So taking full advantage of Nan and Nonno’s adventure, Mom and Dad escaped for two quick weekends -leaving Jay and Bee to party in Singapore
July in Da Nang and Central Vietnam…
Got to stay in luxury in maybe the nicest hotel in the world – The Intercontinental Da Nang- stunning beach, beautiful villas on the cliffside, amazing buffets, a restaurant where they chilled your beer in between sips, super friendly service and their own monorail that transported you between the earth, sky and heaven levels- also plenty of fun activities with kayaking, snorkeling and Vietnamese basket boats…another highlight was a day trip to the Ancient Town of Hoi An- crazy markets everywhere (including a night market where Mom successfully negotiated down the price of our very own gong for entrance into our apartment), beautiful Chines lanterns, a statue of Grandpop, awesome street food and a really cool canal- think Venice but with the chaos of Asia…we finished our weekend with an awesome bar tending class where we made a few spicy drinks – one that looked like a bowl of pho!
December in Bangkok
So for our second get-away, we went just a touch north to the crazy city of Bangkok – food was definitely a theme for the weekend- as had some amazing Thai noodles, curries, mango sticky rice and a Sunday buffet brunch right along the Chao Phraya River- champagne, mixed drinks, pad thai, spicy salads, lobster 3 different ways, and prawns like 5 different ways!
Another highlight was the weekend market- 88 football fields worth of stalls – over 10,000 in total- and you could buy anything you needed- but of course our focus was the street food- think everything you could possibly eat on a stick! Dad of course made Mon check out some amazing temples- including the awesome Grand Palace with the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (absolutely over the top golden towers, statues, colored mirrors) and the awe inspiring – Wat Pho aka- the Temple of the Reclining Buddha – this big guy checks in at 46 m long – with mother of pearl inlay on his feet! Whole complex was awesome – with rows upon rows of Buddha statues and huge stupas everywhere! One of the true highlights for Mom though was the awesome elephant pants Dad purchased to wear into the Temples- so styling!
