Exploring Bangkok

Dear Mom and Dad,

We have been doing lots of sightseeing. We went to the largest open air market in the world. There were 8,000 stalls or shops. Right outside the market was a car show. The boys loved the batmobile. 

Here I am standing on the bridge in Bangkok. There arent as many skyscrapers as we thought there would be.

There are hundreds of food stands, and it felt like we were at the fair sampling food. Spring rolls and potato chips on a stick were my favorites. The boys tried fried squid and squid eggs.

Andy is modeling his new tank-top and my necklace. Family members should get excited because we also bought gifts for everyone.

After a long and hard day of shopping, we got Thai massages for $8 for one hour. Half the hour was a leg and foot massage. The second half or the "Thai massage" was the most painful experience of my life. It was a bad chiropractor experience. Andy didn't think it was as bad as I did. The lady was standing and throwing herself all over our bodies. Charlie just had a standard back massage and loved it. 

The next picture was our favorite bar. 

Here are the boys relaxing in our hostel.

The next day we visited the Grand Palace and two temples.

Buddha statue.

We didn't actually go into the Grand Palace because it cost $20 but took a picture to say we were there.

Here we are taking a water taxi to the next temple called Wat Arun.

monks in school at the temple.

View of the steep steps that we had to walk up to get to the top.

At night we sat ringside for Muay Thai fights. This cost $60 a person. (Too cheap for the museum...splurge on athletics) 

As ringside ticket holders, we had VIP access to meet the fighters. Here are four champion fighters of the night.

My money is on the red fighter. Overall, Andy made the better picks for winners and will continue to be a Muay Thai gambler when back in the states.

Here is Charlie with one of the younger fighters. This one knocked out his opponent in the second round. He was thrilled when Charlie asked to have his picture taken with him.

My buff stud waiting to take the ring and fight.

Today, we visited a floating market. The shops are on little boats and you travel from the little "shops" via little boat in a canal. 

Charlie looking over the market.

People live on the canals and can only travel from place to place on the boats. It's very remote and primitive.

This guy taking a selfie, and we happened to be in it, so we took a picture of him and us in the background.

Today we are getting on a night train at 730 pm for 14 hours. Let's hope boarding this one is easier than the last. We are traveling to Chang Mai for a few days where we will be going on a jungle trek. Riding elephants, bamboo rafts, and waterfalls are on the itinerary.

Love, 

The shopaholics

Bangkok

Dear Mom and Dad,

Unfortunately, it was time for us to leave the islands and make our way up north. I had one last brownie sundae before departure. This was made to order and absolutely delicious!!

Our trip to Bangkok was no easy task. First we took a three hour ferry to Chumphon. Charlie rested for most of the ferry ride, while Andy and I chatted and enjoyed the beautiful sunset. Of course the ferry was almost an hour late.

Once our ferry landed, we had to fit twenty people in the back of a taxi type truck. We were all sitting on top of each other. We rode like that for thirty minutes. It was not comfortable, but we were in good spirits and made it work. We were intending to book the 1030pm train, but it was all full by the time we got there, so we had to buy tickets for the 2am train. We had almost eight hours to kill, so we found a pizza place and hung out there until they closed at 9pm. Then we found a place with free WiFi and stayed there until they closed at 1130pm. After that, we met up with some Scottish people and found a karaoke restaurant that would stay open until our train came. The Scottish were scheduled to be on the 1030pm train that we originally wanted, however, it was delayed until 2am as well. We went to the platform at 145 am and asked every conductor if that was our train by showing our tickets, and every time the answer was "no." Well, one of them was our train because we missed it. The 1030 pm train did come at 3am, and thankfully there was magically room, so we could get on. Such a mess. We were thankful to have 1st class tickets with "sleepers" or beds.

The staff woke everyone up at 10am to fold the beds into seats. We finally arrived in Bangkok at 12pm.

Here we are getting a taxi to a random street with a bunch of hostels. We found one for $8 a night per person, and it's a private room.

We are staying for three nights before moving on. There are lots of fun activities planned, and I will be excited to share with pictures, but for now it's time for some much needed sleep.

Love,

The party animals, who are sleeping by 8pm on a Friday night

Spectacular Snorkeling in Koh Tao

Dear Mom and Dad,

We had a great stay in Koh Tao. Our first hostel with tv in english (that has one channel fox movies) has been glorious. We have been watching terrible 90s movies at night. The downside to our hostel is there is a place that mosquitos are sneaking in. We spend about an hour before going to bed hunting them. So far, charlie has more kills, however, Andy seems to be more accurate with the air slaps. Here are the boys watching the big screen.

 We did a snorkeling tour today that cost about $27 a person, which included a two way taxi, boat, gear, spicy pork and rice lunch, water, access to a private island, and three places to snorkel. We all agreed that it was the best snorkling any of us have done. As andy stated, "we swam with the cast of Finding Nemo." It was a completly different world down there with the colorful reefs, coral, and  schools of fish. Andy saw a Broncos orange and blue fish; some were translucent greens, yellows, reds, pinks, and various rainbow colors all around. The schools of fish caused a mild panic attack for me at first. I wasn't used to them not being scared of people and looking at them face-to-face within inches. Charlie and Andy had to both calm me down before I could enjoy it. The fish would eat the dead skin off your feet if you stayed still long enough. There were fish that I've never seen in pet stores, movies, or pictures. At shark bay, charlie and I each saw sharks. I saw a small one that was about two feet big. Charlie saw one that was about six feet long. By the time we get back to the states, we'll be saying they were 15 feet Great Whites. Back to reality, it was a whole new world, and I'm ready to get scuba certified. Here's a picture of Andy and I enjoying the boat ride.

 Charlie accidently cut his arm on a sharp reef. Lucky for him, I carry toliet paper everywhere since it's never provided, so the slight bleeding wasn't an issue.

By the way, today it was 86 degrees but felt like 95 according to Charlie's weather app. Im so happy to be missing the cold iowa winters. Tomorrow we are taking a ferry and a night train to Bangkok. I'll update then.

Love,

Nemo's bffs

Please No More Food Poisoning

Dear Mom and Dad,

Sorry, I haven't updated the blog in a few days. To be honest, we relaxed and watched movies in the theater room on Jan 1st. The movie, the Interview, is hilarious by the way. The following day, we were all hit with food poisoning and hadn't done a whole lot until yesterday. Andy easily had it the worst and missed out on some fun activities. He's been really bummed. 

Andy joined the bandage club when he lost part of his toenail. He wasn't keeping it wrapped up, and it started to puss. With my mom's nursing skills and Charlie's dad's doctorial skills, we have him all fixed up. He isn't enjoying wearing tennis shoes everywhere, but it's really helping, so he's okay with it.

Our hostel had a great band that played all kinds of music. Of course, my favorites were when they played Micheal Jackson!  Charlie and I danced and danced. So much fun! Andy had to listen from his bed in the room since he couldn't move at that point.

My favorite breakfast treat is  strawberry smoothies. So yummy!

Charlie and I went to the slip n fly for the day, and it was scary awesome. You'll have to check out Facebook videos on our pages to see them because the blog is being difficult in letting me upload them. It was $20 a person and fun entertainment for the whole day. There were three slides. The black slide was a smaller speed slide that you ride boogie boards down for maximum speed. I rode down on my behind and that was enough speed for me. Then there were two slides that launched you into the air. I only went on the smaller launch, which was still freaking high. Dare devil charlie went on both launches completing backflips everytime. He was pretty impressive! Unfortunately, Andy was still sick at this point. 

Today, we hung out at the beach. The boys played frisbee, while I soaked up the sun. 

Here's your typical "I'm in a tropical place and you're not" picture.

Tomorrow, we are taking another ferry to the island Koh Tao and will be spending two nights there before heading to Bangkok.  We plan on doing snorkeling tours for Andy and I, and charlie will decide on either joining us or scuba diving on his own (with a small group).

Love,

The island hoppers

New Year's Celebration

Dear Mom and Dad,

We had a great New Year's celebration! I put on a little make-up before the big night, which is kind of a big deal since traveling I haven't worn any. The boys would not let me do this in peace as they played paddle board around me. Not an easy task getting ready when I was constantly on the look out for flying balls and aggressive swings.

We arrived at the beach around 4pm to scope everything out. We had no idea what we were in for.

Our first task was getting painted with glow-in-the-dark tattoos. The picture from left to right is Andy, Charlie, two South Africans, (who don't have Ebola) and myself. They laughed at the ebola fixation that Americans have.

The beach party was absolutely crazy. These are party goers jumping rope with fire. Although we easily could have done this, we refrained from partaking in the burns. Andy stated, "As a firefighter, my dad would NOT condone this." It was painful watching people jump in and out, mess up, have the flaming rope scortch their feet, legs, arms, and face. Some were even doing this NAKED. Be thankful the camera couldn't quite capture everything.

Andy did partake in the waterslide. The ending was hard bags of rice, which could have been awful for Charlie's back. We thoroughly enjoyed watching Andy however.

My fresh tattoo.

Selfie waiting for everyone to get their second rounds of tats.

Our fun South African friends that we met from the Phi Phi islands.

This picture doesn't do justice as to how many people were on the beach. Someone said 300,000. All three of us have never experienced anything like it. You literally couldn't walk anywhere because there were that many people. No problem for us, we found a picnic table to post-up on and DANCE!

Happy New Year!

Biggest firework display that I have ever seen! Amazing! Unfortunately, the hillside caught on fire, but it was eventually put out. No real safety codes here. Charlie was disappointed by the "finnale." There wasn't one, which we were expecting.

We were careful of our belongings, but Charlie did get pick-pocketed of his heartburn medicine. Andy did lose part of his big toenail after missing a step; other than that, it was a successful night! Together Charlie and I spent $50, which included two taxi rides, dinner and drinks  I don't think we could have done New Year's much cheaper. Andy spent a little more money because at the end of the night he bought a Broncos jersey. I hope he's not homesick ;)

Today is rest and relaxation.

Love,

Freshly tatted Americans