The McClintocks Take on Thailand (Phuket)

We made the decision at the end of last summer to not return to the US for Christmas.  The girls and I had just spent 3 months in the US and we thought we would be moving back to the US this coming summer (2014).  So we made the choice to take advantage of our current location and remaining time in SE Asia to cross another destination off our must-see list and go to Thailand for Christmas break.  

Shortly after we booked tickets and made hotel reservations we found out that our time in China would be extended (not really a surprise and not unwelcome).  Then November 2013 rolled around and we lost our house in the US to a tornado.  We spent some time debating whether or not to change our plans, but ultimately there was nothing we could do to help with the clean-up during the middle of winter, our house lot would still be waiting for us, and temporarily escaping a bit of stress sounded really great (and maybe wise too?)

Jamie and I have always enjoyed seeing new places and experiencing new things.  Not only is it just plain fun, but we believe that it is an important part of our family.  It brings us together and we develop our planning, communication and conflict resolution skills.  We believe that having shared experiences are important for our girls.  And, nothing cements a marriage like handling two girls with the stomach flu on an international flight!  You take that girl, I’ll take this one and we’ll see each other when we land.

The day after Christmas we flew from Shanghai to Phuket, Thailand.  Phuket is on the western side of the peninsula.  Our flight landed in the middle of the night and we were so grateful that the hotel was not far away and we could crawl into our beds and sleep for a few hours.

The hotel was on the beach and the irony of Jamie and I on a beach vacation has not escaped me.  Before our time in SE Asia, we were not “beach people”.  Our fair skin does not handle sun well - it’s pretty obvious!  I joke that when I “tan” I go from white to ecru, or if the day didn’t go well, lobster red.  Now though, we can appreciate a good day at the pool and beach playing with our girls and enjoying the fresh air and breeze.

Our typical beach vacation follows the same routine…large breakfast buffet, morning at the pool or beach, lunch poolside if possible, afternoon naps for ChinaBean and one parent while the big sisters are at the hotel’s kids club staying out of the sun, then back into the water until dinner.  The routine usually ensures that everyone sleeps really, really well at night!

Our room included this nice alcove with
two Thai triangular pillows.

Painting at the kids club.

LBean also enjoyed painting a parasol.

Enjoying the beach.

This trip was no different, we enjoyed a lot of water time.  LBean has discovered the joy of being tossed around in the waves and loves to jump and splash.  EBean has been taking swimming lessons every Wednesday afternoon at school and has become much more confident in her swimming ability.  She had fun showing off her new skills.  And, ChinaBean was happily along for the ride!

Being the connoisseur of massage that I am, I was very excited to get a Thai massage on the beach for an extremely reasonable price.  As my friend pointed out to me, why pay more to go inside to the spa and listen to a recording of the ocean, when I could just stay outside and listen to my personal ocean soundtrack.  I also enjoyed listening to the Thai ladies speak to each other.  The Thai language is so melodic and gentle and very different from what I hear daily in China.  I imagine they were sharing stories about their children, poking fun at all the tourists and making plans for what they would cook for dinner, but it was music to my ears!

The massage "room" on the beach.  (I forgot to take
a picture during the day time.)

One of the days we left the resort and went to on an elephant park to take the family on an elephant trek.  To be very honest, I was very skeptical as to what we would see and the conditions of the elephants.  How do I put this…my past experiences traveling in some parts of SE Asia have made me very wary and we have seen some very poor living conditions for animals.  But, I was extremely glad to be wrong about my assumptions.  The facility was really nice and clean.  We were placed into a group and taken to different stations on the property where Thai women explained to us how all the parts of the coconut are used, showed how rice is harvest and prepared, explained the ingredients in traditional Thai green curry, served us Thai tea and coconut “pancakes”, and told us about how rubber trees came to Thailand. 

Preparing a coconut.

Passing around the outside of a coconut.

Cleaning out the meat of the coconut.

Making coconut oil.

A Thai curry presentation.

ChinaBean thoroughly enjoyed her Thai rice.

Explaining how Thai tea is prepared.

Enjoying some refreshments.

Water buffalo.

A Thai pancake.

After all of the demonstrations we were escorted up to a viewing ring.  Two of the elephants were brought into the ring while our guide explained the elephant training.  The elephant handlers are an ethnic group of people from the far boarder in western China.  They handlers live and work on the grounds, so they are constantly with the elephants.  We purchased a basket of fruit to feed to the elephants.  

Even for elephants, our family of five is too big!  We divided up and Jamie took LBean, who was a bit nervous and I took the two littles.  EBean looked as if she was sitting on a throne and was just as proud.  The view was idyllic, the breeze was gentle and warm, and the sway from the elephant was gentle.  Pretty much perfect.  At the end of the ride we were given the opportunity to take a picture with our elephant and its handler.  To this day, ChinaBean will tell you how her elephant gave her an “ouchie”.  What she means is that she felt the rough whiskers on the elephant’s trunk.

I'm on an elephant! 

EBean loved her ride and sat as tall & proud as a queen.
LBean was a little less excited about the adventure.

Our vacation put us in Thailand for New Year’s Eve.  Even though Jamie and I don't seek out extreme ways to celebrate NYE, we have done some pretty fun things…fireworks on the Vegas strip, the Rose Bowl, a concert in Chicago.  This year LBean & EBean jumped up and down and started begging when they heard that the Kids Club at the hotel was having a kids NYE party.  We agreed to let them do that, and Jamie, ChinaBean and I went to a Thai restaurant for dinner.  After our big girls had danced the early evening away and gotten some gifts at their party, we sat by the reflecting pool on one of the giant swings and tried to stay awake until midnight.  The girls didn’t make it, but Jamie and I did step out on the balcony to watch the fireworks on the beach.

This girl is ready to party! 

Mmmm, Thai food!

Our hotel

Happy New Year!

The next day we packed up our exhausted girls and headed back to the airport.  Next stop, Bangkok.  We had to fly through the city anyway, so I decided we might as well spend a few days there.  Bangkok has a bit of a reputation, as many people might have heard (cough, cough).  We managed to keep it family-friendly and have a memorable time.  I'll post more on Bangkok next time.

Meeting in the Middle: Hawaii

Aloha!  When talks of moving to China started in earnest, we discussed the possibility of "meeting in the middle" with family for a reunion.  We felt like the "middle" happened to be in Hawaii (sorry Alaska)!  The week before Easter my mother and Jamie's parents met our family in Honolulu for some sun, fun, sand and grandchildren.  The girls and I also happened to meet Jamie in Honolulu...again, I found myself flying with the girls alone (a 9 hour flight this time) to meet Jamie in our vacation destination.  He had spent the previous week in the US at the home office and having dinner with all of my friends (and his friends too)!

I want it publicly known that my children were amazing travelers!  I don't remember if I've mentioned this before, but for long flights I print out preschool & kindergarten theme-based activity packets from a homeschool website and put them in plastic folders for them.  They get so excited now to see what packet they are going to get next!  I never pulled out the iPad, LBean didn't use her Leapster, and they didn't watch any movies (we were on a Chinese airline).  They entertained themselves, slept, and worked on their packets.

We flew through the night and arrived early in the morning.  Jamie came the night before and we were able to meet him at our hotel room.  LBean was excited and ready to go, so after Jamie made a quick trip to the medical prompt care clinic (he was treated for strep), they headed to the beach.   EBean quickly dressed for the beach too, but like me, succumbed to the jet-lag and we napped most of the morning.

EBean napping in her swimsuit.  Thankfully no one
got a picture of me napping!

My mom and Jamie's parents arrived later that evening.  By that time, the girls and Jamie had already fallen fast asleep, so I went out with the grandparents for dinner and we all turned in early.  The next day we walked two blocks to the Honolulu Zoo.  The zoo was the perfect size for our girls and we enjoyed walking around in the shade and looking at the animals.

Renting a double stroller was the best decision of the day!

I voted for a Dippin' Dots break, the girls agreed.

DiDi and LBean.

Me and my girls!

Jamie took some really great pictures of the plants
and animals at the zoo.  The hibiscus is the
state flower of Hawaii.

I think we have another budding photographer.

There was a petting zoo too, but LBean elected to
just take the animals pictures instead.

The next day we took the Honolulu City & Pearl Harbor tour.  Our driver took us through Honolulu's Chinatown (as big as a few city blocks).  He asked if anyone in the tour group had a Chinatown in their home cities.  Jamie and I enthusiastically raised our hands!  We stopped at the Honolulu Courthouse and looked at the King Kamehameha statue and used the nice courthouse bathrooms.  LBean & EBean reported back that the courthouse had sitter potties.  LBean and I liked the two story mailbox that had a mail chute from the second floor that dropped the mail into the mailbox on the first floor.

Grandma Callie & EBean by the
King Kamehameha statue.

King Kamehameha

We drove through the Punchbowl cemetery, which is the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.  The cemetery is built inside of a volcanic crater and offers a beautiful view of the valley below.  I don't remember the specifics, but I believe that our driver mentioned that there are 5 National Memorial Cemeteries outside of the continental United States, including Puerto Rico, the Punchbowl, Alaska, the Philippines (you can read about our visit here: The Philippines), and one other.

Our next stop was Pearl Harbor to visit the USS Arizona Memorial.  In grade school I was able to participate in a program called "Kid University" at Western Illinois University.  One of the "classes" I chose was all about Hawaii.  Our teacher was a really great teacher and she told us a story about how one Sunday morning in early December she and her father went out for an early morning drive and stopped high on a hill to take in the view.  As they were parked on the hill they saw the Japanese fly in for their attack on Pearl Harbor.  It still gives chills when I think about it.

That anchor is huge!

On the boat and approaching the USS Arizona Memorial.

A portion of the ship above the water.

Still leaking oil after all these years.

There were smiles there too.

Leaving the memorial.

After visiting the Arizona memorial, we spent some time touring a submarine, the USS Bowfish, which is docked near the Pearl Harbor memorial.  The girls enjoyed crawling through the submarine.  After lunch we visited the U.S.S. Missouri (Truman's home state) where the Japanese signed their surrender at the end of World War II.

This one is for Grandpa Weiser.
Our family hearts Apple products.

After a few days on Waikiki beach, we headed north to a resort on the beach.  We had arranged for each of the girls to receive a new sand bucket filled with goodies.  The next morning we walked next door to the Disney Aulani resort for a character breakfast with Mickey and a few of his pals.  Now that we've had character breakfasts at three different Disney resorts, I have to say that this was the best breakfast by far.  It was very relaxed, not over-crowded and very interactive.  "Auntie" entertained all of the diners with Hawaiian songs, taught the children how to make music with coconuts, and led a parade around the restaurant.

LBean making some music with coconuts.

GrandLarry enjoying his morning coffee.

A view of the beach at our hotel.

On Saturday morning our resort provided free lei making.  The girls chose to make bracelets and the rest of us made necklaces.

Grandma Callie pointing out the rays,
starfish and sharks in the water at our resort.

One of my Hawaiian princesses.

On Saturday night we walked next door for a Hawaiian luau.  I took the girls out in a boat.  The guy that was helping to paddle was not expecting me to say that we were visiting from China.  He said he kew a little Chinese and asked me to say something.  Under pressure, the only thing I could think of to say was "Wo ai xing baca", which means "I love Starbucks"!

LBean getting a tattoo.

A different kind of lei bracelet.

We rented a van on Sunday and took a little drive around the island.  We stopped at the Dole Plantation  before driving up to the North Shore.  Because we had the van all day, we made two trips to Target and Jamie and I had a movie date-night.

LBean reading the map for us.

EBean marking off her card in the pineapple maze.

Itty-bitty pineapples.

Riding the Pineapple Express

I think one of the highlights for me happened on the last full day we were at the resort.  We spent the morning in a more secluded lagoon near the resort and two sea turtles came into the lagoon.  The turtles might have come up on the sand if I didn't keep shrieking "look, look there are sea turtles" and scaring them away.  I'm from the midwest, so anything sea-related is very exciting for me!

We flew China Eastern air, so we were
allowed 2 checked bags per person.  It wasn't
quite as much as Christmas, but very close!

Two jet-lagged girls.

We had a wonderful trip.  Some of the reviews I had read online didn't speak very highly of Waikiki Beach and Honolulu because it is a big city, traffic is bad and it is filled with typical American shopping.  But, I've decided that it is all about perspective because that is something that Jamie and I were really looking forward too.  One Hawaiian resident told me that there are about 1.3 million people in total on all of the islands combined.  We have around 10 million in Suzhou, so Honolulu felt like driving through Peoria.  As expats it was nice to have many American stores within walking distance.  We also really enjoyed the food and we didn't have a bad meal.  When I'm back in the States I find myself craving beef, cheese, cold black ice-tea and most of all...salads.  I'm happy to say that I ate and drank all of those things.  However, I could not enjoy my iced tea from McDonald's as it was mango flavored and it has become evident that I am allergic to mango and what a strange thing to be allergic to!

Jamie and I also enjoyed running into Target to buy Easter candy, shoes & swimming suits for the girls, and presents for LBean's birthday.  We also had fun sneaking off to see the first Hunger Games movie on a Sunday night.  I have a strong suspicion that the movie will not make it to China.

Now, it's time to start thinking about where to meet the grandparents next!