when i thought of thailand before our trip, i thought of sandy beaches, clear blue water and sunny skies. but thailand was so much more than that to us. we fell in love with thailand and are already planning how we can come back again!
thailand is a place of celebration. we celebrated new year's eve 2009 on koh mak. lucky for us nye coincided with a full moon and we witnessed a small ceremony of lanterns being sent off into the black night skies.
thailand is a place of tradition, worship and ritual. we've seen many wats in our 4 weeks in thailand and we've seen many monks clad in their bright orange robes. the monk in the picture above welcomed us into his wat saying, "buddha is waiting for you". he chanted some words in thai and then in english, "i want happiness for 100 years. i want a new home". over and over again. in the end he gave us each bracelets for good luck and asked for a donation.
thailand is a place of impossible to read signs. this sign says happy new year 2010. we only know this because there is an english translation on the other side of the bush. 
thailand is a place where dogs wear people shirts. well...to be fair...while we were in chiang mai it did dip to 22 degrees at night. brrr! poor doggies!
thailand is a place full of beautiful children and quick smiles. this little boy giggled when he realized he'd been caught in the act. i showed him his picture on the back of our camera and he giggled some more :)
thailand is a place where i want to be when i grow old. sawatdee-ka,
corina
