Spring Break 2018 - Vietnam - Part I

Our annual spring break trip has become one of our favorite traditions in Kazakhstan.  After a long, cold winter it is always nice to get somewhere warm.  Last year we did a long driving tour of India.  It was educational and we are glad we went, but we missed the beach vacations of Thailand and Sri Lanka, so this year Yulia booked our vacation in Nha Trang, Vietnam.

Our flight left Astana at 9:00 a.m on Saturday March 17.  It was an Air Astana flight to Almaty with a connection from there directly to Ho Chi Minh City.  We decided that we would take the bus, so we woke up early and left for the bus stop at 6:15.  We can go through the school all heated and with no problem, so we all dressed quite light - sweaters and jackets for the girls, and a sweatshirt for me.  We waited at the front until our bus app on the phone told us that the bus was on its way.

It was cold outside.  Minus 21 degrees Celsius.  We figured we'd be okay because we'd only be outside for 2-3 minutes.  Wrong!  The busses showing on our app were traveling on the route - in fact the one we were waiting for buzzed right past us on its way to start the route from the airport. That meant that we had to spend about fifteen minutes waiting in the cold.  We had some complaints from the girls, but we told them that now they know how people who can't afford warm clothes feel when it's cold outside and that they should be grateful.

Waiting in the cold for our bus.

The bus came and it was plenty warm (one of the oddities of Kazakhstan is that the temperature inside busses in the winter is about 100 degrees Fahrenheit).  We arrived at the airport right at 7:00 a.m. We were able to check in and wait for our plane with no problem.  Our plane was a Boeing 757 that was equipped with entertainment devices, so the girls were very happy.

The flight to Almaty was fairly quick (when your shortest flight is normally 3.5 hours and typically 6.5 hours or more, 1.5 hour flights are easy!) and we were able to get through passport control and security and checked in for our flight without any problems.

Waiting in Astana for the day of travel to begin.

One of the most fun things is that we were on the same plane on the flight from Almaty to Vietnam as we were earlier - and sat in the exact same seats! The flight to Vietnam was about 6.5 hours long.  We had a good time.  The best part was that we had clear skies and were able to see the views as we flew over Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Thailand.  The Tien Shen mountains and their valleys were the most impressive sight of all.

We landed in Ho Chi Minh and didn't have much problem getting through passport control and contacting our hotel to come pick us up.  The pick up was quick - the hotel was literally right outside the airport - within walking distance.  Once we were checked in, we went down the street and found a little restaurant (a chain by its looks) that served traditional Vietnamese food.

Dinner in Ho Chi Minh (Saigan).

Sunday morning we woke up and packed and headed to the airport.  Once there we checked in.  We ate Pho at a little restaurant while we waited for our plane - and we fell in love with it.  Our flight to the Cam Ranh airport was quick - about 45 minutes.  Our ride was waiting for us and we enjoyed the views as we drove down the coast to Na Trang.

View from hotel in Ho Chi Minh.  Trees with Jack Fruit.

Pho in the airport in Ho Chi Minh

Once we were in our apartment, we all changed into swimming suits and walked across the street to the beach where the kids and I all swam for about an hour.  Once we had swum enough, we came home, showered, and went out to find dinner. We found a little place up the street where we ate.  The food was good, but more expensive than we expected and not as good as the price we paid for it.

The beach and view from our apartment.

Na Trang skyline.

Swimming in the ocean!

The whole crew having fun.

Nina is a happy camper.

Nika playing in the sand.

Locals coming to swim at around 5:00 p.m. each day.

Sophie ordered frog for dinner!

Lexa eating pasta with seafood.

Spring Break Trip to Sri Lanka Part II: Unawatuna

The girls' suitcase had arrived with no problem, and so they quickly changed into their swimming suits and spent the morning in the pool.  Our sun screen hadn't arrived, and so the girls got quite crispy.  Yulia went out and found some sun screen in the afternoon so they were protected from then on, but they were crispy the whole vacation!

One of the two outdoor pools at our hotel. The other one was for smaller kids, so our kids didn't even consider it.

Life is great!

Sophie and Lexa

Twins!

King coconut tree. They are yellow, and the milk is very refreshing.

Our hotel had a restaurant in it and we decided that we would try it out on our first night.  We were very glad we did.  The girls all ordered yummy food - Nika ordered crabs and Lina ordered lobster! Sophie ordered spaghetti and Lexa ordered curry chicken.  All of the meals came with delicious salads and with dessert and they were really good.  After trying it the first night, we pretty much decided to just eat there every night.  Yulia had a different fish entree every night, and I tried a variety of sea creatures as well - with a plate of calamari my last night and a seafood risotto on the third. The meals cost about what a casual dining place would charge (think Chilli's or Olive Garden), but so much better.

Happy with their orders

We loved the salads there!

Lina with her zebra lobster. We actually do not know what it is called, but Lina was very happy to eat it! Especially because she got to eat it without any utensils. A win win situation for Lina!

They had two huge German shepherds hanging out in the dining area. Here is one. They were super calm and very friendly.

Our hotel room was two suites.  They were on a separate balcony with its own entrance and a private little pool.  The only problem is that the power went off in the girls' room the first night and wouldn't stay on after that.  Yulia and I slept in their room on the second night so they could have air conditioning, and after that, we told the hotel that something needed to be done.  They seemed a bit surprised that something as little as a lack of electricity would make us unhappy, but eventually they gave us another room in the balcony next to ours.  No problems with electricity there. The owner of the hotel was very apologetic and gave us our family dinner for free on the night they moved us into the new room.

Our little private pool.

Girls hanging outside of their door waiting for the lights to be fixed. Again.

Our bag arrived early on Friday morning, and so we had toothbrushes, changes of clothes, and most importantly our swimming suits.  Yulia and I joined the girls in the pool in the morning, and in the afternoon we went down to the beach and played there.  The girls mostly found shells and waded.  Yulia and I also did some swimming.  I swam more, but we both went in and swam. The waves in Sri Lanka are quite high - better for surfing than swimming, but it was swimmable and very warm. We stayed at the beach until about five when it started to lose a bit of light, and then cleaned up and ate a lovely dinner.  Our second day in Unawatuna was much better than the first!

Ocean!

There were quiet a few stray dogs hanging out at the beach. Here is one of them. The beach itself wasn't super clean, there was garbage that the tourists left.

Spencer swimming

They were so excited to get into the ocean but the salty water stung their burnt skin, so they quickly changed their plans to castle building and shell hunting.

Building something that in the next minuted turned to ...

...this!

Lina watching the ocean.

Finding treasures!

Double trouble!

After 5 pm a lot of locals came to the ocean with their kids. Some of them would go swimming right in their clothes!

More locals coming to the beach.

Coming to our hotel from the beach along the narrow village road. Had to be very careful because those tuk-tuk drivers are sometimes down right crazy!

Not sure why we took this picture but here it is...enjoy!

Our little fruit stand close to our hotel. We got bananas from them a few times. They are cute little bananas that are really tasty!

Yep, perfect for the kids!

Spring Break Vacation to Thailand Part I

In October we booked a vacation to Phuket, Thailand.  It seemed like it would be a long time away when we booked it.  We had the cards paid off for it in December and we were busy living.  And then March came, and it was a reality that we would really be heading to Thailand for our first tropical vacation.  It is also the first real non-travel vacation, or a vacation where we just go and stay in one place for a long time that we have ever taken.

Our flight from Astana left at 9:30 on Saturday evening.  We ordered a minivan taxi to pick us up at 7:30.  We left our dog, Yuki, with our friends, grabbed our three suitcases and two backpacks and headed for the airport. Our friend, Chris Keeley was traveling to Bangkok for a training session for the US embassy, so we waited at the airport with him.  Our flight to Almaty was uneventful.  In Almaty we had to walk to a different building outside.   Almaty was above zero (Celsius), had no snow, and had green grass.  Astana has been hovering around zero (Celsius) and some days had gotten plus enough that the snow and ice began to melt, but there is still plenty there.

Waiting in Almaty for our connection to Bangkok

We waited for a few hours before boarding our flight to Bangkok.  That flight was full, but nice.  We really like the Kazakh airline, Astana Air, because they have a bit more leg room than most US carriers. That extra two inches really makes a difference in comfort for tall people like me.  The kids slept a bit, watched the television, and ate their snacks/dinner on the flight.  We landed in Bangkok at about 9:00 a.m.  The airport was huge and we got a bit lost trying to make our connection - we had to go through passport and customs before making the connection.  We had plenty of time, so we were okay.

After checking in to our next flight and going back through security, we went to eat with the girls.  We went to McDonald's since our kids were quite broken down after a sleepless night and we knew that they would be happier with something familiar.  We had a nice slow lunch and then went to our gate.  We were still a few hours early, so Yulia and I stretched out and rested while the kids played.

Lunch at McDonald's at the airport in Bangkok

View of a garden from our table at McDonald's

Our flight to Phuket was only about an hour long and we were served a nice snack lunch on the way.  When we landed we had to get our checked bag.  It did not come out on the carousel, so we were a bit worried.  Then an airport employee told us that we could pick it up with the international bags.  We had checked it all the way through, so it went to a different carousel and we had to walk through customs with it.  Success!

Our Thai Airways flight to Phuket.  Happy travelers!

We found the taxi company holding up our name on a sign and then took a minibus to the Marriott resort.  It turns out that there are two Marriott resorts and we went to the wrong one.  It was okay - we were treated nicely, given a cold towel and a cold drink, and then driven on a golf cart to the correct resort about a half mile down the road.

Riding the cart to the correct Marriott resort (Marriott's Mai Khao Beach).

We were asked at check in if we wanted to upgrade to a room with a private pool for an extra $30 a night.  We thought, why not?  So we did that.  We were in a two bedroom suite with a kitchen, two bathrooms, and a laundry.  It's about the size of our apartment in Kazakhstan! We let the girls put on their suits and swim in our pool for about an hour.

Swimming in our private pool.

Our living/dining room in our suite.

After swimming we walked down to the beach and we all waded a bit and saw the sunset. Then we went and found a place to eat.  We found a little Thai place that is like a chain restaurant for Thai food.  We ordered and loved everything that we tried.

Walking to the beach (about 300 meters) from our room.

Kids, meet the ocean!

Wading.

The water is so warm - even warmer than our pool at our apartment.  It's fun to play in the surf.

After that it was home to our suite for a well-deserved Rest.