well, it's a little hard to get into the spirit of things when there is absolutely no evidence of it around you (except for the Christmas Eve ragers that they put on for all the backpackers...but that's just not Christmas for me), but we set out to make it a special day anyways, and it was for sure.

We were served a wonderful breakfast on our balcony while we worked on the yearly Thiessen Christmas crossword...always good for hours of fun and frustration. Then we took our bikes out in the afternoon and took a ferry across the Mekong River to go biking on some "trails" that were recommended to us. It turned out to be a very interesting afternoon. We got lost twice and ended up way out in the middle of nowhere in a village where thankfully one guy (Mr. Dorn) spoke a little English and told us we had gone 6km too far!!! Oops!! I guess us Canadians are just too used to seeing signs and stuff. This was no ordinary road either...it was hardcore up and down with huge ruts and wash outs... and we were just on little 1-speed granny bikes that say "fairy" on the side...but we did pretty good all things considered I'd say. But at that point we were feeling a little discouraged at the prospect of going all the way back, just to get on the right trail...but then Mr. Dorn mentioned that he was going back that way on a "tractor"(we'll post a picture when we get the chance cause I have never seen anything like this in my life)...so we hitched a ride out of there with him. It was definitely not what we were expecting out of our afternoon but it was a great experience. We were quite happy to get back to our hotel and clean all the dust off...but I don't think our butts will be the same for a long time from the beating they took on those bikes.

We ended off the day with a very nice dinner with some live local music and dancers and then a 2 hour spa treatment (oil massage, herbal steam treatment and a seaweed wrap)...good but a little interesting at times.

So it's been a Christmas like I have never experienced and maybe will never experience again. There were definitely times during the day when I longed to be with my family and smell a spruce tree and just have some good Christmas treats...but when we were reading the Christmas story, I was really just struck with the fact that God is everywhere! And it is so cool to celebrate His birth in such a different setting; with the food and temperature and everything so different...and yet the purpose and meaning for the celebration remains the same...so I guess in a way, it was easier for me this year to really appreciate the true meaning of Christmas because it was the only part that we were able to bring with us.

Again, a great big Merry Christmas to all of you and make sure you eat plenty of turkey and chocolate and drink lots of eggnog for me ok.