Here's the traveling crew with a couple Thai friends too.
Nid, Me, Mom, Rusty, Dad, Gif
I spy two monkeys!
Our journey started out flying to southern Thailand, where we found these funny guys.
The island, Koh Yao Yai, was beautiful and relaxing. The beach was a 5 minute walk from our hotel, which made for good sunset watching.
There were all sorts of interesting things to find.
A three-finger wide brown/red frog joined us for breakfast this morning.
And there were plenty of places to explore. We rented motorbikes one day to see the island firsthand.
There was a lot to see, and all of it was beautiful. :)
Sometime in the last 20 years the guy to my right when from crawling around and pulling my hair to taller than me and a friend to go on adventures with.
The water buffalo is on of the most well-known animals among the Thai people. Probably only the elephant is more popular.
We learned, by observation, how starfish flip over, mover around and hide themselves in the sand. Very interesting!
Any idea what these creatures are? They look like they are between pollywog and frog, I think this is their child, teenager and adult state.
On motorbikes we found another great beach with only two other people on it.
One day was spent snorkeling on this beautiful island. We could walk around the whole island in about 10 minutes, but it was perfect for snorkeling.
Rock climbing!
The island had very few tourists. It was nice. Every evening, the locals played volleyball. We enjoyed a delicious meal under the grass-roofed hut to the right.
With a few hours to kill in Phuket, we visited the Butterfly Garden and Insect World.
After three days on the island, it was time to head back to Bangkok.
I took the family to a traditional market dinner. That means we walk between the market stalls, pick out what we want to eat and enjoy it in the park nearby. Rusty found grilled corn, Mom and Dad found spiraled potatoes. We also had fried chicken, sticky rice, and curry over noodles. Yum!
Ayutthaya, one of the ancient capitals of Thailand (when Thailand was known as Siam), gave us a look at another side of Thailand.
Gif (middle) was our tour guide for the day. She did a great job, and we all had a lot of fun. She's actually one of the students I live with at BJD, but she wants to be a tour guide when she graduates because she "loves history and English."
Dinner at the floating market and a boat ride as the sun set, doesn't get much better than that!
(Yes, they are selling dinner out of these boats, and it's delicious!)
Looks like next year's Christmas card to me!
We found a couple of white frogs at one of the 7 levels of Erawan Waterfall. They followed us out of the national park and jumped into the song taow (truck) to come home with us.
Another of the 7 layers of waterfalls...we could have spent all day exploring this park...maybe next time!
I had no idea there was so much WWII history in Thailand. In the western of Kanchanaburi, we visited the Death Railway along with some museums and cemeteries. Very interesting!
At first we were debating if we should ride elephants or not. Once we got on, no one was debating anymore. It was definitely fun!
Our elephant was 30 years old Mom & Dad's was 35 (if I'm remembering right.)
Whoever though it was a good idea to let this guy drive...was right!
The hair on an elephant's head is really coarse. The elephant trainer/guide/rider made my hat out of some leaves he collected along the way. Don't you like it?
Bye! Have a great trip!
What a great trip and great blessing to show my world to my family.
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