Super Fantastic Siam Ocean World!

We went to an aquarium in the basement of a huge shopping mall in Bangkok. There were some AMAZING species there we'd never seen. The weedy seadragon blew our minds and we watched a shark feeding. It was pretty cool. After the aquarium we went to the food court. Check out the second to last item on the menu at one of the restaurants.

 

 

 

Field trip to a jewelry workshop

Scarlet's class took a field trip to Zam Jewelers and learned all about mining and jewelry making. We walked through the workshop and looked over the shoulders of the jewelry makers. They even let the kids take over the showroom and buy some small gems. Scarlet bought a peridot and a topaz. As soon as she got home she gave the topaz to Loie!

Halloween and Hansel and Gretel

The girls dressed up for school last Friday. Scarlet was a ballerina and Loie was a raisin.

They also performed in their first school play, Hansel and Gretel. Loie was a "party rocker" at the end of the show and Scarlet was a bird who ate the bread crumbs. Scarlet loved being an actor and learned everyone's lines in just a few weeks. She's a budding thespian! ;)

 

Views from the Galle Face Walk.

I finally walked down the boardwalk of Colombo. Here are some of the sights.

New do.

 Like my scalp braids?

 

Scarlet Ruby

Scarlet with her friend, Ruby, at the school's UN Day.

 

Landing in Doha

Some pics of Doha on the way back to DC:
 
 

Loie in a traditional Sinhala dance

The kindergarteners performed a traditional Sinhala dance for the school's Founder's Day.

 

Some photos from Jen and Tom's visit

Jennifer Mann and Tom Fritsche are great photographers. Here are some of my favorites from their visit to Sri Lanka.

 



 

Kollupitya Market

Here's the fish monger at the rickety market in the center of Colombo:
 

 

Peradeniya Botanic Gardens

These gardens near Kandy are amazing. You walk through super-manicured gardens and then you go through cool, wild patches of trees and ferns. There were a few palms that must have had 1000 bats hanging in them (they have huge fruit bats here, the size of small monkeys). We saw a bunch of toque macaque monkeys (known as රිළවා in Sinhala, they're endemic to Sri Lanka and endangered). Loie loved them.

It seems like the gardens are a popular place for weddings. This is my chance to show you the traditional wedding outfits in Sri Lanka:



This guy asked whether he could take a photo of his wife with the kids and then he jumped in for a photo too. As he walked away he said "America is the best country! Barack Obama!"



Giant Java Fig Tree

Giant Java Fig at the center of the garden

They love this guy here!