Random Events, Pictures, and a $100 Turkey

My mother visited us for most of the month of November. One of the places that she likes to visit is a place we call "junk street". Junk street has a mix of "antique" looking and eclectic items and negotiating is the norm to determine the sales price.

The shops, as you can see, are very small and in some cases "hole-in-the-wall" facilities. But the shop owners are typically pretty cheery, friendly, and are proud to share off their wares. The lady above is from Tibet as were most of her items. In this picture two gentlemen are making a woven rug right in the street. My mom also likes to take a look at the simple things. Here she and Ava found some hand made brooms in one of the vacant homes in our neighborhood. These are made from weeds and grass wrapped together and bound to a stick of bamboo that serves as the handle. We also were invited in for dinner to one of my employee's, Jason, homes. Here Jason's mother is making a spicy type of soup that is then mixed with home made noodles. It was a very good time and a chance for my mom to experience a local food....though she still struggles with the chop sticks. ;) Thanksgiving has come and gone and yes, we had a turkey at our home in Shanghai. Our tradition over the past years has been to get together with other families in our housing compound. Our turkey was a 20 lb. Butterball. However, turkey is not raised in China so all turkey must be imported....all of this adds cost and the turkey was about $5 a lb. Sabrina cooked the turkey and it looked and tasted as good or better than any turkey I have had. This was a tall task as our oven wasn't cooperating. We did have to inspect it a number of times because our oven broiler kept turning on... Chinese ovens??

Until next time...we are now in the States and hope to talk with you while we are back.

A stop in Korea - a new blog

Halloween has came and gone here in China... looking back to last year Halloween was not our kids favorite holiday. Last year, Caden and Ava were so excited for "trick or treating" until the first door bell rang at our house. Caden ran to the door to open it and on the other side of the door ...some older kids dressed in scary, scary costumes. Caden about tripped over himself when he did an about face and ran screaming into our kitchen. That was it for him for the evening. BUT that was last year... So we started the year off slow carving some pumpkins as every family does... and we carved some pretty nice jack-0-lanterns. However there was only one problem....we carved them too early and in Shanghai's warm climate, they lasted about 3 days before they collapsed into a pile of mush, but they were nice even if for 3 days.

Then the big day came and a Saturday at that... Ava was a princess and Caden a cowboy.
The picture above is Ava with a neighborhood friend. She has so many princess outfits and Ava loves to go over and play dress up.

This is how we went trick or treating - Caden and Ava on the scooters - bag in hand - and mom and dad on the bikes. Mom was dressed in a Packers jersey and I in a Vikings jersey. (I was the better in that one - Go Vikes!) By early in the night Caden thought this "trick or treating" thing was alright... I think we hit all the occupied homes in the neighborhood. We ended the night at a friends house with a glass of wine and a Sloppy Joe in hand. Fun for all...

Until next time...

Thailand & Out

We have been home a week and a half now so we should probably close out our vacation to Thailand. On our last post, I documented a pleasant trip the emergency room. I am a pleased to say everything worked out fine. Anyway, to close out Thailand we visited the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (http://www.bangkok.com/attraction-palace/grand-palace.html). This is the must see site in Bangkok and we saw it. The palace was built in the 1700s and the Buddha dates back to the 14th Century. The whole place was very ornate and lavishly decorated.

Even though it was October, the temperature was very hot. On top of this, one can not wear shorts or pants above the knees or open shoulders when visiting this place. They are very strict in that regard and people were selling "over pants" just outside the gate to get in as they were turning people back who were wearing shorts. So until next time... it is almost Halloween and I'm leaving you with a picture of the twins. You can see the front tooth that Ava is missing if you look very closely at her smile...

A Pleasant Trip to the Emergency Room - Thailand

Another vacation; another trip to some "foreign" emergency room... our daughter is not the most fleet-a-foot or in simpler terms she can be a "klutz". Although she is in ballet and gymnastics...she still can not figure out how to fall gracefully. Saturday night when we were preparing ourselves for bed at our friend's house in Bangkok, Ava decided she was going to stand on the bed. She maybe stood for a split second and then fell off and caught her fall with her mouth. This knocked one of her front teeth out. I believe this is the 4th time in her young life that she has fallen and not caught herself with her hands. It is almost like she doesn't have the reflex for protecting herself against a fall. Anyway we packed her up and the tooth and headed to an emergency room not far from our friend's house. So this is where my blog really begins because if there was a way to make a negative experience pleasant...this was it because the hospital, staff, and facilities here are top notch. We arrived at Samitivej Srinakarin Children's Hospital. The emergency staff took one quick look at Ava and the tooth and decided we needed to come back in the morning to see a dentist in the same facility. They prescribed some anti-biotics and a pain killer and sent us on our way. We pretty much expected this outcome, but what we didn't expect was the bill. The total cost for the drugs and the emergency room visit was about $25. Wow, we thought that was cheap.
So on Sunday (thenext day) we scheduled a trip to see the dentist at the same facility. This again was a very pleasant experience. I have included some pictures of the facilities. The quality of the facilities, the cleanliness, the process they put you through to register and so on is all electronic, etc. etc.... (much different from China) I can't say enough good things about it. I would put this facility up against any that I have visited in the US. Really.

Our actual time with the dentist was about a half hour and they took x-rays to make sure that Ava's tooth - root and all - had made a "clean exit" and that her permanent and other baby teeth were not damaged. Everything checked out "OK" and we asked for the x-ray film and headed on our way.

I then stopped at the cashier's desk to pay our bill. Again it was about about 730 Thai Baht or about $28. This included the dentist visit and the x-ray.
So until next time ponder this... I don't profess to understand the costs, quality, efficiencies, or inefficiencies we have in the US with our medical system. I have a mother, a sister, an uncle, an aunt, a sister-in-law, etc. that all work in the medical field... they are all professionals in their careers and the best at what they do. This is not about the care that we as Americans provide nor is it meant to be political in nature. What this is about is that much of the news and the negativity we have in the US is geared towards the inevitable change to this system...the costs, the insurance, the ____, the ____...for 50+ years we have not been able to figure this out. All is I have to say is... perhaps there is something that we can learn if we take a look outside of our "box". Again here in Thailand we were very, very happy with the care we were provided. We were also very happy with the cost...in total we spent about $60...not $600 plus. It is thought provoking, isn't it?

We took a tour with Siam on Friday. The tour was a 4 in 1 opportunity to ride an elephant on a short ride, see a monkey working demonstration, rubber trees, and also an opportunity to feed the elephants. Having 3 1/2 year olds requires some variety and this was the perfect opportunity for it. Below is a picture of the elephant we mounted. This is actually a picture taken by our "elephant pilot". This is the only picture that we have in file form that I have. Our friends took some other pics but I don't have them on me at the moment. This is the view we were rewarded with atop Ah-chew (our elephant's name). We also reviewed the elephant training of the younger ones. Then we were allowed to feed them. They appear to be very gentle animals. I compare it to my farm boy days with horses. Horses are gentle but require a great amout of respect...as do these. Caden enjoyed feeding them but Ava wanted nothing of it. Our next stop was the rubber tree. Below you see a picture of how natural rubber starts out...much like a maple syrup gathering operation. Each day a cut is made in the tree and the rubber "bleeds" into the cup.

We then checked out the "Working Monkey Demonstration"... monkeys are used to grab coconuts out of the trees. They spin the coconut until the vine breaks. The average monkey can harvest more than 100 coconuts in a day we were told.

Until next time... we are leaving for Bangkok this morning to spend time with your friends that just moved from Shanghai to Bangkok.

Thailand D3/D4

Finally some sunny skies and no one on the beach.

We also spent some time at the JW Marriott's pool area as we have access to it through our resort and it is close by.

This afternoon we spent time at the a safari park riding elephants and so on...but that is for another blog. Until next time....

Thailand - D2

Day 2 - Wednesday, October 7th... brings more on and off rain, so we ventured out with umbrellas in hand.Yesterday at the beach the waves and the surge were very high. Today they were not so high, but the beach here is very steep...so the occasional "surprise" wave happens.

Ava didn't like it when a huge wave surged ashore and took my shoes - that I had set on the high beach area...out to sea. I had to drop everything and make a quick run to save them. After a quick dash into and a dash back, a swish of the sand, and all was well.Spent some time at the pool today as well...this is Ava on the the kiddie slide pool. (fun for dad, too)

Until next time...Go Twins!

A Viking in Thailand

We are in THAILAND!! Although it rained almost all day today, we did have a good first day. The weather is warm so we checked out the nice swimming pools at our resort. - rain / swimming they go together...I guess. The place we are staying is the Phuket Marriott Vacation Club Resort and the rooms are nice and big...actually the room is suite with a common living area and two separate bed rooms. The picture above was taken from our balcony and the one below from the far end of our suite.

We arrived late last night as the flight from Shanghai is about 4 hours to Bangkok and then another hour to Phuket. We are here with our neighbors in Shanghai - the Sagans. Our kids idolize the older Sagan kids and it is OK for mom and dad to play "second fiddle" for the time being.Until next time... Go Vikes! 4 and O. I awoke very early this morning to watch the game on the internet. The right outcome and thus there was a smile on my face all day... Although the picture above didn't capture it. Smile Tony, smile.... ;)

Summer Reflections

We are having some difficult times accessing our blog and thus the updates are much fewer and farther between then we'd like as we are blocked from this website at our home. This is very frustrating to us and we've heard from the "frequent visitors" to our site that you have missed the updates. Well I'm in Korea for the evening and I happen to have a few pics in my computer from this summer. I have a few not all of them... Having this in mind, I'm dropping in some of our favorite pics from the summer... Remember your first carnival ride? This one is at Lakeside Park in Fond du Lac, WI.

A picnic with the cousins is always fun...

The first trip to the dentist...

Brandon and I at the 4th of July Parade in Devils Lake, ND. It takes me about 3 days and I have a full out beard... this one was taken at 2 days... ;)

{yes, my 15 year old son is taller than I}

More time with more cousins...at the Wixo Lake Cabin...

One final pic from Hong Kong. This is taken near the bay at Stanley Market. Cool place...

Until next time...our next blog will be from Thailand. Taking some time off...