Bangkok, Thailand

Our full day in Bangkok was a fullfilling one! We were on our feet from 10am until we got to the airport around 9pm. The kids were amazing sports as usual which made it easy for us to travel the sites and shop, shop, shop!
We started our morning at Chatuchak Weekend Market which was just as great as the day before. The kids loved the attention and the crowds! It seemed that there was never a shortage of something to look at! From there we hopped on our first Tuk-Tuk (took-took) ride which the only way I can explain is a cross between a Filipino jeepney and tricycad. It was great, and although I'm sure we were way overcharged it was worth it.

After our Tuk-Tuk ride to Central World Mall downtown Bangkok we went inside for some lunch. The best part was dessert, I had a raspberry frozen yogurt... RASPBERRY! My first raspberry anything in almost a year. It was delicious, my mouth is watering just thinking about it! After lunch and letting Brayden run off some of his energy we were ready to continue exploring. The best part of the entire mall was the Ronald McDonal we found!! It's nice to know he's so universal:

We went outside to get ourselves another Tuk-Tuk so we could explore the city sites and outside in the mall plaza were a couple of Buddhist shrines where people were worshiping. They were beautiful and had roses surrounding the bottoms of them and lit incense burning.

From the mall we drove around the city it seemed multiple of times. We stopped off at a "Government building" where they sold beautiful Thai artworks and crafts made of crocodile and ostrach leather, ceramics and woods. From there we drove around the King and Queens palace and then to a Buddhist Temple.We got out of the Tuk-Tuk at the Temple and bought some corn kernals from a silly lady and fed them to all the pigeons that were hanging out. Brayden loved it but Sydney seemed to be a little freaked out by the swarming birds!!

The best part of Bangkok for us was when we were walking down the street and there was a couple of elephants just hanging out! It was so cool. Just crossing the street like a person! We got to feed them sugarcane and hang out with them for a bit:

All in all I think we got everything out of Bangkok possible, it was so great and unlike anywhere we've been yet! Loved it.

Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok

Driving along the countryside in the train the landscape was so simular to the Philippines with the beautiful green rice fields, forest covered hills and palm trees. One thing that was so amazing was the amount of storks that we saw flying and resting in the rice fields. We must have seen close to one hundred of these beautiful birds just on the one train ride. Once we arrived in Bangkok it seemed to be simular to most big cities except there was little english and it was quite difficult to find any simular names or restaurants like we are used to. We just didn't know what Subway or McDonalds looked like in the Thai symbols.
Our new friends reccommend we check out the Chatuchak Weekend Market. They claimed it was popular and it would be the place to go that had everything. Apparently it is the worlds largest weekend market and I read that there are over 15 000 booths set up selling whatever goods they have to offer. WELL, nothing could have prepared us for this jem!! It was is the bargain shoppers paradise! No joke, they had everything you could ever desire at this market. I have never seen such crazy things in my life! They were selling squirrels as pets, bunnies in dresses, puppies of every kind! We found these huge beetles that they will put on a stick in a cage with another and watch them fight!

There were endless clothing options, jewlerry, wood works, ceramics, luggage, house and kitchenwares! We would walk around a corner and think that we've maybe been down that aisle but then NO, still more. We spent a couple of hours both days we were in Bangkok at Chatuchak market and I could still be there now shopping if the weekend wasn't over... and I wasn't back home in Bacolod...
I think one of the most bizarre things I saw were some of the food selection. The most genious thing they had were these guys with fruit stands on wheels, you would simply pick your fruit and they would cut it up, put it in a bag and give you a stick to spear it with and you were on your way. The one thing I couldn't stomach to try were these delicious treats: Grasshoppers, frogs and fried chicks....

Thailand: Day One

Instead of having a seperate room like we did in the Kuala Lumpur - Butterworth train, we had a blanket to act as a wall to close us of to the rest of the eyes in the train. Pro's and con's I suppose...

The train ride from Butterworth station to Bangkok is much, much, much longer then the first leg of our exciting journey. Within the first couple of minutes of settling in our coach a couple of young kids were already making friends with Brayden and Sydney, asking us non-stop questions about where we were from and what we were doing on that train. They were so friendly and amazing with the kids. We soon found out they were a young Filipino family that moved to Thailand to start a free school to teach english through their ministery almost 2 years ago. We also made friends with the young man sitting across from us who also happened to be a Filipino on his way to propose to his American girlfriend who's parents are doing missionary work in Thailand. Let me tell you, these Filipino's are the most warm and friendly people I have ever met!!
This young family ended up being such a huge help and blessing to us. The kids kept Brayden occupied for his every waking moment on the train which made the ride so much more enjoyable for Ryan and I. They actually invited us over to their apartment where we were able to see their school and meet all the people who volunteer their time to help their free missionairy service. It is a bunch of Filipino's who have moved to Bangkok. They were so amazing!!! They drove us to our hotel and made sure we knew some great tourist things to do. It really relieved all the stress of finding yourself in the unknown with your two young babes. They bought us snacks and drinks, offered us a place to stay, free babysitting. Truly just wonderful, loving people!

Pastor Bong and his Family

Malaysia Day 2 & 3

Well, after our train ride north our little family got off the train in a place called Butterworth which is on the Northwestern coast of Malaysia. We then caught a 15 minute ferry ride to Penang Island where we spent the next day and a half. It was a nice relaxing place to stay. Our hotel was fabulous, friendly and on a section of the beautiful white beach. Both mornings we were in Penang we went to play on the beach and both times we were the only ones there. It was so peaceful, and HOT. We did a little shopping, and did quite a bit of sleeping, it was perfect.

As far as cultural differences, the people seem to be just as friendly in the Philippines. The food is spicier and it seems to be quite the mixture of cultures. They have wonderful taste in colour. They obviously love the children and have themselves the most beautiful little children with their rich brown eyes smiling up at you!
This afternoon we will be heading back to Butterworth where we catch our train to Thailand. This one leaves at 2:30pm and won’t arrive in Bangkok until 10:30am tomorrow. We packed tones of colouring books, activities and made sure the iPod video and PSP were all fully charged; anything to make the trip easier on the kids! It’s such an amazing thought that tomorrow we’ll be in Thailand!

Malaysia: Day One

Well bright and early this morning our flight arrived in Kuala Lumpur. It was so much easier and way less stressful the second time here!! We knew exactly what to expect and everything seemed to be working in our favour! We caught a bus from the airport to our hotel which ended up saving us more then half the cab fare so we were pretty pumped right from the start. We got a couple of hours sleep before the kids were awake and ready to start the day, a little early for the rest of us but that's alright.
We spent the day marking things off our list, hopping on and off the train and tackling the hot heat. We were able to complete every task we set out to do and leave tonight for Penang Island which is in Northern Malaysia. It's a night train and we have a sleeper room booked so it will be nice to do the traveling in our sleep! I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the country side instead of just the big city and I've heard some great things about Penang! Good times so far.
We were so excited about the whole train thing that we took a million pictures...

Sunday Dinner

Sunday dinner's were always the best dinners of the week. We would go to one of the folks house and have the facier meal of the week and just hang out and relax. Since we moved away from all that family we've changed our Sunday style a bit, we still relax... it's just NOT the fanciest of meals:

The Fruit Stand Goodness

One of the best things about being in the Philippines is that fruit is always in season. Each different fruit seems to have it's different peak seasons but as a whole there never seems to be any lacking. Of course there are many fruits that I miss; raspberries, blueberries, blackberries. But we have been able to find so many new fruits to help fill the void...
We thought we might take you on a journey through our regular fruit stand and show you a FEW of the different tastes the Philippines has to offer:

1. Rambutan - As you can see it looks like it has some type of fur around the thick shell. The best way I can think to describe the taste is the Philippine grape. It has a pit or seed in the center and it's also very close in texture.

2. Mangosteen - This is one of our favorites. It's a little bit of sweet and sour mixed together. It's quite a thick shell that you break open to find what looks like white orange pieces. We had heard that since we've been here a mangosteen suppliment claiming to be the cure all that ails you has made an appearance. It claims the remedy is found in the shell which by the way is awfully bitter and spit worthy...

3. Mango - Mango's have a green, green-yellow, yellow-red or yellow-red-green colour. The most common mango's here are green which slowly turn yellow as they ripen. All I can say is the mango's that we've had in Canada are NOTHING compared to the ones we have had here. Brayden would refer to them as "candy" for the longest time. So yummy!

4. Durian - The whole skin consists of big, sharp and hard spines! Sydney actaully went to grab one of these from our counter once and she was really ticked off, crying and upset, they really hurt!! To open you insert a knife between the spines and rip it open. It's supposed to be so tasty but we personally can't get past the stink!! It's not allowed in most hotels and other public places because the fruit stinks like stale, dehydrated urine, Mmmmm!!

5. Atis - These are sugar apples which are also found in Central and South America. I guess the Spanish people brought them with them when they settled here in the Philippines. It's filled with hundreds of seeds that are covered in a very sugary, soft pulp or meat that is extreamly sweet. If you can get past having to work so hard around the seeds the fruit is very delicious.

6. Lanzones - This comes in clusters like grapes, with its fruit two to four times bigger. The skin is green when young and turns yellow when ripe; black speckles on the skin is normal. Its clear gel-like meat has a firmer consistency than the caimito, very juicy and sweet. To eat lanzones, pinch the fruit near the stem end to break the skin and the fruit in half, which you can then peel by hand which reveals the separate slices of sweet meat which contain bitter seeds that are thrown away.

7. Bananas - I know that everyone knows what a banana is, or I hope that you do but I had to add this because before moving to the Philippines I had no idea how many different types of banana's there were. Apparently there are 5 different types, some green, yellow and brown. Some small as my finger and some big as my forearm. Here in the Philppines they will use the bananas to make catchup and use the leaves for everything, especially with cooking. The more popular banana here is short, fat and extreamly sweet which is great for for Banana bread!

8. Jackfruit/Langka - This fruit is so grand!! I had to save this one for the last because I find it so amazing! They sell this a lot downtown in central market but the whole fruit grows to be so huge that they chop it up and sell it in chunks. It's pretty tasty and you can put a dab of oil on your fingers to start so the sticky fruit doesn't cling to your fingers as you peel the meat of the fruit away from the seed. It took me some time to find a picture that would help me explain the stress i'm putting on the size of this fruit but if you were laying under a Langka tree and it fell on you, no doubt it would kill you!! They are the largest tree borne fruit and can get up to 80lbs!!
Of course there are so many more that I would love to show of and hopefully will soon! As we become more and more adventurous our taste buds also seem to explore a whole new world, and unfortunately taste is something I can not explain or describe so you'll just have to come here and visit us to see for yourself!!

Why God Made Friends

Why God Made Friends

God made the world with a heart full of love,
Then He looked down from Heaven above,

And saw that we all need a helping hand,
Someone to share with, who'll understand.

He made special people to see us through
The glad times and the sad times, too;

A person on whom we can always depend,
Someone we can call a friend.

God made friends so we'll carry a part
Of His perfect love in all our hearts.

Ryan; The Chef

One of the things that we have fallen in love with here in the Philippines is sinamak or spiced vinegar. You can mix it with your soy sauce and dip your chicken, pork, or fish in it. You can also add a squirt from a calamansi (native lime) to add a little extra flavour. We love it so much we dip our rice in it, we can't enough of it.
Ryan decided to make some of his own, that way when we get home we'll be able to enjoy it always! All you do is add chopped ginger, garlic, onion and chili peppers to cane vinegar, let it stew for a month so all the flavours mix and then you're ready to go.... although he's mixed all his ingredients together we still haven't tried the masterpiece yet, we'll let you know how it turns out! There isn't a set amount of each ingredient to add so it's a guessing game depending on the different tastes you prefer. We invite you all to give it a try at home, start by mixing 30/70 sinamak to soy sauce.

To All the Mom's Out There!!

This really made me chuckle because it's just how life is somedays but I hope it brings a smile to all your faces!!

New MP3 Player

Hey I just wanted to point out that on the sidebar I have a new MP3 player. I'm going to try to keep it up to date with some Filipino songs that are really popular here and some of Ryan and I's personal favorites we like to listen to. I hope that you use it and enjoy some of the good/interesting music of the Philippines!!! :)

Free Motorbike Lessons Anyone?

We really have some excellent youth at church and Ryan has offered free motorbike lessons to anyone willing. Of course they were all over it!! On Saturday we had a couple of boys come over for the first lesson and I think they really enjoyed themselves. Ryan took each of them seperately a couple of times before letting them drive the precious Bummble Bee solo. Here are two pictures I took before they headed to a section of the subdivision that isn't as developed, notice only 1 lucky guy gets a helmet... oh 1 out of 3 on the bike, only in the Philippines!

Araw ng Lahi

This week at Braydens school (The School For Creative Beginners), they had Araw ng Lahi (Heritage Day). This gives the children an oppertunity to dress up in a costume under the theme Negros (which is the Island we live on). We took Brayden into a tailor and got him a traditional formal outfit made. It's a white shirt with embrodering on it (Barong, which traditionally are made Pina cloth; fibers from the pinapple leaves) and black dress pants with black shoes. He looked so guwapo (handsome) in his Filipino wear. The girls were dressed in their dresses and Kimona blouses while some boys were also in Barong's like Brayden and others wore red pants with red bandana's, the traditional outfit of the field workers back in the day. In preperation for this day they learned a Filipino song, learned about the Philippine Flag and played some games. At the beginning of class the parents and ya-ya's (nannies) were able to come in and get some pictures of the kids. Here's what we got!

Brayden has two teachers in his classroom; Teacher Mia (in the blue) and Teacher Tina (in the red). There is also a student teacher which is there to help out. Between the three of them there are about 12 kids in the class. I can imagine that at times it might get a little out of hand!!