Back in the USA

We have arrived back in Colorado after a long day of traveling.  The last couple days of our trip were amazing.  We spent them in Bangkok with one of Meg's friends, Kate from college.  She grew up in Bangkok and went to high school and college in the US.  It was great to have a local tour guide. She took us to have dinner at a tasty Thai restaurant where we grilled our own beef and pork on a little skillet and put various delicious sauces on it.  The next day she took us to her Aunt's house for a family brunch.  There was a ton of food and we tried everything from fish stomach soup to dumplings to shrimp balls and had a blast with Kate's family.  After that we cruised on over to the famous market in Bangkok, there are thousands or little stalls of all kinds of goods.  It is easy to get lost among all the people and the abundance of shops.  We had a lot of fun bargaining and getting last minute goods.  The next day we headed off on a trip that Kate planned to go see a floating market and fire flies on the river.  We had so much fun going to the floating markets and eating the fresh foods, shrimp, scallops, pork skewers, mangos and some pad thai.  We ended our trip at the Sky Bar which is an outside bar that overlooks the entire city.  The views were amazing.  The next morning we hopped on our plane.  We had a fabulous journey and enjoyed every minute of it.  Thanks for following us on our journey.  Until next time.......... Signing out,

Lauren and Meg 

On Ko San Road having our last cocktail of the trip...
Kate, her friend, sister and us at the floating market

Local Floating Market

Eating on the steps at the market, fresh shrimp and scallops yummy

A little Mai Thai Boxing 

Floating market 

View of Bangkok at night 

Cocktails at the Sky Bar

We gave food to the monk and he blessed us before our trip home.

The last of our journey...

We have spent the last 6 days in Siem Riep, Cambodia. We have done a lot here, woke up and attempted to see the sunrise of Ankor Wat, rode bikes around the city, got pedicures from Greek Monk fish that eat the dead skin off your feet, shopped at the night market, went out for Meg's birthday with some locals, volunteered at an orphanage, sunbathed on our roof top terrace, took a boat trip to a floating village, went to the landmine museum, and more. We are off to Bangkok today, by plane so we don't have to eat up another day of travel. We felt like we have done all that we can do here and have seen all that we can see. Only a few days in Bangkok and then home. The time has flown by! Love you all,
Lauren and Meg

Landmine muesem in Cambodia

Meg's Birthday cake

View from our hotel in Koh Tao

Scuba Diving!

Meg and I with our Cambodian friend on her birthday, he took us to a local club, quite fun

Koh Tao, and on to Cambodia

For the last 4 days we have been exploring the island of Koh Tao. The main activity here is suba diving and we have been on four amazing dives. Most of the people here are taking their certification course which consists of four days studying their scuba textbook.... Lauren and I feel very privileged and lucky to have this under our belts! The dives have been fabulous! After a scuba review we went to look at some of the most magnificent coral in the entire world. The colors and fish that you see is unbelievable. we have even been attacked by a large territorial fish, but luckily we came away unharmed.

Tomorrow we are spending the day on the beach (in hope that the rain stops) for one last day to tan. At four we will start our long journey to Cambodia (boat to the main land, overnight bus to Bangkok, and then a 10 hr bus to Sieam Reap...!)

Thilands Islands!

Drinking buckets on the beach and watching people jump rope that was lit on fire, we were happy....

We are considered "Flashpackers" this is a fancy backpacker, we stay at nicer hotels and fly places instead of taking 20 hour bus rides.....

The buckets........

The beach hike to rock climbing

Boat tour of the islands, the water is sooooo pretty

View of Ko phi Phi the tsunami hit the right side....

A short little hike to an amazing view. Hard to imagine a tsunami coming in behind us.... The town is still rebuiling.

Thai boxing winner!!

Maya Beach, this is where "The Beach" was filmed!

Today was a rainiy day, looked like a hurricane passed through, very high winds and lots and lots of rain. We opted to watch a few movies, get massages and drink fruit shakes watching "Friends" the tv show at a bar that continually played them. There is not a lot to do on an island when it is monsooning...... We uploaded some pictures for your enjoyment and realized that they are all of us, we must really like taking pictures of ourselves or thought you would want to see our smiling faces.

signing out,

lauren and meg

Railay Beach and Ko Phi Phi

We are currently in Ko Phi Phi which is an island that was severely devastated by the Tsunami. Much of it is rebuilt but you can still see many hotels and restaurants being rebuilt or deserted. The beaches are beautiful white sand with the most amazing blue water. The island is fairly small and can be explored on foot in 45min which we did the first day we arrived. We went snorkeling today and because the water is so clear you can see every little detail on the brightly colored fishes. Tomorrow we are headed to Phuket, a larger more well known area also affected by the Tsunami. We are only going to stay there a short time before going to Ko Tao, another island more North to do some scuba diving. We are both certified so it is easy to schedule a day dive, for less than $80. Not a bad deal. The previous beach we were on we liked a little more (Railay), it was smaller and had a nice vibe. The rock climbing was amazing, you got to the top and the views were incredible, cliffs overlooking the water. We will try to upload some pictures at our next stop. Hope all is well and everyone had a great holiday. We were in bed by 9 watching a movie, not much of a celebration but the activites and sun always take it out of us. Signing out,
Lauren and Meg

Chaing Mai and Pai- We're off to rock climb more to come later....

A few pics from Chaing Mai and Pai. We spent the last week exploring northern Thailand. In Chaing Mai we took a cooking class where we learned how to make many local dishes. We saw the city and all the temples from riding bikes and hiring Tuk Tuk drivers... After three days there we took an adventurous bus ride up to Pai (a small town in the mountains) which we absolutely loved! It is a backpackers paradise. We arrived and walked across bamboo bridges until we found the perfect little bungalow overlooking the river. The small streets are lined with small restaurants, yoga shops, trekking companies, and bars. When night time came all the backpackers join together, play drinking games and tell stories from their day's adventure. We rode an elephant (bareback) for a half day which was quite interesting- but very fun! We took a short ride through the jungle and then headed to the river where the elephant rolled around in the water and threw us off us back. It was great, but a little scary knowing that a massive animal could roll over and splatter you...

The next day we departed for our two day raft trip with an older couple. The river wasn't quite up to "Colorado Rapids" because their rainy season isn't in full effect yet. But nerveless it was a blast and we enjoyed rafting through the jungle. We never saw monkeys but a few snakes were spotted dangling off trees.

We are now down south on Raily Beach off of Karabi (which is on the Adamin Sea). It is amazing here with the white sand beaches, clear warm water, and bungalows overlooking the sea. We are off to Koh Phi Phi tomorrow! Will update more later!


Lauren holding on for dear life riding the elephant
Hansen, the elephant who moves very slowly!

Pool sharks that we beat! Free drinks for the winner.