Much like & unlike a Michigander's pilgrimage to Mackinac Island, we drove 4 hours Monday morning to the coast near Cambodian border where we car ferried another 1/2 hour to Thailand's second largest, mountainous rainforest island
Greeted with Happy Songkran, the Thai New Year & water festival meant crazy & slow driving all week in the comfort of our rolled-up windowed truck. Motorbikers didn't fare so well, or perhaps they did.... another hot, 100 humid degree week
Kids from 1 to 92 had a blast with buckets & super soakers
Passed a monkey on side of the road, only one we saw all week
Hardly a gas pump on the island, but lots of old whisky bottles recycled for selling petro... equates to about $6/gallon
Tuesday, we opted for pachyderm power to explore the jungled hills
Never before limboed atop a riverbed-tiptoeing elephant... now I have
After trekking, we got to give all of these beautiful girls a bath
Most riverbeds are dry by this time of year, but this deep & frigid one still works
As Al gave her elephant a bath, she reciprocated Al with a shower
In this water, how many little germs may lurk that could aggravate a 4-day old sutured knee? Who cares... I get to swim with an elephant!
Ry's elephant is 50 years old and will hopefully live to 90 or 100
Many Thai elephants are abused. I guess what we were doing was abuse, but this camp appeared more conservation conscious and keeps their elephants in a natural setting where they roam & graze without painful chains & barbs
Lather, rinse, repeat, repeat, repeat was Al's elephant's nature. Happy Songkran, her mahout kept telling her
Banana flower
Things grow big in Thailand... this, about the size of Ry's hand
Durian, a smelly fruit about the size of a pineapple
Ohh, how I loathe fresh coconut milk, but I say thank you & smile
Thankful for an amazing day with some amazing creatures in a splendid setting
Our afternoon ritual after adventuring the great outdoors
Made 2 different dive stops near Koh Tien & Koh Yak in a nature preserve of sorts... allows divers, but no fishing
Girls now want to stay a third year so they can get their open water dive certification, Ry can't until she's 10
Both girls were FANtastic snorkelers. We knew Allie could handle it, but were a bit nervous for Ry. She's become a powerful little swimmer the past few months with having a pool & she figured out the snorkel, salt, waves, deep waters just fine with Rob's help. We went out for a bunch of 20-30 minute dives in deep waters, no vest
AMAZING sealife... and no photos of it, sorry to say... will probably do more of this, so gonna research H2O cameras. We have only snorkeled a touch in Cozumel & Venezuela, but this trumped both of those wee experiences and we couldn't get over the immense variety the Pacific offers. A few things our eyes spied: marbled sea cucumber, squamose giant clam, tons of black diadema sea urchins, forests of coral including tube, brain, fine table, sun mushroom, fan, funnel, Hemprich's soft, and we swam through huge schools of fish of every color of the rainbow
Back at the docks, girls had more water fun with Songkran festivities
Thursday included a drive down the island coast to a quiet beach where, for the cost of a matinee feature film, we got foot massages & pedicures
Not much motion in this picture
Allie while she was still enjoying her foot massage... the guy ended up using a balm (with black pepper in it) on her legs that burned a couple of her open sores to the point of tears
Kind of intrigued with the layering they do for thatched rooves on huts
Friday was Happy Birthday, Riley Mei!
Adorably 8
She wanted a salon that morn...
...for some island birthday braids. 72 braids took nearly 3 hours
Al had no interest in braids for herself & wasn't smiling all 3 hours, but Take 2 on the pedicure helped
Afternoon turned stormy
A taste of coming May monsoons
Girls had a dance party while rains poured
Birthday dinner... Italian, of course, for pasta loving Ry
We had dined here earlier in the week & this is where Ry wanted to return. I arranged a sweet little party with the owner from Milan
Lovin her strawberry tiramisu... the owner's emailing me her recipe
Sweetheart Fernanda... the girls have a way of getting invited back into quaint kitchens. Ry learned that Italian pizza is baked at 350 degrees C (hot!) for just 2 minutes
Our home for the week
Drove home through steady, heavy rain Saturday. Holiday is over, for Thais too. At our Meijer equivalency this weekend, everything was out for back to school. Strange feeling for us in April, but this is when Thai school year commences. Ours wraps up in 8 weeks. Girls & I'll be home June 27-July 23, Rob just shy of the last 2 of those weeks. Mixed feelings about going home, as most of the time will be anything but vacation, but trying to keep it light for the girls. Happy for the R&R we were gifted this week.
