Honeymoon - Part II Thailand (June 8, 2012)

On Monday, May 21 we arrived in Bangkok, Thailand.  Our first two nights we stayed at the Lebua Tower, made famous in the Hangover II movie.  What an amazing hotel!  I never wanted to leave!!  We had access to free food and drinks from 6-6 each day and took full advantage of everything the hotel had to offer.  On Wednesday we left Bangkok for 2 days on a private tour to Kanchanaburi – hands down our favorite two days of the whole trip!   First up was the Railway Market – local farmers and fisherman have booths right on the tracks with canopies overhead to keep products fresh.  With a 5 minute warning bell, all vendors move all things off the tracks, hold up their canopies and stand very still as a commuter train rolls in inches from where we stood bringing new customers (this happens five times a day).  Within a minute of the train going past all booths are ready to sell again. Amazing!

After the Railway Market we headed to a Floating market, where we boarded a boat and shopped along canals with other customers and vendors.  We enjoyed yummy mini coconut pancakes and Jake drank from his first coconut.  We left the floating market via the Coconut Sugar Plant, where we were able to taste the sap and have our turn at making cookies.  We had lunch on the River Kwai and then headed to the Tiger Temple.  We each had a chance to touch and walk a tiger.  We got tons of photos and had a blast watching them exercise in the water. We then headed to Hellfire Pass – and learned the history of how the Japanese forced the POW to cut through mountains to build a rail line during WWII where about half of the laborers lost their lives due to harsh conditions. 

We then traveled to Sai Yok Yai National Park, where we hiked with our overnight packs and boarded a wooden raft along with several other groups.  The raft was pulled by a smaller boat with a big car engine that took us to a waterfall.  We had a chance to stand under it and get photos.  Then our guide told us we could jump off the raft and swim down river to the Raft House.  About 30 minutes swim downstream (we were wearing life vests) we arrived at our accommodations for the evening.  We were quite surprised at how nice it was for a Raft House!  We enjoyed fresh fruit that our guide had picked up at the railway market, had Thai Massages, ate dinner and relaxed for the evening. 

Day two of our private tour, we traveled by boat to a Hot Spring where we changed into traditional Thai bathing suits and relaxed in seven springs of different temperatures and one had tea and one had herbs in it.  We also did Dr. Fish, where tiny fish eat the dry skin off of your feet – I could not stop giggling!  We had lunch at Nam Tok Rail Station, the current last stop of the original railway.  Then off to see the Elephants!  We stopped along a roadside stand and bought bunches and bunches of bananas for 15 Baht (about $0.50) and had a chance to feed them to several elephants.  Then our guide asked if I wanted to hug the elephant trunk and little did I know that the elephant was going to wrap the trunk around me and pick me up over its head!  I squealed as Jake took photos!  We took a bamboo raft ride down a scenic river and at the end hopped in the back of a pickup truck to return to the elephant farm.  (This reminded of me of all the rides we took as kids in the back of pickup trucks) After an elephant ride, we took turns bathing the elephant who kept going under the water and upon command “Pa Soong” the elephant would raise its trunk and spray us. 

 

We then visited the Bridge over the River Kwai, did a little shopping, visited a war cemetery and then headed back to Bangkok.  Several times on the trip our driver was pulled over to verify his credentials – our guide explained that many people try to come from Burma to make money in Thailand and the road check points are to enforce restrictions on those in the country illegally.  Throughout our trip, our guide took extra care to make sure we tried the best local foods and fruits we had never seen/heard of before. 

“Bangkok Has Us Now” – back to the sometimes scary, impossible to cross the street city where people are constantly trying to sell you something and scam you if they can.  We spent Friday touring all the major tourist attractions in the city, the Grand Palace, What Po and Flower Market are the highlights. Saturday we took the skytrain to Jak to Jak weekend market.  I can’t even begin to explain how huge this market is but to say that after 6 hours straight of shopping we think we may have only seen about one quarter of it!  We learned how to ask “how much” and say “too expensive” in Thai which surprised many vendors who then allowed us to bargain better prices for our items. 

Sunday we left for our final four days of our trip in Phuket.  After being on the go our whole trip and being out of bed most mornings by 5am, we decided it was time to relax!  Our hotel knew we were on honeymoon: gave us an upgraded room, a fruit basket and had the bed decorated with rose petals and swan towel art.  We spent two days relaxing on the beach, Jake tried surfing, and we had two couple massages with coconut oil.  We spent one day on a boat tour to James Bond Island and kayaked in through caves and lagoons.  The highlight of Phuket was seeing our good friends from South Africa that we had met in China.  They were in a neighboring town and we had the pleasure of spending one of our evenings with them, getting home late in the morning after 6 hours of visiting with each other. 

We are so blessed to have such an amazing trip where all flight connections were met, no lost luggage, experiences and adventures galore, tigers & elephants and the list goes on (I was tired of fried rice every day for breakfast for two weeks, but hey this is trivial).  As many of you know our perfect trip ended not so perfectly.  We left our hotel around midnight, flight left Phuket for Shanghai around 3:30am.  Upon arriving in Shanghai we were both hungry and stopped at Burger King for breakfast – even though only burgers were served.  Shortly thereafter Jake started not feeling well.  Once we reached safe flying altitude, Jake headed for the back of the plane where I did not see him until we landed in Okinawa.  He was the last person off the plane and could barely walk into customs.  We were the last people through customs after several more times of being sick, sick on the car ride home and begged me to take him to the ER once we got home.  Our phone was dead, so I decided to drive him there myself even though I don’t have a license.  As we arrived at the Navy base, the guards asked me for my license, Jake had a trash can on his lap and I explained how sick he was and that I’m trying to get him to the ER. Thankfully they didn’t push the need to see a license and allowed us to pass through the gate!  After two bags of fluids Jake finally starts to look a little better, then I start feeling sick as well.  Diagnosis:  Food Poisoning!  They gave us meds and sent us home with orders to rest and drink plenty of fluids.  It took several days for Jake to get back to his normal self.  We want to thank everyone for your prayers and emails during this time. 

I apologize for the long blog but we had such a great trip and wanted to share as many details as we could without boring you too much!  I have posted additional photos on Facebook, but below are highlights.  I leave Sunday, June 10^th for Thailand for a mission trip, and ask for prayers for our team. 

Until next time,

Natasha and Jake

Honeymoon - Week One in China (June 5, 2012)

On Tuesday May 15, after a thunder storm delay, we left Okinawa for Beijing China arriving to our hotel at 1:30am.    We were up bright and early the next day (and every day!) to tour with the other race participants staying at our hotel.  This group from all around the world is who we spent the whole week touring with our lovely guide Sunny.  Most of our time was spent near/around Beijing the northern capital which has a population of 10 million with another 10 million who “float”/work in the city! We saw so many beautiful places during our time in China, but I might bore you if I talk too much about each place, so I have listed all of the tour locations we saw during the week below. 

• Tian An Men Square – largest public square in the world
• Forbidden City – largest imperial palace ever built  -more than 800 buildings and 9,000 rooms.
• Temple of Heaven – Emperors from Ming & Qing dynasties worshiped heaven here
• Silk Exhibition Hall – saw reeling of silk from cocoons
• Cloisonne Factory – saw artists creating and painting beautiful works of art
• Sacred Road – leads to the entrance of the Changling – tomb of Emperor Yongle – 24 life size stone creatures line the roadway
• Chang Tomb of the Ming Tombs – the largest and best preserved of the Ming tombs – Hall of Eminent Favor
• The Summer Palace – built as a summer retreat for royal families – after walking through the extensive gardens and buildings we took a dragon boat ride across the lake back to the beginning of the park
• Pearl Exhibition Hall – learned about different pearls and how to tell if they are real
• Beijing Zoo – we only visited the Panda section of the zoo
• Olympic Game 2008 Bird’s Nest Stadium
• Chinese Tea Ceremony

The Main Event –  the foremost reason we went to China was to do the Great Wall Half Marathon.  Two days prior to the race all participants take the 2 ½ hour drive from Beijing to the section of the Wall that we will be running on.  After a one hour briefing at the square, buses drive us to the wall entrance.  On race day we all have to run the 3 miles up the mountain to the start of the wall, but on inspection day they are kind enough to drive us there!  We spent almost 3 hours on the wall that day – taking photos and talking to all the participants – the views were Amazing!  There are several spots on the wall that are single file that were logged jammed both on inspection day and unfortunately on race day too.  On race day our bus left the hotel at 3:30am to drive back to the wall.  We are tired, but excited to do the race.  By this time we have made great friends with everyone in our group and it is a special bonding time for all of us throughout race day to cheer for each other along the route.  The race starts at 7:30am and we are off – running the first three miles up the mountain was tough – but surprisingly for those of you who know how much I hate running hills – it was easier than expected.  (I think I have all the hills in Okinawa to thank for that).  It took us 45 minutes on the wall – which is longer than we had hoped but many sections we had to wait to pass and walk because of those in front of us.  All of the stairs were actually pretty easy for us after so much stair work training we did leading up to the race.  After coming down the goat path, we ran the wall surrounding the square and pass through the square (finish line area) to head into the little villages.  This is when we have the most fun high-fiving all the locals and stopping to get photos with them along the way.  The terrain at this point has become pretty rough as we are on dirt surfaces through fields, dried up river beds, and alley ways through the village.  The locals are out on race day to support the runners and many help with the water stations along the course.  The locals carried 15,000 water bottles onto the wall for race day.  The day proved to be extremely hot and we had to drink so much water along the course.  We crossed the finish line with a respectable 3:07 time.  We spent the afternoon with others from our group cheering and at one point Jake actually went back up on the wall to check on our one teammates who was struggling with the marathon.  The winner of the marathon was in our group – Luis Alonso from Spain with a time of 3:39.  The day after the race there was a huge Gala Event for all 2,300 race participants with an extensive buffet and entertainment.

We saw the craziest transportation scenarios with pedestrians, bike, cars, buses, etc all turning at once at major intersections.  We had some really good food, some crazy spicy, and some not so good food in China.  Although it took us awhile, we were able to find Diet Coke for me as well.  We had many people hound us on the streets to buy everything from postcards to Rolex watches.  But we both agree that the group of wonderful people from all over the world was the best part of our trip to China.  We have made so many new friends and they helped to make our trip to China the delight that it was.  We took almost 3,000 photos on our trip - I have selected one or two from each location to share with you and full albums are on my facebook page.  Later this week I will post about week two in Thailand.  

Until then,

Natasha and Jake

Return to Okinawa - Week 8 (May 11, 2012) Special Mother's Day Edition

Recently I have had friends back home say to me, "We read all of your blogs and see all the fun things you are doing, but how are you really doing?"  What a great question!  It is an honor to have these kind of friends!  The truth is I'm in a really good place right now, but I traveled a journey to get here.    

My journey to Japan actually started on the one year anniversary of the passing of my dear mother.  On the drive to my mother's grave, my brother said to me, "Life is short!  You should go be with your new husband."  I had been married a little over a month and was geographically separated from Jake at the time.  Jake and I had decided that I would stay back in the states at our home and continue my career with PennDOT and he would finish up his tour in Japan.  My brother's comment set my mind on a whirlwind of thoughts and by the time I got home that evening I called Jake and told him I wanted to be by his side as we started our new life together.  Fast forward several months and all of the logistics to get me half way around the globe...I arrived with two suitcases, no job, no local friends, no car, no phone, and no knowledge of the local culture or language.  

In honor of my dear Mom, I write my journey to you in the context of the way she lived and prioritized her life.

1.  Trust in God/Go to Church - My mother was a woman of faith and very actively involved in our church. I remember as a child how our family always filled the front pew at Edenville UM Church.  When the life you know disappears around you, the one and only constant I found was that God was right there by my side.  God placed new friends in our life through our church family and Christian Fellowship group here in Okinawa. 

2.  Work Hard - For the first time in 20 years I was without a job.  I had always identified who I was by the jobs I had through the years.  All of a sudden I was "Natasha - stay at home person".  I struggled quite a bit with this at first. How was I to define who I was now?  Growing up I watched  my mom juggle her career, school, church, all 8 of us kids and still have dinner every night on the table.  It took time, but I learned that I was still the same person I was before, when I had a job.  As luck would have it, when home in the states a few months ago, I was presented an opportunity to become an independent consultant with Rodan + Fields.  Now I am blessed to have a job that has given me my confidence back - not only by improving my own skin (Okinawa weather conditions wreak havoc on skin) but by sharing great skin care products to help others look their best with healthy skin too!  The best part is I can manage this business from anywhere in the world.  This journey taught me that no matter what job you have or don't have at the moment, it doesn't define who you are.

3.  Give back - My mother was one of the most giving people I know - with her time, her talents, her blessings.  With all my new found time on my hands, I thought what better to do then find ways to bless others the way God has blessed me.  It took me awhile to find the right opportunities, but now I truly enjoy serving at the USO, my church here and am looking forward to my upcoming mission trip in June.  I'm excited to see what other doors God will open for us to serve others during our time here in Okinawa.

4.  "Run a tight ship" - I honestly don't know how my mother kept our house running so smoothly.  Imagine how much laundry 10 people produce in a week and how much food must be prepared to feed all of us!  I rarely saw my mom relax - she seemed to always be doing something.  When I first arrived here, Jake kept saying "Relax, enjoy your free time."  But like my mother, I didn't know how to do that!  At first I felt guilty if I spent time relaxing during the day - wasn't there something I should be doing?!  The one thing that kept me sane in the first few months was 'running a tight ship' -  I made it my job to keep the house spotless, the laundry done, the groceries purchased, the meals prepared.  Not only did it give me something to do, but it allowed me to have evenings free to spend quality time with Jake.

5.  Value Relationships -  My mother loved her family and friends and cherished time she spent with others.  When I first arrived in Okinawa, it was tough being home alone all day when Jake left for work.  I was used to being around people all day!  I missed 'girls night out' and lunch with my friends.  I learned quickly that even though I was half way around the world, that I could still have a relationship with my friends and family back home.  One of my favorite parts of my day is first thing in the morning having breakfast with my husband before he leaves for work and then being able to call and email home for a few hours to talk with all of you.  The one relationship I value most is the one I have with Jake.  It's the whole reason I moved here in the first place!  We have been blessed to have so much quality time together to grow closer as a couple.

6.  Count your Blessings - I know my mom sacrificed a lot to be able to provide and care for our family.  I never heard her complain that she didn't have a free moment to herself.  And yet when I first arrived here, my biggest challenge was all my free time.  It took me awhile to count it as a blessing!!  And while I have so very much to be thankful for, my biggest blessing has been my husband.  A true gem who has stood by my side while I traveled this journey to where we are today.    

We leave Tuesday, May 15th for our honeymoon trip to China and Thailand.  We ask for your prayers for safe travels and perseverance for our race on the Great Wall on the 19th.  

Happy Mother's Day!!

Until next week...

Natasha and Jake

Return to Japan - Week 7 (May 5, 2012)

To celebrate my birthday, last Saturday morning instead of doing our long morning run, we headed out for an adventure on IE Island.  Upon arriving at the port we bought two tickets for the 30-minute ferry boat ride to the island.  At the island most people took buses to the Lily Festival and other sites on the island, but we decided to walk.  We are glad we walked because we saw so many interesting things along the way.  I kept stopping to take photos of some of the unique flowers and Jake found tortoises.  In the middle of the island is a rock structure that looks like a volcano and from afar we saw people standing on top of it.  We managed to find our way there and hiked to the top of the mountain, where there is a 360 degree view of the island and you can see back to Okinawa as well.  The best part of the view was that it reminded us of home.  IE island is known for its agriculture and looking down at the land, you could see the different crop fields.  We walked through the farm fields to the Lily Festival. It had started to rain, but we got some great pictures and had fun taking in the sites and smells of all the flowers.  Luckily, we were able to catch a bus back to the port and promptly both fell asleep on the ferry ride back to the island.  Later that evening friends of ours hosted a birthday party for me and another neighbor.  It was so much fun to relax with friends, enjoy good food and we even went on a ghost hunt with the kids!

On Monday, my actual birthday, Jake surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and took me to dinner.  It was getting close to sunset when we arrived, so we headed down to the seawall to watch the sunset first.  The restaurant was on top of a hotel and had glass walls that open up like windows.  It was such a beautiful, romantic setting.  Dinner was delicious and we both agreed it was the best Japanese food we have eaten since arriving on the island. After dinner Jake gave me my gifts including a plaque he had made with a photo of our wedding bands and our wedding vows inscribed around it.  

Being away from home on special occasions and holidays can be tough, but so many of you went out of your way to make my birthday special from half way around the world.  We are truly blessed with great family and friends.  A big thank you to everyone who emailed birthday wishes, sent cards and packages to make my day extra special.  

This weekend I participated in a three day vendor event benefiting the USO.  I set up a booth for the Rodan and Fields products that I sell.  It was a great networking opportunity to spread the word about the products and to meet so many new people on the island.  Feel free to check out my website:  https://natashafackler.myrandf.com/

Until next week...

Natasha and Jake