Thailand

Our friend Steph headed up a trip to Koh Samui for the weekend which is an island off the east coast of the Kra Isthmus (a bridge connecting the Malay Peninsula with the mainland of Asia) in Thailand. We went with Steph and a girl named Ann, from Atlanta who is also here for a 6 month jaunt with the bank, and a girl named Ashley who lives here and is originally from Philly. It was an AMAZINGLY fun time with the spinsters (who called themselves that all weekend after Ashely told a story in which on her visa approval form her choices were a. married b. widowed c. spinster). I must say, they were ROCKIN FUN spinsters.

Devin was SUCH a good sport to pal around with 4 girls all weekend and claims he had a blast as well. We left Friday around 5 and it was an easy 3 hour flight to reach the Island. When getting there the airport screamed tropical paradise with open air huts and a customs line surrounded by grassy jungly plants and birds chirping. The air was also slightly cooler and a nice reprieve from the heat.

We were greeted at the resort with fun surroundings and some fruity cocktails

That is Ashley, from Philly, who was super cool and fun

We quickly unpacked and headed into town to get dinner. The markets greeted us along the way with some fun prickly fruit of some kind.

Ann, my Southern sidekick from Atlanta, was an AVID shopper and kept darting off into local market shops on the way to the restaurant to buy something. She found these red Ray Bans first and so those came with her....

Fake bag anyone?

Then she found the hat to go along with the Ray Bans (I found a hat there too)

This was a very Thai looking statue in the restaurant

The land of elephants....

Samui Seafood was the name of the restaurant we stopped at to eat

It had this ship in the front with TONS of seafood on ice

As people ordered fish off the menu they would take it off the ship and then just cook it for you. So I ordered white jasmine rice. Thought it to be the safest bet. Here's the whole group (with our new purchases on).

The next morning we woke up and found it to be a tad overcast so I decided to go ride an elephant with Ann and Devin. Such a sweet face huh?

Here is Ann on her elephant

At first we sat on those little seats on the elephant's back but after awhile the guide let us just get on it's neck and ride it bareback which was REALLY cool!

Then Devin got a turn...

It was a great experience!

But, after the elephants I saw that you could feed a tiger cub a bottle and thought-I HAVE to try that! Y'all, it was the coolest! I ADORED that little tiger cub. It was top 5 most fantastic things I have done on this trip FOR SURE! I couldn't really believe that I got to do it at first.

But then I just enjoyed the moment....can you see how big his paws were? HA!

This one is a better angle to see the size of those paws...

Then Ann got a turn and then we both got to hold him for a little longer.

That night we went back and got cleaned up from the elephant trekking and went out on the town

Steph and Devin with the Asian glow that just accompanies you wherever you are here...

We had dinner at this really great restaurant (near more shops where Ann and I continued to help out the Thai economy). Isn't this light fixture so unique?

This guy serenaded us at dinner with some amazing Beatles cover songs.

Me, in white, with white elephant statues still on my, "I got to hold a tiger cub" high

It must be said, she is one of the coolest chics I have run across in my life

The next morning we went to this place called the Library where you can eat breakfast on beds on the beach overlooking the water. Devin posing with his book...

Here was the set up. We ate breakfast and then pulled our beds out into the sun and laid out/fell asleep. It was sort of magical.

First course of breakfast...

Pretty fruit from breakfast....

We stayed on the beach ALL day and then finished the beach day with a Thai massage in a little hut by the water. The massages were incredible here. We had a massage the day before as well but for only $10 US dollars we could NOT pass them up!

That night we went to a very fun restaurant that overlooked the gorgeousness

Devin took this great pic. Here we are on our last night. It was a fabulous weekend and I definitely think going back to this Island is in our future. Plus, we've made friends for life and got one more stamp in our passports and it's just one more reason I feel more blessed than I ever deserve to be in this life! I am so grateful for the opportunity we got to go!

Here's the group from left to right (obviously, Devin and me) Ashley, Steph and Ann

Top 10 Things I Miss in the States

We're flying to Thailand for the weekend in a few hours so stay tuned for pics from there but I wanted to quickly jot down the things I miss the most from the States (it could/will change as we further along this journey but for now...these are them.)

#10. The clear blue sky and the sun shining through the trees of our neighborhood.

#9. Chicken biscuits and unlimited refills of tea (with lots of ice.)

#8. Running outside/Walking my dog/Cuddling with my dog

#7. My job and my amazing co-workers that I miss dearly and wish I could laugh with.

#6. My air conditioned car that could get me anywhere in 10 minutes or less.

#5. My dog looking up at me like I'm the greatest person in the world.

#4. My friends and fellow Southern folk that were always so kind and conversational.

#3. My new niece and the trips we'd take to Atlanta to see my wonderful sister and brother.

#2. My parents house and the fun warm family dinners we'd have for birthdays.

#1. My beautiful amazing mother, who is another year older today. I love you so much, Mom. You truly are the definition of love, honesty and strength. Because of you I am who I am today. I am so grateful you are my mother. Happy Birthday!

Aberdeen Harbor and The Peak

Yesterday Michelle and I started our day by going to Aberdeen Harbor which is a big fishing port and where boat people used to live (and we actually saw some that still do live on their boats). There you can take a ride on a Sampan (small boat) around the harbor with a little guide that drives the Sampan.

This was our Sampan....

JUST KIDDING! (Still cracking myself up...my own jokes never get old to me) this is a sampan

This is a HUGE floating restaurant that sits in the harbor and our guide was kind of enough to take a picture of us in front of it. I love this picture because I feel like if there was EVER any doubt before, this picture truly proves, we are in China.

The restaurant a little closer up...it is HUGE

The whole view

Again with the hats...we couldn't get enough of other people's hats....

At the front of the sampan with the harbor behind me

Some local fisherman we ran across

Our faithful guide who I'm pretty certain uses some pretty hard core Crest Whitestrips but he wouldn't own up to it or the question didn't translate correctly but I know what I know-we gave him a SC pin by the way...he deserved it!

This condo complex was so crazy-it had a hole carved out in the middle of the building

After leaving Aberdeen I took Michelle to my favorite markets in Stanley Village (a little beach town) where she finished up her shopping for friends and family and then it was off to get fish pedicures. I wasn't going to originally take Meesh to do this but she thought she could hang. We have video of the pedicure going down which is hilarious/choppy since I tend to shake/convulse when I laugh really hard. But, hopefully Michelle will put some of the video on the blog when she gets home. She's planning on gracing the blog with a "guest post" so we will see....

A little weary to stick her feet in at this point...which is understandable

Then she decided, oh no no no no no, I do not like this feeling

Then she begs the lady working if she can switch the time of her session from 20 minutes to 1 minute. The lady sort of scared us both and so Michelle just kept her feet in.

Here it is folks....

The reward to doing the fish is being at the Peak afterward for the breathtaking views...

last night did NOT disappoint. The city brightly gave Michelle a proper send off.

Then Michelle had been saving her last SC pin for our nighttime doorman who she really liked and felt like she got to know the best. She kept saying all week, "I have to save a pin for Harold." Here is Michelle and the doorman with the SC pin. PS: His name is Charles.

I had one of the funnest weeks of my life with Michelle here and am so grateful that she came. Thanks, Meesh! We love you very very much!