Trip to Samui Island

Today is Sunday and it is our third day on Samui. It is very beautiful here and lots of fun. We came on Thursday night and it was quite the adventure getting here. We started at 5pm by catching a cab to the train station. Everyone thought we should leave very early for our 7:30pm train because traffic can be so bad in Bangkok. We left at 5 and arrived at 5:15. So much for bad traffic! On the up side, we had plenty of time to eat and then we got on to our train about 10min before 7. We had a 1st class cabin with 2 beds and then we got another bed in the 2nd class car as well. We all stayed in the cabin until it was time for bed. The porter came and made up the beds and then Isabella went to sleep on the top bunk and Liza and Zach slept on the bottom. They locked the door and I went to sleep in the car with 19 other people. It was actually quite nice, but I slept better knowing that all our stuff and Liza and kids were safely locked up.

Zach and Belle looking out the window as the train started to move. They were so excited to be on a real train.
Belle slept on the top bunk.

I stayed until lights out then went out to the other car.

We got up around 6AM and had breakfast. The train arrived in Surat Thani (said Sur-at Ta-nee) at about 7am. We then got on a bus to take us to the ferry. That was a 2 hour ride in perhaps the slowest bus ever with pretty bad A/C... but there was a little French girl that had toys and played with Isabella and Zach.
We finally got to the ferry and loaded up.

Isabella was equally excited to be on a "big boat."

The Thai flag was flying on the bow. This was just as we were pulling out to go to the Island.

This part of the trip was about an hour and a half, so we explored the boat and tried to keep the kids busy.

We spent most of the time in a cabin with a random Thai TV show going. The kids don't understand a thing, but are still glued to the TV. I don't understand it. :-)
When we got to the island, it was another 30min taxi ride to the hotel. We were SO ready to be there. We were not disappointed with the hotel that Liza had found on the internet. It is really beautiful and has a beautiful beach.

Here is one view down the beach right by our hotel. You can see the palm tree covered mountains that wrap around the cove.

Our hotel looks like a boat. We are in the room at the top in what looks like the wheel house. It gives us 2 balconies and lots of extra space for the crib that the hotel provided for Zach.

Here are Isabella, Zach and I at the beach on the second morning. The kids LOVE the beach.

Zach had a blast playing in the sand.

Here is the view down the other side of the beach. Big beautiful rocks go out in to the green and blue crystal clear water. We saw lots of fish swimming by as we waded out in to the water.

More to come... Too bad we couldn't be HERE for 5 weeks!

Tsunami Relief Video

We came to Thailand to teach video production to the Thai staff, and to produce a video that shows how Campus Crusade in Thailand has ministered to the victims of the diaster and how they have invested the money that was donated to the relief effort here.

Below is the main screen of the DVD we produced.

Here is the video that we spent 5 days capturing on 3 different islands, 5 days sorting and translating and 7 days editing. We had a great time working on the project and working with the Thai staff. They did much of the work during filming and in helping with editing and were wonderful students. I hope you are as encouraged by what the Lord has done in the wake of the tsumami as I was in the process of working on this project. Hopefully you can read the subtitles in this tiny web version.

Little Acrobat

The other night Liza was talking on the phone to her mother and laying in bed. While she was talking, Zach climbed on her and stated climbing up the wall with his feet. He's pretty much a monkey - likes to climb anything he can. Here you can see him work his way up all the way to the bed, then he'd fall over, laugh, and do it again.

Park fun day with mommy

On Tuesday Sunee and I took the kids to the railroad park, so named because of the two railroad cars on the property. The bigger deal was that it had grass, a playground, a pond, and a wonderful bike path. Yes, you read that right. Think Central Park in Bangkok. Now, with the liabilities mounting, but no chance of lawsuit, I took our lives into our hands...


...I rented a bike with 2 kidseats--one in front and one in back. For less than a $1. We could have ridden all day if we had the time, and energy. I have to admit, I was a little nervous. I hadn't even ridden a bike with a trailer on it, let alone balancing both children and myself, but there were no spills.



It was a beautiful overcast (meaning cooler) day in a beautiful park! If only we had found it earlier in the summer. :)

Father's day

For Father's day we went out for Pizza. It's pretty pricey here so this was a big treat. We went to a local department store where there is a pizza resturant.


The kids enjoyed it too. We like Thai food, but I must confess I'm looking forward to more variety when we get home.



After pizza, we went up to the play place in Robinson. Isabella enjoyed riding the free ranging bear. This is one thing you wouldn't see in an American mall. :-)
While we were at church Sunday morning, Isabella fell and busted her lip again really bad. It swelled up huge and had a big cut on the inside. It is almost a week later and it is just now looking (and feeling) normal. It should be totally healed in a couple of days I hope.

Water Park

On Saturday, the day before Father's day, Isabella and I went to a water park in Bangkok with our friends Paul and Cha and their 2 girls. Liza and Zach were still feeling sick, so they stayed at home. Here are a few pictures from our adventure...

The slides were big, but Isabella couldn't ride them. She was just over the 100cm limit so we had to pay for her to get in, but about 11cm under the 120cm height required to ride the slides. Go figure.
This was the small children's section. She had fun playing with Caina (3 1/2) and Connie (2)
Isabella before getting in to her suit.
We found the "mini slide" after we found out we couldn't ride the big one. Caina is in pink at the bottom of the slide. Isabella had fun riding the small slides.

In addition to the water park, there were also lots of rides. This was in the "kids world" part of the park. Isabella and Caina enjoyed the boats.

If you ask me, the "Peter Pan" on the boat ride looks a little possessed. Scary.

30 baht (about a dollar) got Isabella in to the ball pit ride. She had a lot of fun.
Here was one of the bigger rides. Looks like fun if you are in America- but I wouldn't venture on to it here. :-)
This was a double decker merry go round. Pretty cool.

Temple visiting

Last weekend we went to visit a couple of temples (Wats) in Bangkok. I'm pretty sure it was the hottest day of the whole time we've been here, but we still had fun. I have lots of pictures.

Here we are waiting at the train station for the sky train to pick us up. The kids love to ride the sky train. Isabella likes to swing around the pole in the middle of the isle while it is moving, as longs as there are not too many people on board. I figure she can do this now, but not later in life. ;-)
Next we got on to a water taxi that took us 9 stops up the river to the Grand Palace. Zach really loved the boat, and hanging on the rings.

As usual, some random stranger wanted to pick him up and hold him. This time he didn't mind and it was a huge help when it came time to get off the boat.

Liza bargained a guy down from 200 baht to 100 for this umbrella. It came in handy for the whole "hottest day that we've been here" thing as the day wore on. 

This is one of the statues inside the Grand Palace, which is the main temple in Thailand and where the King used to live.

A self portrait by Isabella.

This was a cool picture of Zach looking at his reflection on one of the buildings.

Isabella takes a sit down break while we were touring the temple.

We didn't tell Zach to pose like the monkey behind him, but he did it anyway. I always knew he was a monkey...

After the first temple, we stopped to eat at a little restaurant right on the water. 

Next we went to "Wat Arun" across the river. A line of buddhas were outside the temple.

This temple has lots of very steep steps. Liza and Zach stayed in the shade, but Isabella and I decided to climb up.

Isabella did a great job climbing. The first steps were easy... and she counted each one. You can see the even steeper stairs that we had to climb next.

Here we are at the top of the first flight of stairs.

The view from the top.

Isabella with her back to the city. We had a lot of fun looking down on the city.

The entire temple is made of tea saucers and ceramics.

This flower was on a tree just outside of the temple and it looked like it may have inspired some of the tea cup flowers.

Here is our new family picture taken at the Grand Palace. 

Paparatzi

Today we were at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. A Thai student came up and asked if she could take a picture of the kids who were in their double stroller. See the video to see what ensued...