This is Thailand -- 2010-03-20

I've missed a couple days, for which I have content, but things have just been too busy/computer-less, but I'll post them later, back-dated.

In the meantime, since today was sooo eventful and I'm leaving here at 8:30-9:00, but haven't slept all night, so will just stay up until I have to leave, I'll work on this post...

Sooo... Today... Rather... Yesterday!!

Well, we had a huge day ahead of us, so I got up at 5:00. We were set to leave the house at 6:00 to drive to some beach, getting dropped off at the beach, while Paul and Faith continued on to a wedding in the vicinity.

It's so lovely how Jesus works out special treats and makes us all so happy. Well, me, specifically. I... sooo... happy!!! :)

First of all, it worked out perfectly to get in a beach day -- which otherwise wouldn't have happened -- because they were going to attend a wedding in an area that has beaches. Of course, we didn't know what beach or where, but it quickly became part of the trip plan.

So, we picked up Tita Amelia... Crazy lady! First we had a tour of her hotel. If you want good treatment, stay at her hotel/spa. :) Then we piled into the car, to the accompaniment of much conversation, entertainment and laughter (these Filipinos sure know how to have fun that requires nothing more than conversation! :D ), made a pit stop right away, maybe even another stop, I don't remember, then eventually made it, a few hours later, to Rayong, where we found a local (i.e. not entirely frequented by foreigners) beach, were deposited and began our beach-y day.

Started off with beer and conversation. Ended up having a little swim. I looove the water and beer makes everything extra special, so that was all Jesus' love.

Had a medium-size elephant visit us, begging us to buy his treats for him. Which we did! An elephant! I missed the elephant and crocodile show and I got my very-very-very own elephant show!!! That is sooo special!!!!!

Then we decided to hunt for a place to get this Thai massage done. Paul and Faith so very generously and kindly and happy-ly granted me "a Thai massage" for my birthday and we had been saving it for Friday at Tita Amelia's place, but then that didn't work out, so Saturday was really the only option left, so if that hadn't worked out, well, that would've been sad... Anyway, we walked and walked and eventually found a little place and got that done and over with. Whew! Do the Thai massage!!! Just be sure to specify if you want it soft, because the hard is very hard on those calf and back muscles. Then, for perfect timing, our "ride" was ready for us as soon as the massage was over. All so much more love from Jesus!

So, we all met up again and enjoyed some delectable delights... And guess what they had ordered!! Pad Thai. But not just pad thai: pad thai WITH SHRIMP!! Well, if you don't know how ecstatic that makes me, you have not been around me for the past year. :D It was sooo tender-ly tasty!! Aaaahhhh!!!

Then there was more talking, while the "adults" slept and wandered the beach. It's great to relax at the beach and just talk... almost nothing better... sigh...

Then, wonder of wonders, Tita Amelia's relative (friend?) had invited us to stop over at Pattaya, on our way back to Bangkok. Well, apparently, Pattaya is _the_ place to go, if you want the full experience, aherm. Yeah, it's also called "Sin City", so seeing it at night is quite special. But anyway, couldn't ask for anything more authentic, if you want to close off a lovely Thai experience/trip, right? Hrm... Well, we had a swell time. Eventually managed to meet up with the other Tita and went to the Moon River Pub where there was a most splendid Filipino cover band (Power Jam) playing all sorts of stuff. It was great! The music was good and played excellently, they took requests, interacted with the crowd, were a lovely bunch of band people, played wonderful dancing music... I looove to dance!! I could've died from happy-ness at the conclusion of this day. We did see some special sights to behold in town, but our Pattya experienced focused on this pub/music, so all was well, though we did get enough of a drive-through, just didn't hit "the walking street", where, apparently, people go to pick up and be picked up.

Yay! The water's back on! So now I can actually shower, before leaving for the airport... and here I thought I would have to travel in beach hair... aww, is Jesus too good or what? Amen, brother!

(Note: I may not be thinking straight, due to no sleep since 5:00 AM -- and only 4 hours the previous night, at that -- or maybe I'm thinking straight-er than ever. :D )

Okay, squeaky clean and ready to post photos.

Oh, so, after much dancing... way too much... we eventually headed back home and made it here at 4:30. Hence the decision to stay up until 8:30.

Had a little more talk time and am now ready to pack up, hail a taxi and hopefully make it through without any rioters-induced incident.


Photos... Videos to come later, after I can actually upload them all... this video thing is becoming an unwieldy trend...


Tita Amelia purchases banana leaf thingies with black sticky rice and coconut milk stuff, inside:


Ange inspects said stuff, before consuming:


Tita Amelia pontificates:


Banana leaves, with a view:


An even better view (amen!):


Sad day for the beach:


No idea:


Pier:


Wannabe artistic eye:



Ahaha, this one has the funny-est story! Ia pointed out "look, kites!" while we were walking along, so I took a picture for posterity. Later on, we meet up with the others and the guy goes walking by with the "kites" and the two crazy ladies (yes, I'm allowed to call other crazy people crazy, haha) are like, "Oh! There's a string attached! We were trying to figure out how it was flying directly behind and above him... we figured it must have a little styrofoam motor... ahaha... it has a string! ahahahaha... hahahaha..." No, this was not the effect of sunstroke. Here are the kite planes:


This was an accidental picture -- hit the button without meaning to (shooting from the hip, literally) and ended up with this -- how cute!:


You can tell that last one really was accidental, because _this_ is what we end up with, with Ange's _intentional_ photos... er...:


Seeing trash saddens me:


Another accidental photo which has extreme depth and meaning -- you figure it out:


Hahaha, these two ran up to me asking "can we take your photo?". That is sooo embarrassing, but I obliged, stomach-baring bathing suit and all, ugh. Then their little friend ran up, so I stood for another photo, leaning on him and they laughed. Then I turned around and said, "Now I take yours!!" After which the little friend asked me where I was from and was delighted to hear Brasil, as he evidently loves football. So here are the original two:


A shady spot:


Trash and barnacles:



Ia collects the largest cuttle bone of the day! (Budgie will be sooo happy with all the cuttle bones we collected!):


Foooood!!!!! We couldn't figure out what the little yellow things were, that tasted (to me, ehe) like banana and lime in one tart fruit, but I determined that they tasted much better with the sugar/chili from the green mangoes:


Hazy sunsets and walking people:








The original crazies (Tita Amelia and Faith) go for a walk -- please note that we have no idea what is actually going on in this sequence of photos, but we find it intriguing and are pretty sure it will end in something interesting :D :









How right we were! The end! Interest! The shoe was added, at Faith's behest -- ever the artiste -- to show proportion:


Beer always helps one inspect:


All by myse-elf (Ia thought it looked/felt pretty fresh... er...):


The toes have also been added, for size-gauging:


--And for everyone who knew me up to a year ago, here you go, for old time's sake:


Ia attempts to accessorize the couches (and I try to fit in the "ladies" bathroom sign on the right, resulting in a cut image):


So, for good measure, the ladies' and men's bathroom signs, all on their own (so cute!):


The Heineken Tower of Babel (if one consumed this entire tower, they would most sure-d-ly babel?!):



The end, for now -- have a plane to catch!