ELEPHANTS!

 

A Swift Night in Bangkok and on to Chiang Mai

 

Our only night in Bangkok we stayed at a nice place…. in the middle of the ghetto. It was late when we got in and being completely drained we let the little, slightly pushy, old lady at the airport send us to what looked like a swanky joint. And though it was, certainly quite fancy for the price we paid, when the shuttle picked us up and took us through some sketchy, graffiti laced- wild dog roaming areas. I thought at one point they would just stop the van and kick us out on the street, until we pulled into this gated compound-like area with a very nice hotel in the center. My favorite part was the rooftop breakfast. Our first intro to Thai food and for me, papya. Weird huh? You would think we would have had that before, but no. Very yummy.

A bus, a shuttle, and two good little travelers later… We enter Chaing Mai!

 

I’ll admit, the name “Princess Hotel” did slightly appeal to the girls. They could sit in the lobby all day long and be happy on their “princess beds.”

 

They enjoyed street side fruit shakes and lots and lots of bartering. I think Mina is a natural. Marie… likes to shop, but will need a future husband to do the bartering. Marie just loves it all!

 

The plaza across from our hotel, sharing a drink with my cuties.

Vacation of a Lifetime

Our two week vacation started off right- at the New Sanno! We just waltzed right in and they had a room open just for us. How lucky are we?

Even more convenient is that the Tokyo Temple was built in 1980 and 5 minutes down the road the New Sanno was later built in 1983. Tokyo could not have made it more awesome to attend the temple in Japan.

 

This day was especially nice because I was able to hire a sitter from the local ward to watch the girls while Brett and I went together.  Mina and Marie played with them across the street at the park. Cute as can be.

The fountain of the New Sanno. President Madsen was nice enough to take all our luggage to our next hotel- the Kanto Lodge at the Yokota Air Base. Sunday was fun to go the ward near the temple. And seeing as I am camp director I was able talk to the girls of the Tokyo 1st ward and psych them up for camp.

 

My little skirt loving cutie.

Monday morning we gathered early for roll call at Yokota and go on a free hop to Singapore! This is Mina getting comfortable. The flight was so awesome. 2 hot meals, 3 movies… and flight attendant comes around with a basket of full size candy bars. It was then I knew it was Heaven.

 

We arrived in Singapore only to try to head straight to Bangkok.

This is what we call a good omen.

 

So if you are slightly offended by my love of stereo-types, this blog is not for you. Our first lesson of Thailand was that no one believes in waiting in line. After 3 years in Japan, our minds were blown. But Brett took “care of it” and soon enough mina was on her way to Bangkok.