Mini-moon!

I always hoped Alo and I would do a honeymoon after the wedding and that was the one wedding thing I tasked him with but unfortunately he just never got around to it - busy man! He's been working so hard and knew June would be a hard month due to a big conference here in Bangkok and lots of his colleagues coming to the region. So we settled for a mini-moon! We hope to do a honeymoon (the longer trip!) in September if all goes as planned. Alo made a good point - since we had a tiny wedding(it was a secret at the time ops!) and a big wedding we needed a mini-moon and a honeymoon to balance it out. Smart man! That's why I married him :)

So naturally, we booked the hotel(Nakamanda) and flight all around midnight on Thursday and we left at 6:30am on Friday - he likes to keep me on my toes! Geeez. Mind you I was the one booking in bed and he was snoozing! Nothing like a little last minute planning.

This trip was simple and easy. Quick domestic flight to Krabi, Thailand and a short taxi ride from the airport to our hotel and voila! a little slice of paradise and relaxation together for 4 days. Krabi is located in the South West of Thailand and is just beautiful with all of the limestone rocks jutting out from the Andaman Sea. And don't forget the clear blue water and white sand beaches - Aaaamazing. Not all the beaches are like that in the Krabi Provence, however they are always just a short boat ride away.

Since the point of the mini-moon was to just enjoy our time together and totally veg-out we weren't oh too adventurous for once - which was fine by me! Sometimes you have to stop and smell the roses - or in our case sip your pina coladas and swim all day! We did however of course rent a scooter on Day 1, Alo's favorite thing to do, and take a longtail boat to Hong Island for a day.

Hong Island was great - not too packed with tourists and fanny packs and just stunning! No real snorkeling spots but there were a ton of one fish and they sure loved our snacks I packed.

We did have one small hiccup in the trip. Missed a flight?.... Nope! But did Alo hit his head, crack it open, and have to get 5 stitches? Yes he did. Poor guy!! Oh I felt so bad for him. I also physically felt so bad when it happened because we learned apparently I almost faint/get super queezy at the sight of blood. It was a total freak accident. It started to pour outside so we took cover under a spot near the pool. Alo being the gentleman he is rushed to put down the plastic covers so the rain wouldn't drench our stuff and in the process hit his poor head! At first I thought he was just being a "weenie" and cussing up a storm over a little bump on the head until he asked me to see if it was bleeding and I just about fainted. I pulled myself together to the best of my ability and called SOS (international insurance provider) and asked them what to do. They directed me to the local clinic and off we went. By clinic I mean one little room with 4 hospital beds that were all filled up with other patients. Alo got right in, they took a  quick look at his head, said he needed stitches and out of the room I went. It was the quickest Emergicare experience complete with a bow like bandage he got to sport around the rest of the day! I rewarded him for being such a trooper with a quick trip to McD's on the way to the airport so that helped :)

All in all a great mini-moon as husband and wife! whoop whoop!

In love with the purple water lilies!

Alo's vacation shirt. He wears it EVERY trip we take. Repeatedly says "vacation man!!" while doing a little dance ha

Banana Split - with 2 scoops of fresh coconut ice cream - YUM!

We found some toys to swing on at the beach - my little monkey!

Pretty pretty sunsets every evening!

Women are like a fine wine - they just get better with age!

Looking back at age 27 - it's going to be a hard year to beat! Moved to Tunisia, traveled to Switzerland, Italy, Hungary and France with Alo, traveled for a couple weeks around Europe with one of my best friends Maggie, visited Charlotte in Madrid, visited Clementine in Lyon, had multiple overseas visitors (finally!) including Alo's mom, Clementine and Charlotte, got a pet baby turtle (and lost it- sad!),Alo and I got engaged!!, and had the most wonderful wedding and got married!!, became an Auntie again by gaining a new little niece Flora Jane, got to spend lots of time in the states with my family and friends, went to a Redskins game (HAIL!), moved to Thailand!...Gosh so many big things. 28 sure has some competition!

Alo did a good job at celebrating my birthday this year! Although I'm still trying to teach him the importance of a birthday cake and candles!; )

We started our day with breakfast at Crepes & Co. near our house - it was so good! After, he headed off to work and I headed to get a manicure and pedicure! Then I met him after work for a rooftop drink at Red Sky but unfortunately the rain kept us inside. Next we tried out our first Mexican restaurant in Bangkok - La Monita Taqueria. We were SO impressed. We've never found good Mexican overseas and this place is spot on! We enjoyed nachos, tacos, and margaritas and it was just wonderful :) We then ended the night around midnight with an hour long foot rub on the walk home - totally normal right??

Gifts that are wrapped! I was impressed!

Finally - a coffee maker! Or a baby red penguin - whatever you want to call it.

Alo really thought this cup was hilarious. Oh his humor...

At Red Sky - but the weather rained us out! Here is a write up on it - maybe when the rainy season stops we'll try again!

Smile pretty!! post margaritas...

And the cake (that I might have had to drag Alo to the store with me to buy..days later) ha!

Alo's birthday is coming up soon - let the celebrating continue!

Elephant's World & Erawan National Park

Our first little adventure as "husband and wife" was to go see the elephants in Kanchanaburi, Thailand and hike around Erawan National Park!

We just left early on a Saturday morning and returned late Sunday. It's only about a 2.5 hour drive if you leave early and beat the traffic. We stayed at a sweet place with small villas right on the River Kwai called Oriental Kwai Resort.  Saturday we spent our day at the Erawan National Park. It it supposed to be about an hour hike to the top of the waterfalls and you pass through the "7 levels" throughout the hike.  Since we were there on the weekend it was just packed, so I'd recommend a weekday next time! Other than the extreme amount of tourists and locals - it was fun day. The falls are a murky turquoise and just beautiful. I will say if you plan on swimming - get ready for all the fishies to eat you up! They don't actually "hurt" you, but they sure do nibble away...it's scary!

On Sunday morning we got up early and headed off to spend the day with my favorite 5,000 pound friends - the elephants! The elephant sanctuary is called Elephant's world, and they call themselves a "retirement" home for elephants, young and old. Basically they rescue elephants who were previously being used for money with substantial injuries, such as logging elephants, ones about to be sold into the circus, or ones being used on the streets of Thailand for rides or "tourist" purposes.  The whole trip involved learning about taking care of the elephants and their daily routine. Our day started with feeding them gourd like local vegetables, then preparing the rice balls for the elderly elephants. You have to make the rice balls for the elderly elephants because they all are over 75 and have lost their teeth. On average, most elephants in the wild only live to be around 65 because they lose their teeth and can no longer survive because they die of starvation. So in short - these guys and gals are really livin' the life at the retirement home - makes me so happy! Next we visited the home of the Mahouts - you could call them elephant guru's - they work with the elephants one-on-one and can teach/discipline them.  Most of them are actually Burmese and speak an entirely different language from their specific Burmese tribe. Afterwards, we had an amazing thai lunch prepared by a sweet little lady who lives on the plantation. Then we headed out to cut banana trees but unfortunately there were none available to be cut so we headed back to bathe the elephants. This was absolutely the most FUN part of our day. Basically we all got into the water and scrubbed their muddy backs and played in the water for awhile. They also have a small deck with a rope swing which was a blast. I rode one of the elephants out of the water at this point which doesn't hurt them as long as the weight is under 100kg. They explained how elephant rides with the wooden/metal seats which usually weigh about 50kg and 2 people on their backs really hurts them and wears away at their structure after years of being "worked" for tourists.

There were about 10 young volunteers working there from all over the world such as France, Columbia, Holland, and Mexico. Most were on a traveling spree around Asia for one reason or another and were volunteering for at least a month.  So for the entire day it was just Alo and I and the elephants and volunteers - NO other tourists or guests - could we have picked a better day??

Here are some pictures and videos from our day with the elephants, volunteers, and mahouts!

National Geographic picture??  Love this one!

Making the rice for the older elephants!

 Gosh he's so handsome :)

 No he's not a robber - this is how locals dress to block the sun!

We never ended up getting to cut the banana trees because on this specific day none were available but we did all stumble upon a path to a cave on the side of a small mountain close by so visited it instead (that shiny look is pure sweat!ha)

Feeding the older elephants their rice balls we made!

We just loved the wee baby! So darn cute!

All the volunteers and us at the end of our day!

Weeeeeee!

And some videos :)

 Click HERE and HERE