South to the Beach

The house we are staying in.

Laila & Baba swimming.
They say Koh Mak has some of the tallest palms in the world
The boat ride to Koh Mak...it was bumpy!

After some discussion about our next move we decided to head south to the beaches of Thialand. After 20 minutes to the train station, 14 hours on the train, 24 hours in Bangkok, 6 hours by bus to Trat, 30 minutes to the pier, then 45 minutes by speedboat to the Island of Koh Mak, and then a 10 minute pick-up to the guest-house we arrived. Total Travel Time: 45 hours....45 minutes. It has been worth it. The pace of life has slowed, we spend our days cooking, playing, swimming at the beach and hanging out with some new friends that we have made.

People

Traveling with Laila has allowed us an open door to talk to so many different people, interact with other who would have never stopped to give us the time of day were we here in Thailand without our little one. We often have to stop whatever activity we are doing so that Laila can play with other little people. She usually wants to hug and kiss other kids that she sees...the Thai babies initial reaction to her is to back or run away from her.

Chiang Mai at Dawn

Sweet Rice and Mangos

This vendor, at the Hang Dong market, sold all different types of desserts including sweet rice and mango which is my absolute favorite and I could eat everyday. We have eaten a ton of incredible food here.....

Feet Fish

The fish, common in Turkey, are called, Gara Rufa, they eat the dead skin off your feet and are said to help heal skin conditions of the feet. I have absolutely gross feet and as we walked by the Dr. Fish shop, Mo persisted that I try it out to see if it would help my nasty feet. I'll confess, I was a bit of a skeptic; the idea of having tiny fish eat the dead skin off my feet didn't really excite me but for 100 baht, (3 dollars for 20 minutes), I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see if my feet could be helped. The first few minutes, especially with the fish swimming between my toes, took some getting used to and eventually it felt quite relaxing. I will confess, my feet were by far the nicest they have been in a long time. I recommend Dr. Fish.

Beautiful

We think she has the cutest teeth. I never knew I could think that teeth were cute!!!

Wats

The Wats here in Thailand are amazing, beautiful, intricate pieces of architecture that can be found on main bustling city streets or mixed into the country landscape. Walking around we have stumbled upon some amazingly beautiful, sacred, peaceful places. Buddhism permeates the culture of Thailand.

Elephant Camp

Laila wasn't so sure about the elephants upon arrival. She sat mesmerized in my lap for nearly half an hour before she moved. She has always been one to watch and check out a situation before deciding how she feels about it. I think she has decided that she likes elephants..she signs elephant constantly (when she sees statues of elephants, paintings, toys, and even when there is no elephants to be seen). And yes, the elephant really did paint the picture. I was amazed at how agile and gentle the elephants were with their trainers, mahouts.

Our Favorite Things in the Neighborhood

We spend a lot of time at the pool, walking around the area, and smelling flowers. There is a Chinese woman named Rose who lives at the Foundation who Laila is fond of. In Rose's room there is a large, laminated picture of a tulip garden. When Laila realizes that Rose is home, she quickly leaves wherever she is downstairs and heads directly to Rose's room for three reasons. 1) to smell the tulips in the picture, 2) to say hello to Rose and 3) there is usually a snack involved. There are huge, huge carp that live in the pond around the corner from our house...the photo with Mo, Laila, and our new friend Brian is them checking out the fish.

Karaoke Bar

This is the view of the Karaoke Bar next to our house that brings up live music, for free I might add, from 9pm to 3am daily.

Our Western Style Housing...

The Road We Live On

First....

Hello. So, I've been working on figuring this out and wanted to make it fancy, like other blogs I've seen but I for the moment am just going to post pictures so you can all see some photos of where we live and what we have been up to over the last three weeks. The first picture is Laila dancing on the balcony of our room...some things don't change even in new environments such as our little ones love of dancing.