Another fabulous overseas birthday for Boo! Sadly our last day in Thailand....

Boo woke early very excited to be celebrating her 9th birthday.  Now this girl has the best locations for her birthdays out of all of us, having been in Cape York, Bali and now Thailand.  Such a lucky girl and we know she feels blessed.

We had bought some small pressies over with us that we could fit into the luggage and she absolutely loved them.  She eagerly unwrapped the earrings, dress, shoes, necklace and Monster High journal book.  We totally love seeing her so excited and Meg is a great gift giver, waiting eagerly to see her reaction.  After she got over the excitement of the gift giving, we headed down to the resort for a buffet breakfast.  Sadly, it was no Hard Rock Cafe, which put on a big deal singing happy birthday to their guests and presenting them with a cake.  The only recognition she got was from us.  I think she was a little disappointed, luckily we had worded her up not to expect a show.  Still had a birthday breakie fit for the princess she is!!

Excited to have pressies to open...

Sisterly love...

Or gorgeous birthday girl!

Had to wear the new dress and shoes!

Omelets it is...

Off to breaky...

It was "Boo's Day" so we had let her choose what she wanted to do.  She had wanted to do the Elephant Safari Park, so we booked that previously for the afternoon.  So what else does a kid in Thailand want to do, you got it, watch a movie in our room and hang out in the pool afterwards until it was time to go.  Surprisingly, Marty was happy with this plan.  As the girls watched the movie, we decided that the hair braids had had their day, so undertook the massive task at unravelling them. Marty did well to fumble thru their hair with his big hands....lol!

Concentration needed hey Marty?

Frizz sisters....

Movie in bed with popcorn...

Who's the princess being hand fed???

Thumbs up for this idea of pool time!

Walking on water.....

Meg had a great time too...

After a pool side lunch and lazing around, we headed up to the room to get ready for our afternoon out.  Both Boo and Meg were really excited to be getting up close and personal with elephants again.  Being the spoilt travellers they are, this isn't their first encounter with them, jeez they have a great life!  We got picked up at the foyer by the Siam Safari Park bus and made our journey up the winding hills, the park being up in the mountains near The Big Buddha,

Waiting to be picked up for the Safari park...

Some hotel transport at one of the resorts...Marty loved them!

When we arrived, we were greeted by a lovely Thai woman who introduced and greeted us as 'Wi', and she would be our tour guide.  We were instructed to get on the blue tractor trailer to start our tour, which we thought was going to be an hour in total.  Could you imagine our faces when we heard it was the commencement of our 4 hour tour!!!! Whoops, should read the fine print sometimes, luckily we had nothing else planned.  The tractor drove us to our first stop, where we Wi educated us about the way the buffalo's are so instrumental in their rice farming in Thailand.  We had a demonstration be performed which felt like we were back in the early days, a buffalo and a farmer with a hoe strapped on the beasts back to work the dirt.  No machines here!  We even took a ride on the wooden cart that was towed by the buffalo, girls loved it of course!

Nice nose piercing...

This guy was always with a smile....

Smile....

Time for a ride on the cart..

Camera shy....lol

After the demonstration we went and had a seat in their coffee cafe, where they made us a traditional Thai coffee and rice pancakes.  I loved them, but it seems l eat anything these days.  Marty and the girls took one bite and that was it.  Oh well, at least they tried it.  After our taste testing we went across to were another demonstration took place about how the rice is harvested.  The girls were very fascinated and l think it was great for them to witness how many processes take place to get food onto the table. They also showed us how many uses they have for coconuts, hulling them and showing us all that no part of the coconut is wasted.  They use the milk in their cooking and hygiene, the coconut itself in their food and the hull for making baskets and other decorative ornaments.
They moved us over to their outside kitchen where they cooked up a storm using the coconut milk they just got.  It was the most sensational pineapple chicken curry, and yes, Boo and l were the only one who liked it.

'Wi', our tour guide, she was so lovely!

Thai Coffee making demonstration..

Thai coffee and rice pancakes...

Girls loved pouring the tea, but the taste???
Boo's face says it all!

Marty no too sure either!

Rice farming demonstration...

This is how they de-hull the rice..

Girls have a go...

Meg tasting the coconut...yummo!

Squeezing the coconut milk out!

..then the cook up using the milk!

Pineapple Chicken Curry....delicious!

The last demonstration for the day was about how the Thai utilise the rubber tree's.  It was fascinating, as for one, l never knew rubber was made from the liquid found in a certain tree.  Totally amazing.  They showed us how they scratch a marking in the tree, which seeps and trickles out the rubber liquid which is caught in the cans.  Their head torches are something else too....no batteries required here!  They then took us over were they showed us the process from liquid thru to the formed rubber, so educational for the girls, and us too!

Dense tropical jungle...

Rubber tree..see the used scratchings in the trunk.

Got to love their head torches...no batteries required!

It was time to get back on the tractor where we climbed up the windy hill on the dirt road thru the lush jungle.  It was time for the elephant show, which l don't really support as l feel it is all for the tourist and elephants aren't really living to kick a soccer ball around or paint a picture.  But what do l know?  The girls did like the show, and of course, you can buy a painting if you feel that way inclined. After the show we got a basket of fruit, which we all enjoyed giving them a hand feed of fruit.  Could you imagine Boo's surprise, when all the feeding and photos were done, that Wi presented Boo with her very own elephant painting from today.  Everyone sung happy birthday to her, it was so great of them.

Meet the elephants time!

Elephant painting..

Result of the painting...

Soccer anyone?

Nice view...

God they gobbled the bananas up!

Was fascinated by the inside of their mouths...never seen it before!

Happy birthday sing a long time...

Elephants even played the harmonica!

Such a unique birthday for her!

What a gift!

The time had arrived with the main reason we had booked the tour, the 30 minute elephant ride thru the jungle. Meg and l were first to climb on board our elephant, l always hate this part as you never know how stable the saddles are going to be, and you are so high off the ground!!!  My anxiety decreased immediately as l was over joyed with the experience of riding on top of the elephant.  The elephants 'carer' spoke no English so it was hard to communicate with him.  Like the other elephant camps we have been to, the elephants have one carer for their life.  We did learn his name was Mahit and our elephant was 37 years old!  Throughout our ride we also learnt that he and his elephant were very adventurous, taking us up steep banks on the hills.  It was such a joyride, and on the flip side, my heart was pounding for most of the half hour, where Marty was totally relaxed and had a ball!  So funny how different we are as l was like that with the tigers!  The ride was absolutely amazing, taking us thru the lush dense jungle and high up in the hills overlooking the villages below and the ocean in the horizon.  The half hour went way too quick, even though l was highly anxious as times throughout the ride, l still loved every moment of it.  Was great to see Megs excitement throughout too, sitting ever so still.  Marty and Boo had a ball, both were disappointed that they didn't have such an adventurous experience as we did, but l would have taken their mellow one any day! Lol...

Thai's version of a Australia's bush turkey probably!

Look at those lashes!

Time to saddle up!

Look at the size of those elephant droppings!

Selfie stick getting a workout!

Our bush trekking elephant guide, this frighten the hell out of me!

Need reversing camera's....

Elephant footsteps leading to some
trippy photos! lol

Panoramic...

Look at that trunk tip...

Big Buddha in the distance...

Glad we didn't run face first into this one....

Mahit and the elephant we rode on...

They look happy...

Pretty chilled out....

Meg not so sure...

Boo adored them...

Don't really like the look in his eyes...bit freaked out!

After our elephant ride and post ride intimate moments shared with the elephants, we all boarded the blue tractor trailer to set off for dinner.  When we arrived up at the outdoor eating area, the view was amazing, overlooking the jungle below.  We feasted on a huge buffet Thai meal, the green curry being my favourite.  Meg feasted on the fresh fruit as wasn't interested in the foreign cuisine.  Our unexpected longer afternoon out has turned out to be an amazing way to celebrate Boo's birthday and one she will surely never forget.

The 'blue tractor'....our luxury ride for the day...

This spider was on the window inside the toilets...
l went quick!!!

Piled the plates up....

Delicious last Thai meal....

Our view from the restaurant...

Wi, Boo and Meg....

The half hour drive back to Centara resort was a bit sad, seeing this was our last day sunset in Thailand.  We made sure to walk down to the beach for our first sunset viewing, l know, who are we? But again, after spending so long travelling the WA coast with magical sunsets for the last 6 months, we were about sunseted out!  So glad we took the stroll down though, was beautiful.  The colours were amazing and there was heaps of activity down there with the para sailing happening. I do apologize for the amount of photo's, but it had been a while between glorious beachside sunsets!

Amazing what kids can find to play with.....

Soccer match in progress...

The cable spirals....

Girls faces showing it was a very big day....

Made it just in time for our first and last ocean sunset in Thailand!

Para sailing in big demand....

Loving the colours!

Kiss on the beach...pity about the onlookers!

Last walk home...

When we reached home, it was dark and everyone was a little buggered.  Opening the door to our room we were presented with our freshly made up room, along with a birthday surprise for Boo from the resort.  She was so excited seeing an elephant made up out of a towel (how fitting for our day) and a handwritten message in a card from them.  Marty and l quickly gobbled up our words of disappointment with the resort about not doing anything for kids birthdays, very sweet of them.  We couldn't have Boo's birthday finish without a cake.  So we dug the candles out from our bags and sang happy birthday out on the balcony with candles in some cupcakes.  She has had an absolute ball!  What a fantastic way to end our time in Thailand, as tomorrow we set sights on heading back to Australia via a Singapore stopover....

Boo's gorgeous gift from the resort....

Even got a complimentary drink....

Birthday "cupcake" time...

When you need sleep, you never get it hey.  I woke early after a terrible nights sleep, l don't know if it was because it was our last night in Thailand or if l was a little anxious about our travel day ahead?  Anyway, l woke to the rain and overcast day which probably fit my mood from no sleep.  We had our last buffet breakfast, thank god! We are all over it and our waist lines have expanded also, we are all looking forward to our normal cereal or toast when we get back to Oz.  There's only so many buffet breakfasts you can do, and this was number 18!  With our flights not until late afternoon, we took the chance while the rain had stopped for a last stroll thru the nearby markets to get a few last minute pressies for people back home.

Our drizzly rainy day..

Trying to do some fancy rain shots...

The pools of water starting to become evident...

The girls and l made a plan that we needed a last pampering session, so we headed off to a nearby massage parlour for a manicure and pedicure.  This was to be our first ever paid pedicure together, love doing these things with my girls.  After bartering with the girls for a little, l got them down to $1000 Baht, which equates to around $38 AUS for everyone to get a pedicure, girls to get manicures and me a lower leg and foot massage.  We relaxed on the comfy chairs as the rain pelted down, glad we were doing something to make use of our time left here.  Boo and Meg opted for flowers on their nails, looking so cute.  An hour went quick and luckily the rain had slowed as we didn't want to ruin our new looking nails!!! Lol.

Ready for some pampering girls?

All nail blinged up for the flight home..

My turn!

Back at our room, l polished off what was left of my vodkas in the fridge.  Well we couldn't take them with us could we?? Being slightly tipsy, l still managed to get all the bags packed and ready to go.  We were picked up by a lobby man and chauffeured to the foyer in the golf cart, girls loving the ride!  Whilst we boarded into the taxi, and farewelled Karon Centara Resort, the rain commenced and felt like it was raining cats and dogs!  The streets were filled with water due to the storm drains unable to cope with the amount, hence, the traffic was banked up and it ended up being a slightly longer trip to the airport.  Luckily we had plenty of time.

Those clouds don't look good!

And the rain continues...

Thank god for the chauffeurs!

Bye for now Centara Resort!

Apparently they have gumboots on standby
for staff!  Now we know why!

Look at the rain off the guttering!

The roads on the way to the airport!

The check in and boarding at the Thailand Airport went smoothly and we were on our way, everyone not looking forward to our three hour stop over in Singapore.  It was going to be a long journey back to Australia.  Arriving in Singapore Airport around 9pm, we headed to the terminal that catered for kids and found the free movie theater.  After nearly falling asleep several times, we opted out anxious that we would sleep through our flight boarding.  Instead, Marty and the girls kept themselves amused with the PlayStation's whilst l caught up on my blog notes for the trip.  The time flew by quickly and at midnight we were boarding our last flight, destination for Darwin.  As always, Marty has no trouble sleeping on planes, but l do seeing l have to listen to him snoring the whole time.  The girls managed some sleep which was good too.  We arrived around 5am in Darwin, just in time to see the sunrise.  God it was great to be back, have missed Australia.

Read this sign!  Hilarious...

Excited much girls??

Bye Thailand....

Hello Singapore....

PlayStation's were awesome...

Indoor garden in the airport...wow!

Even has fish!

Military presence everywhere!

Sadly had to leave the girls banana leave roses
at customs!!!

Tired selfie while waiting to board!

Night night girls...

Bye Singapore...

Hello Darwin!!!!

Just in time for sunrise!!! 

So bye bye holidays, and hello travelling life again!  Always makes us appreciate what a great country we have in Australia everytime we go overseas.  We take so many things for granted, like honesty and fresh water in great supply.  Although our trip started a bit rocky with Marty and l having troubles, it developed and ended into another great experience with many memorable family moments.  We shared laughs and new experiences whilst showing our girls a new side to this extremely diverse world we live in.  Love that they see it in the flesh than just read about it in books.  We eventually warmed to Thailand after our water tours and animal encounters and we have said that we would return again one day.  So with new fire in our bellies to keep exploring Australia, we are so happy to get back to our caravan and continue our journey......

Bell Xxx