OceanicThai

Sea Cucumbers, Sea Urchins, Sea Anenomes, Starfish, Limpets, Mollusks, Hermit Crabs, Mud-Skippers, Fiddler Crabs, live corals, schools of fish...today we saw them all at low tide at the beach of Khook Khlooy, where we usually go play once a week. Today was the lowest tide of the month, and it was wonderful. Jasper was grabbing the hermit crabs by the handfuls, he was so excited he didn't even care they were trying to come out and pinch him. (Hermit crabs really hurt when they pinch.) I was really excited, too, I've never seen the kinds of starfish we saw today, very thin, slender arms with what seemed like orange and blue coloring, peeking out from under the rocks they were under. I thought maybe they were octopi, but we couldn't see their bodies, and the arms looked too brittle, not fleshy. We were all enthralled. It was wonderful to share the moment with our children, to share it as a family. Discoveries are best shared with the ones you love and the ones that love you.

Tapuu Island, actually, but it kind of got a new name when it was featured in a James Bond movie. It is translated "Nail Island" because the top part of the island is heavier than the bottom. We see pictures of it on signs coming in and out of Phang Nga city all the time, and today was the big day we finally took the kids to rent a long-tail boat and tour the islands we live practically next door to. We remembered our camera, and I'm so glad we did. Is there any place in the world like this? This archipelago of islands, one after the other, placed in jewel-like ocean water, with bizarrely shaped limestone formations and caves...it is heart-achingly beautiful.

I thought this blog got deleted, I was so mad! "This blog not found" kept popping up. I finally figured out what was wrong. Why was I so upset? It's just a blog.

Today, Saturday, we hope to take the kids island hopping on one of the rental boats at Phang Nga Bay. Half of the time we forget our camera, but today we won't, can't. Kennedy will want to take photos to use for his oil paintings. I would like to get some photos of the kids, we never take enough photos of all our adventures, we are having too much fun enjoying the moment.

We bought an expresso machine and put our 6-year-old old coffeepot to rest. What exquisite concoctions we are making here every morning...latte's, mochas... I have been eating too much chocolate lately, since we've been indulging in buying chocolate for the holidays. Usually we don't buy or make too many desserts or candy, we eat too much of it when in the U.S.A. They say chocolate kicks up the serotonin levels, I could use more of those anyway. Tomorrow I'll go on my bike in the morning and do penance!

Driving along a very dark highway last night, to Baan Tung Mapraw, to drop off our broken truck, I had to wonder what in the world we were doing. We could have had it fixed at the Ford dealer at Phuket for 70,000 Baht, or $1,750 but the head mechanic had offered to fix it at his house for $1,250. The head is broken. Driving along, trying to avoid the small moped/motorcycles here, there and everywhere, I was just praying we weren't getting soaked. A common occurance for everyone here, especially westerners. Our Thai friends probably think we are idiots for paying so much, why didn't we just get it done with second-hand parts at a little cheap garage somewhere? We tried to explain that if we don't fix it right this time we will have more problems in the future. We drove up to a ramshackle little cement house where the mechanic lives with his mother, sister, neices and 2 of his own children. He is obviously the breadwinner for the whole family. They were nice, brought out cold...

Baan Nam Chem had a beautiful memorial park dedicated to those who had lost their lives there, and along the coast, a year ago. We wrote our name in their giant guestbook, then walked along the 10 foot tall, wave shaped black stone memorial, reading the names and home countries of those who died. We visited the temple where we had worked, "yok sop," or in English, lifting bodies. That is what my husband did, anyway, I couldn't bear to do it, so I helped with translation and with those who came to look for their loved ones. We brought a gift basket to the Thai folks that took us in and let us sleep at their house, but they had moved already. A local girl told us another group had come, too, the day before. Other westerners that had helped at Yan Yaw temple, they had come and done so much, they are heroes to me. I don't even remember most of their names, they were tourists, or ex-pats, younger and older, they came from all over the place, and came to do what many Thais ...