Thailand: Phuket's Wat Chalong, Big Buddha, Beach Time

Wat Chalong 
Our next day trip was day one in Phuket Thailand! Having been to Thailand before, it was a very different experience coming to Phuket this time, as it had its very own flavor, but was way more touristy that Chiang Mai had been.

We started today at Wat Chalong, and went to the Poh Than Jao Wat. It has these two statues of the man called Ta Kheen-lek that evidently won multiple lotteries after consulting with the Poh Than Jao Wat statue.

This temple, like most, is super beautiful, and the day was insanely hot. The grounds were beautiful, but the sad part was that every 10 or so minutes there was a random 1000 firecrackers that would be lit in this huge caldron - most likely a prayer of sorts. However, to us Americans, it made you feel instantly that there was a mass shooting, and freaked us out. So sad that that is what our culture has to fear.

Wat Chalong literally had every kind of Buddha we were used to seeing. Gold ones, green ones, laying ones, and white ones. Little Monster and Rhett loved also going around growling at them in order to intimidate the Buddha. In tradition you take off your shoes before entering this holy ground, however, the ground was so hot, we didn't stay outside on the roof very long.

Even the towers of the temple were mini pagodas with layer after layer of highly decorated and ornate structures. They even had outside in the grand pagoda a splinter of Lord Buddha's bone, and is officially named the Phramahathatchedi-Jomthaibarameepragat (what a name).

Big Buddha 
Next we traveled over to see the Big Buddha, or the great Buddha of Phuket. The best part was that the position of this buddha was so prominent on top of the mountain top that we even saw it from the cruise ship earlier that morning at sunrise when Heather and I snuck out to see the sun come up over Phuket.

The official name for this place is Phra Phutta Ming Mongkol Akenakiri, which sits on top of Naked Hill near Chalong, and was built in 2004. It's basically a 148' tall Buddha on top of a mountain, so who wouldn't want to see it! It is supposed to be a representation of Gautama in sitting position, and covered in Burmese white marble.

The location was beautiful, and overlooks the whole coast. It was full of unique and very buddhist statues, to include the 3 headed elephant. We had a lot of fun, and I was excited because I found the best magnet there, only to then loose it 30 minutes later in the midst of taking Little Monster to the bathroom and subsequent Monster meltdown. So bummed!

Phuket Beach
So at the advice of the Rusts, we decided to finalize the day with some beach time. Phuket beaches, although with very comfortable water, are super super crowded, but luckily we were able to find some shade covered chairs and let everyone play. We spent the day wt the beach with the Rusts and Schwartz.

All the kids, to include the Rusts and Schwartz families engaged in the building of sand castles, and playing in the water.

The sand wasn't as beautiful as the beaches of Langkawi, but it wasn't hot, so the kids enjoyed the sand more here in Phuket.

We couldn't pass up the chance to get some massages on the beach in the Thailand, so the older two plus Heather and I rewarded ourselves with deep tissue massages there, and it was so fun! After some sunsets and delicious fruity drinks we conclude our day of literally going High and Low in order to find some amazing memories here.

-Kevin

Malaysia: Langkawi's Gondola Ride, Skybridge & Beach

Today we spent the day in Langkawi, Malaysia.  We got ready for the day and departed the ship as soon as we could.  As we were walking out, we bumped into Randy and Alesha Jones and their family.  We asked them what the were doing today, and they said they were going up to the skywalk and then the beach.  Sine our plans were the same, we decided we would share a taxi together.  We got off the bus and were swarmed by taxi driver.  Every single person we walked by tried to convince us to go with them.  We found a guy who was trying to get us to hire him for the day and he would take us anywhere we wanted and wait for us, then bring us back before the ship departed.  I really wanted to go to the beach and Kevin wanted to make it a short day, so I pushed for the all day taxi.  If we were with another family, and they wanted to go to the beach, then it was more likely Kevin would agree.  I'm so slick!  Lol.  So we hired the driver.

Our first stop was the Oriental Village were the Skycab Gondola's were located.  We walked through the village to the gondolas.  We bought our tickets for a private glass bottom gondola on Klook, so we redeemed our tickets and walked right in.  The wait was a little longer, only because the glass bottom gondolas were only one every twenty or so.  The Jones were in front of us, so they got the first glass bottom and we waited a while longer for the next one.

We got on and enjoyed the view.  The Langkawi Skycab is the tallest gondola in the world, with the steepest grade.  The kids had so much fun looking out the window and seeing the mountains and the ocean.

We got to the top of the mountain and got off our gondola.  There are two options to get to the skywalk, the first is a tram that takes you down the mountain to the bridge, and the second is stairs.  The line to the tram was long, so we decided to walk the stairs.  It was a short and beautiful hike down 346 stairs.  Little A and M&M counted every stair, it was a great way to distract them from the climb down.

We got to the skybridge and walked around.  Poor Kevin is quite uncomfortable with heights, so we had to do a lot of convincing to get him out on the bridge.  The view was so incredible.  The mountains and the ocean and all around was just so pretty.  There were a few places on the bridge were the ground was glass, so you could see all the way down.  Kevin and Little A avoided those spots.  We got to the end of the bridge and heard the yells and screams of monkeys, so for the mental health of Little A, we decided to turn around about 10 feet until we reached the end and the monkeys.   There were signs everywhere saying don't feed the monkeys.

As we were making our way to the other side of the bridge, we saw Alesha and asked her to take a family picture for us.  She knew Kevin didn't like heights, so she kept telling us to back up and she took a long time.  Kevin was gripping my hand so hard, and when he finally realized what Alesha was doing, he laughs and yells, I hate you Alesha.  We all laugh, and she takes a picture.  After the picture, Kevin and Little A makes a bee line to the end of the bridge back to the stairs.

We made our way back to the top where the gondolas are waiting to take us back down the mountain.  All the kids are pretty tired, so we get them all some popsicles to re-charge their batteries and get back in the gondola.

It's past lunch time, and all the kids are beginning to loose it, so we stay in the Oriental Village to grab some lunch.  Our kids found a Subway, so we keep it on the boring, non-adventurous American side and just got them that. The Jones are more adventurous and ate at the large food court.

We get back in the Taxi and are on our way to the beach.  Langkawi beaches are supposed to be top ten in the world, so I am excited to get to a clean beach.  The beach has great white sand and the waves are perfect for the kids.  We rented a chair, dumped our stuff and all got in the water.  The kids alternated from swimming in the ocean and playing in the sand.

The kids enjoyed finding little crabs and starfish in the sand.  The sand was super hot, but as long as it was wet, it wasn't burning them.  Luckily the Jones' brought sand toys, so the kids had plenty to play with.

After being at the beach about an hour, Little Monster is so excited to see Rhett running down the beach towards him.  The Rust and Schwartz's ended up picking the same beach we were at!  All the kids are so excited to see friends.  Going places with friends make it a million times better with kids.

All of us adults have a great time too.  We all talk and swim in the ocean.  It was so nice to spend a few hours in the hot sun at a beautiful beach with great friends.

Malaysia: Georgetown's Kek Lok Si Temple & Penang Street Art

On day 3 of the cruise, we ported in Penang Malaysia, and stole an opportunity to enjoy a moment with just the adults. As any parent can attest, a moment where you can steal away without crying, mandatory requests every hour for snacks, sudden bathroom emergencies and meltdowns, is worth it's weight in gold, and this experience was just that. We teamed our small day trip here with Mica Foster, who just retired from the Navy, the Rusts, and the Schwartz's.

We started our day by securing our driver, and started our day first at the Kek Lok Si Temple in Air Itam, Penang. This is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia.

As we arrived I didn't fully appreciate before the 7 story Pagoda of Rama VI (which is translated at the Pagoda of 10,000 Buddhas). Now to be honest, we didn't see 10,000 Buddhas, but we did see the most breath taking grounds of beautiful flowers, accenting colors, and deep red lantern lined walk ways. The walls were carefully carved with Buddhist writings, which I don't know what they mean, but it seemed to me to simply be a carving machine stuck on repeat.

Now of note, you see also in Asia that there is always as blend of cultures, since most of these countries undergo transitions of rule from a certain flavor of one ruling body to another. The large seven story pagoda of Ban Po Thar (the really large edifice in the back) is actually a combination of both a octagonal base with Chinese influence, with a middle tier of Thai influenced design, and then a Burmese crown on the top (the spiral dome). It's supposed to be a representation of the blend of both Mahayana and Theraveda Buddhism.

As you tour Asia it's easy to see that most of the religious edifices are found are usually on mountain tops, which in Christianity is common as well in scripture. As we left the grounds and pagoda we went up the small mountain on a tram (thankful for that) and then went to what I completely missed in our planning, the 120 foot tall Bronze statue of Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, surrounded by a 200 foot tall pavilion.

The literal translation of Kek Lok Is is the "Heavenly Temple" or the "Pure Land Temple" or the "Temple of Supreme Bliss." I translate it simply as the Temple of Heather. This temple has been around since 1905, the location was originally chosen because it faced the sea, and is built on what was called them the "crane mountain." The area was beautiful, and helped up appreciate that no matter where we go mankind tries to reach to their maker for connection. Glad to know how easy that process can be through prayer and modern revelation.

At this point we needed to get back to grab the kids, so the the guys in the group went back to retrieve the young ones while Heather and the girls did one last stop, the Penang Street Art!

PENANG STREET ART

In 2012 Penang's municipal council hired London-trained Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic to breath new life into the Chinese shop-houses around the inner city of Penang. He took on the task, focusing primarily on the 4 most popular streets of Jalan Penang, Muntri Street, Weld Quay, and Lebuh Leith streets.

The city art was incredible, highlighting beautiful little shops, lined by unique art of real motorcycles and bikes that are attached to the walls lined by paintings.

Heather, Holly and Corianne loved finding the art around the streets.  Some of their favorites were the kids on the bike, where Heather got swept away.  They also loved the motorcycle.  It was so neat, because the motorcycle was in the wall.

Heather was able to have lunch with the local wall art children and all the girls enjoyed playing on a swings with kids. The art was beautiful and very realistic.

After a afternoon of fun, all the ladies felt extremely guilty that they had left their husbands to take care of the kids (right...) and then came back to the ship to enjoy the rest of the afternoon in the pool and hot tub with the families.

We then ended the night by getting together for a late dinner with our peeps on the cruise, the Rusts, Jones, Schwartz, Strommer, and Mica, another stolen moment without kids. It was an amazing day!

-Kevin