we found SANTA!!!

Sawdee Kaa (hello)

We found Santa at last and did he ever make an entrance. Trent & I told the kids to hurry up so we could go eat lunch because someone special was coming soon. Emma asked a series of questions but she could not guess who was coming

“The Greenman” is a English pub friends told us about and we heard Santa was coming at 2:oopm. I could not believe my eyes when he arrived on an elephant, but this is Thailand. Last year Santa arrived on a donkey in Venezuela.

We had such a great afternoon. We met a couple from Scotland and the husband is the general manager of the Hilton here and they have young kids. ( I never did ask if he has met Paris?) Everyone sang Christmas carols, the kids went down in Santa’s grotto to receive their little gifts and they even had a large theatre playing Christmas movies. All the kids went on stage and decorated the Christmas tree and made wish pudding (Easton was in there like a dirty shirt getting his hands on some pudding) It was a really great afternoon.

I met some ladies I will connect with next week so I am excited about that. There is a tennis group, aqua size group, golf group and of course a coffee group so I am hoping to find them. I told Trent we can’t get to comfortable because we won’t want to leave. Good thing Bonnie is having her baby!

I am so thankful that we found Santa because Easton was getting pretty upset that we had no chimney and there is no snow here. He was convinced we needed to come back to Calgary so Santa could drive his sleigh in the snow. Good thing we found Santa for East, and so I could get my annual picture of the kids with Santa or it would of broke tradition and that would have been devastating.

I think I have mentioned before that Christmas is almost non-existent here because the Thai people do not celebrate, they are Buddhist. Luckily we found a tree a few inches taller than our sad tree last year and we had a great time decorating it. Each yr. we are away everyone picks two items to contribute to our tree and we create something with it all. This year I have to say it all came together nicely except the singing lights Trent thought would be so festive, that now we both want to throw against the wall. After a few no's Everett has decided to leave the tree alone expect for today he accidentally pulled it down (it was Easton or him being boys)

We went for a drive yesterday to the north end of the island to check out a resort for friends coming into town and we ended up on this road leading us to the Kathu Waterfalls. There was a couple from Australia there and Trent asked them if it was a nice view at the top, they said yes it was great and well worth the trek up.



























I am so proud of Emma and Easton they climbed up 425steps to get to the top (we didn’t know the amount of steps when we started out) Trent said we have to count double the steps he took because he had Everett on his shoulders most of the way.. It was an amazing view of the jungle along the way, it is so lush and green, it reminds me alot of Hawaii. The waterfall was nice but the lagoon at the bottom where you could swim was pretty neat.

On our drive we came across this golf course basically in the middle of nowhere and it was breathtaking. The course had a back drop of the jungle surrounding it. I have not had the opportunity to golf at many places but this course made me want to get out and swing a club.

A few things I have been asked;

Ginger asked about Santa in the mall. Nope no mall Santa. There is a mall but it is filled with extreme noise pollution with stereo’s trying to drown out each other. I don’t know if this is an everyday occurrence but even I was ready to leave after 15min.

Trent’s mom asked what we eat. Well a lot of rice and chicken dishes, fish & seafood. The Thai’s think cereal is gross but everyone knows we live off it, it is very expensive here and not a lot of selection but we make do with our 10 boxes in the fridge (not kidding)

Asked about the weather - it has been raining here four days straight now and it is not beach weather so we are checking out new restaurants. Its funny that is what our day seems to be; where to eat next?

Trent has been having some tummy trouble, bad ice cubes we think so he has not wanted to eat out to much. We did try this pizzeria out the other day and it was delicious. Emma devoured the lasagna and the bruchette was good but not as good as Lina’s deli” which my mouth is watering for right now.

I know I have mentioned before that they drive on the left side of the road and I believe I have said that the steering wheel is on the right side which makes the windshield wipers and signal lights opposite also. It's funny everytime we turn right the windshield wipers go off, wonder why :-)

I did it again the other night, I was out after dark and without even thinking I got in on the left side of the car ready to drive away. I have done that too many times now and I feel like such an idiot, at least I can laugh about it when I get out and walk around the car.

However the drivers here are nuts, I mean nuts. You travel down a road and it is single lane traveling in both directions all of a sudden someone decides to make it three lanes and you could have a car or scooter coming right at you. There are so many scooters here and they dodge in and out of traffic, we saw one guy fly off his bike the other night, sparks flying everywhere. Then I was out a couple nights ago and it was raining, I was at the traffic circle, which is interesting enough and a guy right in front of me fell of his bike, good thing we were moving slowly. At traffic circles the person who has the right away is the person who buds in.

Now my family don’t get all worried we have became accustomed to driving like a Thai, just be worried when we get home and we start driving on the wrong side of the road. :-)

Gasoline is not all that cheap here it is 75cents/liter for all who is interested.

Well I think that is enough blabbering for now and I will check back in, in a few day. All our love to you and thanks again for all your emails we love getting them.

To Miss. Brandt, thank you for your email from the class it was wonderful and Emma was very happy about it. THANK YOU!!

Mr. Budd, you sure make us laugh and yes Trent and the kids loved your christmas jokes.

Who ever wears contacts will appreciate this. I was having problems with my contacts and I needed to order more. What usually cost me $150 at home cost me $32.00 here crazy...

Talk to you soon and I hope you are staying warm!!
love jode

Easton took this picture of Emma & I , way to go buddy in a few years I can pass the picture taking to East. We would not have pictures if I was not behind the camera, bless my husband but it is not of any interest to him to get THE SHOT ... so here I am with emmy and I promise to show my face a little more often..xoxoxo