Roxanne... you don't have to turn on the Red Light.

So no trip to Bangkok would be complete without visiting the Red Light district, Patpong. We decided to hit up the nearby night market first which was huge. Not quite as big as the Weekend market but still big. Lots of stalls with higher end goods. Then there was a big stage and a beer garden where you could grab a beer and watch Thai bands play. We also managed to squeeze in an hour foot massage because our feet were sore from all the shopping:)

We walked over to the Red Light district not really knowing where we were going or what to expect. Surprisingly it's not much different than all the other streets in Bangkok. There were street vendors selling the same stuff as everywhere else and then a few selling more "erotic" items. The only real difference were the throngs of people asking you if you wanted to see a "ping pong" show. I will leave that one to your imagination but if you'd like details, give us a call. In all I guess you could say it was a cultural experience. It's strange that a country that infuses Buddhist ideals into all ways of life would have such a HUGE sex market. But it does, and for a reason. It makes a lot of money!

Our last day in Bangkok we went back over to the infamous Kho San Road for last minute souvenirs and to grab a new book for the plane ride home. Gabriel had mentioned maybe wanting to get a new suit custom tailored made while we were there and it turned out they could still do it in time. For $80 we met with the tailors, chose the style of suit, the fabric and had a suit made. We initially met with them at 2pm, had a fitting at 6pm and it was ready to take home by 9pm! It's really nice and fits him to a T. Now he just needs somewhere to wear it! I think it was a great purchase on his part. Thailand is famous for that and there are tailor shops all over Bangkok. I could have had a suit made myself or even a fancy ball gown made from Thai silk. Maybe next time...

Our final wish before leaving Thailand was to have one more traditional Thai massage so we did that on our last day. It's funny though. The massages are so cheap you really can't complain but it's not like getting a massage at a spa. You walk in and there are mattresses laying on the ground next to eachother. You can be getting your massage with numerous other people. There is no soft music playing or privacy. And the masseuses are usually talking the whole time to eachother in Thai so you have no idea what they are saying. It's kind of like getting a pedicure at a Nail Salon in a strip mall vs. getting one at a spa. Even though the atmosphere may not be as nice, it still feels great! A good way to get relaxed before sitting on a plane for 24 hours.

Hawaii here we come!

Last few days...

We are back in the big city, Bangkok, for two days before leaving Thailand. It's bittersweet. We are really sad about leaving but also excited about starting the next chapter.

We are trying to do all of our last minute sounvenir shopping while we're here so we made a point to be back to Bangkok during the weekend. There is an incredibly HUGE weekend market with thousands of vendor stalls so we went today. There were so many people and tons and tons of stuff to buy. Everything from puppies to Western shirts. It was crazy! As if we didn't get enough, we're headed to the night market tonight. Tomorrow we'll visit the floating market and then off to Hawaii on Tuesday. We have a two day layover there before going home.

The last couple of weeks we've been in the islands. We found our beach paradise on Koh Pha Nang and then went to Koh Tao to dive. We spent three nights on Koh Tao. Being the smaller and more remote of the islands, I thought it was going to be quiet but since this is the #1 place to dive in Thailand, everyone was there! We saw some amazing fire shows where they twirl fire. We even saw a three year old boy do it! And Gabriel finally got to experience his first ocean dive. We did two dives on one day. There was a rumor of a whale shark at a particular dive site so our captain changed the schedule last minute. We weren't the only ones with that idea so we ended up diving with a TON of people. It was kind of a mess underwater. Divers everywhere! There was no whale shark but we did see two banded sea snakes which were really cool. Gabriel had a great time too! The second dive was better....less people. We even went through a really cool swim through that was the highlight of our dive.

All in all, we really enjoyed our time in the islands. We can't wait to show you pictures! Now it's time to go shopping. See you all soon!

Beach Paradise

We have found our beach paradise on a beach called Haad Yao on Ko Pha Ngan. It's a nice little stretch of white sand with only a dozen or so hotels on it. We had a candlelit dinner right on the beach last night...it was really nice. We've been hanging by the pool and beach all day today since it's finally sunny. We haven't had horrible weather but it hasn't been the best either. Mostly cloudy with scattered rain. We arrived here 4 days ago. We stayed one night on the beach that hosts the famous "Full Moon" party once a month. Turns out there is also a "Black Moon", "Half Moon" and "Shiva Moon" party as well. They really find any excuse to party here. I wonder what they would do during an eclipse? We've managed to steer clear of all the partying though and have spent most of our nights playing a mean game of Gin Rummy or reading. How did we get so old???

While on Ko Pha Nang we also spent two nights at a place called The Sanctuary. It was this really cool resort built right into the rock on the hillside of a bay called Haad Thien. Thee was a fancy schmancy spa there, vegetarian restaurant and wellness center that thrived on doing "cleanses" for people. A lot of people go there and stay for two weeks doing an intensive cleanse. We didn't do that but we did kayak, eat and had a shower that was outside! It was nice. We also tried their herbal steam room.

Tomorrow we're headed to Ko Tao for diving and our last rest/relaxation before heading back to Bangkok before flying home. Don't forget that we have a two day layover in Hawaii so if we aren't broke by then, we definitely will be by the time we get home:) I'll write more after we dive. I can't wait to see Gabriel's face after his first ocean dive.

Sorry so short but internet is pricier in the islands. I hope all is well with you.

Love and kisses, B & G

Loving the Island Life!

Hello! We are officially in the Thai islands. We arrived on Ko Samui last night after traveling all day from the other coast. Though traveling is long, they make it very easy for you. All we did was pay $20/each and we were chauffered from one side of the country to the other. We barely had to think at all, just follow as we went from a boat to a bus to a ferry. So, here we are. Ko Samui is very developed and tourist-centric so we decided to stay on a more laid-back part of the island, away from the crowds. We rented a little bungalow with en-suite bathroom and a fan for $12/night. It's perfect and it's right on the beach! We'll stay here until tomorrow and then take the ferry over to Ko Phang Nang. This is the island that is famous for it's full moon parties. In the high season they have over 30,000 people come to the island for the world's biggest rave. We just missed it (on purpose) and are hoping that our experience there is a little more low-key. We have one more island to visit after Ko Phang Nang and that is Ko Tao (Ko means island if you haven't picked up on that yet). Ko Tao is where we plan on going diving! We're still not sure if we'll have time to get to Cambodia yet but we haven't ruled it out completely.

Gabriel is off riding a rented moped right now. I told him that I wouldn't get on the back of it until he practices riding around town first. Even then, he'll have to pass my tests before I'll commit to jumping on the back. It's not so much driving the motorbike as it is remembering to drive on the left side of the road. As a DAN field rep selling DAN insurance I know that moped accidents are EXTREMELY common among tourists. That fact has landed me an upsell to the Preferred Plan many times:)

The last couple of beach places were amazing with limestone and granite cliffs that took your breath away. We've met a couple of nice couples. One brother/sister duo from South Korea that we hung out with in Sukkothai. We've noticed that many of the conversations we have with foreigners usually lead to a political talk about the upcoming elections in the US. Everyone wants to know if we think Obama can win it:) And, of course, we proudly say "YES HE CAN!" It's really not until you leave the States that you realize how much of an impact our politics have on the rest of the world and how involved they are in it.

I wish we could post more pictures but we found that when we do, they erase from our camera. Perhaps we will try again later. I better go find Gabriel and hope he made it back safely.

Love you all! Don't forget to email.

Monkeys monkeys everywhere!

Hello all! I don't have much time to write because we're in a remote village on the beach. All of their power is run off generators so we can't email until after 6pm (when the generators are running) and it's kind of expensive. We are in Ao Ton Sai for those of you who would like to look it up...it's near Krabi on the western side of Thailand. It's GORGEOUS here! There are literally monkeys everywhere. I can't wait to show Brandon the pictures of the monkeys here. One species is all gray with white circles around it's eyes and mouth...and a white tail. They are so cool looking. We will be here for a few more days and then head off...not sure where yet. But, just wanted to let everyone know that we are safe and still having a great time.

I'll write more later!

p.s. We took a bus from Sukkothai (not to be confused with Chillicothe) to Bangkok and then another bus down here. It took us about 24 hours...whew! But we did manage to see the most beautiful temple in Sukkothai (Wat Sri Chum). Our pilgrimage was a success!

Leaving Chiang Mai

We're just about to head to the train station to catch a bus to Sukkothai. We're making our own pilgrimage to the Buddha hand we've seen so many times and have fallen in love with so we can take a picture. The bus ride should take around 5 hours. We'll stay two nights checking out the ruins and then head back to Bangkok to catch an overnight bus to Krabi (the beach!). If we plan it right, we won't have to stay long in Bangkok.

The last two days in Chiang Mai have been AMAZING! We did two different excursions. The first one was called "Flight of the Gibbon" and it was a zip line tour of the rainforest. We spent the whole day zipping from one tree to the next sometimes as high as 225 ft in the air! It was incredible! We were on the trip with a couple from Ireland, a couple from Israel and one guy from England. None of us knew eachother before the trip but we all got along really well. We took pictures of eachother and exchanged email addresses. We even took a small trek up to a waterfall together after the zip lines. It was so much fun and the most beautiful scenery. I can't even describe how gorgeous and massive these trees were! Hopefully we can post some pictures later.

The second excursion we took was to the Elephant Nature Park up north. You might have seen something about it on the Discovery Channel or National Geographic. Basically one woman is trying to change the plight of the Asian Elephant. Those elephants are revered here in theory, they are seen mainly as a source of revenue. Elephants were mostly used in logging but when logging became illegal in 1985, the domestic elephants were out of a job and had no where to go. Many of them were just released into the wild without the skills necessary to survive. Others have been taken into the cities to enthrall tourists. There are no laws around domestic elephants, they are viewed no different than livestock. So many of them are overworked, beaten into submission and live very sad lives. Lek Chaillert has single-handedly tried to save these domesticated elephants. She now has a compound that houses over 30 elephants that she has rescued. Some of them stepped on landmines in Burma or were beaten blind my their mahout (owner). She has a staff of over 85 employees who take care of the elephants and she has started a program called Jumbo Express that takes medicine and vet care for elephants to secluded villages. She hopes that, through education, the elephant in Thailand can have a future. It costs her $250,000/year to run her compound and it is funded solely through volunteer work and donations. We paid to go for one day but you can stay there for weeks at a time as a volunteer if you wish. We were picked up in a van and taken to the local market to help pack up their truck with elephant food (bananas, pineapple, corn, etc.). Then we drove over an hour to the compound where the moment you enter, elephants are roaming free. We got to feed the elephants and help bathe them in the river. It was extraordinary! Something you could never experience in the States because of liability. They train and retrain all of the elephants using positive reinforcement. Brandon and Martha, you would have LOVED this place. I think you should study the Asian Elephant Brandon!!!! They are beautiful and so sweet. We even got kissed my a baby elephant...it feels like a little suction cup:) We'll post pictures soon.

Ok, I have to go so we don't miss our bus. I'll write more later!

Love you all!

Chiang Mai

Hello friends and family!
We're up north in Chiang Mai right now. We took an overnight train from Bangkok which was pretty cool. Bangkok is the second largest city in Thailand but only has 250,000 people living in it. It has been really nice getting out of the big city. You can walk anywhere here so we've done a TON of walking. Both of us are even kind of sore from all of the walking. Luckily you can get a foot massage here for only $2/ half an hour which we both indulged in yesterday. We are staying at this funky little backpacker place called Julie's Guest House (I like the name:) that has more white backpackers than we know what to do with from all over the world. One thing we have noticed is the abundance of women traveling both in groups and by themselves. There is probably a ratio of 3 to 1 in favor of women travelers here. Something you probably wouldn't see if you were in Egypt but here, women have no problem traveling on their own.
So this place is FILLED with people trying to sell you on excursions. You can go visit the hilltribe peoples (like the long-neck women), go riding on an elephant, whitewater rafting, climbing and trekking. We are leaning towards a zip line tour of the jungle. There is a lot of controversy about supporting the exploitation of the long-neck women who are being used as tourist bait for the Thai government. Also, a lot of the elephant operations here don't really take very good care of their elephants by over-working them and providing poor living conditions. Therefore, we decided to go with an excursion that did not involve these things. We'll let you know how it goes.
Last night we went to a street market. They close down this popular street every Saturday night and people come to sell their wares. You see a lot of the same stuff as everywhere else but this was nice because there were actually Thai people there shopping instead of just foreigners. Gabe ate some questionable food trying to get the full Thai experience. Luckily he didn't decide to try the cockroaches and other insects they had for sale to eat. It was a great experience and we bought some cool stuff to bring home.
So finally I wanted to mention that we heard the song "West Virginia" play again today in a restaurant. Not sure what the fascination is with that song but I will continue to document how many times we hear it while we are here.
We're not sure where we are going to go after this. Probably down south to the beaches which means we either fly (that's expensive) or take the train back to Bangkok and then a bus down to the beach. The world's largest Full Moon Party takes place on July 19th on an island down south. They have anywhere from 8,000-30,000 people come to one particular island for the party. We've decided not to go because we would rather spend our beach time with each other rather than 10,000 other tripping foreigners. So we'll probably head to the other side of the country first to miss the crowds and then visit Ko Tao later to go diving!
Ok, well we miss all of you and would love to hear from you. It costs us only 50 cents for an hour of internet use so feel free to send an email or two. We'll try to post some pictures now.

Love, B & G

p.s. Mom and Dad- please love on the kids for us!!!!