Home

I am home. It is weird being home. It is like I never left yet I did. My body is still on Thailand time so my days are nights and vice versa. Along with the jet lag, is my crazy eye issues. My right eye was sooooo tired it hurt starting in Tokyo. Then this morning it jumped to my left eye. I am so weird!!

So when I finally landed monday morning, it took longer than two weeks to actually get my car, go home, take a shower, and get to Benjamin. It was as if I was moving in slow motion because i wanted to see him so badly. I missed him. I missed him alot.

When eternity seemed to pass, I could hardly contain my excitement when I ran up to his door. I was welcomed with open arms and a huge grin. It was awesome.

I am glad to be home. Though yesterday it hit that my vacation is over. Moving this weekend and I have a ton to take care of. Hopefully without any more procrastination.

Favorite sayings in Bangkok

Friends don't let Friends talk to ugly guys...

If you are happy and you know it, buy me a drink...

On my way home in just a few short hours!! (that's not a favorite saying I found in Bangkok...that is jolie reality)

Last Day in Chiang Mai

So I am sitting in the Click and Drink checking my email and obviously writing a little post for this blog. The place is full of people communicating to those they care about around the world. Amazing how just a while back we were okay without email...now even if you are half way around the world you can still keep in touch.

I say that lightly because email many times has a distant feel to it. You know like when you really just need someone to look you in the eyes and tell you it is going to be okay...or you need to feel the warmth of someone special...Or you need to sit down and pray as you normally do every week. It is not the same as email. Not that email is awful. I have written some knock down laugh out loud sitting at your cubicle emails that have been read over and over. I have received some very encouraging words over the world wide web.

But when you have been gone for half a month...an email just won't do.

So for the next couple of days I will be traveling...either waiting around to get on an airplane or just staring komatoz at the little screen on the back of the chair in front of me watching the little plane make its way across the Pacific wishing really that I was just an inch away from Texas.

So my suitcase is packed...well more like stuffed and expanded to its full capacity...wondering "where did all this stuff come from??"

Today I got a $2 foot massage and visited Mintra's grandma at her house for lunch. The cool thing about being in Chiang Mai this go around is Ann and Mintra's family and really seeing how thai people live. It is a different culture and a very different way of life.

Okay so I am tired and about to go to bed while most of y'all are counting down the minutes to lunch.

See you in Texas!!

wig

Chiang Mai

I have been hanging in Chiang Mai, Thailand for the past 3 days. This is the where Ann and Mintra are from. My hotel is smack dab in the middle of the night market. And off in the distance you can see the Mountains that stretch across the horizon. It is gorgeous even amongst the rain.

Ann took us up in the mountains to see this budhist temple. It had a ton of bells to ring. But the best part was the view overlooking the whole city of Chiang Mai. It was breathtaking and so worth the twisty turns in the Song Tau (basically us in the back of the pick up truck)...

We've met quite a bit of Ann's family. Very humbling when you have to use Ann as a translator because we don't speak thai. We met Mintra's Aunt today at her shop. It was about 30 minutes outside of town and she makes silk boxes, purses, stuffed animals. It was really cool and eye opening to see thai women sitting on mats doing intriqute (I can't spell) detailed work.

I am off to dinner with everyone and their dog at an all you can eat buffet of some sort costing only $2.50...Mintra will for sure get her money's worth...She eats a ton and stays so slim...incredible...

more later...hard to write in an internet cafe...

Wig out
Jolie

Pics from Koh Samui

So here are a couple of pics...That is me and my nephew Loki in the pool...yes, I look like a biker but the headband keeps my out of control frizzy hair out of my face...then the other is the pic of my hotel...It is nothing but greenery...absolutely gorgeous...then the last pic is Ann, Loki, me, Mintra, and Jason hanging out at the pool...the ocean and beach is just past the pool...more later...
Wrapped in Grace even more after yesterday...
Jolie

Koh Somui

So I have been in Koh Somui for 2 and a half days and I am finally relaxing...all of you reading know how hard it is for me to not be busy but here i am not being busy...I have lounged around on a beach chair and read a book for 2 days straight...and ACTUALLY loving every minute of it...

So the place we are staying is something straight out of a tropical rainforest...it is breath taking and why do we all live in a flat place with dead grass in the summer?!?!? (minus kristen who lives in Virginia where it is green even in the summer, you don't count...) But seriously it is incredible...

Not too much to write...not a whole lot going on, but my mind has been doing some thinking...more on that later...

For now, soaking in the beauty that God calls Koh Somuii!!!

Wrapped in Grace
Jolie

Pics to come when i get my hands on my dad's laptop!!

today, I explored Bangkok with my parents...There is a pic of my dad and I (and my other limb called the phone) that was actually taken at the DFW airport...I have no phone service here...Then the pic of my dad and I and the crazy ornanate statues are at the King's Grand Palace...then the pic of me solo was taken on the river in a ferry...then my parents being goofy on the ferry....

the best part of today was hanging out side with my parentals drinking Singha Beer and not worrying about time or what we had to do tomorrow or I needed to go to bed....blah blah blah...it was nice to just be and finally just be with my parents...probably more of a first in a long long while...the conversation was great and they seemed interested in what was going on with me...it was pleasant...i like pleasant...

It is 1:20 am and i am not tired but I need to try and sleep...I am headed off to Koh Sumoi for a little beach time. We meet up with Jason, Ann, Mintra and Loki at the Bangkok Airport tomorrow at 3pm...(3am for everyone in Texas...4am for Kristen in Virginia)

More later...

WIG
Jolie

In the Future...

Okay so the big joke is that "I am in the Future!!"...I am 12 hours ahead of anyone reading this unless you are living in thailand...I am so turned around because I lost a day LITERALLY and I slept very little on the 20 hour plane ride.

So I arrived in Bangkok, Thailand with my parents around Sunday 12am...finally got to the hotel...ordered room service and there started my all thai diet...of course i started with a little Rad Na...Checked my email but nothing exciting except my friend finally announced their 2nd child...

So I am off to the King's Palace. That's fun to say....makes me feel like I am in a fairytale...granted i will not meet the king and there will be a gazillion other people flocking to the palace and to the largest emerald Budha statue in the world...

More later...

Thank you for all the prayers for safety and uneventful flights!!!!!

WIG
Jolie