Memorial Day

When you work full time, 3-day weekends are priceless!

For the long Memorial Day weekend, my roommates and I left the never-ending winter in Salt Lake City and headed to sunny St. George!  The sun couldn't have been more missed than it was this spring so the plan was just to relax and enjoy the warmth.

We got there Friday night and crashed at my roommate's parents' condo.  Saturday morning, I headed to the temple while others either slept in or went to the driving range.  We then spent a few hours at the pool, and a few more hours hiking through Zions National Park.

First stop in Zions: Overlook hike just past the 'tunnel'...which by the way, is absolutely amazing!  I can't believe I never even knew about it before!

Next hike in Zions was the Emerald Pools, followed by the Grotto.

Sunday, we checked out the local Singles Ward, had a nice BBQ, rested and loved our easy afternoon.

It was so nice not feeling rushed to get back for work on Monday.

I LOVE long weekends!

Southeast Asia Feb 2011

My book is finally done!  Nothing like the last two days of discounts & promotions to get it done!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Phuket, Thailand - Part 2

Elephants

Why would you not want to ride one when in Southeast Asia?  I just can't imagine!  Our first evening in Thailand, Sarah and I booked a great little 4-in-1 Elephant Trekking Tour with the hotel concierge.  Just like the fish spa in Malaysia, riding an elephant was the one thing I just had to do in Thailand. 

So we did.

The first thing I noticed on the tour was how green everything was!  Staying on the beach has its perks with the water and all, but it lacked the same intensity of foliage that we saw in Kuala Lumpur.  Going a little further inland in Thailand, we found it!

First stop on the tour, riding an Asian Elephant through the mountain jungle.  Quiet, peaceful, and oh so bumpy! Note: I was actually trying to hold the camera still

We rode through the jungle and up to some beautiful overlooks.  We could even see the famous Big Buddah.  Thank goodness for awesome zoom on my camera!



We have some awesome looking hair, right? Haha



The most gorgeous overlook!

Big Buddah's head

Big Buddah on top of the mountain.  Do you realize how big it is?

Me with the elephant we rode and the elephant trainer

The second stop of the tour was a baby elephant show.  They did some fun things like paint, play harmonicas, kick soccer balls, and I even got to feed them (unfortunately no pics from that because I was obviously busy feeding...)

Third stop was a rubber demonstration.  Rubber trees grow mostly in Southeast Asia, so companies, like Latex, produce most of their rubber here.  They showed us how they cut the trees and collect the rubber, much like sap.  Then they soak it and press it and stretch it.  Then it is sent to the factory for further processing.

The last stop was a food demonstration.  

We saw many different things.  Coconuts and their many uses: coconut water, shredded coconut, coconut milk, and coconut oil. 

Rice: fields, plowing with water buffaloes (which included a ride), and separating the rice

Curry: how they make it, the ingredients, and a delicious taste of the fresh curry

Our tour guide topped it off with Thai coconut pancakes.  These were delicious!  I've already tried to replicate them back at home.  I'm not sure if it was the recipe, the elevation, or simply the cook, but it'll take a while to really master them.  They were just so good. I still crave them!

Well that concludes Thailand!  There are many more stories, but too much to post to the blog.  Just ask me about it sometime.

xoxo

Rachel

Phuket, Thailand - Part 1

I'm back blogging about another part of my last vacation - Phuket, Thailand.

For those who don't know their Southeast Asia geography (which I assume is most because I didn't either before I went there) Thailand is north of Malaysia, about a one hour flight.  Which means...
Sarah and I took a 3 day trip to the beach!  It was beautiful!

When we first arrived in Phuket, we took our pre-arranged ride (best decision ever) to Patong Bay.  The heat in Phuket was surprisingly worse than in Kuala Lumpur.  I think it may have something to do with the lack of rain for the few days prior to when we arrived.  We almost immediately went to our hotel room and changed into our swimsuits, not to change out of them the rest of our stay in Phuket except to sleep at night.

And so it was.  We were on the beach!

dinner on the beach

Breakfast at the hotel, looking over the beach

Each day we headed to the beach.  They beaches are lined with chairs and the sweet Thai men who manage them.  You pay a few bucks to reserve your chair for the day and the Thai men make sure you are well taken care of... beach towel, moving the umbrella to actually block the sun, opening & closing the umbrella for you... you get the picture.

We bought our spots right in the front, pulled out our books, sunglasses, and sun block and settled in for a beautiful day!

Sarah took her camera out to the water because it was so calm.  This is what she saw looking back.  Me, relaxing with a book!

Walking the Beach

 At night, we liked to walk the beach, listening to the music from all the beach clubs.  Thai women were selling paper lanterns, just like the ones in the movie Tangled.  Our second night in Thailand, Sarah and I gave in and bought our own lanterns.  We sent them floating over Patong Bay with a wish.

this was our daily lunch - tasty spring rolls!

crazy Thai power lines.  This pic doesn't even do it justice!

Everyone jets around on these little motor bikes

Many beautiful sites in Thailand

Thailand trip to be continued...
think elephants  :)

Fish Spa

My preparations for Malaysia found me looking up things do to on TripAdvisor.com.  I knew we'd be spending a few days helping to unpack and babysit the kids so I had a small list of "must do" items and a longer list of things to do if we had time.  My must do list looked like this.

Must do

Fish Spa

Yep, that was it.  Just the fist spa.  So when my brother teasingly said he knew where the fish spa was, I surprised him that I actually wanted to go. I had even convinced my sister to go with me on the basis that her "IQ Demands It!"  (Thank you Grandma for the greatest excuse EVER!)

Well, we found it, stuck our feet in a fish tank for 30 minutes and followed it up with a foot reflexology massage for 60 minutes.  It was by far the most exotic thing I've ever done, and totally a great afternoon!

Ready for some pics?

 

Chinese New Year Traditions

Chinese New Year celebrations typically last about 2 weeks.  Lucky for us, we arrived in Malaysia for second week of all the festivities, which included seeing two Lion Dances and one Dragon Dance.

Lion Dance 1 - we happened upon it on the ground level of Dave & Shir's place one evening.  Drums filled the air and we watched as the Lions moved around.  It was so incredible to see first hand!

Later that week, we stopped at a nearby hotel for another Lion Dance.  I was amazed at the ease with which these performers danced and did acrobatics on top of poles...and with two men per lion costume no less.  They are extremely talented!

Part of the tradition is to have the "God of Prosperity" come and distribute souvenirs.

And yet another day, we cruised to the Central Market (China Town) to watch a Dragon Dance.  It was so hot this afternoon, that the dancers were sweating even before anything started! 

Pictures can only say so much.  Here are a couple videos.