Happy Halloween!

We had our first Halloween in Hong Kong.  Halloween is definitely celebrated here.  Many people here have Halloween decorations, businesses have Halloween based promotions and events, etc.  However, I think trick or treating is not something that is done in many countries (I know it is common in the US and UK, but I am not sure of anywhere else).  Our neighborhood does do trick or treating so we are lucky.  Because trick or treating isn't prevalent, Halloween costumes are hard to find.  I went to the local shopping market this week expecting to find many vendors with racks and racks of Halloween costumes.  Instead I shopped for several hours (I was also shopping for other things) and only found one kiosk that a few costumes that were cheaply made and very overpriced.  Luckily, I had brought one of Tommy's old costumes that still fit him.  Charlotte also had her costume from last year she could have worn, but she wanted to be a witch and one of my friends had a witch costume she said we could borrow.

Tommy and Charlotte with one of Tommy's classmates

We had some friends over for dinner and then all went out trick or treating.  Probably less than one fourth of the houses in the neighborhood participate, but the houses are close together and even though we only did a small portion of the neighborhood, the kids got plenty of candy.  We all had a great time. 

Missing Tooth

Tommy lost his first tooth!  It has been loose for over a month now and I was starting to think it was never going to fall out.  When I picked him up on Tuesday, he was excited to show off his new smile.  He had lost his tooth at the end of the school day and his teacher gave him a tissue to wrap it in and put it in his bookbag.

Tommy had a lot of questions about the tooth fairy and if she would be able to find our house in Hong Kong, but we assured him she would figure it out.  In the morning he couldn't wait to show us the $10 bill he had gotten (about $1.25 US) and the note the tooth fairy had left him answering some of his questions. 

Cooking class/night market

Thailand, Day 3
Sunday was our final day in Thailand.  One of the things I really wanted to do was take a Thai cooking class.  I found one that was highly rated and several reviewers mentioned they had brought their kids.  They picked us up at our hotel.  We had 2 other couples in our group, both from the US.  We started with a market tour to show us the local ingredients that are prevalent in Thai cooking.  It was interesting.  The market was pretty similar to the open air markets in Hong Kong, although there were several stands with prepackaged foods.  We bought some dried fruit and tea to bring home.

When we got to the cooking "school", which was set up in a home, we got to choose what dishes we wanted to make.  We did the half day option, so we got to choose a soup, noodle dish, and a curry paste to make into a curry.  The other people in our group did the full day option, so they also got to choose an appetizer, dessert and main course.  We didn't have to choose the same dishes, she encouraged us to pick different ones.  At first, I had been hoping it would just be the 4 of us in our group, but it was actually better to have a larger group because we got to see the differences in the dishes. 

The first thing we made was soups.  I chose Chicken Coconut Soup and Tom picked Hot and Sour Soup.  Our group had chosen 3 or 4 different soups, but we all started with the same ingredients.  The only difference was the liquids and spices. 

Tommy and I getting ready to chop up our vegetables

 

Chicken coconut soup.  It was amazing.

Tom's hot and sour soup on the right, fried big noodles on the left

Then, we made the noodle dish.  Tom chose Fried Big Noodles and I chose Drunken Noodles.  One of the other guys was asking the teacher about drunken noodles and she seemed excited he had chosen it and mentioned it was the most fun.  I thought it would be a good one to try.  We cut up all our ingredients, then moved over to the woks.  She had the three of us making Drunken Noodles together and wanted us to wait until the others were finished.  We added a few of our ingredients then she told us to stand back while she added the liquids.  She also made the kids go to the other side of the room. She told us to make sure we started stirring as soon as the liquid went in.  I was the second of the 3 she did so I knew what to expect.  It was a little counter-intuitive to stick your hand into a burning pan to stir.  Now I know why she was excited people chose this dish. 

Trying to stir without getting burned

Tom making his noodles

Big helpers

Drunken Noodles-delicious

After we made those two dishes we got to go inside and eat them.  Even splitting our dishes with the kids, we were pretty full after just 2 courses.  Next we made dessert.  Our program didn't come with dessert, but since the rest of our group was making dessert next, she let us do it too.  We made mangoes with sticky rice.  I hadn't had any dessert yet in Thailand, but this was delicious.  In general, I have found that desserts in Asia are not as good as in the US or Europe, but this was really good.  The rice had a sweet coconut sauce on it. 

Mangoes with sticky rice-yummy

After we made dessert, it was time to make our curry paste and then make a curry with it.  I had chosen a red curry with pumpkin and Tom had chosen yellow curry.  We didn't want the red curry to be too spicy for the kids (or us), so I only put a few chilies in the curry.  Therefore, it was almost as mild as yellow curry.  We chopped up our ingredients and then mashed them with a mortar and pestle.

 Then we chopped up our ingredients for our curry and cooked it in the wok.  Our teacher was great!  She gave great instructions and was very witty.  Once our curries were finished we went inside to eat our curries and desserts. 

Red curry with pumpkin, we ate it with rice

All the food was amazing.  The kids were so stuffed, Charlotte told me she couldn't eat another bite, then she realized she hadn't had her dessert yet.  She powered through and ate most of it.  We ended up taking most of my curry home.  Then it was time for us to leave.  The other people in our group still had 2 more dishes left.  I can't imagine how they had any room to eat them. 
We got a recipe book to bring home.  I am going to try to make the Chicken Coconut Soup for dinner tonight.  Hopefully, it turns out. 

After we got home from cooking class, we rested for a few hours and then got a tuk tuk into town for the Sunday Night Market.  Every night there is a night bazaar where locals can sell their handicrafts to tourists.  The Sunday Night Market is supposedly the biggest number of vendors with the best prices.  Apparently the locals shop there as well.  We bought several souvenirs and gifts.  Bartering was fun.  If you asked how much anything cost and then put it down and walked away, the price continued to drop for each step you took.  There were also many stalls selling delicious food and drinks.  I told Tommy we would look for a toy tuk tuk at the market.  After we found one, he was all done with shopping.  Tom and the kids had fun sampling the food while I finished shopping. 

picking out an carved elephant souvenir

Our flight on Monday morning was at 6 AM, so we had to get up at 3:30 to leave.  The seats on Air Asia are really small so Tom had booked the exit row both ways and I was sitting with both kids.  I was really hoping they would sleep on the way home.  Neither one did.  I got up to take one of them to the bathroom at one point and everyone else on the plane was sleeping but them (including Tom).  We had an early bedtime that night. 

Not much cooperation from Charlotte at 6 AM

We had such a great trip, but we are glad to be home.  The kids are already asking about our next vacation. 

Chiang Mai zoo

Thailand, Day 2
Today we went to the Chiang Mai zoo.  I wasn't sure what to expect because although the zoo had a high overall rating and was named a top thing to do in Chiang Mai, it had a lot of 1 star ratings as well.  We loved it!  We took a tuk tuk to get there.  It was our first experience riding in one.  The traffic here is crazy.  Most people ride motorcycles and they zoom around all the cars.  The driving lanes and traffic lights seem to be more of a suggestion than a rule.  The motorcycles and tuk tuks all drive on the shoulder when traffic is stopped to get to the front of the line.  Riding on the highway in an open air tuk tuk with no seat belts was definitely much different than riding in their 5 point harness car seats back home. 

One of the things people complained about is the fact the zoo is very spread out and has a lot of hills.  This wasn't a big deal for us because they have a monorail and a tram that you can pay to ride around the park.  You can get on and off as much as you want to see the different exhibits.  Another thing I thought was interesting is you could drive inside the zoo.  There were parking areas near all the major exhibits. 

The monorail moved very slowly on an elevated rail to give you a great view of the exhibits.

On the monorail

Tommy was excited to sit in the very front of the tram

Going to the zoo really appealed to me because they have panda bears, koala bears, and kangaroos, none of which we have back home in St. Louis.  The panda bears were especially cute.

checking out the panda bears

What a life, sitting back munching on a big pile of bamboo

koala bears

As it turned out, our favorite thing about the zoo is you are able to feed a lot of the animals.  We fed the hippos, sheep, elephants, and jaguar.  You were able to get really close to the animals instead of only being able to view them from far away.

dropping potatoes in the hippos' mouths

Tom had to pick up Tommy so the sheep wouldn't jump on him

Charlotte really wanted to pet the baby sheep, but it kept running away

The kids really wanted to feed the elephants even though we had just fed them a lot the day before

It was cute to see the baby elephant playing with her mom

Feeding the jaguar a piece of meat

We were hungry for lunch and the first two places marked on the map with a fork and spoon were really just small stores that sold bags of chips/cookies and ice cream cones.  The only thing that slightly resembled a meal was a cup of noodles.  We were hungry and not sure if there were going to be better options later, so we decided to have that for lunch.

Lunch.  Tom picked out a green drink with oranges on the label.  It was called "Chlorophyll".  It tasted more like unsweetened tea, no orange flavor at all.

We rode the tram around and saw the other exhibits, got an ice cream cone and were ready to go home. 

Pretty scenery in the bird park

This exhibit had many different animals in one pen: zebras, ostriches, giraffes

The zoo had a playground as well

You could also pay to ride an elephant, we skipped this

We got a different kind of taxi home.  There are also covered pick up trucks with 2 benches in the back to sit on.  We told the driver where we needed to go and negotiated a price.  These can hold a lot more people (probably around 8) so the driver tries to get several riders in the same general vicinity and drops them off as he goes.  We had a couple and a single guy riding with us as well. 

Tiger Kingdom and Elephants!

Thailand, Day 1
One of the things we wanted to do the most in Thailand was ride elephants.  I found a highly rated tour group that had a half day elephant interaction package.  It included transportation to and from our hotel (about 1 hour each way).  The package also included dropping us off at Tiger Kingdom and waiting for us on the way if we wanted.  (I'm sure the guide/tour company gets a commission for the people they bring).  Tiger Kingdom has cages with all different sized tigers and you can get in the cages and interact with the tigers.  Originally, the idea of the Tiger Kingdom intrigued us, but we decided against it because what responsible parent lets their children play with tigers?  Then I was reading more about it online and one of the reviews said there was a nice buffet restaurant there where you could view the tigers without buying a ticket to the park.  We decided we would try that instead.  We could gauge the place during lunch, and if nothing else we would get to look at the tigers while we ate a nice meal.  Tommy at first was very adamant he did NOT want to get close to any tigers.  Then, as we ate lunch and he saw the adults interacting with the full-sized tigers (and not getting attacked), he got excited and really wanted to do it.  Kids under 15 can only go in the cages with the very smallest tigers, about 2 months old so we decided we would try it.  The kids loved it.  Our guide had told us on the way there, the afternoon is the best time to visit (especially with kids) because the tigers are usually fed in the morning and then they sleep in the afternoon.

They let us in the cage in small groups (2-5) and each group had a trainer that stayed with them the whole time.  He had a stick he could use to keep the tiger away if it got too feisty.  We spent a couple minutes with each of the tigers.  One of the tigers had just woken up from his nap and clearly wanted to play.  He kept jumping on the trainer and biting his jeans.  The trainer quickly moved us to a different tiger behind a different gate.  (That tiger actually ended up biting one of the women in the other groups.  It didn't break the skin or anything, she just had a small red mark on her arm.  Kind of like a baby with new teeth that wants to bite everything.)  The kids were great with the tigers and thought it was a lot of fun.  We even got to lie down on one of the tigers and use it for a pillow.

holding hands with the tiger

After the tigers, we headed to the elephant farm.  We changed into outfits they provided so we were covered and didn't get our own clothes dirty.  (They told me on the phone they bought new outfits for the kids the day before.  I guess they don't get many kids that age).  We went over and met the elephants and made friends with them by feeding them lots of bananas.  The farm only uses female elephants for riding because female Asian elephants don't have tusks.  Male and female African elephants both have tusks.  We put the bananas right in their mouths which meant sticking most of your hand in their mouth as well.  Charlotte wasn't so sure about it at first, but she eventually warmed up to it.

Tommy feeding our elephant

Charlotte feeding the elephant with some help from our mahout

This angle looks like we are feeding Charlotte to the elephant 

After we finished feeding the elephants, we sat on the steps and the owner went through some basic Thai elephant commands.  Tommy kept whispering questions to me, he was concerned we were done with the elephants.  Then it was time to ride the elephants.  Tommy and I got on the first (and smaller) elephant.  Normally, the elephant kneels down and you put your leg on her knee, then kick your leg over like you would mount a horse.  The mahouts (elephant trainers) quickly figured out the kids were way too small to do this, so they had the elephants lie down and we lifted them up.

Tommy and me

Charlotte and Tom

   This program is designed for two riders on each elephant.  There were 2 ropes on each elephant, but because I was sitting so far forward to keep a grip on Tommy, I wasn't able to sit in the correct position to have a firm grasp on either rope.  I was also sitting right on the shoulders so I was moving back and forth a lot with each step.  I felt very unstable as we started to walk.  There are many different elephant farms that use this area, and about that time, we saw a group go by that had seats on top of the elephant on which to sit.  I was really second guessing my decision to book a bareback tour instead.  I realized that maybe putting my small children 10 feet off the ground on top of an elephant wasn't the most responsible parenting decision.  After the tigers this morning, I was sure someone was going to revoke our parenting license.

After walking about 100 feet, we were ready to cross the river.  The mahout noticed I was uncomfortable and had me move back on the elephant so I could really grip the second rope.  I was only able to keep one hand on Tommy, but I figured it was better to have one hand on him and be secure myself, than have a firm grip on him while I fell off.  After that I felt much better.  When we crossed the river, our mahout sat on the elephant's head so he didn't have to get wet.  I think he also wanted to have better control of the elephant.  I had promptly forgotten the one Thai command I needed.  My elephant kept veering to the left to eat everything in sight.  I could only remember how to tell it to go left and straight, but not to the right.  Tom and Charlotte's mahout walked in the river behind the elephants and the elephant snorted a trunk full of water at him.

We walked along the river and up and down a small hill for about 10 minutes, then we went back into the water.  This time, we got off and got to bathe the elephants.  It was a lot of fun.  The elephants really seemed to enjoy it.  The mahout had Tommy stand on top of our elephant for a picture.  He didn't speak much English, but he kept saying "for photo".

Then, it was time to change our clothes and go back to our hotel.  We had such an amazing day.