Steven, Katie & Our Three Sons: July 2011

What a GREAT few weekends we have had! Two and three weekends ago we visited some sites in Bangkok and then this most recent weekend we had to leave Thailand to renew our visas so we went to Malaysia.

On Saturday, June 25th we spent the day visiting a couple of places in Bangkok. We spent a lot of time at the very beautiful Jim Thompson House (http://www.jimthompsonhouse.com/). The history is interesting and the house and gardens are beautiful.

The boys loved watching the fish and turtles, they really wanted to catch them and spent a lot of time devising plans on how they could accomplish that without getting caught by the museum's security.

Later that evening we went to an excellent dinner at Face Bangkok. The food is great and the atmosphere is fun.

On Saturday, July 2nd we spent a busy day playing in Bangkok. We started the day at Chatuchak Weekend Market, often touted as the largest outdoor market in the world with 10,000 to 15,000 different shops. It’s amazing to see the variety of people doing interesting things and sooooo many items for sale, or rather for bargaining.

Later that afternoon we cooled off from the heat and had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, Bangkok.

After lunch we went to Wat Arun ("The Temple Of The Dawn"), where the boys climbed the steep stairs of the temple.

After we visited the Wat Arun we rode a long tail speed boat through the canals of Bangkok.

Bangkok has been called the "Venice of Asia" because of all of the rivers and canals that run through the city. While many of them have been paved over, the rivers are still used by some to transport people and items on.

The staff and crew of the touring company prepared our longboat for the journey.

Then once we were all safely onboard...

we were off to see the sites of Bankok's waterwaves.

This last weekend, on Saturday, July 9th & Sunday, July 10th, we had to leave Thailand for a "visa run" so we went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. During our quick trip to KL we visited a few of the wonderful city's sites, enjoyed the boardwalk and pool area at the Hilton KL hotel, and went to the night bazaar in KL's China Town.

First we visited the Petronas Twin Towers.

Next we visited the KL Tower that had outstanding views of the city as well as some fun activities like a small animal zoo and a Malaysia Cultural Village.