Chinese New Year! In Haerbin! 2009

SOOO!! Here we are in Haerbin China over the Chinese New Year. We went to see the famous snow and ice sculptures. This is on my Dad's list of 'must sees' for China. So we decided to come along for the ride. Like Aunt Sandy said 'don't be a ship sitter' so we didn't, although this is the snow...so yeah we went. The first night we went to the Disney themed ice place. On your right is what was waiting for us when we first got in. Below is Ben and Camille getting ready to go down a slide. I think it was supposed to be Donald Duck's boat.

Here is Ben and Camille again on Jack Sparrow's ship from Pirates of the Caribbean. Ben looks terrifying.

Ok here is Ben going down the slide at Donald's house. He said it was slippery. Figures its ice.

It was super cold and it was dark by five o'clock. The first night we had dinner at a Russian restaurant, and it was suuupperr good. Haerbin is about 500 miles from the Russian border. Dad said that was about as close to Russia as I was ever going to get. Very tragic really...

Tale as old as time is here with Beauty and the Beast. Don't take note of the ice people in the background. (which is Belle and Beast). Then here is me and I am trying to be funny by kissing Nemo. But he's to cute to be kidding around with.

Lions and tigers and bears OH MY!! Well we only had lions and tigers so two out of three. We hopped on a bus and toured around the Tiger Park. But there weren't just TIGERS in the park. Oh no. There were many other kinds of 'cats'. The black one you see is a jaguar. It had its back to us the entire time. I call it 'Ignoring the Annoying Tourist's'. It shows the jaguars inner thoughts. Roar. Ok he doesn't roar but the guy next to him does. He is a white lion. There was also a lioness near by. They both were BIG cats. But not nearly as big as the... (drum roll please)

The LIGER!!! Yes that's right folks a real liger. Ligers are real! It's only the head but still you can tell it stands out in a crowd. Ligers are extremely rare. Why? Because Heavenly Father didn't want Tigers and Lions to breed so when people force them too mostly the cubs die. But there are the few that do survive but the tiger and the lion have to grow up together or they won't mate.

Ok this guy is awesome. Talk about King of the Compound (where the tigers were). He sat there nice and still watching everyone and everything. These other lions here that are by each other are African Lions. They look really cold. Probably are, because it was really cold. Not exactly in their nature to be in the cold, more heat for them.

I put this picture up because I thought it was cute. The lion yawning. It was a perfect shot.

Now you are probably wondering why this picture of a skeleton is here. Well its a skeleton of a tiger soaking in some weird liquid. People drink it. I'm not kidding. People actually drink it. They think it is good for them!!! I think its nasty.

Onto the night....we went to a city made entirely of ice blocks! No joke! Huge buildings were made to look like monuments you see all around the world. The ice blocks come from the frozen river. There was Big Ben in London, Notre Dome in France, the Disney Castle and LOTS more. The one to your left is of the view from our hotel window. Pretty huh. Then there is us as a family at the very beginning of our tour.

Here is the big golden Buddha all lit up! And then there is the entrance/exit.

Here is Big Ben...or Notre Dome. I don't remember which one. Then there is a pretty castle that Mommy liked.

Here we are after our horse and sleigh ride around park. Check out his coat and hat! I hope no animals were sacrificed. The horse was nice though. Then here is a big slide. Daddy went down with Ben on the slide.

This is the front of the city. Notice the cars in the dark.















Here is the big snow park. It was really cool and cold. Even though there wasn't a lot of snow on the ground they would make snow and pack it and then people would carve. Here are our Ox's! Daddy, Mommy, and Camille. Daddy also got his one shot with a really REALLY big ox.

Mommy caught Daddy kissing Buddha girl!
Here I am. The graceful dancer inside. No so graceful on the outside.

This one was SOO cool! A huge place where you could sled, slide, ski, snowmobile, and they had ATV's! ALSO dog sledding! I guess Santa really does live up north.

OOOKK!! Remember the lions? WELL they get hungry so what is a tourist to do? FEED THEM!! But only in China (where you can't get sued for animal rights, don't tell anyone. Shhh....)

You get to pick your own! We picked a semi fat one.

OK enough of that...poor Camille she cried. We had to teach her about (1) the meaning of life for animals (2) the food chain. Oh boy...

So here was the last day. Mom, Dad, and Ben went to see St. Sophia's Cathedral. Camille was not feeling well (I wonder why. HEHEHE) So I stayed behind. And besides putting on five layers every time just to go outside was getting old. So I got to stay in one layer. Mom said that it was cool. Not as cool as our temples but cool.

Here is the only picture we have of our tour guide Mickey. Yes her name is Mickey. Because she likes Mickey Mouse.

This was a food cart that we saw a lot. It had all kinds of fruits on a stick. So a fruit kabob that had like a syrupy coating on top. Didn't try it but it looked good. We stay away from street vender's.

SOO another great trip a success! We went, we saw, we conquered! So stay tuned for our next great adventure from The China Travelers!

Christmas Cruise 2008

To end the year of 2008 we decided that for Christmas we would take a cruise! But not just any cruise but a Royal Carbbiean Cruise, leaving out of Singapore and stopping in Malayasia (Kula Lampure) and then to Thaliand (Puket) and back to Singapore for New Year's Eve.

Here we are with our ugly orange life jackets doing the drill that could very well save our lives. We had to go and line up at post 12 for passenger counting. Very fun. It was very hot outside waitng for them to check us all off.

Here's Ben and Me (Noelle) checking out the lounge chairs. They were pretty sweet.

Here's Me again in my awsome room with my awsome sister. Whats the chances of you being in your room when the ship is doing down (like Titanic) and you would actually run to your room and get the ugly orange life jacket to save your booty? Ahnestly. Who went to bed before 1:30 AM? (um the mom and dad next door) Sereiously. These people don't think! =D

Here are Dad and Camille at breakfeast. AW father daughter kodax moment! Nice tye-die dad...

OOHH is it 3 PM Yet? If you can't tell their is ice cream in our hands. Yeah we had ice cream. It was sweet and yummy! That's all you need on a cruise: pool, sun, and iiiccceee cream!! What no sushi? NO! Ice cream people. ICE CREAM!

Yes everyone...I present to you (drum roll please) Mini Golf! Yes that's right mini golf. On a ship! Cruise! Whatever it is! WE got it. Here is another father daughter kodax moment! The guys got three daughters and he's only got this little girl in every pic. Luv you dad!

When we stopped off at Kula Lampure we looked at the King's Palace. Look at those guys on horses. Man I would not want to be the bad guy at this place. And there is Andrea, our precious BYU Student. Boy does she love having her picture taken, and the camera loves her too. <3>

Here are the parentals of the BYU student. They like the camera too.

Boy does this guy love his job. Can't you see the cheerfullness and satisfaction of standing there all day long? Wait isn't his job supposed to be protecting the King's Palace...why is he standing there then?

Here are the parent's standing front of an ox because it's the year of the ox and they are both ox's.

Mom, Dad, and Andrea went to a Muslim Mosque. They had to get all dressed up for it. Us three kids decided to stay on the boat. Good thing cuz we would'of had to get dressed up too.

What time is it??

These are the Patronas Towers in Kula Lampur. We were sooo excited to go to the top...BUT the tickets were all sold out! So this is what we got. It's a nice picture right? Thanks Andrea!

Now we are in Puket Thailand where we expeierenced the wonders of elephant riding! As you can see we four children were sitting happily on our elephants. But as a side note they were hard and we moved alot on the seat. Wasn't too comfortable for our tushies.

BUT BUT BUT!! This wasn't all that we did. We also visited a cashew factory. Did you know that one fruit the size of your fist only holds one cashew?? Ya that's it down there.

When we arrived back in Singapore we stayed for New Year's Eve. Our rooms were on the twentith floor, so we had a great view of the fireworks show over Marina Bay. We did a little shopping that night and enjoyed Indian and Chinese food! It was all very good.

All in all it was a great vacation. THANKS MOM AND DAD!