White Sand Christmas, Bangkok New Year, Laos, and Our New House

As always it's taken me a while to update the blog and as a result there's a ton of pics. So, I'll spare myself the time and you readers the lame captions and just post the pics. However, a few of the pictures definitely warrant an explanation, specifically those involving extremely skimpy swimwear. So the explanation is this: most all islands in Thailand are generally populated with huge numbers of Western tourists - European, Australian, etc. - and virtually all the men wear speedos. Spencer and I simply didn't want to feel left out. Besides, it was Spencer's birthday and what better reason to give our wives the sexiest beach experience of their lives...

An additional explanation - in one of the New Year's pics, the two Spencers are posing with what may seem to be a random "girl" - quite the contrary, though. The girl is actually a guy. Don't believe me? Take a closer look and you'll see the 5 o'clock shadow and an unmistakably masculine hand. Not a bad presentation, really. We gave this ladyboy an 8.5 out of 10. Some of them can really fool you. What a surprise that must be for the lucky foreign boyfriend...

As for the mustache, greatness such as this needs no explanation.

Anyway, life in Bangkok is fantastic. We recently moved to suburbia to be closer to the school that Laura now teaches at. The neighborhood is beautiful and even came complete with a couple of stray dogs that of course we took in. The new family members are Nelly (the white one) and Cocoa (the brown one). They should have the house all warmed for Cooper who arrives on the 16th. Seriously, I can hardly sleep at night I'm so excited to have him here with us.

Enjoy the speedos, I mean the pics.

Peace.

Christmas at Koh Samet

































































New Year's Celebration with the Edwards and the Hummistons























Laos











Fantasitc New Year's Mustache


The New House

The Bridge Over the River Khwai

December 5th was the king's birthday/Father's Day, so we took advantage of the day off and did a little traveling. We met up with our friends Spencer and Chrissy and hopped on a bus heading for Kaanjanaburi. To those of you who are not familiar with this place, it is where the bridge over the River Khwai is located. Once we got there, we toured some of the old war museums, cemeteries, and an old cave with lots of old Buddhist statues, etc. Then we went to the bridge, took some pictures, and ate some fabulous Thai food and watched the fireworks show commemorating both the king's birthday and the the bridge. Great day. Enjoy the photos.


This taken just outside one of the war museums - a great shot of up-country Thailand.


Devin and Laura riding in the back of the truck, or soong thaew, from the museum to the cave.


Our friends Chrissy and Spencer.


Laura enjoying the breeze and the view.


A shot of the temple grounds where the cave was located.


Bells and gongs at the temple leading the way to the cave entrance.


Devin and Spencer (fabulous pose) at the cave entrance. By the way, if you had any degree of claustrophobia, the cave was more frightening than interesting...


Devin in the cave with a pot-bellied Buddha.


A brief glimpse of daylight before heading deeper into the cave.


Ducking through the cave and trying to stay calm...


Laura, obviously not as bothered with the enclosed surroundings.


Spencer figuring the odds of survival in the event of an earthquake.


Chrissy and Laura working their way down the steep descent into the abyss...


Laura in front of one of temples just outside the cave.


A monk peacefully carrying out clean-up duty around the temple grounds.


This little guy enjoying a coconut snack.


A cemetery full of Dutch, German, British and American soldiers who died while building the bridge over the Khwai River.


Devin and Spencer viewing the entire burial ground. This was a very moving tribute to the soldiers. Rumor was that for every railroad tie placed, there was a soldier who died building the bridge.


A great shot of the landscape of the Thai countryside on the way to the bridge.


Another great shot - this of the river leading to the famous bridge.


A train used by the Japanese during WWII.


And there it is - the bridge over the river Khwai - still in use to this day.


The river at dusk. Great shot by Laura.


Cooper's long lost twin - we almost stole him and took him home. Cooper, we promise we're coming back for you...


Folks waiting for the train.


Devin and Laura at the bridge.

Yeah - We Live Here...

So, two events here. First of all, we spent a day and visited the Jim Thompson House. For those of you who don't know the significance, Jim Thompson was a CIA agent back in the 50s turned designer and art collector. He came to Thailand and sort of created the silk industry here in Asia. The alluring part of the story is this: he built this incredible house in Bangkok featuring some of the most historically significant art in existence. Then while exploring in Malaysia, he went for a walk in the woods and disappeared. His body was never found but his art collection is world renowned and his house is pretty famous. So we checked it out. By the way, there is an AMAZING Thai restaurant right next door which we'd love to share with anyone who would be willing to come visit us. You know who you are...

Then there's Loy Krathong. The literal translation means to float a boat but it's actually a huge festival where everybody floats a symbolic little boat down the river representing all the bad things in life of which you'd like to rid yourself. Additionally, it's somewhat of a prayer to the spirits of Mother River. Regardless of what it means, everybody heads to the river and floats their boats on down stream. There is a big parade of boats and a huge fireworks show. As it turns out, we live right on the river so we went down, got on the boat and floated our boats away. We then enjoyed an amazing dinner and then headed back upstairs to our apartment to watch the show. It was really a pretty cool night. We sat on the floor of our windowed bathroom, transfixed by the boats, fireworks, and people. Suffice it to say, we love it here. Enjoy the pics.



Laura at the Jim Thompson House.


Some of the historic art on the wall.


Me standing in front of the main living area at the Jim Thompson House.


Here's Laura in front of MBK - one of the biggest shopping centers in town. This taken about 5 minutes before a pretty violent thunder storm.


Here I am at the skytrain station just after the storm started. You can't really tell, but the rain is pouring down so bad that the train shut down for about a half hour.


Here's one of the big boats that passed our place on the river before the fireworks started.


Here I am on the boat getting read to set my boat free.


Laura posing with her lovely boat.


Lighting the candles.


Not as easy as it looks - the wind was blowing.


Devin and Laura - Loy Krathong 2008.


So we didn't actually set our boats free - this guy did it for us.


And they're off...


This taken from our bathroom - all the boats lining up to watch the fireworks.


Pretty cool sight, ready for the fireworks to start.


And now, lighting...


...the sky...


...with fireworks. Got to love Bangkok.

President Barack Obama

No need to say anything more than...

YES WE CAN!!!

Touring the Kingdom

Yesterday was a national holiday so we decided to put on our tourist hats and do some sightseeing. Although we've been here for nearly two months now, we haven't had a chance to go visit the royal palace. This has been mostly because all of the protests and violence are taking place near that area. However, the conflict seemed to take a rest yesterday out of respect for the national holiday which is in remembrance of one of the past kings. So, we decided to head over there and check it out.

When we got there, we saw the pro-government protesters (as opposed to the anti-government protesters who have occupied the prime minister's quarters for two months now) sitting rather peacefully in the park next to the royal palace. They were all just sitting, eating fruit, relaxing, talking and smoking cigarettes so the tension that we anticipated wasn't really there at all. We proceeded to the entrance where we had to rent "proper attire" to enter the palace (I was wearing shorts and Laura's dress didn't cover all of her shoulders). So, do look forward to my stylish pants and Laura's slightly over-sized shirt in some of the coming pictures.

After the grand palace, we walked to the river and took a boat tour around "Old" Bangkok, much of which I spent teaching in when I was a missionary. Some of the pictures are pretty cool and even though I've taken these boat tours numerous times, they never get old. They really show the part of Bangkok that I love the most.

Despite all of the problems going on in the world, and Thailand being no exception with the intense political unrest, we are loving our lives here in Bangkok.


This is the reclining Buddha which is located next to the royal palace. This picture taken from its feet. Pretty amazing.



Laura and I totally and completely looking like tourists.



Me in front of the reclining Buddha.






And Laura...


This is Wat Arun which means Temple of Dawn - a pretty famous temple located just across the river from the royal palace and just up the river from our apartment.



This picture taken of our apartment (the building just left of center) taken from Wat Arun.



Laura and I completely enjoying our afternoon on the boat.



Here is a monk meditating just in front of one of the temples along the river.



Some locals fishing along the river.



Me feeding the hoards of fish. Seriously, look at all of those fish literally climbing over each other to get the bread.



Here is an old lady selling soft drinks and souvenirs from her boat. A little too touristy for us, but charming all the same. We bought a Fanta and a fan.



A Buddhist statue in front of another temple along the river.



Laura in the boat with an impressive temple in the background.



Here I am in the royal palace sporting some stylish pants that I had to wear over my shorts.



Another shot in the palace.



Here's Laura in front of the part of the palace that holds the Emerald Buddha. Note the shirt they made her wear while inside the palace walls - nice.



The Emerald Buddha.



Laura modeling her new shirt.



Me just inside the palace walls.



Laura walking through the streets just across from the pro-government protesters. All was calm on this holiday so we took advantage.



Here's Laura and I with some of our friends from church - Wendy and Biah. This was taken after eating a fabulous meal at the Marriott (Wendy works there and got us hooked up).

Getting Comfortable

I suppose it's time for some kind of an update. First of all, I am posting this from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) as Laura and I are here to visit my boss who works in our office here, and to do some work on our Thailand visa. This place is like Hawaii, only cleaner and more exotic. It's really pretty incredible. We saw the Petronas Towers (pictured further down) and managed to snap a few shots from the Taxi. We're headed back to Bangkok on Friday where life will get back to normal, whatever that is.

As an update from our last post, we did not end up moving into the apartment we posted pictures of. It was too small and after looking around at more places, we found something much bigger and better, right on the river and about 15 minutes from work. Here are the pics:


Our new apartment just on the other side of the river from my office. We're on the 26th floor which as you'll see, makes for an amazing view.


This picture taken from the bottom of the condo complex.


This is our front room. We haven't had a chance to decorate, but the view out the window will do until then.


Apparently we need a new camera because this is the best I could do from the living room window. My office is just behind the tall, gold-domed building. The building my office is in is actually taller than that building, but the view is blocked.


This is the kitchen which opens up into the dining room and the living room. Yes, Laura has cooked but we'll admit that we go out for Thai food almost every meal.


The dining room. Behind the table you'll see the shutters that actually open up into our bedroom which is, like the living room, walled with a window overlooking the river.


This is pretty much the same picture with both shutters open.


And this one taken during the day so that you can see the view out the window.


It's a little hard to see in this pic, but just outside the bedroom window we saw the literal end of the rainbow which landed right on a small house on the ChaoPhraya river.


A better shot of the view during the day.


Yes - that's the bathroom and you get that view in the tub, in the shower or on the toilet. It's a bit of a distraction from my usual reading...


The pool, which is located on the 6th floor.


Me standing in front of my new office view. The new office alone makes the move worth it. The building just behind me is the gold-domed building that blocks the view to our apartment on the other side of the river.


One more office view shot.


This shot taken from the roof of our guest house here in KL. Malaysia is incredibly beautiful and we'll never complain when work brings us here now and then.


The Petronas Towers - not a bad shot taken by Laura from a moving Taxi. The trees are just in the way of the bridge that connects the two towers.


One more shot from the guesthouse.

Stay tuned for more pics...

We're Here...

After 7 checked bags, 4 carry-ons, three flights, two layovers, and over 26 hours of total travel time, we finally made it to Bangkok. To put it all simply, it has all been worth it - we absolutely love it here. Laura is adjusting well and seems to love it so far. We've been here now just over four days and it seems like I never left. Bangkok is still the same huge, fascinating, diverse, tasty, smelly melting pot of a metropolis it's always been. We found an apartment (despite New York City-type prices), a work-out gym, and all the best food joints right near the office so everything has come together well so far. We even got our first Thai massages last night which helps with the jet lag. We'll be leaving for Malaysia in about three weeks to visit my boss in the Kuala Lumpor office so we're looking forward to that. Below are pictures of our part of town as well as a couple of our last night at dinner with Laura's family. Stay tuned for more updates...

This picture taken from the top of our hotel.

Laura standing over the traffic near the World Trade Center.

Devin on top of the hotel at the swimming pool.

Devin standing in the small street leading to our new apartment.

The front room of our apartment that connects to the bedroom.

The entryway to our apartment. Very NYC we thought.

The apartment lobby with breakfast cafe, zen room and waterfall.

Just outside the apartment.

This is us at our last dinner in San Antonio.

At dinner with Grandma, Laura, Marietta, Devin, Jenny and Carmen.