I thought I put this one earlier this week. Sorry. New Year’s Eve morning we flew back to Bangkok. After much waiting because of large crowds, we finally checked into our room at the Asia Hotel. It is located near a newer area of Bangkok. We settled in and then went out to wander around a little bit. I found some great shoes to wear with my dress and to got a pedicure. We came back to the hotel and laid down for a short rest. We finally got ready for the big New Year’s Eve party at our hotel. [View Full Entry]

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Once again, I apologize for not getting this out sooner. There was an earthquake in Taiwan around Christmas time that caused havok for the internet in Asia. In Tianjin, we are just now being able to get onto the internet beyond google email. I have not been able to access this site for awhile. That is also why there are not pictures. It is taking too long. Hopefully in another week or so, I'll be able to add pictures. Without further ado.... Dave is getting some work done so I thought I would begin blogging our vacation in Thailand. We started [View Full Entry]

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I was concerned about getting into the Grand Palace and was not sure if the clothes I had were appropriate enough. I put on the one pair of travel pants I had and we went in search of a shirt. I ended up buying a yellow polo shirt with the seal of the king on it. There is significance there. (It is a favorite color of the king. Most people in Thailand wear yellow on Mondays in honor of the king. I don’t know the reason right now but will fill in.) After buying the shirt, we took a longtail boat [View Full Entry]

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These all seem long, but they are stories that are worth telling. That is why they are broken down into relatively bite size chunks. We arrive in Phuket several hours prior to our acquisition time of the boat. No problem, we’ll go and see if it is ready and if not, just hang out until it is. They were ready for us, only problem was that we could not leave until the next morning because of low tide. Oh, well, we had the chance to meet with the staff, go through the boat and learn the systems, go over the charts [View Full Entry]

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Before I completely forget my Christmas vacation, here is a description of the last days... These few days were pretty tame and not much happened, but here it is. After giving the sailing charter company another 12 hours to charge us for damages, we hired a taxi to take us to Phuket town. We stayed at the Sino Hotel. It had a Chinese theme. The room had two single beds, but it had a lot of room and was clean. The best part was that they brought us breakfast to the room every morning! What a treat. We wandered around Phuket [View Full Entry]

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I am having trouble accessing my gmail account. I just want to let everyone know that we survived our sailing in the Sea of Phuket and the Andaman Sea. I look forward to sharing pictures and our exciting story. I will email more details as soon as I can find a faster computer. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Love to all, Dave and Diane PS. It is later in the day and I am still having trouble accessing email. At least my travelblog works. We had a marvelous 5 days on the water and are now spending a few days [View Full Entry]

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We have been told that Hainan Island is the “Hawaii of China.” I have never been to Hawaii but based on the pictures I would have to say it is pretty darn close. We stayed at the Sanya Marriott Resort. It was a great recommendation from several friends. Our week pretty much consisted of laying on the beach or by the pool and ordering lunch. After learning to live in an urban setting with its noise, traffic, and general busyness, we were very content to lie around and swim occasionally. Our 2nd or 3rd day there, we went for a walk [View Full Entry]

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Before we run off on another adventure, here is the latest. I have been delinquent in my blogs, but only because the life of an expat wife is sooooooo hectic. All those craft days, coffees, and the inevitable shopping take so much time!!! So here is the latest from Dave and Diane…. I am going to break this into two blogs. I can put more pictures and it is easier to read. We felt that we were destined to never take a vacation. You see, we have been trying to find time in Dave’s busy schedule so he could use up [View Full Entry]

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I am back after a length of time. We actually have had some internet problems the last couple of day. I have actually been waiting for good stuff. I am going to start with something that happened about a month ago. It is called the Melbourne Cup. It really is the Australians excuse to take a 3-5 minute horse race and turn it into an all day party. Here is an excerpt that describes the race... (www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/melbournecup/) Melbourne Cup Day is Australia's most famous Tuesday. At 3.00pm AEST, on the first Tuesday in November, Australians every [View Full Entry]

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Today is Joy's Birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! We have been in our apartment for 3 weeks now. It is nice to be settled in. I admit that we are a bit spoiled. Part of our lease includes housekeeping services and breakfast. The housekeeper comes 2x per week. It really is nice because of the dust. In fact, she just left and there is still a layer of dust on everything. Breakfast is nice for Dave. We have two restaurants to choose from. One delivers to the apartment if we wish and the other is on Dave's way to work. He uses it [View Full Entry]

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