THE ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL COMOX GLACIER

Taken January 2006 & September 2006, quite the difference a long, hot summer makes!

So this is going to be my blog, I've tried to start one a couple of times but thankfully life has a way of interferring with messing about on computers. But Jim & I have had a wonderful summer and I just wanted to share it with family and friends.

It started with Danny & Jenny getting married June 3rd of the beach in Koh Samui, Thailand. It was absolutely beautiful as is our new daughter-in-law. Everyone one was there except Linds & Kyle but they had a great reason not to be and I will show you him a little later and poor Johnny who had to go to school.

This was my first trip to Asia and I absolutely loved it. Koh Samui was beautiful. Bangkok was crazy, dirty, fun & the shopping was amazing! I even had a few silk outfits made and Jim had a gorgeous suit made for a fraction of the cost it would be here. We stayed at the Oriental in Bangkok and Jamie, Heather & Eden joined us there for 2 nights which was a lot of fun.

After the wedding we all went our separate ways and Jim & I headed to Cambodia for a couple of days. We would have loved to stayed longer but didn't want to miss Dann & Jenn's reception in Tainan. A few years back Dann had toured Cambodia and brought back pictures of Ankor Wat. I was absolutely awestruck so that is where we went and it was everything and more than I expected. I have never been to a country where people are so poor and I wished that we had had more time to meet them. We hired a guide, Sok, to tour the ruins and he was a wonderful young man but seemed very angry and sad. The people are very aware of how rich their politicians are and how terrible poor they are and you can see it's been that way for a very long time. You can see it in the ruins.

The lady on the right was just sitting in the shade but her other children were trying to sell tiny brass souvineers to the tourists. If a policeman showed up they would all disappear into the woods and show right back up as soon as he was gone. Sok warned us not to buy anything as they would swarm you.

Oh, the other thing I forgot to mention, this was the hottest place I have ever been in my life!!! I seriously thought I was going collapse.

From Cambodia we flew back into Bangkok and then headed to Tainan. This reception was for Jenny's family and it was huge. I think there was 250 guests. Very different but we treated very well and had a wonderful time. They don't do big 'weddings' in Taiwan, they do big wedding receptions that are held in 'wedding restaurants'. It's a huge meal with a lot of toasting with cranberry juice which made Jim very sad.