As a student, I walk to school every morning… just like I did in elementary school. I want to remember this walk when I get back home.
Spirit House outside our apartment
A rooster lives here… I hear it crowing most mornings : )
There are few sidewalks in Chiang Mai
I found a shortcut around the welding.
I love that the tree grew out into the street… roots can’t be contained!
The empty lot next to ITM… the fence still looks good
ITM Massage School
I’ve spent many happy hours here : )
We are finally back among our own kind! We’re in the city and loving every minute of it : )
We left the suburbs (and the house-sit) and headed for Chaweng Beach… the party beach of Koh Samui. Actually, it’s a “normal” beach during the day… but after sunset it’s a never-ending string of bars & nightclubs along the beach.
We found one place called “Ark Bar” that sets up a restaurant on the beach with lights and music… we had to check it out.
and Fire Performers!
Wesley was not that into it at all… until a woman came around selling trinkets. Including a green laser pen that seemed to shoot at least 1km down the beach… we saw it hit an airplane that was taking off overhead! AND it had a prism attachment.
Damon with “dots”
Don’t shoot your eye out!
So of course we had to purchase one!
Our hotel in Chaweng was wonderful! We stayed at the Beachcomber Hotel… a little hotel on the beach with a restaurant and pool. We thought it was fabulous.
Making himself at home : )
The room said it came with air-con, an en suite bathroom and a double and twin bed. We have found that to be the most confusing thing about booking hotel rooms in Asia… the beds. When they say it has a “twin bed” they might mean it has a single… perfect for Wesley. When they say a “double” they might mean a twin or double bed… not a queen and barely enough room for two. Except for the times that they DON’T mean that and a double is a room with two SINGLE beds. You always have to check!
I know, I know… it’s been forever since I posted something on the blog. I can’t even blame “work” for being too busy to post!
The truth is we arrived in Koh Samui and have been house-sitting two dogs and a cat in the Bophut area of Koh Samui. The reason I haven’t blogged is because it is so HOT. I mean, this is an Africa kind of hot… sweltering heat that saps my energy and leaves me drained at the end of the day. Damon and I collapsed into bed one night at 8:28pm! That’s just downright embarrassing. I had to say goodnight to my 9 year old son.
And, along with the heat is this really deep, hard sleep. I don’t dream, I don’t wake up at night, I don’t move around in the bed… I’m so tired that I can barely move. In the morning I wake up feeling like I slept HARD. Like I had a heavy mattress on top of me and I’m still pressed into the bed. I end up feeling achy and not rested enough. It’s strange.
Wesley doesn’t seem to have that problem.
Napping Buddies
The good news is that we’re having a great time house-sitting. We have a beautiful 2 bedroom 2 bath home to live in and a small pool next door. The Canadian family who owns the big house next door encourages their neighbors to use the pool while they’re gone. You can see the roof of our house at the top of the picture.
View of the small pool.
We would walk next door when we got too hot and jump into the little pool. Then we would climb the outdoor stairs to their veranda.
View of the ocean from the 3rd floor.
For two weeks we got to play with puppies, swim in the small pool, go for walks in the condo complex, swim in the condo’s main pool, and scoot around town. It was fabulous.
Main Pool.
Badminton in the yard.
Wesley with a few “friends” while he eats.
One of the best things about the entire pet-sitting scenario is that EVERYONE was thrilled with the outcome. Damon and I thought we got the best end of the deal because we got free lodging for two weeks… and Lauren & Dave (the pet owners) thought they got the best end of the deal because they had people taking care of their pets in their own home… everyone wins.
Next on our travel itinerary… Chaweng Beach!
I haven’t posted this week and it’s because we’ve been BUSY! Here’s a short rundown of what we’ve been up to this week…
We went to Paradise Beach to try out SNUBA for the first time. Fun times!
Damon, Wesley and I diving the coral at Paradise Beach
The visibility wasn’t great… it’s low season in Thailand. But we had a great time and Wesley learned how to use a regulator. It was awesome. I’ll write a longer post on it sometime soon. Because after SNUBA we went to Patong to do some shopping…
Jungceylon Shopping Center in Patong
The mall there is HUGE and we were excited to do a little shopping. We had to bribe Wesley with McDonald’s nuggets and Baskin Robbins : ) But as we were paying for his nuggets we realized we were OUT of cash. Paradise Beach had soaked us completely. A quick pat-down revealed that neither Damon or I had remembered to bring our ATM card. Major fail. We scraped together all the money we had, found a cabbie who would drive us home for 400Thb (in coins practically!) and managed to buy Wesley a single cone of “cotton candy” before we left. Not ONE restaurant or store that we went into would take credit cards…?!
But the next day we had important business…
Wesley had to take his third grade exams : )
Wesley passes 3rd grade!
I looked around online for grade evaluation tests and finally found this Ohio half-test. It seemed like a good idea to give him a test to “pass” third grade. He even got a diploma : )
And to top it all off… we’re moving tomorrow! We’re packing up today to leave early on Saturday for Samui. We have to take a bus, a ferry and a cab to get there, so it should be an interesting travel day.
Moving on to Koh Samui.
We're Trippin Billies... 