Tropical Thailand

Our family came for a visit just before Chinese New Year officially kicked off. It was great to see them and introduce them to Asia and our life here. The added benefit for us was that by showing them Macau, we ourselves saw Macau again with fresh eyes and wonder. Truly, as adventurous as it sounds to be living abroad, life creeps around and it becomes like anywhere else. The sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and general way of life become just as normal as living back in your home country. Of course, there are still things that remind us we are NOT in out home country, but even those are more appreciated in some strange way.

After spending a few days in Macau and one day touring Hong Kong, we hopped on a flight to Krabi, Thailand. It came highly recommended by some of our good friends here, so we have been looking forward to it for months! We spent two days on the southern coast of Thailand in Ao Nang, in search of the postcard picture beaches and limestone cliffs. We were not disappointed. The scenery was breathtaking and floating in the Andaman Sea is enough to keep you content forever.

After a couple days, we climbed aboard a ferry that took us two hours south to what some call the last of true Thailand, Koh Lanta. Koh Lanta, is an island just off the coast of Thailand. It is blessed with palm tree fringed white sand beaches, a quiet atmosphere, few places to stay, and amazing sunsets. 

As Thai food lovers, we were very excited to experience authentic Thai cuisine. What we didn't know was that in doing so, we would downgrade every other Thai food we've eaten in the past to just "ok". Real Thai food is that good. It's equivalent to Italian food eaten in Italy. The fresh local ingredients were magic to our taste buds and every chef has their own unique combination to make each dish taste special.


 

Blooming Hong Kong

We could smell the aroma before we knew we were there. We could hear an excited buzz in the air before we saw it. When we walked around the corner, our eyes were met with the most colorful array of flowers we've ever seen! Street after street!

While doing a little research in Hong Kong before we took our family there, we stumbled across the fact that extraordinary flower markets are a tradition leading up to the New Year. Special flowers are put in homes, on the streets, and are given as gifts, with each flower having a unique significance. We thought it would be fun to go see once such market while in Hong Kong got the day. Little did we know how amazing it would be.

Although we set out to see the special flower market in Victoria Park, the biggest treat was when we stumbled upon Flower Market Street, just next to the Song Bird Garden in Kowloon.

We wish you could smell and hear everything that went along with these beautiful blooms.