You can never go wrong with Shangri-La.

The ambiance, rooms, food and staff are all so great at every Shangri-La. Mason was able to grab a ride with the bell-hop.

We went back to the Damnernsaduak Floating Market. It is crowded with tourists and locals, but such a cool experience.

They use these types of motors to power and steer the boats.

We bought some yummy soup from this man right from his boat. You leave your bowl and spoon in your boat when you are finished and some how they make their way back to the vendors.

We went back to the Tiger Temple. I was a little nervous to have our “not yet one year old” baby next to a big tiger, but it was fine.

Kalani got disgusted with how sweaty and “stinky” this tiger was while she held the head in her lap.

We were able to go in a small group and feed and play with tiger cubs. Kalani liked to play with this two month old cub. Baby Blake was not allowed in this part and stayed with our tour guide.

Mason learning from his father how to feed a tiger cub.

We ended the day by bathing and playing with elephants.

Mason really had a great time with the elephants. He even did some “cannon balls” off of the elephant’s head and basically saw the elephant as a “jungle-gym”.

Kalani didn’t want to get wet, but we did take Blake out in the water and he got cooled off by an elephant.

We ended the day by eating dinner next to the river and watched a cultural dance during our dinner at our hotel.

Klong Ladmayom Floating Market is more of a food area where you can buy food inside on solid ground, or outside by boat.

I had these small coconut pancakes the first time that we went to Bangkok and loved them. I was happy to find them again at Klong Ladmayom. They are a small bite size snack.

There is a wide array of food options…Squid anyone?

We finally got to experience Chatuchak weekend market. Here we bought some “Thailand” pants that really only tourist wear.

Matt bought a Thai painting from these guys on a previous trip. Besides painting canvas art, they also paint shoes.

Chatuchak weekend market also has an area where there are dogs and cats for sale. Blake was very excited to see all of the animals.

By the time we were leaving Chatuchak, Blake was exhausted and my make-up was running.

Matt and I had a quick date with Blake riding the free ferry that Shangri-La provides to the Asiatique Night Market that is just up the river.

View of Asiatique as seen from the boat. There is a ferris wheel and lots of vendors there.

We only spent two full days in Bangkok, but with our wonderful tour guide Nok, we were able to cram a lot of things in. Nok is super easy to work with, has good English, great with kids, mixes up transportation between private cars and public so you get to experience everything. If you go to Bangkok, try to book Nok as your tour guide.

On the day of our departure to Siquijor, Matt picked up my parents and brother from their international arrival, while I took those who had already arrived to a different airport terminal. We finally got to see the whole gang and relaxed at Cinnabon before our domestic flight.

Kalani got to hang out with her aunt Kalani, whom she is named after for a week.

Welcome to Coco Grove in Siquijor. It has become our “other home” in the Philippines!

We showed our family where and how our cousins live in Siquijor.

Salagdoong beach with the two of our Siquijodnon cousins.

We took the family to the beach across the street from where our Filipino relatives live.

We went to the lookout tower that is the the middle of Siquijor Island.

View of Siquijor from Triad Resort

More than 20 of us woke up by 5am to take a boat 3 hours away to Oslob to see whale sharks.

We are already to make memories together by snorkeling the whale sharks.

Hello whale shark! There were 6-10 sharks being hand-fed at Oslob.

After seeing whale sharks, we headed to the nearby Sumilon Island to snorkel, swim and play in the ocean.

Since the festivals were taking place, our family fed us a couple of different times at their home. We would eat at a private area on the second floor of the home as guests of honor.

While waiting for the festival performances to start, our family took naps since they were jet-lagged, and the performance started an hour late.

We took our family to the famous Balete Tree and they were able to experience a “fish spa”.

One cousin from California and the other from Siquijor. Same age and similar build.

Siblings spent a lot of time together “talking story”.

Before we left Siquijor the girls wanted a photo with a jeepney.

Good-bye Siquijor. Until next time.

For the El Nido resorts there is a private airport terminal. We are ready to go relax and play with friends.

Part of the Palawan island chain as seen from the plane…El Nido is there somewhere.

The middle cottage is where we stayed at Apulit.

The kids are ready for an adventure. We did all enjoyed a private island hopping tour.

Snorkeling with fish was fun, but the kids really liked jumping off the boat while it was anchored.

We hired a nanny to help watch Blake so Tia could snorkel and play. The nanny was not going to let Blake get sunburned!

During our private island hopping tour, we also had our own private picnic lunch on a deserted island. They brought the resort accommodations and food to us!

The second day we spent time at the resort. We had fun at the beach.

Many hours were spent in the pool playing all sorts of swimming games.

We did some paddle boarding and kayaking as well.

We saw some local wildlife. This monitor lizard was very near our table during breakfast…and Matt may have tried to capture it (on several occasions).

Below one of the cottages we saw a stingray hanging out in the morning.

Walking back from breakfast, we saw a baby black tip reef shark in the shallow waters near the cottage.

While traveling to return to Manila, to remind us that we are in the Philippines, we had to walk through three boats in order to get to the dock where our van was waiting for us. Luckily no one fell in the water.

Ready to leave Tokyo with our luggage and go by train to Kyoto.

We rode the Bullet Train for nearly three hours and had a pleasant time napping, reading and watching the countryside zoom by.

And since we took the train, we got to see all of the stores that are underground near the subway and train stations. This Japanese bakery was very tasty with a wide variety.

Our driver and the van that we rode around in Kyoto.

This is the Miyazaki Anime store. Now we need to figure out what/who all the characters are that we saw.

We saw a bunch of ladies dressed in kimonos and got a photo with them. Come to find out that you can pay to wear a kimono and visit tourist places and get a discount for wearing a kimono. Plus many people ask to take a photo of you dressed up!

We saw various school students at the tourist places we were visiting. Matt decided to make them all smile and take a photo with a group of school girls.

Kiyomizu-dera Temple

It was rainy while we visited Heian Shrine, but the gardens were so lovely.

Ryoanji Temple Rock Garden has 15 big rocks, but you can’t see all 15 at the same time from any one location.

The Golden Pavilion. The bottom part is not made out of gold because nothing is perfect in life, only God. And there is always room to improve.

Lovely Kyoto.

Cherry blossoms in full bloom here at the cherry blossom tunnel.

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove is pretty amazing with hundred of bamboos all around.

Fushimi Inari Shrine has hundreds of these orange shrines in a line.

Tenryu-ji Temple is so peachful

Even Mason can sit still and meditate in Kyoto.

We all got really good at taking off our shoes before entering museums and other buildings in Japan.

All of the strange and yummy treats that we brought home from Japan.

Our first stop was to Tsukiji fish market. This market has been open since 1935, but will be moving to the other side of the river soon since the building is so old.

With over 60,000 employees at Tsukiji fish market, not many people get to ride on these trucks that they use to take the fish orders from vendor to customer. But, we got lucky and a nice man invited the kids to jump on for a photo.

We were blessed with beautiful weather while exploring Hama-Rikyu Garden.

We saw a couple of different bride/grooms while walking the Hama-Rikyu Garden. This couple were nice enough to let us take a picture with them during their photo shoot.

We came to Japan to see the Cherry Blossom Trees and we had beautiful weather for a family photo.

We took advantage of the nice weather and had bento box lunch outside with locals.

Sensoji Temple is the oldest Buddha Temple in Tokyo. It is home to a small gold Goddess of Mercy statue.

Just outside the gate of Sensoji Temple is Nakamise Shopping street which is a large souvenir shopping area.

We went to the Honda showroom and got to see the famous Honda robot: ASIMO.

Mason really liked the motorcycles at the Honda showroom.

We got to experience the Shibuya Scramble at this crazy intersection.

Our tour guide arranged a private Aikido class, which we all loved.

Blake even got in on the action of learning the proper way to fall in the Aikido class.

It was rainy and cold, but we made it to see The Great Buddha “Kamakura” which is 13.4 meters high including pedestal.

A big hit for us was making our own “Cup of Noodles”. We designed the cup, picked the seasoning and ingredients. And then got it packaged and ready to take home.

We walked around the Cup Noodles museum and learned about the history of Cup Noodles and also played at the interactive displays.

We went to the Yokohama Science Center where TeamLab had a special exhibit. Mason colored a character on paper and then had it scanned into an interactive simulation where it animates and interacts with other characters on the screen.

Last place to visit was Meiji Shrine. It is a really large forested garden area that the city has been cultivating for decades.

We had a great time in Tokyo. Especially since we had such a wonderful tour guide. Yuka made our time there great, even though it was rainy and cold two out of the three days we were there.

Mason left his jacket in the van our first day in Tokyo. Our tour guide helped us contact the van company so we could get it back. On our last day (and after paying $10 USD) we got a package that had his jacket in it. But, it was this black jacket that fits Tia, rather than his silver hooded jacket that fits him!