Jane's Parents Come to Visit

Jane's parents made a 3 week visit this month, and we maximized every minute of their trip. They were able to attend Nathan’s birthday party, Lynn was a surprise reader in Nathan’s class, and Elie took them both to school for “show and tell”. We took them to Chinatown, Little India and the Raffles hotel. We went swimming, bowling, to yoga and on a ferry boat ride down the Singapore River. We even (accidentally) got into the only cab in Singapore where you can sing Karaoke, and yes, he makes you sing.

All six of us went to Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam, formerly called Saigon), where we spent two days in the city and two days at the beach. With a population of seven million, this city is noisy, crowded and dirty – and we loved it. The preferred mode of transportation is a moped, and there are fifty or so waiting at any traffic light at any given moment. Crossing the streets was treacherous. But the food was delicious and the shopping fun. We visited two sites related to the war. Both had lots of old military tanks and helicopters for the kids to climb around on. Marc even shot an AK47!




Tom, Lynn and Jane continued on to Bangkok (Thailand). With a population of 10 million, this city is far more advanced than Saigon, with an impressive skyline and gorgeous Buddhist Temples scattered all over the city. The greatest “historical treasure” in Bangkok is the Grand Palace, built in the 1780s. Thailand was previously called Siam, and this Palace was built by the grandson of the king of Siam that was portrayed in the Broadway musical The King and I.




We also visited the Jim Thompson house – a New York architect who settled in Bangkok and almost single-handedly revived Thailand’s silk industry. In the 60’s however, he mysteriously disappeared while vacationing in Malaysia.

Nathan's 4th Birthday

Nathan’s fourth birthday was held at the Central Fire Station, just up the street from our house. The firemen showed us how to slide down the fire pole in the case of an emergency and spray the water hoses. Nathan and some friends also went up in the basket attached to the ladder on the firetruck – 8 stories high!