We now find ourselves in Thailand...and we're not complaining!  We are reminded why this was one of our favourite countries to visit.

The people are friendly, it's beautiful and it is so easy to get around (relatively speaking) and the food is AMAZING (gaining back all the weight we lost in India).  The cities are modern (with 7-11, McDonalds and Subway and everything!...sinkin' our teeth into a burger for the first time in 8 months!) but there is enough of a cultural difference to make it interesting.

 

We spent the first few days on the gorgeous beaches of the south, enjoying the sand and surf.  It was amazing to see the recovery they have made since the Tsunami and also sobering to realize that we were speaking, laughing and interacting with real survivors of this natural disaster (heard some very sad stories and once again, reminded how fortunate we are -see photos: one of our boat guides lost his 7 month old son and had many bones broken). 

 

We hit Bangkok for "Songkran" the Thai New Year Festival.  What a wild time!  Among other traditions, throwing water at each other is the biggest and most fun!  4 days of water fights in the streets.  So fun, and thank goodness because they were having an almost unbearable heat wave.  This was probably a highlight of Noah's trip as she joined other kids in throwing water at scooters and passer-bys and, dancing in the street and riding in the back of pick-up trucks throwing water at everyone in sight! (Pics to come).

 

Then we spent the past week at "Elephant Nature Park", and elephant sanctuary run by a fantastic little Thai lady named "Lek" who has devoted herself to saving the Asian elephant (now dangerously at risk of extinction due to mistreatment and overwork).  So now we have been introduced to the world of saving animals as well as people.  Many of the elephants in the park have been rescued from horrible situations and Lek and her staff made us aware of the terrible abuses these beautiful, intelligent creatures are subjected to just so they can paint pretty pictures, give us rides and log the timber out of disappearing forests....  Anyway, we had a great time getting to know the elephants, and it wasn't all just fun, we worked hard too (elephants make a lot of Poo!).

 

We have a few days left here exploring ancient cities and hill tribes.... stay tuned.