Phuket, Thailand!

For this past Thanksgiving break, the family went on an Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) trip to Phuket, Thailand. These trips are good package deals that are subsidized by the military. Our anniversary happens to fall over Thanksgiving break so that usually makes for some good celebrating and relaxing.

Phuket was my kind of break. Lounging on a gorgeous beach and saddling up to the pool bar is my idea of a great vacation. Carol and I both enjoy sightseeing but we're not one of these couples that breaks out the Frommer's Travel Guide and does the Bataan Death March to get all the check in the block tourist sites in. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just don't like to feel like I worked a double shift when I'm on vacation.

Prior to takeoff, Jake reviews the safety specifications of the airplane.

On almost every trip, the boys' favorite thing seems to be the hotel pool. Nothing wrong with that.

Speaking of pool bars, here's CJ enjoying a nice mocktail. I have to admit that I got caught reading "Twilight" by a Navy buddy while lounging poolside. I might as well have been drinking a Fresca too. Hey, I was just trying to find out what all this hype is about.

We took a boat ride out to Phi Phi Island. Leonardo Dicaprio did a movie here called, "The Beach" a few years back. Unfortunately for Jake, he was behaving pretty badly so I had to take him to "The Bathroom" on "The Beach" for some attitude adjustment. I was gonna say "The Beating" to keep the not-so-clever alliteration going, but we don't do that to our kids - everyday. Kidding of course. Don't want any Child Protective Services folks "beating" down our door.

It reminded me of the place where they found King Kong or where "Survivor" gets taped. Very beautiful. By the way, "ph" is pronounced with a "p" sound. For example, Phuket is pronounced "pooket" and Phi Phi is pronounced "pee pee." After going to the bathroom on the island, it was cool to be able to say that I went pee pee on Phi Phi Island.

CJ enjoying the crystal clear water.

Pharadise!

Jake was wiped out after Phi Phi Island. This is CJ making fun of his little brother on the boat ride back. Notice Jake's half opened eyes while he's sleeping. This is an unattractive trait that runs in the Cruz family. I've been accused of sleeping with my eyes open. I can't confirm this of course because I'm usually asleep when trying to confirm this accusation.

Gotta do an elephant ride while in Thailand! Warning. It is a bumpy ride. Lots of fun though. The scenery was breathtaking. Especially when Carol's elephant took a BMW sized dump right in front of us. That was worth the price of admission. Of course I caught it on video.

Here's our elephant rider.

Here's our elephant rider digging for gold in his ears with this green little stick thing. He was going to town with that thing! I couldn't take my eyes off of him. It was like watching a train wreck. And then he switched ears. My goodness. In my mind I was saying to myself, "For the love of God, please don't put the green stick in your mouth!" I'm convinced that if I would've videotaped this ear digging and put it on Youtube, it would've gone viral.

I love this picture. I think this elephant was born and raised in captivity. They are still an endangered species. Although this specific safari company had a good reputation for taking care of their elephants, they did show us this hook type instrument they use to prod the elephants to move in certain directions. I was not a fan of that hook. Besides, I didn't want Carol to get any ideas.

Truly amazing creatures.

Now that was a fun family outing.

Beautiful Patong Beach. The beach was a very short walk from the hotel. There's someone parasailing in the background. There were also some topless Europeans on this beach. In this instance, it was a good thing that CJ can't see very well without his glasses.

Creating our sand castle masterpiece.

After we constructed our multi-layer fortress masterpiece, Carol put a feminine touch to our manly work by adding starfish and seahorse accents. Dang it woman!

The boys modeling their new necklaces. CJ got a shark's tooth and Jake opted for an elephant. Of course Jake had to get his best buddy Hannah a matching necklace too.

Sipping on a coconut on Patong Beach. Carol's putting on a good front for the camera. She thought the coconut milk was nasty.

Big old jellyfish. Either that or my elephant rider finally picked out what he was digging for.

The only thing wrong with this trip was that it was too short. We could've easily stayed out there another week or so. Work calls though. Along with the beaches and seeing some of the sights, we did a good bit of shopping and had some really good Thai food. Finding Thai food was a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be though. It reminded me of trying to find good Chinese food in Hong Kong. Impossible!

I've had two trips to Pattaya Beach, Thailand for work in support of the Cobra Gold military exercise. While many folks enjoy Pattaya, the adult playground thing just wasn't my speed. Maybe a few years back it would've been fun, but not anymore. It actually left a sour taste in my mouth for reasons I won't go into here. So coming to Phuket with the family was not only a great vacation. It was also a reclamation of sorts, helping to erase the negative vibes I had about Thailand because of my Pattaya experience. Phuket was simply awesome.

Hope everyone out there is doing well. Until next time -- C2

Ramblings at 4 in the Morning

Not that you asked, but here is a short diatribe of random thoughts from a sleepless little brown man in Korea:

- I'm disappointed in seeing some of my military friends on Facebook talking so negatively about President Obama in their status updates and comments. Not because it's President Obama but rather because I think the military needs to support the President regardless of political party or personal preference. Military members take an oath that says we will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over us. Yes, obeying orders and supporting the President are two different things, but when military members publicly bad-mouth the President in an open forum like Facebook, in my opinion, this is wrong. Consider the fact that there are strict rules for the military on campaigning for a President they support. Bottom line for me is that as a military man, no one should even be able to tell who I voted for. They just need to know that I will wholeheartedly support whoever the President may be and unflinchingly follow any orders from the President or any of my superiors. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

- It's the big Pier 8 Christmas Party tonight. Lots of hard work went into this event. Really looking forward to it. I'm so glad Paul and Shiela are able to sing for us tonight. They are the singers from the Westin Chosun Hotel at Haeundae Beach. It would really be a different event without them. It's gonna be an awesome night!

Here's a picture from last year's Christmas Party. This is the leadership from the Republic of Korea Port Operations Group Team (ROKPOG), 837 Transportation Battalion and MSCO Korea .

- Time for the birds and bees talk with CJ. I never had that talk with my Mom and Dad. You can imagine my surprise when the first hair popped up in my nether regions. Sheesh.

- I miss flying.

Getting ready to launch off the aircraft carrier on catapult 4.

Coming back from a good flight.

- I could've spent an extra week in Thailand and it wouldn't have been enough. Phuket was fantastic. Will post some pictures soon.

- Still working the next set of orders. We contemplated going overseas again but decided against it for a number of reasons. One being the poor health of our other family member back home, Fred, our 15 year old furry friend. Here is a short tribute to our great dog Fred that I taped last week in Thailand:

- My change of command is scheduled for 30 June 2010. I've got less than 7 months to go here in Korea. We are really going to miss Busan. What an incredible tour this has been so far. Well, better get back to bed or work. One or the other. Until next time -- C2

Off To Thailand

It's been a very busy couple of weeks. I recently returned from two conferences in San Diego. One was a gathering of all the Commanding Officers of the Military Sealift Command units stationed in the Pacific and Far East regions. The other event was a planning conference for JLOTS - Joint Logistics Over The Shore. JLOTS is a huge exercise that will occur in Korea in 2010. Yup, the Gaslamp District is still fun and the Mexican food is still good.

The family is off to Phuket, Thailand today for some rest and relaxation. Since I haven't blogged in a while, here are a few random pics before I'm off the net for a few days.

My office at Pier 8. Can't beat my window view. It looks out over the water into the Busan Harbor.

Not sure why he started doing this but one of Jake's favorite things to do lately is drop his drawers, smack his rump roast and sing, "Shake your booty, shake your booty!" Curse you, KC and the Sunshine Band!

Because the parking situation is so tight in Korea. Most folks place their cell phone number on the dashboard of their cars. When people are double and triple parked, folks will call each other to let them know they need to move their car. Pretty neat. Wonder if that would fly in the US?

CJ as MJ this past Halloween. He's become quite the Michael Jackson fan lately, even learning the moonwalk. Spoiler alert. We saw the MJ movie, "This Is It." Although we liked the movie, how can you make that movie without a single moonwalk? Very disappointed with that. I'll live.

That's all for now. Until next time -- C2

Happy Veteran's Day!

Happy Veteran's Day to all those patriots out there. Thank you for doing what you do. The Cruz men have definitely done their part in serving their country. Dad led the way.

Dad as a brand new sailor.

Dad serving in Danang, Vietnam.

My oldest brother Alan was the first of the siblings to join the military. He served 10 years in the Navy. I think this was on one of his deployments to the Mediterranean Sea.

Onboard the ship.

Bernabe bucked the trend and joined the Army. Nothing like an early morning shave in the field.

Bernabe was a field artillery guy and served in Desert Storm. He did time in Germany, Hawaii and New York also.

Me onboard the USS John F. Kennedy.

Nothing like a Navy homecoming!

My little brother Lee getting pumped on one of his multiple deployments to Afghanistan. Lee served as the Green Beret medic on his Special Forces team. Getting big - good. Growing stache - not so good.

Lee's team after a major fire fight in Afghanistan. That's Lee in the middle.

Our military folks can't properly do their jobs without the support of family and loved ones. Here's the Cruz clan waiting for Dad. That's Dad's ship in the background, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Again, have a great Veteran's Day everyone. Off to San Diego now for two conferences. Until next time -- C2

Shinsegae

The Shinsegae is a block and a half from our apartment in Centum City. It is now the world's largest department store. I know this because of all the Guinness Book of World Record signs all over the Shinsegae stating that it's the world's largest department store. It's a pretty impressive facility. It has an ice skating rink, world food court, many restaurants, huge book store, high end stores that we can't afford to shop at, a golf driving range, grocery store, regular movie theater, Imax theater, a rooftop park overlooking the city and a massive spa with many naked people running around. Most importantly, they have a Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The Shinsegae is right next door to the Lotte Department Store mall, which is pretty impressive too. In these tough economic times, you can't have enough luxury department stores.

To give you an idea of how huge the Shinsegae is, here is a picture of one of the bathrooms. Just kidding. This is a closet.

Carol likes to walk to the Shinsegae to grab a bagel and cream cheese at the Au Bon Pain bakery. They are so friendly in there. The manager usually gives the boys a free bread stick or snack during their visits. I think it's cause Carol shows him a little leg.

Lots of Greek statues in the Shinsegae lobby area. Great place for a toga party.

We interrupt this blog post for a quick toga party flashback.

Outside of the grocery store area is a long line of herbs, roots, mushrooms, tree trunks, twigs, powders and other natural things that are "good for health." This is a very popular Korean saying - "good for health."

The Shinsegae is so massive, you can have actual airplane dogfights inside the building. If you blow the picture up, you can see the Guinness Book of World Records signs hanging on the balcony.

I needed a little help to figure out the food court. At first, I went directly to the food place to order food. Wrong. You have to go to the main counter and tell them the number of the dish you'd like to order. I had a Sanford and Son flashback standing in front of the restaurant with no one helping me. "You Big Dummy!"

So after you order your food from the main counter, you look at this digital board and wait for your number to come up. Wow, that sounded kinda fatalistic.

They have a kiddie play area too. I imagine this is what the spa is like except everyone is naked.

Koreans take physical health very seriously. Notice the mouth covering thing these food handlers wear. I'm thinking of buying a couple of these contraptions as Christmas presents for those friends who have that "say it, don't spray it" problem.

Simple yet effective. These watermelon holders make lugging fruit home so much easier from the Shinsegae.

There's a very cool ice cream/gelato place at the Shinsegae that we like. You can get three flavors of ice cream in one cup for pretty cheap. The place is called Gusttimo. I would've taken a picture of all the colorful ice creams but I got shut down by the ice cream workers. Guess it's top secret kinda stuff. I felt like I just had my Soup Nazi experience from Seinfeld.

Anyway, there's our stroll through the Shinsegae. Until next time -- C2