Thailand Part 3

The souvenir photos…

We held and fed this tiger cub at Fantasea and it was one of the coolest things we have ever done!

Thailand – Part 2

The hotel – Graceland Resort and Spa

What a fantastic place to stay, we loved it!

Yep, it even had its own bowling alley!!!

Day Trippin…

So much to see and do… could have easily stayed on an extra few weeks. Here are some of the things we got up to…

Watching crazy people catch venomous mangrove snakes in their mouth.

Watching other crazy people kissing king cobras.

King Cobra eating a green tree snake for lunch – I took this pic through the open cage door! See the otters looking in below!

Cute Mongoose – very elaborate sign :)

We visited the Big Buddha which is now about 80% complete and very impressive.

Being blessed by the monk.

We went on an ATV ride through the jungle…awesome!!!

We visited Chalong Temple which was amazing.

They have a huge kiln outside where they set off lots of firecrackers every 5 minutes for luck. From 20 metres away we had to cover our ears. The Thai couple setting them off were doing so without wearing any earmuffs… don’t think they have seen a health and safety policy!

We were lucky enough to be there during a Thai wedding.

Just a fraction of the beauty inside the temple.

We went on a safari (Siam) where we saw how they train monkeys to pick coconuts.

Rode on a water buffalo.

Had a Thai cooking lesson.

Learnt all about rubber tapping – I stayed well away for this demonstration since learning I am allergic!

Met some baby elephants.

Rode an elephant through the jungle amongst picturesque views of the ocean.

Went on an amazing trip to Phi Phi Island on a speedboat. This was our captain and his skipper. Was pouring with rain when we left!

But luck was on our side when the weather fined up in time for us to do some beautiful snorkelling – there were literally hundreds of fish all around you.

Swimming in Pileh cove had to be the highlight of the trip – I have never been anywhere more beautiful and pictures cannot do it justice.

Monkey Island was also part of this trip – ugly but so cute!

The weather turned nasty as we left to go home – we were all told to put on our life jackets and people were screaming when the boat was being washed away as we were trying to board. Fortunately us toughies were seated away from the vomiters on the way back and enjoyed getting airborne over the waves!

Arriving at Fantasea – theme park, restaurant and show – indescribable!

The show was held in the palace of the elephants and was amazing. We were not allowed to take any photos or video but we brought home a copy of the DVD.

Well we had a FANTASTIC holiday, really enjoyed being able to spend those 10 days together. We did start to miss the kids a little towards the end but I don't think they missed us as they had so much fun with their various babysitters' to whom we are very grateful. Unfortunately we came down from our holiday buzz with a bang soon after arriving home and discovering that our 12 year old border collie Buddy (our first baby!) had been in hospital and on deaths door with pneumonia. Here he is, a former shadow of himself but lapping up all the attention and enjoying sleeping on the couch! We cannot wait til his beautiful coat grows back! He’s a tough old soul which is good as we are hoping he can get a job to pay all the vet bills!!!!!