Safari time!

So... this will be a bumpy ride so buckle up  well i guess the bumpy part has passed so maybe not literally.
This last Friday Mj and I wanted to go and see some elephants, unfortunately no elephants are free on this island,  I'm unsure about the whole country.. so picking a tour can be difficult , we don't want to encourage any animal cruelty but we do understand that it's because of people like us that zoo's and the likes exist.
The tour we stumbled on was a whole day riding up north for 2 hours to the national park called Khao Lak-Lam Ru.
On our way we stopped to visit an elephant family,  we met and bathed Phūkheā which means mountain in Thia. He's adorable!! He had a baby brother or sister coming in 60 days.  🐘😍 Hes trained to give kisses.. <i don't mean to brag, but i got 3>.

After we got to go on a short ride, courtesy of hes older sister. Madam is what she read called.  Elles love bananas & pineapples..who knew! 🍌🍍  Next we head to a beach area where they are making a huge effort to save the sea turtles. They have ones from 30 years to few weeks old.  They are on the middle of building more adequate buildings. I had no idea how social tortoises are,  as soon as we came close they would swim over to see us looking for treats i believe.  No touching of course,  they are going back into nature.  

Next was a waterfall, and because we are here in rainy season it was full! 

Now comes the intense and unforeseen adventures. We signed up for, what we thought was a calm ride down a river on a bamboo raft. Now has anyone ever made a raft out of huge bamboo?? it's not very flexible.. or soft. And as i said, rainy season,  adding it up yet? We didn't.  We go on our merry way with our tiny 90 pound thai guide... We start with me in the middle and Mj in the back..

we almost immediately hit rough water.. you could call or white water.. yep.. we shipwrecked on a rock.  I don't mean a small rock,  a boulder of one.  Also it's a small gap so we then start a domino effect on other rafts.  Mj suffers a few collisions as i help our guide push off the rock, and has also completely sank in the back end and is drenched.
We go another... say.. 10 yards and yep another rock! This time it was a doozey.

This time i have to get off the raft completely, which is not easy because the  current is super strong,  so i have to climb up the side of the raft to the back and try to pick it up off the rock.  Technically we are stuck on 2 boulders,  front and back. As I'm in the back i glance behind me only to see in slow motion Mj roll feet over head into the white water and our guide slip and hit his head on our raft.. This is a pickle people.!! 

Oddly enough no boats are crashing into us. Although in anticipation of them coming my adrenalin starts pumping. After much pushing, lifting, and yelling in languages no one understands, we get the raft off  both and we all hang on for dear life, because once unwedged we shoot back down the river. This takes place in about 5 to 10 minutes,  but felt like an eternity.  

  In the end our guy lost both his shoes and possibly had a concussion,  we both have open wounds and i some how have both of Mjs sandals on my arms.. 🤦🏾‍♀️

whew.. I laugh even as i write this.. it was an adventure i won't easily forget.  

I will let that sink in,  and tomorrow will complete the day.  Although i warn you,  it's not as exciting. This was for sure the highlight of the trip thus far.  

😂

Day at the Beach 🏝

The other day we went on our boat excursion, that included a speedboat ride and a visit to 4 little island of the east coast of Phuket.  The views were amazing.  We both braved the water and fish and tried our hand at snorkeling. Instantly we both lost all of our snorkel gear, I managed to dive top the bottom and grab it.. Only us..

We went to the islands: Khai Nui, Yao Yai, Phi Phi (pronounced Pee Pee 😳).  The weather was perfect. Now days apart of Phi Phi is closed to the public due to the environmental issues of erosion and such.  As a tree hugger i can't fault them for that.
Our guides name was Meow Meow...And she refused to take a tip from MJ because direct quote,  "I can't take that,  it's like taking from a handicap. " Had we known that ANY surgery makes one "handicap" we would have pulled that card out a few more times.  😬  I completely recommend her.

There are about 2500 people live on the island full time and they ate very limited on pet and water sources.  One of these 4 do not even have outside electric running it.  It was such an nice day by 5 PM we what ready top crash.  Friday we are trekking with the elephants up north about 2 hours away from the island.  

Sunday Sunday Funday

As noted we are living in the party side of this island so in the evening and early morning we have what seems to be drag scooter racing below us.  Happily these last two nights it had thunder stormed so badly that MJ and I considered cuddling.  😂
Sunday we were able to visit the Phuket English Congregation on the east side on the island. We where able to snag a ride with a brother and his study. Both are from the Philippines and very chatty.

The congregation is small even in the high season maybe 50 or 60, and in low season which is now its down to 30. They have a ton on visitors which helps their numbers and participants for the meetings. I had planned service for two of one days here, but the work here is restricted and they don't have enough locals to get with us on a regular basis.  Like many governments they don't understand the idea of giving something for nothing.  We're allowed to do informal, which I'm trying to take advantage of, the language barrier is..just that a barrier. Many have not even heard of Jehovah's Witnesses! The reason being of course is that thes island is predominantly Muslim. (i felt i should adapt to the local custom, when in an area that i see no visitors. )

Also The one congregation had had the whole island but they have been able to recently formed another English group half way up, in the middle of the island.  The hall also has a Tagolog congregation as well. 

By the time we leave our street we will make sure that they all know who we are and the difference there soon will be.  

chat again laters

We have arrived! Patong Beach!

We landed!! For awhile anyway.. (Now pleased realize that when I booked our room I based it on a few things.... 1st beach location based on price, 2nd the food stalls around it and 3rd thd Hotel amenities. With that being said please note this part of town is not for families.. oops. But we got a great price and we are normally in bed when this part of town comes to life anyways 😁 ).
We do feel very safe here especially in twos with it being a tourist area, so no reason to worry.
For the time being the exchanged rate is wonderful, it's 32 baht to 1$, that means one can live on about $10 a day. It does take time to get used to them saying something is 1500 baht and not have a coronary. 💓

For dinner we walked down to the fresh food Bazaar and got a meal for $1.50! We decided that will be our dinner of choice while we are here. 😂  They sell fresh squeezed pomegranate, pineapple, mango, even dragon fruit,I believe, here for less then a dollar. All of the food is cooked right in front of you free and streaming. I've fallen in love with it. There's plenty of meat on a stick of course and seafood all of which I'm going to try because I have the stomach of a goat. 🐐

For our 1st breakfast we tried Indian food today we went with an English/American breakfast and that is never complete unless there is baked beans. (FYI beans are never at breakfast in America. 😂) Just so you know these pages will be mentioning food often.. Just be aware. 

Sunday will be our first day in the ministry, til then we relax taking in the sun and rain.