Thailand agenda

Day by day agenda...

Day 1-Saturday: Lup Buri city of monkeys. They crowd the streets like Planet of the Apes and jump on you at the sight of food in your hand. We played with them and loved every minute.
Enjoyed the evening at the ruins of Wat Ayutthaya. Beautiful sunset there. Then a reclining Buddah.

Day 2-Sunday: church in the morning. Such a nice chapel and beautiful spirit felt there.
Wat Pho, a temple in the city with a massive golden reclining Buddah. Then the boat ferry to Wat Arroon, where we dressed in traditional Thai outfits and took some gorgeous photos and watched the sunset. Went out to eat at a restaurant by the river.

Day 3-Monday: The Grand Palace. The stunning royal grounds. Learned a lot of history and cultural stories. Saw the emerald Buddah, the most important and most sacred Buddah. Beautiful!
Then we enjoyed an EPIC Thai show. Very similar to Polynesian Cultural Center. But a better night show. Haha.

Day 4-Tuesday: Tour to the floating market and riding the elephants! Our beautiful 30 year old elephant named Pak Wao.
Got an hour long Thai massage! So calming and cheap :)
Went to the church and did a program with their English class of about 100 people! Performed and taught hula and Tahitian.
Went to Kausan, which is like the Waikiki of Bangkok, where the night life for tourists is. Street vendors and clubs and weird people. But lots of cheap shopping!

Day 5-Wednesday: Tour to Tiger Temple! Took pictures with 500 lb. tigers and monks. Walked a tiger down the canyon. Bathed a "cub" 1 year old, 300 lbs, beauty. Fed her a chicken thigh. Played with them in a pool. Where else in the world can you play with tigers in the open?!

Day 6-Thursday: day of rest. Slept in, ate brunch, napped for 4 hrs, ate dinner, watched a movie at home.

Day 7-Friday: went to 3 different malls. Huge and beautiful malls! The theater was like a club and looked so fun to hang out. We sat in the lounge for a while.
Then we went to a Thai BYUH reunion which was cool. Saw a few people from when we went to school. Ate and talked story. Went home and watched a movie on the projector.

Day 8-Saturday: Our friend Doha from Thailand whom we know from byuh drove us around all day! We went to the beach! In Pattaya. A town overtaken by tourists. Not a nice beach to swim but it was fun to walk around.
Then we went to the largest illusion art museum in the world! It was cool, we took pictures by the illusions.
Then we went to doha's girlfriend's work party at a house. There was a pool! We had fun hanging out with them!

Day 9-Sunday: happy Easter!! However we failed to get to church on time so we went to the weekend market to get souvenirs and gifts :)
Ate breakfast for dinner (they don't have breakfast type meals here. We had to go to a special restaurant.)

Day 10-Monday: left for the airport at 3:30am but couldn't get on the flight home. After that it's a blur.... Slept in a friend's house. We walked around Bangkok all day. Slept at the airport.

Day 11-Tuesday: No flight. Finally left the airport and went to a nearby hotel to get REAL sleep. Swam in their pool. Met a girl our age and became friends. Went back to the airport. Didn't get on the flight. Slept at the airport.

Day 12-Wednesday: Explored the whole airport. Bought a ticket to Singapore. Flew to Singapore.

Day 13-Thursday: Slept in the airport in Singapore. Policemen woke us up, they had guns, wanting to see our passports. Uhhhhhhhhh crazy. But we were safe and innocent. Flew to Japan. Showered in the airport and it felt so good. Got 1st class again to go HOME.

Day 14-Thursday: That's right. Thursday again. Got home and got to re-live Thursday.

BEST ADVENTURE YET. AND MORE TO COME.

Mortal Kombat ruins. Wat Ayutthaya.

Gorgeous sunset by these temple ruins (where Mortal Kombat was filmed) this temple was once covered in gold. Then got burned down and the gold was stolen. Tragic but beautiful ruins. Loved exploring this area of Wat Ayutthaya.

Monkeys, elephants, tigers, Buddah

When I look back at my life and think of Thailand I will think of traveling with friends and playing with monkeys and tigers. I will think of Art and his generous hospitality. I will think of colorful and majestic temples. I will think of massive gold Buddhas and intricate designs and architecture. I will think of curry and coconut ice cream. I will remember driving fast on the highway (no speed limit here) through the country when all of a sudden a big golden colorful temple will appear on the side of the road. I will think of the nice humble people here working so hard in this HUMID HEAT. I will remember riding an elephant through the jungle and laughing with our tour guide. I will remember going to church and having great experiences there. I will think of the cheap food and street vendors EVERYWHERE.

Soooooo many memories. It's unbelievable. Livin it up!!!

First flight out of the USA

Sitting on the plane heading for Tokyo. I'm finally saying those words. And it feels so good. From Tokyo we're go to Bangkok and meeting up with a good friend.

So here's the story about the flight. I'm flying standby with my friends Umi and Sariah and Cody. (So grateful for Umi and her flight benefits). We got on the flight just fine then I got the news I'll be flying in business! Aka first class! Aka a bed! Aka everything I could possibly need! Best day of my life. I'm finally traveling to another country I've been dreaming of and I've been so blessed.
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I'm writing as recline in my seat... They fed me chicken breast and fruits and spinach and rice and a croissant and nuts and cheeeesecake. I've watched 2 movies. Now jammin to music. Got about 3 hrs left of the 8 hr flight. None of this felt real until I got on the plane. How cool is this.
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Ate again. Shrimp and fruits and spinach and brownie. Uh oh. Soooo funny that I was worried about having enough food but now I'm stuffed and eating too much dessert! ;) t minus 45min
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Descending into Japan right now. I'm biting my nails! I keep thinking about mihoko. I wish I told her to meet me! Even though she's in Nagoya..
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Landed. Plane ride more than successful.

i'm alive!

ooooook. fine. i'll come back and tell the world about my life. well to be honest, i'm really keeping this blog for my own memory and for my family and my future children. so they know how cool i was. so...I'M BACK. and i am having the best time! and blogging about all my adventures will totally be worth it because i got some BIG PLANS comin up.

for starters, oh i'm going to Thailand tomorrow. yup. oh it's my first time out of the country! whaaat. oh did i mention that traveling the world is my DREAM!? i always wanted to work for national geographic and explore every part of the world and capture sweet photos of the lands unknown. so exciting! well, that part of the dream didn't come true exactly, but i have to say that this is a HUGE deal for me - traveling...to Thailand...with a camera in hand....and good friends...ummmmm happy. an actual vacation. where i can meditate. (and ride an elephant and pet a tiger.) i'm so blessed!

so there will definitely be detailed updates about my TRAVELS. and lots of pics. so you all know what i do with my young life.

i should start to pack now... t-13 hours and i'll be on the plane!

Dads and shoe shopping

First, I love my Grandma. Love love love.

My dad needed new black, stylish coaching shoes. I took him to Macy's. As I went straight to the sleek, leather shoes, he went for the boots. Boots? Anyways, I picked a few pairs for him to try on while he joked with the young funny salesperson lady, whom was probably younger than me. She kept up with my dad's sense of humor and gave him brown argyle socks to try on with his black shoes and khaki cargo shorts. Dad had a good time teasing her and making trouble. Dad would talk to other shoppers, "Don't look at my socks! Do you like these shoes on me?" One lady stopped and examined his feet and agreed they looked nice on him. Finally, after him acting out a basketball play and shooting a few to make sure he was comfortable, I made his decision for him. He was happy. So was I. Then we walked by a little girl maybe 1 or 2 years old. She waved at Dad and he made cute baby faces and noises in the middle of the perfume isle of Macy's. After we passed the cute girl, he ran back to her and handed her money. I'm pretty sure it was a 20 cus that's all he had. The mom looked so confused and just laughed while her baby girl took 20 bucks from an old Hawaiian man.

I love my Dad. Love love love.

i live for summer

school started today for the kiddies, so i feel like summer has officially ended. but really, not for me...the cool thing about living here is that any day can be a summer day. there's no rush to do this or go there today, because tomorrow is just as perfect. anyways, hope your summer has been enjoyable.

it's weird how my iphone has changed life. everything is accessible all the time. i can take pictures of anything and share it anywhere and make my life awkwardly public. i don't know why - it's like an outer world of people who like people and want to know about strange people.

my life isn't strange, though. it's cool.

snapshots of summer. lots of beach and lots of kids and lots of sunsets.