PHUKET, THAILAND

We were supposed to fly to Bangkok for 5 nights but because of all the craziness, we flew straight to Phuket. That's ok because Phuket is like heaven. Sun, beach, ocean, sun, bathtubs, Starbucks, fruit smoothies, sun, pools, McDonald's (sorry Dad and Doc, we had to eat there once), great stir fry, sun, sun, and more sun. Phuket is a big island with lots of small beaches and small islands off of it.


First we stayed at Karon Beach for 5 nights, ate breakfast buffets, fresh fruit smoothies, banana pancakes (a crepe with bananas and chocolate), snorkeled, and were really really lazy. We took a boat tour of the Phi Phi islands. We snorkeled with beautiful fish and coral, fed monkeys (yuk), ate great food, swam where the movie The Beach was filmed and unfortunately got a little too much sun.

Then, we rented motorbikes and drove a half hour north to Surin Beach for 3 nights. This was also a lot like heaven. Sun, great dinners on the beach, gorgeous pool, sun, fried bananas for 1 baht (like 3 pennies), elephant trekking, sun, and more sun.





There was this cool buoy/floating/dock/walkway thing. (See picture and video) We discovered that when a wave comes, if you run up the walkway and jump off the top of the wave you get tons of air. So fun. So tiring.




The elephant trek was exciting. We bonded with our elephants by sitting on their heads. That was fun and scary and really hard to balance. Elephants are massive animals with huge feet and really big jaws. They could definitely crush me in one second.














Best part of Surin....The Lotus. This is a grocery store. They had Ritz crackers, 3 different kinds of Campbell's Chunky soup, Smuckers strawberry jelly, dried shitaki mushrooms, and best of all.......Philadelphia cream cheese.



We are now back in Karon for 6 more nights before mom and dad leave. More adventures to come.

Mom and Dad Mitchell come to visit!!!

Friday, November 21 was a beautiful sunny day. My students spent the afternoon making gingerbread cookies and reviewing what we learned about the USA. Although I was fully there with my kids, my brain was waiting in expectation for Kyle and his parents to arrive from Madurai. When they came, I ran and gave them the biggest hug!!! The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect, I was eating amazing cookies made by my 3rd and 4th graders, and now we could share our new Kodai life with our parents.

Friday, November 21 at 9pm was a mess. It started to rain.....and it didn't stop until we left Friday, November 28th. YUK. It is odd for it to rain at the end of November with that much intensity, however, when there is a cyclone over southern India...run for cover. It poured nonstop the last week of school. Our laundry never dried, the mold came back, the fire wood got wet, and that damp annoying feeling was definitely present. But praise the Lord for rain boots, rain coats, and umbrellas. Owen and Lauren experienced the bad side of Kodai. At least now they will really be able to sympathize with us when monsoon season comes back in July.

Thankfully, rain doesn't hinder relationships. We were able to share our parents with our friends allowing them to get to know all the people we've come to love here in Kodai. Oh, and they got to experience Cheese Dosai. Soooo good. Unfortunately, our last day in Kodai (the day to finish up last minute responsibilities and to pack) I woke up vomiting and found out I had E-coli and a bacterial infection. YEA!!!!

Just in case you do not know what these are....it is vital that you have a bathroom handy at all times. Lucky for me the next day we had a 3 hour drive down the mountain, a 9 hour train ride, and a 4 hour flight. Sweet! The odds were definitely against us, but the Lord healed me quickly and I was fine by the time we got off the train!!!!

As you may have heard, people have been going a little crazy in this part of the world the last few weeks. There were bombings in Mumbai, more bomb threats in Chennai, protests in Bangkok which is where we were headed, and all airports closed in Thailand. We arrived in Chennai not knowing if we would even be able to get to Thailand, but they had a flight to Singapore and then to Phuket (our final destination). Do you know where Singapore is? I do now!!! It's amazing. They have Starbucks and Subway!!!! Dad was a little stressed because our plans were totally changed and we weren't sure what was going to happen. Kyle and I were in heaven...Starbucks and Subway in one place!!!!! And they had toilet paper in the bathrooms!!!!

That is our travel story. Next up....Phuket!!!