so much blogging. so little time...
trips in the works:
nagasaki in feb
korea? possibly in march
china in april/may
haynes and i had a wonderful time in cambodia and thailand over the holidays. we were able to see and do a lot. we started in siem riep where we visited angkor wat. this is a spot i highly recommend. it was incredible. we spent a day in a tuk-tuk seeing the many temples. it was a adventure filled day and included haynes extending his clinton global initiative world wide...he picked up trash along the main temple sights- I have photo documentation. we were able to watch the sunset in the distance while sitting among one of the ancient temples. haynes took some great photos--see his flickr. we then made our way to chiang mai. while in chiang mai we visited many temples and of coursed managed to accomplish many listed "weird" activities. these included a "monk chat" and a traditional thai massage at the women's correctional facility. we ate great--khoasoi was one of our favorites. I enjoyed the fresh fruit while haynes favored the smoothies and array of curry. on christmas eve we found ourselves on a "tour" which brought us to many of the hot spots. my favorite being the awful renditions of a local village? they have two or three huts set up where where travelers visit to see indigenous tribe life...hmmmm. tribe life not so much. but we did get to see an elephant show! they danced, they played soccer, and one even painted! we followed this with an elephant ride, an ox and carriage ride, and duh a bamboo -adventure- raft ride. it was a long day. we arrived back at the hostel in time for a gift exchange. caught a christmas service and hang out with a group from the hostel. christmas day was spent with travel from chiang mai to pai. pai might be my favorite spot in thailand. it is a popular spot for locals to vacation. it is small and quaint with a hippie vibe. we were able to relax at our beautiful accommodations, the darling view house. it had a great porch which overlooked the rivers, town and mountains in the distance. haynes and I made sure to catch the sunset each night we were there. we rented a scooter see the terrain around. this included waterfalls, rice fields, elephants, the great land crack, the canyon, hot springs, over looks, and the list goes on. after pai we trekked down to phuket. we met my friends from japan, shannon and matt. we spent one day beach hopping on scooters...and sadly almost ended the amazing day in a tourist trap--sketchy sketch bike rentals--there was a call made to the american embassy and the tourist police. we island hopped, snorkeled, tanned, ate, laughed, and laughed. new years eve was spent with new friends on patong beach where we let lanterns go and saw thousands over the water. our last stop was bangkok. we were lucky to have an incredible guide, aim. we explored more temples, markets, food, avatar 3d/imax, palaces, maybe a little bit of food poisoning, and met up with another of my friends, nicole.
all that just to give a little over view of an incredible three weeks. details details...they have always been hard to write. I apologize for the run down. bottom line- it was great seeing haynes. im thankful for the time I got to spend with him. family, it just doesnt get better.
this week was busy busy at school. today I updated the english board, taught four classes and caught up on paper work for the boe. tomorrow we are celebrating australia day (which is tuesday) with our local aussie, Jessica.
arkansas love yall!
everyone look at your calendar and meet me for an asian adventure!
no photos?
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