Quite a Week

Still recycling old photos as the camera has not resurrected itself.

Last weekend, the three of us flew to Bangkok. We woke Stella up an hour earlier than normal and set off for the airport. She knew something was up. It was very early so she became fussy right about when we hit the security line in the airport. None of us had eaten breakfast or had a cup of coffee yet. We arrived at the Cathay Pacific business class lounge. Dan was cursing that he lost his American Airlines Executive Platinum status as he traveled less because of Stella last year. That allowed us entry into the first class lounge. I actually prefer the business class lounge, to be honest. For the non-Asian traveler, the Cathay Hong Kong lounges blow the U.S. Admirals Clubs and even all the ones I remember at Heathrow (including BA pre-terminal 5) just straight out of the water. Stella happily ate her breakfast there as she loves their congee. We boarded the plane and she was restless at first, but then slept the entire way. We had a car waiting at the airport. The new airport is really spectacular. The old one was very unpleasant. She was fine in the car even though it was past her lunch time and daddy refused to get out her DVD player and toys "just in case." We stayed at the Shangri-la, which I would highly recommend. We had a suite so she had her own room and it was one of the nicest hotel rooms I've ever stayed in. I hear the normal rooms are just "ok" unless you are in the new Krungthep wing. Anyway, bottom line is that is was a very nice vacation. Stella was in a GREAT mood the entire time and loved pretty much everything about the hotel, even though she already lives in a nice one. It was on the river so she saw fish jumping in the morning, there were older kids in the pool (we did a ton of swimming and she loved it), she devoured Thai fried rice and watermelon juice at every opportunity and then some. Dan joked today about how Asian she's become with her love of Thai pomelos (she would eat them all day long if it weren't for the fact they make her diapers stink like you would not believe), watermelon juice, fried rice and congee. I snuck out to do some shopping. We all had a great time and were very pleased at how easy it was. The hotel gave Stella a huge crib with 4 fancy pillows and Italian linens, so there was no way she could sleep poorly. She slept just like normal. The one-hour time change and occasional late bedtime (so mom and dad could meet friends out for drink) didn't bother her one bit. She fidgeted during the flight home but thank goodness for our portable DVD player because she never got fussy.

Then, on Monday, as everyone knows, we had an earthquake in Sichaun province near our favorite Chinese city, Chengdu. Dan and I traveled through Beichuan and some of the other little cities that are now leveled, in order to get to Wolong. We're both just gutted.

And then my 19-year-old cat, Fluffy died.

We land at LAX on June 6.