Tigers VS Orioles

Dear Friends,

The Tigers came over to Sarasota to play the Orioles in spring training.  It was a perfect day...great seats, fantastic weather and a win for the Tigers!

Love,

H

Spring Training

Dear Friends,

We made it to Florida during Spring Training. The Tampa Devil Rays practice twenty minutes down the road in Port Charlotte. When Brad found out they would be playing the Blue Jays, tickets were bought in record time. Cousin Judy and Brad even got  a couple of baseballs. 

Love,

H & B

Turtle

Dear Friends,

Saw this little guy out at Stump Pass. It was hard to get a good shot as he was in a hurry to get away from all the people who had stopped to watch him.

Love,

H

Beach Combing

Dear Friends,

Here on the west side of Florida, people come from all over to find sharks teeth.  My mom was more interested in the shells. Dad and I were more interested in the crystal blue water and sandy beach.

Love,

H 

Stump Pass

Dear Friends,

The beaches in Thailand were beautiful but Florida has a few hidden gems of its own.  We went out to Stump Pass Beach State Park and enjoyed the sunshine and amazing scenery.

Love,

H & B

Egret

Dear Friends,

We took a trip out to the Venice Jetty.  There we tons of people but they didn't scare away the wildlife. We saw many dolphins, pelicans and Egrets. Love the birds here!

Love,
H & B

On the Road Again...

Dear Friends,

We have spent a lot of time in various forms of transportation over the last few months.  None have been as comfortable or appreciated as dad's Saturn. Thanks dad!  Living in the US?  Keep an eye out for us in May when we take the Saturn back to Michigan.

Love,

H & B

Farmer's Market

Dear Friends,

One of the things I enjoy about being back in the US is the local Farmer's Market. Not only does the produce look and taste fantastic, there's a lot of interesting people watching. 

Love,

H 

Lake Waldena

Dear Friends,

We went to visit some friends in Florida. Would you have guessed that they were staying at a 55+ community?

Love,

H & B

Alligator

Dear Friends,

One of the more interesting things about this state is the amount of yard decorations.  We have seen numerous pink flamingos, concrete frogs and alligators.  Although you cannot tell, this particular alligator has a movable head.  Fascinating!

Love, 

H & B

Retired

Dear Friends,

We have made it to Florida.  Been catching up with friends and hanging out with the retirees.  Trips to the beach, bike rides, shuffle board and bocce ball... feels like we have an early retirement. : )  Next August will certainly be an adjustment.

Love,

H & B

Tai Chi

Dear Friends,

Although I couldn't read it, I am pretty sure this six panel sign was giving instructions for Tai Chi. Think they will have these in Shanghai?

Love,

H

Masks

Dear Friends,

We found these in the Cat Street Market in Hong Kong.  As cool as they are, we couldn't justify a purchase.  The photo will have to do! 

Love,

H & B

Pebble Path

Dear Friends,

Walking barefoot along this pebble path is supposed to bring you all sorts of health benefits.  All I got was sore feet.  It was worth a try! : )

Love,

H

Lan Kwai Fong

Dear Friends,

No visit to Hong Kong would be complete without a visit to LKF if you want to feel like you are in your 20s. Thought we'd go down for a drink and we were sucked into Al's Diner for hours of dancing and merriment.  Headed to Hong Kong?  You may want to check it out. : )

Love,
H & B

No Spitting!

Dear Friends,

Found this sign while waiting for the subway. Guess they are working on cutting out the spitting in Hong Kong. 

Love, 

H & B

The Peak

Dear Friends,

Most of the time we were in Hong Kong it was foggy.  On the day that it was somewhat sunny, we made our way to The Peak. We enjoyed the steep and scenic tram ride to the top and wandered around checking out the views.

Love,

H & B

Incense

Dear Friends,

After Thailand and Laos, we have seen our fair share of temples.  We did stop to visit one in Hong Kong. This particular temple has huge coils of incense hanging from the ceiling in addition to the regular joss sticks the visitors leave.  It was nice at first but we found the scent a bit overwhelming after a few minutes.

Love,

H & B  

Bus Stop

Dear Friends,

We were shocked at how organized this bus stop was. It was a stop for two bus lines. If you look on the sidewalk, you will see the yellow lines designating the cue for each bus line. Think this was the first time we have ever seen people in a single file line while waiting for a bus.

Love,
H & B

Avenue of Stars

Dear Friends,

The ferry took us over to Kowloon and the Avenue of Stars.  This is Hong Kong's version of Hollywood Boulevard.  It is a nice walk along Victoria Harbor.  We enjoyed reading the names of all the Asian stars but only recognized two - Bruce Lee (who even had his own statue) and Jackie Chan.  I guess we have a lot to learn about film stars in China!

Love,

H & B

Star Ferry

Dear Friends,

Although there are many ways to travel from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon, the Star Ferry is a must for any visitor.  We enjoyed the short ride over but didn't see much of the skyline as it was foggy.  Still a fun trip!

Love,

H & B

Trams

Dear Friends,

Hong Kong has an extensive transportation system. We spent a lot of time local trams.  They were a relaxing and inexpensive way to see the city.

Love,

H & B

Boots

Dear Friends,

I saw these colorful boots at one of the street markets.  Good thing they didn't have them in my size, I'd probably own several pairs.

Love,

H

Horse Races

Dear Friends,

We were off to the races...a favorite Wednesday night activity for locals and expats alike.  The actual races were fun but the people watching was even better.

Love,

H & B

Hong Kong

Dear Friends,

Next stop... Hong Kong. We spent a large part of our first day there exploring the central business district.  Felt just like NYC!

Love,

H & B

Colorful Meat

Dear Friends,

This is one of the delicacies we spotted at a market in Krabi. Hummm...pink, yellow or green meat on a stick?  What would you do?  So difficult to pick, we decided not to go with any of them but rather our regular Pad Thai and Curry combination.

Love,

H & B

OFF!

Dear Friends,

Here is Brad engaging in our afternoon ritual the entire three months we were in Thailand and Laos. We made a significant investment in repellent while there as the mosquitoes were horrendous!  The few times we forgot the spray, we paid for it!

Love,

H & B

Stoplights

Dear Friends,

We spent one night in Krabi, Thailand on our way back to Bangkok.  It was a quick visit and one of the most interesting parts were these traffic lights. The guidebooks mentioned them but there was really no explanation.

Love,

H & B

Kayaking

Dear Friends,

Lucky for us, our resort (we use that term loosely) had kayaks available for us to use.  One day we grabbed our snorkeling gear and headed off around Ko Kradan. We decided to paddle around the island. This would have been a better idea if we had packed a lunch.   It was a beautiful, if sometimes miserable, trip.

Love,

H & B

Plan

Dear Friends,

Glad they have a plan. Hope they never need to use it!

Love,

H & B

Long Tail Boats

Dear Friends,

These long tail boats could be seen cruising all along the crystal blue waters between the islands in the Andaman sea.  They were used to carry passengers as well as life's necessities for living on an island. We especially liked the colorful ribbons tied to the front of each boat.

Love,

H & B

Uninvited Visitor

Dear Friends,

This cat made himself right at home on our patio for an afternoon.  No matter what we did to encourage him to leave, he would NOT go. He finally gave up on us the next day when he wasn't getting any affection or food.  Sure he found both somewhere else.

Love,

H & B

Snorkeling

Dear Friends,

Ko Kradan has some of the most amazing blue water.  The beach in front of our bungalow was shallow and then dropped off at a reef.  Hours were spent snorkeling around with the fish, eels and sea urchins.
Love,
H & B

Bats

Dear Friends,

On our snorkel trip around the Thai islands in the Andaman Sea, we saw these little guys. There were about 100 hanging around above the boat while we snorkeled around in the aquarium-like waters below. 

Love,

H & B

Ko Lanta Sunset

Dear Friends,

With our time in Thailand dwindling down, we decided to make one more trip to the beach.  We spent two nights on Ko Lanta and were greeted with beautiful sunsets each night.

Love,

H & B

Made it!

Dear Friends,

After a month traveling around Laos and northern Thailand, we were happy to be back in Bangkok.  The trip from Chiang Mai was an adventure on our 13 hour (really 17 hour) over night train. To add to the long ride, the train was about 2 hours late in leaving the station. Getting off the train never felt so good!

Love,

H & B

Flower Parade

Dear Friends,

We decided to stick around Chiang Mai for the flower festival.  It was a fascinating street fair for 2 days.  The big event was the parade on Saturday morning. It was the LONGEST parade we had ever seen.  Yes, there were a lot of flower floats, marching bands and Thais dressed in their regional dress. However, the never ending parade was due to the traffic that would cut in and the participants in the parade stopping for water/bathroom breaks.  We finally decided that it would be faster for us to walk to the end of the parade instead of waiting for it to pass by us.

Love,
H & B

Girls

Dear Friends,

We saw these girls at the Doi Suthep temple near Chiang Mai.  We think their dress is from the Hmong tribe in Northern Thailand.  At a young age, these girls were already helping their family earn a living. As people snapped their photo, they would run up to them yelling, "money, money" and take it back to their mothers sitting on the steps. It looks like they are approaching school age.  Hope they make it there!

Love,

H & B

Mountain Biking

Dear Friends,

Mountain biking was another thing we wanted to make sure we did in northern Thailand.  It was an amazing trip down the mountain in Doi Inthanon National Park. My road biking experience did not quite prepare me for the steep downhill decent though narrow paths over sticks/logs and bumpy, unpredictable terrain.  I spent much of the time clutching my brakes following the others.  We had two guides who often split us up into two groups.  The more adventurous group (Brad) and my group. He had a great time and can tell you all about it when you see him next. Let's just say, there is a reason we have all the arm and leg protection on!  Heading to Chiang Mai? Definitely check out the mountain biking!

Love,
H

Doi Inthanon National ParkD

Coffee Republic

Dear Friends,

All over Chiang Mai, we found small tuk tuks, wagons and vans used to sell coffee, tea and  cocktails.  We especially liked this one. It had an entire expresso machine and kitchen inside.  

Love,

 H & B

Thai Farm Cooking School

Dear Friends,

One of the things we (ok, Heather) really wanted to do in Thailand was take a cooking course. We jumped in a truck at 9 am and were off to the local market with our teacher for the day. Next, we went to the farm where she took us around to show us the locally grown ingredients. Then our day of cooking began...red/green curry, Tom Yum, Pad Thai and some mango sticky rice. We need to practice our new cooking skills... let us know when you want to come over for dinner!

Love,
H & B

Bells

Dear Friends,

Most of the temples we have visited (and there have been MANY) have bells lined up around them. Our research into why they were there yielded various reasons. One of the more common one was to awaken "the spirits or God" to let them know you are there.  All this time, we thought they were bringing us good luck...something we could always use.  

Love,

H & B

Pad Thai

Dear Friends,

We have been eating a lot of Pad Thai on our trip. Green Chicken Curry and Pad Thai are our staples. Anywhere else in the world, you get it  served one way from the kitchen.  In Thailand, you get to add the spices yourself.  Pretty much every table has chili, sugar, peanuts and red peppers for you to spice up your own meal. Even the street vendors serve it this way.

Love,

H & B

Noodles

Dear Friends,

This man was moving so fast, it was difficult for us to see what he was doing, let alone capture it on camera.  He was taking the large pieces of dough and stretching and folding them into long, thin noodles. It all happened amazingly fast. Not sure we'll be able to do that at home.

Love,
H & B

Elephants

Dear Friends,

The Thais love their elephants. We have seen them all over - on clothing, key chains, jewelry, etc.  This colorful elephant was one of our favorites in Chiang Mai.

Love,

H & B

Green Curry

Dear Friends,

We've eaten a lot of green curry over the last couple of months. This was by far the fanciest presentation. The floral part of the squash came off to reveal steaming hot curry...YUM!

Love,

H & B

Road vs Air

Dear Friends,

After a 14 hour sleeper train, van with a flat tire and a miserable 9 hour bus ride through the mountains, we decided to splurge. We opted for the one hour flight to Chiang Mai rather than the 17 hour overland bus/van trip.  It was the best money we have spent during our two months on the road. 

Love,

 H & B

Photo Together

Dear Friends,

We finally found someone to take a photo of the two of us. As you can see, we are having a great time. : )

Love,

H & B

Slippers

Dear Friends,

We loved these warm, cozy slippers. Wanted to buy a pair for everyone but we couldn't find room in our bags even one pair.  Maybe next time!

Love,

H & B

Postcards

Dear Friends,

Here is Brad doing one of his favorite vacation activities.  NO, not just drinking beer.. . writing postcards while drinking beer.  Check your mailboxes!

Love,

 H & B