Hi Everyone --

We made it back to India safe and sound. We had quite a traveling experience. We left the beach resort on the island of Koh Samui on Saturday at noon. We took a taxi to the pier, the ferry to the mainland, a bus to the train station, the sleeper train to Bangkok,and a taxi to the hotel in Chinatown. We got there about 7 a.m. and showered and got dressed for church. We got a taxi to take us there and we didn't even get lost too much. It is a nice English speaking ward and one of the missionaries had family in Waterloo long ago. It was fun to see him. There are plenty of expat families in the church there and it was the Primary program, so that was fun.

We got back to the hotel, had some lunch, then went to tour the Grand Palace. Unfortunately, for the second week in a row, we missed it! I guess that means we have an excuse to return to Thailand. We had another street dinner in Chinatown, then went back to rest in our room. We checked out at 11:30 p.m. and took a taxi to the airport. Our plane was supposed to leave at 2:30 a.m. and actually left at 3:30
a.m. We had to eat Dairy Queen and Burger King to use up all our Thai Bhat. It was kind of sad to be eating those fun things at 1 or 2 in the morning. Oh well! Our plane finally left and got to Delhi, was delayed again, and we finally made it to Mumbai at 10:30 a.m. Our driver was there waiting for us and we took off for Pune. It took another 4 hours to drive home and we got here around 2:30 p.m. Too
much traveling!

While we were at the beach, it rained quite a lot. We had to get those Thai massages. I decided that was what I wanted to get everyone for Christmas. Then the second day when I was all bruised up, I decided maybe some of you wouldn't like that so well. Dad kept going (3 days straight) and complained about how tough it was, but kept going. I thought I ought to pay the lady extra to keep him longer so
we wouldn't have to walk around in the rain so much! We got our laundry done -- 30 bhat per kilogram of clothes. What a bargain! We also had fun buying pirated DVD's. We mostly got them because it was so rainy and we needed something to do. We got Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Ratatouille, High School Musical 2, and some other crazy Indian movie. They weren't the greatest quality, but what
do you expect for $3? Really, the most entertaining part was how badly the English captioning was. Forget the movie -- the subtitles were so bad they were funny!

We like Thai food. Thailand is very civilized compared to India. There's plenty to do there. Doug posted the pictures on the blog, so enjoy them.

We are glad to be home.

Love, Lucinda

7 Nov 2007

Hi Everyone --

We have been having a great time in Thailand. We had a nice day in Bangkok touring around a visiting Buddha temples and interesting architecture. We had a nice dinner cruise up the river by evening and saw the city lit up at night. We had good food and Thai dancers. They snagged Hannah to dance with them at the end. It was very beautiful and interesting. We will get the pictures posted when we get back to India. They are pretty fun! We were kidnapped by a Tuk-Tuk driver for the morning. He took us to one temple then we went to a "government" store selling jewelry (where he gets a commission if we buy something), then to a clothing store (where he gets a commission if we buy something), and then to another jeweler (where he gets a commission if we buy something). We just weren't cooperating, so he finally dropped us off at the mall and left us there. We were thankful to get away. This must have been the mall where Gordon and his family watched Harry Potter movies and ate at McDonalds on their last trip to Bangkok. It was quite a huge place -- note the picture of all the escalators!

Monday morning we were picked up by our travel tour at the hotel and he drove us to a floating market. We got into a long boat/type canoe and he took us to the first shop set up along the way to the market. Then the next (where his sister was) and then the next and next and next. They feel really bad if you don't buy something at every shop. After a bit, I was even sick of shopping and telling everyone no. It's really interesting though, because in the big shopping part, every boat had someone selling something. Women had a propane tank and were cooking right there in the water on their boat. Rice, noodles, vegetables, spring rolls were lunch items. There were also boats with fruit -- bananas, coconuts, other fruit. There were boats with vegetables, boats with cold drinks, boats with everything.

Our driver then took us to the cemetery of the 2nd World War in Thailand. These were mostly graves of prisoners who died building the bridge over the River Kwai. We saw the bridge that is there today and we rode on the train for a ways past the cave that was a hospital. It was quite remarkable how they did all they did in the jungle.

We went to the Tiger Temple, where the Buddhist Monks care for the tigers that are orphaned or hurt from the jungle. We were able to get up close and have our picture taken with them. Then after, we walked up and got our pictures taken with the cubs. They were very cute and very fun. These pictures should be great too.

Tuesday we went to an elephant camp. Since logging is no longer legal in Thailand, the elephants are out of a job, so now they take tourists around. We signed up for an elephant ride and to bathe the elephants. We put on our swimsuits and went down to the water. We sat right on their neck and they wandered into the river. We scrubbed them with a brush and some shampoo. Very clean elephants! Hannah's elephant liked to fill his trunk with water and spray her right in the face. Doug's elephant liked to go very deep in the water and hold his breath for a long period of time. We had a great time and then we took them for a walk through the village and up over the hill in the jungle. It was very fun.

We made it back to Bangkok to catch our train to Koh Samui. We got our tickets straightened out and paid for -- 2nd class sleeper. It was quite an adventure -- something that Doug has always wanted to do. He found out rather quickly that the beds are not built for 6'2" Americans, but just small Asian people. We made it to the next station, found our bus, took it to the pier to get on our ferry. Again, I am not a sailor and do not like being on the water. It was about 2-1/2 hours trip to the island. I was about done for when we got there. It was pouring rain too. The rain still hasn't stopped. They say that it will keep raining until it's time for us to leave in two days. Our hotel is very nice -- we have a cute bungalow on stilts with mahogany floor and fun decorating.

Since it is raining, we are on the Internet today, we're getting our laundry done, and we are contemplating a world famous "Thai Massage". We have caught up on our sleep and are feeling better today.

Well, that's it for now. We should be home on Monday afternoon (India time). We are having a great time.
Love, Lucinda

3 Nov 2007

Hi Everyone --

We made it to Thailand! It was a tough journey. We left Pune at 7 p.m. and drove 4 hours to Mumbai and got there at 11 p.m. Feroz dropped us off at a fancy hotel and we went in to have dinner. They are not far from the airport, so we had one of their cars take us to the airport at 1 a.m. They weren't open to take our bags, so we just sat on the floor like the other Indians. We finally got through about 3 a.m. then we went and sat in the gate area until we boarded. Our flight left at 6 a.m. We had stop in Delhi and continued on to Bangkok.

The airport here is really nice and the streets are nice and the traffic flows and everything is clean. Isn't it funny how one's perception can change so quickly! We took at hot pink taxi to our hotel -- the Grand China Princess, in the middle of Chinatown. Our room is on the 20th floor. Hannah got a shower and she is now in bed and we are unable to move her. We went out for some Chinese food and to look around a bit.

We haven't been able to figure out the church timings, even though we do have 5 addresses. We don't know which ones are English speaking either. We will keep trying! Maybe they haven't put them on the website because of security issues.

Bangkok is quite a large city, but the drivers know how to stay in the lines. They do drive on the wrong side of the road like India does. They also have rickshaws, which are fancier and bigger and even sneakier than the ones in India.

Time to go to bed. We hope all is well with you!
Love, Lucinda

(Click on link at left to see pictures)