The Guilt-Filled Post

So, I've put off this post as long as I can.  We've spent the past few days exploring the beaches of Thailand and I do feel a little guilty when I hear about all the snow, subzero temps, freezing rain.  But it's more like "guilty, not guilty" :).

My pictures are completely out of order but I'm too short on time and too lazy to reorder them.  From Bangkok we traveled south by train to Hua Hin.  Our first "resort" was a bust.  It was a house down a stinky, noisy alley a little way from the beach, and the beach became nonexistent at high tide.

So then we moved a few kilometers south to Dolphin Bay.  Suddenly this was like the Thailand beaches I had pictured in my head--blue water and rocky islands in the distance with a wide, white beach.  Plus we ended up staying at a real resort so the girls were loving it.

After a few nights there, we traveled by overnight bus down to Krabi and from there took a van/ferry combo to the island of Ko Lanta.  We've been here for nearly a week and are preparing to leave for Singapore today.

Some pictures for you to enjoy as you dream about a Lake Michigan summer:

Sunset and dinner at our hotel on Ko Lanta

In case you think it's all sunbathing, real life goes on.  This is the local laundromat where apparently you can wash clothes or babies.

One day we took a 4 island snorkeling trip.  

A view of our hotel from the water.  We stayed in the cheap units across the road :)

This was the boat we took for our snorkeling trip.  It's called a longtail boat--at the end of that long shaft is the propellor.

This is the island, Ko Ngai, where we had lunch on our snorkeling trip.  So beautiful!

We snorkeled in two different areas and saw lots of pretty fish and a sea urchin.

Dolphin Bay Resort.  Full of white people :).  It was Chinese New Year holiday so families were here from lots of international schools in Beijing, Bangkok, Chiang Mai--Americans, French, Scandinavians, Germans

Dolphin Bay.  Pool on one side, beach on the other.

Another view of the beach at Dolphin Bay.

Random things:

We've been sitting for over an hour as Mike makes calls trying to get a van to pick us up and transport us to the airport.  Yesterday we were told they would come at 8.  Now they're saying they don't pick up from this hotel.  All this complicated by poor phone connections and the language barrier.  These things are becoming par for the course.  We'll keep you posted on the drama!

Another tooth has been lost!  This time by Trina.  She has requested that the tooth fairy take the tooth now, but pay her in Australian dollars rather than Thai baht.  Good thing the tooth fairy is flexible.

Celebrating our first birthday on the road.  Happy 15th birthday, Faith!!  Unfortunately we're just spending the day traveling, but we have little gifts for her along the way and hopefully we'll be in Singapore for a birthday dinner.