We're back in the states! After 3.5 weeks in Asia and a week back in Arkansas we are back into updating the blog...with a caveat. Josh and I depart this Tuesday for 8 nights in Mexico at our favorite resort: Excellence Riviera Cancun in the Mayan Riviera. So, what follows is the quick update to cover the many life experiences we had in the last month and a more in depth breakdown will hopefully be posted once we return from Mexico and spend the holidays with Josh's family in Cabot.
Asia=AWESOME! We thoroughly enjoyed our travels through Thailand, China, Hong Kong and Cambodia. We lucked out on the majority of flights by always scoring exit row seats or having a window and an aisle with the middle seat empty. Great!
We had an 8 hour layover in Sydney, Australia on our way to Bangkok so we stopped into the Taronga Zoo on the most perfect sunny day. We were tired from preparing to move out of the flat and plan the trip but this view definitely made us feel a little better:
Bangkok, Thailand impressions: Arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport (only a year old) was great. We got in around 11 pm. It was a very modern and clean airport. Getting a cab was no problem with the translators outside of the airport writing notes to the cabbies to tell them in Thai the name of our hotel. The cabbies in Thailand are crazy drivers! They don't follow the speed limit or the fact that there are two lanes...they will drive super fast on the shoulder. Our first thoughts of driving into Bangkok was that it was like being in Mexico: billboards in English, humid weather, passengers sitting in the bed of a truck as it sped down the motorway.
Our hotel was great with breakfast included although the front desk staff were not too knowledgeable about what was going on in town...more on that later. We did a lot of sightseeing at the different temples in town and the hotel was perfectly located to walk to the major tourist sites. After a day spent out viewing the temples, we returned to the hotel to shower and then we'd take a cheap cab ride to MBK which is the enormous shopping mall in the city. Josh had a cultural experience watching a movie there while I shopped. Before the movie started, a short documentary about the Thai king was shown and then the Thai national anthem was played. Josh had to watch others in the audience to figure out what to do!
In Bangkok, there was a lot of selling of random items on the street. The strangest item for sale that Josh spotted was a broken dust buster. I remember seeing lots of broken watches. There was definitely a seedy feeling to the overall Thailand vibe.
Overall, Thailand turned out to be our least favorite country on this trip. Perhaps it was because we didn't really know much about its history or the history of the temples and Buddhism. The temples are very ornate, well decorated, and nice to look at but they held no significance for us.
Yangshuo, China impressions: After one of the best flights we've ever had (2 hours, no turbulence, exit row seats, and a flight attendant walking up and down the aisle asking if we wanted free refills on our wine) we arrived in Guilin, China. Most people stay in Guilin and take a Li River cruise in the daylight to the smaller town of Yangshuo. I had read online, however, that Yangshuo was a quieter place to stay so we took an hour long cab ride through the dark (arranged through our hotel) to Yangshuo.
Note: The things we read about how the Chinese stare at Westerners held true for our experience in the country. We thought it was funny to be stared at and it never bothered us.
In the morning we watched the sunrise over the limestone karst formations from our riverview balcony. Spectacular. It doesn't get better than this!
We rode bicycles out to Moon Hill where we hiked up the mountain for this awesome view:
The next day we negotiated for a ride on a bamboo raft during sunset. It was a great deal at 30 yuan or about $4.25 USD.
Beijing, China impressions: This city is huge but easy to get around with a cab driver. Although there is a subway system, our hotel was two blocks from Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City as well as another two blocks (in the opposite direction) from a major shopping complex. There is heaps of construction taking place in Beijing in order to prepare for the Olympics. There were construction crews everywhere. Staring at us was at a premium in Beijing, however, even though it was more of a tourist city, a lot of Chinese people are moving here from the countryside where they may not have seen a Westerner before.
Pollution was only extremely bad one of the five days we were in town. It was very hazy and the air looked gritty. You could view the midday sun directly without sunglasses on. I think the pollution/irritants (or maybe just the traveling) caused me to catch a cold while in Beijing.
WALMART! Ever since I heard that Walmart had stores in China (a while ago) I have wanted to visit. Guiltily, I must admit that Josh and I visited a three story Beijing Walmart Supercenter BEFORE we made it out to the Great Wall of China taking a cab to reach the store! The Walmart was great although it didn't offer super savings like I expected. We did get a lot of snack food there though!
The Great Wall of China (Mutianyu section) was surprisingly empty. The mountainous landscape was different than we'd expected as was the isolation of the location. We selected to visit this section of the wall because it is less touristy and not completely renovated like the Badaling section of the wall. My most favorite thing about the Great Wall was reaching the end of the cared for section and seeing where the trees and brush have grown all over the wall and it's steps and walkway. Seeing that was so amazing.
Xian, China impression: This is the place to visit to check out the Terra Cotta Warriors. However, the actual soldiers are about a 45 minute to 1 hour drive out of the city. We were happy to have visited this site, however, we won't go back to visit for a long time, if ever. It was definitely a neat thing to see and something that we'd recommend for people to check out but just not much to go back to visit again. Like, once is enough.
We also did a bike ride around the city wall of Xian before catching our afternoon flight to Hong Kong. It was a 13.75 km bike ride and we had to complete the ride in 100 minutes or pay more for our bike rental. By the end of the ride, we'd broken a sweat but it was fun and we felt good to get some exercise.
Hong Kong, China impression: Bright lights, big city. It was a mixture of China and New York City. While we LOVED China, NYC is not our most favorite place. We're just not big city people. So, we did some shopping, caught the free Symphony of Lights show where the city's buildings light up on cue to music being played, a took a ride on the Star Ferry across the harbour. Our plans to climb Victoria Peak were thwarted by the hours it took us at the post office to mail 15 kilograms of clothing home to the United States.
Siem Reap, Cambodia impressions: We absolutely loved Cambodia and all the ruined temples at the Angkor Wat complex. We definitely plan to return to the country and visit/explore further. Cambodia was simply incredible and affordable. We can't wait to go back and spend at least one week because the 4 nights we had there wasn't enough time to see it all. Heck, I don't even think we saw the town of Siem Reap at all in the daytime and we only saw about two streets of it at night when we'd go out to dinner in town. 
Phuket, Thailand impression: Wow! We love this island! We stayed on Karon Beach...huge waves, clear water, amazing sunsets. We scheduled 4 nights here and had a great first two nights...we were even in town to catch the Loy Krathong Festival where hundreds of lanterns float in the water and the sky. It was magical.
Then, on our third day, Josh got knocked out with food poisoning and our last two nights were spent trying to get him to recover. Picture me jogging to a pharmacist with a wad of Thai baht in my fist not caring how much the medicine would cost and explaining to the Thai pharmacist Josh's symptoms. This was the first time I have ever seen Josh this sick and I couldn't handle it at all! I was crying and scared...another reason why I could not have kids...I think it would be worse seeing a little person go through what Josh went through.
Before the food poisoning incident, we were talking about alternating Mexico and Phuket for our yearly beach vacation. I think it's still a possibility because there was so much of the island that we were unable to experience due to Josh's illness. We were thankful, however, that he got sick while we still had time left in the Phuket hotel rather than on a travel day.
So that's the short version of our time in Asia. When we traveled back to the states, this was our itinerary:
Bangkok-Sydney-Wellington (one night)-bus to Palmerston North (one night)-Auckland-Los Angeles-Fayetteville. It was definitely the long way home but well worth it and we're here now. We were EXHAUSTED when we arrived last Friday night but we had a lot of business to take care of.
On Monday, we bought a 2008 Toyota Rav-4 because our Civic was totalled last December before the move to New Zealand. We got new cell phones. We're sorting out what house we'd like to purchase. It's narrowed down to two choices. The job front looks promising. We've still got some Christmas shopping and gift wrapping to do.
We've eaten at several of our favorite restaurants and the food is as good as we remembered as we layed in our bed in Palmerston North talking about what we were going to have when we returned to America. The portion sizes in the states are huge in comparison to New Zealand and you get free refills on your soda! Of course, there is the down side of the violence in America as recently evidenced by the mall shooting in Nebraska.
We've met up with our friends and former co-workers. Most people we run into in Fayetteville are friendly and I am constantly reminded of why we picked to return to live here. We fit in here and it's true that there is no place like home.
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