Thailand Photo Collages

10 Vacation Tips

Back home in Singapore.  It's always nice to go on vacation, but it's also wonderful to come home.  I always feel a sense of accomplishment.  Lots of adventure on this past trip;  Both Tori and I got the flu, worst I've ever had;  Brie had an ear infection;  I crashed on the motorbike;  ruined my glasses, got a black eye and lots of scrapes; lots of mosquitoe bites, it stinks to be allergic to those little buggers;  ate some great Thai food; The beaches of Thailand are Paradise; Brie is a master bargainer; Crazy shopping in Bangkok.  
Ten Things I learned this vacation;
1.  Vacation always cost more than you budget for.
2.  I would travel anywhere in the world with my two daughters.
3.  Never ride a motor bike in a swim suit.
4.  Scuba is amazing and I can concur deep water.
5.  I'm not really a backpacker, I'm a poshbacker.  I like the adventure, but I want some luxury.
6.  Coconut Smoothies, Heaven.
7.  What's that perfume you're wearing?  Aux des Bug Spray
8.  Sawatdee Khrap means Good Morning, not swatting crap.
9.  I can say thank you in Thai, Khmer, Mandarin, Japanese, Malay, Indonesian, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese.
10.  Always bring a calculator when shopping in a foreign country.  Calculating the exchange rate can get tricky and get's much harder as you age.
Once again I was reminded that vacation is not just about seeing or experiencing a new place, but it's about reconnecting with the people that you love.  It's about making lifelong memories.  I love you Tori and Brie.  You are great to travel with.

Thailand Pix

Scuba Diving at Sail Rock

Brie'middle name should be Arielle because she is a beautiful mermaid in the water. No fears, just completely free. Swimming comes so natural to her. She could be a dive master. We took an hour boat ride out to sail rock to experience our first dive. Two dives to day, each of them about 50 minutes, down to 12 meters ( 40 feet). First fear to overcome was jumping into the ocean with my gear on. It took me three times before I got up enough courage to take the step off the boat, but I did it. Sail rock was amazing. Sail rock is a large rock formation covered with coral with a cave in the middle of it. During our first dive I had to keep telling myself to breath and relax. The dive instructor held my hand, then for the second dive I relaxed and enjoyed myself. I didn't have to hold the dive instructors hand. Beautiful things under the ocean. Angel fish, porcupine fish, huge groupers, gar fish, eels, sea urchins, huge schools of fish. Made me feel like I was in the Finding Nemo movie or filming a National Geographics special. We got some amazing pictures, I will post them when we get back to Singapore. No Whale Sharks today. They were at the sight the last two days but not today. It was probably a good thing because I think I would of freaked out if I saw a 40ft shark coming towards me. Great experience. I'm ready to do it again.

Pushing Past My Fears.

June 23. Ever since I was a little girl I have been afraid of deep water. There are several reasons for this. First if all I had an older brother who thought it was funny to try and drown his little sister and secondly I stepped in a sink hole at Mauthy Lake and almost drowned. This is the year that I've decided to face my fears. For a month I have been snorkeling in the pool at my condo. I probably looked like a psycho but it helped me get my head under the water and learn to breath with my mouth, through a tube. This has helped to prepare me for the ultimate test, scuba diving.. Yesterday the two girls and I had our first scuba class in the swimming pool. I did ok until I had to put water in my mask and blow it out through the bottom. I panicked and rushed to the surface. But I didn't give in to my fears I kept trying and finally did it. Tomorrow is the big test, off to sail rock. Deep water, large fish and possibly a whale shark. Thanks God for helping me push through my fears. Another beautiful day in the sun drinking coconut shakes. We saw a huge box jellyfish washed up on the shore. It was the kind with the short tentacles and it was dead. Of course Brie wanted to touch it, we flipped it over with a stick. Did you know that jelly fish don't have a mouth or a brain. Basically seaweed with stingers. Makes me a little nervous about the water.

Motor Bikes and Mishaps

We postponed our diving trip twice because Brie was getting over an ear infection and Tori got the flu and was sick for two days. So Brie and I decided to rent a motor bike and explore the island. Several words of advice; 1. Have someone teach you how to stop before you get on the bike., 2. Never wear a swimsuit on a bike., 3. Make sure you travel will a first aid kit. Yes, you guessed it I crashed. Brie told me to try it out before she got on the back, wise teen. So I confidently got on the bike, road it up the hill tried to turn around, I pushed the accelerator while trying to grab the breaks and I crashed the bike. Scraped up both knees, several gashed by my eye and cuts on my shoulder. Blood everywhere. Brie said I looked like a horror movie. $245 worth of damage to the bike. Didn't even get out of the driveway. My ego was hurt more than anything. So a day resting in bed for me. Scuba tomorrow, I hope I have scabs or the salt water will kill. Another day in Paradise.

Fire Dancers on the Beach

June 21st. Koh Phangan Island is absolute paradise. It's the kind of place people dream about. I met a backpacker named Jackie, she came here for two weeks and extended it to 6 wks, now she is going back to Australia, selling everything and moving here. I can see what the temptation is. Good food, crystal clear, warm water, white sand beaches, friendly people and tall swaying palms. We swam in the ocean and couldn't believe how hot it was. Hotter than the air. You'd think the fish would fry. We ate dinner on the beach at Haad Yao Villa and watched the sunset while fire dancers performed in front of us. Panang Chicken and Coconut Shakes nothing better than that.

Thailand trains

We arrived at the train station battling traffic, fatigue and culture shock but we figured out what train to board. All three of us had top bunks, cosy and snug, but small. Lots of backpackers on the train, mostly Europeans and Aussies. I expected them to drink themselves to oblivion but backpackers don't seem to have a lot of disposable income, thus the drinking was curtailed. Everyone settled into their bunks at about 9:00. The bedding was clean, the tea was good and the rocking lulled us all to sleep. Every once in a while the train would jar to the left or right and I would wake with a start thinking I was going to fall out of the bunk. The bathrooms were another issue... There were both western and squatty potties on the train. Trying not to touch anything in the bathroom is an issue on a moving train. Choose the squatty, it's easier and smells better and you don't have to have good balance. Enough said.... 14 hours later we arrived at the Surat Thani stop. Had to cut my luggage loose because I couldn't find the key to my lock. So if you happen to be riding train #85 in Thailand and you see a bike lock attached to the train, it's mine. I found the key after we left. It did occur to me the futility of attaching a bike lock to a cloth handle. Didn't think of that when I put it on. There was a reason why people gave me odd looks. Had a little bit of a meltdown when I couldn't find the key, but the girls helped me through it. 14 hours on a train, 1 hour on a bus, 3 hours on a ferry, and a half hour in the back of a pick-up truck, we finally arrived in paradise. Swam, ate, walked the beach, watched a movie and settled into our room for a good nights sleep.

Bangkok

Enjoying a cup of tea in the city of Bangkok. 7:30am, the girls are still sleeping but I can't wait to see what this day holds. Yesterday we took a tour of 2 temples. The reclining Buddha temple is an amazing temple with a gold Buddha in a lying down position 160ft long. Every inch of the temple was covered with ornamentation. The other temple housed a solid gold Buddha worth 70 million English pounds. If I looked at the temples simply from an artistic point of view, they were amazing, but when I stopped to watch the people bowing down to the golden Buddhas, it broke my heart and convicted me. Because grace is a free gift, because Christ took our place, because all we have to do is accept, believe and walk a life of faith, I think we at times, forget that God is our King and creator. We take him and his gifts for granted and we make our desires and wants into a golden image and long for that more than God. We see God as a Santa Claus waiting for us to sit on his lap so that he can grant our wishes. In an effort to make God relatable, we forget that He is our King and should be respected and worshipped as such. Buddhism believes that if you rid yourself from all human desire you can someday reach nirvana. But desiring nirvana is also a human desire, so the act of desiring nirvana causes you not to experience it. So you continue to be reincarnated so that you experience a never ending cycle of suffering and striving. Buddha is said to have been reincarnated 500 times. If he, who was "chosen" from birth, who lived a selfless life, had to live 500 lifetimes, ( which comes to around 35,000 years), how much more difficult is it for the average person to reach nirvana? When you reach Nirvana what awaits you? The promise of complete nothingness. The reward for becoming nothingness is complete emptiness. The bible tells us that we live one life and die one death and then we face one eternity, either heaven or hell. This was accomplished by one perfect, sinless man, who died once for all,so that we could be made complete by one God who loves us and created us for relationship. Heaven is the reward for those who accept Christ's gift of forgiveness, restoration and salvation and choose to walk in relationship with Him. Heaven is a place of complete joy, devoid of suffering and pain. Buddism and Christianity have very different views of eternity and how to get there. So this is a travel blog? Yes, travel challenges our worldview. Travel challenges us physically, emotionally, mentally,relationally and spiritually. Travel helps us see how we fit into this world that God created. Travel gives us new eyes to see, new ears to hear and a new heart to love. This is why I love to travel. I hope you will grow with me.

We are off to Thailand.   Bangkok for 3 days then a train/shuttle/ferry to Koh Phangan.  Snorkel, scuba, sun and fun.
 

You to can be an Exploraphoric

When I was a little girl I was fascinated with maps.  One of my favorite things to do was to go on an exploration through Grandma and Grandpas' National Geographics collection.  I would stay up late reading about different cultures and distant lands.  I would study the maps and try to memorize the cities.  In my dreams the pages would come alive and I would be hunting lions on safari, wrestling anacondas in the Amazon Basin or sitting around the fire chatting with people wearing bones in their noses.  I decided that I wasn't going to just dream about travel, I would actually do it.  So here I am, I've traveled to over 30 countries, all but 2 states in the U.S.A. and my list of places I want to see just keeps getting longer.

So if any of you have been bitten by the travel bug, I'd like to invite you to blog along with me and share your travel experiences and photos.  So Explore, Experience, and Enjoy the life of an Exploraphoric.