another thailand adventure...

phuket, thailand: december 17th-18th

so i will say first, thailand is my favorite place in the WHOLE world... so far! this was our 3rd time back (both dirk and i) and my fourth time back (went for a girls trip to railay in september when dirk was traveling). so to share this place with my brother was a once in a million opportunity.

we started the trip off by flying into phuket and staying one night (flights are $100 u.s.d from singapore) our goal was to really show my brother the in's & out's of patong beach. we visited the lady boy street... aka: the most confusing street in the world - ryan jacobs. we ate at our favorite banana pancake bar and dove with our favorite scuba diving company.

thailand '09

lady boys on bangela road

street vendor food... yum

mcdonalds culturally correct

long boats to take you island hopping

we dove with sea bee's dive company again. they have a great boat with cook, showers, sun deck... everything you need for a day of diving. ryan was able to dive some of the ko phi phi islands... we didn't see leopard sharks like we saw last chinese new years but the diving was still great!

hi mom! your kids are underwater!

ugliest fish ever!

sting ray

emperor angelfish (i think)- they are one of my favorites and always travel in pairs

green thai curry in a coconut- SUCCESS!

hotel in patong beach
alex & erin brown joined us on this trip- it was great having people to travel with again :)

koh lak, thailand: december 18th-22nd

we rented a car and driver and drove to koh lak which is 2 hours north of phuket and the closest land point to the similan islands. the similan's are suppose to be the top place in thailand to dive and one of the top in the world. we stayed on land this time but next time we definitely want to go back during whale shark season and do a live aboard. the diving was ten times better here than in the ko phi phi islands!

a side bar about diving... i have always loved the water... being in it, around it, swimming, diving, sailing... anything. BUT being underwater is EVEN better AND that my husband has the same love is totally exhilarating. it is a whole new world under there... bust out in little mermaid, you know you want to! we can't plan enough dive trips... especially since SE asia is our playground and has some of the best dive sites in the world!

ok off soap box... although i have to say, i am very claustrophobic AND am terrified before each dive... it is total mind over matter here... kind of a fun psyche challenge, if you are into that.

so back to koh lak... our bungalow plus open aired bathroom. if anyone cares...

towel elephants! i heart them!

only problem was... we shared the wall with my brother which made it a little awkward sometimes... hehe! especially when him and dirk got food poisoning at lunch... this never happens to me for some reason... only dirk.

happy birthday, graduation, merry christmas from dirk & chris...

the bucket
"bucket of beer" that is

so my husband is an engineer, he problem solves, especially in foreign countries... so we didn't have a cooler or ice box SO we bought the "infamous" bucket to hold our cheap thai beer in. we took this bucket everywhere... in the car, on the beach, by the pool... much cheaper than hotel beer prices. dirk even preceded to take the bucket home with us. we flew jetstar, which is a budget airline, therefore not alot of space for luggage. no problem, he just hooked it to his backpack and called it carry on luggage... i think the airport staff was too busy laughing at us to care that it exceeded the "carry on" policy. we even sent it through the scanners at security points... they had a real good laugh there. i am glad the thai people have a good sense of humor, in australia they would have called this a dirty bucket and incinerated it for sure. so lesson learned, pack a fold able cooler so we don't start collecting buckets...

the bucket is safe at home in our storage closet... i am sure it will make a debut again soon.

on to the diving.... similan islands...

dirk and his new gear... mask (that fits), fins, and wet suite...

first time to see an octopus, they are very shy, i got to see it out of the hole but when it saw me with the camera it dove back into the whole...

these huge coral fans were everywhere... much much bigger than myself! biggest i have ever seen.

bad picture... nemo hiding in his anemone

what it looked like on top of the water... all the live aboard boats around us

fishes

in the middle of the picture is one of the largest frog fish we have ever seen. it blends in with the coral.

barracuda rather close to me... it was the only one though

pretty coral

dirk. tina. ryan= happy hour :)

tina & erin
two pina colodas, one for each hand!

the last night we had a beach sunset dinner for my 29th birthday... this has to be the best way to spend any birthday! we order fresh fish, crabs, squid... it was all so yummy!

sunset is my most favorite part of the day... God is good.

best birthday present ever. in thailand. with brother. and husband. friends. and sunset dinner.
priceless

the crabs! check out the fruit decorations too!

flower or fruit! this is for you mom. this is a dragon fruit.

the gang! the browns, ryan, and the dunlaps!

my blogs are so long and not consistent... i really want to change this in the new year. i might be dreadfully detailed but i do plan on making a book out of all these so i can remember our SE ASIA adventure. i encourage everyone to do something like this for the memories...

next up... sydney trip!