Friday in Pattaya

Friday in Pattaya.

We got up and headed out to the Elephant Sanctuary with Bill, Helena, Mark and Annie to ride Elephants! They had Thai dancing then elephant battles and then we went for a ride on an elephant.

This was one of the decorated elephants that was part of the performance.
They literally just walk these elephants around the open areas, and you better just get out of the way.... I thought it was funny, as in the US there would be security up all over keeping people away...but not here - you were up close and "look out" came out of my mouth a few times to H so she didn't get run over :)

For 50bat (not even $2) I got to hug a tiger (scary!! but cool) and hang out with this monkey.
The Monkey put his hand down my tank and do I had to hold it - he made me laugh hard!
I am pretty sure both the tiger and the monkey were drugged - as really, it is not in their nature to hang out with humans... so that made me sad, but at the same time, how could I pass up this opportunity? I loved the whole experience!

Below is the elephant H and I rode. It was bumpy and fun.
Much better photos on our cameras! We saw a baby elephant too - so very cute, I called it Dumbo :)

Below is our view from the ride.

Friday night was the Grooms dinner...which was Chantanas Family meeting everyone from the USA for the first time. It was at Cabbages and Condoms. The place is set in the trees and overlooking the ocean, we go there just as the sun was setting and had some fabulous sunset photos...on my camera, not on my phone - drat! (I use my phone to upload photos to the blog).
The restaurant is owned by the man who owns the condom factory. The profits go to educating locals in rural areas on STDs, and to build schools. They believe that sex education and protection should be as easily and readily available as cabbage and vegetable gardens. They give away condoms to all patrons... so yes we all have condoms...woohoo!

It was a great night of more traditional Thai food. Yummy! And good drinks and good fun people. H and I are getting used to greeting people in Thai and bowing instead of shaking hands. I actually like it :)

We took a tuk-tuk home. Basically we are all in the back of a pick up truck and hanging out - it was a lot of fun!

Pattaya Thursday

Today was a relaxing day. We got up after a whopping 3 hours sleep (for me) and headed to the yummy bfast buffet at the hotel. Then we ventured out to the streets of Pattaya.
WOW. It is an interesting city. We ended up on the main street where all the bars are, and thought "I can only imagine this place at night" as the day time was very interesting people watching.

For those of you not familiar with Pattaya, it is known for its prostitution and STDs. Nice place to get married ;) It is VERY common to have young Thai women all over men here and they are commissioned to how much the men drink, and hopefully go home with them. The stories have been interesting, and due to jet lag we are in the hotel instead of back to that street tonight. BUT tomorrow - we will be there. H and I decided that while all the guys get the attention from the young girls, we compete to see who can spot the he/she's the best...as they are very common too.

We stopped in and got a Thai Massage (in my 1000 things you must do before you die book, it says this is a must). So for $6us ($199 bat), we got 60minutes of amazing Thai massage. Yes, you read that right - $6! I will be going back, it was wonderful! :)

Tonight we went to a place on the beach for dinner. Chantana (Maks fiance, who is Thai), ordered for us... which made me put my "when in Rome" hat on and try new things. I was doing my best to get some good food porn, but it was pretty dark, and as I use my phone to upload photos here ... they are not great.

I tried crab, liked it.
I tried Prawns, and I liked those too!! Who knew...especially with the super spicy Thai peppers on them. I felt a little bad ripping their tails off - but once I did it - look out - I had about 4 of them :)

FB cleaned up the places (see below). He was on a role, I wish I had his stomach lining :)

Heading to bed now. Tomorrow morning we are meeting up with Maks siblings and some other guests to go to the Elephant Sanctuary at 9am. I am hoping a good nights sleep will kick jet lags as*

Good night!
KK

Good Morning Pattaya

These are the views from our balcony....good way to wake up.
We got a call at 8:30am...MY PHONE WAS FOUND and I have it back already! :)
Woohoo!!
Good start to our first day here.
We are off to explore, then nap by pool. I am tired.

What a day, Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Wow - what a day! I woke up excited for the Inauguration of Obama to be out 44th President. I don't care how you voted...you cant not be excited about the fire he has lit under this country. I am emotional thinking about this historic day... that and it is 5:30am in Thailand and i am awake and have been since I landed here at 12:30am.

I got to the airport in plenty of time so I could watch all of Obamas swearing in and his speech.
I ran to Ikes and asked to be seated in front of the TV...I was not alone in this. It was so cool to see all the people working there gather around the TV and the silence, complete silence, from everyone inside Ikes as this moment took place....of course that was ended when we all applauded after the swearing in. It was a moment I will never forget.

After that I ran to G4 to get on board a 747 to Tokyo...I was in Biz Class and on the upper deck! Very fun. 12 hours in a plane, business class or not, I can say isn't that fun. I watched a couple of movies and slept as much as I could. We landed in Tokyo and I found my way around while looking for my friend Heather...and no kidding, looking for blond hair worked, as I found her and other wedding goers at a bar. So I joined them for a drink before we all departed for our separate flights to Bangkok.

So here we are finally in Thailand... 7.5hours after landing in Tokyo...yes that is about 20 hours of flying and a while day lost. Heather found me at BKK and we found our car service and had a 1.5hour ride to Pattaya (said like Patti-ya).

We met up with Mak in his suite for a drink and to get caught up. It was great to chat with him and hear all about the traditional wedding we will be part of Saturday.

So at 4:30am we came back to our room...H crashed, I am wired. Really??
I decided to blog and then realized - WTF, I think my phone, the only one that works here in Thailand, was left in the limo. Fu*k! I just talked to the front desk and in broken English they are going to call the driver. I know Mak has the drivers cell, so I will touchbase with him in the morning - oh wait, it is morning - okay later today? Cross your fingers we will get it back.

I am going to try and sleep now. Hope you are all well...it is funny to think there are 4 guys I know coming here for the wedding, that are on the same flights I took "today" right now... just starting the journey I just finished. WOW that is a long journey....why am I awake??

Oh and we just saw on TV Hillary was approved...who were the 2 that voted no...really???
Woohoo!
Think she can help me get my phone back?

Christmas in Vegas... sort of

I am in Henderson, Nevada. Visiting my mom and Mitch in Henderson for Christmas. Amy and Rob are here too. I decided I should blog as I am "traveling".

I am lucky enough to get to stay at Charlie and Carols house instead of a hotel. The bed here is comfy and as I sit here and type the Christmas lights just came on - it is a great atmosphere.

We went to friends house Christmas Eve for perogies (sp?) and fun. It was very fun! I think there were 12 of us. Lots of wine and food...too much food! We then went back to mom and mitches and hung out and talked. I slept there so we could have present opening in our PJs the next morning. Which is just what we did.

Rob and I were the first up at 6:30am (dogs get up then - so we get up then)...plus it was 8:30 MN time. So soon everyone was up and we opened presents and stockings. My favorite part of the holiday truly is watching people open what I got them. I always strive to find a gift they will truly love. I think I did good this year.

We then had Christmas bfast all together - Mitch cooked.... it was VERY yummy. Basic foods, nothing fancy - but super good! We managed a few Mimosas too...always a good addition to breakfast.

After that we got ready and headed to a movie. Frost-Nixon. Excellent film! Go see it. That's all I am going to say!

Mom and Mitch decided they did not want to have Christmas Dinner in and so we ended up at a sports bar down the road from them. It was definitely different to go out to eat that day. I have never done that...not sure what I think of it. After dinner we went to back to Mom and Mitch's and watched Transformers...actually a surprisingly good movie. A bit too long on some of the action scenes, but over all a fun movie....and of course we chowed down on Christmas cookies. Goodness I have a lot of calories to burn!!

Today (dec 26) we got up and went shopping. I exchanged the lovely bamboo salad bowl my mom got me for the next size smaller at Williams Sonoma. It is beautiful and I cant wait to use it - probably NYE! We hit the outlet malls too and it was INSANE! I am hoping BBY was busy today and sales were good too. Crossing fingers!!

Tonight we are headed to Char and Dicks (friends of Mom and Mitch's)for what will surely be a DELICIOUS dinner as Char is an amazing cook. I think Amy, Rob and I may head to the Hard Rock after that for a bit.

Tomorrow, my step brother Marc and his wife and daughter come. I don't think I have seen Marc in 8-9 years. It should be fun and I am excited to meet his beautiful daughter Hailey. I guess I am a step aunt?? Is that a title? I will take it :)

Merry Christmas to Anyone who still checks my blog :)
KK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xmX0MtScQ4

My Italy Video - Enjoy!

Hello I am home...in fact at work and have a few minutes till the day of meetings begin.

I am still basking in the glow of the vacation even with the news of a friends layoff (as well as many other people) here at BBY. They are contractors and well these things happen at tough economic times....that said, it still REALLY sucks to watch people go through this. I have other friends laid off right now and others in my life worried it is coming their way. Sigh. This all is hard to see and makes a girl very grateful to be employeed at a company that I believe in and love working for.



I am getting through emails and fighting jetlag. I am going to try and make it through the whole day so I can get back on track asap. We will see how that goes :)



I got this email and thought it was perfect for me as well, I am now 40 and I do believe now that the anticipation of this age was FAR worse than the actual age. Although turning it in Cinque terre was the way to go :)



Well I am signing off till my next travels... could be in 2 weeks from today, otherwise Vegas for the holidays with Mom and



A light look at life's journey
"Inside every older person is a younger person--wondering what the hell happened."
-- Cora Harvey Armstrong


"The hardest years in life are those between 10 and 70."
-- Helen Hayes (at 73)


"Old age ain’t no place for sissies."
-- Bette Davis


"Thirty-five is when you finally get your head together and your body starts falling apart."
-- Caryn Leschen


"If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere."
-- Frank A. Clark


"I'm looking forward to looking back on all this."
-- Sandra Knell


Like beauty, joy is one of the highest vibrations on this planet.

finally....amsterdam & starbucks refresh

Last day of my holiday :(

Today is Saturday, which means tomorrow I travel home.
I am excited for my own bed, but sad to see Europe go away... I do love it here.

Today Suzi and I got up to head to Monaco and Monte Carlo. The sun gods graced us with lovely weather for the first part of the day, which was great, as the scenarie in that place was amazing!!

We hiked around and as we came across the Casino... we saw a lot of money and flash that made us feel poor and frumpy. Sadly the casino was not open yet so we could not bet even one euro...nor did we have time for the castle.

We had a great lunch, I bought some french wine I hope to be able to get ho,e (cross your fingers) and then we raced back to meet up with Josh who flew in this afternoon.

I am having PC issues so I will update all of Nice when I am home... till then ciao! (I know its not french, but I loved Italy enough to stick with it)

kk

Dinner in Nice and then a better experience at the wine bqr

I will blog on this night when I am back...but trust me, it is a good story...and the food porn is um, interesting?