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| Look like paradise? It is. |
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| Our view each evening |
Leaving our house at 7a.m. all it took was a taxi, 2 planes, a van ride and a boat to have us on the beach at 4p.m. And what a beach. We stayed at an exclusive resort that was to die for. I cannot go on very much about excursions, activities and cultures because we pretty much woke up, ate breakfast with monkey's then hit the beach all day, toast the sunset, gorge on incredible Thai food, go to bed, wake up and repeat for 8 days.
We had a stunning karst formation sitting just offshore from us to stare at all day. We were able to take SUP boards and kayaks out to it at our leisure. At low tide it was possible to walk out to it (about 4ft deep?) but we chose to use the watercraft available. The water was so clear you could count sand pebbles from 10ft deep. We were either on the beach or in the pool the entire day. Graeme was in his element. Charging the tiny waves, building sand castles and making friends in the pool. He was always first to ask, "Is it cocktail hour yet?"
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| Who is steering this thing? |
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| Yeah dude! |
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| Sea Cucumber... |
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| Beach combing with Momma |
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| Our breakfast buddies |
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| Nice score! |
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| Secret snorkeling spot |
I will never discount the upbringing I had in the ocean growing up in NJ. I love the "Shore" and will always cherish the experiences our parents provided us each summer to spend as much time in the ocean as possible. That said, it excites, amazes and chokes us up thinking that Graeme is having the opportunity to come of age in the ocean at all of these incredible places. I need to bust out the pen-n-paper and figure out the exact count, but I believe this was his 7th or 8th different sea? He has also spent time in some remarkably crystal clear environments (I came of age during the "medical waste" era in NJ beaches). A major highlight of this trip for us was when Graeme and I were coming back ashore with the SUP and he decided to try and catch a few waves on his own. Graeme's first surf adventures! He's been pretty steadily body surfing wherever we go, in Cambodia last year he caught some waves on a boogie board, and here just naturally progressed to standing up and sticking the drop! For Christmas break he said he wanted to go somewhere he can surf, so we rented a cottage on the beach in front of a surf spot in Siargao, Philippines...can't wait! (for some reason you can only see the video on a computer - not ipad, phone, etc.)
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| Cue the Baywatch soundtrack here... |
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| Darn, this is hard work! |
To see all of the pictures of our beach frolicking while in Krabi, CLICK HERE.
International Week
When we aren't spending time on Thai beaches, normal life rules our day. Graeme has been very busy at school. It's incredible to watch him develop at such a quick rate just since starting 3 months ago. Ms. Tina has his class participating in so many wonderful things and he really enjoys being there! The EC program here has got to be second to none....
October break lead right into International Week. With 33 countries represented at SSIS, they spend a week with various activities celebrating the cultural diversity of the students' home countries. One morning I took Graeme to school and the walkway had the flags from all of the countries hanging from the ceiling. They had obviously been talking about it in his class, because he started pointing to different flags saying "my friend so-and-so is from that flag, my friend so-and-so is from that flag, etc." He didn't know what the countries were, but he knew which kids in his class were from which flags. Incredible. To think that a 3 year old even has the ability to realize that different people are from different countries is unfathomable to me.
The culmination of the week was the parade and group picture. On one particular day, everyone was encouraged to dress in their home country traditional outfits. The kids paraded by class through the walkway and out onto the field. Here they aligned themselves into a human outline of the SSIS logo (Go Dragons!). Graeme got to be the "Line Leader" for his class - we think that was preplanned to keep him focused on the task at hand! It was great to see all the kids and teachers dressed up and representing. As a culture, USA is quite young (200+ yrs?) so we kind of pale in comparison to the traditional dress of others. Graeme represented the USA by rocking his red/white/blue flag outfit that his Aunt Debbie got for him over the summer. I believe her exact quote when he opened was something along the lines of letting people know where he is from!
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| Family in full Red/White/Blue |
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| We are at "11 O'Clock" |
Halloween
International Week bleed right into Halloween! While not actually celebrated in Vietnam, we live in such a Westernized area that parents really try extra hard to create the experience for all the kids around us. This was the first Halloween that Graeme was really interested in. He talked a big game leading up to it about Trick or Treating, and he delivered. Dressed up as an Explorer, Graeme made it through the Halloween Parade at school then hitting the streets of Hung Thai trick-or-treating with his friends that night. (videos may only play on a computer - no phone, ipad, tablet, etc)
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| Right here, Dad! |
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| Giggle time.... |
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| Best Buds... |
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| Want some? |
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| Munchkins... |
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| AAAGGGHHH! |
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| The Hung Thai Halloween Crew... |
For a look at all the Halloween pictures, CLICK HERE.
DALAT
We had managed one earlier trip this Fall. We went "upcountry" to Dalat. A former Hill Station during French Colonial times, Dalat sits at a much higher elevation then Saigon (we may actually be below sea level here at times?) and is so different then where we live it is hard to imagine you are in the same country after only a 19 minute flight. Pine trees, clean air, cold temps (well, cold for us!) in the 60's at night, French architecture abound....really a pretty spot. Dalat is a bit of the agriculture capital of Vietnam with most vegetables coming from this zone. Our organic vegetables we eat are from this area. We spent just a few days bouncing around. No real major stories to tell. Just enjoyed a different climate and scene. Truly a beautiful country.
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| Our friend Rita on her portable SUP board |
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| Talking to G-Nan.... |
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One thing that remains consistent is Graeme's ability to pull a crowd. Dalat is pretty much based around tourism. There are large groups cruising around, backpackers, etc. At one stop, a place called "Crazy House" there were several large tour groups checking the place out (and yes, it really is crazy!) More then one of the groups thought Graeme was a greater attraction then the house:
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| Blonde kid at 9 O'Clock! |
Scenario's like this happened at several places, even a Temple! So, yes, we still deal with an abundance of attention on a daily basis. With Graeme being in school full time, at least it is no longer a daily occurrence for him. For the most part he is a champ and rolls with it still.....
For a look at all of our Dalat pictures, CLICK HERE.
So here we are in late Fall, almost winter. The winds are shifting angles (losing our breeze in our apartment) as the season here changes from Wet to Dry. No more trips on tap until Christmas break, but knowing us we will squeeze a weekend or two away somewhere. We have a few people visiting this year which has us giddy in anticipation. Here is a pic of a typical sunset from our apartment. Book a trip to come visit and this view is yours for the duration of your stay. Just get here, we got the rest.....
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| Never gets old |
The Hawken's in HCMC
#thetaoofgraeme
