In Thailand, first full day.

Is in Thailand and living it up. Had a great day in Phang-Nga and Phuket Thailand. Started with a great breakfast, seafood Kao Tam I think they called it, it was like a fresh seafood and rice soup with a poached egg on top and a bunch of fresh herbs/seasonings. As I had breakfast I watched everything imaginable being hauled by on mopeds, 4 kids and a poodle, a jet ski etc and crazy amounts of people being hauled in vehicles way over capacity. I wonder what the mortality rate is here for motor vehicle accidents? After breakfast a van picked me up to head up to Phang Nga to go white water rafting followed by a jungle hike and then jungle trek riding on the back of an elephant. Note to self, guys from Kuwait are probably not the most experienced paddlers/watermen. But it was still fun to watch them keep falling out of the boat. Not much help in steering the raft, in fact one had already lost his paddle about 1.5 minutes into the trip. Some really nice and funny guys though. After White water rafting I took a short jungle hike to the Tone Pariwat waterfall and went for a swim. I think the elephant trek was the low point. Felt bad for the elephant as all he seemed to want to do is wander off and eat what ever tasty looking plant he saw and in the jungle there are lots of tasty looking things to an elephant and we were keeping him from that. At one point I my seat slid and I was hanging sideways off the elephant over a rocky ledge. Good thing elephants are sturdy enough that he just stood there in place while I climbed back up. Don't think I would have fared as well in that situation on a horse. Had more fun feeding the elephants bananas after the trip than I did riding on them. Then after that I went on to a Buddha temple surrounded by monkeys. Lots of monkeys! And I was very popular because I had two big grocery bags of rambutans to share. I got much more attention then the others that just had bananas and peanuts. I had little monkeys hanging off the legs of my shorts, climbing me... and some older monkey standoffs going on in front of me over who got to sit in front of me.... all good fun. Long drive back to the hotel after. Lobster stir fry for dinner followed by one of the best two hour Thai massages of my life from this older Thai lady named Moo who works in a high end Spa across the street from the restaurant. Still cost me less than $25. I am going back to see Moo every day for the rest of the trip. After that off to the tailor for a first fitting of the shirts I am having custom made and then a little shopping on the way back toward the hotel. Got Carys some cute silk pajamas and a beach dress. Plan on doing more shopping later in the trip. Made one last stop before the hotel at a Fisho Spa. That's where you go hang your feet in the water and these tiny fish come up and nibble all your dead skin off. Feels funny, like little tiny buzzers touching you. The girl that worked there told me it is most popular with the French. In fact they do the whole body treatments. I just stuck with the feet. After the fish were fed back to my room for a shower then out for a night cap. First stop an Irish Pub with local musicians two hot female leads in mini kilts a female drummer and a guy on bass and one on lead ax. And every one of them could sing. Quite well... without any accent. They performed quite a variety of non irish music by request. Entertaining. It was closing so after my pint I went next store to a club for a scotch. While there I had to use the restroom facilities and had one of the most unique experiences with I have ever had with bathroom attendants. I was in a 10 x 10 restroom with probably five attendants. One was adjusting TV channels on the LCD screen in front of my urinal while I was attempting to go... no luck too much attention and stage fright. So I thought I'll just wash my hands and be out. As I started washing my hands one guys starts massaging my shoulders while the other holds my towel. After I dry my hands the guy rubbing my shoulders grabs my head and starts giving me a full chiropractic adjustment as I am standing in front of the sink. Not really what I was expecting! First he cracks my neck both directions then proceeds to crack my back at least 8 different ways and is successful each time while another guy works on my hands. Then the guys cracks my ears! Don't even know how that works? He did both up and down. Well after that I called it a night and walked back to the hotel as I have to catch a boat in the morning for my next adventure. Going to do some ocean kayaking around the islands where a couple James bond movies were filmed. Golden Gun and Tomorrow Never Dies. Hey it looks like it is time to go to breakfast. So starts another day in the Land of Smiles!