It's a beautiful feeling to wake up in paradise. (I guess you wouldn't know it from the looks of me in this picture--but I was still suffering from a travel hangover!) Brian had planned on doing his open water diving certification with Oakley, but because of the wild waves, no one was taking any diving or snorkeling trips. We were really disappointed. Snorkeling is one of our favorite activities of all times. But, I suppose that goes with the old adage, "The best laid vacation plans of mice and men. . . . " I had planned every leg of the trip to a T, but no matter how much you plan the details, you can't plan the weather. So, we picked ourselves up and decided to make the best of being on a tropical island without snorkeling and diving.
We decided to explore the island by foot. Our beach was completely isolated, so the next closest beach, we were told, was an hour "walk" north through the jungle. What we were not told was that this walk was STRAIGHT up the mountain and then STRAIGHT down again. So we wore flip flops and took only two bottles of water. The kids are freaking troopers and hardly complained, but we were all hammered by the time we arrived at the next beach.
We went to the local 7-11 to get drinks and rehydrate. After that, we were good to go and we kept walking to the various beaches. The waves were so high that the kids could not play at all on those particular beaches. We bought a bunch of leechy nuts (you can see Sophia holding a bunch in the picture above) and started eating them. They were our favorite quick snack for the entire trip. They sell them all along the sides of the road in SE Asia along with fresh pineapple, mangos, mangosteens and dragongfruits. We were in heaven. . . fruit heaven.
The very best part of Thai paradise was the Thai food. The restaurant at our bungalows was great and it only cost about $1.50/per person per meal. We can't even feed our kids at Taco Bell these days for that. Pad thai, Thom Ka (Coconut soup), Massaman curry, Penang curry, fried cashews, chicken fried riced, fried noodles. . . I could go on and on. It was beautiful. It brings tears to my eyes just to remember how fantastic the food was! The picture above was our very favorite restaurant of the whole trip. We found it on one of the beaches where we walked and it was called "Chilis" and the sign was a knock of the American original--but the food was a million times better.
We took a 4x4 taxi back instead of again attempting the hike from hell and we let the kids play in the waves on our beach at Mai Pen Rai.
Brian went down with the kids to keep track of them while I went up to the bungalow. I was straightening up the bungalow and when I went to hang a wet swimsuit on the rail of the balcony I stopped to watch the kids play in the waves. Chloe and Diamond were trying to body surf in the waves. The waves were really churning, but they seemed to be having a good time. Suddenly, I saw Diamond get sucked under the wave as he was playing next to Chloe. I watched for a second and he didn't come back up and right then Chloe got sucked under. I started screaming Brian's name (since he was supposed to be watching them). Took off running barefoot down the jungle path, across the wooden bridge, down the beach still screaming for Brian. When I got there, Brian was no where to be found but Oakley was soaking wet in his clothes walking out of the water next to Diamond, who was crying and shaking and Chloe was following after. I guess Brian had to make a phonecall and told Oakley to watch the kids. Thankfully he was actually doing what he was supposed to and saw Diamond get sucked under. He threw down his Ipod and ripped off his glasses and dove in after his little brother and pulled him out of the churning waves, saving his life. Chloe said that she had learned what to do in a riptide and just waited until she came up to the surface and found her footing, but she couldn't do that and reach Diamond at the same time. Heavenly Father is merciful to me, because I was praying my guts out as I ran from the bungalow. Thank goodness Oakley was there!
I put an end to wave riding for the day and we decided to hike up the river in the jungle. It was beautiful! We found a little swimming hole where the kids jumped off the rocks over and over. The sun set as we hiked out of the jungle and we finished the day off with fried pineapple and mint and coconut shakes. We were happy and we were all safe--thank goodness.
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