Baursak

Every Friday in Kazakhstan it is tradition to make Baursak.  You make enough to give it to neighbors, family, and friends.  Since it basically a fried dougnut I had to learn how to make it.  It is very easy and if you add power sugar it takes like a beignet.  It takes me back to New Orleans, well a little bit.  Here is a picture of my first batch.

Safari World

The boys and I gave Stacey a spa day and we drove 45 minutes to Safari World. Boy it was HOT, but what a great place. Safari World has shows, a Safari drive thru, and of course lots of animals.
We saw an orangutan boxing show, sea lion show, and a cowboy stunt show. We also took a Safari ride in a bus, but most of the animals were trying to cool off from the heat.
The pictures did not come out from the giraffe feeding experience, but I was able to capture a picture of us feeding and holding a baby tiger. Cool experiences that we will not forget.

Snake Farm

Bangkok has so much to do and it is sometimes hard to decide your next move, but today we opted for the Snake Farm.  It is close to the city center and we knew the boys would love it.  We got to see snakes of all sizes and even a venom extraction. 

Back in Bangkok

It always seems to be an adventure when we come to Bangkok and this one is for the books.

When we get to the taxi stand at the airport to go to the hotel, the girl tells us in broken English that we cannot make it to the hotel because of the protests. I call the hotel and they say they know the way. We go back out to the taxi stand and get a driver who was just laughing when we told him where we were going. We made sure before we took off that he call the hotel and make sure they told him the way to go to get us there. He does and we are off. As we leave the airport area I notice the driver pull out a red bandana and put it over the steering wheel. I don't do anything since I did not want to make the moment any worse. As we got closer to the hotel, the driver puts on the bandana. He looks at me and I look at him and just smile. Now we knew why he was laughing, because he was one of the protesters. God was watching out for us and because of him we had royal treatment through the heart of the protest. We went through road stops and directly through the heart of the protest. We finally made it safely to the hotel and knew we had an experience to share.

We then found out that the mall (where we are connected to) and the adjacent mall has been closed for 3 days and we are thinking that we might have to change hotels. We were 40 stories up and I could still hear the protesters in the streets. Guess we better buy some red shirts tomorrow.

 

Butterfly Park

Butterfly Park in Kuala Lumpur was beautiful.  So many butterflies and all different kinds, it was hard not to look in a new spot and not see one.  I even got to be friends with one and hold it long enough so that I could let Mason and Cameron hold it.  Mason just kept kissing and touching it.  They even had a few turtles and frogs.  A must see if you ever go to KL.

Petronas Twin Towers Sky Bridge

Since we were next to the Petronas Twin Towers, I wanted to go to the top.  I thought that you could go anytime, but not the case.  There are only about 1,000 people who have to wait in line to get the tickets and it is on a first come first serve basis.  One morning I arrived at 7:30 to start waiting in line and to my surprise there was already about 150 people waiting before me.  The desk opened at 8:30 so I thought I was early, but as time got closer I realized I was early because about 400 people came after me.  I finally got the tickets about for the afternoon and I was off to meet the family for breakfast.
Later that afternoon, we took the Sky Bridge tour.  You can't actually go to the top like I was able to go at the World Trade Center in New York, but you can take a 10 minute tour of the bridget hat is 54 floors up.  It gives an amazing view of the city and worth the wait time.

Kuala Lumpur

After 8 nights at the beach we headed to Kuala Lumpur for two nights to see the sights, shop, eat, and whatever else the city had to offer.  We stayed at a hotel that looked at the Petronas Twin Towers and next to the KLCC Park.  I perfect spot since we could walk to shopping, movies, restaurants, playgrounds, etc.  We even upgraded our room to a suite which was sooo nice.  When we arrived we were hungry and spotted a Chili's at the Suria Mall and new where we were going to eat.  A little shopping and a movie later we were thinking about going back to Chli's for dinner, but decided to spread the wealth.

The Secret Beach

We took the boys to our secret beach and to get there we made it seem like an adventure.  We told them there was treasure and secret passages they had to go through in order to reach the beach.  Since the tide was in I had to pick the boys up to go through the waves.  We also had to step over many rocks and queeze by narrow passages.  The boys enjoyed reaching our spot and Cameron couldn't stop picking up the treasure (sea shells). 

Club Med Cherating Beach

We are definitely hooked on Club Med.  We all get to have maximum enjoyment and that is all anyone ever wants in a vacation.  Some of the things the boys get to do is trapeze, kayaking, bungy bounce, archery, swimming, nature walks, and perform in shows.  Enjoy the pics.  I know we enjoyed the time.

 

Kemaman, Malaysia

One day we took a taxi to an nearby city called Kemaman. We wanted to get a Chinese shampoo massage and have a drink at a local coffee house. Oh and do some shopping. We sat down at a local coffee house that must have been very popular with the locals.   After a big cup of coffee for Stacey and a Pina Colda Drink for me, we headed off for the shampoo massage. Neither of us had ever had this done and did not know what to expect. After an hour of scalp rubbing massaging, washing, rinsing, and drying we were relaxed and happy. Wait I forget to mention a face wash in there too. I could get used to this. For two of us in was only 39 Ringgits or about $12 so we left a big tip for the girls who pampered us.

Later that day the boys and I had a guys afternoon. We went to the beach for yakaying, wave jumping, snokeling, and playing in the sand. Upon our return we found Stacey feeding, monkeys Pringles and chocolate. She can't get enough of these monkeys and they even try and get in your room if the doors is not locked. I tried to tell Stacey not to feed them chocolate and her response was, "They are like us and can eat what we eat." Is there any proof to that?