School Photos

The girl's school photos have arrived. They are looking so grown up!

Emily the Musician

Emily has been busy improving her saxophone skills this year and she has improved greatly since last year. Yesterday the entire Grade 8 band played at the DSEJ music festival in Tap Seac Square in Macau. Here are some photos of the performance.

An In-depth View of Macau

Macau is one of those places you have to visit to truly get a sense of what it is really like. This blog offers you of some glimpses of Macau but probably not enough to get a feel for the place.  Anthony Bourdain recently visited Macau to film an episode for his TV show "No Reservations". The video is great and will give you a good look at not only Macau food but also Macau culture. Click here to view it.

Danielle the Actress

Danielle recently took part in the TIS musical production of "Alice in Wonderland - Jr.". She played two roles in the show: 1) Matilda - Alices's older sister, and 2) Rose - one of the girls of the golden afternoon.
She had numerous speaking parts so there was plenty of practice and rehearsal leading up to the production. Both shows were held at the MUST auditorium and each show had a large audience. Overall it was a lot of fun...but tiring.

Shopping!!

Our last full day in Bangkok was spent inside as the temperature topped out at 39 degrees - it was just too hot to be outside. We spent the day at CentralWorld Mall, one of many incredible malls in Bangkok. The girls found some great clothing that is difficult to find in Macau. We also took in a movie - Jack the Giant Slayer- and had a nice dinner followed by a trip to Dunkin Doughnuts. Overall, the shopping in Bangkok is the best we've encountered in Asia (and that's saying a lot!) Other excellent malls we visited included BMK and Siam Paragon; they are all worth visiting if you get a chance to visit Bankok.

The Grand Palace

One of the must-see places in Bangkok is the Grand Palace. Think of Buckingham Palace or the Forbidden City and you will u

nderstand the importance of the palace to the Thai people. The buildings were beautiful and there were many of them.  Around the grounds there were ornate statues and the buildings themselves contained incredible attention to detail. One building in particular contained a beautiful mural that continued on for several hundred metres. It was a difficult visit because of the heat, but overall it was well worth our time and energy. 

Jim Thompson's House

We visited the home of Jim Thompson, the man credited with developing the Thai silk industry to what it is today. The house and gardens were beautiful and the house itself was a great example of Thai architecture with a mix of western influences. Thompson was also an avid collector of art and sculptures and many of the pieces in the home were several hundred years old.

Easter in Bangkok

We wanted to get away for the break - somewhere close that was a short journey away. Bangkok fit the bill perfectly; we could fly from Macau and be there (fairly inexpensively) in under three hours. Our first full day had us visiting Chatuchak market, the largest outdoor market in Asia (so we were told). There are several thousand stalls/shops to choose from and I believe it; it took us nearly two hours just to walk around the perimeter of the market. When we did venture inside we cam upon a labyrinth of never-ending shopping and eating. It was a great place to look for clothing and household items as well as a great place to eat. We lasted as long as we could but with the temperature between 35 and 38 degrees, it was tough going. Nevertheless, we did manage to find some great deals.