2012: Unbelievable

In reflecting on 2012, I was trying to think of how to sum it up in one word.  The first word that came to mind was horrific. While Mike's death certainly took center stage this year, other things - good and bad - occurred, so horrific didn't quite capture everything. "Unbelievable" seemed most appropriate. The highlights and low-lights of 2012 are truly unbelievable.

Highlights

• Family trip to Thailand (February 11-25): After traveling 24 hours on an airplane, we arrived in Asia for quite an adventure. All of the colors, sounds, and smells were unbelievable. I have traveled a lot of places and have never been to a place like Thailand before. Riding elephants, playing with tigers, getting custom made clothes at the tailor and feeling like a celebrity, eating Thai food at literally every meal, visiting with my friend, Yada, visiting floating markets and floating down many rivers in wooden boats or bamboo rafts --- certainly a trip of a lifetime! 

• Visiting the Beckers (April 30): Spending the whole day with the Beckers in Lawrenceville, NJ before they moved to Washington, CT. I went to lunch with Age and then spent the whole day with William and Marilee at the playground and hanging out with them on campus. At the end of the day, we walked to school to pick up Penny and get hugs just before it was time for me to go home.

• Running outside in the middle of the workday to watch the space shuttle fly by. It was so cool to see the plane flying with the shuttle on it's "back". Unbelievable! (April 17)

• Redskins games especially Monday Night Football. RG3 is UNBELIEVABLE!

• A weekend in NYC with Kathryn. I am so grateful for our friendship. (April 22-24)

• University of Richmond Homecoming 2012. Thank you, Kristen Emerson. (Nov 3)

• Moving back into my condo: Renovating the kitchen and bathroom and getting a new bed were the best decisions I made this year. 

• Summer Olympics in London.  I am an Olympic junkie. My favorite sports were gymnastics (Go Gabby Douglas) and swimming (supposedly Michael Phelps last Olympics)

Low-lights:

• April 3, 2012: My best friend left the world forever. It is still hard to believe and to wrap my mind around. It will probably always seem strange. I will miss you and love you forever, Dude.

• August 14, 2012: My godmother, Linda, went to heaven.

• October 12, 2012: Surgery #17 to remove a screw in my foot. It ended up being easier than expected, though.

• Having to sue LSAC twice

 Reasons to celebrate my friends

• Jason and Angela Ritter, May 11, 2012
• Seth Caplan and Melissa Whitlock, September 2, 2012
• Jen and Chris Hansen, December 22, 2012
• Andy and Yada's engagement
• Dr. Alyssa Dunn published a book
• Kathryn and Tyler Grassmeyer are expecting a baby girl in January 2013
• Sean and Amanda Casey are expecting Baby Casey in February 2013
• Jason and Angela Ritter are expecting a baby girl in May 2013.
• Erin and Tom Buller are expecting a baby girl in June 2013. Great news especially after Noah joined Mike in heaven earlier this year.

Lessons Learned

• You are stronger than you think.
• Your friends truly do love you.
• God is there.
• Never give up no matter how hard it gets.
• Wine is wonderful.

I am definitely ready to say "good riddance" to this unbelievable year. I'm praying that 2013 is full of blessing, hope, and joy.

Feastin' on fried insects

When in Thailand do as the Thais do. You know what that means?! It means you may have to feast on some fried insects. Never, ever in my life would I think that I would eat bugs! I avoid camping because I am not one to commune with nature. I appreciate nature's beauty, but I don't see any reason to sleep on the ground, pee in the woods, and heaven forbid, eat bugs! But, put me in a foreign country, eager for an experience and all of my "I would never do that in my life proclamations" go out the window!

It all happened in the city of Ayutthaya at the night market. We were on a VIP-police escorted rickshaw tour of the city and we made a stop.

If you can't quite tell what that is, it's the fried insect vendor. Our tour guide went to the counter, got a plate, and dared us to try.

 I have no idea what it is on that plate. I didn't want to know. Ignorance is bliss in this case.

Here I am, making a choice. That's my dad in the background. That's his "Who is this daughter that I call mine and is she cra-zy?" face.  Yes, Dad, I really did give it a whirl!
I don't know what I ate. Again, I didn't want to know. My tour guide tells me later that it was a wing of some sort.

This is my face after eating the bug. Can you tell what I thought of it? It was crunchy. Super salty. And, I will never eat one again! But, when in Thailand do as the Thais do.

Elephants!

My family's favorite part of our adventures in Thailand was our visit to the elephant camp. Let me tell you, the Thais are serious about elephants and take very good care of them. At the age of 3, most elephants go to "Elephant University" (yes, it's real!). At school, they learn how to build things, (They are sometimes used to life sandstone for construction projects), play musical instruments, dunk a basketball, kick a soccer ball, dance, and paint. Below are some pictures to prove it, but you have to see it for yourself to really soak it all in and comprehend the wonder of it all.

Soccer

The elephant is painting

The finished products painted by three elephants. I bought the one on the right!

As if the show wasn't entertaining enough, there was more in store for us on that day. A ride on the elephants! We rode 2 to an elephant through the river and up the bank and around for an hour and a half. It was quite a bumpy, but amazing experience!

 The guy sitting on the front of our elephant is a mahut. Every elephant is required to have an identification card and a mahut. The mahut stays with the elephant until one of them dies. It is likely that the mahut will die before the elephant because elephants can live until their nineties. However, they are allowed to "retire" at 65 years old and can just enjoy life instead of having to perform in front of people. Essentially, these animals work from age 3 to 65, and we thought we had it hard!

If you ever find yourself in Thailand, don't miss out on this experience! It's memorable, for sure.

Trunk up = Good luck!

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

The floating market was a colorful and interesting glimpse into local life.

We took a longtail boat through the canals filled with small flat boats paddled by mature ladies who were ready to bargain at a moment's notice. You floated along and admired all of the goods.

It was fascinating to watch the exchanges. The photo above shows a man purchasing fried bananas. The lady merchant has a little bucket attached to the pole. She fulfills the man's order and places it in the bucket, using the pole to hand it to him. He then removes the purchase and exchanges the contents of the bucket from the fried banana to the money he owes. The merchant pulls the bucket back towards her and the transaction is complete.

The Damneon Saduak floating market is one of the only floating markets in Thailand that caters specifically to the local Thai people and not to the tourists. The visit to this market provided a unique glimpse into Thai life and their beautiful goods.

Cabbage and Condoms

Sadly, prostitution, particularly child prostitution, is a huge issue in Thailand. One of my colleagues at work just returned from spending a year ministering to child prostitutes and attempting to transition them from their plight into a normal childhood. She recalls many of the prostitutes she worked with were just tweens, but their dress and makeup transformed them into women far beyond their years. We witnessed this first hand. Sit in the lobby of our hotel at night and you'd see the prostitutes enter the lobby, leave their ID at the desk, and meet creepy men at the elevator who'd escort them up to their rooms. It was a sad sight to watch.

A restaurant called "Cabbage and Condoms" devotes a portion of its profits to help keep the young girls off the streets. I wasn't all that impressed with the food, but that's not the reason you dine at this establishment. 

Never seen pad thai wrapped in an egg!

In addition to being drawn there for a good cause, the "statues" outside the restaurant are creative and entertaining. All of the statues are made out of condoms.

This is "Condom Claus". Isn't that incredible?!  And, the funniest one is this:

Do you know who that is? It's Tiger Woods. And, the sign next to him says, "Hey, Tiger, Did you use these?"

The food is bland, but the cause is important. At the very least, if you find yourself in Bangkok, you should pay a visit to this restaurant just to check out the creative condom art and to do your part to help out those young girls who deserve a childhood instead of the life they are living.

Buddha

Ninety-two percent of people in Thailand are Buddhist. As such, there are Buddha statues and temples everywhere! Here are some of the most beautiful Buddhas and temples we came across during our two week adventure.

The detail put into constructing these Buddhas is amazing and the devotion of the Thai people to Buddha and his teachings is admirable.

Ahka Tribe

As we cruised around northern Thailand, we stopped to visit the hill tribe village of the Ahka. Carved wooden gates with guarding spirits presiding over them distinguish the Akha village.  The Akha tribe is known for their gorgeous silver headdresses.

The headdress this woman is wearing has been passed down in her family for generations. Her family heirloom was made out of real silver. This is not always the case nowadays as many are silver plated.  Ahka tribal members also wear distinct outfits.

 It makes no difference if you are the matriarch of the family or are one of the youngest/newest members of the tribe, you follow the customs. This little guy doesn't have a silver headdress just yet, but I bet he will trade in his cloth cap for a heavier adornment soon!

The Akha tribe style of house is supported on low stilts with a square living area and a stove in the back.

Fifteen people live in this one house. I would probably feel extremely cramped and disgruntled, but the Ahka people were very happy and hospitable to us. They did a little dance for us and presented their handicrafts for us to purchase.

I don't know about you, but one of the things I enjoy most when I travel is getting a taste of how the locals experience life. The Ahka tribe couldn't be happy to let me into their piece of the world and I am pleased to learn from them.

A little ride down the river

Bangkok is dubbed "The Venice of the East", so suffice it to say, I took more than just one little ride down the river during my trip to Thailand. Thank goodness Dad brought his seasick patches with him because it seemed as if we were always on a boat. Not a problem for me. I love the water.

Our first taste of a ride on the Thai waterways was a boat ride through the klongs, Bangkok's canals. We floated along to see family homes, temples, and the way of life in Bangkok.

At first, I was shocked to see such run down homes in the capital city! In the States, properties along the river would be the best, sitting on prime real estate. This did not seem to be the case in Bangkok. Houses were leaning, sinking, and falling down. Louis, our tour guide, explained that the appearance of the house did not necessarily indicate that the family did not have enough money to purchase something more stable and beautiful. It is just not as important to them. In Thailand, education, healthcare, public transportation, and electricity are all free. Because of this, even the poorest people have televisions! You cannot judge the income of the family on the structure in which they live.

As we cruised along the Praya Chao river, we stopped to visit this:

This is Wat Arun, Temple of the Dawn.  Its 260 foot spire has been identified with Bangkok. This temple is steep so nobody attempted to climb the stairs to the top!

After leaving "Venice of the East", the boat rides continued. One of the highlights of the trip was taking a 3 hour ride down the Kok River from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai. We boarded our longtail boat early in the morning and began our journey from one city to the other.

We were freezing,  our butts were sore (no real cushions on those seats), but by the end, we had arrived in a new city with more to explore.

PS: There is a little challenge in the blog world called the A-Z challenge. The idea is to write everyday except Sunday using a letter of the alphabet. I probably won't be able to keep up with daily updates and my readers might get blog fatigue, but I am going to try my best to meet the challenge. Stay tuned.

The Need for a Fourth Suitcase

 The Bigbys do not know the meaning of "pack lightly". My mom is the biggest culprit of over-packing, but admittedly, I am not much better. Dad is the best of us. He is a man and doesn't need a different pair of shoes for every outfit. Ok, well, we really don't need that either, but you know....This trip, however, the tables had turned. My dad's shopping extravaganza resulted in the need to buy a fourth suitcase.

It all started like this. Before going to Thailand, we had a number of people tell us that we had to go to the tailor to get some clothes made. We arrived in Thailand a day before our tour actually started so we would be able to acclimate ourselves to Asia. It so happened our tour guide, Louis, was around the hotel ready and willing to offer us suggestions on how to spend our spare time.

First stop: The tailor.

Louis made a phone call and the tailor sent a car to come and pick us up at the hotel and bring us to the shop. Dad said he was absolutely against going, but then decided he'd better go to "protect" us. He didn't want his two leading ladies whisked away by some strange men in the capital city of Thailand. So, he reluctantly enters the shop. Mom and I excitedly walk in and immediately sit down to tear through books of options. The two of us are so focused on what we are going to choose to have made that we completely lose track of where my dad might be. We turn around and we see this:

WHAT?!? The man who didn't want to go to the tailor is getting MEASURED?! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this man went crazy at the tailor! Mom and I decided on two dresses and a pair of pants in the amount of time that Dad had signed on the dotted line for 2 suits, 5 pairs of pants, 5 dress shirts and 5 ties! Now you see the need for the fourth suitcase.

The experience at the tailor felt very special. You'd pick out your pattern and then your fabric.

There were 2 whole floors of fabric to choose from. Then you were measured and your clothing was cut and sewn within a matter of hours! Zippity-quick, I tell ya. That night or the next day tailors would bring the freshly cut garments to the hotel for a fitting. While I don't have the money or the closets of celebrities, I did feel like one when the tailors would make a special visit to my room for a fitting!

The whole vacation was very special. This was just the beginning.  More to come on the Thai adventure.

Sawatdee Kah

Greetings from back home in the good 'ole US of A. I wasn't going to blog today because I got home at 4pm after literally traveling for 24 hours on a plane. Before my family and I made the journey to Thailand, the 24 hour flight seemed absolutely horrendous! I mean, really. But, once you get to the airport, you succumb to that fact that it will be a long journey, but the adventure that awaits will be unforgettable. This could not be closer to the truth. We endured cramped seats, lots of turbulence, a few unidentifiable airplane meals (You get fed constantly on such a long flight), but the last two weeks of my life have been absolutely incredible. Now I am tired. So tired. But, it is only 7pm and I need to stay up until at least 8pm to help ward off the jet-lag. Hence, the reason I am blogging right now.

Everyday of the trip, I turned to someone and said "I just don't know how I am going to blog about this. Every day is a new adventure, a different experience". After I sort through over a thousand photos and receive some photos from fellow members of my tour, I think I will blog each day of the trip separately. We'll see how it shakes out in the end, but that's the plan for now.

Since I am way too tired to upload a few of the photos and blog Day One of our adventure in Asia, I'll throw out a few teasers of what I will share about our trip. First, God is funny because one of the physical therapists for the Green Bay Packers was on my tour! What are the chances that I would be on a family vacation with a physical therapist?! Yes, my friend, Kathryn is one, so there is a slight chance, but Kathryn wouldn't come on our family vacation. Second, I have to describe some of the cultural differences: the bathrooms, the taxi drivers, the food, the prostitutes -- all have stories attached to them. Third, the highlights of the trip: elephants, tigers, boats, temples...I can't wait to share all of it with you. But, it may be a little while. There is so much to say I have to get it all together. This trip was truly an adventure from the very start!

I can't wait to share it with you after I get some sleep.

Bags are packed

When you book a trip for February in July it seems as if it will take forever to get here! Well, believe it or not, seven months have passed and tomorrow my parents and I embark on our adventure to Thailand! This trip has required much more preparation and planning than our past vacations. A trip to the International Travel Medicine clinic resulted in a typhoid shot and a terrifying briefing by a very passionate doctor who concluded her visit with "You will have a wonderful time". Ok, lady, now that you have told us we should only eat food served by people wearing gloves (What are the chances of that happening?) and that we might die if a mosquito bites us, sure we'll have a great time! Thhhhanks. After that visit, I frantically quizzed my friends who have been to Thailand about the thrills and the dangers. They all assured me that that lady was quite zealous and we really would have a wonderful time!

On Monday, we went to our primary care doctor to get our Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and Tetanus shots. He filled prescriptions for malaria pills, Cipro, Zofran, and a patch that helps seasickness for my dad. We are a walking pharmacy, I tell ya! All of this is probably an act of over precaution, but considering a mosquito in Richmond will come and bite my dad and I in DC, better safe than sorry!

It was fun to pick out the clothes to take on the trip. Did I mention it is 95 degrees and sunny there right now?! My suitcase is jammed full of summer clothes in hues of orange, pink, and white. Sadly, I had to leave out the cute shoes. I won't be able to blend into the crowd because if you look at my feet, my tennis shoes and socks scream "tourist"!

Our ride will come at 8am tomorrow morning to take us to the airport. Our first flight from Dulles to Tokyo is 17.5 hours! Yes, you read that right. Seventeen-and-a-half hours. I am struggling to pack a bag for the plane. 2 books, 2 magazines, an iPod, an iPhone, a deck of cards, Soduku - iPod will probably die half way through the flight because the battery life is not that long --- and that is just the FIRST flight. We land in Tokyo, sit around there for 2 hours, and then board a second flight lasting 5.5 hours to our destination, Bangkok. I will probably be bored of all of the stuff I brought to do by our second flight, so maybe I can catch up on some movies I missed in the theaters. Don't even get me started on what to do on the return flights! Who the heck knows?! Any ideas?

In 18 hours, I will embark on the longest flight of my life for the biggest adventure of my life! I'll be tired, dirty, stiff, and probably a little heavier from all they will be feeding me. But, who cares! In this case, it's the destination, not the journey, that counts. I'm leaving behind freezing temperatures, traffic, and long days for heat, sun, elephant rides, long necked ladies, Buddhist temples, and amazing food! A 24 hour flight! Oh well. I wouldn't trade it for the world.