June 2, 2007

Dear Madelyn, Ashton, Allison, Harrison, Evelyn, Grandma and Grandpa:

So...here is our first update.

After we left you, we flew and flew and flew and flew, through the night and the next day. We landed at the Tokyo airport, walked around for a bit, then got on another plane and flew to Singapore. We were very tired by the time the flight ended. We each had our own TV that had movies, cartoons and games. Ashton and Madelyn, hopefully it will be like this when we go to Taiwan. I think you will have fun.

Singapore is a very clean city, right by the ocean. We went on a little boat ride on the river that goes through the city, right by this Merlion (half fish/half lion).




We then went to a Tao temple. It was very colorful.




After that, we went to the National Orchid Garden, and saw some "speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil" monkeys. Can you tell which are the monkeys?




Finally, we went to a zoo at night and went on a "wild animal safari" ride. It wasn't very wild, and we were very tired. We probably should have just gone to bed.

We got up early the next morning and flew to Bangkok, Thailand.

Bangkok is not as clean as Singapore, but very interesting. We went out exploring that evening, and went to a dinner where they had some people in costumes, dancing. Allison, you probably would not have liked much of the food we ate. It was very different, and there was no peanut butter. We liked it, however. We have some stories to tell you about Bangkok when we get back. Riding back to our hotel, we rode on an M&M train. We thought Harrison would like to have ridden on the train. Grandma Oaks wanted everyone to know that we didn't get M&Ms on the train--the train just had M&Ms on it. Here is a picture.



Today, we went to a local market (more stories), a coconut plantation, and a floating market (still more stories). Here's one picture from the floating market.



This afternoon we will go to the national palace. It should be interesting. I'll describe that in more detail tomorrow.

Tomorrow we get on another plane and fly to Chiang Rai, in Northern Thailand.

We love you and hope you are doing well. Feel free to type an email to us and let us know how you are doing.

Love,
Mom and Dad