Bitchin' and Braggin'-Updated with pictures

Ah, this is what is always feels like I'm doing! Either I'm writing about how amazing some of our adventures have been, or how challenging life here has become. Well, such is life huh? We are always trying to find an even better balance, and I have to say that I know I will become a better person because of this experience, I really am learning a ton. I guess that is always the most you can ask for, to learn and be transformed into a continually better, smarter, kinder, more articulate person. I MUST BE CLOSE TO BECOMING THE DALAI LAMA. Anyways, what should I start with, bitchin or braggin? (haha that is fun to say, and write!) Well, since we have noticed an interesting trend with our blogs, and the ones that hint at negativity in the title are the most popular ones, I will start with a bit about what has been challenging here.

We never know what the hec is going on. We can never understand anyone. We work hard to learn and memorize a Thai phrase, only to say it and no one understand and everyone just laugh. Thai people always want to save face, so they never say anything to your face, but rather talk about you to other people and then some random person tells you something bad. The animals (enough said). Carelessness for the environment. Sugarcane fields burning. Black snow falling. Music BLASTING from some random truck filled with speakers parked behind our house and keeping us up all night. Everywhere we go people stare at us and point and say "falang." Kids especially love to stare at us, open mouthed as if we were the most insane things they had ever seen. I'M NOT A MONSTER! Trying to order vegetarian food (that is preferably edible and won't get us sick). Trying to order food in general. Not being able to drink any water except bottled water. Never knowing what to expect. Things always taking three times as long as they should...and the list goes on.

On another note, we live in Thailand! And are having some experiences we will certainly never forget, New Years for example. So, one last bad thing, it took us 28 sleepless harrowing hours to get there, but we spent New Years in Paradise, aka Koh Phi Phi Island. Graham has yet to upload our pictures, the internet here has been out lately, but suffice it to say that the island was absolutely gorgeous. Our hotel was very tropically/island-y, with bamboo and mosquito nets and a bathroom/shower that was kind of outside, it was great. We arrived on the 31st and took a nap for a couple of hours, then got dressed in our hot New Years gear and headed out on the town. We walked around all the bars and restaurants (the island is devoted entirely to tourists) and it was nice to have everything be in English and be one of thousands of white people. No one staring! And decided to have our last dinner of 2010 at an Italian food place right on the gorgeous beach. We had an amazing dinner, complete with pina coradas and rejoiced in the fact that we were in such a beautiful place.

After dinner, Graham felt sick so we went home and relaxed for a couple hours, then I headed out alone to experience the New Years revelry. I was kinda sad, and super creepy, as I sat there on the beach by myself and stared at all the drunk Europeans hitting on each other, with a giant beer in my hand. I was doing my best to give off the "stay away from me, don't talk to me" vibe and I must have done a pretty good job because no one did (not sure if this is a good thing!) After an hour or so of wandering around, I went and got Graham and convinced him to come down for the fireworks at midnight. By this time the beach was totally crowded, tons of decorated lit up bars were blasting music, people were dancing everywhere, in the water even, and there were random fireworks going off every couple of minutes. We made it down and soberly checked out the scene, the sense of excitement was contagious, and at midnight a huge firework show started. The fireworks were set off right from the beach and exploded really close above us (it was always kinda scary, we could feel the firework debris sprinkle on us after they went off and some sparks went all the way into the ocean where people were dancing!) Graham and I kissed under the fireworks at midnight, it was really sweet and romantic. Almost ridiculously so. An amazing start to 2011.

The next day, after relaxing on the beach for most of the day, we met up with three of our amazing friends, Shannon, Caroline and Rachel. We had like a 6 hour late lunch/early dinner/lots of drinks at a Mexican food place. It was soooo great to just be able to talk for hours (I was especially excited seeing how much I love to talk!) and share some of our experiences and feelings about our time in Thailand. Those 3 girls are each such amazing individuals, I genuinely love and care for each one of them, and enjoyed so much getting to spend time with them. I can't wait to see them all again (hopefully-Caroline!) for Shannon's birthday in Bangkok in a couple weeks. Time flew by, but slowed down tremendously watching Shannon complete the spicy chicken wing challenge! A feat only a couple girls have ever successfully accomplished, Shannon ate those spicy chicken wings like the Texas champ she is. It was crazy to see how blown away the restaurant staff were, and we enjoyed our free drink prizes (thanks Shannon!). Later that night we hung out on a rooftop bar that was decorated with glow in the dark paint, it was so cool! We painted a few lovey dovey messages to each other and danced, and later that night we danced on the beach like maniacs.

Another highlight of the trip was going on a snorkeling trip to the island Koh Phi Phi Leh, a gorgeous island in its own right, but also famous for having the beach from the movie "The Beach." We saw black tipped reef sharks, tons of cool coral and fish, and a Hawksbill sea turtle, not bad for Graham's first time snorkeling. And while The Beach beach was pretty crowded, it really was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. It was a picturesque adventure, as the swells on the way home were pretty big, one I will not forget.

For the rest of our time on Koh Phi Phi we hung out with friends, watched the sunset on the beach every night, swam and snorkeled at a ton of different beaches, ate and drank like it was our job, climbed to the top of the island for an incredible view, and just vacationed. We also took a long boat to one of our top 5 beaches we have ever been to (should I brag and say our other top 4? No...I won't torture you!) It was gorgeous!

Not a bad start to 2011! I will leave you with that, we still have some to catch up on, we will as soon as we can!

Love to you all and Happy New Year! Oh and you can see pictures from our trip here

Natalie