Three Nights in Bangkok

We flew from Seattle to HCMC, spent one night at home then flew to Bangkok, Thailand to meet up with our good friends, the O'Briens. We spent three busy days there getting over jet-lag and touring around one of our favorite cities in the world.

We started at the lush, shaded, beautiful Jim Thompson House.

Something for everyone: Colin feeding a turtle. In background you can see O'Briens and family shopping for beautiful Jim Thompson silk products.

The boys following our tour.

We then went to the Grand Palace. There were somewhere around 14 million people there and it was hot, hot, hot. Turns out, the princess had died recently and the entire country was invited to pay their respects AT THE EXACT TIME WE ARRIVED.  It was crazy but still very impressive.

At one point, we came across people dipping lotus flowers into
bowls of water and sprinkling them on their heads.
Some sort of blessing I imagine but we were participating more for the cooling factor. 

The boys had their own room and took full advantage of this luxury.

It was so good to have a best friend in town.
We all loved our exciting trip on the Chao Phraya.

This was the kind of boat we were on. River Taxis.

After our busy time in Bangkok we were all ready to slow down. So we headed south to Hua Hin and some much needed relaxation time on the beach. The resort was incredible. Is this real?

The grounds were beautiful with fountains and beautiful plants everywhere.
The boys had a great time. Especially in the colossal pool that meandered all over the resort:

The water slide was used continuously.
"I slid down that thing 780 times a day," said Trevor.

Just beyond the pool was the beach. It was rather cloudy much of the time
but that didn't stop us from playing in the warm water.

No matter where we are in the world, Colin will find the beach and
discover amazing critters. This is Colin at his happiest.

On the beach there were thousands of tiny crabs that would scurry into their holes when you came near.
The beach was covered in the tiny balls of sand they constantly made.
Throw in a couple tropical flowers and you've got a screen-saver shot. Nice work Lauren.

It was a fantastic trip with fantastic people. Life is good.