Shoes, No service

The one huge cultural differnce that we have observed and participated in since being in Thailand is the No shoes policy. According to my travel book, Thais pretty much think of feet as the the dirtiest part of the body. Basically they have a foot phobia. So they hate shoes indoors. Lots of places will expect you to take shoes off before entering, such as our cooking class. There was even a shoe rack outside the door. You are expected to remove your shoes before entering. The one thing I couldn't help but think of is that in the USA if you were to enter a resturant without shoes you would totally get kicked out due to health code, but here in Thailand that is not only accepted, but expected!

Koh Samui

The island of Koh Samui has been real nice, although all the tailors in Chaweng Beach REALLY want to make Dave a suit!One guy even said.. "you look like a business man"...I just had to laugh at the one. Yeah right, my husband goes to work in shorts...even when its 20 degrees outside! Ha.

So here is how our time here has gone.

Day 1: relax, go to the pool, enjoy some drinks, walk around Lamai, eat dinner, go to bed at 9:30 because we were exhausted

Day 2: An island tour that consisted of elephant riding, a monkey show, elephant shows, vistis to a waterfall, some rocks along the coast, teh Big Buddha, a viewpoint on the island, and a temple. The rest of day was spent at the pool and at Chaweng Beach

Day 3: Cooking class in Chaweng at the Thai Culinary Insititute. We ahd a blast here. There were 13 people in the class and we were all from different countries. Yet we all spoke english. The food was so incredibly yummy...now we have the recipes so hopefuly we can make this stuff again. After class we enjoyed a drink on the beach at a table that was literally on the beach! Then back to the hotel for some time at the pool. That night we went back to Lamai. We were still very full, so we really just had desert and a drink.

Day 4: A trip on a speedboat to Agthong National Park for snorkeling and kayaking. It was so gorgeous out there. I really enjoyed this trip. We got back to the hotel around 5pm, and that is where I am at now, typing this post.

Tomorrow we are off to Bangkok and will be meeting up with our frineds. New Years in Bangkok, but we have no idea what we are doing yet!

Have a great New Years Eve everyone!

We Arrived!

So 20 something hours of traveling wasn't all that bad thanks to Ambien! Honestly the 14.5 hour flight went by pretty fast since Dave and I slept a lot. China Air was pretty good. Friendly service, good food, & free wine and beer. They kept us pretty full and we actualy enjoyed the food. The weird thing was they served us breakfast before we landed in Taipei (is was 5am cali time) but when we got on our connection to Bangkok that flight served us dinner since it was 10pm Taipei Time. But for us it was 7am...so it was a bit weird eating chicken and pasta at 7am local time! We adjusted well. Only slept about 5 hours at our hotel last night which got us up about a normal time in Thailand.

Now we are on an island called Koh Samui. Bangkok airlines rocks! They had a lounge for all cleints with free food, drinks, and internet! So far it seems that the service in Thailand is realy good. Today we just rested and didn't do a whole lot. Enjoyed the veiws at our hotel(we have a room overlooking the ocean and the hotel sits on a cliff), went to the pool, and enjoyed some drinks. Tomorrow we are off for an island tour. I won't be posting photos until I get back, but I'll try and post some text updates whenever possible.

Can Never Have Enough Powder

This weekend at Mammoth was amazing! Great snow! Saturday was just beautiful...blue skies, lots of fresh powder, and temps in the 30s. We had a great time!!! Wish we could have stayed longer! On Sunday we had a beautiful morning and then the snow rolled in during the afternoon. We still skied our hearts out though. I never have time to take photos since I'm a die hard skier. But I shot a few form the side of the highway on the way home. Not the greatest, but they get the point across! The eastern sierras are just wonderful.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Thought I'd wait for enough time to go by for everyone to receive their card this year before posting this.

If you didn't get this...sorry, I most likely don't have your address. But let me know and I'll get it right next year! :)

Dave and I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season!

This Morning

This was the view at about 8am as I was trying to get my car cleaned off to go into work. The roads were horrible!!!! But luckily I have our Subaru. Got to work and there were like 8 people there! I stayed til 1 and went home. I'll probably regret that decision when I have to make that time up or take it as vacation.

More Snow Photos

It snowed all day! Dave and I did go out in the backyard and throw snowballs at each other. I also made a snow angel. It was overall a good day in the Schanker household! I measured 5 inches in our front yard.

More photos...sorry these aren't the greatest...I wasn't exactly trying for some award winning photo of our house. :)

The High Desert in Southern Cali

For anyone that thinks we live in a warm year round climate...not quite!!!!

Its supposed to snow until late this evening. Love it!

Now this is why I want to live in Colorado!!!!

Brings back memories of my snow days as a kid in Maryland. I came home for the afternoon.

It's a wet and slushy snow.





I love our Tribeca! Awesome 4WD!But I almost got hit this morning on the highway by someone who obviously doesn't know how to drive in the snow. They spun out in front of me. I was pretty shoken up. But all was good. I'm sure they were pretty shaken too.

Yippee!!!

We got snow!!!!!! I'll see if I can post a photo later.

This is highway that runs through our town!

Second Chance

This is for our area!

Statement as of 10:23 am PST on December 16, 2008


... Winter Storm Watch in effect from late tonight through Wednesday
evening...

The National Weather Service in Los Angeles/Oxnard has issued a
Winter Storm Watch... which is in effect from late tonight through
Wednesday evening.

4 to 8 inches of snow are possible late tonight through
Wednesday... with the highest amounts in the foothills and the
eastern portion of the valley.

A Winter Storm Watch means there is a potential for a combination of
significant snow... strong winds and dense fog that may impact
travel. Continue to monitor the latest forecasts.

Total Bummer

No snow at our house. Just lots of cold and lots of rain. the Mountains surrounding our house, however have lots of snow. Two feet in some areas! It was 39 and raining this morning at our house. This is what we plan on doing this weekend!!! I figure I have all day on the 24th to pack for vacation, so why not get in some time on Mammoth Mountain!

What a Difference 3000 Feet Makes

It's currently 61 in Los Angeles...but where we live we have a wind chill of 37! That is a huge difference. We live 1 hour northeast of LA and at an elevation of close to 3000 feet. Poor Dave...he commutes to work and in the winter his body must go through complete shock. He's told me there are days he leaves in the morning and its in the teens here but by the time he gets to work in Burbank its in the 60s. So crazy.

I love Winter!

I swear every time I check the weather for Lancaster it gets colder and colder! Which is totally awesome! I so love the cold and I love snow. Even if we don't get snow at our house, the surrounding mountains are going to be wonderful in a few days. I'm so looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to being on the slopes with fresh snow. How awesome! This is a big reason why we left Florida...SKIING!!!!! Seriously one of the best activities ever. Can you tell I'm excited! Ok, so enough enough about the weather, right. Sorry, I'm just very excited to see winter arriving.

Dec 15

Rain / Snow Showers

42°
28°

30%

Dec 16

Rain / Snow Showers

43°
28°

30%

Wed
Dec 17

Rain

49°
26°

70%

Winter Has Finally Arrived

From our local weather statement..
ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT IMPACT OF THIS WEATHER SYSTEM WILL BE THE VERY LOW SNOW LEVELS. ON SATURDAY SNOW LEVELS ARE EXPECTED TO BE INITIALLY 6000 TO 7000 FEET. SNOW LEVELS ARE EXPECTED TO THEN LOWER TO BETWEEN 3500 AND 4500 FEET BY SUNDAY... LOWEST ACROSS NORTHERN MOUNTAIN RANGES. SNOW LEVELS ARE EXPECTED TO BE EVEN LOWER BY TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY... POSSIBLY AS LOW AS 2000 TO 2500 FEET IN HEAVIER SHOWERS

We live at 3000 feet...so I sure hope this comes true! WE haevn't had snow at our house in 2 years. The really good news is Mammoth should get hammered! So I see skiing in our near future.

On a side not I forsee a betteer business buerau complaint coming…I have so had it with ADOBE! They are ridiculous! I've dealt with bad Customer service in the past, but Adobe takes the cake! We thought everything had been taken care of it, right….well apprently not. I still have no software and I don't think they are going to be sending it to me.

I hope this comes true...

Weather forecast for part of next week.

Wed
Dec 17

Rain / Snow

49°
34°

60%

Outtakes

I took some photos of Dave and I via tripod. All of these were done at our house. Which was challenging since our yard looks pretty bad right now. Just hasn't been taken care of in months, since we've been pretty busy. Now that the frost has hit the grass is not looking so good.

Anyway, we are using some of them on our Christmas card for this year. (I'm not into photos by the xmas tree, at all...so blah). I thought I'd share some of the outtakes. In other words the ones I'm not using on the card.I have discovered during this adventure that I am just not very photogenic. Thus why I like being behind the camera.



I think I would have liked this better if Dave was wearing his contacts. And his head wasn't tilted kinda weird.


We tried the patio furniture...but those just weren't working out so well, in my opinion.

There were some others that I really liked, but they came out blurry! Errgghh! You'll just have to wait and see the card to see which ones I picked out. They should be in the mail next week.

Sorry I just have to say it....GO TERPS!!!! They really put a hurting on George Washington today! Only a few more weeks until the fun really starts...ACC play!

I'm in Vacation Mode Already

A quick sneak peak at our upcoming LONG vacation!

1. Koh Samui (this one isn't definite since its not booked, but I'm leaning towards this place)
We'll be snorkeling, zip lines, enjoying the beach and pool, and possibly renting 4WD vehicles


2.Bangkok Hotel & Pool
Sightseeing in the city and day trips to the tiger temple, Lopburi, and Ayuttha. Should be seeing lots of mokeys in Lopburi!
3. Chiang Mai Hotel (the mini bar is free!)
Elephant Riding, hiking, shopping, tribal visit, etc...


4. Phuket Hotel (oceanview room)
More snorkeling and beach activies

5.Krabi Hotel (spa villa)
Sea Kayaking to the caves, maybe some rock climbing.

Then it'll be time to make the long journey home.

Some of My Favorite Things

Five things I love about running at this time of year
1. The smell of wood burning in fireplaces
2. the crunching of the fall leaves under my feet
3. Seeing my breath while I run
4. The crisp cool air
5. Feeling like I could go forever because I'm not burning up

This is seriously the best time to run. I just got back and it was a crisp 43 degrees outside...one mistake I made was I forgot to wear my gloves. Another reason why I love living at an elevation of 3000 feet!

Fear The Turtle!

Welcome to the ACC baby!!!

As I write this the terps are playing Michigan and winning with an excellent second half!

Anywya if your a terps fan and would like to see some photos, click here for a slideshow!

Thai Politics

In the last two days I have become very informed about Thailand politics and everything that is going on over there. I find it very interesting that the majority of the people are against democracy for their country. They say it brings corruption to their country. Anyway, the court ruled today that electoral fraud did occur and basically dismantled the government. We'll have to see who gets put in to the rule the country and I think it'll be interesting to see what the king has to say on Thursday. Who ever knew I would know so much about Thai politics, huh!

Well, I have a vested interest when I'm supposed to be arriving there in 3 weeks! I certainly don't want to be arriving in the middle of a civil war or something. So we wait and see what happens. But I really need to get my stuff straight and get ready to go on this trip, its right around the corner! I'm starting to wonder if I have enough memory cards…I'm not taking the laptop. I can't even decided what equipment to take with me.

College Bball Season

The time is here and it is now! I just went to 2 Maryland Terps games this week. What a blast, just wish they would have played better in the second game.

Some photos...









So, have you seen the new lately. All the stuff going on in Thailand. I personally don't think its all the bad, except that they took over the airport! We are supposed to leave in 3 weeks and really have no idea what we are going to do. I suspect the airport will be open by then. And hopefully things will settle down. I just really want to go on our vacation. It's like what do you do if you have already planned your entire trip! I told Dave no matter what we will be on a plane going somewhere!