#136 Sun Adventures

I have some fun (though random) photos to share of our Sunday in Suzhou.

As we set out to leave this morning for church, we found the street blocked by a crew of men removing and cutting up a tree across from our house. The billowing blue smoke is the exhaust from the two-stroke chain saw engine. Maria was particularly interested in the activity. Moments later, the blue pickup truck left with the tree. All that remained was a very large hole in the ground.

Next we loaded up the car and drove half a block in the other direction when Juliana pointed out the we had departed without Joseph ! When we pulled back up to the front door, Joseph was trying to get out of the house which Kathleen and locked from the outside - Oops ! Sorry Joseph.

The next couple pictures I snapped through the car window on the way to church. First a truckload of loose shoes on their way to market, then a wedding photographer filming the happy couple in the black Buick Regal trailing behind. A curious tidbit - every wedding procession you see in Suzhou is comprised entirely of black Buick Regal sedans. The families must rent six or eight Regals for the event and this must be the only application for Buick Regals in China because you never see them otherwise. Strange !

Finally we have a couple snapshots of our friend and neighbor Dan who was keen to take his kids and mother (visiting from Georgia) out for a canoe ride today. It turned out to be a bit of a short voyage because the water was a little choppy and when we tried to take the girls out, we nearly capsized only a meter from the dock.

#135 Tao Hua Island

Joseph, Marco, Maria, and I packed a picnic lunch today and took off in the canoe for Tao Hua Island, a short paddle from our place. At the island, we tied up the boat, ate our turkey sandwiches, then took off for some exploring on foot.

We discoved quite a surprising collection of gardens, footpaths, roadways, and buildings on the island. On the small section of the island that we explored, we were very interested to see how developed and manicured the area was. There are quite a few buildings, one of which looked like a spa or a restaurant, though there was nobody around. We did see a few tourist-looking people from a distance. There must be a boat trip you can take to visit the island. It certainly seemed ready to receive visitors.

The kids enjoyed walking along the shore, climbing the Tai Hu rocks and exploring the lookout tower. We will definitely have to go back and explore some more. It made for a great Saturday afternoon activity.

#134 Joseph's Assy

Joseph's class prepared a presentation called "Ancient Egypt" for the Friday assembly at Dulwich. Joseph served as one of the narrators and did a great job memorizing his lines and delivering them clearly and with expression. His classmates acted out the discovery of Tutankamen's tomb and the process to mummify a body. The class worked together to write the script and it was very creative project. Dulwich puts a big emphasis on the performing arts and speaking in front of a group. Every child in Joseph's class had a speaking part in the assembly, which the headmaster pointed out was a great accomplishment, especially in an international school.

We are very proud of Joseph.

#132 Marco's B-day

Marco celebrated his sixth birthday with a party at the "Fruit Music KTV Palace", same place that Juliana had her party this year. No Karaoke for Marco though. He selected to hold his party in the play place section which is like an overgrown McDonald's playland (minus the Happy Meals). This was the first year that Marco got to hold a real party with bonafied invitees. He had six of his neighbors and classmates plus the other Cazzato children and they had a terrific time tearing up the play place.

The venue was great for a birthday party. Kathleen and I only had to guard the exit and occasionally escort someone to the bathroom - pretty low maintenance birthday party. Four of the mothers dropped their kids off and carpooled over to Dragonfly for a massage. Marco was heard saying "This place is awesome !"

#130 KL Bird Park

Kuala Lumpur has a fantastic bird park located west of downtown in a park called "The Lake Gardens". This was one of the most unique zoo-type experiences I have ever had because the most of the birds roam free throughout the KL bird park. You can watch them, chase them, pet them, feed them, and even hold them.

Again, I got to put my new Sony to good use getting nice close-ups of colorful birds and kids holding birds. It was really amazing and the kids loved it. Click to view more pictures at snapfish.com.

#129 Kuala Lumpur

The last two days of our vacation we spent in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. According to my guidebook, Kuala Lumpur (or KL) was founded as a mining town in the mid-1800s and has grown today to a city with a population of four million people that includes many ethnic Malays, Chinese, and Indians. According to my friend Bill, the U.S. is Malaysia's largest trade partner and their biggest export is computer chips.

Our KL hotel was located directly across the street from the Petronas Towers which for a time were the tallest buildings and played famously in one of the many Bruces Willis Die Hard movies. These are a spectacular looking structure on both the beautiful sunny day above and also when lit up at night. The Petronas observation deck is on the bridge between the two towers at about the 40th floor. The 40th floor seemed too low a spot for an observation deck, so instead we went to the Menura KL tower across town. From there we were able to see the entire city including the Petronas Towers - this was the better move.

You can see Joseph there climbing a flag pole in Merdeka Square while behind him is the tallest flagpole in the world, standing at 310 feet

We had a good relaxing time at the afternoon high tea at the Carcosa Seri Negara. This location used to be the hilltop residence of the British governor of KL but is today an exclusive hotel. Above you can see Maria practicing her etiquette and keeping her foul language to a minimum.

At night we checked out the Central Market and the night markets. Kathleen was able to find a pewter plate - pewter is one of the handicrafts that KL is famous for, deriving from the tin mining industry here. Each of the kids was given a budget of 20 Ringgit (about $6 U.S.) to spend at the market. Maria bought a lollypop, Joseph bought chocolate, Marco bought a digital watch, and Juliana bought some proper souveniers. For myself, I bought a couple wooden masks, as I now have a bit of a collection from our Pacific Island adventures.

Several more pictures of KL and environs are posted at snapfish.com.

#128 Langkawi Island

This week is the Chinese Moon Festival which is yet another occasion for the Cazzato family to take a beach vacation. After all, it has been almost two months since our last beach vacation ! This will be, of course, one of our company supported rest and relaxation trips that are one of the perks that go with the China hardship assignment.

We set off for the Malaysian island of Langkawi for four days, followed by a couple days in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. We are staying at the Westin resort on the southeast side of Langkawi which has a private beach, swimming pools, water sports, and is close to some of the islands tourist attractions like the private aquarium called "Underwater World" and the cable car to the top of one of Langkawi's many peaks.

Our week was plagued a bit by monsoon rains, but we had enough sunshine to get some sunburn and log plenty of swimming time. We rented kayaks on a couple of days and Juliana and I went sailing after one of the rainstorms when there was some good wind and waves in the bay. We also spent an afternoon and evening with my friend and colleague Bill and his family. They stayed at a nearby resort in Langkawi.

I took lots of pictures with my new Sony DSLR, so if you are interested, you can view my favorites at snapfish.com.