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A few observations from our month long stay in Bangkok as compared to France, our current home:

Driving – traffic is a “bit” crazy! Taxis, tuk-tuks may try to rip you off but this usually only amounts to $1-2USD. Meanwhile, taxis “ass-rape” you in the Cote d’Azur. Think I’m kidding? Try coming here and taking a 20 minute (15km) cab ride. It will cost you about 80€-90€ (about $105 USD)!

People & Attitude – The Thai are generally very happy people especially when you visit their country. Unlike the French, with the Thai, trust is given, not earned. They are very much like Canadians in that respect. (No wonder I liked them so much!) Respect is always shown from a Thai native.

Shoes at the Door – Thai people never enter a place of dwelling with shoes on. Shoes are left outside the door. ALWAYS! Even the housekeeping staff at our hotel never entered our room with their shoes/sandals on. The French seem to walk into a house and keep their shoes on. (Considering the amount of dog crap on the sidewalks, I’m not sure that is a good idea.)

Sacred Body – The head is considered of the highest order. The feet are the lowest and considered dirty. Never step over someone’s head with your feet and NEVER, EVER point your feet toward Buddha.

Money – Never step on money to stop coins from rolling or bills from blowing away. This is considered an insult to the Queen, her family, and the Thai people.

Customer Service – was “unbelievably superior” to anywhere I have ever been! Thai people open doors for you – malls, taxis, hotels, etc. They are EXTREMELY courteous and polite. The French, have no idea what customer service is. PERIOD. If you ever “want” to feel like Royalty, visit Thailand and enjoy their unbelievable hospitality. They are amazing people!

Safety – In all the taxis we rode, there wasn’t one that had seatbelts readily available to use. We had to dig them out from behind the backseat. Seatbelts are the law in France as safety is taken seriously. (Unless you ride a moto then you can ride with a kid that is at least 5 years old. Ummm, what? Darwinism, that’s all I’m saying. I feel bad for the kids!)

Speed Limits – In Thailand, speed limits are a mere suggestion. On the other hand, speed cameras will nab you in France.

In Thailand there are free roaming Monitor lizards. Very cool! In France, well, there are lots of free roaming Romanian gypsies. Not cool, EVER!

Au revoir, mes amis!

So one of the recommended things to do when in Bangkok is to visit the Floating Markets. There are a few to travel to that are only about an hour or so from Bangkok. We have heard as well as read quite a few reviews/sites indicating the Damnoen Saduak Floating market is extremely touristy. While it is probably quite exciting to see, we were recommended by a fellow colleague to instead travel to the floating market in Amphawa.

One major difference between the 2 floating markets is that the Amphawa starts at 1500h and shuts down at 2100h whereas Damnoen Saduak only operates from 0700h to 1300h. So after a little research, we booked a place to stay, we were off to Amphawa for an overnight stay at The Legend Maeklong.

How to Get to Amphawa?
Despite where you may be staying in Bangkok, you “should” be able to make your way to “Victory Monument”. We ventured there by taxi for a cost of 80 baht (by the meter). One thing we learn in the first couple days was to ALWAYS ask a taxi driver to travel by the meter. If they refuse, trust us, there will be another one in 2 minutes. There is NO SHORTAGE of taxis in Bangkok! You can also get to Victory Monument via the SkyTrain which is very quick and easy to use. This is an especially great option (and highly recommended) if you do NOT want to sit in traffic! Once at Victory Monument, find the location for the Mini-bus (Toyota van) to Amphawa, another 80 baht per person. If you aren’t sure, just ask one of the local vendors for “Amphawa” and they will be able to point you in the right direction. Once on the minibus from Victory Monument, you are on your way directly to Amphawa.

After an hour and a bit minibus ride, we arrived in Amphawa at the drop point. It seemed like when asking the locals where or how to get to “The Legend Maeklong”, no one knew what we were talking about. One local man graciously called the small resort for us. We soon discovered that we should have gotten dropped off Maeklong, the stop 10 minutes prior to Amphawa. A tuk-tuk was called to transport us to Maeklong that is, until we learned the driver wanted 200 baht for a 10 mins ride. Ummmm, no! First of all, we have a safety concern for our daughter in such a vehicle with no doors or seatbelts and secondly, it ONLY cost us 80 baht each to travel from Bangkok to Amphawa! After speaking with Kanita at the “Legend”, she informed us that we could take a long boat, water taxi, directly to the Legend’s dock on the river. Sweet! It was more costly than the tuk-tuk BUT it was VERY COOL and the river view was AWESOME!

During our 15 min water taxi ride to the resort, we had the opportunity to observe the floating market in its active and very lively state. There were people everywhere and, honestly, very few tourists – well…white tourists, anyway. Along the way we captured some pretty cool photos of the old wooden teak houses that local people rent out to tourists. Literally, a Thai family will take you in for your stay in Amphawa if you like. How great and hospitable is that? (Did I mention the Thai’s are incredibly polite and courteous?)

Arriving at The Legend Maeklong, we were greeting by Kanita and her staff. Unbeknownst to us but we were upgraded to a sweet room at the back of the 100+ year old Colonial home which is an amazing and the main house at the resort. Kanita and her staff were amazing! They greeted us dockside, welcoming us with friendly smiles and open arms. Our bags were shuttled off to our room to settle in and get ready for dinner. After dinner Kanita arranged for us to take another private long boat taxi to the night market for some sight-seeing and shopping. The night market was AWESOME! Lots and lots of cool things to look at; both souvenirs and edibles. We saw some worms, beetles, and other bugs that were available to snack on BUT…ultimately settled for a couple of handmade watches. On the way home, our taxi captain took us to an area that was quite dark with the only real light being that of the moon. As we approached, we were able to see a lot, and I mean A LOT, A LOT of fire flys sitting in the trees. The entire tree was literally lit up like a Christmas tree! It was VERY COOL! Miss G loved it!

As always, enjoy the slide show by clicking on the picture!

Au revoir, mes amis!

Over the past few weeks, G and Daddy have ventured out into the lively Bangkok streets and managed to discover one of the largest malls in Bangkok, Central World. Let’s just say NINE STORIES of shopping! WHAT? It was crazy, awesome! Each floor is for someone or something different. Floor 1 is Jewelers, watches, some clothes, etc where, say, floor 2 and 3 is women’s shopping and men’s shopping, respectively. Floor 4 was more my speed with electronics whereas floor 6 was more G’s thing with kid’s clothes and play areas, or as G likes to say, “play or-eas”. Back by the Toys ‘R Us there is a huge play area and kids zone where kids can run around and jump, play, go on rides, and just be kids. There are also lots of shops for things like kids painting, a clay store, tutoring, and, well what mall wouldn’t be complete without a “Build-A-Bear” store?

Another great attraction for kids is the Dusit Zoo. What a great place to see some amazing animals! On the cab ride over we travelled past the Royal Palace where the Queen of Thailand and her family resides. We also saw the Thai Parliament buildings in the same viscinity. It was fairly “hot & humid” the day we decided to head to take in the zoo but, then again, everyday has been like that so far while here. Upon entry to the zoo, there was a tram that we could ride around the entire campus and jump on and off as desired to visit and take in the different sights and areas. First up, the giraffes and zebras. Then we were off to see the monkeys, penguins, hippos, and the “big” cats (bobcat, lion, tigers – bengals and white bengals, cheetah, leopard). We saw camels, bears, crocs, and other reptiles. Toward the end of the day, it began to rain but that didn’t stop us from feeding the elephants, visiting the lemur & squirrel monkeys, and finally seeing some parrots and flamingos to end our FUN day!

Another new day and new adventure. This day we decided to check a place called the “Fun-Aruim”. It was very similar to Boomiland and Fun City back in the Cote d’Azur. These are a two of G’s favourite places! It was a total kids’ playland and G took full advantage of an unbusy afternoon of kids. She played for 3+ hours with a half hour lunch break staggered in there! One of the coolest things Miss G found was a ball pit where you can feed balls into 2 tubes (hooked up to a giant vacuum-like device) that suck them up to a plastic holding box overhead. Once a substantial amount of balls are collected, the vacuum will shut off and the balls will dump out all over the kids. Everytime this occurred, G would laugh her head off! I got a good chuckle out of the kids that, instead of putting balls in the tubes to be sucked up, sat there and allowed their hair to be sucked into the tubes. Of course, the kids themselves thought this was quite hilarious too! Despite this place not being as big as Fun City in France, i have to say that I was quite impressed with the quality of food in the restaurant. For the fact that France takes their food so seriously, I’m quite sure that the Thai’s took this category hands down!

Traffic in Bangkok is a little crazy to say in the least. Then again, I thought that of France when we moved there too! However, today we ended up heading back to the hotel during rush hour traffic. Definitely NOT ideal! In the end it turned out that our taxi driver didn’t really know exactly where our hotel was. Seriously, isn’t that why I hired you? Good thing I paid attention to the route we took to get to Fun-Arium and had a “rough” idea of how to get home and after an hour in the cab, we were back at the hotel. Safe and sound.

Here is a picture slideshow of our adventure out. Click to enjoy!

Au revoir, mes amis!

After a LONG couple of days of travel, we arrived in Bangkok, Thailand! Wow, what an amazing place so far although we have only been here 2 days. We are looking forward to exploring this amazing city over the next month! Yes, that’s right 1 “entire” month. Personally, I have never had 4 weeks of vacation but I’m certainly not going to turn it down! While Katherine’s time here is work and vacation, Miss G and myself will be on 100% vacation trekking through the city locating the zoo & aquarium for starters. First observation is that Bangkok is pretty Westernized; good and bad. Albeit, it’s nice to see a few familiar things when out and about!

Upon arrival at BKK, it was literally impossible NOT to notice the politeness, courtesy, and the superior level of customer service that the Thai people provide! UNBELIEVABLE! France, you REALLY need to take some lessons in Customer Service from the Thai. The Thai are extremely willing to help you. We were greeted as soon as we stepped off the airplane and with radio in hand, a BKK rep tried to get G’s stroller up from baggage hold. Too bad we she was unsuccessful BUT it was due to fact that one load of bags had already been sent to Baggage Claim. Talk about fast! Shit, when we left France we were on a “restricted airspace delay” due to ground workers being on roving strike. Not all, just some. And, who knows, they were probably striking because their coffee machine was broken or had been removed from their breakroom! WTF is that? (no further comment.)

While filling out our visa card for entry to Thailand, a second BKK rep approached us and directed us to use the priority lane since we had a toddler traveller with us. REALLY? We don’t have to wait in that LONG-ASS line with the other 2000 people that just arrived?!? Thank you, sir for pointing that out! After a little bit of a wait in the priority line where we think the one and only Mr. Grumpy “Thai” dude was working, we finally had our visas processed. Not one smile from this gentleman nor did he speak during the entire process; he just pointed to what he wanted or wanted us to do. BUT alas, Miss G made Mr. Grumpy smile! As we were processed through and on our way to pick up our bags, G stopped to tell him, “thank you” and he leaned over where G promptly offered up a “high five” and proceeded on her way! He smiled and chuckled. We are pretty sure Miss G “made” his day!

Bags claimed. Now transportation needed which was pre-arranged with our hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel wasn’t there at the time BUT another hotel driver offered to call our hotel and let them know we were ready for pick-up. Unheard of! We don’t even think we get that kind of service in North America! Within 5 minutes our driver arrived. Just when we thought that was all, Mr. Non-Hotel-Driver took all our bags to the van AND assisted our driver with loading them. WHAT? Unbelievable customer service, AGAIN!

Asia, I know we just arrived but…we think we love you!. More to come BUT we’ll leave you with our first Bangkok gallery of pics. Enjoy the slideshow by clicking this pic below!

Au revoir, mes amis!

Wow…what an incredible day! No cars, no clouds, hot and sunny, and a beach on an island. Does it get any better?

Yesterday we decided to make a new play date with one of Miss G’s classmates, Bia. They are like two peas in a pod and are so cute together! We, along with Bia’s parents, Carlos and Rita, planned a play date on the beaches at Ile Sainte-Marguerite; famous for where the Man in the Iron Mask was imprisoned and where the Hollywood movie was partially filmed.

According to Wikipedia…

“The Île Sainte-Marguerite is the largest of the Lérins Islands, about half a mile off shore from the French Riviera town of Cannes. The island is approximately 3 km in length (East to West) and 900m across.

The island is most famous for its fortress prison (the Fort Royal), in which the so-called Man in the Iron Mask was held in the 17th century.”

While this trip wasn’t about touring Fort Royal (for another day), it was about languishing in the sun, enjoying a bottle or two of rosé wine, and great conversation with Carlos & Rita, who recently relocated to the Cote d’Azur from Portugal. Like us, they are enjoying the area and weather in the French Riviera and we all have so many things in common. It’s so great to meet new friends that are in the same place as ourselves; new parents, new country to live, etc. We have met so many fabulous people in the past year from all over the world. We are so blessed!

The Cote d’Azur is an amazing place to live and such a great opportunity for the kids! We are glad that Miss G has become great friends with Bia and now has yet another close friend to enjoy planned outings with. G and Bia walked hand-in-hand pretty much the entire way from the ferry to the beach! They get along so well and it’s so cute to see them having a conversation amongst themselves playing in the sand and floating with their water-wings in the water. Now, I think we just have to get all our other “France” friends together and have a “grande” time on the beach one day this summer! Hmmm, maybe a beach picnic is in store soon.

Here are some pics from our day on Ile Sainte-Marguerite! As always, click the pic below to enjoy the slideshow!

Au revoir, mes amis!

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Au revoir, mes amis!

After a couple of LOOOOONG flights for a recent trip back to North America to visit family, we decided we needed something a little less scheduled. Plans for a train trip to La Rochelle fell through due to train scheduling so we opted for a trip to Corsica. It sounds like a great set up for a relaxing trip, right? A ferry ride to the island, a rented bungalow/cabin a stone-throw from the beach, my beautiful wife and amazing daughter…perfect!

It was Miss G’s first time on a passenger/car ferry. We put on her psi-bands in the morning prior to getting in the car. You see, Miss G doesn’t do too well in the car driving in France. Can you blame her though? All those twisty-turny roundabouts. Heck, who doesn’t want to puke? As we were unsure of how she would do on the boat, we figured we’d stay on the safe side. I have to say though, so far, when using the psi-bands Miss G has not gotten sick (especially since she got sick on both flights on our trip to North America).

After arriving in Corsica late on a Saturday evening due to a delayed ferry departure, it took us a bit to find our rented bungalow at Cala Bianca Residences. The Cala Bianca property is only a short 11km drive from the port in Bastia and boasts quite large number of bungalows with about 150 or so!

Our bungalow was the perfect home away from home; a two bedroom place with a full kitchen with open living room, and a semi-private patio for late afternoon sun. It had everything we needed.

The next morning was quite wet. The clouds were abundant and dark in hue with brief periods of dryness. The rain stopped long enough for us to take a walk to the main clubhouse and check the grounds out. We went down to the beach despite the wet sand and gloomy weather. We met a very friendly Frenchman at the Cafe where we stopped for “un cafe, une verre de vin rose, et jus d’pomme”. Due to the weather, I think we were his only customers that day.

The next day the sun beamed bright and it was a beach day! Following breakfast, we were beach-bound to soak up some sun. Despite the day being a bit breezy, we managed to enjoy a few hours on the beach. With only a few other people on the beach, we pretty much had the sand all to ourselves. Building sand castles, dipping our toes in the cool water, and collecting sea-washed shells was so much fun with Miss G. She LOVED it! Later, we had an old-fashioned, charcoal bbq of burgers, grilled asparagus with red peppers, potatoes, and for dessert grilled pineapple. Delicious!

A welcomed email informing us of another late departure from Bastia back to Nice meant that we didn’t have to get up at 530am to catch a 7am ferry. A 1.5 hour delay meant that all three of us could get a little bit more sleep prior to heading back home from a short but relaxing getaway in Corsica.

Click the picture here for the slideshow of Corsica in pictures! (…be patient though as the slideshow loads.)

Au revoir, mes amis!

Well…it was supposed to rain this afternoon in the Cote d’Azur despite it being a beautiful morning, luckily the rain held off all day. No rain was perfect for us, since we decided to take a trip down to Cannes to see what was happening at this year’s Film Festival. Miss G wanted to see and hang at the beach today and the weather cooperated by giving us perfection!

Katherine made an awesome breakfast of scrambled eggs with red peppers, garlic, red onions, spinach, and ham. Miss G finished an entire “pain au chocolat” all herself, we got ready and headed for “la gare” enroute to Cannes.

After wandering around on “La Croisette” and checking out all the promotional billboards, beach restaurants, and people, we decided it was time for late afternoon lunch on the beach. There is nothing like an amazing afternoon of hot, sunny weather and having lunch on the beach! A bottle of Rose and two refreshing salads for us and “steak hache avec frites” for Miss G – a perfect day in Cannes I would say, yes?!?

Following lunch, we were off to find the carousel. Miss G LOVES the carousel. It’s a double-decker carousel in Cannes! We rode the Ferrari and spun around in the Tea Cup. As it was getting late in the day, the people attending the premieres were starting to come out. With barricades up, black cars, police, people in tuxedoes and sleek dresses were everywhere around us. We weren’t completely sure but we think we caught a glimpse of Matthew McConaughey. Also scheduled to attend today was Reese Witherspoon and Elijah Wood. There were probably quite a few “French” celebs; however, they are all “foreign” to us!

Click here for the slideshow to see our day in pictures!

Au revoir, mes amis!

It was somewhat of a happy and sad day, all in one. Miss G started school about a week and a half ago. Yep…she’s a big girl now..just ask her! In France, kids are eligible to start school at 2 years of age.

The fact that she knows quite a bit of French already (more than daddy), we wanted to continue her experience to the fullest and learn as much French as possible before we head to whatever the next destination will be. (I hear Asia might be asking for us to visit for a couple years?!?) Granted, that is still a couple years away so by then, G should be completely bilingual. With that being said…daddy will be in trouble! I had better find a French tutor in exchange for their practicing English with me. Thus far, I have been reluctant to pull the trigger on this one unlike Katherine, who has met a fabulous French woman with whom she exchanges linguistic notes/lessons.

Au revoir, mes amis!

Sitting around last weekend hanging with Miss G, I was able to capture this video of here answering the stereo remote. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough to capture her “speaking” on the remote with her good friend, Olivia, and asking her to come over to play LEGOs. It was precious!

It’s kind of a “long” video (5 mins) BUT…we found it quite funny especially at the end. I mean, really…”is this what I do on the phone all the time?” She has to get it from somewhere and it certainly isn’t the local playground with other kids, right? Hahaha!

Au revoir, mes amis!