’t believe our luck. Travis was not expressing his enthusiasm, but I am sure he felt the same. It was such a beautiful sight! Oh, and our hotel was great too. The bed had pretty flower petals on it and the sink was full of water with floating flowers. Cute little touches that made it an inviting sight. It’s not a big room, mind you nothing is really big in Vietnam, but it is clean, has a great shower, comfy bed and fantastic location (remember the shoes?). There are also tons of other shops and plenty of bars and restaurants near us. We couldn’t ask for more.

Shoes!

Our Hotel 

Our first night we ate some delicious Vietnamese dinner at a restaurant near our hotel and then went to another restaurant to sip some beer from a second floor balcony and do some people watching. To say the traffic here is nuts, is an understatement. For example, when we checked into our hotel, they gave us a map and a paper titled “Travelling Advice in Hanoi”, number 1- How to cross roads. Yep. Pretty dicey, but they say to be relaxed and confident and you should survive…so far so good.

After an 11 hour night sleep (apparently we were exhausted from the first month and a half of school), we headed to our breakfast. It was great! One of my favorite things here in Vietnam is the amazing coffee with condensed milk. It’s a perfect way to start the day (and then drink later in the day as well)! We decided today would be a day of shopping, eating, drinking coffee and drinking beer near our hotel. It is now mid afternoon and we are beat! I think it is now siesta time…

Some sights from today:

 Street vendor taking a break.

 Think this would pass American codes???

 Mobile store...

Travis and some new friends!

Tomorrow we are going on a day trip to a nearby city, Hoa Lu- Tam Coc. It should be interesting. Fill you in more after that.

C