Thailand- Part 1

Oh Thailand...where to begin? I hated it. I loved it. It was too hot and humid for me. It was beautiful. Phuket greeted me with a stomach bug about 12 hours after we got there. The people were poor and so happy and kind. The ocean was stunning. The boys loved it.

 

 I experienced a place I never thought I'd go to and may never again which is always exciting.  I hope the boys will never forget what they saw.

 

All ready for their first Asian vacation!

It was hard for them to wait for the evening flight. They wanted to leave as soon as they woke up.

The man at the end of the row stared at the boys almost the entire flight. I love how he didn't even try to be discreet.

We spent the first night in a small hotel by the airport since we got in so late. Hayden asked me if "smorking" was how you say "smoking" in Thailand.

Our first morning we visited Nai Yang Beach. The northern stretch of the beach is a national park.

 

 

It wasn't pretty at all ;).

 

Their celebrity status was almost the same in Thailand.

These 2 drank Fanta all week. Normally we wouldn't let them, but the food was so outside their comfort zone that we tried to soften the blow.

Orange smoothie for this guy.

Took this tuk tuk back to the hotel so I could go pray to the porcelain goddess.

Colter lost his hat on the beach so we bought this one. He lost it about 2 hours later somehow getting from one hotel to the other!

 

We got a nice welcome to our second hotel. 

 

 And a creepy welcome.

 

I spent the next day recovering and the boys went on an elephant safari.

 

 

 

 The guide sat on the elephant's neck, but came down for pictures.

 

 Gorgeous view!

 

When they returned, we all headed down to the pool.

Raisin boy.

My favorite picture from the trip- a la National Geographic.

 

Kinda?



Brent's first Thai meal.

We watched the sunset most nights. It was beautiful.



 

 

The next morning we went down to the beach at the hotel to look for shells.

Brent tried his hand at stand up paddle boarding. He was a natural. He only wiped out once.

That beach was rocky. So we checked out another pool on the property.

 

Day 4 we went sea canoeing through the caves in a few islands off the coast. 

This is a pic of another boat with our tour.

Heading into the first cave.

There were monkeys on this island. Our tour company did not believe in feeding them (thank goodness), but another company was there and the monkeys were jumping into their canoes because they had food!

 

 

After we went through the cave, it would open up to reveal a lagoon that only held water certain times of the day with the tide.

Silly Hay Hay.

 

Headed back out.

See the monkeys?

Our next stop.

Our guides took us up to the wall to show the boys some crabs. We had to spot about 100 of them before Hayden could see one.

Sometimes we had to lay down in the cave.

Unreal. One of the coolest experiences ever!!

Hayden's favorite part was "driving".



 

In another lagoon.  

Our guides were awesome. One of them was the leader of the trip and he often let us stay behind or took us to a quieter spot from the group. The whole crew spoiled the boys. If Phuket is on your list, John Grey Sea Canoe is a must.

While alone in this cave, he told the boys to jump out!

Colter held onto my legs,

Hayden nearly drowned Brent,



and they all held it together long enough for me to snap a pic!

Grant's turn.

This is not the famous James Bond Island but it has a similar look.

And Colter got a turn too.

Before dinner, we made a kratong out of banana trees and flowers. Kratongs are a symbolic offering to the water spirits.

Can you see the 5 birds?

The sun starting to set.

 

Time to float the kratongs.

 Don't worry. We didn't litter and they recycled. Although I don't have a picture of it, we also saw the phosphorescent plankton in the dark. Super cool.

 

Cruising back to the port Colter was exhausted.

Hayden too!

 

Part 2 coming soon...