Sun, sand, and sunburn

Pictures:

#1-#2: The Karon Beach in Phuket, Thailand (located about 2 hours by plane from CM; on the western side--Andaman (sp?) Sea (very beautiful water--shades of blues and greens)

#3: Random pic of my sandals and feet (yes, I was trying to be artsy)

#4: My favorite at the hotel restaurant: The Club Sandwich (NO RICE!)

#5: Our pool (yes, it had a waterfall--and a poolside bar, at which I ordered a few banana shakes:)

#6: The mountains (are so pretty!)

#7: Upon our arrival, Sara and I were given leis--very pretty!

#8: This is me, trying to appear optimistic, despite the rain! It did clear up, though, and the snorkling was awesome!

#9: Pretty island (not James Bond Island, though--that's farther north)

#10: The group (minus Pam) from Virginia . . . well, David is Thai, but he did live with the Counts in Virginia for a year! Anyway, from left to right: Sara (the one I "babysat" last summer), Kris, Sissy, John, Pat, and David is in the very front! We had a lot of fun together. :)

AND NOW, A WORD FROM ZAN . . .

Well, after a much needed break, I'm back from the beach. Our little group headed down to Phuket for a few days for some much needed R & R. We left Friday morning and came back to Mike and Debbie's house on Monday night. We flew to Bangkok first, and then down to Phuket. It was a long holiday weekend here, so getting tickets and everything arranged was a little stressful. We really didn't realize it was a Buddist holiday until we were at the travel agent and she pointed out that the direct flights were all full. Oops, I guess I should brush up on my Buddist holidays! :) Anyway, we got seats and arrived safely around 1 PM. I would give you a play by play of everything we did, but it wasn't much! We swam in the beautiful pool, played in the amazing waves, and ate some great food. The weather didn't cooperate every day, but overall it was really nice. I didn't wear sunscreen (when will I ever learn?) and I got FRIED on Saturday. Maybe it will turn into a very nice tan, but for now it's quite painful. Don't worry, I'll live!

It's low season at the moment, so we got a good deal on our hotel and the restauants and shop owners literally begged us to eat at their restaurants or shop in their stores. A few of the restaurants offered incentives if you ate there-- 25 % off, 15% off and free salad bar, 10% off, 1 hour free internet. Crazy! We ate most of our meals (no rice for me!!!!!!!!!) in the restaurant of our hotel---the view of the sea was beautiful and the food, although about double as much as CM, was really good. We also took a half day tour of the islands, but the weather was rainy for the first part of the morning. We were able to go snorkling, which was pretty cool. I'm not really a fan of swimming with the fishes, but they were beautiful, and the islands were very pretty, too. At one point, I held out a banana for the fish to eat, and the intensity of their attack on the banana caused me to: 1) scream and 2) drop the banana as fast as possible. Have I mentioned I don't like swimming with fish???? It was still awesome, though. A memorable moment, for sure.

At night we ventured out around our hotel and looked around the little beach town. We used the internet and walked through "Crazy Market" as we called it. The vendors there were really hurting for business, I guess, because they were soooooo annoying. The creepy part was that it was kinda deserted, so you couldn't really look at anything because they would just hound you to buy something, anything. Not cool. "Where you from? What you want to buy? T-shirts, over here. You want T-shirts?" No thank you!

Other than that, it was a very very nice break from the heat in Chiang Mai, and it was nice to have a break from this "go go go" lifestyle. Most of the Virginia group leaves on Thursday, so we are packing it in for the next couple of days. Last night we got back around 6 and headed to the orphanage for worship time. It was great to see the kids! After worship, we had to go to the Night Market so people could pick up their pictures they had drawn and get fitted for the clothes they had made. It was a long day, believe me!

This morning I woke up late (9 o'clock--haha), read a book, and now I am lounging around. The group headed off to the pottery place and the tribal village store, both of which I've been to, so I opted to stay home. I needed to use the internet anyway! We are headed to the orphanage when they get back, so I need to get stuff done. I have a few loads of laundry to do!

I miss you all! I cannot believe I've been here for 3 weeks already. The time is flying by!

I will write more soon!

Susannah

Ps. On the plane ride, David attempted to teach me Thai. Actually, it was a good lesson, and I'm really trying! He's a good "koon crew" (teacher), so maybe I'll come back this time knowing more than Hello and Thank you . . . we'll see. :)