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Published: November 11th 2008
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Girls dressed for loy krathong
This was at Max's school assembly - I just loved how they all looked in their costumes. Hello everyone! It's been so long since I last posted and I have to admit that I find it harder to write entries - because it's been so busy, because we haven't traveled as much since the last post, and because I have a facebook page now and it's often easier to post photos and things going on there. However, there has certainly been enough happening in the last 4 months to write an entry now!
This past weekend we went to Khao Yai National Park in Thailand. Jim's brother, Jesse, has been visiting us from Shanghai and we thought it would be fun to do something distinctly non-urban since all of us live in such huge metropolises. Khao Yai is beautiful and I think the nature is unparalled to any national park I have ever been to (of course, I haven't been to Africa yet, but still, what we saw in such a short period of time was amazing). We stayed in a resort called Grandview, which was very inexpensive and located just outside the southern entrance to the park. On the way into the park, we saw lots of monkeys and even one wild elephant! Of course, we
Khao Yai
I know this photo is totally overexposed, but it was taken at dusk and this was the only way I could show the rickety bridge we crossed at Khao Yai park! have seen (and ridden) many tame elephants in Thailand, but it is quite another thing to see a wild bull Asian elephant. We booked a night safari, which is run by the park, where they took us out in open air trucks to see what animals roam after dark. Here is a list of the animals we saw, each wonderful in its own way: wild elephant (in addition to the one we saw at the park in the day, we also saw one on the night safari - apparently we were very lucky because they are not always easy to spot), porcupine, turtle, deer, and barking deer. It was also just wonderful to be outside in the open clean air, which was quite cool because the park is in the mountains, and see stars, the moon, etc.
Before it got dark, we also went on a short hike that was really cool in the park where we saw a waterfall and also walked above a bog, which looked like some kind of eerie fairyland, as well as across a rickety swaying wooden bridge. The down side was I got some leeches and didn't even realize it until after they
Max and Uncle Jesse
at bog in Khao Yai park - unfortunately, too dark to see the eerie background. had dropped off - when I got back to the hotel and undressed, there was lots of blood streaming down my legs. Nice! Fortunately, it didn't hurt and didn't cause any long term damage either.
Tomorrow is Loy Krathong (literally float the boat, which is a beautiful holiday in Thailand where everyone makes these beautiful boats from banana leaves and flowers, puts candles on them, and floats them out on the rivers and canals) and we can always tell when Loy Krathong arrives because the weather gets delightful in Bangkok - today it was in the lower 80s, low humidity, and just delightful for walking around. We'll be sad to see Jesse leave tomorrow for China, but we'll see him again soon when we return to the U.S. in less than 3 weeks now (not for good, but for a lengthy visit).
Max and I went back to the US in late July/early August and had a wonderful time both in Madison and D.C. I hadn't been back to Madison in 2 years and it felt really wonderful to stay with my parents and see old friends. Plus, Max had a blast hanging out with his grandparents, eating
The chess match
My dad loved teaching Max how to play chess when we were in Madison. Blue Moon ice cream (made by the UW - basically, tastes like fruit loops), seeing his Great Aunt Mary, and going to the zoo and the park. It also helped that the weather was spectacular - upper 70s/lower 80s with low humidity. Then, we also had a wonderful time in the DC area seeing Jim's family and more old friends. Such a total blast over all!
Our family has done 2 beach trips to Hua Hin, which is a beach town that is close enough to drive to from Bangkok. With our large crew, we find that traveling as a family is much easier if we go somewhere that we can drive to and Hua Hin is a very relaxing place. In addition, Jim visited his brother, Jesse, who now lives in Shanghai. It was his first time to China and he had a wonderful time. Jim has also done a ton of traveling for work to both familiar and exotic places - Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Pakistan, and Brunei. Other than my U.S. trip that I took with Max, I haven't really done any traveling outside of our family trips, but I have a trip to Phuket planned in
Vilas Zoo
Max and my Aunt Mary early February when my friend Donna Wong visits us and also I bought tickets (as a surprise present for Max - he doesn't know about it yet) to Hong Kong for a few days for Max's school break in February - just he and I will be going and we will, of course, take a trip to Hong Kong Disney, but I am excited also to visit another city where I have never been before. I really want to visit Jesse in Shanghai too, so that is another trip yet to be planned.
Otherwise, life in Bangkok is going well - and time is really flying. Max is enjoying school for the most part (except that it is really hard to get him out of bed in the morning!). He has learned to read well this year and is taking private piano lessons (offered as part of the school curriculum, which is really great), which he really enjoys. He also just finished his soccer season at school and has now started singing in the school choir (they have a choir for his year, called "Snap, Crackle & Pop," which I think is hilarious). As you can tell, he really
Jenga
Max having a rousing game with Jim's parents and Uncle Billy. loves music. Outside of school, he is taking Tae Kwon Do and loves hanging out with his friends.
Levi is walking - I should say running - just about everywhere and now has started climbing on all the furniture as well, which has us running after him in a panic. He thinks it's very funny. Just this week Bram has now started walking all over the place as well. Both are learning a mixture of Thai and English and are starting to interact more with each other, which is really fun.
We'll be returning to the DC area in just under 3 weeks and will be there for a while due to Max's 2nd surgery on his ear. We'll be renting a furnished house in Annapolis during our stay and hope to see our friends and family there. In the meantime, Max is not too preoccupied about the surgery (which is good) and his hearing in the damaged ear is much better than expected, so we're cautiously optimistic that things will work out for his hearing after the next surgery, but are very nervous (of course) as well. We'll be in the US for approximately 5 weeks, except
for Jim who will be with us for 4 weeks.
Politics in Thailand continues to be interesting (to say the least). You may have read about the race for governor of Bangkok in which one of the contenders punched out a news anchor - fortunately, he didn't win the election. The PAD (which is a group that wants the current government to be overturned as they believe it is corrupt and linked to Thaksin, the former Prime Minister who was ousted in a coup a few years ago) is protesting a lot. Most of the time, it doesn't really affect us, except that traffic can be bad on days when the protest and we are advised to stay away from certain areas. It's hard to say what Thailand's future will be. Many people are predicting another military coup (as you know, we already experienced one of those) as those are pretty much par for the course in Thailand and tend to be non-violent. Right now the country is gearing up for the King's sister funeral (a princess who lived to be in her 80's) this week so probably protests will slow down by then as most Thais have great
respect for the royal family. We don't feel like we're in any danger so don't worry about us when you hear things on the news!
Of course we're thrilled about the election results and I have gotten several messages from friends telling me it is safe to return to the U.S. now! Hope all is well with everyone. Please stay in touch!
Maddy
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Stacey
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Thanks for the pictures!
The Brammy Yoda is my favorite part!