Bali

Favorite memory from trip!  Koh Somui

We got up at 4am this morning in Singapore and caught our flight to Hong Kong.  We then caught a flight from Hong Kong to Chicago.  Seventeen hours in the air so far today and one more leg to catch from Chicago to Boston.  We will have taken 10 flights in 13 days after our last leg to Boston.  We are tired and amazed how each country handles the visas, custom checks, and baggage checks differently.  We are lucky we caught every flight without any lost luggage or lost passports.
Bali was by far the most congested place we visited with very crazy traffic.  The people that we encountered in Bali were very nice.

Monkeys on the way to the airport, in Bali.   Shopping area closer to airport.

New discovery, Bintang Pilsner out of Indonesia was surprisingly good.

Bali 2nd day

Bali on July 4th

Monduk Moding Plantation, Bali

I haven't written much about our trip as we have been constantly on the move with poor internet service.  When I do get a connection, sometimes in an airport I am quickly dumping some pictures to the blog site.  We are currently staying on a coffee plantation in Bali.  We arrived at the wildest airport I have ever seen in my sheltered life.  The airport is very overcrowded and people begging for money and drivers begging to get your business.  The ride to the plantation was a little stressful as the kids thought we were going to die.  Many money changers trying to get and short change your money.  We felt lucky to escape that airport only to feel like we were going to crash in the van that drove us 3 hours up into the mountains to our coffee plantation.  The sites are beautiful and once again we are secluded without any other tourists.

Koh Samui, Thailand

3 hour flight from Hong Kong to Koh Samui on Bangkok Air.

Beautiful sunset, our last night.

Last day in Hong Kong

We have been on the go and without internet for 3 days.  Internet is back in Thailand on Koh Samui!  I am posting last day pictures from Hong Kong and then Monday and Tuesday in Koh Samui, Thailand.

Day 2 in Hong Kong has been a great experience.  We walked the streets around our Hotel Ovolo.  Our hotel is in a non touristy area and we were surprised to find no one could speak English.  Liam and Dad at the laundry store one block from our hotel.  Cantonese is very different from Mandarin.  Wow,  didn't realize how grey my hair was?

        Locals often did not want their pictures taken.  We are the Ugly Americans and still took some of those pictures.  Sorry John Kerry, you better get to Asia and smooth things over after the Pattens leave. 
                

This guy just waved us away

this guy ended up coming after Mimi

Great dinner and view!!

Dave and Liam's Wagyu flat iron steaks won the prize as the best cut of meat for the night.  Watching Wimbledon at the hotel as I enter these pics,  12 midnight, long day,  great night with family, and it is 12 noon back in the states.

   Where the  %#*^%#  are we??   Chinese relations have gone south since the Pattens arrived

Paula +paula@davidpattendds.com

, I hope all is well in Hampstead.  Pics at www.patten5.blogspot.com  .  I don't know,
but just by looking at this picture, I don't think China is taking over the world just yet.
At least they are not winning any fashion contests, although the Last Emperor in 1911
might have liked these pajamas?

Thank you for the graduation gifts, very generous.....+bunverferth@gmail.com,
 +sinserra@comcast.net, +dandmlighthill@rr.com, and +dlespatten@gmail.com

No wonder the Emperors of China were eventually overthrown as the Forbidden city
was more than a bit of an overkill.  I just had no idea how big the place was?  The one
 area where the many extra wives were parked was called the hall of extreme happiness.
  How obnoxious is that? 

This is just one little section of the Forbidden City.

Next we went to walk through some Hutongs, which for hundreds of years was all
 of Beijing.  Presently there are just a few areas of Hutongs preserved showing
 how the masses of chinese people lived for many years.

Time to fly to Hong Kong!

Local Fish restaurant (not a tourist stop).  Had learned about this from Liam's Beijing friends.

The fish were still moving which did not make Mackenzie feel good?  She was a trooper and did end up eating the fish and some of the meat off the fish head which, as Liam calls them, the Beijingers love.

Pictures from Great Wall.  One of the most remote parts of the Great Wall.

Local Fish restaurant after 4 hours on the Great Wall.

This is Thursday night June 27th, 2013.  I could not post any blogs until tonight because the Chinese government blocks blogs on google's eblogger.  We flew today from Beijing to Hong Kong.  Even though Hong Kong is now under Beijing's rule, Beijing has let Hong Kong rule pretty much as before the British had to let Hong Kong go back to China's control in 1999, after 100 years of British rule.  The internet works better and Hong Kong has a very different feel compared to Beijing.  On Tuesday we did a 4 hour hike on a remote part of the Great Wall away from the crowds and got some great pictures.  Wednesday Liam Patten graduated from his Beijing university and again we got some great pictures.  In the afternoon we went to Tianamen Square, and then to the Forbidden City.  The Forbidden City is much bigger than most people think.  We did go to walk through some Hutongs where people lived for hundreds of years in Beijing in very crowded conditions.  I am too tired to write anymore due to jet lag and busy days, so I will just post some pictures.   Dave