Hanging out on the beach!!!!

Sawadee ka!

We arrived to Koh Samui on Nov. 12th. Spent the afternoon walking around the beaches & crazy streets looking for a place to stay. Finally after stopping at 6-7 places, we decided to grab a red cab up to MaeNam beach. Which I was told was less crowded & quiet, compared to Chewang beach where we started out.

The red cab dropped us of up on the main road & told us to head toward the beach, there we would find a place to stay. The road was flooded with about 4-5 inches of water in some places. Finally we ran into a set of bungalows & decided to get out onto the beach & start our search. As we were passing through a guy pops up behind us & asks if we are looking for a room? We tell him we want a bungalow on the beach, & he says he has one :) One look & we decided to stay. They have a nice little place to eat, thai massage, & a fridge full of Chang.

We walk right out off of our deck & are on the beach. Our first night here after falling asleep, we both woke up to howling winds, thunder, & a monsoon of rain. The next morning the sun was out, we both spent a little too much time on the beach, & were very sunburned :(

Today we decided to do the around the island day tour. It was rather interesting. We got to see the "Big Buddha" Statue, 100 year old temple, mummified monk, waterfall, & even got to play with monkeys. Fun day, indeed. Finished it off with a bottle of Chang, pad thai, & coconut curry with chicken & pineapple.

Hope to enjoy our last full day here on the beach. Then it's back to Chaing Mai for a day, & home to the dreaded freezing weather & grind, lol!

Pictures for the last post!!!

Yee Ping & Loy Kratong 2011

Sawadee ka everyone,

For the last 3 days we have been celebrating Loy Kratong here in Thailand. It is an awesome thing to see in person. On Wednesday night we went up to the temple at Mae Jo University to celebrate Yee Ping. This is were they start off with a lot of festive dancing in beautiful costumes, then release 1000 + lanterns into the sky at once.

We hadn't bought tickets ahead of time so we bought them at the gate. Lucky for us, a tour bus was unloading just as we arrived so we were herded into their group. We ended up getting served a full dinner, given a traditional scarf to wear, & front row seats to the dancing & chanting.

After we had finished eating & were heading to the cermony grounds it started to rain, & I mean pour. This was the first time it has rained during this festival in 10 years. They told us it was a great sign. We did the meditation portion of the cermony in the temple until the rain stopped. Finally after 30 minutes or so we headed outside to release our lanterns. Wouldn't you know after all of the candle lighting & chanting, just as we were ready to light our lanterns it started to pour again, lol! Awesome to see all the lanterns, even with all the rain.

Thursday we went to the Ping river to release our Krathongs little banana leaf floats full of flowers, candles, & joss sticks. On the way to the river we stopped at a temple to release another lantern. It was so crowded, my mom decided she would like to stop & get a foot massage while the parade was passing. She is so spoiled ;) Parade & a 30 minute foot massage. We walked through the crowds & finally made it to the river to buy & release our katrongs. It was a super fun night!

Friday we decided to have a lazy day, we went out for breakfast late. Then headed to the spa for a little spoiling ourselves. My mom had a lovely 2 hour massage that consisted of a 30 minute foot massage, back, neck, shoulder massage, face & head massage, & a 30 minute herbal ball treatment. She was pretty much like jello after that ;) I settled for a facial & manicur/arm massage. Diane received a herbal foot spa & pedicure. I think we ended up spending around $30 total for all of us to be spoiled for 2 hours :)

Today we head off to the island of Koh Samui for some beach time! Got to go as our flight leaves soon :)

What fun have we been up too??? ;)

Hey everyone,

It's been a busy last couple of days for all of the crazy Thailand travelers ;) We all went to the Sunday Market, on Sunday night, which was ridiculously busy. Dale, Shanna, & I had a lovely 2 hour massage at my favorite spot near the Ping river. I just wanted to stay there forever. My mom & Diane went on another adventure around town, & found some neat treasures.

Monday (yesterday) was a jam packed day on a tour to the North of Thailand. We made the 4 hour drive to see the Golden Triangle where Opium was/still is sold. Took a boat trip across the river to Loas, & went to the Myamar border as well. Got to see the beautiful white temple. Stopped at a hot spring, & to see two hill tribe villages, including the long neck people.

A very full day 7am-9pm. Fun & got to see a lot of stuff.

It's been hot 90 degrees during the day, & 70's at night. Getting all stocked up on our vitamin D ;)

Tomorrow is the Yi Ping Light Festival at Mae Jo University. It's going to be beautiful, another once in a lifetime experience. So glad to get to be there with my mom <3

Heading out for some dinner & off to the night bazaar for some gifts for people back home.

Until tomorrow, sawadee ka!!!

Saturday Day 5 Thailand

Today we started the day off a little slow, after a crazy long day yesterday. After breakfast I headed out with Dale for a nice 2 hour Thai massage in town. While my mom & Diane went for a walk around town. I got to meet up with my old friend Shanna Lea that I met in Thailand 2 years ago. It was so good to see her again, & spend time together in Thailand again. Boy, did the memories come flooding back.

We finished off the day at the Saturday market, which takes about 3 hours to walk end to end. Lots of great crafts, & yummy food to eat. Needless to say we skipped our dinner out that night. The market filled us up :)

Day 4 & 5 Thailand :)

Hello all,

Sorry for the lag in blogging, we've just been so busy having fun, time has run out. To play catch up Thursday the 4th we started the day off with another great breakfast of eggs & rice, & then caught a red truck (taxi) over to Thaipae Gate, to find a travel agency. We booked our airline tickets to the island of Koh Samui, & walked to the Ping river for some site seeing. On the way back to the gate we grabbed some lunch at a little cafe. Mom had fried big noodles with chicken & veggies in a thick sauce, & I settled for red curry with prawns. Delicious!!!!

Diane, my mom, & I decided to head out to the Tiger Kingdom to get in some cuddle time with the big cats. It was amazing to be able to get up close & personal with such a powerful animal. They were very alert, & not so keen on cuddling.

After the Tiger Kingdom experience, our taxi driver took us to the orchid & butterfly farm. Sadly, the place has become quite run down since my last visit. Most of the butterflies were gone, but the orchids were beautiful. We finished off the journey with a visit to the largest jewelry store in the world, the thai silk factory, & umbrella making village. Came back to the guesthouse to eat some pad thai, spring rolls & thai dumpling desserts. Great day to end the day ;)

Friday Nov.4th we spent the day at Patara Elephant farm. We rode, bathed, fed, & even got to swim with our elephants. They had 4 new little elephants to play with & feed as well. Sooo cute! It was a once in a lifetime experience, & even more fun, a second time for me, with my mom & great friends. Came back to the guesthouse & crashed. We were all exhausted from the long, & hard work filled day! Getting on & off of an elephant is no easy task....

Having a ton of fun ;)

Day 2 Thailand

Today we started off the day with a yummy breakfast of fried eggs over rice, with a sweet chili sauce. It was so good. Then we went for a walk over to Thai Pae gate to see all the decorations being put up for the festival next weekend. Checked out a few temples while we were walking.

Decided to catch a red cab back to the guesthouse. Grabbed a few bubble tea drinks from a little place down the road, & sat in the sun & enjoyed them. While everybody else napped, I ventured out to find some old friends in town, & tell them hello. It was so good to see everyone again.

After a few hours we all headed out for some dinner. Which turned out to be quite an adventure. First we ordered some drinks which was fine, then they brought the menu which was completely written in Thai. We had no idea what anything was, & our 4 waitresses couldn't understand what we were saying. One of those things you had to be there to see, lol. We eventually got some sort of a chicken & noodle dish served up, which was pretty good. Still being pretty hungery we picked up some pad thai at one of my favorite little places here in town, & some fresh pineapple, dragon fruit, cantalope, & pears to finish off our meal.

Sat around in the little garden of the guesthouse to talk for awhile, then headed to bed. It's been fun!