Sometimes there would be a break in the storm and we would head for a grocery store to stock up on treats and snacks, mainly see weed, chips and chocolate. All Thai food is delicious! Resort food expensive, busy town food cheap, beach shack food the best, and cost right in the middle.
But when the buffett breakfast is included in the package then you can go crazy and eat twice as much because you have to take care of the lunchtime hungries. The Morris family loves buffets.

Okay, when was the last time you walked out of your hotel room and ran into a baby elephant? Totally normal occurrence right? Yeah, totally. Everyday “Mina” and several other brothers sisters go on little walks to meet the excited guests at the pool, the breakfast patio, or in the hallways. She is a friendly little beast with her trunk excitedly checking out all your belongings and searching for food. She grabbed the top of my water bottle and I ended up having to bottle feed her which was the coolest animal interaction I have ever had. She gave all my kids real suction cup kisses after she wrapped her heavy trunk tightly around their fragile little necks. It seemed like she thought she was just one of the kids. She’d be a heavy playmate. Later, we were able to actually ride mama and papa elephant while they strolled along a forest pasture. Do you realize how powerful elephants are? They grabbed bunches of bamboo growing from the ground with their massively strong trunks like it was grass blades. Their power sort of freaked me out!

Phuket is all about spa. Its a giant spa resort. Messages, smells, lotions, and water. Sun salutations to Phuket!!!

The crazy congested Beijing city highway abruptly changes from flat valley to craggy mountains with peeks of the Great Wall. Then you start to notice little villages all neatly in rows squeezed tightly between the highway, the small stream and the foothills. Rice paddies and other beautifully bordered vegetable gardens fill any unused spaces. You see young and old mostly, with woven straw hats and bent backs, gleaning their harvest, stacking on little carts, and poking at ditches. Sooo picturesque!! Then, slowly but surely everything changes and realize you are on one of the holes of the U.S. open. Wow!! Is this the biggest golf course in the world with these perfectly planned sand traps? They could really turn this into something big and if it weren’t so late in the evening I would have run forever.

Now getting to Inner Mongolia is the easy part, but getting IN TO it is a carefully strategically, and patiently put together plan, that will eventually go completely bust. So be ready for anything and just try to enjoy the experience because that is why you’re there. With that said, we could easily have freaked out and been miserable. Maybe some of us were but when you are dealing with two different cultures and you are the third and everyone wants their share of the deal then, there are bound to be some hangups. I actually think it really helps to be the dumb american sometimes. Ignorant bliss.

So, while we waited and waited for who-knows-what, we ran around the hills, scattered sheep, rolled down mountains, picked flowers, contemplated the universe, and thought about using the toilet which would have to be au-natural. We watched Chinese tourists in full cowboy regalia hang on for dear lives to their pony horse’s saddles and watched the real cowboys ride their motorcycles to herd their flocks. Whose land is whose…big question. It was like a factory belt on large scale. Every 15 or so minutes a shepherd with staff, motorcycle, or sometimes horse would herd his flock of sheep, or goats through the little valley to a watering hole. Then, after a spell, he would move on through a bunch of forest like tree groupings and up the hill to the next munchable section. It was loads of fun to be right in the middle of their animal highway and the kids loved having the animals rush by them with their bahhings and bleatings.

Finally, a plan!! Not far, five minutes!!! Really???? An hour later through unknown hills and roads, a little farm house, a beautiful lake, blue sky forever, green rolling Montana landscapes, and wandering cows and a few bulls. Wow for reals!!! Set up camp….ahh! Icey cold dips in the lake were the first order of business, then “run off and get lost but watch out for the bulls” for the kids and sit back, relax, and enjoy Inner Mongolian conversation with the grownups. Our Chinese friends thought we were crazy to let our kids out of site. But the Beijing environment is so invasive that running away, way away into the freedom of space is the only medicine to cure their claustrophobia.

To top of the evening, a whole lamb sliced right down the middle, eaten only with hands and a big knife. It was all very macho. Then an evening campfire with songs and stories and smores, which our Chinese friends found to be very interesting and I could tell they loved the singing time.

After hearing other’s less then pleasant adventures, I feel like we were really lucky to have gotten away with our special camping adventure. An Inner Mongolian trip is a tightly controlled vacation aimed at milking you to the max and you ask no questions, you just do what they give you and stay where they say. Real camping is very rare because the yurts are there to bring authenticity and give you a sense of entering another world. Yes, they are fun but tightly controlled. So we were all thrilled with what we experienced. A good time, a beautiful and trying place, inexpensive and definitely worth it!!!

Stadium of Fire eat your heart out.  Beijing and the rest of China seems to lose all sense of sanity when it comes to pyrotechnics.  Everyone is buying fireworks – and no, these aren’t these little dinky spinners or bottle rocket guys that we used to get in Wyoming.  These are boxes that you have to lift with both arms, with a massive fuse, that when lit, sends a sequence of MANY fireworks a hundred feet in the air. And EVERYBODY is doing it.  Not just in open places, but in the middle of the street with the exploding sparks hitting the apartment building on both sides.  Nothing like this could be seen in the US, because it would never be allowed.

But it is absolutely something to experience.  These videos can’t capture what we experienced on the night of February 2, 2011 (Chinese Lunar New Year Eve), but it might give you a taste of what we saw…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So as Rebecca already wrote about, we had a tarantula encounter our last night in Cambodia…. in a restaurant. As in… hey, lets eat these things for dinner.

I happen to have caught a little bit of this action on video… Afterwards, Dayne and I were really wishing we had ordered it and tried it just for the experience.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Cambodian people seemed super friendly and always smiling. We only had a few unhappy moments when little children begged us to death and we didn’t buy. They were mostly faking their tears and whines and that was a bit draining. You do get beggar fatigue pretty quick, but when I look back, I feel really bad for most of them, especially the ones with no arms, legs, or faces. They are a really poor and their government is still very corrupt, taxing them a huge percentage of their income. Most government workers are given Landcruisers and Lexus and there sure were a lot of them on the road. Still smiles were a constant.

Food was anything that is nutritious and that can be eaten, including dog, ants, and tarantulas. We kept telling each other to not eat the spiders but on our last night it was on the menu. So we asked the kitchen if we could check out their food pantry with their live tarantulas. They pulled out the tupperware crawling with big black hairies and dumped them on the counter to crawl over everyone’s food. We all screamed in terror and amazement. Then we noticed the big silver mixing bowl with hundreds marinating in salad bar fix’ns. Of course we all shrieked and gasped in wonderment. The workers brushed the giant arachnids back into their tupperware waiting station and queasily we went back to our table to ponder on what could we possibly eat to satiate our sensitive tummies. The people next to us had no problem eating the creatures and their little daughter seemed delighted to have such a treat. I had a dreams of pasta with mulberry worms the next night and coudn’t eat pasta for days afterwords especially the green kind. Shiver me timbers!!!

There is a lot to tell and pictures tell the best. Enjoy!

So where’s the snow? It certainly is cold enough!!!! All we have is big wind that bites and thick pollution on really cold days. This is definitely time to hunker down. My poor Ayi. She lives in the Hutong and has no heat nor a bathroom because the Hutongs are communal. She rides her bike about five miles in the cold wind every day to save four cents. She is one tough chick. I told her that one day but she said “no, men are tough.” Then she showed me her muscles and she was right. There was nothing there! I don’t get how she is so tough!!!!! She says she sleeps with 3 big bedspreads and wears lots of thick layered clothing. She acts like that is no big whoopdedoo, but tells me I have to stay in and not let the children play out or work so hard. She’s the best!

So all the hotels and fancy eateries are making GIngerbread houses to sell and after seeing their prices I decided a graham cracker one would be just fine. THen we had a lucky break when someone gave us their stash of “gingerbread house kits” from the U.S. We ended up with about three little ones and one big with the best candy collection and hard as rock but super fragile one from the Sofitel Hotel. We were sick of gingerbread by the time Christmas came. Ughhh!!!!

The best parts of Christmas in China for our family was the three week break from school, the amazing Christmas brunch buffet at the Millennial Hotel next door, the gallons and gallons of hot chocolate and rootbeer floats we consumed, and our incredible trip to Cambodia.

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About the quality…. we have yet to find out. It might be that some of the wood pieces might crack in the dry weather or a hinge will wear out or something, I don’t know but for now I am quite pleased. So here are some pictures of our new stuff.

Now is the time of year when the children’s school are showcasing all they worked on for the first semester. Conley in her orchestra, Dayne and Anthea have their concerts coming up but I have included pictures of them at school anyways.

Some furniture we purchased and some we had made.

Anthea’s funky red boots which totally fit her personality.