I'm momentarily hijacking the Thailand posts to bring you these azalea festival photos. Because it's my blog. And my birthday. Wa-bam! (Also, I'm always telling my students not to start sentences with "and" or "but". Clearly I'm a good example).

So last night, a group of us headed out to Bucheon (a nearby city) to check out the azaleas. I went with no expectations and was absolutely flabbergasted. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful? The azaleas even make the cherry blossoms seem a bit passé.

On a different note, my students are the best. They made me a flower crown (magnolia blossoms taped on to a leaf a student brought from home), a flower ring (which they ordered Mike to give to me on bended knee. He obviously complied) and threw random bits of flowers into the air and blew into noisemakers to wish me a happy birthday!

What magnificent creatures! Their rough skin, their huge toenails, their spotted trunks and ears, their beautiful eyes and eyelashes... elephants are really something else.

(Kudos to Mike for that unbelievable last photo!)

Mike's family came to visit us here in Asia at the beginning of April. We spent a day in Korea before we zipped over to Thailand for a short trip. Here are a few photos from the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Pretty spectacular!

We melted the entire time we were in Bangkok. Thankfully, our hotel had a pool! ^_^

Coming up next: elephants!

This past weekend, we headed to Yongpyong (home of the 2018 Winter Olypmics!) for two days of skiing and snowboarding. I hadn't gone skiing in a few years so I was thrilled that it came back to me quite quickly! The group of us rented a pension and had a pretty swell time. Truthfully, I didn't get that many great photos of the weekend as we ate a lot of potato chips, wrestled, drank wine from paper cups and played about ten rounds of inReverse (not the stuff of great photos). But here are a few, just to remember. 

On our second full day in Coron, we explored the town for the afternoon, hiked up Mount Tapyas for the sunset and then headed to the Manquit Hot Springs. In my books, that's the perfect way to end the day. However, Mike was actually pretty stoked when our trike driver started blasting some 90s rap on our ride home. We have some hilarious (blackmail-worthy) video of the moment! ;)

*Check out the guest post we did on the Traveling Triplets blog! Thanks Kylie!

Over the Lunar New Year (Seolnal - 설날), we went to the Philippines for a quick five day trip. We were a little overwhelmed with the 7000 islands to choose from, but thankfully Gemma from Line x Shape x Colour pointed us in the direction of the province of Palawan. We could not be more grateful. Coron, Palawan was a stunning spot and perfect for a short amount of time.  

There aren't any beaches right on the island but there are some breathtaking ones that are just a boat ride away. We visited: Bulungan beach, Hidden Lagoons, Kayangan Lake, Twin Peaks Reef, CVC islands, Malcapuya Island, Banana Island, and Isla Bulog. The beaches were just pristine. I have never swam in such clear water! What a treat.

Next: some photos of Coron town and Mount Tapyas.

A few years ago, some of our friends visited Halong Bay. I remember being just blown away by their photos. It was quickly added to my my "must-see" list. So when we were planning this trip, it was a given that we were going to go to Halong Bay. It was just as beautiful as I hoped - although quite a big colder than I imagined! We took hundreds of photos, but here are just a few that reflect the bay's quiet beauty.

Notes:
- We did a three day, two night tour with Vega Travel. While they are not the cheapest option out there, they are highly recommended on tripadvisor and in Lonely Planet. We found the tour to be excellent and the food was delicious. Well worth the money, I think.
- We were (naively) expecting warm temperatures like we experienced in Phu Quoc. It turned out to be about 10°C. I wouldn't normally find that that cold, but it was sure blustery on the boat and we didn't really have proper apparel packed.
- Mike selected and edited these photos since I've been swamped with work the last few days. Thanks love! As per usual, the photos are mix of his and mine.
- A few more photos here.