AMAZING Thailand

Matt and I spent this past weekend in Phuket, Thailand and it was nothing short of fabulous! :) After a quick 1.5 hour flight (one that was extremely terrifying due to severe turbulence) we made it safely [insert BIG sigh of relief] to Phuket on Friday night and checked into our hotel. Our room was so nice that Matt actually thought there must have been a mistake! Once I told him what the room actually cost, he breathed another sigh of relief and accepted the fact that you can live the "luxurious life" for a very low price when you're in Thailand :) Aside from an hour of pouring rain on Saturday morning, the weather the entire weekend was gorgeous - the skies were clear and the sun was shining! We spent the first day on an all day boat trip out to the Phi Phi Islands. We made lots of stops along the way: Bamboo Beach for some delicious banana cake and fruit, Phi Phi Don (one of the two main Phi Phi Islands) where we snorkeled over a beautiful reef surrounded by thousands of colorful fish (in fact, at one point there were so many fish around me I just wanted to get out of the water), Monkey Island (where there were dozens of monkeys...hence the name), and Pileh Lagoon (the prettiest place we've ever been to). For those of you who have seen the movie, The Beach, it was actually filmed at the Phi Phi Islands so we enjoyed seeing an area that we recognized from a movie. The one thing that we simply could not get over is how BLUE the water is. We've been to Mexico, the Caribbean and lived in Hawaii and yet the water in Thailand beat each of those places by FAR! I'm not even sure if the pictures below will do the water color justice, but you'll get the point. We spent our 2nd day lounging around the hotel in the morning. We enjoyed a delicious buffet breakfast (I can't tell  you how many belgian waffles I ate on this trip...its sort of embarrassing!), laid by the pool and got a good laugh from watching people do water aerobics and played with the hotel's baby elephant, Meena. SO STINKIN' CUTE! Speaking of elephants, we certainly got our fill of them! When I think of Thailand, I think of elephants...so it only made sense for us to go elephant trekking! We went on a little excursion where we rode an elephant through the woods and out to breath taking lookout points. Following the elephant trek, we enjoyed a private "young elephant" show, then met a smart little monkey and rode in a cart pulled by a water buffalo. I was told people do that in Vietnam so I felt like I was really in touch with my roots ;) When the excursion was over, we went back to the hotel for some more lounging. I laid on the beach while Matt got a one hour massage for 300 dollars! Wait, did I say dollars? I meant 300 Thailand Baht. And do you know what that equals in the US?!?! 9 DOLLARS. Crazy cheap! We stayed out on the beach until the sun was completely gone then enjoyed a fabulous meal before packing our bags to leave the next morning. We prayed for a smooth flight back and God blessed us with one. Not even one little bump or shake! We loved Phuket and can't wait to go back at least one more time before our time in Asia is over!

The open-air lobby of our hotel. We loved the colors!

Part of our room. You can see why Matt was a little worried :)

Our first stop of the day...Bamboo Beach. Look at that water! That's the boat we were on. Matt will probably roll his eyes that I'm posting this picture, but oh well :)

Phi Phi Don, the only inhabited island of all the Phi Phis!

Matt snorkeling outside Phi Phi Don. I had to get out of the water and escape the mass amounts of fish swimming around me :)

This is the beautiful stretch of beach that we ate lunch on

One of our tour guides feeding the monkeys at Monkey Beach

This is Pileh Lagoon - its almost completely enclosed by these huge, natural, limestone cliffs and it was totally breath taking! We would have stayed there all day if they let us. We also got our first look at "Nemo fish" up close! Those little orange and white fishies are too cute! (As cute as a fish can be anyway).

Matt admiring the beautiful Phuket sunset at the end of our first day.

YUM! The buffet was to die for!

Look! It's Thai Diet Coke! :)

After dinner, we explored the hotel grounds :)

Meena, the hotel's baby elephant - she knew so many tricks! Smart, little thing!

Ready to go elephant trekking!

Here's our ride!

Our "driver" :)

Check out this stunning lookout point!

Next was the Young Elephant Show. Matt volunteered to get a kiss from one of the elephants...

He's not sure about this...

...but its too late now!

I think he liked it!

Elephant feeding :)

This water buffalo took us for a little spin on his cart. He moved much faster than the elephant!

Local shops right outside the hotel

What do you know? I ran into another elephant! I love Thailand!

We bought some totally delicious roasted corn on the cob from a local on the beach. Perfectly buttered and salted...it was a fabulous afternoon snack!

Skies like this one remind me of how perfect God's many creations are!

Yet another beautiful sunset over a perfectly clear sky :)

WOW, what a good looking husband I have!!

At the end of the day, we finally cleaned ourselves up a bit and hung out around the hotel. What a fantastic weekend!!

Birthday Extravaganza!

Well, I've made it to 26! :) My birthday was this past Saturday and boy was I spoiled rotten! Matt left for work bright and early (6 a.m....booo to working on a Saturday and on my birthday), but just before he left he told me to be downstairs by 11 because "someone was picking me up." It didn't take me long to figure out who this mystery person was because 1) all but one of my friends were out of the country over the weekend and 2) my friend that was in town is also the only person I know in Singapore that has a car. So, just as I suspected, Crystal showed up at 11 and kidnapped me for a day of pampering! What a sweet friend! :) She drove me over to one of our favorite areas - Holland Village (its expat central!) - and she treated me to a pedicure, lunch and a massage! I spent the second half of the afternoon at home with Matt. We played Guitar Hero for a little while and then he spoiled me with presents...a COMPLETE surprise since I got the camera just 2 weeks earlier. I told him he "shouldn't have" but really...who am I to not accept gifts from Matt? ;) Next, Crystal and Bryce met us at the condo and then we walked over to Clarke Quay for dinner at Shiraz. I absolutely LOVE Persian/Mediterranean food so Matt picked a perfect restaurant! The food was delicious (especially the hummus...yum, yum, YUM!) and the company was even better. We ended the night with cake back at the condo and lots of Skype calls from my family and friends. To be honest, I thought I might feel a little homesick without my friends or family from the states...BUT my day was just too busy and perfect for me to even think about it! God blessed me with a perfect day, a wonderful husband that spoiled me and sweet friends (both here and back home). I am so thankful!! 

Opening gifts from Matt :)

My totally delicious dinner. Actually, looking at this picture is making me want to go back to that restaurant right NOW!

The Madsens

The restaurant had belly dancers too!

Crystal made me a cake :)

My new love

Last week, Matt (aka: the best husband in the world) bought me a super awesome birthday present - two weeks early might I add - my first DSLR camera! To say I really like it would be an extreme understatement. I love it. In fact, I blush a little when I look at it. Phew! I feel better now that I've admitted that. So what's a girl armed with a brand new, fancy schwancy camera to do on a Saturday? TAKE PICTURES ALL DAY LONG. That's what! And that's exactly what I did this past weekend. From noon to midnight, I was out with the two things I love most in Singapore...Matt and my camera.

We spent the afternoon walking through Fort Canning Park. The park is beautiful! Huge, lush trees and shaded paths all over the place, gorgeous flowers, benches to rest on and historic buildings all throughout. It was a fabulous afternoon for both of us with me getting to play with my newest love and Matt getting to hangout out with one of his loves too...history. He claims the past is important so I'll go with him on that one :)  

After a quick stop at home for an hour of rest, we were back out to shoot the city at night. The view from the 41st floor of our building is amazing. It's something we've always wanted to share with everyone, but have never really been able to b/c our little point and shoot digital camera didn't have the capibility of capturing what we were seeing. Thankfully, my new love does have the ability!

If you didn't already think that I have the best looking husband around...then surely you do now. What?! No, I'm not biased!

Sir Raffles first home

I hope you enjoyed your walk through Fort Canning. Now lets check out the view of Singapore at night :)

Night view off of our balcony looking to the left. We love looking down there and watching the people pass by!

View from the 41st floor. It's city for miles!

Marrakesh, our stop for dinner!

OK, OK...you twisted my arm. I'll post another picture of Matt and his good lookingness. I'm a lucky girl!

Hippo Cruise!

Living right along the Singapore River means we frequently see small boats passing by our apartment. Some of the boats are simply water taxis, but the others are meant for river cruises. These short rides (they only take 30 minutes) are a great way to see Clarke Quay, Boat Quay, the CBD (Central Business District), the Esplanade and the star of the whole show - the Merlion! I've been meaning to go on a river cruise since the day we moved here and I finally accomplished that task last week. Wooo Hooo!

The Hippo River Cruise boat - gotta love the bright purple and yellow seats!

Lisa, me and Cara...ready to be wowed by the river :)

Boat Quay...looks a lot like Clarke Quay, huh?

The CBD - Central Business District

The famous Fullerton Hotel

These statues are part of the Sculpture Trail and depict "river-diving boys jumping joyously into the river."

The Esplanade (it was designed to look like a durian fruit).

Singapore's famous Merlion

This cracks me up b/c it happens ALL the time around here. Lisa was all set for her picture with the Merlion, and then this guy threw his family right next to her and jumped in front of me to take his picture first. He definitely saw us too, but didn't care. Classic!

Site of a major casino being built here. The three towers are hotels.

These condos, located right next to the casino, will be the most expensive ones to live in in all of Singapore once they're complete. So naturally, we'll be moving into them ;-)

Swiss Hotel. Tallest hotel in all of southeast Asia (or so we were told)