He’s gonna hate me for this when he’s older…
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Bangkok for fun!
Well, sort of! We had Dr. visits on the first day…to which I HAVE to digress for a moment. We visit Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok…it is fabulous; clean, fast, efficient, reputable and overall just perfect…I mean, a hospital with a McDonalds AND Starbucks (just to start) can’t be THAT bad in my book!! To top it off, Jim & Zachary had Dr. visits that included blood tests for over 100 types of allergies, about 8 different medications and lab fees…and the total bill was $1250…and that seemed SUPER crazy expensive to us…(it will all be reimbursed by our wonderful insurance who is also responsible for paying the ENTIRE family’s round trip airfare to Bangkok…everyone needs this insurance!!) So, if it sounds crazy expensive to you, it’s probably because !) you live in a country where it’s all covered…or B) you live in the USA where we have co-payments and don’t see that hospital bill of $13,932 for lab work, unless you read your Explanation of Benefits and see that while the price WAS $13,932, your insurance only has to pay $853 or some BS like that.
Paying on your own for a visit like that in the states would have maxed out a credit card…one friend had dengue fever and had to fly home anyhow…so he needed to have his blood work done to make sure his platelets were where they were supposed to be…this blood draw in an urgent care in Las Vegas was at a “discounted rate” of $4800…FOR ONE TEST…
All I’m trying to say is that there IS 1st class healthcare offered here and it doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg and your firstborn!
Off my soapbox…maybe that should have been it’s own post, regardless…we had SOME FUN this time!! We weren’t hurrying all over town for surgeries, coming out of (or not coming out of) anesthesia, getting infections after surgeries and staying up ALL.NIGHT.LONG…this was our first trip, with all 3 boys and just the mama and the dada in our room – AND on the plane!! (usually I am travelling alone or with a nanny and the boys while Daddy stays home and works!)
The insurance travel agent booked us right…they put me in one row with the twins…and Daddy in another row with just Zachary and his iPad! The flight was probably way too early and there are NO photos of this momentous occasion of “Daddy’s first flight with all 3 boys!” , but it was just fine because ALL the boys were super excited to be going somewhere and the plane was only about 10% full…
FULL SPEED AHEAD…After Dr. visits, we walked like 3 miles to go the Hard Rock in humid sweaty Bangkok…but it was WORTH it! We brought Chhim along (Sokim’s sister) so they could have some fun on their own and feel comfortable exploring the city together!
Then we decided we did NOT want to walk back to the hotel, so we jumped into some harmless little tuktuks…RIGHT! Zachary thought we were racing the entire trip home…and to be honest, it felt like we were…tuktuks in Thailand would kick some Cambodian tuktuk ass if there was a race…I don’t know what they put in those things, but they HAUL BUNS!
THE PERFECT DAY!
While Trevor napped, Zachary, Brando & I had a McDonald’s/Starbucks date…their favorite, my favorite…can’t go wrong!
Got a little lift from the bellman…
Then I took the three boys to the mall while Daddy and Robert watched the Master’s and drank some beer…we had a blast, riding escalators, eating ice cream, picking out candy, checking out Toys R Us…
…and finding a kick butt movie theatre called Happiness Theatre (which would get you something completely different here in Cambodia…Happy Pizza…Happy Truffles…).
We had an ENTIRE HUGE couch to the 4 of us with 4 blankets, pillows, popcorn, sodas and Jelly Belly’s…Brando curled up in the corner and slept thru the entire movie and Trevor, Zachary and I used about 1/3 of the rest of the sofa and had a blast! I really wanted some great photos, but could only sneak one due to their piracy problems over here…
Little B, all snuggled in a enjoying his “spot”!
Then we met up with everyone for dinner at Din Tai Fung and ate about 93 dumplings because someone else did the ordering!!! YUMMINESS…you HAVE to eat there…it is DELISH!!!
We sent the boys home with the girls and checked into the big kids movie theatre…FIRST CLASS BABY!!! For about $28, you get into a First Class lounge with a dinner and desert buffet set up an hour before the movie starts…you get a cocktail and whatever you want to drink during the movie…then you are ushered into a theatre of ONLY plush recliners where your pre-ordered drinks and flavor of popcorn are waiting for you to remove your shoes, pull up the blankie and recline (just don’t do it before you have to stand up and salute the king…pre-movie must do I learned!). We saw Oblivion…I’m not a sci-fi fan; but I really enjoyed the movie…probably might have had something to do with those reclining seats!
We had a few more days there…we swam, we ate, we ate, we ate…and oh, we ate, we got foot massages, saw sharks, drank coffee, had dates and dug in on some Mexican Food and great OREGON BEER and ate some more!!! We found some new places, went back to some old ones and just had fun! I think our favorite find was the Rogue, Yellow Snow IPA…we haven’t had Rogue since we left the USA!
Bars to go…
…we had fun!!!
He says, “This says ZaCH, NOT Zack…”…he’s kinda right!
Time to go home…
Peace out…We all felt like this on Sunday!!!
…it’s what Bangkok does to you!
It’s a Boys World…
…in this house!!
We are all about Iron Man, Spider Man, Hulk, Loki, Captain America, Flash, Green Lantern, Super Man and any combination of the above or anything in between!!! My boys LOVE LOVE LOVE their super heroes – and if I’m being honest, I’m sort of liking them too! Especially these mini versions…that come screaming thru the house with their shields, capes and masks on backwards and upside down!! LOVE IT!
…and who am I kidding? I CANNOT wait for the new Iron Man to come out…we’ll be there on opening day!!!
Thursday, April 4, 2013
A little Shanghai…Just the Two of Us!
Well, not so little…while doing research on our latest trip, we found out that Shanghai is the largest city proper in the world…WHOA!!!…and let me tell you…it was HUGE…as far as the eye could see, was building after building after building and then more buildings…IF you could see thru all of the smog.
On a different note, this was a very special trip for me. Zachary has been taking Chinese and there was a special, so Daddy told us to go…alone…just the two of us!! I haven’t taken a trip with JUST Zachary since we spent the day at Disneyland when the twins were 3 months old…so we went! And WHAT a GREAT time we had…it was perfect, beautiful, lovely and just what we needed!
I loved getting one on one time with my biggest little, talking about dinosaurs and animals and anything he could think of! I was turned off to the world and tuned in to Zachary and he loved it and so did I!
Just the two of us hanging out and about town…drinking coffee, eating Old McDonalds, talking about animals, looking at puppies, riding on shoulders, seeing the sights!!!
It was COLD COLD COLD there…and we LOVED it! Minus the colds we happened to catch…it was great to NEED to wear jeans, long sleeves and layer upon layer of clothing!!!
…and the sights!!!
Our first photos:
Walking down our street:
The People’s Park:
Walking home:
A little sidewalk sale…that was going on the entire time we were there!
Fruit stand:
Corner homes:
Random snapshot into somebody’s front yard:
Shanghai Pearl at Night:
Grand Hyatt (certainly not where we stayed!):
Artwork in the Vietnamese restaurant:
There was an upper walk way connecting malls, restaurants, STARBUCKS and sites…quite enjoyable!!!:
Our trip to the top of the tower:
I LOVED this trip, I loved my time with my BooBoo Monkey, I loved seeing somewhere new and getting out of our comfort zone. It was amazing…but if I’m being honest, would prefer to go somewhere like Singapore or Malaysia or Hong Kong…those places are just much friendlier and easier to navigate!!! …and living in SE Asia, I get all of the “culture” I need on a daily basis…when I travel, I want a little bit of “western” in my life, like Hard Rock, CPK, Outback, Chilis...SOMETHING from home. I was thankful for Starbucks and Zachary enjoyed his Old McDonalds…but we really wanted some nachos or some spinach artichoke dip!!!
(on a side note…we DID happen to find the Mortons…and let me tell you…TOTALLY worth it! LOVED that filet…and bottle of Erath Pinot from OREGON!!! What a treat…even brought a bottle home for the daddy!!!)
Nevertheless, we got our fill of Starbucks, but mostly, of EACH OTHER!!
I love you to the moon and back my first little buddy!! From the moment I set my eyes on you, you had my heart! Your zest for life, your quick smile, your soft heart, your skip in your step, your twinkling eyes, your hand reaching for mine, your snuggles when we share a bed…you are my first baby and your are in my heart!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)