Kitchen!

So we have been working on our kitchen for the past 6 months and after shoddy electrical work, magnificently fast cabinet installation, new laminate floors (installed by Patrick), under cabinet lighting (installed by Patrick), staring at gaping holes in the wall for months, patching said numerous gaping holes, and doing our own tiling...
WE ARE FINISHED!

The tiling work was really difficult. JUST as difficult as EVERYONE warned us. OK? We get it. We believe you. It wasn't helped much by my constant yelping and freaking out every time the thinset or grout touched the butcher block counter top because I feared the white would stain them forever. Here's a few pics of the work getting done:




And here is the finished product!

Final Honeymoon Installments

Check Flickr for parts 3 and 4.

Link here.

Honeymoon part 2 on Flickr

Link:
Kirstin and Patrick: The Honeymoon Adventure

84 more images from Chiang Mai and the Mae Wang National Park

First set of Honeymoon pics

Hi all. This is Patrick stealing Kir's identity to say that I've posted the first set of pictures from the honeymoon. You can find them on Flickr here:

Honeymoon! part 1

***View them as a slide show by clicking the link on the upper right. When the slide show starts mouse over the picture and click the large "i" so you can read all of my snappy comments.***

This set covers everything from our flight to our departure from Bangkok to Chiang Mai on Jan. 2nd. Enjoy!

Patrick

The Big Tease!

So we finally got some photos from my new camera transferred to DVD. Here's a little taste of what our trip has looked like thus far.

For those of you who are curious (or worried), here's a quick update:
We're in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We evaded the Khmer mafia and made the overland drive last night for a reasonable price. The road was truly horrific. For those of you who have been to Calico Rock, imagine spending almost 4 hours on the Boswell road after it has been bombed... Then add cattle, scooters, stray dogs, construction vehicles/debris, dust, fading sunlight, and two hitchiking Khmer teenages squeezed into the front seat (they we too afraid of Kir to sit in the back).

Thanks to our skilled tuk-tuk driver, Raa, we were able to see the vast majority of the Temples of Angkor (Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, etc.) in one day. So tomorrow we jet back back to Thailand (NEVER doing that drive again) where I have an suit fitting. Then we'll take an overnight train to Surat Thani and then find a quiet bungalow on the beach to settle in for the rest of our trip (unless we get restless).

Without further ado, here are some pics from the trip thus far:

The 45 meter long reclining Buddah at Wat Pho in Bangkok.

New Years on the legendary Khao San Road.

Khao Soy... The traditional northern curry dish (from Chiang Mai). Our new edible obsession.

Kir whips up some Thai Green Curry with chicken and aubergine at our cooking class in Chiang Mai.

Our trekking group takes a dip in a secluded (freezing) waterfall in the Karen Hilltribe mountains near Mae Wang.

The face overlooking the east gate of Angkor Thom. There are 216 of these on the gate and the temple of Bayon combined.

Angkor Wat: totally worth the horrific drive.

So tomorrow its back to Bangkok and then off to the Gulf of Thailand. More great pictures and stories to follow.

Happy New Year from Bangkok!

We are just finishing our 3rd day in Bangkok and we are wiped out! You thought New York was exhausting...this city, plus some jet lag is just brutal. We have been fighting the jet lag and winning for the most part and have managed to see some sights. We can't upload any photos from Patrick's new camera yet (hoping to do it in Chiang Mai)but I do have 3 humorous ones from our biking adventure. First up is this one:

That's me using some Thai fortune sticks. Along with a few other things my fortune told me a "baby boy is forthcoming." DO NOT get your hopes up, Dad.

Next is:

That's Patrick on the largest bike they had with the seat and the handlebars all the way extended. He made it through the day but I am pretty sure he is the tallest person in Thailand right now.

Last is a shot of me trying hard not to fall off the teeny tiny path we were biking on in the Thonburi. It was treacherous but thankfully we made it back in one piece without any injuries.

We'll blog more as soon as we can get some good photos up. Happy New Year!

Bad Bloggers getting worse...

So we haven't blogged for nearly a month and I can use the excuse that we have been working like dogs to squirrel away money for our trip but you've all heard that before. We are in San Diego right now (via Philadelphia and Little Rock) and tomorrow we leave for Thailand so we are most likely not going to have much access to the computer. We have the best intentions of posting updates from there but we make no promises.

To our families: We had a wonderful Christmas and we were so happy to be able to see so many of you, even for a short while. We promise to make longer trips as soon as we can.

To our friends: We miss you guys already and hope you had a great holiday. See you in 2008!