Thaipusam, Kuala Lumpur

Thaipsuam
Ron and I ventured out on the eve of Thiapusam to see witness the festival where over a million spectators and devotees came over a 5 day period.
Thaipusam is an Indian holy festival where devotees fast (vegetarian) before the festival and then spend all night in thanksgiving for prayers answered during the year. Men line up to have their heads shaved and applying sandalwood to cool themselves. Working themselves into a trance by the river to purify themselves, they then make their way to the entrance of the Batu caves and up the 272 steps to the temple.
Lead by what looks like a small band (beating drums); they smash coconuts and chant "Vel, Vel". Most spectacular of all have to be the kavadi carriers, who subject themselves to body piercing as a sign of devotion. Like firewalkers, the truly devoted manage to pull metal cages, hooked to their backs through bare skin with no signs of pain. Others weigh down their piercing hooks with limes. Some even pierce their tongues and cheeks with spikes (women also do this). The trance-like state is said to prevent them feeling any pain, and later (at the top of the Batu cave steps) hooks and skewers are removed and treated by priests with holy ash and lemon juice, leaving no scarring – adding to the mystery of this frenzy of worship.
Ladies normally carry milk in aluminum pots (pal kudam) on their heads as an offering. Couples, who are thankful for the safe delivery of a child, carry the child in a yellow sarong strung between sugar cane stalks.
it's a 10 minute walk from the river to the entrance of cave. But, it sometimes takes hours depending on the crowd and how much they stop to dance or rest.

Ropes attached to devotees body with hooks through his skin.

woman throwing coconut into fire for cleansing

Lead by drums, devotee carries heavy load topped with peacock feathers. Below, body piercings.

shaving head before

Entrance to Batu caves

women in yellow seeking offerings/donations. Man sitting on a bed of nails and under his feet. Pay him a little and he will offer a prayer for you and put a bracelet around your wrist.

child crying; woman in trance with spear pierced through her mouth.

Hanoi, Vietnam

Picture top left, view from cyclo ride (motorbikes everywhere, carrying everything imaginable from pigs, to 3,4 or 5 people, to crates so loaded down, you wonder how they can drive). Top photo on right, view from street in front of our hotel. Great boutique hotel- right in the middle of a narrow busy clothing market. Photos on far right, propaganda posters still being used around the city by the government.

Hanoi, Vietnam

Exploring the streets of the old quarter- there are 36 streets, each selling a certain product. On one street every store sells silk, another street just shoes, another vegetables, etc. There's some great shopping to be done -- a lot of unique art, embroidery and silk-- everything hand made in Vietnam and very inexpensive. Photo on top: you guessed it- dog. Many places "street food"- cooking on the street and people eat sitting in miniature plastic chairs (sized for kindergartners) or stools. We had some great meals.

Hanoi, Vietnam

On our last day, Drew and I ventured out to see the temple of literature- a courtyard with ponds and gardens that date from 1070. Stone tablets with ancient writings, and of course a temple shrine.

Hanoi, Vietnam

Visited the army museum, which was good to see but so sad to see how poorly preserved the "artifacts" were from the Vietnam war (which Vietnamese call the "American" war). The plane wreckage was a jumble of a few scrap planes that were shot down put together. Below, a prison used by the French during their occupation- and was also used during Vietnam war to hold the American POW pilots, also dubbed the "Hanoi Hilton".
We also went to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum ("Uncle Ho" they call him)- where this former communist leader is preserved / embalmed-- very strange-no cameras allowed- we were allowed to walk past him but if we paused, we were prodded along by the guards. When we left, mom slipped and fell. Ron joked that he was going to get her a t-shirt that said "I fell for Ho Chi Minh". ha ha

Hanoi, Vietnam

With mom and Ron in town, Andrew and I decide to go on a last minute trip with them to Hanoi, Vietnam. It is very eye opening-- a trip not to miss. Absolutely nuts to take a 2 year old, however we survive the trip mostly with Andrew riding on my back in a baby backpack. I didn't see a single child in a stroller there. The sidewalks are narrow and are where people park their motorbikes. To walk across the street, you simply close your eyes and go, not making eye contact with anyone for fear that you'll be run over! Andrew the most part is excellent-- with a few 2 year old-type tantrums thrown in just for fun! There are cyclos to ride in (mainly for tourists) for about 20,000Dong, or $1.30US for an hour.

Melbourne

A few of the sites around the city. They had record temperatures while we were there (over 100 degrees)-- did I mention that the hotel had NO A/C! Oops- who would think to ask that?! Finally cooled off on our last night there! We enjoyed the city tram system which was free most of the time. Drew napped a lot in the stroller while we explored the city! Photo bottom right: many alley ways have cafes - this is one- but oops, they were closed when I took the photo.: )

Melbourne

Two trips to the museum and IMax Theatre. Melissa got to do some shopping-- while Dad entertained boys! : )

Melbourne

We arrived in Melbourne in time for New Year's. The beach there was very calm- almost no waves to speak of and tons of shells. The boys spent time making sand castles, and Nathan got very brave and went out deep. Drew used a discarded beer bottle to water the castle with. What a good mother I am. : ) The beach was absolutely trashed New Year's Day. We walked quite a ways to find a spot that was relatively clean.

Noosa Beach

Braving the waves and dangerous rip tides at Noosa. It's great for surfing and boogie boarding. But, a bit too dangerous for our boys. Nathan was getting smashed by the waves and drew couldn't get enough- he loved it and had NO fear, which was a little scary for us.

Noosa Beach

After 5 days in Sydney, we headed north of Brisbane to Noosa beach, a popular coastal touristy-village. We loved it- a lovely main street with lots of restaurants and shops- right outside our apartment- and the beach just across the street. Plus a lagoon style pool. Our apartment was a bit cozy for 6 people- but we managed and had a great time!

Christmas Dinner, Sydney

We had a beautiful meal (& many great meals in Oz!) at the Bather's Pavilion in Balmoral Beach. It was a chilly day- but really neat to see all the families out for a barbeque on Christmas day.

Merry Christmas

Opening presents Christmas morning. Nathan was quite pleased to note that Santa brought him more presents than Andrew. Oops, Santa will have to be a little more fair next year when Andrew really gets the idea of Santa Clause. : )

Sporting his brother's new soccer shoes! Going for the pant-less, diaper look these days!

Taronga Zoo, Sydney

Took the boys to the zoo- a ferry from the Sydney harbor to the zoo, then a cable car up to the zoo entrance. (Photo on right is view from cable car).Lots of Koalas and kangaroos- but all Andrew was interested in was seeing the Tigers! Too bad they were napping when we came by.

Sydney

Top left/right: views of the city, the opera house from the bridge. Bottom left/ right: view of where we did the bridge climb and view from a ferry boat of bridge and opera house.

Sydney

Jason and I did the Sydney Harbor Bridge climb which takes you over catwalks, ladders and arches on the bridge- the bridge was built in the 1930's and is the largest single span arch bridge in the world. It takes about 3 hours - they don't allow you to take photos but they will take a bunch of them for you (notice the cute suits they make you wear!)-- which is why it takes 3 hours! It was a gorgeous day to do it!

Christmas & New Year's in Australia

We spent 2 (great!) weeks in Oz (Australia) over the holidays, where my mom and her husband, Ron joined us for the first half of our trip.
First stop: Sydney. We stayed in a great serviced apartment in the city- a close walk to most everything (the cbd, harbor, restaurants, & shopping). We had some crazy weather- a lot of rain which kept things cool- even though it was summer there.
Here we went to a lovely Christmas performance at the Sydney Opera House.

Took Nathan to a Christmas party for an orphanage, Agathian's Shelter here in KL. There are 30 boys in all- living between 2 houses. I was recently involved in organizing a silent auction for them that raised almost RM41,000 for them. They are still in need of funds to begin a renovation on a home where all the boys can live together rather than 2 separate homes. The house they're in now consisted of 4 rooms, one for the boys, one open cement floor room to play in (with nothing in it but a small tv), a kitchen and an office (for volunteer staff)- all total a little larger than my living room. The boys were so thrilled with the attention- we did crafts with them-and in the bottom photo, they built a ginger bread house. I'm sure most of them had never done anything like it before.

Nathan & drew got into the post it notes... Nathan's last day of school before the Christmas break. They had a cake for a classmate, Rio, who is moving back to Japan. Rio has been in Nathan's class the past 2 years. The kids were all too happy to eat sweets and cake for several hours that day! : )

Drew likes to "play house" with his brother which involves a lot of pillows, running wild and jumping. And, he loves to dress up as "superbaby!" which involves any sort of costume & hat and some kind of (weapon) sword or lifesaver. : )

Nathan practiced for a few months for our church Christmas play--The children were asked to wear a costume from their country. Nathan decided he would like to "look handsome" and were the bow tie and cumber bun he wore last year. He loves to perform (& practice at home by himself!). For the performance itself, he acted a bit shy but did a super job! : )