Mom & Dad ...in Thailand?

Here's a report from Stefanie on the guided tour of Thailand she's given over the last couple weeks. Let's see if we can get some photos, videos, etc. published in the next couple weeks...

Hi guys,

Mom, Dad and two of my best friends Steph and Madeleine officially left Thailand today. I breezed them through Bangkok, introduced them to my home away from home in Chiang Mai, and of course took a few beach days in the southern islands near Krabi.

I was a little tour guide again, teaching Thai, teaching history and bits of culture and info about all the sights we saw. A little funny to be doing this, since I'm used to doing this for my job...not for my family. But hey! They only made fun of me a couple times, so I guess I did ok :)

Some trip highlights:

• Bangkok: Floating markets, having our boats fished out of the water by vendors trying to sell anything from hats, fresh fruits to magnets...and of course Steph buying an oil painting, only finding out hours later that it was actually a photograph of an oil painting...such a sad moment.
• Chiang Mai: Thai cooking class, watching Madeleine and Dad cough and sneeze through every chili dish, and Mom proving once and for all...'she really can cook.'
• Koh Phi Phi: snorkeling on a boat all day and surviving one of the worst storms out to sea anyone's ever witnessed (Dad: "I think this is a squall"). Later that day, when the sun finally came out, Dad complains about Mom holding his hand the whole day, keeping him "strapped to a buoy." On the plus side, 3 black tip reef sharks and some of the best diving visibility I've seen out there during the rainy season!
• Kayaking through the mangroves of Bo Thor: Dad complains again about Mom, being "trapped by an anchor." Dad splits his paddle in half hitting it against a rock, while paddling through the darkness of a sea cave...pretty cool day even though Mom ended the day rolling out of her kayak "like a taco onto the pier" since she couldn't lift herself from the kayak. Macaques, langurs, and cave paintings nearly 2,000 years old from ancient sea gypsy civilizations are some of the cool things we saw.
• Railey Beach: "Ninas bar"---Mom kept track of every night me and the girls went out to the bars, and kept a small notepad noting the time and date of each "ninas bar" outing...I'm still not sure why... Best highlight of Railey Beach has to be watching the sunset drop behind the beached long-tail boats, with our cool drinks in hand.

All in all, pretty great trip. Mom cried hysterics when she left me on the shore of the beach, and I can say now that I shed a few myself. I love you guys, and thank you again for sharing some time off with me here in Thailand. I couldn't have asked for a better break from work than being close with my family again!

As for now, I'm in Bangkok at the Queen's Garden Resort taking my last day of rest. Tomorrow morning I'm picking up my group at 6 am at the Bangkok airport, then we fly together to Chiang Mai to start another project at the Elephant Nature Park. I lead two more groups at the ENP, then one more back in Sangklaburi (working with the children from Burma) and then it's back to the adventure tours for the rest of the season until mid-September.

I'm going to be locked in the jungle for the next 6 weeks straight, so internet access is limited of course. I'll be sure to update on the new adventures with elephants, Burmese refugees and ISV students sure to come :)

Hope everyone is well and healthy!

Love,
Stef