Sri Racha Tiger Zoo

I think one of the best things about Pattaya for families has to be the Tiger Zoo in Sri Racha. This is the kind of zoo that people want to go to, but for better or worse wouldn't last a day in the States because of the outcry of animals rights groups.

The attitude of the zoo is to give people a chance to get close to some of the animals and to interact with them in different ways. So, do you want to pet and play with baby tigers? Sure, $5, please. We did and it was amazing. We played with three baby tiger cubs for about 20 minutes. They were so cute. They were playful and like any other cat, liked to be held and pet. They certainly didn't mew like a cat. They gave out a raspy and high pitched roar when they were displeased with something. But it was so cool to interact with what will become fairly large and strong cats. Anthon loved it, Ella was more into the rabbits.

It's that way throughout the whole zoo. Want to feed the tigers milk? $1. Why not buy some bananas and feed the elephants and take pictures with them? You can feed the crocodiles...or have one sit on your lap (luckily with their mouths taped shut). There was an orangutan who was there posing for pictures with people.

Then there were the requisite shows - the tiger circus show where circus masters had tigers doing tricks - like jumping through fire and standing up and walking. The best was the crocodile show, mostly because these crocodile workers were putting their hands in the crocs mouth and sticking their heads in. As you'll see in the video below one of the crocs struck back and got a guy's hand.

Anyway, this is a wonderful zoo. If you're ever in Pattaya with the family this is definitely a place to check out.

Check out the video below or click on a picture to be taken to a small gallery of photos from the day.

Trip to Kyushu: Kurume & Fukuoka

Our last stop on our trip to Kyushu were the cities of Kurume and Fukuoka. I lived in Kurume for 7 months as a missionary. As a tourist destination it's not much. But this place houses a lot of great personal memories for me. One of the great memories was teaching a person who worked at the first Subway sandwich shop in Kyushu. And we as missionaries, longing for a decent sandwich, would frequent this place. The other main reason to frequent this place was a guy, nicknamed Gonchan, who was interested in the missionaries and then eventually joined the LDS church. Gonchan was our age and had boundless energy. He would call us when his boss wasn't there to tell us to come down and he would make us sandwiches. He even made me a Subway nametag and got a uniform to fit me and I was able to be "sandwich artist" during our lunchbreak.

The only other things that make Kurume somewhat famous are 1)a gaudy and 200ft tall statue of Kannon the Goddess of Mercy; and 2)the Ishibashi family. You may not know the name Ishibashi, but you've probably heard of Bridgestone Tire, the largest maker of tires in the world. They are from Kurume and started the company there. As a side note, the daughter of the founder married a future prime minister of Japan. And one of their sons is the current prime minister of Japan.

Our time in Kurume was spent with Gonchan and seeing other friends that I knew in the area. It was great to catch up. For those of you Fukuoka missionaries, I have to tell you that we dined at the best tonkatsu place on Earth, Hamakatsu. For those of you who don't know what tonkatsu is - it's a flattened, breaded and deep fried piece of pork (usually pork, but also chicken). It's served with a cabbage salad, miso soup and rice. You dip the katsu in an Asian style barbecue sauce and it's wonderful. As missionaries we used to lust after this restaurant. We would always get the chicken katsu and we would go to town on the all you could eat cabbage salad and rice. It was a decent sized chain 15 years ago, but nowadays it's absolutely everywhere. We had to stop in to eat there once. It's so good. Anthon loved it so much he downed a whole thing of tonkatsu, then threw it up in bed with me later that night. In what was undoubtedly major inspiration, I woke up, sat up and moved out of the way literally a split second before Anthon spewed half-digested tonkatsu everywhere. I escaped the sickness. Yes!

After our one day in Kurume, we spent a half day in Fukuoka, killing time before flying home to Tokyo. Fukuoka is the 8th largest city in Japan and doesn't really hold any real special feeling for me, except for the LDS temple that was built on the site of our old mission home. A friend of mine from the mission, Greg Peterson, and I were able to fly back in 2000 for the dedication of the Temple. It was surreal to think that the old home that we would visit on the large plot of land was now a temple. From my LDS perspective, what a blessing that is for the members of the LDS church in Kyushu.

Our final stop in Fukuoka was Ohori Park - a large park created on the old castle grounds. We devoured McDonalds hamburgers and fries and let the kids run. I think our vacation went a few hours too long because in what should have been a fun ride on the paddle boats turn into a nightmare of crying by the children. My attempts to get us back to the dock to stop the madness were futiles as we were paddling against the wind and it made our trip back not only slow but very physically taxing on my legs! If you like hearing kids scream and cry, then please feel free to watch the short clip Shelley took below.





As always click on any of the pictures to be taken to a gallery of the few shots we took in Kurume and Fukuoka.

Trip to Kyushu: Kagoshima

Stop number three on our week-long trip was Kagoshima. I served here as a missionary in two stints to start my mission (5 months in the city of Kagoshima) and to end my mission (3 months in the suburb of Taniyama).

For you Japanese history buffs and Tom Cruise fans, Kagoshima is the home to a guy by the name of Saigo Takamori, who is a local hero. Saigo, once a military man closely allied with the imperial government, he resigned his position in a huff because the government didn't go along with his proposal to attack Korea over their failure to recongize the newly formed Japanese government. He returned home to Kagoshima and with 40,000 disaffected samurai, and local soldiers, he led what is known as the Satsuma Rebellion. They got as far as Kumamoto, burning the castle, before being driven back to Kagoshima. The final battle was the basis for Ken Watanabe's character in the Tom Cruise movie The Last Samurai.

Kagoshima is also known for it's gigantic, and quite active, volcano Mt. Sakurajima. It's quite a spectacular sight! It sits 15 minutes by ferry across the bay from from Kagoshima and dominates the view from almost any part of the city. The volcano used to be an island until an eruption in 1914 poured enough lava and rock to bridge the watery gap between the island and the nearby peninsula. Ash is spewn daily from the volcano and on particularly heavy days, if the wind is just right, it can feel as if a light rain is falling on you...but not a refreshing rain. As missionaries who would have to bike in this kind of environment, our shirt pockets would fill with ash and if we had a cold or allergies, the phlegm would be black. And let me tell you, when it actually did rain, the mixture of water and the ultra fine ash made for slippery roads. Good times.

We decided to stay two nights at the Furusato Kanko Hotel, on the volcano itself. The hotel has a famous hot spring that backs up against the bay. We enjoyed the expansive views the sounds of the lapping waves. The hot spring also has a shrine inside it, which meant that so as to not offend the kami (god of the shrine) we had to wear cotton robes to cover our nakedness. The benefit was that it was a mixed gender pool so we could enjoy the hot spring as a family. They even had tiny robes for Anthon and Ella, which was so cute. Spending that time in the hot spring was definitely a top 5 highlight of the entire trip. The hotel can be a bit pricey, but it's worth it. Dinner and breakfast are included and each night you dine in your own private tatami room. The food is quite good and focuses on local cuisines (pork, sashimi, etc.)

Our time in Kagoshima was spent touring the volcano (which has a large park filled with large fiberglass dinosaurs of all random things) and traveling south of Kagoshima to see the massive tea fields outside of Chiran. We also spent time in a museum dedicated to the kamikaze pilots who at the end of World War II were sent to die as a last ditch effort to prevent defeat. More on that later as it deserves its own lengthy post. And above all it was nostalgic for me to be back in Kagoshima.

Click on any of the pictures to be taken to a gallery of photos.

Trip to Kyushu: Kumamoto

Stop number two on our trip was Kumamoto. I spent 7 months here as a missionary in 1995 and in the process had some great experiences. I’ll share some of my experiences in a later post.

From a travel perspective, Kumamoto typifies everything that’s great about Kyushu. There are some beautiful seaside towns with views to tiny islands that dot the bay. Then as you head east you run into the city of Kumamoto which has a surprisingly international feel. It has really made great strides to welcome foreigners to visit, study and work there. Finally, as you head further east you scale mountains and volcanoes and enjoy hot springs, rivers and gorges. It’s really a diverse area.

Kumamoto Castle
This is one of the premier castles in all of Japan. While it’s a replica, it’s a stunning piece of architecture that is THE signature building in Kumamoto. It sits on a bluff and overlooks the town. We made our way there on a hot Sunday afternoon and didn’t really get to enjoy enough of our time there since the kids were tired and cranky.

Mt. Aso
The Mt. Aso region is one of the world’s largest volcanic caldera and according to sources it’s also the most densely populated caldera in the world...which has got to be nice since it's technically still an active volcano. Admittedly, Aso did most of its damage more than 100,000 - 300,000 year ago.

You can drive to the peak of the active crater and peer into it. We went on a national holiday and were happy to leave early in the morning because it was busy. I kid you not, we were within 5km to the parking lot of the crater and it took us 90 minutes to travel the last 5km. Talk about ridiculous. And we were the lucky ones. There were drivers who, I’m sure, had to endure two hours just to get into the parking lot. It was a great reminder that no matter how rural one gets in Japan, one is still in Japan…great lines of people will happen everywhere!

Boshita Matsuri
Animal rights activists and my Korean friends might not like this festival, but the Boshita Matsuri celebrates the pillaging of Korea hundreds of years ago and involves parading large horses with phallic symbols strapped to their backs. The horses are fed beer and prodded to a point where the horse will often times run wild through the streets or rear up and buck. Many years ago, some of the horses would then be killed and the meat of the horse would then be served raw, which in fact is a local delicacy called basashi.

Watching the procession is really fun. People parade around town for hours in their summer festival clothing (happi) and are impossibly drunk by the evening (when we got there). They’re chanting and singing and looking like they’re having a good time. Ella got into it and due to her being impossibly cute she got quite a lot of attention from the passersby who wanted to give her stuff – glow sticks mainly. Anthon was instantly jealous. He took a cue from Ella, started to act cute and soon saw glow sticks come his way.

Kikuchi Keikoku Koen (Kikuchi Gorge)
This is one of my favorite places and is off the beaten path. If you don’t have a car, then you’ll likely not get a chance to come here. The gorge is on the back side of Aso, to the north, and is a set of hiking trails that meander up a river with a series of beautiful waterfalls. Tons of trees shade the trails and it’s a wonderful place to hike, picnic and play in the water. It would have been the perfect outing except of course Ella lost her shoe while trying to resist being picked up by Shelley. The shoe dropped from the bridge to the water. We tried to track it down the river but we lost it.

The drive to and from Kikuchi is great because you pass by a ton of fruit farms and fresh fruit stands. We stopped by a vineyard that sold gigantic purple grapes. Behind the stand were the vineyards. You could tell the fruit had just been picked. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted grapes that good ever.

We love Kumamoto. Click on any of the pictures to go to a gallery of shots from our three days in Kumamoto.

Trip to Kyushu: Nagasaki

The family took a 9 day trip to the island of Kyushu, one of the four main islands in Japan's archipelago. It also happened to be the area where I served my mission. I wanted to show Shelley and the family where I lived for two years.

Our first stop was the city of Nagasaki, a town in which I didn't actually serve as a missionary.

Nagasaki is an interesting city that is as beautiful and scenic as it is steeped in history. The city sits on a peninsula where water and mountain terrain intermix to dominate the city's scenery. It is definitely a city built on a hill. This solid foundation must certainly be a metaphor for the resiliency of its citizenry who, over the centuries, have persevered through many trials.

Obviously, Nagasaki is most famous for being the site of the second atomic bomb blast on August 9, 1945, which effectively forced Japan to concede defeat and put an end to World War II. If it were not for a museum, a park at the hypocentre of the blast and another peace park close by, you would hardly know of this city's place in modern history. I think this is a credit to the city and its people's ability to reconstruct and restore the city to its natural beauty and charm. More on that later.

The city has a much more important ancient history, however, as a trading port. It was through Nagasaki that many new ideas were introduced to Japan from the outside world, including Christianity. When western influence began to be perceived as being politically disruptive, Japanese rulers effectively closed the country to foreigners. Christian influence was seen as subversive and Christians were persecuted. Followers were forced to renounce their faith or suffer death - some by crucifixion. It wasn't until centuries later when Japan was forcibly reopened to the outside world that it was made known of a vibrant underground Christian population in Nagasaki who were practicing totally unbeknownst to the government. Those centuries-old influences are still prevalent today. In our day and a half of touring the city we saw more Catholic priests and nuns walking around than we've seen in our nearly two years in Tokyo.

Being an American visiting Nagasaki can be a bit uncomfortable. While there are precious few outward signs that the city was decimated by a plutonium bomb, visitors to the atomic bomb museum are given insight into the affect the bomb had on the people of Nagasaki. And I really am not sure how local people, especially the elderly who could have lived through the blast, feel about what happened to their city.

I happen to fall into the camp of people who believe that this was a tragic event that cost the lives of tens of thousands of completely innocent people, but probably saved the lives of millions of other people in Japan and perhaps throughout Asia. The Allies were preparing to invade Kyushu after a long and protracted battle in Okinawa, while the Soviet Union was advancing into Manchuria. It seems as if the stage was set for a fierce and costly battle on Japan's homeland.

Putting aside the tactical or ethical argument of the bomb, and focusing instead on the physical impact of the bomb, I was left in total unbelief of its vast destruction. Video footage from the air shows a massive mushroom cloud shooting nearly 20km in the air after detonation. The bomb produced instantaneous heat that was several thousand degrees celsius, sending a wave of immense heat and radiation that destroyed buildings and killed people in an instant with two kilometers of the hypocenter. All told, almost a third of the population died due to the blast and subsequent fires, with probably half sustaining injuries and widespread radiation exposure.

It's hard to fathom that in one instant life can be normal, but in the next instant there is a flash and life has changed forever. Seeing the amount of death, destruction and suffering makes one wish that there was no need for war. At the very least it made me question what constitutes a war of necessity.

While in Nagasaki, we took advantage of having a car and drove south on the peninsula and were treated to vast views of ocean and islands. There were plenty of places to hop out and enjoy the rocky beaches and endless tide pools. We also drove to the top of Mt. Inasayama which provided 360 degree views of Nagasaki city to the north and east, the bay and islands to the south and the ocean to the west. A great place to see the sunset. If you don't have a car, there is a ropeway that takes you up to the top.

Video will follow, but click on any of the pictures to be taken to a small gallery of photographs of our time in Nagasaki.

Terra Cotta Warriors

The other highlight to our trip throughout China was our stop in Xian to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. To get there, we took a 12 hour over-night train from Beijing. This is a pretty good option, especially with a family. There are some downsides, however.

1. Non smoking cars aren't truly nonsmoking as people can smoke at the end of the train cars and that seems to circulate quite nicely back into the other cars via the air conditioning system.

2. You're easy pickings by fellow train passengers who want to interact with you and your kids. This time I was the target. Some random lady who saw me on the platform buying drinks and snacks tracked me down and found my room and, uninvited, sat down to tell me all about why she was going to Xian. She probably would have stayed there forever had we not told her to leave our cabin...in a more nice way than I'm putting it.

The Terra Cotta Warriors were stunning. They were first discovered by a local farmer who was drilling for water and came across shards of terra cotta. That turned into the massive dig that we have today. If this had been the United States, then the guy who found this would undoubtedly be a very rich man...kind of like finding oil underneath your house. But in this case, the man who found this has a new job, that of sitting in a visitor center outside of the entrance, shaking hands with people and signing autographs for tourists who buy coffee table books. Look, is it a step up from farming? In my book, yes. But come on...this guy got shafted in grand scheme of things.

I don't know if it's comforting or not to know that wasteful government spending isn't a modern invention. A few hundred years BC, Emperor Qin, who's buried here, recreated an underground palace complete with an army to help him fight in the afterlife. So much planning went into this, that it was started over 30 years before the future Emperor died...even before he was made Emperor.

The whole compound is fascinating. It's one of these places where you can stand in one place and stare it would still be as stimulating after 30 minutes as it was when you first saw it. It's just hard to fathom how much time, money, people and effort that went into making these statues. The attention to detail and the sheer number of soldiers is incredible. Most have been broken apart underground and it must be so tedious to put them back together - like a giant 3D puzzle.

This place is still very much a slow work in progress. There are three pits, two still darkened significantly, denoting ongoing archeological digs.

As always, click on the pictures to take you to a small gallery of shots from the day. The youtube video below offers a brief look at the statues and the pits.

The Great Wall of China at Mutianyu

It's hard to know where to start in describing our experience with the Great Wall. One can get caught up in the data points - like the fact that it stretches the same distance as a flight spanning the Pacific Ocean from Los Angeles to Tokyo (5,500 miles). It took centuries, plus the lives of millions of laborers, to build this wall. At its height, more than 1 million soldiers were used to guard the Wall. The construction is even more impressive when you realize that the wall basically lines the contours of these rugged mountains, no matter how steep. And at times there was some very steep hiking.

We started out our hike among a throng of other hikers, which at times can be really frustrating. But luckily the more you hike, the more solitude you find, which I think is the best way to experience the Great Wall. It's worth it to see the empty walkways and cool, dark guard towers in relative peace and quiet. Off the beaten path, you can see the wall in its original, unrestored state, being overrun by nature. Trees, shrubs and plants have busted through the Wall, leaving behind only small hiking paths in its slowly crumbling state. It was nature taking over one of man's most amazing creations - which makes for an interesting parable when you stop and think about it.

The biggest worry was the kids...specifically Anthon. He can be very sensitive about walking too much. But we found out on this trip that so long as you tell him stories, he'll do anything. He'll go anywhere...and there will be no complaining. He walked 70% of the way there and back...that's a lot of up and down for a 3 year old. A total champ. Poor Shelley, though, had to tell the same three or four stories probably 20 times each. Ella had it easy. She was in the backpack and took a number of naps along the way. Our guide, Flame, carried her a good chunk of the way. I had it relatively easy too. I was charged with taking pictures and video. I took over 400 pictures over the course of the day. Don't worry, if you click on these pictures it will take you to a gallery of shots from that day that have been winnowed down to something below 40 shots.

As always, I took some video and have it uploaded to Youtube below.

Leaving Los Angeles

Our trip back to LA was one of the first times in my life that I've taken a vacation "back home" and it was wonderful. Shelley said that normally vacation means leaving your friends, and that this was the first vacation where she went to see her friends.

Our visit to LA was filled with tons of family time. While I feel like I'm quite used to moving around - and the emotions surrounding leaving loved ones, Anthon had a harder time. Once he realized what it meant to leave for the airport for Tokyo, he broke down and cried because he wanted to stay with his Nana and Papa (my parents). Indeed Anthon had probably the best time of us all here in the States. He and his cousin Peter are just best buds. It makes Shelley and I sad to think that he'll be without that for a year.

But during our trip we accomplished a lot. As is the case with expats who come home for the summer, we loaded up on stuff to take back home with us that we can't get in Tokyo - I mean a lot of stuff...enough to take back 9 huge bags with us to Tokyo. Clothes, shoes, books, food, you name it.

It was great to see my 91 year old Grandma Ella take to our 3 months old baby Ella. It's also very sad to think that few family members will see her in person until next year - when she will be so much bigger. Thank goodness for video iChat.

Other than that, we gorged ourselves on Mexican food (taco truck, La Cabanita and La Serenata) went to Dodger games, Hollywood Bowl, and even a few movies.

By the end we both felt like it was time to head back to Tokyo. Despite being away from family and many friends, our life is really there. I certainly was relieved to hear that from Shelley because when we first arrived in LA she was so happy that I didn't know if she would join me on the flight back!

Click on any of the pictures to see more of our trip.

Family Trip to Florida, 2008

We recently got back from a Daetwyler family vacation to Florida. This is an annual event in the Daetwyler home. Much to our delight, at the last minute every eligible member of the family was able to make it. I say eligible, because Elder Mike, the missionary in Spain, could not make it...for obvious reasons.

Anthon recently had a scary experience with water, so he was reluctant to get anywhere near the pool or the ocean. He was so anti-beach and anti-pool that Shelley and I really began to question our future beach/resort vacations possibilities. I mean, he hated the beach. Hated the sand, hated the waves, hated the pool, hated everything. He only wanted to be inside. Over time, and thanks to a huge blow up Shamu toy given to him by his Aunt Diana and Uncle Danny, Anthon ventured into the pool and ventured into the ocean and eventually had a lot of fun - diving and swimming and braving the waves. It saved our vacation...and perhaps future ones as well.

Click on the picture below to see a number of photos taken by me, Shelley or Shelley's father, Ed.



Or...click on the picture below to see a short video of Anthon dumping sea water on my head, jumping into the pool, swimming and driving a boat...all in one family vacation.

Another Sunburn

A quick trivia question for you all - can you tell which parts of my back came into contact with suntan lotion and which parts didn't? Let me tell you, that's the last time I use spray-on suntan lotion.


I have a knack for getting sunburn on the very first day of becah vacations. I don't set this as a goal, it just happens. The night after I got burned, as we were saying our family prayers, I could have sworn Shelley said, "and please bless that Tony's sunburn won't hinder us from having a good time in Florida." Shelley contends, however that she said me instead of us! For the record, I didn't let the sunburn hinder my having a good time, except I did fry my scalp a few days later.

So, I was rolling on the beaches of Florida sporting a t-shirt and hat towards the end of the week. Nothing says 'advanced age' and 'uncool' like some dude hanging out on the beach or wading in the water with a t-shirt and hat...but that was me. I really feel bad that Shelley has to be married to someone like that!