Explore, Examine, Exhale

My parents and I left Koh Phi Phi on Monday morning bound for Krabi. While we were waiting for the hotel room to be cleaned for check-in, we called my brother Sam in Idaho. It was fun to put him on speaker phone and hear the updates on the Superbowl and the weather (with all the snow at home, it's a good time to be in Thailand). When our room was available, we stashed our stuff and took a boat trip up and down the river. We stopped at a neat cave where Japanese soldiers camped out during WWII.

Then we visited a fish farm and saw a variety of tropical fish. The old man running the place put on a nice show for the three of us. He fed the hungry shark-like fish, let us touch the slimy and spiky fish, and provoked three different types of puffer fish to blow up like balloons. Though a bit inhumane, it was very interesting. Then we got back in the boat to see more wildlife in their natural habitat. We saw a couple monitors (the family of large lizards including the Komodo dragon) and four funny monkeys playing and monkeying around on the beach. Hopefully, the video below works! (*NOTE: since I couldn't get the video to work, I've substituted a different monkey picture from a different day*)

Before I knew it, I found myself at the tiny Krabi airport waiting for my delayed flight. I took the chance to read, look at the beautiful scenery, and prepare for the week ahead. Despite the 'adventure' content of this blog, I do, in fact, spend most of my time teaching English to Thai children, haha. While flying above the cloud cover, I was suddenly very glad for the delay because my timing was perfect for the sunset. Watching the breathtaking scene unfold, I felt incredibly lucky. I feel like the last 4+ months have been a welcome pause... a refreshing breath of time to think, relax, evaluate, and recharge before coming back to my old life with new eyes.