Beautiful Thailand

Thailand was #1 on my "Must Visit" list when we decided to move. When Papa Touchdown and Cathie said they were coming to visit, they told us they wanted to go anywhere we wanted as long as I did the planning. That meant a trip to Thailand, but it also meant a tremendous amount of pressure. What if our accommodations were bad?  What if our airport transfer didn't show up?  What if the tours were a bust? Up until this point, everything had been PERFECT! This was great, but it also meant the pressure was really building for Thailand (and nobody had a problem reminding me of this). Thailand had to be as good as Jakarta, Bali, and Vietnam...We were picked up at the airport by a young woman who was our tour guide for the week and quickly became part of our family. Tik arranged EVERYTHING for us, from our accommodations to our car, our food and our tours. We stayed minutes from Bang Tao Beach in a beautiful three bedroom house complete with a private pool and koi pond.

Tik took us to some amazing restaurants.  

Pung Chang Cave

After being outfitted with headlamps, we took a canoe ride deep into the elephant's belly cave. We were not allowed to take photos inside the cave, but believe me, it was awesome. We started out in canoes and transferred to bamboo rafts before hoofing it on foot through knee high water. All the while, we were able to get a good look at the sights inside the cave. The stalactites and stalagmites were amazing. There were hundreds of bats hanging from the ceiling and the guide was kind enough to remind us to keep our mouths closed when looking up.  

Over 90% of Thailand is Buddhist. We all enjoyed visiting the Big Buddha and learning a little more about the Buddhist religion, including learning a little about each of the Buddhas.

  

The Big Buddha was still under construction when we were visiting. We got to see men working on these amazing wood carvings. They were carving everything by hand. 

We also enjoyed checking out all of the offerings made for the Gods.  If you look closely, you will notice full Gatorade and Soda bottles with straws ready to be enjoyed by the Gods.  

Emilie had the opportunity to take some AMAZING photos at the Orchid Farm

The beaches in Phuket are every bit as beautiful as you have heard.

Tik took us to a couple of "Local" places to watch the sunset. The views were STUNNING. One evening we were even serenaded by some beautiful guitar music. We were able to enjoy the sunset with wonderful music, delicious ice cream, tasty coconut milk (straight from the coconut), and great company!

We spent an entire day on a boat touring a few of the islands in the area. This included some amazing snorkeling as well as a trip to Maya Bay - the site of the Leonardo DiCaprio movie "The Beach."

The photo below shows a cave where bird's nests are harvested for Bird's Nest Soup. The harvesters live in the cave year round to protect the nests from poachers. The nests can be sold for $2000-$10,000 (depending on the type of nest). The nests are formed mainly from male bird saliva and takes about 35 days to be built. They are then used to make soup. It is believed that the nests contain great nutrients and healing power. A bowl of soup can be purchased for $30-$100.  

Tik helped us explore Phuket...showing us some of her favorite places.  It is BEAUTIFUL!

This area was all water prior to the 2004 tsunami that brought in all of this sand. This devastating tsunami killed over 8,000 people in Thailand and over 230,000 people in Southeast Asia.

Thailand was the perfect end to an amazing trip with Papa Touchdown and Cathie. We were so fortunate to have friends refer us to Tik who helped make the trip that much better. We loved exploring a little bit of Asia with Papa and Cathie and can't wait to do more exploring with them when they come back (the day they left, Dustin asked if we could make a ring chain to begin counting down the day until they come back!). Thank you for such a great trip Dad and Cathie!!!