Chao Ban (Hello) Vietnam!

We were super excited to visit a new country this week! This country is not only unchartered by us, but also by BYU! We are the first touring group to visit and perform in Vietnam, so we are making history!

 The first thing we needed to do was get some money that would work in this new country. Who'da thought we'd become millionaires if we just went to Vietnam! We took out 2 million Vietnamese Dong, it doesn't translate to nearly that much in American money but it definitely made us feel pretty cool for a few minutes. :o)

 As you can see, the main form of transportation here are scooters. At the busiest times there are flocks and flocks of them, I've never seen anything like it.

 Our first stop was Pho 2000. Jer has been SO excited to eat Pho which is pronounced "Fuh" and is like a beef noodle soup. He was in hog heaven!

 Apparently President Clinton once ate here so they changed the name to Pho for the President. Pretty funny.

We then went to the central market to experience Vietnamese shopping. VERY different from Thai. They are a lot stiffer with their prices and they are very physical. They were grabbing at me and trying to pull me away from Jer so they could try and talk him into buying things from their shop. I'm a lot less nice than Jer so they thought they could get through to him better I guess. Nonetheless, I stood my ground and shook off those ladies and got my husband back! A little uncomfortable to say the least but I got a cute hat!

 After the market we visited the reunification palace. I was a little unclear as to what its purpose actually was, but it was a cool old building. I think it was a government building during the war.

 Here are some of the boys in front of an American tank replica like the one that hit the gates in front of the palace and ended the war.

 Ooops there goes another rubber tree plant! Here is a rubber tree farm. We stopped quickly to check this little spot out. You can see the sap dripping off the tree that they use to make latex and rubber.

 We went to the Cuchi tunnels where the Vietnamese people had made a complete underground tunnel system in order to hide and protect themselves from American troops. The Vietnamese call it the American War while we call it the Vietnam war. It was interesting to see the story from the other side. Pictured above is a guy demonstrating how people would enter a tunnel and camouflage the entrance.

 Get got to go in one of the tunnels and crawl through for about 30 meters. I was a little worried about being claustrophobic. It was really tight but it was still ok.

 Its interesting because this is an original American tank and they don't care if you touch it, climb on it, kick it. They really don't care about it. Which makes sense I think.

 We also visited a museum that is kind of similar to the museum of tolerance or a holocaust museum. Lots of very disturbing pictures and stories from the war.

The next day we went on a fun boat ride out to a little island.

 First stop, candy shop! We went to the coconut candy workshop where we saw how they make coconut candy. We bought some to bring home so you can all try it. :o)

 Wrapping the candy.

A tourist trap, a guy had a huge snake people could hold and take pictures. :o)

 Us on a horse and cart ride. We got to wear these Asian hats for the 4 minute duration of the ride.

 Next, we enjoyed fresh fruit and natural honey. I love these tiny bananas! So cute.

 This was one of the most fun parts of the day in my opinion. We got to go on a canoe ride down a narrow river. It felt like we were on that safari ride at Disneyland only it was real.

 Back on the big boat for some coconut water and a ride back to the bus!

 After lunch we all decided to take ballerina photos on this cool log bridge.

 That evening we had another dinner cruise except this time it was in Vietnam! There was traditional Vietnamese music and dancing.

 The next day we head to Da Nang City! The morning was spent traveling. Once we got there we all loaded into an interesting and very old bus with fans for AC and a karaoke machine for the microphone. Our tour guide turned out to be kind of a twit but we thought he was pretty funny, he had a very interesting accent when he spoke english and he even insisted on singing a full song to us on the microphone in a very serious manner. Here we are in a really fun little town called Hoi An. We were able to get out and walk around and shop for a couple hours. We really loved it there and we found some awesome stuff while shopping! Including a pair or genie pants which I adore.

 This is our leader and Thailand and Vietnam expert Ralph Brown. We thought this was hilarious. He just had this guy give him a ride all over the town.

 We were super excited for the next day because reluctantly, Lee let us go to the beach for exactly two hours after we promised to put on sunscreen and not do anything dangerous. This is called the China Sea and is one of the top ten beaches in the world. When we got there we all jumped into the water and played a catch game with a pair of socks rolled into a ball. The water was so clear and warm! Our tour guide called it the "beat" he couldn't for the life of him make the "ch" or "sh" sounds.

 It was a great day. Most of us still got sunburned despite putting on lots of sunblock. I guess we didn't realize that even at 9 am the sun is super intense in Asia. More to come!

Gui lah hui mi a de Akha (See you later) Thailand

May 6th was Jer's birthday and we spent a sweltering day in Bangkok! We went and saw some more wats which were pretty cool and other sights. We were still staying in the Dusit Thani which was a dream. We were sad to leave it.

 Here we are at some old ruins of a Buddhist Wat.

After sight seeing we went to a floating market. It was pretty fun but the people wouldn't barter with us as much so we didn't buy very much. It was cool to see a floating market thought and there were lots of fun animals to look at!

 That evening at the hotel they were having a Balckpool Fever Festival and had asked us to come perform our two medleys that we won the British formation championships with. It was a big fancy dinner, our show and some dancing afterward. It was really fun!

 The next night we performed for the royal Princess of Thailand. It was cool because we had a police escort everywhere we went. Lee didn't want the technicians dressed differently from us to meet the Princess so they all got to dress up in our costumes! Here is Jer in the West Coast Swing outfit.

Here are all of the techs in our costumes.

 Here is the princess up in her little box seat.

 The next day was Mothers Day and we joined the saints for their meetings in the morning. They fed us dinner after. Here is a picture of the thing we had so much in Thailand that many people got addicted to. It is called Mango sticky rice. Personally, I didn't love it and I got pretty sick of it after having it 3 and 4 times but some people couldn't get enough!

 Following church and a fireside we went to a local children's hospital. They welcomed us warmly and got us prepared by helping us make some balloon animals. Jer also got on the piano and sang. The people just ate it up! I have a video of it but i'm afraid its too big to load.

 It was a very touching, heart-wrenching and memorable experience to visit the children in this hospital. They had all drawn or colored pictures for us saying thank-you on them in English. They were very happy to see us and I could tell they were grateful for visitors.

This girl was so sweet. She would light up whenever people surrounded her. She seemed so happy despite the trials that she has been given. Her mother was wonderful as well. I couldn't help but find myself in tears as I thought of the mothers who have sacrificed so much for these children and the children who are suffering so much. After we visited a bit, we sang a few songs to them ending with "A Child's Prayer" and "I Am a Child of God." There was not a dry eye in that room. Those songs had a whole new meaning to me after singing them to those children. It is amazing how much hope and peace and come from the gospel, I'm so grateful for my parents kind and dear and for the knowledge that I am a child of God.

Taking Thailand

Days 6-9 Bangkok, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai and back to Bangkok!

We are still having a blast here in Thailand. We can't believe we still have TWO more countries to discover!

 Monday was a travel day for us. We got up very early and headed for Khon Kaen on a 6 hour bus ride. We performed at a University that seated 4,000 people. 6,000 showed up. The aisles were packed. It is awesome to perform for people who really are excited about what we are doing. The missionaries that are in that area said that our performance was a huge outreach for less active members. Here is the venue we danced in on Monday. After the show, people were reaching their hands out to us so they could touch us and then they all mobbed the stage and one after another, posed for pictures with us. It was fun for about the first 5 minutes or less. :o)

 The next day, we flew to Chiang Mai. We stopped at a beautiful waterfall on our way to see some sights. Unfortunately you can't see the waterfall but you can see how green and absolutely beautiful Thailand is. Pictures don't really do it justice.

 We went to Doi Sutep which is a Buddhist Wat (temple). We have gone to lots of Wats already on this trip. They are awesome!

 Sadly, a guy got into my picture but at the wat we were able to be blessed by a monk. In order to be blessed, you have to take off your shoes and crawl into the room so that your head is below the monk.

 That evening we went to a Thai dinner show. It was pouring rain but those dancers were still out there doing their thing! The bugs came at us with a vengeance this night. Jer even had a nice little moth in his soup. I told him it was extra protien. ;o)

 We stayed in the hotel for one night. It was so nice! We have actually been really lucky with our accommodations. They have all been pretty nice. This one was especially fancy.

 We visited the night market in Chiang Mai. SO. FUN! We bartered with all the people at their stands and even worked up a little system with our friend Kenzie. We got some awesome things for super cheap! The night markets are awesome and the people here are actually pretty nice for the most part. Not too pushy. Jer and Kenz are posing in front of a Roti cart. Roti is a dessert that is made with a thick crepe-like bread and then toppings like banana, chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, etc. Very delicious and only 20 baht! That's 75 cents!

 Jer thought this looked like the Asian version of Twilight. I agree, we had a good laugh about it. We have been seeing lots of people's Asian twins out here too!

 Later, we went to another temple where a monk spoke to us about Buddhism. It was very interesting, and my take-home message was that if I allow things to bother me or make me upset, I am only allowing myself to suffer. It has actually helped with my attitude on the trip.

 Yesterday we got to ride the elephants!!!! It was the best day on tour so far! I was on cloud nine because those elephants are so cute and talented! We arrived at the Maesa Elephant camp and our group fed the elephants and watched them take a bath while the other group went on the elephant ride. Here we are with our elephant buds after we fed them. They even took the tip with their trunk and handed it to their trainer. Each elephant has its own individual trainer that is with them for their entire life. It is pretty cute because they become very good friends.

 Here's one taking a bath. They just lay down in the river and soak it up! They love it in the water and the roll around.

 Jer got this great video! Check it out.

 After the bath, we all watched the elephant show. They know so many tricks: they played soccer, swung their trunks, posed, played the harmonica, hula hooped, and the most amazing of all, painted pictures! Here, the elephant is putting the finishing touches on his painting of a flower pot.

 Here we are on our elephant ride! We had so much fun! We think this picture may be a pick for our Christmas card.

Here are some of the finished paintings by the elephants! Can you believe it? Amazing! My favorite is the bonzai tree.

And there's an update of our adventures! We are now staying in a 5 star hotel called the Dusit Thani. It is amazing and even fancier than the one I talked about earlier. Things are going really well. We are healthy and happy. Maybe getting a bit sick of chicken and rice but I'm not giving up on the fruit just yet. Tonight, we went with some of our friends to Pizza Hut just to get a little break from the Thai food and it did the trick. We're loving our time here and trying to take advantage of every minute. We are lacking sleep a bit but we don't want to miss anything! Last night we only got 4 hours of sleep because we got in late from a show and had to be up at 4 to leave on a plane to come back to Bangkok. The flights are really short but we slept the whole way. We figure we can be sleep deprived for a few weeks since we may never come back to Thailand again! More adventures to come!

Sawat di Ka!

Days 2-4 in Bangkok, Thailand

Well, it is now Sunday and we leave Bangkok tomorrow to go to Kohn Kaen, Thailand. We have had so much fun here and are sad to leave but we are really excited to see more places and have more fun experiences.

 Here you are looking at our dressing room for our first performance in Pattaya, THailand. Pretty sketchy, but that's not the worst of it, this dressing room belongs to the transvestites who perform in this theater daily. The room had tons of huge womens shoes (in order to fit male feet) and lots of gaudy dresses and head pieces. This show is called Alcazar and is well accepted and admired in Thailand. Thai cultures holds that if you are an effeminate man that you must become a "lady boy" as they are called here. It is very normal to them. We were pretty freaked out, especially because these transvestites kept walking through our dressing room and we weren't sure if we should feel uncomfortable or not. We were, regardless. They are very nice though. This performance was for an orphanage of children with disabilities. The children were so cute and loved the show.

 Following the show we had a lovely seafood lunch on the beach :o/ I love seafood but I have not had so much seafood in my life as I have the past few days and its not the kind I'm used to. However, I have been trying everything. Even squid!

 Here's the beach!

 We then visited a museum full of CHinese artifacts. Here is Jer in front of some sculptures that actually depict the characters from one of the books he was reading for a CHinese class this past semester. He was pretty excited about this!

 Here are some young monks! They are so cute! They practically posed while we took tons of pictures of them. These kids can't be more than 6-8 years old some of them.

 After the museum they took us to a vineyard where we had some AMAZING fresh grape juice and tried lots of new fruits. This one I'm holding, I can't remember its name, mango seed and a few other things. We also got fresh papaya and pineapple from a vendor on the side of the road. SO GOOD! I have been eating fruit to my heart's content. Lucky for me, its fruit season!

 The next day we had some free time in the morning. Alissa, Trevor, Jer and I decided to go get a traditional Thai massage. We took a little TukTuk and had a 2 hour massage. They used a stretching/massaging/bending technique that was amazing. They even used their feet! This only cost about $20 U.S. dollars each.

 After our fun free morning we headed to our show site. Here I am with a poster of a picture of me they had displayed outside the theater! Kinda fun.

 At the end of the shows here they have lots of formalities. One thing they like to do is present flowers. I was the representative of "the beautiful young lady dancers" for this show so I was presented with this beautiful boquet at the end of the show.

One thing that is funny about Thailand is that it is SO HOT outside but FREEZING indoors because they are very good about their air conditioning. I didn't prepare very well for this so here I am in one of my costumes trying to keep warm before a show. :o) Jer thought this was pretty funny.

 A little out of order but today we had the opportunity to join the saints here for their church meetings. Here we are with Chase and Carly outside the church. They had translators and head sets for all of us. After the meetings they fed us a wonderful meal and we held a fireside for the members of the stake. I love how universal the gospel is. I could feel the spirit so strongly today among the saints of Bangkok.

The people here LOVE pictures! After shows we all spend at least 15-20 minutes just taking pictures with the audience memebers. They all line up and we take pictures one after the other. These people are great, so humble and kind. We are loving our time here and hope to be able to update you as often as possible! More adventures to come!