Patti: Currently we are at a lovely beach resort on the island of Phuket in Thailand. We have a great view of the Adaman Sea (we just have to cross the street to get to the beach) and the weather had been very nice. It’s the last few days before our world travels end and we thought it would be a good idea to just stay in one, relaxing place for a few days to wind things down. We rented a motorbike yesterday and toured around the island visiting a bunch of sights and beaches. Tomorrow we have a snorkelling tour to a place called Coral Island and are really looking forward to that. During our driving tour yesterday, we came across a fish market and we were very impressed by the variety and colors of the fish…now we hope to see them in a more natural environment rather than a steel table or a dinner plate.
Prior to getting here, we spent a few more days in Laos before flying to Bangkok to catch a connecting flight here. Our time in Vang Vieng was too short. It had an amazing terrain of limestone rock towers, rolling hills and running rivers. The town itself was little to speak of (as expected) but we spent a day on a tour exploring a couple of caves and kayaking some fast running water. One of the caves we accessed was done by sitting in inner tubes and pulling ourselves along a rope fixed to the cave walls. Our headlamps lit up some very cool rock formations and holes which the water ran through. The kayaking had a few decent rapids which were fun to paddle through. Along the way, the shores were scattered with bars so tourists could stop, have a few drinks, do some Tarzan swings to drop into the water, have a few more drinks, and then resume floating down the river. Many people chose to do the entire river run by simply floating in an inner tube but we preferred the actually need for some physical exertion with the paddling. Amy did one Tarzan swing into the river and said it was lots of fun (I chickened out). It was very impressive to be on the river looking up at all the rock towers. They would have been fun to explore by land, but we had no time. We spent about a day and a half in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, just walking around and exploring. As cities are not really my thing, it seemed like enough time there. I did discover the fruit, Rumbutan, there so that is a take away from there.
So we will be home in about three days. There is so much that we have done and seen in the last nine months that it is difficult to comprehend, especially as we have slowed things down these past few days and have time to actually think. I think I will try not make too much sense of it all right now and wait until I settle back into my real life. Amy and I each have plans to write some sort of summarizing entry on this journal so you have not heard the last from us just yet!
