Thailand: The Land of Smiles: Happy Birthday to the King.... and Dustin!

Phuket: Trip Advisor says yay, I vote nay.
Here in Thailand the King's birthday is a holiday and we were lucky enough to get a three day weekend out of it. It just so happens that our friend Dustin was born the day after the king, so we went to Phuket, Thailand to celebrate the births of these two fellas.

We had read a lot of great things about Phuket's beaches, sites, and night life, but to our surprise, it wasn't our favorite place. Although Phuket had pretty beaches, they were packed with tourists and if you didn't know better you would think your plane landed somewhere in California. In addition to the hundreds of foreigners, like ourselves, Phuket also had a McDonald's or KFC on every corner and the few Thai people you could find only spoke English. It was of course nice to have some American food and to see our American friends, but Patong beach didn't feel at all like Thailand to me.

That being said, we had a great time celebrating Dustin's birthday. We even were upgraded free of charge to the 2 person room that could really sleep 4. Ha Ha

The first night we had a yummy Italian dinner and then went out to make Dustin dance.

The next day we had an American breakfast and this cute little girl suckered us in to buying her leis. She gave us each a kiss on the cheek and it made it worth every penny, or baht.

That day we also decided to try the famous fish pedicures. I found out during this experience that my feet are not a little bit ticklish, but a LOT ticklish. I squirmed, giggled, and gripped Jill's hand the entire time. I didn't feel too bad about the scene I was making because Jill was right there giggling and squirming with me. I can't explain what it felt like except that it was so weird and crazy ticklish. I would stick my feet in for a few seconds and then half to pull them out again. When you dunked your legs down in they all swarmed your feet and legs. It was absolutely crazy and I think I am ok to just keep my dead skin. Ha Ha Also the lady who gave me my pedicure repainted my big toe at least 7 times and kept saying, "Not beautiful enough for you teacher". After the seventh repaint and blow dry I had to tell her, "it looks amazing, please let me go". I know patience is a virtue, but I was in that chair for at least two hours. Here are some pictures from the hilarious event.


Julia, Jill, and I ready to go!


Yikes!!!

Don't kick the fish! Don't kick the fish!

Ahhhh it tickles!

Ha Ha Ha

After surviving the fish pedicures we had dinner and then went to check out the night life a little more. Look at what we found.

What in the world is right!

It didn't take long to decide to go play pool instead.

The following day we decided to get away from all the tourist and adventure out to a nearby island for the day. We hired a long boat that took us about 30 minutes away to a nearby island. The island still had a ton of tourists, but the boat ride was beautiful and the island was a more peaceful. We spent the day playing volleyball, snorkeling, and laying on the beach.

Our boat!

The ride to the island

Almost there


We made it!

The boat ride home at sunset was the best!

We had an early flight to catch the next day so we called it a night early. We came home to go to school on Monday and then had another day off for Constitution day on Tuesday. Constitution day was a ton of fun. We spent the day by the beach with the other teachers that are our friends at the seafood festival in Ban Phe. We had a great day exploring the beach town and then spent the night eating, playing carnival games, drinking, and listening to live music by the beach.