Andaman triangle

If you've been following either of us on Instagram you've seen : This last week we've been MIA from the pattaya service scene because we've been traveling a bit in the south of Thailand.. As in island hopping:-) and let me tell you it is amazingly beautiful! 6 nights/7days of relaxation.... 3 nights in Ao Nang/krabi then 3 nights on Phi phi islands ...

First we took a taxi to the Bangkok airport to catch our first flight Krabi . It's a beautiful province in south of Thailand . Once we arrived we caught a bus to our hotel in the beach town of Ao Nang, which is just north of the busy city of Krabi town. We loved our relaxing hotel (Maleedee bay resort- totally recommend! ) that was settled in near mountains and just a short 10 minute walk to town/beach. Supposedly this is the high season , but in Ao nang it was so nice and didn't feel crowded at all. 

One of my favorite evenings.. 

Our first activity of the day was to relax, eat and check out the town... This area is known for great seafood so we made sure to try as much as we could.. Then prep for one of my favorite parts of this week.... That evening we took A Thai cooking course! Oh boy I knew I'd have fun but wow, it even blew rafs mind on how fun it was. (Note: rafa was offering to "let me go and enjoy the course by myself" .. He thought he could to save himself $ and the "bore" of a class lol..but convinced him to come) we were only 4 students total in the class so it was nice to have more attention from the teacher for our cooking.. the teacher Yok and her husband were soo awesome! They are both from northern Thailand city of Chiang Mai. They sure put together a great course!  We each learned to make 6 dishes .. Rafa and I tried to pick different things so we(mostly I) could try to re-create them at home.. We cooked in 2 sets ..

Rafs picks :                                          Lizette: 

Tom yum (spicy prawn soup)                 Tom kha kai(spicy coconuts chicken soup)

Chicken cashew nut.                             Pad Thai with chicken 

Spring rolls with banana                         Spring rolls with banana 

2nd round :

Spicy cucumber salad.                          Papaya salad 

Panang curry chicken.                          Green curry chicken

Sticky rice with pineapple                     Sticky rice with pineapple 

Wit our teacher Yok ^ 

Well it was all delicious and we didn't think we'd be able to eat the 2nd round.. So we were planning on taking it back to hotel... Well that 2nd round made it home in our bellies.. I think we could rolled out of there by how full we were! We were sent home with a certificate of course completion and a recipe book with pics and ingredients list... Perfect! I really want to try to find the ingredients soon and have a group over before I forget how to cook em!

Railey beach 

The next day we went to Railey beach by longtail boat(totally obsessed with longtail boat pics..so cool to photograph) anyways at that beach the beauty comes from impressive cliffs surrounding the beach.. A wonderful site to see that pics cannot do it justice. 

Some other pics... 

Rafs first lobster 

And best coconuts fried ice cream ((below)

Curry pineapple  crab friedrice in a pineapple ^

Ko Phi Phi Don 

We arrived to the islands by a large water ferry and basically beach bummed the whole time. The island was a bit touristy but the waters and the cool hidden beaches we found made up for it.. 

View from our lobby^

Our hotel was super nice bungalow up in the hill, but the stairs and super steep 10 min walk up and down each way was killer! Lol good thing we loved our bungalow 

View at night ^ 

 

One of the hidden lonely beaches we found ^

One day we went to Ko phi phi Ley on a private longtail boat that we had to ourselves , it's the neighboring island that is day trips only, and there is so much to see there, a gorgeous inlet where we swam, then snorkeled.. I've never seen so many different fish and such gorgeous waters! It totally beats the Bahamas, Mexico, and Belize.... This island was made famous by the movie "the beach" with Leonardo dicaprio ..( I haven't seen it, but must be beautiful shots ...)  I guess it was filmed on the part of the island called Maya Beach, that cost 200 baht (about $7USD to just step on the sand ..) um yeah we weren't about to pay that so we went to a beach about 300 ft away separated by rocks for free! And we had the beach all to ourselves and it wasn't crowded with boats... We scored it was a nice beach!:)

Another day we made the trek up to the Phi phi viewpoint at the very top peak of the island.. Killer stairs and this out of shape girl almost died on way up.. Plus my flip flop and beach attire didn't really suit the hike.. But I had suggested the hike, since I knew it was something rafa would like (definitely not my 1st pick , lol) so I had to make it up... We made it and it was so worth it! 

Rest stop on way up.. Comfy... ? Lol

Raf made a friend just before we left phi phi 

In phuket ^ just ate at their deliciousrestaraunt..   lol.

Ok now that I've totally written a ton.... We are actually at the end of our trip.. Right now we are on a water ferry from phi phi islands to the island of Phuket.. Where will spend the afternoon in her beach then catch our 10 pm flight back to Bangkok... Then taxi(1.5hours ) to pattaya arriving late Sunday night. Then will have one day to get ready to leave ... Because Tuesday at 4am we are catching a bus to Cambodia.. Where will spend a few days in Angkor Wat/ Siem riep...

Till next time...

{lizette}

Samantha's experience in service link!

Hello, 

This last week in service has been great an d we've been having such great success in ministry! So good it makes us sad to return to California next week :( like we've been finding return visits..(I'll let raf post his experience , ..) i found an RV, and then another interested girl who was so excited that we were also Christians , after giving her the meeting invitation she excitedly said she was going to come to the Sunday meeting(which was the next morning ) and bring her friend who was also Christian! We exchanged numbers and emails.. Well Sunday morning came and passed .. She didn't make it.. But I left her in the good care of Julie, so hopefully we can reach her soon..

  Also please check out SAMs post to read about her great experience In service, link :

http://allabahtthailand.blogspot.com/2013/12/kittens-electrc-fences-and-whole-lot.html

Hana apartment adventures

Wanted to share some of our apartment pictures. We really like the apartment, but I think that may be because we have gotten the updated side... As we have not been traumatized by monsters, mosquitoes, and  creepy crawlies  as Julie and Kits side of apartments :/ sorry guys ! :(  Overall the apartment is very simple, but efficient. It would be nice to have a small kitchenette or sink to wash dishes in, but it works. And something Rafa and I were excited about in this apartment was that it has working water and Hot water!! Unlike our apartment in Mexico! Where it only worked like 30/40% of the day.. Lol. There is a huge building being built right next door which makes it super annoying to relax/sleep, because apparently Thailand has no work ordinances and they be making a racket starting at like 6/7am to whatever time they feel like stopping , usually around 6/7pm , and yes that is 7 days a week! Add to that the noisy nights with loud neighbors(not it's not anyone in our group..) but the crying n screaming baby who's parents leave in hallway almost nightly to share they joys of parenting with all of us(good birth control) , to the couple below us who fight n scream every night, and the constant flow of people in n out of the very echo friendly hallway at all hours of the night ... Ahhh the sounds and experiences... Lol.  (Ex: it is currently 1130pm Wednesday night and there is a full concert of some sort either downstairs in the restaurant in front of the building or at a neighbors, it doesn't sound like they plan on stopping anytime soon, and well they can use some practice :/ ,...) 

Ok so I said we liked it but now I sound like I am complaining haha. Besides noise factor we really do like the apartment .... And rent is so inexpensive ! :-) 

Service is still awesome! My backs been acting up and going out so I've had to miss a few days of service which is such a bummer..  But we've been trying to take advantage of doing informal everywhere we go. it's just a great reminder and great satisfaction knowing we r helping spread seeds for Jehovah , and that even though there is a HUGE language barrier , this may be their only chance to hear about Jehovah. So in the few broken Thai words we can get out... we try to informal. Definitely makes us anxious to learn more Thai to be able to communicate more in service! And we admire those who are here serving and visibly progressing in learning the language, we hope one day we can reach more through the language like them :)

 Almost every where we go it seems that there are eyes on us, as we are usually a large group of nice and happy looking tourist(most tourist here to pattaya are pretty rude and are not nice to Thai people n others in general, it's so infuriating!) so when they see us happy n smiling , be it in a big groups or just as a couple, they tend to watch n observe making it perfect opportunity to witness. I was able to invite a group of young teenage age kids from the states and canada who are in an "outreach" program here in pattaya  to our Sunday meeting, and left them with some tracts. I casually started a convo with them n They were curious about why we were in Thailand so it gave the perfect opportunity to witness. Even though their odds of being witnessed to back home is probably better than that for most Thai, and even if they can't make it to meeting it'll be nice that they see Jehovah's people are all over the world :)

 

This picture of the room is a Panoramic pic so it kinda makes room look bigger,.. But it's hotel sized room with one small closet dresser thing that we share between us 2. Then there's a mirror/vanity thing with one little drawer .. And that's all the storage! Living again with so little here reminds me of the fact that I should just have my mom go thru all my junk at home and burn it before we return!  Ok maybe sell n giveaway , will need the profits for the return trip!  Haha. 

Taking a service break  one hot morning ^ 

^^ Juli, Maria, me and my homegirl Kenzie ^

Oh and a few nights ago we had a super last minute get together in our apartment/room , here is a pic below .. we had fun:) 

{lizette}

**Please remember to check out the group blog at: 

http://allabahtthailand.blogspot.com

**Also if you would like to comment but are having trouble.. Post comment as "Anonymous" , and include you name(first and last) in comment portion, so we know who u are :)

Say what by Juli- link

Link to juli's post :

http://allabahtthailand.blogspot.com/2013/12/say-whatby-juli.html

Check it out :) 

Life between the lanes

Hello all! 

sorry we have been super busy here, and then when we finally have a morning or day off.. all we want to do is explore(like the pattaya night market..Danger zone, more on that later..lol) or rest and sleep.. then when we actually have a minute of extra energy the wi-fi does not work... so Out goes the blog post .. haha. In a few days it will offficially be 4 weeks that we have been in Thailand! it seems so much longer , yet gone by way too fast! We are loving it, and the more time passes we are enjoying the ones in the English group and other groups in the Pattaya congregation. 

 Service here has been an awesome experience, and even though the initial fear of having to attempt a short Thai presentation is still there( worried that they do not understand a single word of our jumbled thai haha) we try to remember they are seeds being dispersed, and that with Jehovahs help will grow. We were given a tip to try to direct them to the JW.ORG website to find more info, this is helpful cuz most are usually on a smart phone so its easy access for them to whichever language they speak thai or any other language we have come across.

Here are some service Pics:

Raf looooves taking pics.. can u tell ;)

Janelle in Thai ^^ 

 

Sam and I with Michelle 

 

Boys eyeing how to get to the private basketball courts

 

Liz, Juli n Kenzie 

Photo cred: Samantha 

^^^ Roman and Michelle, here serving from Austria :) ^^^

After service Lunchs with huge groups! super fun! 

Its also super nice that after working in a territory you can usually find everyone still reading the brochure with an interestd look on their faces. Here is a pic(ok maybe the guy in green vest doesnt look so interested at the moment , but it cuz he caught me taking a pic ..Ooops Caught, lol..) :

 

Raf and joe working in a Soi(neighborhoood)

 Everyone that is here more permanently has had so much patience for us, as we all have questions about thai language, people, and culture. We are also learning to love our 7-11 breaks (i know who would have ever thought we'd say that, but they are super popular here and have everything you can think of) Here is a pic of one of our breaks: 

this little cutie is always out with his parents in service during the week 

Most of the friends here have bikes to get around, and so on service days we take them to the terrritory ,meet and disperse and then walk a lot from that meetingn point  .  Motorbikes are such a nice commmodity instead of having to walk EVERYWHERE like we had to do in Mexico.. lol. but there are pros and cons.. such as fear of dying on every ride, be it 2 mins away or a 20 min drive ! My fear of the bikes has gotten better over the last weeks, and the Thai people are in general much more polite and considerate of those on bikes since they r everywhere here... but still SCARY! Especially when ya see someone in our group almost being crushed between 2 buses! ahhh! I am being a bit dramatic... i am glad Rafa is a safe driver and def more on the Cautious side.. he is being so considerate of my fears haha .  

Check out this pic of life between the lanes :/

Here is my view on the bike.. not sure whats scarier seeing all the speeeding cars and bikes or my makeup-less face after a very hot service morning haha! But the sky and buildings looked to cool on the reflection to pass up the photo-op.

Next post will the Pattaya Thepasitt Night Market and our fun night of hanging out with friends(got to figure out to post videos here so if any of you know Leave it in the comments) 

Till next time ! :) 

lizette}

**Please remember to check out the group blog at: http://allabahtthailand.blogspot.com

**Also if you would like to comment but are having trouble.. Post comment as "Anonymous" , and include you name(first and last) in comment portion, so we know who u are :)