Thailand

We spent our first Christmas overseas in Thailand. We went to Phuket and Phi Phi Island. It was absolutely gorgeous there. We spent most of our days laying on the beach eating fresh pineapples that vendors would sell as they walked by. Some days we'd get to the beach at sunrise and wouldn't leave until sunset.
We also took a tour which included a visit to a gibbon (a type of monkey) rehabilitation center. Small gibbons are taken and used as tourist bait then dumped when they get too big. Unfortunatley we were part of this ploy because right when we arrived someone put a baby gibbon on our shoulder and snapped a picture before we knew what was happening. Of course then we had to pay for the picture. We also went on a hike to a waterfall and spent more time there than we had planned because a rather large Russian guy...who was very drunk...got lost and we had to look for him. Then we took rowboats down a river and drove to an outdoor restaurant overlooking the city. There we got our first taste of Thai cuisine. Next was an elephant ride! Our guide was hilarious, he would jump off the elephant and play hide-n-seek with it making it turn every which way. It was a very bumpy ride! It was a lot of fun until the very end when we went through a bee hive and I got stung on my forehead. Ouch! After the ride we got to enjoy a baby elephant show. We both got "massages" from the elephants and afterwards I got a lot of wet kisses!
In Phuket we enjoyed the shopping and the food! Everything was so cheap. We ate Mexican food a lot and had steaks for $2! We also enjoyed milkshakes and margaritas every night! The taxis there were called "tuk-tuks" and we took them to the mall several times. We even found a Dairy Queen there. (Hong Kong doesn't have DQ so you can imagine Jeff was pretty excited...we went there a lot.)
We also spent 4 days on Phi Phi Island. It was so beautiful there. We went snorkeling (my first time ever) and had a blast. I admit I was a little afraid of the fish if they got too close so I just stuck my head out of the water every now and then (...if I didn't see them, they weren't there...right?!) Our guide took us out in a little wooden motorboat and he went so fast over the waves that we would fly up in the air and crash down on the boards. It hurt so bad but we couldn't stop laughing so he kept going faster and faster. Again we enjoyed the wonderful food and total relaxation on the beach. We went kayaking a few times also...okay Jeff did most of the kayaking, I just enjoyed the ride!