range and just told me to go and pick! So today, I went to this very soothing spa and got foot reflexology, hand reflexology, and a neck, shoulder, and back massage. It was pure bliss. Since I was well under his price I did what any pregnant woman would do - after the massage I stopped in at Haagen-Dazs and had a scoop of Banoffee ice cream! My hubby sure knows how to pamper his wife - what a great husband!
Headed to Laos, home of Khan Souphanousinphone! 
Snake and Scorpion Whiskey in Laos
Million Dollar Buddha
Province of northern Thailand
Hill Tribe Village
Long Neck Girls. The guide told husband that historically they wore the rings to protect their necks from tigers.
View of Long Neck Village from Hill Tribe Village
So we're about halfway through our stay here in Thailand. It's been quite eventful so far, but will be slowing down a lot starting next week when husband's schooling starts. I'm pretty sure my remaining days here will be filled with scrapbooking, swimming, and Starbucks. After our 10 days of meetings, we went on a really cool weekend getaway with some of our friends from Capital - another young couple and a family. We stayed in a boathouse on a lake that we never learned the name of. After the entrance fee incident, we loaded our bags on a
long tail boat and sailed the waters to our humble abode. Soon we understood why they told us the boat ride to the house was about $5 a person, but a car ride there would be free. I'm sure that's quite the running joke at the national park. 
scenery, a lake to swim in, high dives to jump off of, inner-tubes to float around in, a little rickety rowboat, 3 tasty meals cooked for us, and so on. All we were missing was my dad and his boat, pulling us on skis, kneeboards, and tubes all day. It was a lot of fun, and we would definitely do it again. Although this time we'd bring a battery operated fan with us.
friend Jaya*, and my hope is that every time you come to this page and see the same post, you will be reminded to lift up Jaya.
much that her husband refuses to watch any of his movies now! Jaya loves to serve us food, snacks, ice cream, or lemonade any time we come over, and will even bring food to us when she makes more than her family can eat. They also have the fattest yellow lab I think I've ever seen, and she tells me he has a crush on me, because every time I go over there, he freaks out. They can't even bribe him away from me with food, and have taken to locking him up in a room when I am over because otherwise he jumps on me, and like I said, he is too fat for that. Jaya tells me all about their culture and says that I am even more South Asian than some of the real South Asians. She tells me I am too formal with her though, and I've had to convince her that should treat me the way she would treat a South Asian - not call before coming over, etc. It's so hard for me to not call before showing up at someone's house that I still call her, and I guess she's decided to follow my lead.
Contestant #1 telling a story about a king getting eaten by worms. She pointed out this was a story the audience could relate to.
Fans holding up signs for those going home
I love our team here. They are so creative. I mean, they even made signs, like "Mom the Bomb" or "Lindsey Frenzy." How cool are these people??
10. Ste. Chappelle Cathedral - the best new thing I saw this trip. There are over 1100 stories from the Book depicted in the huge stained-glass windows, and we just sat and stared and tried to pick out stories we recognized. 
9. The Eiffel Tower - the most visited place this trip. I went twice, husband went four times! It was just as beautiful as I remembered. Husband and I had one night to ourselves before my family arrived, and he chose the Eiffel Tower as the place to go. We sat there at sunset and watched the twinkling lights come on, then as it grew dark, the full lights came on, making it look golden. We vowed the next time to bring a blanket, some bread and cheese, but of course forgot. Something to go back for, right? 
8. Alex and Maribel - best guides in Venice. They owned the B&B where we stayed, and helped us "conquer Venezia" in only 60 hours. Alex had the best Italian accent ever, spoke wildly with his hands, tried to convince me that I could drink wine while pregnant, and everything he recommended was perfect. He sat husband down every morning after breakfast and would go over our itinerary for the day. He pointed us to the places the Venetians ate, and used the best expressions. One place, for instance, had the best fried calamari. "The owner he fries everything even his mustache." 
Alex, we shouldn't do St. Mark's Square during the day, so we checked it out first at night. We had already eaten dinner (at the aforementioned mustache man's place) so we just strolled around the square, enjoying the atmosphere. Live string quartets played at several outside restaurants, and we could stand and listen to them. Many people around us would break out in dancing, and then when the song was over, we'd walk around and listen to the next quartet. Husband wanted to find where Indiana Jones came out of a manhole, but unfortunately, we couldn't see it.
talk with them, and explore Paris with them. And I think they even went away liking Paris, so I was happy. We didn't eat nearly enough pastries, nor did we make it to all the sights, finish Khabhi Khushi Khabhie Gham (oh yes I most certainly did), or play any games, but we enjoyed just being together again. The twins gave us lots of entertainment, especially with how excited they got for the choo-choo train (the subway and also the train that drove around Montmartre) and how they would say, "Bonjour!" when prompted. They were very good travelers, especially when Mimi or their strollers were in sight. 
5. The Lido - best island in Venice. We stayed off the main area of Venice on the island of Lido, where they actually had cars instead of boats, and streets instead of canals. But somehow, they still managed to have that great Venice feel, with sidewalk cafes, and smaller canals, and colorful buildings. Husband remarked that towns in the US are paying big money to achieve what the Lido had. 
4. The Louvre - best comeback. I am not an art museum person at all. So I only went to the Louvre because husband and my family wanted to go. I wasn't expecting much, so I was very surprised to enjoy the museum more this time around, especially seeing the architecture. And also the Royal Apartments were beautiful, too. This was husband's favorite thing he did in Paris. You can't take pics inside the Louvre (much, anyway) so here is an outside shot of the former largest palace in the world, now most famous museum. 
3. Bike Riding - best way to see a city or an island. Husband, my dad and brother went on a bike tour of Paris one day. They said it was a lot of fun, and husband got a peek at sights that he went back and saw further, like Musee d'Orsay or the Rodin House. In Venice, our B&B had free bikes, so one morning/afternoon we cruised around the Lido, checking out the Mediterranean Sea. We found my favorite place that we ate at (those Italians really know how to do lasagna! :) and we took a break on the beach and walked in the Mediterranean. 
2. Relaxing in Venice - best place to go after the action of Paris. There's not a lot to do in Venice except stare at the surrounding beauty, eat gelato, and relax. And so that's what we did. Since the first trimester has been demanding sleep of me, one afternoon we just went to San Elena island, spread out a blanket, and took a nap in the park. We weren't alone; there were many locals napping around us as well. We spent most of our time just wandering the streets and alleys, and unwinding after a fun-packed week in Paris. 
1. Being in the West - best moments for reverse culture shock. Husband and I could hold hands in public. We also did the unthinkable - we drank from the faucet and ate fruits and veggies without poisoning them first. Let me tell you how wrong that felt. Speaking of fruits and veggies, have tomatoes, oranges, and bananas always been that big? Oh, the yogurt selection! And the cheese and meat! And pre-made foods and sauces, along with cartoned milk, lots of cereal, Haagen-Dazs ice cream, kolaches, and breads galore! Cars didn't honk, there were lines with no cutting allowed, and we blended in. We really didn't know what to think of all of it.
put on by the Times newspaper, called the Times Global Village. It's only in town for a few weeks, and it's really worth checking out! It had different tents from different countries, and inside these tents were shops selling things that really are from those places! Inside the Africa tent (well...Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, and Zimbabwe tent), there was shop after shop selling the exact items we saw and bought in Tanzania, like the little wooden carved giraffes and Masai warriors, tinga-tinga paintings, and batiks. (Made me miss you, Al!) The UK got its own tent, but the US did not. We did get a special mention at the International Tent, with a pic of Mt. Rushmore (??) for added emphasis. 
We tried out food from the different regions of the country, and were pretty stuffed before we turned the corner and saw all the international places - Czech Republic, Turkey, Africa, UAE,
Thailand, China...there was so much to see that we ran out of time. We realized we had wasted our time in the South Asia section! It was a lot of fun, and really cool to see everything. They also had performers from different countries, although it seemed like most of them were from this country...or maybe not, I couldn't really tell. By the way, it's so dusty now that you can't take flash pics without dust particles showing up. 
or so ago, we went with some friends to check out a few sites in the Capital. The first stop was a crematorium. I know, I know, not your typical #1 Hit on the sight-seeing route. But it's a great place to see some of the culture, because a large percentage of South Asians believe in cremation and dyi
ng auspiciously. This means many things, but one thing it can mean is setting the body off into the holy river, or in the case of the Capital, a branch of the river. And this particular crematorium is on that river, so you can see a lot of what they try to do to pass their relatives on successfully into their next life. We got there pretty early, before any of the ceremonies were taking place. So while we were taking pictures, a man on a small wooden boat on the bank of the river called to us and with a
swoop of his arm motioned for us to come for a ride. We weren't sure where we were going, but we knew we may not have this opportunity again, so we very carefully stepped around all the trash on the bank of the river, and who knows what else, and got into the boat. He rowed us over to the other side of the river, where there was a small temple. We got out and took some more pics, and found it really funny that on this somewhat island of a temple, there was a dog. How did he get there? Even though the river was pretty dirty, it was fun to ride around in an old wooden boat, and was really nice! 
In our spare bedroom, we have a glass-less window. It was designed for a window AC unit, but since we only have one AC, it goes in our bedroom not the spare, and we have no window. The mosquitoes are awful, and they just swarm in the spare bedroom. Malaria and dengue fever are risks here, so we have to be real careful about the mosquitoes, and it can get a little frustrating that they just never go away! Well we had some friends tell us about this really cool product they have here...mosquito rackets! We bought two today and have already had way too much fun with them. They are little tennis rackets with wires that electrocute the mosquitoes! You can actually see them disintegrate in a quick blaze. They say on the there, "This is not a toy," but I don't really agree with that! They are fun, and stress relievers too. I have a feeling that a lot of bad days out will end with some fun mosquito zapping when I get home. Why aren't these in the states? Is this a bit like the Bag o'Glass on that old SNL skit of dangerous toys? Or have we failed to realize the potential for entertainment in mosquito swatting?
This morning, we went to the sunrise service at 5:45am. It was held at some really nice gardens here in the Capital. The gardens are home to several very very old tombs (from the 15th-16th centuries!) and were the perfect setting for a sunrise service on this special day. As the leader pointed out to us, we were surrounded by all these tombs, but we know that the tomb of our boss is empty!
Many Capital-dwellers come to this garden for their physical and spiritual exercises. As we walked to join our group, we saw many people doing Yoga. (to get a glimpse of the true meaning of Yoga, read this) But many others were doing their cardio or toning exercises, which to a Westerner, can look pretty funny. (check out the nicely dressed guy doing his stretches on the bench!) We in the West are cool,
with our jogging and cross-trainer machines, or our serious weightlifting. During the service, while the speaker was talking, husband whispered to me that I should look behind the speaker. I peeked around him and saw a man doing jumping jacks! Right behind the speaker! It was pretty funny, especially considering the moment. But it's sad too that this is just another day to most of them.
spoke English. He didn't have to look any further than husband. And SE had been asking her mother to take ballet lessons, and instead of having to miss out on an aspect of life that seems so normal to Americans, and so inaccessible to us living overseas, SE was able to take rudimentary ballet lessons from me. Of course all that blessing talk was about myself, because I never thought how lucky I'd be to get to do something so cool. It was so much fun for me, and to be able to teach something that I love, it's a great opportunity. So like I said, the boss will provide ways to encourage us.
SE began the lessons back in January, and on March 22, we had a recital. Yes, that's only 2 months to not only learn ballet steps but string a dance together. And SE, the prodigy, did it beautifully and professionally. We moved all the furniture out of our Yellow Room and about 15 people came to our place to watch her dance not one, but two dances. I was so proud of her! (these are all pics from the recital. As you would guess, ballet shoes and tutus aren't what you'd call readily available here, so we made do)
