Yesterday in Ko Sumui

I'm a day behind in my blogging because we've been filling our days full with fun activities.  So here's what we did yesterday.

We opted for a full day tour of the island so we could get oriented and see some of the sites.  The sites were actually pretty silly, but we still had a great time.  One place we went was called "Grandfather and Grandmother Rock."  The story behind the place is that there were two lovers lost at sea during a storm, and they made a wish that even if they died, they would somehow live on forever.  The rocks look like mail genitals and female genitals respectively.  Pretty silly stuff.

Another fun stop was at a waterfall with a swimming hole.  This one was my favorite because I got to jump in for a cool, refreshing swim.  It was freakin hot yesterday and I was feeling a little worn out from the heat, but the swim made everything all better.  I love a good dip in the river.

We also saw one of the youngest big buddha's I'd ever seen. It was built in the 70's out of cement and then painted gold a few years later.  It was very beautiful, but somehow lacked the spirituality that the 1000+ year old buddhas we've seen had. We were happy to sit and drink coconuts instead of climb the steps to the buddha in the crazy heat.

Let's see, what else... we got to ride on top of an elephant!  That was pretty awesome. Our elephant driver made us jewelry out of palm fronds and we were very impressed.  We also saw an elephant show and got to hold a monkey on our laps.  That was all pretty cool.

After a long day of touring we ate a fantastic thai lunch of coconut chicken soup.  Tom Ka Gai I believe it's called.  You've probably had it at thai restaurants in the states.  It was the best Tom Ka soup I've ever had - another dream come true.

A long nap ensued, after which we met up with Elias and walked down the beach from our hotel for another tasty thai meal.  After the meal, got to launch a sky lantern on the beach.  The man who sold it to us had a sharpie that I used to write "Dax, Liz, Elias, party time!" on the lantern before we sent it off into the sky.  It was really beautiful.  Such a fun custom.

As you can imagine, we were out like a light after such a long, amazing day.

Today is our last day at the Bandara, so we're spending it enjoying the hotel, swimming, working on The MML, and getting massages.  Tomorrow, weather permitting, we're going on an aquatic tour of the Ankthong National Park, which will include snorkeling, kayaking, and hiking.  Hope for good weather!!

:)