Monkeys, and Tigers, and Elephants, Oh, Thai!!!

It has been a strange couple of weeks at school, as in not much school at all.  The first week was Golden Week, which is a National Holiday here in China, similar to our July 4th celebration. Following Golden Week, it was "Project Week" for our 11th and 12th grade AP students, which is the code word for 'you'll not have any students in class all week long.'  The reason for that is the SAT's were just this past Saturday.  Even though Beijing is the capital city for China, the SAT is offered nowhere close by.  It's not like kids can jump in their cars and drive to the next town like Muncie or Anderson to take their SAT.  Nope, they must fly to Hong Kong, Singapore or Japan to take their SAT's.  Can you imagine the expense of going on a week's family vacation for your son or daughter to simply take the SAT?!  These kids do not take it multiple times to improve their scores, either- it is too costly for them to travel there.  Not surprisingly, with their dutiful studying skills, they have been studying and practicing for their SAT"s for months, if not over a year.  Consequently, most of these kids will score 2150 or higher (out of 2400) on their very first try.  Impressive, to say the least.

Since I ended up with another week of no students, I took the opportunity to do a bit of traveling myself- I hopped a plane to Phuket, Thailand.  That was no easy shakes, either, as China is a big a** country!  Even a direct, nonstop flight was almost six hours- like flying from the US to London.  But people, it was OH. SO. WORTH. IT.

This was my view from the plane as we were about to take off from Beijing.
It looked like a scene from a science fiction movie.  This was in the early
afternoon, but the smog was already on the rise in the 300's.  In the four
days I was gone, the AQI rose over 475, and the city was in a 'red alert' for smog.

Landing in Phuket, Thailand, I was confronted with yet another language
I do not understand....so many twirlygigs just to say "Exit"!  It took a
fair amount of charades, and some help from the airport information desk,
to get the shuttle service for our motel.

Lori, there were Thai gnomes in the flower garden of the motel to greet us, lol!

The room was beautiful and very comfortable, which was a good thing.
The following morning I boarded a ferry to Koh Phi Phi island where I
then stayed in a hut on the beach :)

It was over two hours on the ferry to Koh Phi Phi.
This is the flag of Thailand, off the stern of the boat.

I was a happy, happy girl to be back on the water again,
with my face to the sun and the wind in my hair :)))

The views coming in to the harbor at Koh Phi Phi were
amazing.  I would have loved to have been on Marquesa,
at anchor, in Thailand.  How cool would that be?!  

We made it!!!

Next, we waited for our water taxi to take us to our beach 'resort'.  The
engines on these boats were a piece of ingenuity alright, whew!

I gotta say, though, it was very cool riding in these boats- albeit they are not
very stable.  I would not want to make that trip in stormy weather!

This was the name of our 'resort'- a cluster of 30 huts, owned and operated
by a family of three- their daughter seemed to be about 5 years old,
and she was most helpful (and shy) in serving coffee in the mornings :)

This was our hut....I decided my Thai name must be 'Kantiya' :)

How about our 'primitive' bathroom?! It actually worked
out great.  It was 'en suite' to our hut, but was more like
an outdoor shower with a stone floor- so there was nothing
to clean up afterwards :)  When I opened the "window"
above the sink, I was looking out on to the ocean.,,

,,,which was the same view from our balcony.  It was
absolutely gorgeous, with several islands in view in the distance.

'

It was soooo beautiful.

That night it was a brilliant full moon, and as the tide
rolled in, the waves were crashing underneath our
hut.  I think it was the best sleep I've had since I
have been in China.  In fact, I just wanted to lay
in bed and listen to the waves the following morning.
I couldn't linger for long, though.  Thai banana pancakes
with Nutella were calling my name. O.M.G!!!
Look up a recipe for Thai pancakes- beyond delicious!

On a walk along the beach, we came upon this boat
getting a 'bottom job'- hanging between two palm trees!
I love island ingenuity; whatever works :)

Phuket was essentially destroyed in the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004.
You still see remnants of huts, and empty foundations.  A new hut
was being built over an old foundation- still right along the water-
no stilts, no sea wall, still vulnerable to storms and weather. See
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbq412haY1c
if you want to view some footage of the devastating tsunami. It
opens with the water being sucked away, and the tourists are curious
as to what is happening....where did all the water go?  Then within
a minute or two, the giant wave comes crashing ashore- so scary.

We caught one of the last ferries back to Phuket
from Koh Phi Phi, and then cabbed it to our
next motel, Quips B & B.  We cleaned up and
headed out for dinner, on the hunt for some
delicious Thai food.  I had this drink of Chai
Tea (I think) and milk on ice- it was wonderful.

After dinner, we stumbled upon a night market place with musicians
performing, shoppers shopping, and...

more unusual foods to sample.  I decided to  'brave it' by
getting what I thought was a cherry slushie,  It had bread
cubes in the bottom, gummy things that were not sweet,
crushed ice, syrup, (lots of syrup), then vanilla frosting
all over the top.  It was disgusting!  One bite, and I found
a cute little Thai girl in pigtails who was willing to take
it off my hands.  She was precious; she placed her hands
together, like in prayer, and bowed to me to say 'thank-you.'

We passed a very cool dragon fountain; kind of creepy looking, actually.

When we landed in Phuket a few days earlier, I saw a billboard for Tiger
Kingdom.  I decided then I wanted to 'waller' a tiger, so the next morning, I did :)

I scratched his ribs, and he purred like a Willis. So very cool.

What a sweet face....The spots on their ears are for
protection.  It looks like they have eyes in the back of
their heads. I learned something today :)

He was only yawning, thank goodness!

I got a little nervous when he started to stretch and flop belly up for more pets-
their paws (and claws) are HUGE!  This big kitty cat was no Willis T.

I loved on four big tigers all together.  It was awesome.  I was like a little kid!

I tried to get the last kitty to 'tell me a story' before I left.

I was so happy to have 'wallered' the tigers that I jumped for joy when we left :)

Next, we hopped on the scooter and headed across the island in search of the
big Buddha on the mountain top.  We saw him from the ferry on our trip to
Koh Phi Phi.  The vistas on the climb up the mountain were breathtaking.

We saw a monkey at a road side cafe as we creeped up the mountain.

We also could have ridden an elephant up to the big Buddha, which may
have been quicker.  At one point, I could out-walk how fast our
poor scooter was able to go- only slightly faster than the speed of smell!

Because I was in shorts and a tank top, I had to be
properly covered up to enter in to the sacred place.

I ran my hands along the gong to make it hum

I watched little girls place coins in each of the buckets
as the monks chanted in the background.  I don't know
the significance of this ritual.  I really need to understand
this religion better.  It's been far too many years since I
took World Religions at Anderson University.  

The big Buddha was impressive. It's a giant mosaic, still under construction.

The golden Buddha, overlooking the bay was also beautiful.

Again, I did not understand the significance, but there is
a Buddha for every day of the week, except for
Wednesday.  There are two for Wednesday; an a.m.
Buddha and a p.m. Buddha- go figure. I was standing in
front of the Saturday Buddha, the day we visited it.

You could buy a piece of marble tile and write a message
on it, which will be used in the construction of the big
Buddha, or you could also purchase a bell to help
contribute to the big Buddha fund.

There were trees covered in what seemed like
thousands of these bells.

We headed back to Phuket for lunch, and then found a
Thai pancake and coffee house.  Another round of
Thai pancakes was the perfect way to end our stay
in Phuket.  We had a plane to catch back to Beijing.

My first trip out of China was truly incredible.  The even better news is that I received an email from a friend at school saying that an official announcement was made that we will not be in school the week of November 7-12.  There is a big APEC convention happening in Beijing that week, and in an effort to cut down on all the traffic and pollution, all governmental offices will be closed- which includes us!  When I got home this past Sunday from Thailand, I immediately hopped on the internet and began shopping for plane tickets.  Next stop?  The Philippines! I can hardly wait to see what adventures lie in store for me next :)  

G'nite, y'all!