THAILAND!

Brittany and I decided to call this trip our "New Zealand Reunion Trip 2009" because it was pretty much just that. Besides for Vietnam, we were traveling to meet up with some of the people we met while we studied abroad in New Zealand in 2007. Our next stop was Thailand, and our goal was to spend as much time as possible with two of the loveliest Thai girls: Nok and Taw. And Sly, Britt's older sister, joined up with us for this segment.

Nok and Taw and their families welcomed all of us with open arms. And I still cannot believe the lengths they went through to make us feel like part of their families.

[Dinner with Nok's family.]

[Makes you love them ants, eh?]

[Wandering around town. No Thai needed to communicate effectively.]

[Taw's mom took us to Pattaya because she likes to holiday there.]

[Nok's aunt just finished this house days before we arrived, and they let us stay in this beautiful home near Khao Yai National Park!]

[Impressive Buddha statue. I didn't go all the way up. :(]

[We decided to visit Trang province only because it was named after me.]

[This was the beautiful waters around Ko Adang island (in Trang province).]


[This picture makes me feel like celebrities holidaying on the coast of Thailand.]


[We did a little hike up Ko Adang for even more spectacular views: look at that water!]


[Life is beautiful.]


[The chicas on the wooden boat to Ko Adang.]


[I seriously can't get enough of the crystal clear water.]


[I like this picture of the guysworking on the wooden boat.]


[I am pretty much really popular in Thailand.]

As always, I have to show pictures of the food. I am sorry I don't remember the Thai names for a lot of the dishes, but it's not completely my fault: there are no common anglecized spelling of Thai words.

[This pretty much summed up my dining experiences in Thailand.]

[Vermicelli with all sorts of sauces.]

[Pad see ewe at its best!]

[Yum! Banana, Nutella, and condensed milk roti.]

[I wish that I remembered what this was, but it was the best soup ever! With fried pork skin!]

[My Thai friend, Natt, introduced me to this delicious coconut cream dessert.]

We stayed in Thailand for two and a half weeks, and it was the first time in my life that I spent that long in a country where I can't speak the primary language. A lot of people couldn't speak English very well, so at times, it did get a bit frustrating trying to convey my ideas. And it didn't help that people thought I was Thai! Haha.

[We left Thailand on Sly's birthday, so made the most out of it as possible, by staying in a hotel.]


[I noticed that the hotel got some wicked mirrors. Sisters have matching bodies.]


[This captures pretty much all the modes of transportation in Thailand: ped, bicycles, scooters, motorbikes, cars, buses, Skytrain...]

I'm sorry this post wasn't better, but I am strapped for time. It's my last day in New Zealand. I'm flying out super early tomorrow and arriving in California in a day! Then it's back to Texas and the start of the "real world" on March 31st. It's beautiful outside right now, so I am going to enjoy every last drop of the golden rays!