long-tail boats.
just doing a little kayaking.
jumping into the crystal water.
Today we took a day trip over to Phi Phi Island. I'm SO glad we did! I was able to capture some awesome photos... not to mention that the water and cliffs were breath-taking. On the ferry ride to the island, we were asked to take countless photos with the Thai ladies... they living in a village 1 hour outside of Chiang Mai and have probably never seen Americans. They kept telling us how beautiful we are. They are all very careful about protecting their skin from the sun, because they want it to be white like ours. We went over to the island on a small ferry then transferred to a somewhat smaller boat for snorkeling. We didn't actually snorkel, but we did some swimming. At another stop (Monkey Beach... yes, there are really monkeys!), Hona, Kelly, and I took a kayak to the beach from the boat. Kayaking in the ocean is one of my favorite things ever! The water was amazing. We didn't get close to the monkeys... just saw them eating bananas from a distance. While we were there, a little girl (maybe 5 years old) from our group was bitten 2 times by one of the monkeys. After talking to them, we found out they are actually missionaries to Singapore from the U.S. Kelly was able to help translate to coordinate insurance and hospital info. for the family. It was definitely a God moment. Sweet family! We had a late lunch on the beach before we headed back. The meal was served family style, so we sat with a couple from Sweden and a guy from France (spoke no English at all.) Dad pretty much spilled his soup bowl all over the guy from France... he just laughed. (we rode the taxi from our hotel to the pier with two young girls from England.) There are so many people who visit Thailand from Europe. Then, on the ferry ride back, we sat with and talked to two men from Norway. I love talking to people from all around the world! (two of Kelly's guy friends with her organization are getting ready to move to Spain this year... definitely going to have to make that trip happen!) So, the ferry ride back was eventful. We were sitting on the top deck and went through a storm... lightning and all. The crazy part was that there was a big funnel cloud (typhoon) in the sky behind us that touched down in the water. (no wonder Phi Phi Island was devastated by the tsunami!) When it started dow-pouring, I went downstairs to get out of it (thought it would be smart with my camera and all)... Hona and Kelly stuck it out. We got back to our hotel around 5:30pm... still raining... absolutely exhausted... got some lattes and room service. It's about 8:45pm as I write this. Kelly, Hona, and my parents crashed a long while ago. :)
Today we took a day trip over to Phi Phi Island. I'm SO glad we did! I was able to capture some awesome photos... not to mention that the water and cliffs were breath-taking. On the ferry ride to the island, we were asked to take countless photos with the Thai ladies... they living in a village 1 hour outside of Chiang Mai and have probably never seen Americans. They kept telling us how beautiful we are. They are all very careful about protecting their skin from the sun, because they want it to be white like ours. We went over to the island on a small ferry then transferred to a somewhat smaller boat for snorkeling. We didn't actually snorkel, but we did some swimming. At another stop (Monkey Beach... yes, there are really monkeys!), Hona, Kelly, and I took a kayak to the beach from the boat. Kayaking in the ocean is one of my favorite things ever! The water was amazing. We didn't get close to the monkeys... just saw them eating bananas from a distance. While we were there, a little girl (maybe 5 years old) from our group was bitten 2 times by one of the monkeys. After talking to them, we found out they are actually missionaries to Singapore from the U.S. Kelly was able to help translate to coordinate insurance and hospital info. for the family. It was definitely a God moment. Sweet family! We had a late lunch on the beach before we headed back. The meal was served family style, so we sat with a couple from Sweden and a guy from France (spoke no English at all.) Dad pretty much spilled his soup bowl all over the guy from France... he just laughed. (we rode the taxi from our hotel to the pier with two young girls from England.) There are so many people who visit Thailand from Europe. Then, on the ferry ride back, we sat with and talked to two men from Norway. I love talking to people from all around the world! (two of Kelly's guy friends with her organization are getting ready to move to Spain this year... definitely going to have to make that trip happen!) So, the ferry ride back was eventful. We were sitting on the top deck and went through a storm... lightning and all. The crazy part was that there was a big funnel cloud (typhoon) in the sky behind us that touched down in the water. (no wonder Phi Phi Island was devastated by the tsunami!) When it started dow-pouring, I went downstairs to get out of it (thought it would be smart with my camera and all)... Hona and Kelly stuck it out. We got back to our hotel around 5:30pm... still raining... absolutely exhausted... got some lattes and room service. It's about 8:45pm as I write this. Kelly, Hona, and my parents crashed a long while ago. :)
