February 9, 2009
Sorry it has been so long. I have been all over the world (literally) in the past few weeks, and am writing to you right now from Mexico! It has been really nice and eye opening to be out of my Asian country for a while. I've enjoyed the break from my routine, and also from the stresses of living alone in a different culture. While I've been gone, I've had some great experiences and feel like my appreciation for my life in Asia has been renewed in a way that will help me make the best of my remaining time there after my vacation is over.

The first part of my ongoing journey took me to a beautiful hot country south of where I normally live. There were lots of Western influences in the city I stayed, which allowed me to visit Starbucks and other familiar eateries many times while I was there. I enjoyed that a lot! I also made the most of my chance to enjoy the local cuisine, which is one of my favorite types of food. I fell in love with Mango Sticky Rice all over again, and had my fill of curry and pad thai. But I didn't really get into some of the other more unique foods that the locals enjoy.
      
      

One day while I was walking around the hotel with some of my friends, we came across a really big creature trying to hide on one of the trees. It was about 4+ feet long.

We had a family carnival one night, and enjoyed karaoke songs from the 70's, lots of inflatables for the kids to play on, and games to win candy. There was a clown there putting on a good show for the kids. I have met this clown during other events I've participated in, and he is a wonderful guy. He and his wife brought me a HUGE bag of Starburst and Skittles from America, which he gave to me during this vacation. How sweet!

There were even fireworks to end the night of carnival fun!

I went downtown with my friends every chance we got. It was so fun to walk around a nice clean mall and just hang out with close friends talking about all our crazy experiences we have while living overseas. What a great time of fellowship. I met new friends along the way.
   

One afternoon we had some free time from our very busy schedule. I went with a few friends to the "elephant village" to ride and play with the elephants.
              
  
        
While I was riding the elephants, the one in line behind me kept sticking his trunk up and poking us in the back. He wanted our bananas. I fought with him almost the whole ride, wrestling with his trunk and telling him "no" in my most stern voice. He didn't obey very well.
    
  

Of course, there were many beautiful sunsets over the ocean during my vacation, which I always enjoy. And I did learn a lot of applicable strategies while I was there. But the best thing for me was just spending time with good friends who are so easy to relate to.
   

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February 20, 2009
I traveled a winding, zigzagging route across various Asian countries and through San Francisco in order to arrive in Mexico for a vacation with my family. I am on my way back to my home in Asia now, after having spent some wonderful days with family and friends.

During my journey to Mexico, I had a 13 hour layover in Taiwan. I planned to make the most of this time by traveling into the capital city and exploring everything worth seeing while I waited on my connecting flight. I received a nice surprise, however, when I arrived in the Taiwan airport. They offered FREE guided tours of the capital city for all guests with a longer layover. I signed up and was thrilled to see most of the highlighted attractions of their itinerary.

We ended up with about 8 people in our tour group. We had around 6 nations represented between the 8 of us, so that made for a good challenge for our tour guide to communicate all of his interesting information. He did a wonderful job and I wasn't bored, even when we visited historical sights! We traveled in a comfortable bus to the capital city, which was about 45 minutes away. Then we hit up many of the tourist sights.

The Presidential Office Building

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall and the National Theater Hall and National Concert Hall
         

While at the Memorial Hall, we watched a formal ceremony for the changing of the guard, which was very similar to the ones I have seen in Washington DC at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

   

We couldn't get to the well known Longshan Temple, but we went to another crazy looking temple instead.
   

Our tour guide was knowledgeable and had a good sense of humor. I actually learned some interesting things about the significance behind some of the architecture and the history of Taiwan. He made this a great experience for our whole group.
   

The final stop of our tour was the Taiwan 101 Building, which our guide claimed repeatedly as the tallest building in the world. (yeah, I've heard that one before...) There was a cool festival going on at the base of the building, and this Asian rock band was playing Abba songs using traditional Chinese instruments. It was pretty crazy, but they pulled it off.
   

The Taiwan airport had a Starbucks and a Burger King too! These things were really great to see in anticipation of a vacation full of Western food and luxuries. I had a great time during my layover. The whole airport has free wireless internet, along with TV lounges and even PlayStation games set up for anyone to enjoy. It is one of the friendliest airports I've ever killed time at. The free guided tour is apparently a government initiative to promote tourism and good relations for the city. I am glad I got to take advantage of it. I recommend this airport to travel through any time you're zigzagging your way around Asia, as I so often find myself doing. I will write more when I finally get back home and share pictures and stories from my great Mexican trip with the family.

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February 23, 2009
My Mexican vacation was pretty amazing. I started it off feeling some strong jet lag. My parents and best friends were waiting for me at the airport, and we had a great evening of food and games which all came to an abrupt stop at 9pm sharp, when I laid on the couch, pulled a blanket over myself, and was dead asleep for the next 7 hours. I woke up at 4:15am every morning for almost the entire vacation.
  

What a great time we had! The chips and fresh Mexican salsa was flowing freely, and everyone was so happy to be together. The resort where we stayed was pretty humongous, with a ton of swimming pools, a lazy river, a water slide coming out of a Mayan-style pyramid, and a couple of wave pools. And then, of course, we had the beach and the ocean. The problem was the resort was laid out in such a beautiful garden style that we were constantly getting lost along the paths during the first week. We had a good time exploring, but it was kinda confusing. Here are some pictures of the place that we took from our hotel room, as well as other spots on the property.
   
  
  
(This last picture is just 1/3 of the resort)

Probably the water activity we all enjoyed the most was the lazy river.
  

The wave pools were pretty tame but the water slide was surprisingly fun. I haven't been down a water slide for so many years, but this one was worth several trips!
  
    

The weather was a perfect, sunny 85 degrees every day. It couldn't have been better. The resort even had a landscaped river going through it, with little boats you could ride. It also had a train, which we often rode back and forth when we needed to get to the far side of the property to go to a fancy dinner or breakfast buffet. Could this place get any more luxurious?
             

Early in our trip our whole group went on Vallarta Adventures to go zip lining and rappelling through the jungle, after riding an off-road truck and mules up the mountain. It was really fun, but the company was charging crazy prices for pictures, so we didn't get any of our activities. Here are some before and after the day of adventure:
   

We were staying in Nuevo Vallarta, which is about 20 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta. We didn't go down to the city too often because the taxi prices were really expensive. But we got a tip on a great restaurant downtown, so we ate there both times we make the trek.
   

It didn't take long before mom was coming at me with her scissors.
           
Just kidding! I asked her to bring them and was so grateful that she was willing to do a little work on her vacation. I needed her to fix my crazy haircut I got at the Asian salon last month.

After the first week of vacation I got a HUGE surprise! My grandma Mary flew down to join us for the rest of the trip! I was so excited about this and was touched that she would travel that far to share special memories with me and my parents. She made the vacation so much more special and a ton of fun as we played cards and games together every day! And she was a total professional at laying out by the pool reading books with us girls. Grandma Mary was a great sport when we got creative and wanted to ride the public busses up the coast to explore small Mexican towns. She fit right in with our vacationing style that we've perfected over the years. The first day she arrived was Renee's birthday, which was a great treat!
   

The next day Grandma kept mom company at the pool while dad went golfing. Cory, Renee and I took a boat 20 miles off the coast to the Marietta Islands to do some scuba diving and snorkeling. We got to see some humpback whales and dolphins during the 2 hour boat ride out there. It was pretty exciting and I saw one jump up way out of the water twice! It was so cool and kept us entertained the whole way. Scuba diving was not great at this location, as the visibility was down to about 10 feet or so. But it was a pretty day for an adventure!
   
       

    
  
  

As soon as we got home from our day at sea it was time to get dressed up for our Mexican Fiesta dinner. It was fun getting dressed up and having a great dinner together. They put on a great show which included some great dancers showing us the Mexican culture of the Mayans as well as the more modern cowboy style. We saw a great lasso man, Mariachi band, and some flying men who climbed a really tall pole and then flew around it as they spun all the way back down to the ground. It was really cool and a professional show in every way. The food was great too, and it was all done on the beach at our resort!   Wow!
   
   
   
       
 
 

The next day Cory and Renee flew home and we still had a week left of vacation! I have never had a two-week vacation, but now that I've experienced it, it will sure be hard to go back! We found a cool restaurant where the locals like to eat in Nuevo Vallarta called Claudia's Place. We heard a rumor that there was another one up the coast in a small town called Bucerias This town is right on the ocean and is supposed to be really pretty so we went to check it out. We traveled with the locals on a public bus for a couple bucks. The restaurant was right on the beach and was beautiful. We did some shopping at the stalls where local people were selling typical souvenirs and art. It was a fun day! A lot of things about this town reminded me of small towns where I live in Asia. Once we left the tourist city of Nuevo, we saw a bit more of "real Mexico".
       
   
   

It was fun to be able to check our email and the internet even though we were on vacation. The resort charged us $10/day for wireless internet service, so we only used it a few times each week. It was great to call back home and talk to my brother/sister/nephew on Skype. I have never seen little Kye talk with my parents before, but it was so cool to see how excited he can get about talking with his grandparents. I can't wait to meet him in person now that he's getting so big, with more personality every day.  Gabe and Emily introduced a new game to our family called Carcassonne. My parents brought it to Mexico and we played it a ton during vacation. Mom and Grandma and I would often play it 3 or 4 times in a row when the day got hot and dad was out working on his golf swing. What a great way to spend the day.
   
  

We enjoyed our Mexican Fiesta so much that we decided to check out the Polynesian Dinner the second week. The food and entertainment didn't come close to the Mexican Fiesta, but the location was beautiful and we had a spectacular sunset that night. In typical Davis style, we used the lighting to take a ton of beautiful pictures of ourselves!
    
   
 
   
   

Well, now that my vacation is over I realize that I only have 5 months left to experience life in Asia before I return to the USA and my family. I want to hold on to every moment I have here because I know the time is going to fly by and then it'll just be another memory in my life of unbelievable adventures. Unbelievable to me, anyway. Most of the time I live in a state of disbelief about where I am and what I'm doing. I don't know if that's good or bad. But I don't want any chance to slip away without appreciating it and doing everything I can to make the most of it for Him who gives it to me. I will keep the stories coming; as I'm sure I'll have many in the next few months. I am so thankful for having almost a month to be away from the country and experience the friendship and fellowship that I've been without for so long. And my break has allowed me to appreciate the opportunity that I have remaining in Asia, as well as the treasure I have in my family and friends waiting for me back in the States. I'm so glad to have these reminders to keep me on the right path.

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February 26, 2009
Behind every Starbucks, there is a story. Maybe not all of the time, but for the sake of this blog there is. There is no Starbucks where I live. There are only a few huge cities in this country that have Starbucks, and those cities are far away from where I live. So when I knew I was going to be traveling out of the country for nearly a month, I planned to enjoy Starbucks every time I came across one. I only passed it up once during my month of travels, and that was because there was a Hagen Das shop right next to the Starbucks, and I love a good milkshake. So here is a collection of the pictures I took of myself every single time I went to Starbucks over the past month. I hope this helps you appreciate the simple pleasures you have easy access to in your life, whatever they may be.


This is right after I flew into my Asian vacation country, on the way to my hotel from the airport. I felt like I was off to a good start already!


My friends and I went out from our hotel to the downtown area where we found this beautiful shopping mall. They don't have malls in the country where I live. This place was so nice! We ended up sitting around listening to one guy tell a story about how he recently got engaged.


I returned to that same mall again a few days later, as it was such a fun place to hang out and buy Sudoku puzzle books. And it was right next to many cool restaurants.


My friend Laura is peeking over my shoulder. This Starbucks had a cool second floor full of couches and comfy chairs where a bunch of us hung out for quite a while. This was the night that one of my friends got hit on by an older guy the whole night.


My external hard drive crashed in a power surge, common in this country, and I spent all afternoon walking around downtown looking for computer repair shops, and then slowly finding out that I was going to have to say goodbye to all my lost info and pictures. This Starbucks drink was definitely the highlight of my day. This and mango sticky rice.


A small group of my friends went to this cool courtyard with several different places to eat. We all got our food wherever we wanted and then joined up in the middle for a fun night of talking and enjoying great food. But I had to start it off with Starbucks!


My Asian vacation came to an end and I began my long journey to Mexico to hook up with my family and friends for another couple weeks. This is in the Taiwan airport. I found a Burger King and took my picture in front of that, in honor of my friend Christin.


This is after my fun day of sightseeing all over the capital of Taiwan on my free guided tour offered by this great airport. I am in a food court at in the departures area, getting ready to fly to San Francisco to visit my friends Jay and Melissa.


This is at the start of my exciting vacation in Mexico. We are downtown in Puerto Vallarta, and the whole group got in on the act for my picture. Aren't they great!


We had a bit of trouble with money in Mexico. The ATM machine at our resort ate/rejected my parent's cards so it looked like we were going to be out of cash and unable to eat anything we couldn't charge to the room. So Cory, Renee, and I went exploring around downtown Nuevo Vallarta looking for a universal ATM machine. I tried to use my Starbucks card to pay for this drink, but their machine was down so they gave it to me for free!


This is the day my dad and I went to the airport to pick up a surprise guest. It turned out to be my Grandma Mary, and we had so much fun together the rest of the vacation!


Dad hung out downtown watching the luggage while the rest of us shopped for souvenirs. After Cory and Renee bought a few small mementoes we took them to the airport and they headed home at the end of our first week in Mexico. My parents, grandma, and I stayed another week after this.


This is at the Puerto Vallarta airport on the beginning of my 3 day journey back to my home in Asia. This Starbucks (as do most international Starbucks) had free wifi, so that made the time pass very quickly.


This is in the Bangkok airport, where I had a 6 hour layover. I bought some mango sticky rice (possibly the last I'll ever have) and then planted myself at Starbucks to enjoy good food, drink, and watch movies on my computer. What a great way to travel.

Well, I've posted the normal blogs telling the stories of my exciting month of travel, and now I've chronicled my adventures with trips to Starbucks as the landmark events. I'm back at home in surprisingly hot weather and life has already been moving at a fast pace. I'm a bit under the weather lately, which could be expected now that all my trips are over. I start my last semester of language school next week, and then I'll have many more fun stories to share.