Thailand--Phang Nga

For those of you who just check the blog to make sure we've survived this worldwide swine flu epidemic, we are still alive and you can go on to your next blog. I think we are going to "blurb" our blog so these posts may start to get quite boring for some of you. That way, since I don't keep a journal or scrapbook, we'll have a way to keep track of our time here.

When I was 20 and trying to decide what to do with my life, I read an article about Thailand in National Geographic. It was about the incredible private beaches from which you could rock climb, snorkel, kayak, etc. and I decided I was going to move there. Unfortunately, when I called the airline (no online booking back then) the ticket price was way more money than I had in savings. Fast forward a few years and I marry Ben who happens to have a fabulous sister-in-law from Thailand and I secretly hope someday I would still make it to Thailand. When we decided we were moving to Singapore we talked to Bam and Jami (Ben's brother) and found out they were planning a visit to Thailand in the Spring so our little trip was planned before we even moved here and we've been looking forward to it ever since. When things were hectic and not so fun in the beginning here, I'd tell myself..."just gotta make it until May then you get to go to Thailand".

Thank goodness even with all those years of anticipation, Thailand did not disappoint. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed every minute of the trip. We flew in Thursday night and they picked us up from the airport. We drove from the Phuket airport to Phang Nga, which is where Bam grew up and her parents live. Phang Nga province is north of Phuket province, which is the southern most one.

The next morning we went to one of the markets in town with Bam and her dad to get breakfast. I love markets--they remind me of my mission. They're so full of color, smells, and people. Bam's family goes most mornings to get breakfast. As an aside, she told us when she first learned about food storage she thought it was the strangest idea because they often get groceries for meals fresh daily. We loved being with her and her parents. It made the trip all the more fabulous being able to experience more than just the normal tourist spots. We loved all the food we tried.

After Breakfast, we took off for Phang Nga National Park on a boat tour of the bay. The boat dock was literally a 10 minute drive from their house.

Elephant Rock

Khao Khian or Writing Hill - A shallow cave that contains colored drawings of people, crocodiles, dolphins and sharks estimated to be about 3,000 years old.

Our fabulous tour guides. Don't they look so James Bond-ish?

James Bond Island, where The man with the golden gun was filmed.

The rock where some chase scene took place in the movie. You'll notice Bam and her parents are always wearing black shorts and white shirts. This is because her grandfather had recently passed away. A Buddhist custom to show respect and remember the loved one who has passed away. I thought it was a really neat tradition.


Can you tell who just woke up? Samara always falls asleep on boat rides. I think she's fallen asleep more on them then in her car seat. Pretty sad since we've been on three boat rides. Samara was such a trooper and slept quite well on the trip. She never used to be able to sleep outside her quite dark room but napped everyday at some point despite us being on the go. It was pretty miraculous. She'd let us know she was tired, snuggle up to us, and we'd pat her back or rub her head and she'd drift off. Truly miraculous.

Another beautiful view

Ko Phanak--A floating pier town where we totally got ripped off buying some little souvenirs because we had the exchange rate wrong.

Samara signing 'Bridge'. The Signing Time videos have been one of her favorite things so I am trying to get pictures for her book of her doing different signs.

We returned home and enjoyed yummy some phad thai at a great little restaurant in town then went to the town park in the evening.

The little explorers. Who is more interested?

Wheeeeeeeeee!

A popular game called "Takraw" that makes use of a hollow, loosely woven rattan ball which is kept aloft as long as possible by a circle of players who can use their feet, knees, elbows, and heads but not their hands.

The physical geography was honestly so beautiful. We both thought it was one the prettiest places we'd ever been too.

I absolutely loved the interesting ways people got around and wished I could to spent a whole day taking pictures of the market and people zipping around. We went out for a walk Sunday morning before leaving for Phuket and I at least got a few fun shots. This happens here as well but you'll often see trucks full of workers often dressed alike heading off to some job site. Below is a picture from the car and then one of a truck I ran after, which they all loved and started waving at me. There was one big truck I saw that-no joke-had 100+ dudes in it, taking the term "HOV" to a whole new level.



Many of the homes have front rooms that open to the outside that they use as store fronts. These rooms have large metal gates that can close off the front entrance and allow the fresh air to come in while keeping people out. Sunday morning around 5:30 I went downstairs to get a drink and saw/heard them opening the gates. I wondered what they were doing and on my way back upstairs saw they were giving food to a Buddhist monk. I wasn't sure if I was just half asleep or not so I asked Bam about it later. (One of the neatest things about the trip was being able to ask all the questions we have when travel to a new place and get a real answer not just the one Ben makes up when I ask him questions he doesn't know.) Bam's family normally prepares food for them once a week. They come and gather food in the mornings and then eat only once a day at 11:00a. Here is what wikipedia said about it since it's past my bedtime.

In Buddhism, all monks and nuns traditionally live by begging for alms, as did the historical Gautama Buddha himself. This is, among other reasons, so that lay people can gain religious merit by giving food, medicines, and other essential items to the monks. The monks seldom need to plead for food; in villages and towns throughout modern Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and other Buddhist countries, householders can often be found at dawn every morning streaming down the road to the local temple to give food to the monks.

It was pretty neat to be able to see it happen in real life even if I thought it was just a dream at first. I suppose it is sort of like us feeding the mormon missionaries at dinner. I have to admit we probably wouldn't be so willing if we had to get up at the crack of dawn.

We saw this monk later on our walk. Monks seems like such nice good people. You have to admire their faith and devotion.

(Although one may have stolen our nephew's toy truck! Another story for another time...but it went something like this, "Hey, Monk! Where's my truck?!") For those of you who know Danai's fabulous raspy voice it's all the funnier.