good bye snow...

my first thai kiss...

Why hello there all you dedicated readers!

I am back, with my hand almost fully functioning. I had a pretty incredible weekend! I hope everyone is doing well. I miss you all terribly. The countdown to seeing my dad has begun. Horrah! Less than a month until he is on my side of the globe. Please continue to send me updates from the homefront everyone.

Before I begin my weekend post, I thought I should include a very unfortunate photo that shows just how much the American influence has penetrated Asian culture. When we needed to escape the confines of Thana City during the coup, Jeff, Lisa and I went to a nearby mall. Jeff needed his McDonalds. Folks, I believe I have found something more culturally painful than the McCurry... and that is good ol' Ronnie doing the Wai.

So the weekend... Bobbi, Jeff, Lisa and I headed North West of Bangkok to go visit the town of Kanchanaburi, where the river Kwai is. This was a big change for us... we actually went somewhere that didn't have a beach. This place was more of an adventure holiday. It was crazy beautiful. Plus the bus ride was the fastest thus far. G'times.

We arrived on Friday night and figured out where we were gonna sleep. We found this cute little place called Sam's House. It was reccomended by some fellow travellers that Bobbi befriended on the bus. We took a tuk tuk van to the hotel, and it literally looked like we were at some random guy's house. Once we ventured past the driveway, we realized that there was more to this place, and in fact it were quite cute riverside bungalows. However- they were to rich for our blood. So we stayed in smaller, much more rustic rooms. Lisa and Bobbi splurged on a room with AC. Jeff and I got a room with only a fan, it was CRAZY cheap. 150 baht a night, which translates to about 4 dollars Cdn, then split that two ways. It was grand!

Then, still on a high from such cheap accomodations, we wandered outside to the main road, and right across the street was an Indian restaurant. Could life be more perfect? After a fabulous meal (which cost more than my hotel room!) we walked down the road to a local bar and played a few games of pool. It was Canada (Me and Lisa) vs. US (Jeff and Bobbi). US won, but only because we sacraficed the tie breaking game.

The next morning, we decided to do one of the adventure tours. We took this amazing open backed truck about an hour outside of the city. The view was amazing. Beautiful greenery, rolling hills, these crazy rockfaces. Finally, we arrived at an elephant camp. Bobbi and I got on the first Elephant. My heart broke a little bit. I felt so sad for the elephants. But animal rights aside, it was pretty cool! The elephant took us through this little forest, and then down into the river, where we got sprayed. Oh, I dropped my camera case and the elephant picked it up for me with his trunk. We walked through this little thai village, where kids were playing, and people were going about thier daily lives as hoards of tourists rode by on thier massive elephants... it was kinda a strange scene.

We our ride was over, we were hanging out in (from here on is attempt 2... stupid internet shut down before I got to save the brilliant blog that I finished - so if it lacks enthusiasm, I'm sorry) front of the elephant place and this farang woman, who is American originally, but hadn't been home in over 36 years, came walking up with a baby elephant. It was soooo cute! Anyway, she asked us if we wanted to take pics, for a small fee of course. We jumped at the chance, and all gathered around the elephant. Now, for those of you who have been on the edge of your seats waiting for the scandalous tale that inspired my post title, here it comes. At the end of the kodak moment, the lady had the elephant give each of us a big, sloppy, dirty kiss. It was wonderfully disgusting!

Next, we were en route to the Erawan Waterfalls. They were absolutely breathtaking. I have never seen falls so beautiful. It had about 7 levels, so we kept hiking and swimming and hiking up and swimming. It was grand. When I first went to climb into the falls I felt something at my feet. And there they were hundreds of fish all biting my feet. So of course, I screamed like a little girl, and pulled my feet out of the water so fast! Then all the Thai people pointed at their feet, to show all the fish just sitting there chomping away. So I thought, in the spirit of being adventurous, I should suck it up and jump in. So that I did. And I am so glad, because once I got in, I was able to swim right under the falls, and climb up on the rocks. I just sat there and listened to the falls echoing off the walls of the cave that I was sitting in. It was marvelous. To follow, are some of pictures of the falls because my words just can't do justice to how beautiful it all was. Heck, these pictures don't do justice!





After the falls we headed back to the hotel. Bobbi and Jeff went for thier daily nap. While Lisa and I went off in search of the market that we were told was nearby. After walking around for about 2 hours, we gave up hope and went to dinner. Once Jeff and Bobbi woke up, we then went out in search of nightlife, which seemingly was non existant. We stumbled into this bar that said DANCE on the side of it, so we figured it was something. We walked in - it was practically deserted. There were one or two tables of people. On the stage were some scantily clad thai women doing really bad kareoke in Thai. Every so often someone would walk up to the stage and place a boa aound the singer. I don't really know what that was about... but we definitely left before we could find out!

The next morning, Bobbi headed back to Bangkok. Lisa and I went for another walk around the city, and Jeff slept in. This time we found a nice little market. Also, we stumbled upon a World War 2 cemetary that had Chinese, Thai and Christian gravestones. It was pretty neat to see.

Once the afternoon hit, we were on a minibus headed to the Tiger Temple. This place advertised having tame tigers that you could go play with. I was skeptical. The funds from admission supposedly paid for better homes for the tigers, so I figured even if the activity was a bust, the money was for a good cause. We arrived, as did about 1000 other people. We walked towards the Tiger Canyon. There actually were about 10 tigers that you could walk up to and pet, and take pictures with. My animal rights heart broke a bit once again. The tigers were chained up, and I'm sure not to impressed with being manhandled and photographed all day long. But - that aside. I got to pet some tigers. It was freaking cool!




That was the end of our Kanchanaburi adventures. It was a grand ol' time. Now we are half way through a pretty busy week. Still loving my kids! This weekends plans are still being formed... but I've been promised a girls night in Bangkok with my friend Emily. So that should be fun.

Sorry that this blog was crazy long... thanks to all of you who have lasted this far. Please send emails - I do love them so.... and I'm trying my best to respond in good time.

Love to all!

posted by Crystal @ 2:44 AM