Last Week in Thailand - Part 1

We went on an accidental hike through rice fields and construction sites (we were taking a "short cut") and had to find our own way. I asked a local Thai man if we could cut through his construction site and then climb over the fence (this was all in charades, because he didn't speak any English), he nicely said no and showed us that we could go around the fence. I then acted out that the grass was really high, he seemed to understand and was our guide through the first two rice fields and over the creek, then he went back and we kept picking our way through the fields and more construction sites until we got back to our hotel. The kids picked flowers along the way, here is a picture of a flower that Mason picked.

 

the kids walking along the edge of the rice field

Kids posing for a picture at the end of the hike 

Here is Mason with an umbrella hat. It belonged to the grandma that owned the hotel and a few convenient stores. Mason liked to go in the store because she or her husband would give him bags of chips and lots of hugs.

At our favorite restaurant - 7 Sisters. The owner, the one holding the kids, lives in Florida half the year, so her English was great and she and I bonded over talking about Florida. I hope to go back to Chiang Rai to visit her and her restaurant.

So, we met a Thai university student named Peanut. We all loved Peanut. She played with the kids and loved on them and bought them Thai treats - all ways to their hearts! She and Kiera bonded the most. See them below?

Kiera, Peanut, Mason

Kiera, Peanut, Selah

Our last 3 days in Thailand were spent at a beach called Kosamet. It is a few hours south of Bangkok and you can only get to it by boat. Here are some pictures from the boat. I don't actually have any/many from the beach. Not sure how that happened.

The girls getting their hair braided at the beach

And here is Kiera a few weeks later once we took the braids out. This is actually tame, she looked like she had a lion mane for a day!

I would like to clarify - we met quite a few wonderful Thai friends - at the university, at restaurants, at the ministries we worked out. I don't want any of our friends to be left out - we just had lots of pictures of Peanut, so I thought I would share them with you!