Finally, Krahhhhhhhhhhhbi

After weeks of crazy work schedules, Josh finishing his job at DAC and Carolyn launching a whole slate of new Apple products in Asia, we looked forward to our vacation in Krabi. It is the longest vacation we have had since our honeymoon! We had our old driver Xiao Du pick us up for extra space. It was the first time we saw him since he left and he met Benji who went right into his arms! Sun ayi needed a break as she picked up all the extra hours that Josh and I gave to our companies! And we were lucky Wang ayi was available to come with us.

We arrived at the airport, checked in and the horrible Air China ticket agent gave us all seats separated from each other and thought they were doing me a favor when they gave us the seat reserved for Benji to Yaya since she is 3 and can't really sit by herself! Then she tried to tag our strollers even though I told her, in Chinese, that we were going to gate check them because we needed them in Hong Kong and Bangkok. When we got to immigration, we handed over the 5 passports and then they asked about Wang ayi's visa. We explained to them that Chinese citizens can get their visas upon arrival. The officer said no, she has to have a visa. After pulling up the Thai Embassy website on our iPhone and showing them they still refused to allow Wang ayi to leave. They took her passport and boarding pass and we were getting really annoyed. Carolyn may have let the f bomb out and the officer warned her to watch what she said.  In a Communist country, I guess that could be illegal!  They came back with photocopies of both and a stamp with a space for her to sign. We didn't allow her to sign and realized that two of our big suitcases were tagged to Wang ayi's name. We told them that we would just take her bags and the immigration guys promised to let the airline know. We called our driver, Xiao Tian and sent Wang ayi to the Thai embassy.

We barely made our flight and some very kind or perhaps, smart guy who saw two kids and decidedto get away as far as possible, gave up his window seat for a middle seat, so we could all sit together. When we landed in Hong Kong, I called Wang ayi who informed me that all three bags tagged to her were deplaned and she had been to the Thai embassy and thought she might be able to get a visa by Wednesday. However, she needed a guarantee letter. So, I quickly typed something up, emailed it to the Apple receptionist and asked her to print it out and had our driver and ayi go and pick it up and deliver to the Thai embassy within 2 hours. We were just getting used to the idea that we may be vacationing sans ayi, now we had to figure out how we would survive no ayi AND no clothes! Well, the kind pursor on the Thai flight heard our plight when I asked if we could somehow get someone to check out bags to Thailand from Beijing if the ayi couldn't make it and he offered us a bottle of champagne, because he was "crying for us" for Carolyn's very sad birthday story. So we could just drown our troubles away with the champagne!

After we arrived in Bangkok, we called for an update, my guarantee letter didn't pass muster, but the ayi met a very kind visa officer who heard the story and took pity upon all of us and said she would "take care of it" and told Wang ayi to come pick up her visa the next morning! Realizing our phone and computer chargers were in our checked bags, we looked for a charger, but of course,with the way things were going that day, they were sold out. We also decided we should probably get some swimsuits and toiletries at the airport. We proceed to our gate and sat down. When the time to board neared, there were no announcements or signage. Josh found an airline staff member who then radioed and told us that our flight left 30 minutes earlier and there were no more flights that day! While Josh and Sophia went to check on tickets for the following morning, Benji and I found a True telecom booth where the staff member thankfully had an iPhone and let me borrow his charger. We booked ourselves at the airport Novotel and took the shuttle over there after retrieving our pack n play and small suitcase filled with toys for the kids, the only things we had! Of course, it started thunderstorming as we arrived at the hotel. So much for a sunny, beach vacation...

The kids were absolutely amazing through all of this ordeal. They were oblivious to the mishaps and behaved better than either of the adults! With my precious cell phone battery slowing draining away, I called United and booked Wang Ayi the only available flight to Krabi, which was a 24 hour trip from Beijing to Narita to Bangkok, overnighting and then Krabi in the morning. With the October holidays imminent, all the flights out of Beijing were booked. For someone who has never left the country, she now had to navigate 3 countries in 24 hours. We called our wonderful friends in Beijing and borrowed some US dollars and had our driver pick up the money so Wang ayi could buy some food at Narita and Bangkok.

We also called Thai Airways and found out there were 100 empty seats on the early morning flight, so we left the hotel by 6 am and got the the airport. The ticket agent was so kind and bypassed the standby and gave us bulkhead seats all together.



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Finally, after more than 24 hours, we arrived in Krabi. As soon as we arrived at the Sheraton resort, we both felt weight lift off our shoulders. Josh's platinum status got us a huge suite with balcony and we got an adjoining room for the kids and nanny. There was a birthday cake for Carolyn and huge fruit basket waiting for us. Even a day old, the cake was delicious! We also confirmed that the nanny got her visa and things were definitely looking up.

We walked up the street to the 7-11 and picked up some diapers and up a bit further at a little bodego and got one outfit for each of us and some floaties for the kids. The kids fell asleep in their strollers and we rested on the hammocks outside. It was really idyllic. Now, everything seemed to be looking up. ;)

On Thursday morning, 4 days after leaving home, the ayi arrived with our suitcases all in one piece.  She met a student who was traveling from the US who spoke a tiny bit of mandarin and he also had an overnight transfer, so the two of them kept each other company in the Bangkok airport and he helped her to re-check our bags and get checked in the next morning.

Now, the vacation could truly begin.....