My First Day

Bangkok is a mix between old culture and VERY modern things. On my first day, Khun Da insisted that he take us to the Department Store, a Chinese or Thai temple, or the market. Nathan and I chose the market.

First, we went to Central Bangna to eat. My favorite food is sticky rice with pork. Take a look!

After that we went to the market. We looked at the goods and then got on a long tail boat. I loved it!!!

We entered this kind of ally way and we saw the old part of bangkok.

We also saw an old school:

We even got to see a floating market! Its basically a market in a boat.

Thanks for reading see you soon!

Thailand at last!

I finally made it to Thailand after the longest most horrid plane  ride ever!

So, you know that feeling  you get on the Zippin' Pippin' roller coaster at Green Bay, when you lose your stomach for a second? Imagine that 10,000,000,000 times stronger, and you don't get your stomach back. Plus it's more frequent-
now you know how I felt! I also had a headache most of the ride because of the terrible smell. I hope that feeling will go away when I get older.

The food is even worse than school food-if you can believe that. The bread and dessert is good, but that's pretty much it. Trust me: you don't want to know what it even looked like.

THE MERS VIRUS IS SPREADING!!!

We had a transfer in Korea and found out they are checking for the virus there too! I'd like our old transfer in Hong Kong back please!


Pics of the Asiana Airline lounge:

Waiting for our final flight, thinking about you:

The airport has roads!

My First Last Week of School!

I'm super excited about this up-coming week of school. Why, you ask? Because it's the last week of school! In fact, it's my first year I get to stay the whole school year, and not have to go to Thailand for vacation! Not only that, but I'll also be in a horse showsoon! I hope you'll wish me good luck;-) 

-Sarah

(dot dot dot)

Finally, Iceland!

We arrived in Reykjavik this morning at 6am.  All our chargers are gone from the luggage, so we can't use many electronics because we have to save up the batteries.  Right now, we are eating at Gamla Old Island.  It is very cozy and has the best hot chocolate ever!!!   The picture above is with the owner. She is very nice.

I will write more later once we get to London and bought new chargers.

Almost Leaving for 2014 Trip

Hi all,

Soon we will be leaving to Minneapolis Airport to go to Reykjavik, Iceland!!!  After Iceland, we'll be going to London, and then Paris, France!!!  Before we leave for Thailand, we are going to go to Stockholm, Sweden.  It will be the biggest trip of my life.  Stay tuned for my adventures in Europe!

I'll miss you all.  Hope you can share this trip with me. : )

Sarah

Welcome to Chiang Mai (missing days)!

I went to Chiang Mai two days after daddy got here.  I am telling you about it now because I was so tired and busy after I got back.

Wednesday Jan. 13th

I went to Chiang Mai on a plane today. Chiang Mai is still in Thailand even though we are taking a plane to get there. We got to eat at a restaurant today that had a lot of flowers and steep hills. Me and Nathan went down the steep hills holding Daddy's hand. We pretented to be falling down the hill. That was a lot of fun.




Thursday Jan. 14th
 
Na Yoke took us to the zoo today. I saw a real live panda. I also saw an osterich, giraffe, penguin, and got to play on a playground. The playground was a lot of fun. I got to go on a squeeky bridge, and then use a "cable car" to get to the other side of the playground. Daddy had to pull a rope to take us across. That was awesome.

I learned a sad story about why the panda has black arms and legs. It was about a little girl who died and the pandas were so sad that they put ashes on their arms and legs. Daddy said it was just a story, but I still felt sad.




Friday Jan. 15th

Today we went to the Maesa Elephant camp (http://www.maesaelephantcamp.com/). We saw a lot of elephants. They played soccer and they kicked the ball onto the roof. They did some tricks and painted pictures. One elephant painted a picture of a tree. Then we went on an elephant ride. It felt like riding a horse but there was a lot of wobbling. Daddy and Mommy fed some of the elephants but I was too scared because there were so big. A few of the big ones had horns (tusks).

In the afternoon we got to see the ruins of an 800 year old city. Daddy liked that. Khun Da (grandpa), Khun Yai (grandma), and Na Yim all arrived tonight. Tomorrow we get to go altogether.




Saturday Jan. 16th
 
It went to Doi Inthanon National Park to see the highest point in Thailand. It was very high, but I didn't find a place to fall ( a good thing too -- mommy). The hot choc was very good, but I didn't choose the cold choc. It was cold there, but it wasn't that cold to snow. I didn't wear a jacket. I just wear a sweater.
 
We also went to see a place (two pagodas) with lots of buddha statues. If you look or went camping around that place where you are right now, you might find buddhas too. There were a lot of stairs to climb. One pagoda has 114 stairs, and the other has 116 stairs. Sometimes you use fire (lit up incense) to give to the Buddha and sometimes you use flowers ( actually you use both, but Sarah is still young, so I didn't want her to use lit up incense -- mommy).
 
And I went to a water fall, a REAL LIFE waterfall.  It was so big, and some people went up very high to go near it. But I couldn't go because it was slippery.  




Sunday January 17th
 
Today, we went on a very long car ride to Chiang Rai ( another city in Thailand, next to the Myanmar border ).  We went to see hot water (geyser) that is shooting out from the ground. It was so hot; it could boil eggs in one minute.  I knew it was hot water, and I was very very scared.  I didn't want to go but I had to take pictures, so daddy protected me. I was so small so I sit in front of daddy so I won't get wet. We didn't stay for long.
 
After that I went to a temple that is all white (Wat Rong Khun), but I LOVE it.  You have to cross the bridge that people threw coins in to get to the white temple. I threw coins while crossing the bridge, and I want to do it again, but I lost the coins. There were white fish in the pond.  And there were two buddha statues there ( just one, actually). Boy, all this talking about buddhas makes me want to see buddhas. I don't normally see buddhas, but I think I don't like to give fire (lit up incense) to buddhas.  Nathan was running around and tripped on the hard stone and cried very loud.  He got hurt on his lips :-(.
 
We also went to another country ( Myanmar, right next to Thailand ). We went to temples there too. And in one temple, Nathan was running and he almost ran into a monk. He can run into a monk and touch a monk because he is a boy. I can't because a girl can not touch a monk. But, since Nathan was gonna run into the monk, the monk will get hurt, so i grabbed his shirt. Mama was glad I did that.  

Oh, and I found three buddhas that when you go close, they go in. But when you are far away, they go out. And if you go left and right, the eyes follow you. One big Buddha that didn't have that was made out of gold. And the white ones made out fo marble.

And I also went to the market at the end of the day. That day I was so so so so tired. That seems like a lot of things I could do in one day.




Monday January 18th
 
We woke up very early and went on a short plane ride back to Khun Da's house ( in Bangkok ).  I am very tired, but I read your blog and wrote comments in them.  And that's it!  I miss all my friends and Joe misses us too.

Daddy is finally here!

I went to pick up daddy on Sunday's night from an airport.

In the morning of that day, I went to feed the monks. On my way back, I took pictures of a banana tree that grow in one day -- just kidding. I am just so silly. I know what you're thinking, the banana tree really grows in one day. But it really doesn't. They just plant it at different times. There are actually more than one banana trees that I took pictures with. I took the pictures of bananas, so you know what they look like when they are on trees. It looks really different.


Nathan and I got a horsy stick that is made out of a banana leaf. A banana leaf can be large or small. Some banana leaves are as big as me. And some are smaller than Nathan.

From Daddy's Here

Childrens' Day!

On Saturday is Childrens' Day. Na Yim (my aunt) told me that it's the day when places are opened that aren't ever opened, just for kids.

I went to a place made out of marbles with Na Yim ( it's Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall - Mommy ). I saw something that made out of beetle's wings that is so... beautiful.  And there were things made out of gold -- Real Life Gold! And I got to see the king of snakes, called Pra Ya Nak. And I got to see the kings of birds that can fly that looks like a monkey with wings, called Pra Ya Krut. We couldn't take the pictures inside, so I can't show you what they look like. But, I can tell you what the king of snakes look like. The king of snakes looks like it's a gigantic snake that is powerfuller than all the other snakes. And the king of snakes has many heads. And it was very large.

From Childrens' Day

Me and Nathan both got balloons, and they were different from each other. If you guys wanted to know, even Alex, I got a Spider Man balloon.

I also took a picture of a lady making Thai snack made out of coconut milk, called Kra Nom Krok.

From Childrens' Day

I got to see Na Yen's wedding dresses, and I took a picture of me taking a picture.

From Childrens' Day

Na Yim's Birthday!

On Thursday, I went on rides at the mall.


Friday is Na Yim's birthday, and I'm making a picture of a birthday cake for her. I also give her some chocolates. I also went and play with Gursev ( a boy with long her ) and make one more new friend. And her name is Amisha. I played on a scooter with Gursev, and we found a shell that could walk. Mommy wasn't there with me, but I am not afraid.

When it's time for Na Yim's birthday party, I slept. So, mommy gave my present to Na Yim.

Finally, Little Gym!

I waited many days and finally went back to Little Gym today.  I had lots of fun and do another playtime.  We don't have to learn things, like snow, in Little Gym.  They just teach us what to do and we played lots of games, like jump over the bean bag, duck duck goose, knee scale (?), and walk on the balance beam.

Mommy asked me to count taxis on my way to Little Gym.  I counted 53 taxis in half an hour. The taxis here have many colors.  They are bright and pretty.  Do you want to know why?  Ok, this is why.  So, you can tell which company a taxi is from by the color. 


Yesterday, I met a new friend who is a boy with long hair.  He is my mommy's friend's son.  I also met two of mommy's friends and I had lunch with them.  I played games with my new friend.  We did a dinosaur floor puzzle ourselves and jumped over it when we are done.

Made it to Thailand!

We finally made it to Thailand on December 30th at 1am.  It took us 32 hours this time.  We experienced flight delay, baggage lost, and airline trouble.  We are glad to finally landed in Bangkok.  (Mommy wrote this paragraph.)

I went to eat Na Yen's food for the wedding on New Year day.  I liked seeing all the food, especially the dessert.  Nathan was sick that day, so mommy stayed home with him.

The next day, I went to Dream World with Khun Da (grandpa), Khun Yai (grandma), Na Yim (aunt), Na Yoke (aunt), mommy, and Nathan.  There were a lot of people there and we waited a long time to get on rides.  I really liked the Super Splash ride with the water. I also went into the Giant's house, but I'm not afraid.


On Sunday, mommy took me to Mister Donut and gave me a special treat for being a very good girl on the plane and in Thailand.  I loved chocolate donut.

Today, mommy took me to Little Gym, but it is closed.  So, mommy took me to the noodle place that has the number 8 on the noodle.  Mommy said Hachi in Japanese means 8.  I really like eating cake everyday in Thailand.  But I really miss all my friends.