Happy Easter... or... Holi Hai!

Happy Easter!  This year, we celebrated Easter in a sort of... ahem... non-traditional way.  Of course, the Easter Bunny still came and dropped off some eggs, but on Sunday, the most holy of Catholic holidays, we celebrated in a sort of... um... non-holy way.  We celebrated Holi instead... http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/03/holi-2013-the-festival-of-colors/100483/
From this link:  This week Hindus around the world celebrated Holi, the Festival of Colors. Holi is a popular springtime celebration observed on the last full moon of the lunar month. Participants traditionally throw bright, vibrant powders at friends and strangers alike as they celebrate the arrival of spring, commemorate Krishna's pranks, and allow each other a momentary freedom -- a chance to drop their inhibitions and simply play and dance.
 

We, along with a few other teachers, headed south to Busan to celebrate Holi, as part of our Easter.  We didn't have any ham, or broccoli and cheese casserole, but we did have some fun!

We were a little early for the festivities, so the kids donned their holi hats and started digging in the sand. 

Other celebrants started arriving, but the party was not yet in full swing.  We arrived around 9:00, took a walk up the beach, and got back here around 10:00.  Everyone else was just arriving.

At about 10:45 they handed out samosas and hite to EVERYONE... yup, even Pooks and R-Man...
luckily our kids are good sports and TOOK the beer... even if they didn't drink it :)

Munching down the veggie samosas...

Some time between the eating and drinking, the holi started.  Each person was given a packet of powder (see the first picture) paint.  The point of holi is to take the powder paint and smear some on each person you see, saying, "Happy Holi!"  The fun starts because not everyone WANTS to be smeared with paint powder.  And so, you have to chase those people, and smear them even harder than if they just complied in the first place...  

and some people you just have to throw paint at.

it is kind of like a civil war battlefield.   Except with a lot less dead confederate soldiers, and a lot more color.



Here I am with some random Holi celebrant, and one of our teacher friends in the background.  Not sure what she is saying to Gary...  I'm sure it was nice ;)



Our group.  Don't you want to come to our school?

I'm not sure why R-man is sill holding this beer. 

A picture of the general craziness.

OK... all that beer and soju and things start to get a little bit crazy (now remember that it is not even noon yet...) Some of the guys get into a circle and start throwing people into the air.  So here is our math teacher...  

And here I am, about to go next... however... due to a "technical difficulty" with the camera this is the only shot of me in the ring.  You'll have to ask Gary to see the video...

Group shot.



While we are all playing and getting tossed in the air, R-man makes a couple of friends.

They take turns posing with him, and he complies.

No wonder he is staying away from us...

There are so many things wrong with this picture I don't even know where to start...

We decide that by 12:10 we have had enough... it is time to head home. 

And on the way we manage to scare these little girls into rolling up their window and closing their sunroof...
Happy Holi Hai!

Koh Samui

Koh Samui is a small island off the east coast of Thailand.  If it seems like we visit Thailand a lot, and don't go anywhere else, let me tell you... I hope you are right!  We love Thailand, the weather is hot and humid, the food and massages are cheap, and the beer is cold.  Plus, when we are in Thailand we can just spend the days relaxing by the pool and beach, and not feel like we HAVE to run around, because it is so laid back and quiet.  So this vacation we did go to Thailand, again, and we are glad that we did! 

Doesn't this look like the perfect spot to spend the day?  I think so!

How about here?  Yup, not bad, either!

TWO happy hours?  See what I mean??? 

Actually, most of our vacations are pretty similar... we love the pool, beach, massages;  we find a place a short walk away with good, cheap food;  we go on one tour; something funny happens; we love sunsets;  we are predictable and boring, but we have fun.  So basically this vacation is just like every other vacation.  We are so lucky!

This is GG restaurant, the place we find and absolutely love.  I ate the same dinner every night but one, when I had my dinner for lunch, and then had to choose something else for dinner.  Here are some prices and the US conversion:
One soda water:  20 baht ($0.55)
One big Chang: 90 baht ($2.75)
One green veggie curry 100 baht ($3.00)
One chicken satay: 120 baht ($3.55)
One penne pasta with tomato sauce: 100 baht ($3.00)
One veggie pad Thai with tofu: 100 baht ($3.00)

What  this means is that we ate dinner every night for under $20...

After dinner we walked out on this dock to look at fish and other weird sea stuff before heading back for a nightly dip in the pool. 

The next day we took a ride into NaThon, a small little town about 10 minutes from our hotel.  There was lots to see and plenty of great bargains to be had... from any of these vendors you can buy polo, lacoste, nike, gucci, louis vuitton, prada... you name it, they can put the label on it! 

Of course, being a typical town, the electricity is just amazing!

You can see, looking behind this lantern, that the streets are not swarming, so we had a chance to walk around without the usual jostling.

We happened to look down a side street and saw this guy. 
You'd walk towards him, too, right?

Which brought us to this temple, Wat Chaeng.  It was cool to look around and to see the Buddhas inside, but the best part was looking at the pictures of past celebrations... these monks are the face piercing kind...

(I was going to put a link here for you to see some of the pictures, but the ones I could find were so gross that I didn't want to make you sick to your stomach). 

The pictures we saw were pretty weird, but we couldn't TAKE pictures of them.  I guess that is for the best.

The front of the temple.

This is the inside of our room.  Pooks is reading, I am outside in the chair reading and getting refreshed.  We also had two bedrooms and a bathroom...

This is the view from the living area. 

The next morning we went for a walk around on the road.  This place we are walking to has it all!  One guy owns and runs the whole thing and at this place you can visit the mini mart (with ice cream), rent a moped, book a tour, get an hour massage including foot scrub (for 400 baht, about $12), and get a suit made. 

We spent a few minutes looking at this guy, too. 

OK, time for the tour.  Koh Samui is about 100 km around, so we decided to spend one day driving around and seeing the sights.  The first place we stopped is here, Wat Plai Laem, which has a lot of different Buddhas and temples.

The next spot is named The Big Buddha.  It should be called the Way High Up Buddha, because I think some of the other Buddhas are bigger, but none are higher up. 

The view from the top, looking out.

Next stop... Viewpoint (at least that is what it is called on the map).  So, Viewpoint from the top,

and the bottom.

Next, Wat Sila Ngu.  As we were there, our guide was telling us that this was Wat Sila Ngu, and Gary was saying, "Oh, it's new, it must not be painted yet..." but this is the way it was supposed to be... it's NGU, not NEW.

Next is Wat Samret, where you can see a solid marble Buddha, if you go on another day... today was closed.

Next stop was Wat Khunaram, where you can see the undercomposed remains of Phra Khru Samathakittikhun, a monk who died in 1973.

In the front is his bronze statue, in the back is him, complete with ochre robe and shades. 

You can also get sprinkled with holy water and get a string bracelet which brings you good luck, as long as you don't take it off. 

You can also get a banana and nutella pancake wrap for about $0.80

You should see this guy chop a banana... about 4 seconds and he was DONE!

Moving on... to the Magic Alambic rum distillery factor tour.  Which was really watching a video of rum making set to weird, mystical (magic, maybe?) music... and drinking samples of rum mixed with a lime juice, sugar, and cinnamon concoction which somehow entices you into buying more rum than you can  carry through duty free... 

Sample, anyone?

Last temple of the day, Laem Sor, which, according to Lonely Planet, has an interesting, highly venerated old Srivijaya-style stupa.  Which apparently was wasted on me, because I still don't know what it is.  But did I mention the rum samples? 

Also at Laem Sor, an ocean which refuses to cooperate as I try to take a picture of it making a huge splash behind the kids.  Proof that it DOES make a big splash, the huge wet puddle I am making the kids stand in as I take about 7 pictures...

Darn it!  Oh, did I mention the rum????  Ha!

Alright... last stop of the day, the Samui Snake Farm.

They have snake shows here, but we had just missed the 12:00 show, and the next show wasn't until 1:00, so we just did our own walking tour (for 100 baht, about $3). 
Let me just say right here, that this place is not up to code in any safety, health, or OSHA regulations.  Which of course, makes it ripe for something fun to happen.  First off, the snake farm has about 30 HUGE snakes, which are all FROM the island of Koh Samui.  Which is where we are walking through tall grasses to view those same snakes. 

So you can see this huge python,
and then if your skirt just happens to accidentally brush someones leg, it might feel like a snake was brushing their leg, causing that other person to scream like a little girl and jump around...
 that might happen in a place like this...

Another thing that might happen is, you might all be looking into a cobra pit, but not quite be able to see the cobra because it is hiding in the tall grasses.  And so you might ask the guy showing you around the get a stick and poke the cobra so you can see it a little better.  However, instead of getting a stick, that guy might get a chair.  And he might climb into the cobra pit (remember, no OSHA regulations) and stir up the cobra.

And the cobra might start hissing and striking at him.

And only after he's done, he might explain how he had to have three fingers cut off , and a big chunk of his arm and scalp removed, and how he has been bitten by snakes 384 times.  Now I'm not saying any of these things did happen, especially the part about Gary screaming like a little girl when my skirt brushed him... I'm just saying they MIGHT happen. 

Despite all of these things, Pooks still wants to hold the 40 pound python.

We also get to see this scorpion.

On his face!  Time to call it a day...

And head back to the beach. 

Our last night, at our favorite place (GG's). 

Gotta love a place where you can eat in your bathing suit, and swim in the pool while waiting for your food....

A place you can walk to, eat at, and walk home, all without shoes..

And where you can see this beautiful sunset every night...

We love Thailand!