A foodie I'm not, but just the same

Here is a post that I started last year, and just now finished. If you're feeling adventurous in the kitchen, here are some good recipes to try!

I realize that I've been remiss in writing very much on Indonesian culture, as most of the time I blog I am writing about a trip we took or about the boys. Both are worthwhile I think, but I'm sure you, kind reader, would also like to learn more about Indonesia! So with that, I am going to write about food, since so much of our lives (for good or bad) and our cultures are wrapped up in food. Now those of you who know me know that I am not a 'foodie' - I am not 'into' food, I do not like to cook, and there are many meals I'd prefer to just be able to inject into my body rather than sit down for. However, I do appreciate a good meal and recognize what a significant role it plays in a country's culture.

Indonesia is such a vast country and is made up of so many different peoples, that its food also varies depending on the region. There are Javanese dishes, Manodonese, Balinese, Sumatran, etc. and while all are typically Indonesian (meaning they share many qualities and are very different from say Mexican, Italian, Indian, Japanese, etc.) they also differ enough that many Indonesians can tell where a particular dish is from within Indonesia by simply looking at it or with a quick taste. For a very good explanation of Indonesian food, please visit this link. One significant difference is what sort of meat is used because most Indonesians are Muslim and so do not cook with pork. Bali on the other hand, being a mostly Hindu island, freely uses pork in many dishes as well as duck which is very popular (a well known and delicious Balinese dish is called Bebek Betutu). Regional dishes also differ on the amount and kind of chiles they use. In general Indonesians like some heat in their dishes (they also love sweet and fried foods), but the Manadonese are known for their extremely spicey dishes. I am sorry to say I'm a bit of a chile wimp, and so I've never tried Manadonese food, but this is what I've heard.

We are fortunate to be living in a foreign country whose food is delicious (NOT the case when we lived in W. Africa). My favorite dish is called Nasi Kuning (yellow rice) and Tempeh (a variant of tofu) Orek. It is a fairly common dish in Java but usually prepared for celebrations. The nasi kuning is made with tumeric, lemongrass and coconut milk, so it has a nice, but subtle flavor. The tempeh orek on the other hand is fabulously flavorful - a wonderful mixture of sweet, salty, and spicey.  It is sprinkled on top of the rice dish and the balance of flavors is divine.

Another popular dish, which I believe is found everywhere in Indonesia, is nasi goreng or mie goreng, which is simply fried rice or fried noodles. Most restaurants or cooks will add in ingredients to make nasi/mie goreng more interesting, such as carrots, shrimp, chicken or beef, chilies, peanuts, or egg. It is a basic dish that is difficult to mess up, and since it is fried it is one of the safest dishes to order in even the most basic of eateries.

I love a good peanut sauce, which I quickly grew to appreciate in Mali as it was one of the few appealing dishes among their traditional food. Because Mali is so poor, too often the peanut sauce, called tigadigana, is watered down. However, if you stumble upon a good tigadigana, it is heavenly. I looked on the internet for recipes but only found tigedigena recipes on blog sites - I suppose that isn't surprising. This recipe looks good, although I've never heard of adding broccoli to tigedigena. I don't remember ever even seeing broccoli in the whole country! Here is another recipe for tigadigana, along with a wonderful description of just how awful the food in Mali can be. But I, like this blog author, learned to appreciate what you learn from forcing down food you don't love - the simple fact that you have food to eat to keep you from starving, the quiet beauty of eating with people - whether they be friends or strangers, the importance of kindness in smiling at your hosts despite your discomfort, etc. (But I have led us on a tangent...) You can also find great peanut sauces in Indonesia, for example to accompany gado gado, which is cooked and raw vegetables dipped in peanut sauce, or satay, which is any grilled meat on skewers, but most often chicken or beef, covered in peanut sauce. Both are often served with krupuk, which are similar to shrimp crackers.

Another delicious and popular Indonesian dish is rendang, usually beef rendang, which is beef cooked in coconut milk and spices such as ginger, turmeric leaf, lemongrass and chilies. Many Indonesian curry dishes are incorrectly called rendang, for true rendang requires hours of cooking whereby the liquid sauce is cooked down to a paste, or disappears completely to make a dry beef rendang. Because of the long cooking time required, it isn't common to find true rendang in restaurants. But when you do, it is well worth it! Here is a good looking beef rendang recipe (I haven't tried it). Like I said, it's a long process so perhaps it's best to try on a cold rainy Saturday or Sunday!

I would be remiss if I didn't talk about sambal, which is Indonesia's basic chili sauce. You will find it in the grocery stores in the ketchup aisle and it is always served in restaurants along with the ketchup (fortunately it is a lighter red color so I don't confuse them too often!). It has a nice flavor and adds some heat, if needed. Hand made sambal is even better though, with more texture and richer flavors. While my husband still contends that I can't handle any spice, I beg to differ and think that living in Indonesia has heightened my tolerance for spicy hot foods and has taught me how to enjoy its flavor.

Indonesian food is flavorful and exotic and delicious, so give it a try if you haven't before! Here's hoping we find a good Indonesian restaurant in the Triangle!

The Messy Details

I've lived overseas several times before this, and I've loved all of those amazing experiences. Each one has been radically different, and this experience is no exception. Two of the biggest differences with the move to Indonesia was moving overseas as a family, and moving overseas with so many belongings. Every other time I've "moved", it's just been me - simply me and the 2 suitcases and 1 carry-on luggage + purse allowed. So it was a huge jump to go from 1 adult to 2 adults and 2 kids, and from airplane luggage to cargo container!

For my own selfish reasons (tools to de-stress) and hoping you may be interested in knowing just what craziness is in store for us over the next 5 months, I'm going to share with you my to-do list. :)

-Research Chapel Hill neighborhoods and schools
-Look at houses online (this I admit is a joy - I happily spend hours at this!)
-Make plane and hotel reservations for our 3 final trips in Asia (also obviously fun but a lot of work)
-Contact a realtor, get pre-approval for a mortgage, etc.
-Research type of car to buy
-Research, decide on and sign the boys up for summer camp
-Research, decide on and sign LC up for pre-school
-Make plane, hotel, and rental car reservations for house hunting trip
-Get power of attorney for friend in Jakarta while we're away on house hunting trip
-Travel to CH on house hunting trip
-Look at dozens of houses and buy a house!
-Find out what our shipment allowance is
-Moving company to house to provide estimate
-Do an inventory of our house belongings with photos
-Decide what we will sell here and for how much
-Sell said belongings
-Sell our car here, transfer title
-Get a few final pieces of furniture made here
-Reserve a serviced apartment for the weeks in Chapel Hill while we wait for our shipment to arrive
-Make plane reservations for move back home
-Research and complete documents for moving cat home with us
-Get medical, dental and vet records
-Get school records from JIS and TT
-Print photos and get framed
-Make photo albums
-Write recommendation letters and find staff new jobs
-Decide summer trip plans and make US internal plane reservations (haven't seen the parents, aka grandparents for 1 year!)

Oh my god this list is making me ill...but it continues.

-Organize our going away party
-Cancel cable, utilities, final lease inspection or whatever, etc.
-Make a hotel reservation for last few nights in Jakarta while house is packed up
-Make car rental reservation for first few days in CH
-Cancel car insurance
-Sign up for health insurance for US
-Cancel gym membership
-Cancel J's cell phone
-Get exit-only permit to leave the country
-Decide what luggage we will carry on the plane home (what we will need with us for next 6 weeks)
-Packers come to house for 3 days - chaos!
-Final haircut, pedi and mani, massage and facial (but of course!)
-Say goodbye to our friends and wonderful staff (NOT looking forward to that one!)
-35 hours getting home - 2 adults, 2 kids and 1 cat
-exhausted and bleary eyed, arrival at RDU (oh my god!), pick up rental car and go to temporary lodgings
-Buy a car
-Close on house
-Register C for school
-What needs to be done to the house? I don't know yet, but I'm sure there will be something - organize it!
-Ah, sign up for cell phone plan
-Set up utilities, cable, internet, etc. for new house
-Kids and I go visit the grandparents
-Return to CH, packers come and unload the boxes
-Kids spend days in summer camp and I unpack the boxes in our new home!
-Kids start school and we begin a whole new chapter!

Whew, I feel like I just ran a marathon in my brain. Maybe I shouldn't have just written this all out, it's making me even MORE STRESSED! Whew, take deep breaths, take deep breaths, it will all work out...

Anyone need a stiff drink??

Review of 16 months

I won't attempt a full recap of the last 16 months - if I did this resurrection would never happen! But I will give a brief overview.

I left off in Nov. 2009 (!!). January 2010 felt like a big month. We went to Malaysia for a week and had a nice time. When we came back C seemed to go through a major developmental spurt. Within 2 weeks he began swimming like a fish, riding his bike with no training wheels, and reading. It was really incredible, and very exciting! Then my mom and her good friend A (my adopted aunt) came to visit. We had a fabulous time exploring Jakarta and then the 3 of us went for a whole week to Bali and Gili Trawangan. A whole week! Yes, I left my hubby and kids in Jakarta while I went traveling with my mom and great friend and it was marvelous!

In March my dad came for his first visit to Jakarta - yeah! Again, we had a great time. We went to the national mosque in Jakarta for Friday afternoon prayers which was really interesting. The whole family went to Bali and J, my dad and I played golf at Nirwana golf course - gorgeous!

In May we potty trained LC and it went very well. It went well until June when we went back to the US for the summer. And then we had some steps backward, forwards, sideways, and it basically took months of hell until just last month (yes, 10 months folks, I'm not happy) when I feel I can now confidently say he is potty trained. I won't go into the stinky details, I will spare you, but there really were a few horrible months when we thought he might have a medical condition that could last for years (sometimes the internet is a bad place to spend time). Anyway though, we did have a fantastic time in the US - spent a few days in Baltimore and then 1 week at a beautiful cabin in W. VA with Jon's family and our DC friends, and then 3 weeks in WI.

In August LC started back at preschool with the 3 year old class and C started first grade. It was a harder transition for C than I thought it would be. I thought kindergarten would be the toughest transition, but 1st grade is evidently more serious, because C would come home regularly and complain that school is so booorrriiinngg! It took about 4 months before he stopped saying that. In September we took an adventurous trip to Flores island and Komodo national park. We hiked Rinca and Komodo islands to see the only home of Komodo dragons in the wild, sailed around some of the most gorgeous scenery I've ever seen, and did some of the best snorkeling I'd ever done (and C's first time!).

C and I took a quick trip to Singapore in November to visit friends and go to Universal Studios. It was really fun to go on a trip just the 2 of us! And then for Christmas we went to Melbourne! It was the first time I'd been back since living there as an exchange student when I was 16. It was incredible and I'm very happy we did it! We stayed with my host family and I became reacquainted with my neighborhood there and saw a friend from my high school. We then went to Hamilton Island, Queensland (lovely!) and I snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef (a life long dream!). We ended our trip in Sydney and then flew back to Jakarta in 2011. In February we went to Manado, N. Sulawesi with 5 other families and had a wonderful time catching up with friends and seeing about 100 wild dolphins (amazing!!).

When we got back I started doing a short term work assignment which has been very interesting and has kept my mind off of the move, which is a good thing at the moment. I'm also happy to fill up my CV a bit with more maternal and child health work. I am busy planning our final trips before we leave this part of the world (Phuket, Kalimantan, Gili T. again), and preparing myself for a lot of moving tasks in the near future.

The boys are good. They are full-of-it boys in the most delightful and wonderful and of course sometimes most monstrous of ways. C is very smart and is the sweetest kid when he's not being totally silly. C seems to take after his father and is excelling in math, and is also doing well with reading. I love listening to him read. My son reads!! I just think that's the coolest thing ever. He did soccer and t-ball this school year and enjoyed them both, although we think t-ball may be more his pace. He is now doing tae kwon do and I finally got to watch him the other day and he's quite good - hopefully he'll stick with it. He loves to spend hours outside playing with all the children in our complex, riding his bike, playing soccer, chasing girls (already!), and playing with whatever toys are the flavor of the day. He is still a good drawer and I think he has my mom's talent, but right now he's too busy being 6 to spend much time drawing. His music teacher tells us he has good rhythm so hopefully he'll take up an instrument (I'm hoping for the guitar) in the near future. He keeps trying to convince me that he's going to be a motorcycle racer when he grows up, but I usually ignore him because that must be a mother's worst nightmare of a profession. Hopefully this will not stick! 

And LC, well, he's 3. And he's good at it. He plays hard and he sleeps hard. I've always said he is a very full-on kid - when he does something or acts a certain way, he does it to full capacity. As my father says, he is a joy to be with. He is a very happy kid who loves to smile and laugh and play, he is social and smart and rascally. And when he's awful, he does that full-on too. He is very stubborn and very independent. We lost him twice when we were in Australia (fortunately for only a few minutes, but it's scary to lose a 3 year old when you're near water!), and several other times he just plain walked in the totally opposite direction from all of us because that's the way he wanted to go. He likes to write letters and has started drawing a lot. He likes to play soccer and do tae kwon do like his big brother - he pretty much likes anything that C likes. He has lots of girlfriends in the complex, both younger and older. I have little doubt that both my boys will do well with the ladies. :)

So that has been our life for the last 16 months in a very small nutshell. It's been a very fun and eventful 16 months, and I'm sorry I haven't been sharing! 

Resurrection

Ha, seriously?!

I don't even know what to say, where to begin. I mean, it's been 16 months - why? what? how?! I never actually meant to stop writing, it just happened. One day turned into one week which turned into one month which evidently turned into one year and then some. And leaving it like I did, well it has just never sat well with me and so here I am. I think I just became bored of sitting in front of the computer so much, and so by the time I got back to writing all I wrote about were the trips I had recently gone on. And this is ok, but this blog wasn't meant to be a travelog exclusively. It is meant to be more than that. And so between not wanting to sit in front of the computer, not wanting to write a travelog, not wanting to feel like it was boring, I just stopped. Cold turkey stopped.

But now I'm back. At least I think I'm back, I'm intending to be back! I guess we'll see how it goes, but I have thought a lot about it. I considered starting it back up at the one year mark of when I stopped, but that didn't happen. Obviously. But I've continued to think about it a lot, and feel that it might just be the right time. I've had a lot on my mind, and so for selfish reasons I feel I need an outlet for all the thoughts, emotions, plans, and stress stirring around inside me.

You see, we're on our way out. Our wonderful, fabulous life in Indonesia is coming to a close, and since I began this journey with you all I feel I should end it with you all as well. Plus, with all that's entailed with a move of this magnitude, my brain is all jumbled up and maybe this will ease some of the craziness.

In a little over 3 months from now we will move back to the US, to Chapel Hill, NC, where we lived from 2001-2003 while I studied for my MPH. We thought we'd relocate to another overseas post or we'd move back to Washington, DC, so this comes as a bit of a surprise to us. We were disappointed that we are going back home to the US instead of to Africa where we hoped to go, and then disappointed we wouldn't go home home to DC. However, we always knew CH was a possibility since J's company is headquartered in the Triangle. Now that we've wrapped our heads around it we're excited, very excited, so excited that we're very antsy to leave Jakarta. And by the time I post this we will have told our friends in CH and I know this will make us even more excited.

We only have 3 months left. 3 MONTHS! Yikes. We have A LOT to do in that time - moving a family overseas is not an easy thing to put together, even when moving back to your home country. Matter of fact, in some ways it's even harder, and I'll write a post on that another time.

So for the next few months I'll be writing a lot about the move and what I'm feeling as we prepare to leave Indonesia and repatriate to the US. And once I'm back, a friend suggested that I keep it going because really, how interesting and funny will it be to go from my spoiled expat life here in a developing country to my full-time stay at home mom life in the "developed" US. Funny in a pathetic way that is. So that's the intention. Again, we'll see how I go...

So, again, sorry about the long and unexpected hiatus, but hopefully you're willing to start checking in with me again from time to time...

The Liquid of the Gods

This year I finally got around to joining the Indonesia Heritage Society, something I've been meaning to do since before we even moved here. They do a range of activities, including consulting with and giving tours of the National Museum, sponsoring a variety of lectures and study groups on some aspect of Indonesia, and organizing Explorer groups which explore places in and around Jakarta. I joined one of the Explorer groups, and now every other week a couple of the members organize a tour for the group to visit and experience something new about Indonesia.

Two weeks ago we went to the home of an Indian woman who has lived in Jakarta for 20 years. She owns a very good Indian restaurant nearby and loves to cook. She taught the group about different spices used in Indonesia and taught us 3 different Indonesian recipes (see a future post for more details).

Yesterday our tour was at the Equil Mineral Water bottleing plant. The factory is located at the base of Mt. Salak, about 1.5 hour drive from Jakarta. The drive there was typical of life on Java - constant traffic and end to end towns. But once we arrived at our destination we found peace, quiet and beauty - not something you'd typically find at a factory! The surrounding grounds of the bottling center were really lush and serene, in keeping with the equilibrium of their product. The factory was actually quite small. Most of the space was filled with cartons of water, while the space for bottling took up just 1/5 of the warehouse. It was immacutely clean and spacious, and the workers all wore gloves, masks and hairnets. The bottles and caps are sterilized and the room in which the water is bottled was a grade 3 clean room (or something like that) - meaning they had 2 separate disinfecting rooms leading to the bottling room, similar to a surgery room.

The main reception hall is of European design made of marble and filled with art. In front of the hall is a beautiful Koi fish pond filled with mineral water from the source (probably some of the most expensive and healthiest fish anywhere!). After the factory tour they gave us a presentation on mineral water and how Equil compares to other brands. I had not known beforehand that the term "mineral water" is a very select and protected description for water. In order for a brand to describe their water as "mineral water", they have to meet 4 criteria as set out by Codex, a joint standard as adopted by EU countries, WHO and FAO. The criteria for natural mineral water (as distinguished from any other drinking water) is that:
1) It comes from a natural spring source or a bored hole
2) It fulfills the Codex's criteria from the physical, chemical and microbiological points of view
3) It does not undergo any treatment except carbonation
4) It is bottled at the source

The water used in Equil mineral water is from an aquifer 80 meters underground that is fed from rain coming through Mt. Salak. The water is 150 years old and is not pumped to the surface, but comes up naturally. They don't treat the water in any way (except for carbonation for their sparkling water) and it is bottled at the source, so it meets the Codex criteria. During the presentation we also learned about the different mineral contents of popular mineral water brands. For example, Perrier used to be (I don't know how they corrected this if it's not allowed to be treated) very high in nitrates, which can cause cancer or Blue Baby Syndrome in babies and small children. Many of the mineral water brands are bottled in Europe. But when thinking about how heavily farmed Europe is and the wars that have been fought on that land (resulting in higher nitrate content and other pollutants), I wonder if drinking European mineral water would be so safe considering that it hasn't been treated. Equil marketers are finding it difficult to open up international markets for their brand because it is from Indonesia, which is considered in the world to be "dirtier". But really, perhaps Indonesian mineral water would actually be safer than any other brand!

I also don't think often about the taste of water, unless it's very noticeable. We do not drink tap water here as it's not safe enough, instead we buy the Aqua brand bottled water (owned by Danone). During the presentation they had us do a taste test between Equil and Aqua. I was very surprised at what a huge difference there was! Equil had a far smoother and slightly sweet taste to it, whereas Aqua had a less pleasing taste and even had a bit of an after taste. Now we're not going to change brands as it would just be too expensive to use only Equil water; however, I did end up buying 6 cartons of their sparkling water (I have had it before several times in restaurants so I already knew I liked it).

Another interesting thing about this company is the mystic beliefs of the owner. He used a shaman to help him find the water source and consulted a Feng Shui expert in designing the facilities. The water source is located next to the main building and has been decorated with a satue and stepping stones over the bubbling brook, as well as a Hindu type open air enclosure. The tour guide explained that many people have felt something especially "spiritual" or different when walking through the Hindu enclosure, or when drinking straight from the source. I have to say it did feel different to me - the air felt heavier and my heart sped up a little. So maybe there is a spirit protecting the water!

It was thoroughly enjoyable tour and I was impressed with the company and the facilities, and best of all their water tastes great! The owner plans to build villas nearby for natural living and an escape from our current hectic life styles - maybe we'll be here long enough to enjoy it.

Around the world with a conversation

I took some time the other day to scan my favorite blogs and explore new ones and I found a whole list of blogs written by expats living in Indonesia. Many of them wrote about the bombing that occured here in Jakarta in July, and when writing about it all of them expressed their deep sadness for the expats and Indonesians who were harmed in the tragic event, and their own bafflement at this horrendous act and their deep love of this country.

Their writings and conversations made me think back to the conversations I've had over the years with fellow Americans and people from many different countries and the profound sharing of our lives and our cultures that is involved. In particular I thought about my experience as a Peace Corps volunteer (PCV) in Mali, W. Africa from 1996-98 . This was a seminal experience of my life, an adventure that introduced me to my beloved husband, career and Africa. Every PCV embarks on their journey with a specific Peace Corps assigned job - for example I was tasked to be a "natural resources management extension agent" (yes, quite a mouthful!). Many PCVs also take on secondary projects because either they are interested in them or they are asked by their community to help in that way. My secondary project was to work with the village midwife, which is how I became interested in my current career of public health. The work PCVs do is the first of three goals of Peace Corps, which is to "help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women."

I've always considered this goal to be very important of course; however, it is really the second and third goals of Peace Corps which I believe to be the most significant. These two goals (to educate foreigners about America and to educate Americans about foreigners/foreign countries) address the idea of cross-cultural awareness and the sharing of experiences and values and beliefs among people from different countries. I believe most returned PCVs have found the most meaning and the most enduring benefit of Peace Corps to be this sharing and education that they have both received and given. As a matter of fact, many exchange programs, such as AFS, were established in order to heal the wounds of war and to prevent future wars from starting. After all, when you know and love a person from a foreign country, war and strife in their country becomes profoundly personal. If more Americans had know more Iraqis, would we have let Bush invade their country? Maybe not. If more Americans knew more Sudanese and Somalis, would we continue to do virtually nothing? Again, maybe not.

Sometimes I've been surprised by the effects that these cross-cultural exchanges can have, or how long they can last. I have relationships with foreigners that have lasted decades and I suspect will last forever. We share a love for global travel and new experiences, and have shared special moments in eachothers' lives which will never be lost. And it is amazing the effect a person can have on another's ideas about a whole country, either for good or for bad. And coming home from my adventures has been an educational experience as well. It has given me an opportunity to see my home country with new eyes, to enable me to be more open-minded about its flaws and to appreciate its beauties. I also learned more about my own family from these absences, and how their deep interest and insightful questions made me realize how much they care for me and how interested in the world they truly are.

Traveling the world is an amazing opportunity that I cherish on a regular basis. It reminds me just how harsh and how lovely people can be, and how different we are but moreso how similar we are no matter where we are from. It provides the most amazing opportunities, and I believe the best education a person can gain is through global travel. I feel blessed that my sons are experiencing life in a different country, and pray that they these benefits will last a life time.

Sa wat dii kha, Thailand!

In September we went for a palace gazing, suntanning, eating infused week in Thailand. And it was lovely.

Last year we celebrated (albeit in a totally non-Muslim way) the end of Ramadan by staying in Jakarta, which was actually quite relaxing. There was no one here, the streets were empty, so the pollution magically departed with all the cars and people and we were left with sunny skies and quiet - quite a change for Jakarta! However, it was also a little depressing because all of our friends were off enjoying some wild adventure while we stayed here. So this year I really wanted to get out of dodge, and since Thailand has been at the top of our list for years that is where we headed.

We spent the first 4 nights of our trip in Bangkok. I was there in 2008 for a work conference, but I only saw a little bit of the city. The first thing you notice about Thailand is that you've arrived in a whole different class of place compared to much of Asia, certainly compared to Indonesia! The airport is modern and sparkly and huge, as if to puff out its chest with the knowledge that it is a regional hub. Continuing with its modernity is a fast, well built highway into town. Maybe because we're not used to reaching such high speeds here in Jakarta, or maybe because our taxi driver really was a bit of a maniac, but both J and I were holding on tight to our seats the whole way into town. So...maybe it's a good thing that we can't go so fast in Jakarta.

I had received a recommendation from a friend to stay at the President Park Suites while in Bangkok, as it was inexpensive and spacious. We had a huge 2 bedroom apartment for about $100/night, which included breakfast and a tuk-tuk shuttle to the nearest sky train station. It was very nicely appointed and evidently quite a find (2 other guests asked us how we found out about it).

The morning after we arrived we set off to see the Grand Palace. Much to the pleasure of the boys, we decided to take several different modes of transportation to get there: tuk-tuk, skytrain (a notable difference being the seats nearest the doors have a sign posted requesting those seats be reserved for monks), and finally river boat taxi. The boat taxi took us down the dirty Mae Nam Chao Phraya river, past some small houses and hotels and a few impressive temples, to where we exited for the palace. Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and the Grand Palace house a series of strikingly beautiful buildings, murals, statues, and grounds that are, well, fit for a king. The decoration on the outside of these buildings is incredibly intricate and spectacular, it is inspiring to imagine the amount of time it took to adorn these structures. We spent the whole morning wandering through the palace grounds until we knew the children were about to disown us. So off we went to lunch (I had a surprisingly good Thai meal at a nondescript restaurant by the pier) and then a taxi ride back to the hotel for LC's nap.

That evening we fed the boys and put them to bed and then left them with a babysitter (J, being the worry wort that he is, almost convinced himself that our sweet petite Thai babysitter was going to steal them while we were gone). J has a friend in Bangkok so we went out on the town with him. Our first stop was dinner at Cabbages & Condoms, a somewhat famous landmark in Bangkok. The restaurant was conceptualized to both promote family planning and to generate income to support various development activities in Thailand. All the flowers in the restaurant were made out of condoms, as well as a few "condom superhero" statues. The food was good and it was a fun experience, and all for a good cause! After dinner we headed to Patpong, Bangkok's famous red light district. We went to watch one of the famous Ping Pong shows. If you don't know what I'm referring to I'd rather not explain it on this mostly family-friendly site. I will just say that it was certainly an "interesting" show, J was very disappointed but we're glad we did it, and I doubt we'll ever do it again.

On our final day in Bangkok we hired a tour guide through Chang Thai Travel to take us to Damnoen Saduak, a floating market about 100 km from Bangkok. We aren't typically people who hire tour guides, as we enjoy just wandering at our own pace and know we'll remember very little from a tour anyway. However, on this trip we didn't want to hassle with transportation difficulties and didn't want to have to deal with figuring out what we're supposed to do. It was a bit pricey, but we're glad we organized the tour. A comfortable air conditioned bus picked us up from the hotel and a very nice lady who spoke pretty good English (both J and I were surprised that the Thais don't speak better English since it's such a popular tourist destination point and is a regional hub) provided us with good information about the sites we passed and where we went. On our way to the floating market we made a stop at a sugar cane plantation. They demonstrated how the sugar cane is produced, and let us taste this wonderful caramelized candy they make from the sugar cane. And of course we made the mandatory stop at a craft shop, which was full of tourists and random trinkets from Thailand.

Finally we arrived at a small "port" beside a canal, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. We quickly boarded a long boat for a ride through the canals, passing rice fields and river houses along the way. It was very interesting to have a glimpse of life on the water...the front doors of all the houses faced the canal and all had some sort of pier for people to dock their boats. There were several general stores along the canal that also faced the canal, as arriving by boat is the main way to approach the shops. The we arrived into "town" - the main market area that is built along the canals. While you can access the shops from land, the main way is definitely by boat. There are shops built on land, but there are also women selling produce and snacks in boats tied up to the piers. There was abundant color and activity and it was a lot of fun!

The following day we returned to the airport to take our Bangkok Air flight to Ko Samui island, which is on the Eastern side of the Thai peninsula. We also considered going to Phuket or Krabi on the Western side, but because we went during the rainy season we heard the Eastern side is drier. I think we made a good decision as it only rained twice while we were in Thailand and both times was at night. The flight down to Ko Samui was an easy 1 hour, and Bangkok Air was great for a budget airline (they fed us and gave the boys nice toys!). We had learned beforehand (I love Trip Advisor!) that taxis on the island were expensive so we were prepared. We were able to bargain only a little though, so our 10 minute drive to our hotel was still far overpriced.

Ko Samui is a fairly big island so there are many different places on the beach to choose from. I spent quite a bit of time on Trip Advisor and Lonely Planet trying to decide which beach would be best for our family. I finally decided on Choeng Mon beach, which turned out to be a perfect decision! I can't imagine a better beach for a family with young children. It was very quiet (maybe even quieter than usual since it was low season) with very few hawkers. The sand was soft and very clean, and the water was clear and very shallow and calm. It was beautiful and peaceful and perfect! The boys had such a great time playing in the sand and the shallow water, and we had such a nice relaxing time watching them and reading! There were only a few hotels on the beach (none of them big high rises), as well as a few beach front restaurants. We ate fresh seafood on the beach a couple times, and enjoyed the quietly lapping waves. I also had a couple massages on the beach which were wonderful.

The hotel we stayed in was very interesting. It's called the Imperial Boat House and all the suites are located in these old rice barges that have been converted to hotel rooms. There was a porch and living room upstairs, and a bathroom, sitting room and bedroom downstairs. It was a bit old and the bathroom could use remodeling, but there was plenty of space for us and it was "fun"! There are also 2 nice swimming pools for when we wanted an alternative to the beach.

One day we rented a car to drive around the island. We drove the whole circumference so we were able to really see that we picked the perfect place to stay. We drove through Chaweng town/beach, which is the major beach on the island. We didn't see the beach, but the town was pretty awful - totally overbuilt and crowded and probably very noisy during peak seasons. We drove to the southern part of the island to a hilly area where they had elephant trekking. J and C got up on one elephant and LC and I on another, and then we walked through the forest for about 1/2 hour. This was my first time ever riding an elephant so I thought it was pretty neat! As is often the case for C and LC though, they're too young to know that this is actually a very special experience! Their view of normal is going to be so warped after living in Asia for so many years! After our elephant trek we tried to find a waterfall, but after hiking up with the boys for 20 minutes, with no idea how much longer it would be, we decided to turn back. En route back to the hotel we found a British pub to have lunch. It was a cute place facing the water, but unfortunately their burgers were disappointing.

That night we headed to Hat Bo Phut for dinner. It used to be a fishing village that has been transformed into a trendy little area filled with boutiques and restaurants. It was very cute with many great options for dinner. We decided on a sweet little Italian place facing the water, and although we had a good time J and I wished we had had some couples time. It would have been a fun area to go out in and have some time together. But oh well!

All in all it was a great trip and I'd love to return to Thailand again some day. I'd like to see Krabi (which is supposed to be breathtakingly gorgeous) and go up to Chiang Mai in the north to have more of a Thai cultural experience and to visit some of the hill villages. Visiting Bangkok and Ko Samui was a great vacation with the kids though!