Hot Mess

Alright, I am in total vacation mode.  Two weeks off will do that to you.  Typically, that's a good thing.. but in this case it's just frustrating and makes me sad.  You see, when we were in Khao Lak, I left my expensive designer sunglasses in a taxi one night.  By chance, Dean had grabbed the guy's card and I managed to get them back a day later!  THIS time.. we were on our way to the Banyan Tree for for dinner in Bangkok and I left my bag (which had our CAMERA in it) in the taxi.  Yes, seriously, I did.  Luckily Dean was smart enough to upload the pictures at one point which really only covered about a week of the vacation.
So, here's a list of what we have zero pictures for:

• Hong Island longtail boat trip- Most amazing pics ever.  I am so sad.
• Private Diving charter out to Phi Phi island.  Again- gorgeous and only a memory in our minds :(
• All of Bangkok- dinner at the Banyan tree on top of 59 stories and all the rest
• Back in Chiang Mai- we are using the iPhone for pix so we'll see how they come out

SO ridiculous, I am a picture freak and I really had some good ones.  Oh well, I guess we'll have to go on another trip soon and get a better camera.. hehe.

Monkeying around rafts and ATVs

Yesterday we booked a day trip to go whitewater rafting and on a jungle ATV tour.  As usual, we were late getting out to the shuttle and felt pretty badly seeing that there were 8 other people waiting on us.  Anyhow, we got in the van and were given the itinerary for the day.  When the guide was asked how far the drive was to the river, he said 'Not close but not far'.  Well it turns out that not close but not far equals a 2 hour shuttle ride!  Grr!
The rafting was a ton of fun though- those Thai guys are a total crackup.  I was getting annoyed that he kept mentioning 'Three or boats a day capsize- will it be you today?', but we soon saw that it's actually the guides themselves that make the boats turn over- the wetter you get the happier they are.

Not a great pic but the company took their own so they weren't too keen on making your pictures perfect.

After our Thai lunch we were taken to the ATV riding site. Now let me tell you, I grew up with four wheelers and really do miss the feeling of being outdoors on them since I moved to Florida (which is actually 7 years ago next week!).  The feeling of riding through that jungle terrain was WONDERFUL!  Plus Dean learned a few tricks from me too, hehe ;)

Right at home..

SO much fun and so beautiful!

It was so cute, these little Thai boys were running around the whole time helping out with the ATVs and at one point I was stuck so he rushed over (unable to do anything) and told me "It will be ok madame!" :-) He was so cute.  Every bit of him reminded me of Mowgli from the Jungle Book.  Dean tipped him for 'helping' me and I got to take this pic:

(Twin brothers)  How cute are they!?

After the ATV rides, we went to 'Tiger Temple'- which didn't have any tigers and the doors to the temple are kept shut to keep these little guys out:

I was a little freaked out by the amount of monkeys in one place and the amount of people feeding them bananas and watermelon- those monkeys are vicious!  Dean bought a bag of bananas for them and made friends with a sweet one- take a look at her hands on his shoes gingerly asking for just one more banana please...

She really was super sweet.  It was fun to watch the monkeys but they're so brutal- this little runt got thrown down and held by his tail crying until he gave up his cashew nut!  Poor baby.  Here's my fav monkey pics:

My fav ;0)

Krabi was stunning, we took a longtail boat out to the Hong Islands (next post), went into town again and then went diving yesterday.  Posts to come soon, we just got to Bangkok and are exhausted! 

A Few Things I've Learned About Thailand..

1.  The mango with sticky rice has got me contemplating moving here.  Seriously.

2. If they say 'medium spicy' it's going to burn your lips off.

3. Don't diss the king.  I didn't learn this by actually doing it but it has proven to be very true- just don't do it.

4. Accepting the first price given for anything but food makes you a TOURIST.  Or a Jessica that doesn't like having to haggle.. I don't know why they can't just tell you the price!

5. The people have alot of fun and will open up to you quickly if they see that you do as well.

6.  The USA has quite the reputatiion for the women loving men with accents.

7.  Think of the cheesiest music from the US you can possibly think of- Thais LOVE it and play it everywhere.  'Eternal Flame' and 'As Long As You Love Me' are a few we've heard more than twice.

8.  It is obviously called the land of smiles because you only have to pay $7 average for a massage.

9. Toilet paper is a luxury, not a necessity.  Oh, and napkins are tissues.

10.  All fruit here is delicous- and my tongue and mouth don't swell up after eating the pineapple!  :-D

11. There aren't enough words in the English language (Thai language maybe?) to describe the feel of the sand under your toes here, the awe that is inspired when you see giant limestone mountains bursting out of the middle of the sea and the grounded feeling that is with you everywhere.  I am so grateful to the universe (and Dean) for this amazing experience.