Dear Friends & Family,
Well, we are currently hanging out in the Incheaon Airport in Korea again. Our trip has come full circle. It seems so long ago that we were killing time here waiting to get to Thailand. Now we have 5 more hours of a 13 hour layover before we start making our way back to our little kidlets.
Our last day in Phuket was just magical! We did a trip called Hong By Starlight. Words really will not be able to do this justice, but I'll try. We boarded a large boat with a tour group and headed North towards the sea caves. On the boat I gave my mini-presentation on the importance of romance in marriage, and we ate a delicious lunch. It was a bit of a slow ride, but before long we arrived at what looked like small jungle islands in the middle of the sea. We were each assigned an inflatable canoe with a paddle guy. Ours was named Boy. So Ryan and I get on and Boy starts paddling us over to this 'island.' It was so beautiful on the outside. All jungly and mysterious, with really cool stalagtites hanging off of it where it met the ocean. Then, out of nowhere these little caves appeared. Boy would paddle us through these openings that appeared at low tide, and in the middle of the islands were these amazingly beautiful lagoons. (I would have gotten pictures..but...) It was like something out of another time. You were surrounded on all sides by these jungle walls with trees and vines and birds and monkeys...and you were looking up at the beautiful blue sky, and wondering what it must have felt like to be the one to discover them. In one Hong (Thai for sea lagoon) we saw these crazy little magic fish that walked on two fin legs. They were so weird and freaky, but so cool at the same time. They would fill their mouths with water and breath that while they walked around, and then they would go back to the water and refill when they ran out. I really wanted one for DJ and Spencer. One thing that we noticed is that on every guided tour we have been on, the Thai people have pointed out every single living creature and taken time to appreciate it. We hurry too much through life in the States, and take way too many of God's creations forgranted. In the Animistic relgion, which predates Buddhism and is practiced in tandem with Buddhism by man Thais, the belief is that everything has a spirit or a soul. Everything is respected. I really liked that. Anyway..so we explored several amazing hongs with Boy, and then we were able to go exploring on our own for a bit. Ryan and I were able to paddle back through one hong, to a small entrance into another even smaller hong that had been inaccessable 30 minutes earlier because the tide was too low. It was so awesome to be back there all alone--and fine--we smooched! Then it was back to the boat for some jumping from the top into the ocean(which was encouraged by the Thai guides, but not allowed by the Owner, who wasn't there that day...because of the JELLYFISH!) Then we ate the most delcious meal and I ate mushrooms and fish!!! After that it was time to make our kratongs. A kratong is a special part of Thai culture. They are an offering to the spirit of the sea, to make amends for playing in it and polluting it all year. You take a trunk section of a banana tree, wrap it in banana leaves and then decorate it with flowers, incense, and candles. Everything has special meaning. The types of flowers, the number of incense sticks (always 3; for Scripture, Monks, and Buddha) and the candles. Then when it was dark we paddled into the last hong. The cave to get into this one was long and low! We had to lay flat on our backs to make it in. But once inside-oh my gosh! It was pitch dark except for the fireflies above us, and the glow in the dark plankton in the water. Then everyone lit their kratongs and made a wish before setting them afloat in the ocean. Breathtaking!!! My wish was rather long (weird, huh?) I wished that my children would lead happy healthy lives, with a strong testimony of the Gospel and that we would all return to Heavenly Father at the end of this life and be reunited with Hannah. After floating around in this magical realm for awhile we picked up our kratongs, blew out our candles and headed back for the main boat. Then it was a slow hour ride back to phuket. But it was very romantic. There were fireworks going off in various places because it was the King's birthday. (As an aside...that man is a very smart, great man and we can see why his people love him so much. We really learned a lot about him-thanks in part to Ryan's mini-presentation.) Ryan and I went up to the little top deck above everyone else and slow danced under the stars while watching the fireworks. What a great day!
Thursday morning we checked out of the JW at 8:00AM and flew back to Bangkok. It was very strange to arrive back at the Marriott where our adventure had begun and know it was only hours away from being over. Dad got two rooms for us to hang out in until it was time to head back to the States. Ryan and I took a quick dip in the pool and then went next door for an oil massage. Yikes stripes! You do it naked. And I think my netherregions might have been touched a few times. I'm not used to that! That's defineatly not how my massage over at Wat Pho went down. But the oil smelled so good, and when the massage wasn't killing me I really liked it. I do want to borrow my sisters massage bed (Lindsey is a professional massuese(sp?) and give my kids little oil massages. I think they would like it. After the massage we got dressed and headed over to Lumpini Park to the night market. Man! I want to be from here. Lumpini park was so cool. It was around 5:30 and the park was full of people. Lots of runners. Lots of children. It was a beautiful park with trails and lakes right in the middle of downtown. At 6:00 everyday the Kings anthem is played and everyone stops. Up until this point we had never been anywhere to witness this at 6:00. But sure enough, one of the many present security policemen blew his whistle and everyone in that park came to a standstill while the music played over a loudspeaker. I thought that was so great. It just made me love Thailand and the Thai people all the more. When the song was over everyone went back to what they were doing. Ryan and I spent hours in the night market. It was so huge! We got lots of great deals on more things for the kids. We've had so much fun looking for things for them. They better like everything! We left before we blew through all our baht and took the skytrain and the ferry back to the Marriott. It was clost to 10:00PM when we made it back. The others had stayed back to lay out, play tennis, work out, etc. We took quick showers and reorganized our bags before saying our good-byes to Lakes and Bundys. At 11:00PM, the folks, the Petersens, and us headed for the airport. Lakes and Bundys flights aren't until 6:00AM & 8:00AM, and they'll still beat us back.
We had a 5 1/2 hour flight to Seoul and a 13 hour layover ahead of us. Dad was anxious to get to a hotel with a fitness center so he could work out. He and Sara seemed to do that each day at least 2 times, if not 3. People, we're on vacation! Anyway, I had planned a fun outing for us on our way through Seoul the first time, but was thwarted by the hostage situation of the transit center. So Ryan and I decided to go our own way and explore while the others went on to the June Hotel to sleep and workout. Oddly, for a family trip, Ryan and I feel like we almost spent more time alone than with the group. I'm sure that can't be right. But if you figure in that they would all stay up late at night, and I was ready for bed at 9:00, that could be. Kid, I'm old! Anyways, I had been reading up before coming here and found that on this island was Haesoopia Day Spa. At least, that is what Lonely Planet called it, a "luxury salt water hot spa with nice views adn restaurants..." So, we part company and Ryan and I take the free shuttle over to the 'Spa.' Apparently my definition of a 'Spa' and Lonely Planet's definition are two wildly different things. Because when I think of a spa, I don't normally picture myself in a bunch of female only hot springs, in the buff, surrounded by 50 naked Korean women. Yes--Haesoopia is a Korean Bath House. Men on one side. Women on the other. No clothes. That's not a foreign concept when Hot Tubbing back at Liberty Farm, but it is quite a unique experience when you are the only white english speaker in the bunch. I figured "When in Rome..." and just embraced it. Though I did try to hide behind my New Moon book as much as possible. After about an hour and half I was too sweaty to take it anymore. I showered off...on the little sit down stool in the curtainless showers located next to the pools...and headed out to meet Ryan. We saw each other and just laughed. It wasn't the experience we thought we were going to have, but how many of us can saw we've swam al frescoe in a Korean Bath House? Next on our adventure was trying to get lunch upstairs. No one spoke a lick of English, which was quite disconcerting. We were so used to most people speaking it in Thailand. The waitress was rambling something off in Korean, and we were rambling something off in English that was just as foreign to her. Both of us were making hand gestures and using sign language to try to get our point across so we could order. Ry and I finally just laughed and shook our heads yes to the last thing she said, crossing our fingers that we weren't about to be served high priced squid. We don't know exactly what we ate, but we do know that we don't like Korean food. We got a small bowl of rice, a small bowl of something crunchy with some spicy sauce, a small bowl of something else crunchy with something else spicy, a small bowl of dried fish-possibly sardines-they were about the size of a large goldfish-with sesame seeds, and a bowl of soup with mystery meat and a clear noodle that was either a rice noodle or a tentacle of some sort. We laughed, said what an adventure, and tried everything. Including the fish that still had eyeballs. Well, only Ry tried to the spicy crunchy things. I don't do spicy. After that we took the ferry across in the main island. But we were so cold, and Ryan didn't have a coat, and we were a little overwhelmed with not having come across any English speakers yet, that we stayed on board and took the ferry right back to Yeongjongdo Island. We figured our nakey bath was experience and adventure enough for the day.
So, now we are in the transit center waiting for departure. It is 5:00PM. Yay! I've killed an hour on the computer. Our flight is at 9:30PM. We should arrive in Vegas around 4:00PM--we are time travellers today. We are on standby and hope we are able to get on our 8:00PM flight that will take us back to SLC. If all goes well, we will leave Seoul at 9:00PM on December 7th and arrive in SLC around 9:00PM on December 7th. Freaky, huh?
So, this should wrap up my vacation writings. If I may wax nostalgic for a moment, I'd like to give a big shout out to Dad & Mom who provided us such an awesome opportunity. We had the most incredible time! A big hug and high five to my sisters and their husbands. I love my sissys so much and I equally love my little brother-in-laws. I'd like to give a shout out to my mother-in-law, Joyce, for watching my five perfectly behaved, angelic children for 2 weeks. I hope she doesn't need to be sedated when we get back. Knuckles to my cousin Madi, for taking a weekend so Joyce could get a break. Big hugs and kisses to my kidlets, who gave us up for so long. I have missed you all terribly! And, last but not least, a round of applause to Heavenly Father for making such a gorgeous world for us to live on. I truly love Thailand. I truly love the Thai people. They are kind, respectful, helpful, happy, and good natured. I honestly wish that we could move there. I would love for my children to experience life the way they live it for at least a year. :) I will miss Thailand and her people...but I will think of them whenever I snuggle in my new silk bedspread I bought the last day of the trip. (I'm going to redo my bedroom with a Thai/JW Marriott theme.)
That is all for now. Wish me luck as I complete my journey home!
Love, Jamie