My Baby Brother in Thailand

His visit might have been short but we got a lot done! Tim arrived on Saturday night and we took him shopping to shake off the jet lag, then sent him off to Rayleigh on Sunday for a little time on the beach. After the beach it was a night at pub quiz, and some celebrating my birthday.

Good times were had by all!
The next day was snorkeling. No pictures there, we forgot to put a memory card in the camera! We took Tim to our favourite restaurant for a birthday dinner and then ice cream for dessert.

On Friday we spent the morning at soi dog walking THREE pens of dogs! So many happy tails.

Next it was time for a surf lesson! Teacher Shane took Tim out to the beach to teach him to surf. Tim did great and even managed to get onto a few waves on his first day!

The last stop on our whirlwind tour of Phuket was the big buddha. They are building this monument on the top of one of the mountains here in Phuket. In order to help fund the project they let you buy a square of marble and write a message on it; then they use the square to continue the mosaic on the buddha. Tim took this opportunity to get a little thank-you gift for Aunt Barbara who generously helped to fund his trip!

We were sad to see him go! Luckily I will get to see everyone VERY SOON when I come home on October 6th!

Canadians in Thailand -Shane's first blog post!

Recently the two of us have been fortunate enough to have friends and family come to visit us here in Thailand. Our house has had quite the revolving door. We had my brother Nick in July, my friends Nathan, Suds and Hammy in August, and soon Hannah’s brother Tim in September. We love Thailand and are thrilled to share it with whoever is willing to make the trip half way around the world. It is hilarious to see the shock, delight and amazement on our friends' and families' faces when they see things that have for us become daily life: wild driving, delicious food, beautiful beaches, street dogs and chickens among many other things.

Here are a few pictures from our adventures with Nathan, Suds and Hammy.

Riding a Song Tao on the way to Krabi

Exploring sea caves on Rayleigh
As not much of a sea cave explorer myself, I stayed and watched the boats... this turned out to be a good idea as the tide started coming in and the boats tried to escape.





The boys extremely excited to be renting scooters. Thai roads had never been more dangerous.
I don't have anything to say about this picture, I'm still trying to repress these memories.





Suds and me conducting a fire show
To all of you who are wondering "who gave Shane and suds fire???!" I think that the guy was a little drunk. Also there weren't too many people around so I suppose he figured any damage would be to themselves rather than others? 

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Beach bar on Ton Sai where the boys spent the night despite having already purchasing a room.
Shane doesn't mention that this is a picture of Suds and Nathan taking a shot of rum which had a snake and a scorpion in it. The very chill Thai bartender keeps it on the bar to attract the kind of people who want to drink things filled with snakes and scorpions. The cat was just along for the ride. 

 Deep sea fishing where we caught 6 tuna and 2 mahi mahi.
Well, other people mostly caught fish. Shane and I mostly tried not to be sick... I was more successful than Shane. Seasickness cures offered to us by our friends were "beer and cigarettes".

To those of you who can’t make it half way around the world we are glad to have you all as readers so we can share Thailand through our blog posts.
You should probably just come out though... seriously.

Lost Island and

Apologies on the long wait for a post... I've been up to my ears in a paper on Learning and Play as well as bidding farewell to Shane's brother and trying to restore order to our lives (remembering we're not on holiday is always unpleasant). So, 
After trying for AGES to find Rayleigh on google maps, and failing, I have decided that it must be like the island from Lost and therefore can only be found if you are meant to get there. Luckily this little peninsula is greedy for your tourist dollars, so as long as you have a couple thousand baht in your pocket you should be able to get there without a problem.

We left from Phuket after work and boarded a bus for the 3 hour drive to Krabi town. Shortly afterwards, two SUPER DRUNK Thai guys got on the bus and sat behind us. They barely had time to crack a "beer leo" before one passed out, sprawled across the entire back 3 seats on the bus. As the bus filled up with school kids (in Thailand a bus is a bus, and space is not to be wasted!) the last seat left was the one where the drunk had his feet.  The guy lying down is passed out, the guy on the right is his friend who was not impressed, which is why I drew him frowning. In real life they had noses and hair but I struggle with details in MS paint. The little boy came to the back of the bus and kind of stared at them, so the less drunk guy (on the right) tried to shake his friend awake so he'd sit up. "Argleph" he replied. There was nothing to do but sit on his feet, so the poor kid rode home having to sit on someone's sneakers.

We stayed in Krabi for the night, and then hopped on a longtail boat with some other friendly tourists in the morning. Even though Raileigh is technically connected to the mainland, it is very mountainous so the only way to get there is by boat. Our new friends informed us that we should go teach in Mexico after we finish here... hmm, new blog idea? lol

Rayleigh is a lovely little spot covered in prehistoric-looking mountains and with Thailand's signature beautiful turquoise bays. We stayed in a fairly fancy (for us) resort and spent a day and a bit soaking up the rays and splashing in the water. The guys even got a chance to do some rock climbing!

 I title this picture: cheesing it hard.

 Can't you just picture a pterodactyl circling those peaks? In case you don't have a good imagination, it would look like this.

 After a lovely weekend we were sad to leave, but luckily we didn't have to take the bus on the way home as there was a ferry leaving for Phuket that day! We got on a longtail boat which took us out to the ferry in deeper water, and then had a lovely ride home. We were so glad that Nick got to come and experience a little bit of Thailand with us!

Snoryaking

Yesterday, we tried to rent a longtail boat to take us out to Koh Boo, a small island where there is supposed to be good snorkeling. Unfortunately, the longtails apparently do not run in this season... we were left with two options:
1. quit like quitters
2. epic kayak & snorkeling adventure
Obviously we chose the 2nd one. However, the sea is a cruel mistress, and is not always kind to green sailors out on their maiden voyages... Unfortunately Shane's and my water camera filled up with water the other day (we are not pleased, and are sending angry emails) so we weren't able to take any pictures. Here is the next best thing...

 This is us, after we rented our 2 kayaks and 1 stand-up paddle board. Shane is on the right with the stand-up paddle board (looks like a GIANT surfboard), Nick is in the middle, and I am on the left with curly hair.

 We fought past the break and began to paddle intrepidly out to sea.Shane is kneeling on the stand-up paddle board because every time he tried to stand up he would fall backwards into the water.

 A rogue wave broke, much further out past the usual breaking point! It sent my kayak smashing sideways into Nick's. This was our first taste of the cruel ocean's power...

 We arrived at Boo Island, this was exciting, which is why we are all smiling with our hands waving in the air. Finding somewhere to put the boats was a bit tricky, as you can see the coast of the island is jagged rocks with strong waves.

 We checked out the mooring buoys around the island, luckily they had ropes attached. When we left shore it probably would have been helpful for there to have been rope in the kayaks, but there wasn't. Nick tied an epic knot to keep the boats safe. This is about the point where the rocking of the sea began to make me super-seasick. You can tell because my face is green.

 We snorkeled, the fish and coral in this picture are not to scale. We saw all kinds of neat fish, including some puffer fish which we'd never seen before! Unfortunately, getting in the water did not cure my seasickness as it usually does... my face is still green.

 The seasickness became too much, I sprawled on the paddle board, cursing the sea... Nick and Shane kept snorkeling.

 After a while, we paddled back to shore. It was a long paddle under the burning equatorial sun. When we reached the wave break Nick and I both thought (independently of each other) "A kayak is a lot like a surfboard. If I just catch one of these waves, I will glide smoothly into shore."

 A kayak is not all that much like a surfboard. We are not surfers. Therefore Nick and I both (independently of each other) got flipped over and dumped into the water, along with everything in the kayaks that wasn't tied down. Note to self, next time bring own rope... to tie things with, as the things that weren't tied down were-everything. We spent some time searching for all the things that had tipped out of the kayaks, but luckily the sea was on our side this time and we found everything.

 We were exhausted. We all sat on the beach for a bit before dragging the kayaks back to the rental place. You can see that my face is not green any more, this is because after my near-death experience as my kayak flipped over in the waves, and after returning to shore, my stomach immediately felt better. I also forgot to draw my hair in this one, but you can imagine that it is just slicked back with the water. We drove home and had a nap. A great day overall!

Songkran

Imagine Times Square in New York City at New Years, people packed into every square centimeter of space on the streets and all in a festive mood. Now picture all these people armed with water weapons. This should give you some idea of what the Songkran festival is like in Central and Northern Thailand.

Over my parents' visit, we got to see Songkran in three different cities: Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Ayutthaya. In Chiang Mai they take the holidays very seriously, turning a three-day festival into a five-day water war.

In Bangkok the downtown area ground to a halt as sidewalks were FILLED with crowds (mostly teenagers) all spraying each other like mad and generally celebrating.

In Ayutthaya there was a street party, complete with the usual spraying of water coupled with loud music and dancing.

Sometimes we liked Songkran, when it was festive and fun and people were shooting water guns at us. Sometimes we hated it, when we were just about to catch a plane and had ourselves soaked with buckets of ice water... Overall it is definitely a one-of-a-kind Thailand experience that is not to be missed! 

Overall, Songkran is a holiday that we would love to bring back to Canada, although it would probably not be best to celebrate it in April (too cold).

 Rambo with a watergun... This kid was serious!

 Getting thoroughly soaked in Chiang Mai

 View from the skytrain platform in downtown Bangkok!

Talcum paste, another Songkran tradition!

We Love Trunks

 As part of our trip to Chiang Mai, we decided to check out the Elephant Nature Park. This is a sanctuary for domesticated elephants who have been rescued from their previous lives as beggars on the street, as illegal loggers, or working in unsafe trekking camps. Many of the elephants are scarred (mentally and physically) from their previous lives, and some of them have broken legs, or even broken backs, that make it difficult for them to walk (and heartbreaking to watch). Over our day at the centre we got to feed the elephants, bathe them, and just generally hang around watching them and seeing what happy elephants do on their days off.A wonderful trip and an amazing experience!

 

Tourists in Chiang Mai

From Bang Saen we flew to northern Thailand, the city of Chiang Mai. This is a beautiful city with a charming old-town surrounded by the ruins of the 100s-of-years-old ancient city walls. We splashed out a bit and stayed in a beautiful bed and breakfast in the heart of the old town, close enough to all the action but peaceful and comfortable for sleeping (it even had hot showers!). This time we decided to really get into the tourist spirit and try to do as much sight-seeing as possible over our short visit.

In Chiang Mai we got to visit some beautiful temples, our favourite of which was Wat Chedi Luang (right next to our B&B). It had beautiful dragons and elephants and was the temporary home for a whole crew of young novices who were staying at the temple. It is customary for Thai men to don the robes for at least a short period in their lives, and for these kids it appeared that it was some kind of summer-camp.

From the temples in the city, we headed up into the mountains for another temple and a hike through the jungle. On our hike we were followed by an adorable puppy (for the whole 3 hours!) and by the end I think everybody wished we could have taken him home with us.

We also enjoyed lots of yummy nothern Thai food, walks about the city, checking out the botanical gardens and touring around the markets (lots of neat souvenirs for people back home). We even got the chance to go on a lovely river cruise, a perfect way to relax after a long day of sight-seeing.

Bang Saen

From the sleepy beaches of Koh Mak it was off to the Thai holiday town of Bang Saen. This is a bustling little waterfront town where many Thais come from Bangkok on the weekends to enjoy sitting under rafts of umbrellas so that the sun doesn't actually ever touch their skin. We spent a couple days here visiting my father's PhD supervisor from long ago, who has moved out to Thailand.

While in Bang Saen we got to visit some great places like a big Chinese buddhist temple (couldn't fit more dragons on it if you tried), a mangrove swamp restoration project that is being led by the princess, and the busy pier where they sell 1 million kinds of squid. 

 Beautiful Chinese Buddhist temple. Note all the dragons everywhere (basically every pillar has a dragon wrapped around it)!

 A dog guarding "his" fishing boat at the pier in Bang Saen. He makes sure nobody sneaks aboard while the owners are selling their squids...

 Walking in the mangrove swamp. A mangrove swamp is a salt-water swamp that is muddy at low tide and covered with sea water at high tide. This was possibly Mum's favourite part of Thailand??? Upon arriving she exclaimed "wow! Look at this swamp!Look at this boardwalk! We don't have boardwalks this long in Canada!" Sadly you can't see all the gazillions of mud skippers who were fighting each other in the mud. Since they are the same colour as the dirt, it is pretty hard to get a good picture.

A Thai Buddhist temple in Bang Saen. Many stairs!

It was a great visit, enjoying some AMAZING home-cooked Thai food and some new fruits (now have a fridge full of mangosteen) courtesy of our hosts. It was neat to see a part of Thailand that is off the beaten path for English speaking tourists and catch a glimpse of what the Thais do on vacation.

Parents' Arrival in Thailand/ Koh Mak

Mum & Dad arrived safely in Bangkok after their long flight (part of which we were able to track through the Tokyo airport!) ready for all kinds of adventures! We thought we would start them off with a bang, and took them to Chatuchak market (as mentioned in an earlier post). We shopped for a bit but Chatuchak can be daunting for the most experienced, let alone two jet-lagged Canadians whose busiest city experience is probably Toronto...

After the busy first day in Bangkok we retired to the rather more peaceful Koh Mak... an island we visited early in our travels and totally fell in love with. Koh Mak is a lovely little island, fairly close to Bangkok (close enough for a long weekend visit) which is only about 16 kms away from the more famous Koh Chang. While Koh Chang is full of bars, parties and wild times, Koh Mak is teeny tiny and is home to a much quieter lifestyle. It is near the Marine National Park so is home to some pretty good snorkeling and the beaches are quiet and beautiful. To us, it is paradise. We stayed in the tiny and basic, but charming, Suchanaree resort in little thatched wooden huts where you could lie in bed under your mozzie net, listening to the sounds of the night and the sounds of the waves.

As expected, Mum is a big fan of snorkeling. She says that she is giving up terrestrial ecology to become a marine biologist and run an ecotourism outfit in Thailand. We spent a glorious day with our faces in the water, watching the antics of the reef fish.

 A jellyfish we found in the water!

 Evidence of my Thailand tan...

 Mum enjoying snorkeling!

Beautiful sunset at the end of a great day!!