Saturday, November 24, 2007

Who's your favorite tour guide in Southeast Asia?

I asked my parents this question on our way back from beautiful Railay Beach and of course the uncontensted answer was me. Even though I'm the only tour guide they've ever had in Southeast Asia... :) None the less, we had a great time riding elephants and tuk tuks (large motorized tricycles that zoom and pollute the streets of Bangkok), marveling at orchids and jutting cliffs that shoot up from emerald and azure water. I've been super encouraged by good conversations with my parents and feel very blessed in general to be able to enjoy their company this week. What a gift. Here are some photos to capture some of the sweetest moments of the trip:

In Chiang Mai (the second largest city in Thailand), one of the highlights was getting to ride the elephants. I don't know what was more fun- seeing how much my parents enjoyed riding the elephant, or getting to ride on the neck of an elephant. I'd always wanted to do that but hadn't gotten to on my last 2 elephant riding trips...my guide wasn't as friendly on the other 2 trips, I guess. But I lucked out this time and got to ride on his neck instead of the little cart thingie! They are super rough with prickly hairs, and they lumber side to side and he would always put his trunk back in the hopes of getting another banana. What amazing creatures.


This is Mom, Dad and me in a Tuk Tuk. On this day wee got to see the Grand Palace (kind of like Thailand's White House) as well as my favorite park, Lumpini Park. Dad came up with the great idea of riding a tuk tuk, which really is a great idea...the pollution and noise just got a little old after the frist 20 minutes or so of the ride. Still, it was a totally Thai thing to do- I'm glad Dad suggested it. :)


This was one of the super beautiful caves we got to see at one of the beaches near Krabi. It is world-renowned for it's incredible rock formations and attracts climbers from all over the place who want to climb these amazing rocks near this beautiful water. What a gift to get to see this stuff, huh?



And here is one of the most beautiful women I know in one of the prettiest places I've yet seen. I so enjoyed conversations with mom and dad and getting to share this beautiful place with them.



I should say that another highlight was getting to take them to school with me for a day. Dad gave a killer lesson on tools (we were talking about the tools the pilgrims used, so Dad got to share with them what tools we use today) and Mom helped them make the cute apple turkey/marshmellow craft that most of us probably made in elementary school. It was a super fun day. I love that they got to meet my students and colleagues and see where I work. They took pictures of this day and I'll try and load some onto the blog as soon as she sends me a disk.

As for now, that it all. Happy Loi Kratong to you all- it is the Thai festival of lights and they are playing crazy loud music outside my room right now which is why I'm writing this instead of sleeping. :) But I'm off to bed now. Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007


So we did it! My first international 10K race! Kamyee and I finished along with our friend Kristin. We were sweaty and a little chaffed by the time it was done, but we had a great time. It was a neat (and sort of confusing) experience to do something like this in a place where you can't understand a lot of what is going on. We found out that the women had a different starting line from the men, and we all just sort of blobbed together at the start line- there weren't any waves or anything. We all just counted to 3 and then started running- no gun shots or anything official to get us started, just a runner-led countdown. It was a neat experience- I'm thankful I did it.

Kamyee and I decided to run in a half-marathon in Cambodia in about 3 weeks! I'm feeling a bit under the weather right now, so feel free to pray that I'll be fully recovered and ready to go by December 2. It's at Angkor Wat, one of the 7 wonders of the world- I guess it's this set of ancient ruins that is miles and miles long. We will be running around it, I guess. I'm excited!

In other news, I had a killer birthday. I enjoyed a delightful meal and concert with my friends. God took good care of me- I felt crazy loved and remembered by my friends. Here is a picture of Kristie and me, one of my new dear friends I've made over here.




And the marine corps ball the weekend after my birthday went really well. I got to hear my first ever Asian Elvis Impersonator. :) It was a delightful evening where I felt really elegant and beautiful. The food was incredible, I used like 8 pieces of silverware for dinner, and dancing afterwards was a ton of fun. It was just a great celebration. Here's a picture of Elvis and me.