Dreaming of a White, er, Salty Christmas

Holidays in Thailand. Ken’s 40th Birthday. The island of Koh Tao.  All sorts of amazing coves, perilous moped rides, deep dives, luxurious infinity pools (okay, not all sorts- but one really nice one!), and more green curry. 

Arriving in Koh Tao

Here’s what Ken had to say about it all in our holiday email:  “We are currently in Thailand where it is about 90 degrees, so it seems a little weird to be wishing people Merry Christmas, but it’s true.  It’s also my 40th birthday, so kind of a big deal. Happy Birthday to me! Because we are far away, Molly is planning an actual birthday party around June 25th. It will be my 40.5 birthday and I’m very excited about it not having real birthday parties ever. Today was very special though as Molly surprised me with a fistfull of birthday cards that she had the foresight to collect before we even left. As I opened one after another I got a little emotional about the love I have for my friends and family. Thank you so much to all of you who took the time and effort to get a card to Molly, to Katie for playing post office, and thank you Molly for making my 40th absolutely great.  After breakfast, we went snorkeling… 

 

Feeling the Love at his Birthday Breakfast

 

Merry Christmas! 

I sat down and wrote out some goals and some changes I want to make, and this quote meant a tremendous amount to me today: “Today is the first day of the rest of my life.” I plan on making some positive changes and nothing gets your attention like the fact that we are all mortal and marching second by second towards the next adventure.  We dined last night on a restaurant deck, sitting upon cushions and looking out over the sea. Molly suprised me with a scarf dress that she basically created on the fly, and blow dried hair, and fresh lipstick. She looked amazing. It was the first night in our newest address, a luxurious retreat called Thipwimarn on the island of Ko Tao.  That is all for now, and I just want to close with this. We love you, and we miss you, and we wish you the very best for Christmas and all the miracles that it brings. And please send a prayer to my mom, who has missed me for my birthday the last two years. Next year is in Index mom!”

One of the very few things I had booked in advance was a nice place to stay for Ken’s birthday.  It was wonderful to have 3 days at a resort that actually gave you pool towels and cleaned your room.  And the sheets were so soft, and the bed was so big, and we each had 2 pillows.  We spend lots of time in bed! 😉  When not in bed, we could be found sunning ourselves at the gorgeous pool.

Yup, the Pool.  Ahhhhh.

Once our three days were up, we headed to Sairee Beach to stay at Ban’s Diving Resort.  I spent 2 days and 5 dives getting my advanced certification with Ken as my Diving buddy.  We had fun, except for the night dive, which I thought was crap.  I couldn’t see a thing sweeping my light back and forth and I kept getting kicked by the kid swimming in front of me!  It was great to be back underwater though.  I definitely want to do more scuba diving, though I have a feeling I prefer being a warm water diver.  No freezing my butt off in Puget Sound for me…

Ken and I were digging Koh Tao, so we decided to stay there 3 more days and celebrate New Year’s on the beach.  We spent our days getting “stuff” done like our laundry and exploring the island via moped, trying to find some of the secret beaches.  Well, not secret exactly, but less obvious ones.  Once found, we would cozy up and read, write in our journals magazines, people watch and listen to the iPod.  Very chill.  The funniest thing I saw was this girl burying a dog in the sand.  The picture doesn’t do the situation justice, but I seriously couldn’t stop laughing.  The dog slept right through the entire thing…

Looking for Laundry… Running Errands in Thailand!

Sleeping right through all the attention.

Nights were spent watching the sunset, getting some internet work done, drinking Singha and meeting up with some new friends from my diving course.  And then New Years was a firetwirling, beach dancing, Indian feast, bad DJing, loads of fun sort of night.  Pictures below!

After we rang in 2008, we hightailed it to Phuket so we could meet Ken Sr.  It was our first big travel in a while and the 5 hour ferry ride was so rough that I thought I was going to be sick.  We planned an escape route out the window, as waves broke up and over the deck.  In the end all was well on the boat, but then we endured the comical overcrowded back of truck ride to someone’s brothers “restaurant” where we waited in the rain for the big bus to come, and when it did, we were charged 200 more baht to get on.  The driver seemed to get very lost as we entered Phuket hours later and pulled into a parking lot where the next brother tried to convince us to stay at his hostel because it was so late.  We eventually dispersed into smaller vans and finally made it to Patong Beach.  All it all, we traveled on 6 different modes of transport from 8:30 am until midnight.  Back on the road again!  

Next blog we’ll catch you up on all the fun and trials of our time with Ken’s dad and my sister.  Kate- I miss you already!  XOXOXO