Stop 2: F**k-it, Thailand-- Phuket, Thailand

It is, in fact, pronounced poo-ket (hehe), but we prefer eff-it (phuket) given just how much we loved this “idyllic” island.

Our first thai meal was a full thai fish (and, it should go without saying, it is Cami’s job to debone the fish, place perfect pieces of flesh on Jen’s plate and watch her savor Cam’s hard work) and, of course, pad thai. This pad thai was spectacular. Far, FAR, better than anything you Westerners have ever had, and we’ve been hooked ever since.

Now, here’s a riddle for our four readers. What lives in something soft, forms perfect rows of dots, and can disappear like magic? That’s RIGHT. You guessed it! BED BUGS. Not cool. So, so not cool. Jen made friends with one and he left hickies up and down her arms and legs. Yummy. New hotel? I think yes. We followed this traumatic experience with another one, sticking our feet into a giant tub of piranha man-eating baby sharks (i.e. tiny goldfish type creatures that eat the dead skin off the bottom of your feet). That was pretty interesting to say the least.

Walking around town, doing a little shopping, we were briskly herded into a secret windowless closet the size of a cupboard that held nothing short of 16,000 DVDs, lined up and down the walls, the door, and in crevices we didn’t know existed. Naturally, we bought season four of Dexter (if you haven’t seen it, run to Netflix again) and The Beach, as we would be visiting the set of this film soon enough.

The next morning we embarked on a grand plan involving Jen operating a motorbike. This brilliant idea lasted about 7 seconds, culminating in a chance encounter between the bike and a parked car. We decided to abort this mission and hire a car for the day. We visited the Bangpae waterfall (which involved trekking through rain forest in the pouring rain—teehee), a gibbon (type of monkey) rehabilitation center, a temple with a half buried Buddha, a hindu complex, and another temple in the midst of building a Buddha statue about  seven elephants tall and five wide. We purchased a small piece of marble that will be used in the ongoing construction of this structure, rang tiny golden bells hanging from the mountaintop trees and tried our luck at a gong that only sounds when a blessed person rubs it. Needless to say, it did not sound for us.

On our descent back to town we experienced our first elephant sighting. After peeing our pants, we stopped, dropped and rolled out of our moving vehicle and restrained ourselves from humping these majestic creatures. They are just magnificent. 

Ooo ya, thats the spot!

Our night cap involved an ode to Jack Johnson as we inhaled a banana pancake with nutella and vanilla stuff. We both blacked out for the consumption phase, but vaguely remember stumbling back to our hotel room.

Giggles and Hugs,
Us

P.S. This quote from the Big Buddha temple stayed with us that day and ever since:

                    "Happiness for all without freedom, the captives and prisoners 
                                around the world. May they be happy five times."