Our Birthdays

Cassidy: Honolulu, International Dateline, and Tokyo with a celebration on the flight and in a Tokyo restaurant-complete with two birthday cakes! She was in far better shape for the in-flight celebration than the one at about 3 a.m. (our time) where she nearly went face down in the cake.

George: On elephants and walking from a Lau Tribe Village to an Aka Tribe Village in Northern Thailand. The day ended in a celebratory dance around a bamboo bonfire with the Aka women in full traditional dress, most of us swilling bad whiskey with the chief, and watching falling stars from the porch of a thatched hut.

Samantha: Bombay and Amsterdam. She was served cake and champagne aboard the seven hour flight out of India. Even at 27 hours the day wasn't long enough (we bathed and slept through most of it), and the celebration was spread over a week (dinners out at an up-end Italian place and at an American cowboy-style steak house, cake and kir royale on our house boat).

Salli: (It was also Easter Sunday!) Flight from Athens to Madrid, with a brief stop in the Rome airport. The day ended up with a dinner ordered by guessing at the Spanish dishes on the menu and cake served in our 'suite' as street sounds drifted up through the huge open windows. The desired "wild taverna dancing" had taken place in a pre-birthday bacchanal in Greece where wine glasses were upturned and played like castanets on our hands.

World Festivals, Celebrations, Markets and Bazaars

Elections in Hawaii, Japan, Ireland, Great Britain
Taro Festival, Kauai, Hawaii
Macadamia Nut Festival, Hilo, Hawaii
Kushiro Fish Market, Japan
Shichi-go-san (7-5-3) Festival, Tokyo
Fresh Vegetable Festival, Tokyo
Meiji Reidaisai, Meiji shrine, Tokyo
Shinto wedding, Tokyo, Japan
National Culture Day, Japan
Temple StreetNight Market, Hong Kong
Grand Prix, Macao
King's Birthday, Thailand
Chata Chak Market, Bangkok, Thailand
Night Market Cheng Mai, Thailand
International Desert Kite Festival, Jodhpur, India
Beginning of Ramadan, Bombay India
50 Years of Indian Independence
Waterlooplein, Bloemenmarkt and Other Street Markets, Amsterdam
St. Patrick's Day, Athens
Apokries: Pre-Lenten Karnival/Saturnalia, Crete, Greece
Khan al Khalili (market), Egypt
Festival of St. Teresa of Avila, Spain
May Day, Britain
First Communion in Killarney Ireland
July 4th, Chicago Illinois

Attractions, Events, Facilities, Performances

Keck Observatory, Hawaii, Hawaii
Dolphin Quest at the Hilton Waikaloa Hotel, Hawaii, Hawaii
Ka Lae Wind Farm, Hawaii
Mutsoguro Animal Kingdom, Hokkaido, Japan
Okkoto-tei (Soba Noodle lessons), outside Okkoto village near Fujimi, Japan
Saovabha Institute Snake Farm, Bangkok Thailand
Thai Dances, Night Market, Cheng Mai, Thailand
Butterfly and Orchid Farm, near Cheng Mai, Thailand
Sawadee Gem Labs, Bangkok
Music & Fireworks, King's Birthday & Golden Jubilee, Bangkok, Thailand
Canal Tour, Amsterdam
Changing of the Guards, Athens
Teachers' Strike, Athens
Pyramids Sound and Light Show, Cairo
Felucca on the Nile, Cairo
Barcelona Zoo
CERN Labs, Geneva, Switzerland
Labor Strike, Paris
London Dungeon
Phantom of the Opera, (musical) London
The Dragonfly Maze (created by Kit Williams), Bourton on the Water, Cotswolds, England
Boating the Avon at Stratford-upon-Avon, England
Old Mill, Lower Slaughter, England
Kentwell Historic Re-Creation
Waterford Crystal factory, Ireland
Rights of Passage, performance art, Three Mills Island, London
Tam O'Shanter Experience (Robert Burns theater), Scotland