Island Paradise

Before taking off for good, our whole family took a week to fly down to the southern islands off the Thailand coast for some fun in the sun. We flew to the main island of Phuket (pronouced poo-ket') on the Indian Ocean side of Thailand and spent four nights on Koh Phi Phi (pronounced pee-pee') island and three nights at Kata Beach on Phuket. We hired a very beautiful and friendly island man named Rin to take us in his long-tail boat around to the nearby beaches and islands. We stopped a few times to snorkel. Wow, it was definitely the best we had ever experienced. Dan could not get enough snorkeling. It was like living the Finding Nemo movie with all of the fish characters swimming around your head. We saw long fish, short fish, red fish, blue fish, purple parrot fish, yellow angel fish, fish striped long ways, fish striped short ways, spotted fish, speckled fish, a puffer fish, and even a squid. At one point we got greedy looking for sharks but we got tangled up in the waves and cut up on a group of rocks (we all came out ok). When we weren't snorkeling, Rin took us to swim in the incredible, warm, clear, turquoise waters. We spent an afternoon frolicking on the beach made famous in the Leonardo DiCaprio movie "The Beach." It was quite heavenly. Back at our hotel on the island we got to see fire twirlers, beach bums, and other assorted locals hanging around and wondering when the next tourist rush was going to happen. That is because most everywhere we went, we were among the only ones there due to the low tourist season and the low world economy. It was mostly good for us as we got good deals on activities and didn't have to share things with too many other tourists. It was a little eerie at times, however, as more than once we found ourselves the only group in a restaurant with a bunch of Thais hovering over us trying to satisfy our every want and need. We learned that some times life is hard, but you just knuckle down and go with it.

On Kata Beach, Max and Anna bodysurfed to their hearts' content. They are now officially surf kids, if only they will be able to continue back in the cold waters of the California central coast. Kim, Ginger, and Dan snacked on fresh fruit and drinks while watching from the beach chairs, occasionally stepping into the water for a refreshing swim or surf. After seven days of this, we decided we better get back to reality before the kids suffer eternal "pruniness" of their fingers and toes or excessive sunburn of their cute little faces. We had a lot of fun on the islands. We learned some interesting island culture. We even trekked uphill to see the "Tsunami Village" on Koh Phi Phi (many were killed there in 2004). We caught a Monday flight back to Bangkok and checked in that night for our last couple of days, staying at the same University hotel where we had been for a month before we left.