Just when we figured out the conversion from Baht to US currency, it was time to head back to Singapore. Phuket was only a 2 hour flight away so it was quick and easy.  The Phuket airport kinda cracked me up though, they had Dunkin Donuts and the real kind, not the fake kind with pseudo coffee they pass off as the same in most of the places we have visited. Also, the terminal we flew out of had a Dairy Queen literally at the gate. Gotta love it!  Things were really inexpensive in Phuket, so we enjoyed our time there to the fullest.

Arriving back in Singpore was a breeze too and we arrived early enough in the day that we decided to let the adventures continue . . . . Yes, I guess we weren't quite adventured out after all. In fact, the first few days we were in Singapore, we basically hit up all the attractions from the Night Safari, River Safari, Jurong Bird Park and the Singapore Zoo. . . four parks in four days? Sure, why not?

The Night Safari was kinda crazy, we first went and saw the Night Creatures show and it was hosted by a great guide named Sani. Bridget even got called up to feed a civet and we captured it on video. In fact, I've posted a few videos of the week that have been super fun moments that we captured, including the River Safari ride and feeding the elephants and the giraffes. We ended the week visiting the Singapore Zoo and it was really incredible, there were animals there that I've actually never seen before so it was a great experience. We also managed to see Sani again a few more times and he waved to the girls as he recognized them. Super nice guy and it was a real treat for us. Each of the four attractions offered enough variety and seeing completely different things so it wasn't repetitive. The night Safari provided us the most views of the animals out in the open, but was also eerie to be walking around at night time, with very little light to see the paths. All we could hope for was that the barriers between us and the animals were secure enough to keep them and us out of their habitat. The River Safari was cool too and we saw so many creatures we hadn't heard of before. We thought it was kind of ironic to see American Beavers and catfish featured though.  The crocodiles were crazy fierce looking and the River Quest ride was our favorite rides. We saw these crazy looking hamster/guinea pigs/rodents called Capyburas. Wow, they were ENORMOUS! We got to see the pandas too! At the bird park, we got to feed parrots right in the palm of our hands, and they were everywhere. Each of the parks was layed out quite nicely and we managed to see everything.  The Singapore Zoo was really incredible, it was so lush and green and to see free ranging orangutans swinging overhead completely care-free was quite a sight to behold.  Bridget got to feed the elephants and the giraffes and she enjoyed every minute. We saw a ton of great animal shows as well, and both girls got to be a part of the dog show which was pretty cool.  We found ourselves in a lorry which was fine of course and we were enjoying the sights, that was until I looked up above us and saw the bats. I was fine, I mean bats only fly around at night, right? Well all of sudden the bats seemed to be waking up and started fluttering their gigantic wings and before I knew it then were flying downwards towards us. Nope, not gonna happen. Gotta find a way out! Oh, there is no way out, you gotta go back the way you came in. Great.  So I got braver and approached a ledge where the bat was and he was literally hanging upside down eating some fruit right in front of me. Like RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME . . we're talking inches people. I swear we were staring at each other and all I kept thinking about was Dracula. Wow, can't say that wasn't an experience of a lifetime and I'm totally fine if I don't experience it again. Face to face with a bat - check!

One of the evenings during the performance, a few of the mamas ventured out to check out Gardens by the Bay and went to the top of the big 'tree'. To gain access to the top of the big tree, there is an entry fee of $18 that gets you to the top and includes a complimentary drink (beer, wine, spirits). It was totally worth it to see the view from the top. It's so hard to describe that the photos really depict the magnitude of the park and the sights around us.  There are these gigantic metal structures designed to look like trees and there are flowers everywhere. They have a light show at night and it's spectacular. The thing I found the most funny is that the light show is set to the beat of 70s disco songs.  At first I head a couple of them and then realized the entire show was set to 70s songs.  Man, they love that music here! LOL

Another evening we went and checked out the Singapore Night Festival, which occurs only on two weekends in September. We were pretty lucky we had a chance to see it and all the buildings illuminated with all kinds of designs and decorations, as well as food vendors and arts and crafts. Some of the Annie mamas also got Henna tattoos and the details are incredible. The rest of our time here in Singapore has been spent getting to know the area and figuring out the way to/from the theatre, etc.  It's quite a long way from the hotel so it's been a little bit of a trek to go back and forth and takes about 45 minutes to an hour each way.  The venue is called the Mastercard Grand Theatre and it is located at the Marina Bay Sands complex. We went to the top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel and got an amazing aerial view of the gardens (see below). The theatre is also part of a giant mall that I pretty much could never afford.  The stores here make 5th Avenue look like the slums, and there are thousands of them, most of which have items starting in the hundreds and thousands. Oh Singapore, Singapore, why must you remind me that we are so poor??!!

In fact, most of the malls (and there are a TON here) all have a Rolex store. Say what?  Not to mention that Vera Wang is right around the corner from the theatre. I can't even.  So needless to say, we are not exactly doing any shopping around the mall, and have been venturing out to Chinatown and other parts of the city that are more affordable.

Opening night of Annie was fantastic, and there was an after party thrown by the presenters. It was one of the best we have attended and the girls had a blast. As the night was coming to an end, in walks Peyton Meyer and his Mom. They dropped it to say hi as they had seen the show in LA last year and knew some of the cast members. Needless to say, when he walked in, the girls were stunned and completely went gaga over the kid.  We took some great group shots and they spent some time talking to him. I think that might have made their whole year.  When I told Hannah about it, the first thing she asked was 'you got his number, right??!!" HAHAHA . . .so star struck.  He was the nicest guy though and very down to earth and his mom was super sweet too. If you are reading this and have no idea who I'm talking about, then welcome to my world, and obviously aren't glued to the Disney channel. LOL

We also had a chance to meet some of the parents of the 'guest orphans'.  They apparently had a contest/audition here in Singapore to add a guest orphan each night to the show.  They don't sing with the cast, but they are on stage a few times when the girls are on.  The one thing we have noticed a huge difference here in Singapore is that no one comes to the stage door. In fact, I don't think they even know where it is, or to even think of trying to meet the girls. The theatre even discourages it, but I know I speak for all the orphans and their parents . . that's it is really something they are missing the most.  They love their fans, they love taking photos with them and signing the programs, and I guess that's not really part of the culture here. Of course in Jakarta, they were spoiled by that experience, so it's like going 'cold turkey' when they got here. We have all really been missing Jakarta, and this is just one of those reasons.

The first week here was filled with fun outings, and then the weekend hit of double shows so we took it easy the rest of the time. We have gotten to know our way around, transportation is fairly easy, they have Ubers, taxis and the train. In fact, we have been quite entertained by some of our Uber drivers. One told us the ancient chinese story about the ninth son, a dragon.  The version he told was not exactly PG, but that didn't stop him from telling us in front of the girls. Once we got their jaws off the ground, we laughed so hard about it. So when we see each other next time, be sure and ask. It's quite the story and will have you laughing out loud.  We also have begun using the MRT a lot, which is Singapore's public transit.  It is really incredible and quick and efficient. It's also the CLEANEST subway system I've ever seen.  They do not allow food and drink anywhere on the train and there are no trash cans. You would think it would be counter productive to not provide trash cans, but it works. I literally had to hold on to my trash until I got out of the station.  It also helps that you will get fined $500 for eating or drinking on the train and even more for littering. I guess that's a good deterrent. The thing that cracked me up as well is that there is a "No Durians" sign on the train.  You probably get sent to jail for eating or having Durian on the train. LMAO If you don't know what Durian is, no worries . . .  the stench is really overwhelming.

Also, speaking of clean, it really is the cleanest city I've ever seen. Everything is so immaculate, and they are constantly cleaning the floors everywhere you go. You could practically eat off the floor, but I wouldn't recommend that, that's probably a jailable offense too.

As for the mall, there is a food court with all sorts of food choices, mainly Asian and Indian. On the off chance you find something that closely resembles anything 'western', it will definitely not taste the same.  It will usually resemble something more to the eastern tastes. Don't get me wrong, we like all sorts of food, but we are missing the comforts of home, and I simply can't wait to actually cook again. It's been challenging even for us, but I will be savoring every single solitary bite of an actual American hamburger when I get my hands on one! They also don't really eat pork here, so we still are getting beef bacon, and the breakfast sampling every day is unusual.  Luckily we have found a great grocery store in the Chinatown area that we've been able to pick up a few things to prepare back in our room like sandwiches, fresh fruit, veggies, etc. We even found raspberries strawberries for a decent price and enjoyed every morsel!

This past Monday was a "Golden Day" for us, which means that it's basically a day off of no rehearsals and no shows, and we took full advantage and headed off to Universal Studios with the orphans and some of the cast members. We had a blast taking a tour of the park, seeing a couple of great shows, and even got the meet the cast of Water World. The stunts and explosions scenes were incredible, not to mention we were in the 'soak' zone and got really, really wet! Bridget also decided to get over one of her fears and went on an upside down roller coaster. She was pretty proud of herself  and feels finally ready to take on Busch Gardens in Tampa. :-)

Yesterday in between rehearsals and the show, I took Bridget to Chinatown to a cool store called Daiso Japan.  It's like a Dollar Tree on crack,  and they have the coolest things we would never find in the US.  We bought some unique souvenirs and even some cute school supplies as school is in full swing now. Bridget is enrolled in Florida Virtual school so we started this past week when everyone else did back in Sarasota. They have great program called FLVS Flex that gives us the flexibility we are looking for in terms of a school program. We can do school at any time of day or night, and as long as she stays on pace and on track with what's required, she has the flexibility of doing it on her own time.  With the 12 hour time difference it makes it a whole lot easier to do this program and it will also be great once we are back home.

We have a few more excursions planned for the rest of our stay as we have a couple more weeks before the Asia part of the tour ends.  We hope to be back on US soil on September 13th. Stay tuned for another update in the next week or so. As always, thank you for tuning in and following Bridget on this amazing adventure with Annie the Musical.

Yeah, the title sort of says it all! The second half of our Phuket adventures started out stellar, like it couldn't possibly be beat and that in fact was true.

We started our day on Friday morning in search of the 'elephant guy'. In Jen's comprehensive research and hours spent looking at adventures to get into, she came across a post about 'some guy' who brings elephants to a beach on some Fridays and you can swim with them.  You basically show up to this place and hope for the best that it's your lucky day. There's no telling what time he shows up or how long he stays, but we decided to take a chance. It's always an adventure when we tag along with Jen! The first thing we did was tell the driver what beach we were going to, and then asked if he heard about the elephant guy. He looked at us like we were crazy, but seemed up to the task to helping us find it. :-) We basically followed archaic signs posted along the road that pointed to elephants. Then we came across this road that I'm sure the cab driver had INSTANT REGRET. It was so bumpy and full of holes that it scraped the bottom of his car a few times, but there was really no going back because it was impossible to turn around. It went down at a steep 90 degree angle, but he wasn't giving up. I think we peaked his curiosity. LOL  As we came to the bottom of the hill, this was the sight we saw! Wait, what??? OMG, there they are!! We couldn't get down the hill fast enough.

He asked us if we wanted him to wait, and I looked around and said, well there's no way we are getting out of here without you, so yes, please wait for us! I wasn't sure how long we were going to be, and it apparently didn't matter to him because he was so curious about the elephant himself that he came down to the beach with us and started taking his own pictures. LOL  Lilly Bea was the first one to approach the elephants, she didn't even hesitate. She went right up to one of them and was eager to join in on the fun. Bridget was the observer, she was equally as thrilled but not quite as brave as Lilly Bea. She figured she'd let Lilly Bea be the guinea pig and since the elephant didn't trample her, then she went toward the other elephant.   It was such a surreal moment, I can't even describe the feeling of seeing both girls just go up to the elephants and love on them.  I asked the owner if the girls could swim with them, and before I know it, the little elephant starts swimming out in the ocean and Bridget goes into the water and follows and gets on him!!  OMG! My kid is riding on an elephant in the ocean and he's headed out to sea.  LOL The trainer had to swim out to get him to come back to the shallow part of the beach. Then Lilly Bea got on her elephant and away they went just swimming, riding and playing with the elephants.  Bridget got up on the trunk of her elephant and posed and then wiped out. Lilly Bea got talked into grabbing the top of the elephant's head and before she knew it, he took his trunk, suctioned her butt and lifted her off and over his entire body and down she went into the water. She literally looked like a spider monkey taking a nose dive.  She didn't seem too phased by it and everyone had a good laugh. Posted below you will find the YouTube videos that we uploaded showing the entire adventure.   I still can't believe this happened.  In fact, our intention was to do one of those elephant excursions where you trek through the jungle on top of an elephant in one of those carriers, but after this experience, our trip was literally complete.  This was so natural, and playful and loving, and the elephants looked like they were well taken care of.  We just couldn't imagine now going on one of those trekking excursions, it seemed almost inhumane.

After the elephant swim, we headed back to the hotel to check out and get our luggage and asked the cab driver if he would take us to our next destination to a place on the other side of the island called Boat Lagoon Resort. He had a confused look on his face and said that there won't be much to do there and wondered why we would stay there? LOL We explained that we needed something a little low key after our stay in Patong. It was so loud and crowded there that we just wanted a change of pace. We also told him that we wanted to check out Bang Pae waterfalls and he said he could take us. So we went to the new hotel, which was GORGEOUS, checked into our rooms, and then off we went to Bang Pae.  It was definitely off the beaten path, and again we would definitely not be able to find a cab back, so we asked him to stay and wait for us. He was more than happy to do that. I think not only did he want the $$, but he also wanted to see what adventure we would get into next. It was definitely not his normal cab driving day, and we were not his normal patrons. LOL

After a little hike up the mountain, we came across the falls, so incredibly beautiful and magnificent, and also VERY, very COLD! Man, that mountain water sure is chilly!  There was a little rock climbing involved in order to get the falls, but they were really beautiful.  The shear force of the water is really incredible as well.  In that same area of at the bottom of the falls is an area called the Gibbons Rehabilitation Project which was funded and created to protect the Gibbons monkeys and help them acclimate back in the wild.  It was really interesting to talk to the person about the project and what it all meant. There are hundreds of baby gibbons taken when they are young and used as tourist attractions on Phuket because people will pay to have their photo taken with a monkey. Unfortunately this causes a loss of their habitat and are used in the illegal pet market.  They say that for each cute baby gibbon you see at a market or at the beach had it's mother shot by poachers. The baby gibbons are often fed soda and chips and scraps and that's what they are being raised on. So this project tries to rescue them and teach them how to live in the wild and be with other gibbons monkeys again and then they are released back into the wild. It was quite interesting to read and hear and definitely made us think about the monkeys we have been seeing around town who look very malnourished, are chained up, etc. :-(

After the waterfalls and the monkey habitat, we headed back down the mountain and the cab driver pointed out the elephant trekking adventure which was at the bottom of the hill.  We stopped in to check it out and instantly felt so good about not going on that excursion. It just didn't feel right after our own elephant experience that same morning. I think even our cab driver agreed! LOL  We asked him to take a photo of us, and he thought we meant for HIM to take out photo, but we really just wanted a photo with him in it as well, and he was shocked but was smiling.  He was a really small guy, not much bigger than Bridget and really funny.  He took us back to the hotel afterwards and we enjoyed the rest of the day sitting by the pool and relaxing and getting to know our way around the property. We basically had the place all to ourselves, it was wonderful! It's situated on a beautiful marina, that I'm guessing is for the VERY, VERY wealthy. Some of these boats looked like they were easily millions of dollars.  We also noticed that the people who seemingly lived on the property and vacationed there were mainly tourists from the UK and Australia. There were also some private charter boats out of that same marina that we decided we would check out the next day to another of the nearby islands.

Unfortunately as the day turned into night, so did the mood and our plans went down the toilet. Literally.  Yes, just after dinner, I started feeling very ill and I was down for the count.  I didn't know whether to sit on the toilet or hug it. Not a pretty sight. I couldn't figure out what I could have eaten, but my body definitely decided to reject it and violently I might add. Afterwards, I felt much better and good as knew, unfortunately as the next day arrived, Lilly Bea was next, then just a few hours later Bridget went down for the count. We thought that Jen had managed to avoid it, but just a few hours later it hit her too. Poor thing! It's her birthday today and she basically spent it near or next to the toilet.  We haven't quite figured out what the common denominator has been other than possibly the pineapple we all had or the water we have been consuming the past couple of days that is in sealed water bottles. However, I'm thinking the water bottles are filled here in Phuket and the water definitely had an odd taste. 

So pretty much the rest of our time here has been spent taking it VERY easy and no more adventures in Phuket. I think we are all looking forward to exploring Singapore now. We head back tomorrow and will start back to school as well as a three week engagement of Annie!! We will for sure be busy, but I know that we will definitely have some adventures in Singapore so stay tuned! We have created a new album just for our Asia adventures so check out the Annie pics page!

Our time here is flying by! Our trip to Thailand has been full of adventures, even just getting here.  Note: If you are traveling on most airlines here, there is a weight limit on carry on luggage (which is all we had brought with us). You cannot check more than 7 kilos, which is equivalent to 15 lbs. Yeah, exactly, that could be a problem.  However, you can check a bag for up to 20 kilos. Basically after trying to get all of our carry ons to be under 15 lbs each, we managed to get on the flight. Whew! Looks like I'm gonna need a bigger purse to carry everything in on the way back cuz they don't weigh those! LOL

We arrived in Phuket, Thailand on Tuesday afternoon. It's a whole other world over here! It is beautiful, mountainous, full of steep hills, crazy waves, sandy beaches, and mix of a nightlife from Vegas, New Orleans, Key West and the Moulin Rouge!

We are staying in Patong Beach, which is about a 45 minute drive from the airport. For about 800 baht for the four of us, we took a taxi to the hotel, which is equivalent to $23. Our hotel is located a little south of the 'strip' which still is surrounded by a nightlife that any twenty something would be thrilled with. If only I could go back in time for a week or so, I'd definitely be hitting Thailand!

My only request to Jen in our hotel is that the first few days, it would be great to stay at a hotel with a great pool and a swim up bar (my dream hotel).  Check. The other thing we wanted is that it was fairly close to the beach and close to restaurants. Check. The last thing we wanted was for it to include breakfast since that makes it easier on the kids too. There were so many hotels on Agoda.com that it was hard to choose, but we found out that included all the above. So when we arrived and checked in, we were met with a surprise to find out that we in fact didn't get a free breakfast and tried to show the hotel clerk that we chose the room that included it. After about 30 minutes of a frustrating conversation due to the language barrier and the fact that they didn't really care, we gave up and went to our rooms to get settled in and figured what the hell, we'll just fork over the 200 baht for breakfast. I was just happy to be here, go to the pool, the beach, explore, etc.

That first evening, we went to Patong beach to check it out. I really have no words to explain the sights we saw. There were parasailers, surfers, vendors, hawkers, and waves that would literally break you in half. The parasailing was nothing like we have on Siesta Key. Basically you are pulled by a crazy ass speed boat that is going about 60 miles an hour and jumping the 20 foot waves, and you are up in the air for 5 minutes and they bring you back down. Then there are crazy guides that literally jump on the strings and sit down on the ropes while the tourist who paid is strapped in. There is no harness for the guide, and he's basically taking a ride with you so that if the parachute gets too low to the ground and you fall into the waves, you don't drown. Perfect scenario. Nope, not gonna do that. I'll stick to parasailing on Siesta Beach.

There are red danger flags all along the beach and signs that say no swimming. There is a designated swim zone that a handful of people are in, but the lifeguard quickly lets you know that you are too far out by blowing a whistle every 2 seconds. Jen and I were looking at each other like this is NUTS!

We ventured out to dinner and then back to the hotel to plan the next few days here in Patong. We had decided to just stay a few days here and then venture to another part of the island for the rest of the trip. We went to our rooms, got our towels and decided that a dip in the pool and a drink at the swim up pool would be the perfect end to the day.  Well . . . .one toe in the water and we were whisked to Iceland. How could it be almost 98 degrees outside and the pool was like we had just hit the Titanic?  LOL  The girls didn't seem to care, but Jen and I thought we'd just stick to our lounge chairs for the evening and enjoy a cocktail while the girls turned blue.

The next day, we checked out the free breakfast that was not included in our stay and immediately decided that the hotel did us a favor. That little screw up could have saved us days missed on our vacation fro being stuck in the bathroom. Thank you for that! We ate some fresh fruit we had bought from a market stand, and a few bites we had in our rooms and we hit Kata beach, which is just south of Patong Beach. The waves here were crazy rough too, but we walked down to an inlet and  managed to find a little strip that was a little calmer and where the girls wouldn't be run over with the parasailing speedboats and surf boards. For 100 baht (less than $3.00), we got a couple of chairs that looked like they had been found after the Tsunami and enjoyed the beach for a couple of hours. We also rented a couple of boogie boards for the same price and they enjoyed themselves immensely. The people watching alone was the highlight of my day. There were tons of vendors that would come up and try and sell you anything they had from  beach cover ups, dresses, bikinis you could try right on the beach, sunglasses, fans, wood wares, bracelets, and you could even get a Rolex watch for 1000 baht ($28). Man, you can't beat that!  Basically all I needed was a cabana boy to bring us drinks and food, and my morning would have been complete. After the beach, and maybe a pool hop at a nearby hotel, we went and had lunch in a restaurant that was basically a mix of Jamaican, Thai, Italian, and French. Yeah, I know, how can that be possible? Well here in Thailand, anything is possible. But if you're ordering the french onion soup, be aware that it's basically a chicken broth, with raw chopped up onions throw in a dollop of Mozzarella, and voila French Onion soup!

Bridget ordered crab salad in a pineapple and Jen did the chicken salad in a pineapple. It was all beautifully presented and delicious. Of course I had to go for the Panang chicken, a typical thai curry dish,  which is one of my absolute favorite dishes, and it was quite possibly the best I've ever had. I love you Thailand!

After lunch, we hopped on a Tuk Tuk (open air car) and explored some of the beaches south of there, and the waves weren't much calmer. We were told that pretty much all of the beaches in Phuket were like this as it's their rainy season, and the waves would be rough everywhere. There are warning signs of riptides, strong currents, and also signs posted of deaths, injuries, etc.  Okay, I get the picture now. Do not go venture out too far and go swimming, otherwise prepare to die. Also we noticed Tsunami sirens everywhere (similar to tornado sirens that are in the US), but these things are everywhere - huge towers in different colors throughout the island. They were not around back in 2004 when the Tsunami hit Phuket.  It's surreal to see that 12 years later, the area is completely built up again, but some of the buildings look really old and worn out and you can see the effects of it.  I can't even begin the fathom what that must have been like, completely unaware of what was coming and the force of it. With 100 foot waves, the area we are currently in would have been swept away. It's good to see that there is some mechanism in place now to avoid such a tragedy in the future.

Since yesterday was our last full day in Patong, we decided to take a tour and signed up to go visit the Phi Phi Islands (pronounced Pee Pee), to go snorkeling and check out Monkey beach, which is basically a place where you can swim with monkeys and feed them! Most of the tours pick you up from the hotel, take you to the marina, then pick you up and bring you back.  We had been researching various tours that we wanted to go on and Phi Phi was at the top of our list. We were a little worried that the rough waters wouldn't let us snorkel or swim, but decided to take a chance and go for it.  There are tour desks on every corner in Patong, and we literally got it for 50% off the quoted price than if we had booked it online. It basically cost less than $40 per person for the day. SOLD!

We were picked up at 7:00am and arrived at the port and boarded right away.  The vessel is a 600+ passenger boat and has outdoor and indoor seating. Apparently the indoor seating was VIP, which we assumed was those who paid full price! We were perfectly happy sitting outside and waited on board for quite a awhile before taking off. The first thing we noticed is that there was a giant tub of motion sickness pills that they were given out by the handfuls like candy.  We had already given Bonine to the girls before we left the hotel so I was very confident that we would have no problem at all.  But to be perfectly honest, a little doubt crept up when I saw the tub of pills. I was like 'come on Bonine, don't let me down!'. LOL

Ten minutes into the ride, I could see why. The waves were so rough and harsh that the horizon looked more vertical at times. Wow! Then to find out that the ride actually took 1 hour and 45 minutes instead of the hour we were told, yeah, that was a reality check.  We did however all make it alive and well to the Phi Phi Islands, which are GORGEOUS! The water is crystal clear and has tones of aquamarine, turquoise and teal. . . . breathtaking.

We dropped some passengers off at the marina (some people took a one way trip because they have hotels where you can stay). We too had planned to stay there during the weekend.   We then went on a boat tour around the smaller of the two islands and saw caves and a glimpse of Maya Beach, where the movie "The beach" was filmed. Our boat was too large so we couldn't get into that bay because the waters were way too rough. We had a choice of taking a smaller boat from the marina, but after that rough sea, I was glad to be on the bigger boat. Unfortunately we didn't get to see Maya Beach in full.  Just after that, we went to a place they call Monkey Beach to snorkel. The waters were a 'little' calmer there and there were definitely things to see when snorkeling, but unfortunately we were spoiled by our trip to the Krakatoa Volcano a few weeks  ago and snorkeling will never be the same again. We decided to swim up to the beach to check out the monkeys, but I'm pretty sure we were the monkeys because there were no monkeys at this location, they were all on Maya Beach instead, because the waters were so rough that there wasn't much beach at all this time of year. We later found out that yes, in fact, Maya beach had a ton of monkeys there as some of our other cast members were there that day as well.  Oh well.

After snorkeling we headed back to the big island at Phi Phi and they had a wonderful catered lunch for us at the Phi Phi Princess with incredible views of the beach and the bay. The water there was so calm and inviting that after lunch we decided to let the girls swim to their hearts content while Jen and I enjoyed some tropical cocktails by the shore.  Then after about 30 minutes of rest and relaxing the yelling and shrieking started after some guy pulls a snake out of the water. A live snake that was confirmed to be poisonous. In his infinite wisdom, he attempts to put the snake into a walmart size bag, and of course it wiggles out in the sand and tries to swim back out to the ocean. The guy catches it again and I'm not sure what happened next as the girls were out of the water and swore off going back in again.  I guess we aren't staying there this weekend after all. LOL

We headed back to the boat at 2:00pm for a 2:30pm departure and got some good seats with a view.  The ride back was even longer and rougher than the ride out. You couldn't get out of your seat before being whisked away to the other side of the boat and literally people were throwing up left and right. Guess their sea sickness pills might have worn off and there were puke bags being handed out like goodie bags. Most of the passengers in the VIP area (the indoor room) were coming out on our deck to regain their composure. I'm guessing that being indoors and motion sick was pretty awful and needed fresh air. Luckily our girls faired very well and weren't sick at all. Thank you Bonine!!! It's THE miracle drug for motion sickness . . .do you need more convincing?
 
Last night was our final night in Patong. We went out for dinner and did a little shopping. Bridget and I were dying to try some of the local seafood and she wanted crab, and I wanted to try out the Phuket lobster. It's all by market prices, so you basically pick out your seafood and they weigh it for you.  The crab Bridget picked out was enormous, and delicious. I had the lobster and picked out a nice squirmy one as you can see from the look on Bridget's face. Priceless!  Today we are headed to another part of the island to see something different. We found a great hotel for about $30 a night (you can get a great hotel here at that price) and have a few adventures planned ahead. :-) I will post Part II of our journey to Thailand on Sunday night so stay tuned!

To see more pics of our Phuket Adventures, check out the Annie Tour Pics page!

What an amazing two weeks we have had here, it really flew by! Last night was closing night for Annie  and they performed 16 shows. The final autograph session was also wonderful and the fans are nothing less than spectacular. They have so much love for the kids, the cast and the crew. It was honestly one of the best cities they have performed in, especially when it comes to the fans.
 
We all went out after the show and celebrated at a place called JJ’s, a few of the patrons that saw the show were there too and we were able to talk to them in detail about their lives here in Jakarta, and how different things are here in Indonesia. It also made me think about the two weeks we’ve had here and all the things we’ve learned. I thought it would be great to share them with you all.
 
!. There are million restaurants in Jakarta, each appealing to varied tastes and preferences. We have noticed many of the same restaurant chains that we see in the US, but the food is NOT the same. LOL  There are Johnny Rockets, KFC, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Starbucks, etc.  Nothing tastes the same in Jakarta. Well, maybe with the exception of the French fries at Burger King (as told to me by another parent).  They also don’t eat any pork here, so the bacon here is beef bacon, the ham is not really ham, and most of the burgers sure don’t taste the same. They also love mayo here, they even put it on their donuts. 

2. Matcha is everywhere, literally EVERYWHERE, in every form you can think of. Matcha is basically a type of powder made from green tea, so lots of food is green, as well as pastries, and drinks.  I personally like green tea, but it’s very sweet here.  In fact, everything is either spicy or very sweet, and they don’t use artificial sweeteners here, so it’s all made with sugar.  Some of it is quite delicious, other times it’s very overpowering.   Red beans are also a staple here and they use it in drinks, in cakes, etc.  It’s an odd combination and it didn’t exactly please my palate, but if hey, to each’s own. 

3. Drinks even tasted differently here, for example a ginger ale tasted like it at first, but then the after taste was cream soda.  Even Sprite and Coke tasted differently here, almost sweeter.  I tried the coffee at the hotel, but felt like I was drinking sludge so I switched to black tea which was actually delicious. Most of the tea vendors in the mall offered bubble tea, which is basically filled with bubbles made of Tapioca. I’m not a big fan, but Bridget liked it.  The menu items at the tea place was very interesting offering grass jelly and milk . . . . mmmmm, sounds delish right?

4. The water . . . ah the lovely Jakarta water, which will basically kill you, or at least land you in a hospital with severe diarrhea.  It’s something I guess you have to get used to, and there is bottled water sold everywhere for just pennies.  Thankfully the normal water is not even used for making ice in the restaurants, it’s basically completely unfit to consume.

We basically stuck with bottled water for the whole two weeks while we were there, and we also use it to be able to brush our teeth, wash fruits and vegetables, etc. Although we did take showers with that water, we definitely did not feel clean, and we would follow it up with antibacterial gel after washing our hands.  Even washing the clothes seemed kind of pointless. I don’t think we ever really felt clean, but I guess we smelled clean thanks to Tide laundry pods, and good smelling shampoo and conditioner.

5. Illness was pretty rampant and went through the cast swiftly and unforgivingly. Everyone was dropping like flies around us, but luckily Bridget and I were spared from any sort of stomach bug, but we felt so bad for the rest of the cast and crew.  Many people took antibiotics, which is also readily available in Jakarta, without even a prescription! You want Cephalexin? Just ask the pharmacist and they will hand over a sleeve of antibiotics. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.

6. Okay, I’ve got to cover the juices here before I forget . . . .every morning, there was a ‘juice of the day’ so to speak that was included with breakfast. One morning it was guava, mango, sweetsop, and orange. I have to say that the orange juice here tastes completely fresh squeezed, even the ones in the store, and it’s more of a tangerine flavor which was absolutely delicious.  I don’t know that the US does to their oranges when they juice them, but it’s almost sour and not at all the same. Tropicana could learn a lesson or two on making orange juice!

7.  Do you know that almost every kid in Jakarta has a nanny? I mean EVERY kid. If families have four kids, it’s not at all unusual to see one nanny per child, sometimes even two nannies per child! Say what?? We often saw families out to dinner, and the parents/adults were on one side of the table and the nannies and the kids were on another. It’s such a luxury in the US to have a nanny, but apparently labor is pretty cheap in Indonesia, and many families have a nanny/housekeeper AND a driver! Most parents both work, so the nanny pretty much takes care of all household things as well. I spoke to one family and she confirmed that it’s common practice in Jakarta.  Wow!

8. Toilets and personal hygiene. I’m not even sure where to go with this topic. It’s such a strange thing to see the bathrooms in Jakarta. We experience normal toilets, but also a hole in the ground that you have to squat above. What was even stranger to see, or not see frankly, was a lack of toilet paper holders, meaning no toilet paper.  Seriously  . . . NO TOILET PAPER in some bathrooms, just a little bidet looking thing that squirts water and I guess washes your private parts, and then it’s drip dry.  Even in the hotel, all the toilets have that bidet contraption and they were very stingy with toilet paper.  But then in contrast to that they cleaned the marble floors like every hour. No matter where we went in the hotel and the malls, the floors were spotless!

Even though there were many things in Indonesia that took getting used to, it was overall one of the best things we have experienced so far. The people are so warm and welcoming and made our stay so amazing. I’m so glad that Bridget got to see a part of the world she may never have had the opportunity to see and being on the cast of Annie made it all possible. I don’t know if we will ever have another opportunity to come back to Jakarta, but I can say in all honesty, that I know we will miss so many parts of it. It was bittersweet to leave today, but I know that we have more adventures ahead and Singapore awaits us.  This will be our home base until mid September and there is so much on our to-do list and so much to look forward to! 

We are headed to Phuket, Thailand tomorrow for a little getaway this week as it’s a layoff week, so stay tuned for more posts on our upcoming adventure there. Bridget and I are going with Jen and Lilly Bea, and I’m absolutely positive that it will be another experience we won’t soon forget. I don’t know how much wifi access we’ll have, but I promise to try and post another blog update when we are in Thailand. Thanks for following along on our journey!

Wow, the last 24 hours have been a whirlwind! Yesterday was opening night for Annie in Jakarta and it was so crazy to see the fans, the marketing that was done for this show, and the people coming to see the show! We have been received with such a great reception from the people here in Jakarta and they were so excited to see the girls. Of course, we stand out quite a bit here, so I guess we're not hard to spot!

The opening show was incredible, and they have a group called the Annie Mob which were basically young women dressed in Annie costumes with curly wigs (brown ones though), they were promoting the show and have been having contests for people to get discounts to see the show.  You'll see them in the photos that we've posted. After the show, there were tons of fans that were so excited to see the girls and get their photos taken with them. There are also huge cutouts everywhere and have been a great backdrop for photos. We also saw a couple of the elevators in the theatre and the mall that were wrapped in Annie, and there was Bridget on an actual elevator. So crazeeeee!!!

After all the photo ops, the presenter hosted a great after party for opening night and it was nice to celebrate with the rest of the cast and the musicians.  The hosts have been wonderful helping us get acclimated to the city and the culture.

Today, we slept in a little to catch on some zzzzz's and decided to take an adventure to a place called "Dreamland" and Seaworld in Ancol with a few of the orphans and their parents. It's basically near the water, and it's Jakarta's version of a theme park. It was quite eye awakening as was only about 7 miles from the hotel, but took almost 45 minutes to get there. The traffic here is insane, and there are more motorbikes on the roads, than probably all of the United States. They zip in and out of traffic with near misses every few seconds, but we have yet to see any accidents. It's probably better if I just don't look as the taxis literally drive like no place I've ever been, even in New York! This girl's heart can't take it!

We've had to take many separate taxis since we are traveling in a large group, so it's been a challenge for us to communicate where we are going, and hoping all of us end up in the same place.  When we arrived in Dreamland, we decided to go on a Gondola adventure, and not the type that actually goes in water. These gondolas are more like ski lifts that are enclosed, and hover over the entire theme park. It gave us quite the awakening, as we had thought we would like to check out the water park, and the coastline, but after getting a bird's eye view, we decided that we will wait to try a water park after we get to Singapore. It was a little surreal to be honest, it was half deserted in some places, kind of like a time warp. We also got a little freaked out by the toilets (or actually lack thereof) at the Gondolas, and decided we didn't have to go to the bathroom after all. It was basically a hole in the floor. .The photos of our adventures really say it all, so check out the "Annie Tour" tab for a link to the photos.

After the gondola adventure, we checked out Dreamland, and caught the Scorpion Pirate show that really was very entertaining, even if it wasn't in English. The fighting scenes were incredible with gunfire,  and explosions everywhere. Some guy even caught on fire (on purpose!!) and then dunked himself in the water. I can't even make this sh## up . . . Disney doesn't have anything on this adventure!  I  took a video of some of the fight scenes (see below). :-) We were very much standing out at this show, and were starred at quite a bit. I think they were surprised to see so many Americans all at once.  The people who put on the show were very nice and welcoming and we got a great group photo of the gang. The concession vendors had some interesting items for sale. One was called Gado Gado, which is basically cooked corn with cheese and butter, but this one was served in a paper cup. Jen (Lilly Bea's Mom) decided to be adventurous and try it. She said it was interesting, but pretty good. Some of the other things they sold were popcorn, and oreos, and some sort of version of a hot dog, but no one was adventurous enough to try the hot dog thingie on a stick. At least we thought it was a hot dog.

We also managed to check out Jakarta's version of Seaworld which consisted of fish I have never seen or heard of, and they were HUGE!  There was also an eel tank FILLED with eels, it was eerie.  I was actually quite impressed with the layout and all the cool aquarium structures, they even had a car and a phone booth that was converted to a fish tank!  Bridget also got to touch a huge turtle and a nurse shark.  Bridget got freaked out when the nurse shark splashed her when she went to touch him. It was hysterical!

After such a fun excursion, we came back to chill out for a bit before rehearsal and then the show.  I did manage to record the afternoon prayer call to show you how loud it is. This is next to our room so it's very hard to sleep when this is happening at 4:00am. Tomorrow will be a chill day for all of us as we catch up on some more sleep and rest and relaxation.   Thanks for checking in with us . . .  stay tuned for more adventures ahead!

Day #2 was kind of eventful . . . After our morning swim, we ventured out onto the streets of Jakarta.  The photos really say it all so be sure and check them out, and come along on the adventure with us!

We walked down to a local market, and it was eye opening walking down those streets and its surroundingss. The locals didn't know what to make of the tour mamas and their little ducklings. After sweating off about 5 lbs, we decided to head back to the hotel and take a little rest before venturing off to the mall to find food. We ended up at a restaurant called Mad for Garlic, which somehow seems to be tied to the Tony Roma chain of restaurants. We were happy to find a little comfort food from back home, and decided to try the mushroom and spinach risotto.  Let me just say that Indonesians LOVE spice, any and all types, and this dish, even though it was Italian flare made me want to consume a gallon of water STAT! Holy hotness, why???? Literally everything we have tried, no matter what the genre of food, has consisted of VERY spicy dishes. I can usually handle some spicy foods, but this Indonesian food is killing my taste buds  . . . literally! Thankfully the french bakery next door made me regain them again, and everything foodwise is very affordable. What would have cost about $20, came out to $6 and was absolutely delicious!

In the evening, the orphans had some more rehearsal time to put in so some of the tour mamas went out for some libations and relaxation.  The theatre itself is ginormous and takes up several floors of the building. It felt like a maze of escalators, elevators, hallways that led to more hallways, and finally we found it! The dressing rooms are huge so the girls will be very comfortable. Opening night is tomorrow night so they are very excited and we are too! I can't wait to see all these kids perform on that giant stage tomorrow . . . stay tuned!