Sa Wa Dee Ka from Thailand!

Yippee! We've made it! Our 37-hour travel adventure sure was interesting! We took 5 flights on 3 airlines and finally made it to our hotel at about 10 a.m. on Monday (9 p.m. Sunday night CST). We've had a great time so far. The internet cafe here has tape covering up the USB port, but I'll try to post some pictures soon!

We were greeted in the Taipei airport with a big billboard warning us to stay away from all chickens and birds in general. No problem there. The TPE airport was really nice, and actually, we were quite pleased with how nice China Airlines was. We kept asking to be upgraded to first or business, with no luck, however, our nice flight attendant did give us an extra-special goody bag filled with CI playing cards, toothbrushes, eye masks and ear plugs. OK, so it's not a reclining bed, but he was really nice about it.

We landed in BKK Monday morning at 1 a.m. We talked about catching a cab to a hotel to sleep for a bit, but decided to stay put. We figured it was safer, and we'd be here to buy our tickets (we hadn't purchased any yet). There was a 7-11 there in the airport (thank heaven!) and it was about 500m from the domestic terminal. So planned hours of fun to keep us occupied. 2 a.m. we read magazines. 3 a.m. Em and I walked to the 7-11, 3:45 Em and Kendra walked to the 7-11, 4 a.m. we tried to talk to the Russian bride and groom (who were strangely still in their wedding dress/suit.) 5 a.m. we head to the Thai Airways Ticket Counter. We thought we’d be smart and try to go non-rev, but that didn’t fly. So we decide to buy tickets. Oh, but there are only two tickets left to be purchased. SO... we decide to snatch those two (the CSA sold them to me and Emily) and Brooke and Kendra can go standby. Well, when Em and I go to the Ticket Counter to get our Boarding passes, we find out that there are three seats open in business. The man said “oh, but they are very expensive, I would wait to go standby.” We asked the price, and it was about 1,000 baht more than what we paid ($25) so we jumped on that bandwagon real quick! Once we knew we were all on board, we had breakfast at Burger King ( I know it was a cop-out, but I just couldn’t hang with the dead ducks hanging in the window at 6 in the morning).

We arrived at the Krabi (say “craw-bee”) at 9:45, and immediately booked a hotel with the travel agent. We’re staying at the Sand and Sea resort on Rai Ley beach. It is stinking amazing! We had to take a boat to get there, and boy did we look funny walking across the beach with our black pants rolled up (we had to dress up to non-rev 37 hours earlier) and wheeling our black roller bags across the sand!

The resort is phenomenal! I can’t wait to show you pictures! There are amazing limestone cliffs, turquoise water, and white sands! After our long trip, all we were up for was to lounge on the beach, where we quickly became easy targets for the vendors. I bargained us 2 bamboo beach mats for 200 baht (originally 250 each) and we totally got suckered in to buying wrap skirts from this woman. We got a good price, and it was hilarious to try them on on the beach in our swimsuits with everyone watching! Yesterday we had a one-hour massage for 250 baht ($5) that was awesome. I think I’m paying for it today though. What is the toxin that gets released when you get a massage? Well, whatever it is, it’s released. My skin is sensitive to the touch and I have a headache. But really, if that’s my only concern, then I’m not going to complain. So far we’re doing pretty well, health-wise. We won’t go into detail, but it hasn’t all been easy. =) We’re up and running today though!

This morning we took a boat to a new beach where we were picked up for our elephant trek. We rode in baskets on the back of the elephants for most of the ride, but then at the end, we each got to ride on the elephant’s neck! He was kinda prickly, and a little bouncy, but it was really cool. Then we hiked around these limestone cliffs, looked at the crystal pool (we opted not to swim) and ate lunch. Now I’m not talking lunch from a restaurant, but these were authentic Thai women who cooked up some sweet and sour shrimp, green curry chicken, and cashew chicken with white rice. It was AWESOME! Even to our sensitive stomachs, this stuff was tasty! We rode back to Ao Nang on the back of a truck with a couple from Canada, and a Swedish family.

This afternoon, we got another one-hour massage. This time I had a little Thai man, and it was sure up-close and personal! Oh well, I’ll never see him again...

We’re having a little afternoon rain shower, which made it a perfect time to run into the internet cafe. We’re about to hop in a long-tail boat and head back to Rai Ley. Have a tasty dinner and head to bed. Did I mention that we slept from 7:30 p.m. yesterday to 7 a.m. this morning??? I guess we needed it after 37 hours of travel.

Well, you’ve made it to the end of day two... It's currently 4:00 on Tuesday afternoon. I’m sure we’ll have more adventures to write about soon... Oh, and just wait ‘til you see the pictures! "Kop kun ka" for reading this far!