Now this is truly paradise….

Early Sunday morning we headed for Bangkok’s airport to catch a plane south to Phuket. On our way to the airport on the Airport Express Lane we met an older couple from Northern Minnesota. Who would have thought?! They were travelling to China to visit their son who is teaching English there, and they are teachers themselves. They’re stationed in Chang Mai and actually have started an organization called Thai Thaim, which is a teacher exchange program. They started the organization in 1999. Listening to their story and experiences in the last ten years was very interesting. Even after teaching for over ten years, they still encounter the same problems I have with controlling their students and lack of communication or clarity between teachers and school administration. I don’t feel as bad now….

We flew on an old school 747 to Phuket that reminded me of the plane in the movie, “The Wedding Singer”. The flight was only about an hour long. We arrived bright and early and made our way to the Diamond Cliff Hotel in Patong Beach via “Mr. Marn”, (pronounced man) our personal cab driver for the morning.  Upon our arrival at the hotel and throughout checking in the customer service was extraordinary.  Our room was awesome! We had a great view, three incredible comfortable beds even for American standard, a beautiful bathroom, and a cute little eating area. We hung out by the pool overlooking the Andaman Sea for the afternoon. At night, we were convinced the Phuket Fanta Sea show was a “must see….You’ll love it!” So we did it. We were picked up and dropped off about three hours in advance of when the actual show began. That gave us three hours to explore the surroundings which reminded me a lot of Disney World. Needless to say, we arrived to the very large buffet about two hours before show time…. We overate of course; but the food was very good! You would have thought people didn’t have enough time to enjoy their meal and eat it as people arrived late to the show. One instance was a little strange.  Mind you this was probably one of the most International places I’ve been where there are many different languages being spoken. The row in front of us seemed to have had two open seats in the middle directly in front of where we were sitting; so the usher on the right side told everyone to move down a seat, thus leaving only one seat available. Well those people who had the two seats eventually came to the show; they stood where there was only one seat and began arguing in their language to the people next to them who spoke a different language; they then waved down the usher on the left side who also came to the middle of the row trying to figure out what the problem was. He didn’t know what the other usher had done. All the arguing, confusion, and standing in the middle of the row was happening directly in front of us while the show was going on….it was quite frustrating but we just laughed it off. The best part of the show was probably the tight rope people who did an amazing performance above the audience. There were live elephants, ducks, chickens, and even a tiger on stage. The performance was all singing and dancing. It wasn’t the greatest show I’ve seen but it was cool.

The next day in Phuket we slept in and ate breakfast at the hotel. We decided to lay low today and relax on Paradise Beach, a private beach area shared by a few resorts secluded from Patong’s main beach. It was beautiful. We had a nice lunch and enjoyed the day in the sun. At night, we went in to the center of Patong where all the action was. It reminded me a lot of what a Spring Break in Mexico would be like…. A lot of bars, restaurants, and shopping right along the beach. We ate at a nice seafood restaurant. It was delicious! We headed home in a mini pick-up truck, must be Phuket style tuk-tuk’s.

Tuesday, our last day in Phuket, was definitely the most memorable! We went on a speed boat day trip to Ko Phi-Phi that included snorkeling, swimming, lunch, and monkeys. We stopped at three different islands. The first was Bamboo Island where we snorkeled along the shore. The fish were beautiful... blue and yellow colored. Our next stop was a reef just off of Ko Phi Phi. We jumped right in. I felt like I was part of the school of fish. They were swimming all around me; but amazingly didn’t touch me once as I swam in the sea. It was so cool! The fish were also blue, yellow, and orange colored. This definitely was the best snorkeling I had ever done. I cannot even imagine what great things that could be seen if you were to go scuba diving.

After a great morning on the speed boat in the Andaman Sea and snorkeling we made it to the island of Ko Phi Phi for lunch. We ate a nice restaurant that sat right on the beach, overlooking the sea. Lunch was delicious and Beau was sure to fill up on his Chang and Singha’s….one liter of each in fact. After lunch, Pong our tour guide, filled us in on the catastrophe that struck the Andaman Sea specifically Ko Phi Phi very badly in 2004. The tsunami had a huge impact on Ko Phi Phi’s population. Thousands of people died and are still missing…..

After lunch, we boated by Monkey Island where we were able to throw a few bananas to the monkeys. There was some hanging from the trees trying to catch the bananas as we threw them. Either the monkeys weren’t very good catchers or we were just bad throwers because most of the bananas landed in the water. The ones that floated to shore definitely weren’t abandoned…there were monkeys there to eat them. After Monkey Island, we boated to a cove area that was absolutely gorgeous. This area was used in filming the movie, “The Beach”, with Leonardo DiCaprio. The water  was clear blue and the temperature was perfect. I never knew I could enjoy swimming and jumping off a boat so much all because of the natural beauty of my surroundings. Our last stop was Maya Bay. This island and bay was also filmed in the movie, “The Beach”. We were able to get off and explore the island a little bit. There  wasn't very much on the island besides a mini restaurant with snacks and drinks, restrooms, and a small campsite that looked like it was used for Park Patrol or something of the sort. Also, the island had signs for a tsunami evacuation route that led straight up a hill…not sure exactly where you would evacuate to besides higher ground. This area was sooo unbelievably gorgeous! This whole day was amazing! Ko Phi Phi and its surrounding islands rank #1 on my most beautiful places I’ve seen in the world list!

We got back to the hotel just in time before the down pour.  We were lucky it didn’t rain on our way back from the islands. That would have been no fun since we were sitting in the front of the boat with no covering. We ate dinner at The White Box. The atmosphere was top notch. Very modern, everything white….white tables, white booth chairs, white floors, and white walls. It was cool. The food was delicious! Mom even splurged on a very nice bottle of wine, which was much appreciated J Overall, I have to say this was my best day in Thailand, not only since mom and Beau have been here, but since I’ve been here too. Wednesday morning, we arranged for Mr. Marn to pick us up at the hotel and drive us to the airport. We had hoped he’d pick us up at 8 a.m. for a 10 a.m. flight, planning for an hour of driving time. Well 8:45 rolls around and no Mr. Marn….he pulls up shortly before 9…we were quite upset and worried there was no chance we’d make our flight. Mr. Marn was very apologetic and tried to explain there was miscommunication between him, his boss, and us. Needless to say, he sped his way to the Phuket airport and amazingly we made our flight! Good thing security is quite lax here in Thailand. After arriving back to Bangkok we took a taxi to visit my school in Bangplama. Mom and Beau were able to see my living quarters, school campus, and the English Department. They met Toon and a few of the other Thai English teachers. Beau and mom both said they were quite surprised that I am living the way I am and were most surprised about my bathroom situation….. still no Western toilet. I knew they would be in shock…After the school visit we made our way to the bus stop and waited for the city bus. I wanted them to experience the buses I take from school in to town. It was quite the experience! We were lucky to get a seat on the bus, since we caught the 4 o’clock bus which is the same bus students take in to town. There were 4 students hanging on for dear lives to the side railings of the back door of the bus, it was that packed. My mom couldn’t get over it….I’m pretty used to seeing all the absurdities when it comes to modes of transportation here in Thailand …..families of 4 riding on a 2 person moped; a new born riding on a moped; 20 people standing in the back of pick-up trucks driving on the highway ….she’s still getting used to it. The city bus we took to Kanchanaburi was just as crowded. We definitely took the slow, scenic route to get there, but it was an experience my mom and brother I’m sure will never forget! After hours of an open aired, smelly, run-down bus we made it to Kanchanaburi’s town center. We took a song-tao to get to the hotel. The Diamond Cliff was definitely 5 stars compared to our room at the River Kwae Botanic Garden.  The hotel rooms were floating rafts on the river. Very simple, rock hard beds of course, and a very small bathroom; but at least it had a toilet! I didn’t mind the room actually, but I’m used to living where I do in Bangplama. Luckily for mom and Beau it was only 2 nights. The staff was very sweet and kind. They made us breakfast each morning, American style and dinner at night, traditional spicy Thai food. It was great! Thursday, we woke up early and headed for Erawan National Park to climb 7 tiers of beautiful waterfalls. It was quite the hike up to the 7^th tier, but well worth it! The water in each waterfall was sparkly blue and crystal clear you could see all the fish swimming at the bottom of the falls.

On our way down, we had a scary encounter with some wild monkeys. They were protecting their baby monkey who was hanging from a tree that was right in the path for people to walk on. Beau and my mom got past fine, except papa monkey got a little upset and started hissing at Beau. That really creeped me out so I was very timid to keep walking past. There was another group of people walking up that got by a-ok….so I made my move down making sure not to make any eye contact. It was all good….no monkey attacks for me! Beau and I swam at the 4^th tier and slid down the rock-made slide. The water was freezing! I tried swimming at the 7^th tier, but the biting fish were too annoying. The bites were more of a nibble but a lot of nibbling…it was quite ticklish. After the falls, we went elephant trekking and saw the Bridge over the River Kwae. Oh, so my mom was all decked out in Green Bay Packer gear….her yellow Packer tank top and a Packer’s baseball hat. As we’re riding the elephant and passing other riders, a man yells, “Are you a Packer Fan?! There’s still play-off hopes!” What a coincidence that in the middle of an elephant farm in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, we come across a fellow Packer fan. It was a fun day! We’ve seen and experienced some of Thailand’s beautiful islands and sparkling blue seas along with the serene and peaceful jungles of Kanchanaburi. Now it was time to head back to the flashy, bustling streets of Bangkok to ring in the New Year.