Vietnam, here we come!

Tim and I are leaving for Vietnam early tomorrow morning!  We are going to spend the day in Ho Chi Minh City and then fly to Da Nang in the evening.  Then we are working our way back down to Ho Chi Minh and flying back out of there are the end of our trip.  Can't wait!

And don't worry -  I've got the allergy situation under control :)

Samet

This past weekend Tim and I were able to get out of Bangkok again, this time we went south to the island Koh Samet (fun fact, Koh means "island" in Thai).

Despite my feeling a bit ill on Sunday, we had a really fun and relaxing time.  After landing on shore we spent a bit of time looking for the guest house that was recommended to me by my coworkers - Tuk's Resort.  We were glad we took the extra few minutes looking for it, because it really was a fantastic place to stay.  Clean, comfortable, and in a beautiful and quiet location:

The little porch of our guest house, which got a good amount of use

The only problem is that the stone path leading to our room was usually covered with little teeny tiny frogs quickly jumping to get out of our way, so we always had to watch our step very carefully whenever walking to or from the room.

Adorable little frog

Saturday we spent a good amount of time wandering around the island and swimming in the ocean.  At night we saw a very spectacular fire dancer show on the beach.

We had most of our meals at the resort next to us, called Jep's.  The food was delicious (one of the best Greek salads I ever had) and the prices were fairly decent.  It was also right on the beach, and so very beautiful and relaxing.

A lot of my co-workers were surprised that this was my first time getting out to Koh Samet, but all of them said that I ended up falling into their exact routine by booking my room with Tuk's and eating at Jep's.

It was the perfect mini-vacation!

Tim and I are getting pretty excited for our Vietnam vacation.  We've been looking at things to do and places to stay, and are probably going to book our rooms for the first couple of nights sometime today.  I took a personal day off work so we can go see some museums together downtown, as well as go to Khao San road to buy a few things before we take off.
 
Only three more days before we leave Saturday morning!

Lots of love,
Kelsey, and Tim

Tiger Videos

Here are a couple of videos of the tigers in the Tiger Temple getting their evening exercise. Bearing in mind we are very close to them, with a flimsy 4' tall fence separating us. 

Timmmmmy!!!!!!!!!

Yay!

Tim got into Bangkok last Wednesday night after a long (but he says good) flight.  Would have updated sooner but we were busy getting things ready for Vietnam, organizing things here in Bangkok, and seeing a few things around town.

It's been absolutely wonderful having him here with me!!

He says he likes it, and that "it's cool".  However, the heat certainly doesn't suit him, haha.  We are also getting by with his peanut allergies alright - I have a couple of cards that say a couple of different things.  One says "do you use nuts in your kitchen?" (to which we wish to hear the answer "mai chai", which translated literally means "not yes", or "no") and the other one basically says "if I eat nuts I will die, including peanuts, and including peanut oil."  So they seem to understand that, and take it pretty seriously....except for one confusing server who took it to the front cashier and left it there, but that's another story that neither of us really understand anyway.

This last weekend we were even able to get outside of Bangkok and go to Kanchanaburi which Tim really enjoyed.  We did a couple of similar things that I did during the first trip, which was really nice as these were things that I thought Tim would really enjoy.

Our first stop was at an elephant village, where we got to ride and swim with/wash the elephants.

Next we went to the Tiger Temple, and Tim touched a tiger for the first time.

We also got to do a special program where we first got to walk the tigers out then watch them during their evening exercises behind a short cage.

Silly tiger didn't want to put his paw in the water.  So cute!

A visual of the small barricade separating us from the unleashed and alert tigers.

Spoon feeding the tiger some noodles.

We had a lot of fun at the elephant sanctuary and Tiger Temple.  Watching the tigers run loose behind the short cage was scary, but still an amazing experience.  The tigerkeepers seemed to have a pretty good handle on the tigers (I guess you would need to have one!)

Sunday was a very fun and relaxing day.  Tim and I went swimming, Mary and I got massages....the perfect Sunday!  On our mini bus ride home we paid a little extra to have reserved seating behind the driver (as we always manage to get stuck in the back) and it was well worth the 30 baht we each paid.

Generally a really great experience!  I am so glad I was able to show Tim Kanch.

I will also post a couple of videos of the tigers within the next couple of days.  For now, that's it!

Love you all!  

Tim says "hi"!!!!

Kelsey

Two Weeks!!!

In two weeks Tim will be really desperate for a piece of shade! 

Daily Life

I was told on a number of occasions that I should take some pictures of around the area I live in.  Well here they are!  Some pictures of places we frequent.  Click to make them bigger:

Mom and Pop, as we like to call it.  A small store across from our apartment, great for picking up small items.

Where we do our laundry and buy our water, right outside of our apartment building.

The street our apartment building is on.

The street we turn down to walk to 7-11/school.

"Our Place", where we eat so many of our (cheap and tasty) meals.  Here a dish typically costs 30 baht, which is $1.

A picture showing that Our Place is right beside 7-11, and a picture of how unsafe the sidewalks are.

Pretty wild flowers, and a man driving a motorized bicycle selling brooms and things.

A picture from the second floor of "The Chicken Place", another one of the cheap soi restaurants we frequent.

Scary floorboards...and tasty soup!

There you have it!  Daily life :)

Love you all!

Kelsey

Fort.

The other day.....we made a fort in my room.

The materials

Assembly process with me, Martine, and Jen

Et voila!

It was awesome.

Lots of love,
Kelsey