Sunday, June 29, 2008

All Good Things Must Come To An End...



We spent our last day like anybody who has never experienced a five star resort - trying to do and see everything possible and imprint it in our memory. We had room service on the patio and then went on a bike tour of the island. The brochure said it would be easy (for Lance Armstrong). It wore us out!

We came back and had lunch and then had a couples massage in the "spa room" of our villa. As I write, I know Jo will have plenty to say about this whole experience :)

We swam in the ocean took a nap and now are headed for wine and cheese in the villa where Ruler's boss is staying.

There are more pictures on the link - check them out. We turn into pumpkins at 8:15 AM tomorrow and will board four different airplanes for the 18+ hour trip home.

See you soon!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Malaysia




No attempt to be funny - just a quick update from Malaysia! We posted over 150 pictures today from our last day in Hong Kong, our 1 day in Kuala Lumpur, and our arrival at the Four Seasons in Langkawi! WOW!!




Michelle ate Octopus at dinner last night! We ate at a restaurant where they take live seafood from tanks, kill it, cook it and serve it. We have some great pictures - click on the link.

Today and tomorrow we are staying at the most inspiring place we have ever been - we are in a villa, on the beach, and can see Thailand from our front window. Behind us is a huge cliff, we have an outdoor shower, private spa, and basically a private beach.

By the way - we have seen unbelievable KFCs, Pizza Huts and East Dawning restaurants - it's very different than the US - the assets, the food, the hospitality. Pizza Hut in Hong Kong is like a scaled down Cheesecake Factory! KFC is the biggest and best known brand in Malaysia - over 400 restaurants owned by 1 Franchisee who also owns the 200 Pizza Huts.

Anyway, we have lots of stories and Michelle is much funnier on the blog - but we wanted to give you a quick update. We are off to a boat cruise and then dinner.




Kids - we love you!


Family - thank you!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Hong Kong

What an amazing city! No pictures today because of rain but we'll try and take more and put them on once we get to Kuala Lumpur. This is such a great place. More later! Going to dinner.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The Great Wall, Typhoons, and Ox Cheek

OK everyone, this isn't as funny or interesting as Chicken One, but thought we'd give you a quick run down!

Yesterday, we spent the morning at the Great Wall - check out all the pics by clicking the link. The drive home was very scary - the rules of the road are different, kind of an every man for himself situation. We also took a few pics of Olympic hotels and buildings.

We then visited East Dawning, a new Yum Brands restaurant at the airport - basically Chinese fast food in China - could be a big idea - go stock price!!

Then, off to Hong Kong, where we have level 8 Typhoon warnings! It's rained all night, so we aren't sure what will happen today. We are in very nice hotel and Hong Kong looks awesome - can't wait to get out and see everything!!!

OK, we are running late, we'll try to post some more before we leave tomorrow.

Kids - we miss you a ton and love you - thanks for sending me some emails.

GARY - send some more emails today to my email address!!!!!

bye for now

Monday, June 23, 2008

Duck, Duck, Goose?



We started this morning by heading over to a KFC for breakfast. All of the employees greeted and shook our hands as we entered and they served us a variety of menu items - none like what you can get at home. It was pretty good! From there, we headed to Tian An Men Square and then on to the Forbidden City. Tons of history and culture in those places. (Check out our pictures by clicking on the China link on the right side of the blog.)

From there, we went to a Pizza Hut for lunch. The stores here are more akin to a Chili's or T.G.I. Fridays. We were served escargot, onion rings, salad, a huge variety of smoothies and drinks and of course pizza. Not your basic pepperoni pan though. I liked most of it. Of course there, we were greeted by all of the staff and the people dining inside are always curious to see a bunch of Americans show up.

Our groups split at that point and I headed with the rest of the spouses to the pearl market - I saw lots of really beautiful pieces but it was more expensive than I thought and I didn't really know what a good bargain would be. Our guide Wendy helped me negotiate a good price on some silk dragon robes for my guys. NEGOTIATION happens on a completely different level here!

We arrived back at the hotel and had dinner inside. I did not have the duck! Afterwards, we headed to the Red Theater for a Kung Fu show.

Tomorrow, we go to the Great Wall and then fly on to Hong Kong. Many more pictures to come. Thanks M&D for letting us borrow the camera.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

We made it!


Hi everyone - we made it to Beijing. We had a very easy flight - 2 words - BUSINESS CLASS.


Boys - we flew on a 747 and were upstairs in a special section. We had dinner and lunch on the 11 hour flight. We were in our hotel about an hour after we landed, we worked out, ate a little snack and are getting ready to go to bed. It's 6:25 in the morning in CA, it's 9:25 PM in Beijing!
We love you and we'll post a message tomorrow. We are going to visit Tian An Men Square, the Forbidden City, mom is going shopping and I'm going to visit a few KFCs and Pizza Huts!
Have a great day and write us a note!!!!

Monday, June 16, 2008

Trip to China

We are off to China and want to set up a way to keep in touch! We are going to try and log in every day, post some pictures and tell you what's going on. (We aren't in China yet, the boat picture was a test to see if we can enter the year 2008 with our technology skills)

The pictures will be viewed via the link on the right side of the page.

We hope you will write back every day and tell us what's going on!

Mark (Ruler . . .)