Goin' Back to Cali...

So... we got back to Taipei from NZ on a Monday afternoon... put some washing on - went to sleep. Tuesday morning we had another ultrasound - HE'S A BOY!!! (you've already read that part)... repacked our suitcases... then boarded Singapore Airlines for another 13 hour flight! Yep... one crazy summer! My sister's wedding was the motivating factor to get us home in September. That event was amazing... but we managed to squeeze in plenty of other family/friend time over the course of 2-3 weeks. Here's a look at some of what we did while we were there! Wedding and Las Vegas pictures to come!

The first night in town I went to a baby shower for a good friend... girlfriends & pizookie - what a way to start a holiday!

Danny & Pearl are friends we love to catch up with each time we're back!

They took us out for a good feed and fellowship early on in our trip!

Mother-Daughter Bonding! The weekend before the wedding, the three of us took off for an evening of relaxation together. It was a really special evening of sharing and laughing til we cried.

Southern California is a great place to be from! On Tony's last day in town we spent a couple of hours at the beach just relaxing... it was the first time he felt Hunter move around...

Just a typical car dealership in Newport Beach, CA

Of course, while we were home we ate Mexican food every chance we got! Here's Tony with his "Happy Burrito" from Happy Burrito! I think I know who the happy one is here!

Scott & Joanne are friends of mine from Arizona State University!! They came all the way to California for a "vacation" to squeeze in a chance to see me and introduce me to Jack! Thanks guys for making the effort!!!

My little sister, Steph, is growing up! Or is this Selma Hayak?

Extended Family

Most of our friends in California are related to us... so we like to make sure we spend some time with as many of our aunts, uncles and cousins as are around.

It's become a tradition to go out to lunch with our pastors - Uncle John and "Uncle" Larry. These men were a big part of my high-school and early college days... now when we meet together, we talk a lot about church dynamics, etc... Tony and I walk away feeling so grown up! Thanks guys for letting us in your world!

Most of the rellies live in the same coastal community - which makes it very convenient to catch glimpses of each other. Taking a trip inland to see the Provosts may take a good chunk of the day - but it's always worth it!

In the past the Nehrig table has been consistently set for over 10, at least 7 people - so it was a bit strange to walk in and find only 4 place settings. But the strangeness wore off pretty quickly when we realized it was an evening of undivided attention. Thanks, Uncle Steve & Aunt Francine for being so real with us! Oh... and thanks for lending us the truck! What a blessing!!!

The wedding brought out heaps of other relatives... Uncle Mark, Marty and Beth (from my dad's side) came all the way from Florida to spend the weekend celebrating with us. We got to catch up with them even more over breakfast the day after the wedding! Thanks guys for coming over - it was great to see you again! Maybe one of these days we'll get Tony & Hunter over to Florida to see you.

Grandpa & Grandma Boyer

After our visit with Tony's Granny in Christchurch, we realised how quickly things can change for grandparents between visits. We decided early on that we wanted to spend a as much time as we could with our Grandma & Grandpa B... and that we did!

Grandma decided to upgrade from her old, slow Mac to a new, faster PC. So Tony spent a lot of time choosing the best computer for her and helping her set it up. This also meant switching over their phone/internet service... so I became the expert in So Cal plans. The final outcome - a 19" flat screen she can see with a fast digital connection so she can view our blog and Grandpa can use the phone at the same time!!! A good result!

Grandpa does a lot sitting these days - usually with a Starbucks in his hand!
At 84 - he's still very healthy and independent!

Grandma's sight and hearing are changing a bit, but her zest has not diminished at all.


Grandma had wanted to have us over for dinner ever since we arrived, but evenings were a bit full-on at first, so upon return from Las Vegas we finally came home to a Grandma cooked dinner.

A while back Grandpa added a porch area to the front of their house. At some point during the day you'll find at least one of them kicking back ready to visit with any stoppers-by.

I spent a few hours combined on the porch too... it was a great time spent with two amazing people.

A Little Sun in Kending

Three down, four more to go...

With Tony's third semester behind him we decided to take a little trip down to the south of Taiwan. It took a 4 hour train ride, followed by a 2.5 hour bus ride, but we finally made it to the tropical paradise of Kending! The town really does have an "island" feel not found in Taipei city. Despite the rain, we spent a somewhat relaxing 4 days, 3 nights together watching movies on TV, playing Yahtzee, and eating the most Mexicanish food we've eaten since our last trip to California. No matter what, it's always nice to get away for a few days and we're hoping the next time we get to Kending the sun will be a bit more friendly.

Our accommodation had it's own beach... which, unfortunately, was closed for swimming. Places in Taiwan have got a lot of rules... here Tony's pointing out that you're not allowed to take away living things "such as oral"... we're pretty sure they mean "coral" but it's always funny!

Since our beach was closed, we walked along the coast to the next resort which happened to have these fantastic hammocks. Twenty minutes in a hammock makes for a real holiday, regardless of the weather.

On Day 2 we borrowed the bikes from our accommodation and took a little trip down to the next beach. We were trucking along quite nicely till Tony got stopped by a campaign sign. What about the rules for this kind of thing?

We made it safely to the beach where we went for a little swim - it's always refreshing to be in salt water! Living in NZ has taken the desire for sunbathing out of both of us, but I did somewhat envy this guy who obviously doesn't worry about skin cancer, skin discoloration or lines around his eyes... oh what a holiday!

On Day 3 we decided to rent a motorscooter to go exploring. Just as we paid the guy and put on our helmets it started bucketing down with rain!!! I think Tony's face here captures the moment quite well!

No worries... as soon as there was a break in the rain, we rushed over to the nearest convenience store to pick up rain jackets which kept us dry from the rain... however these "humidity suits" make you feel like it's raining from the inside out sometimes.

Thankfully there was a long break in the rain so we went on a beautiful walk through the Kending National Park's Nature Center. During the walk we were thankful for the cloud cover. Once we made it to the top of the hill we were thankful for the wooden cover as the clouds decided they'd held on long enough.

As part of our rainy day entertainment we played a game of Yahtzee under the pavillion. It was my day... for those of you who play... I rolled a Yahtzee of 6's on my last roll which clinched my victory!!!

All in all we had a great time together... don't think this scooter has had this much weight in a while... but hey, it did alright! Although it was fun for a holiday... I'm glad we decided not to buy a scooter for life in Taipei... much more complicated in the city!

A Much Needed Break - Phuket Vacation

After 7 months of life in bustling Taipei, we decided it was time for a break from city life so we headed off to Phuket, Thailand for 9 days of fresh air and salt water. It was a fantastic holiday! Great food, interesting activities and a bit of rest... yep, we finally got rid of those bags under our eyes...

We stayed at the Club Andaman Beach Resort in Patong Beach.

It was a nice place with great gardens. These gardens created an atmosphere of seclusion even though we were only about 250m (or less) from the busiest beach on the island.

Patong Beach

We spent an evening at the Phuket FantaSea show. Had a tasty buffet dinner at the largest restuarant we'd ever been too (behind us) and then saw the cultural performance. Now this wasn't just any "cultural performance" it was actually very well done and large scale! The theatre seats 3,000 people... the show included acrobats, animals, traditional dance and special effects... we both left feeling duly impressed.

During our stay there was a "Street Vendor Food Festival" on in Phuket Town. We took our only public bus ride into the "city" and enjoyed some of the best street food around.

One last sip of beach life before heading back to school! We arrived back at home 1.30 am only to wake up a few hours later for a new semester with 8am classes!

Read on for more fun and adventures from our Phuket Vacation...

Phuket Vacation - Sea Canoe Trip

This was super cool... boats, canoes, strange rock formations, sea caves, monkeys, bats... all the ingredients for a great day of exploration.

Dang, our intrepid guide

Looks like just a little island to the casual observer...

but having entered the island through a sea cave, here we are coming out of the cave into the "hong" - a room-like opening in middle of the rock island.

In one of the hongs we came upon some monkeys making a crossing from tree to tree. At first there were only two of them, but we sat around for a while and watched a whole family make the journey... pretty fun creatures to watch!

This particular trip was a "sunset cruise"... though too cloudy for a real sunset, we still went into one of the caves as it was getting dark. Inside the cave we splashed around in the water and caught a glimpse of phosphorous critters creating light in the dark waters... super cool!

If in Phuket, you've gotta go on this trip... it's worthwhile (and the food was absolutely delicious)

www.johngray-seacanoe.com

Phuket Vacation - Island hopping

One of the selling points of the trip was a drive by Maya Bay where the movie "The Beach" was filmed.

Since neither one of us have seen the movie, the significance was wasted on us...

although it was a beautiful place!

Us with our new-found hobby... notice this is day 6 of the trip and we're still almost day-glow white.

We were by far the whitest tourists around... kept slapping on the sunscreen and ducking for cover... must be the Kiwi in us.

Phi Phi Island

Phuket Vacation - Siam Safari

A common theme in Thai textile design is the elephant... after seeing so many around town we decided to check out a few live ones for ourselves. Siam Safari was a well-run tour operation so we headed out with them for a 4 in 1 adventure...

We got to experience animals (oxen, monkeys, and of course, elephants) and a bit of Thai rural life. It was a great way to spend half a day seeing something other than the beach.

Pretty fast for a 3 year old... he snatched those bananas quickly!

Not your typical road sign

I've been living in Asia for a while... the fingers automatically go up in pictures



If you go to Phuket, definitely check out Siam Safari's tour options:
www.siamsafari.com

Phuket Vacation -Snorkelling around Similan Islands

After our snorkel around Phi Phi Island on Thursday, Tony was hooked! So we saved the best for last and ventured out to the Similan Islands... it was worth the 6.15am pick up and 2.5 hour travel time one way (1.5 hours by van and hour by boat). Definitely worth it!

Approaching Island No.8 of the 9 small Similan Islands

We got in two snorkelling sessions... it was absolutely amazing!!! There were fish everywhere... vivid, vibrant, animated fish... the kind that undoubtedly inspired characters for "Finding Nemo" (though we never actually found Nemo) and "The Little Mermaid". We were blown away at the beauty and variety of the underwater world! God is so fantastically creative!

Unfortunately we don't have an underwater camera so if you want to see some of the fish we saw... click here: http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2005-39,GGLR:en&q=fish%20similan%20islands&sa=N&tab=wi

Like the Taiwanese, the Thai people have great imaginations. This bay is called "Donald Duck Bay"... can you see it? I thought it was a dog! I would've named it "Great Dane Bay" or "Marmaduke Bay"

All the way home we chatted with 2 Austrian guys who'd been out on the diving boat. Fascinating hobby... Tony was all ears! Don't know what that means... but our golf clubs are already a bit dusty...

If we go back to Phuket... we're keen to go back to Similan...

Here's some info if you're keen:

http://www.phuket.com/island/similans.htm