And it goes.....

Our trip is continuing onward and all is good. We had a great time in Phuket after our very very long ferry trip and multiple bus transfers. We were excited to take a night ferry because we were told that we got our own beds and we could sleep through the night to our next destination. Well...it was quite the experience. You climb onto the boat and it is 2 levels. Each level is about 5 feet high at the most. The bottom one is for staff and bags the top one is for passengers. (My shampoo, of all things, got stolen out of my bag sometime during the night) Once you get to the top you'll find your number and a mat...squished between complete strangers. Your mat is your bed. We've never slept so close to strangers. Dean said the girl beside him was snuggling up... somehow I think that's more of what he wanted than what really happened! :0) Unfortunately the night we sailed there was a storm....we thought we were sailing to our death!! We both took 2 gravols which was a great idea...I slept....Dean didn't really....maybe it was all the people puking out their windows that was keeping him awake!

Once we arrived in Phuket we left the city and headed for Kata beach. We trekked to our next home through the pouring rain. I slipped on the sidewalk and scratched up my knee...I'm hoping for a scar so that I will match Dean!! (Dean says there is no way I'll match him and he is probably right) We lucked out at our place of residence because we were in walking distance of 2 beaches. Kata beach which had deep water but was calm and had a sandy bottom. And Koron beach which had HUGE waves...but was equally as beautiful!! We spent time at each beach but Koron beach was our favorite. Dean body surfed and I drank a lot of sea water! It was fun!!!

We said goodbye to the beaches and left sunny southern Thailand 5 days ago. We decided to treat ourselves and booked a flight that should have only taken about 5 hours. We were actually very excited about flying after our many many long and boring bus and ferry trips. Unfortunately, the plane didn't turn out to be as good as expected. We got to the airport early (the guy who sold us our tickets told us it would take about 1 1/2 hours to get there it only took about 1/2 hour) after waiting almost 3 hours for the plane to leave we were informed it was delayed...which then turned into a cancellation. This sucked because we had a connecting flight in Bangkok. They eventually put us on another flight which got us into Bangkok after our next flight had boarded. Thankfully they held the plane. When we arrived in Chiang Mai our bags had not. They were on a later flight that night due to the fact that there wasn't enough time to transfer them when we transferred. Sure enough the airline delivered them to our guesthouse later that night.....THANKFULLY!

When we arrived in Chiang Mai it was the New Year celebration. (It had started the night before we left Phuket but it was so much better when we got here. The kids in the picture were from Phuket and it doesn't do justice to what it was like here) They celebrate by having a massive water fight. It is actually hard to describe. There were well over 200 thousand people here participating. Picture the Red Mile in Calgary but 10 times as long...and with lots of vehicles on it! The nice part about celebrating in Chiang Mai is, that where we are, there is a huge moat (sp?) that runs along the road...endless water. The sidewalks are full of people scooping water from the moat (which is kinda dirty but after you see so many people swimming in it you get over it) The street is filled with pick up trucks, filled with people and giant tubs of ice water. You basically hit everyone and everything that you can. (Trying to avoid the ice water...it is bitterly cold) Everyone participates, young and old, and everyone laughs and smiles. It was so nice to see EVERYONE having good clean fun. We bought a huge water gun for Dean. He had so much fun with it. (Somehow though it broke on the second day..too bad) I just walked along having buckets poured on top of me. Everyone wears clothes no bathing suits so your clothes just hang off of you dripping wet..... You even get your face painted with this white paint by people walking by. (Still not sure what the significance of the paint was) Unfortunately, my favorite waterproof camera died in Phuket (I guess they are not made for being tossled around in massive waves...thankfully the memory card survived so we didn't lose over 600 pictures) So we splurged and bought a disposable waterproof camera...we can't wait to see if the pictures turned out!

Yesterday we did a Thai cooking class. There was only 3 of us and it would have been much more fun if the lady teaching us would have smiled once in a while...or at least pretended to be happy to have us there. Needless to say, the 3 of us made it fun and we made over 18 dishes all together! It was a lot of food and most of it was pretty good. We even got a cook book at the end which was nice.

Today we did "Flight of the Gibbon" It was a giant zipline course through the forest and was soooooooooo fun!!!!!!!!!!!! Unlike the cooking course, our guides on this were fabulous and we had a great time!! There were 2 kms of zipline, 18 platforms and 2 descents down massive old growth trees!! Although it was expensive (we shopped around a lot and ended up getting a cheaper price than most) and we had to get up super early (5:45 am..we haven't seen that time of day since....well a long time ago) we would recommend it to everyone!!!

Tomorrow we leave for Mae Song Ton. (not to sure of the spelling) We are going to take a bus and spend a few days there doing some trekking to local hill tribes. You can do it here but we have heard it is worth spending the money for a cheap bus ticket and a day of travel to go there. Less tourists and more authentic areas to see!

Time is starting to go quicker now and we are starting to realize that our time travelling is going to be over sooner than we'd like. There is still so much we want to see..Cambodia (although we hear you can see the main stuff in a week or 2) Vietnam, Laos and if time and money permit Bali!!!

People have told us that trips like these are life changing. We didn't see it at first but now that we are half way through, we are noticing things. We are more appreciative of what we have and the opportunities that are available to us. Seeing the kids here, who are always sooooo happy with huge smiles, makes us slightly sad and guilty, that we have so much and are still always wanting more! We know that they have almost nothing and will not get a chance to travel the world and see things that so many of us take for granted each and every day! Things like underground sewers, democracy, homes with no bugs or rodents (hehe), safety and education. It has been sad to see so many young Thai girls with old white foreigners. Although this is a choice for a lot of Thai girls we know that for many of them, they feel that this is their only option...it is sad! We met one lady on a bus. She had travelled for almost 2 days to meet a man that she met on the internet which is where a lot of the meetings take place. It's too bad that often the girl and the guys idea of what is to come is so different! In saying that....it is comforting to know that joy really can be found in the smallest of things and the cheapest of costs! Family is huge here and it has made us miss ours and our closest of friends...who we also consider our family!! Anywho....to make a long thought short.....I guess we are starting to have a life changing experience!!!

Hope you like the pictures and our blog.......we will post again when we can!!!

Oh yeah......I would have to say Dean is missing the flames playoffs more than anything...knowing the score is starting to consume him.....lol!