Sawatdee Kaa!

Between April 19th and May 2nd, Tim and I were fortunate enough to take a trip to Thailand! I meant to post shortly after returning, but I have had difficulty deciding which pictures to post on this blog out of the over 2,000 pictures we took while there. It was a blast and I will try to keep this post as short as possible to describe the two weeks we spent there.

First part of our journey: bus from Songtan to Incheon Airport in Seoul

We started our travels in Chiang Mai where we met up with our guide, Sutthi, the day after we arrived. With Sutthi's expertise we traveled all throughout the northern part of Thailand. We saw numerous exquisite and extravagant Buddhist temples; visited an elephant camp, watched an elephant performance and rode on the back of one; went bamboo rafting; viewed numerous naturally beautiful landscapes; hiked to a village of the Karen tribe with a personal guide; cuddled with tigers; rode in a long-tail boat at the Golden Triangle (intersection of Myanmar/Burma, Thailand, Laos); visited a tea plantation and orchid farm; and generally had a fantastic time! Here is a glimpse of the sights:

Night market in Chiang Mai

Drinking coconut milk with our tour guide, Sutthi

Bamboo rafting

Apparently, for the Chinese New Year everyone in Thailand goes to the rivers and splashes each other. We happened to go on our bamboo rafting trip during this time.

Needless to say, we got soaked

Hanging out with the elephants :)

At the elephant performance. Who knew they could paint, play soccer and basketball, throw darts and dance?!

Ride an elephant: check!

The elephant camp overlooking some rice paddies

Elephant train!

Petting tigers. This is Joe. Apparently tigers are nocturnal and most were asleep, but not Joe!

One of the local tribeswomen - she has eaten "too much bitternut" according to Sutthi and that is why her teeth and gums are black

The Burmese refugee village with the women who wear the gold rings to elongate their necks

Strawberries! At a local village sale stand

Learning all kinds of tricks from the jungle with our hiking guide.  I have a hat and a whistle!

Satellite dish?? In the Karen tribe village. Every house has stilts and their pigs and animals sleep under the house at night.

Drinking espresso right where it's made

At the Golden Triangle: (left) Myanmar/Burma, (right) Laos, and standing in Thailand

They even have Coke Icees in Thailand!!! Some of you will not be surprised that I had to sample ;)

The Northernmost point in Thailand

The extravagant and grotesque White Temple

After saying "kup kuhn kaa/kup!" (pronounced "cup coon kaw"; "thank you" in Thai) to our AMAZING guide and translator, Sutthi, we ventured to Bangkok and caught up with Adam and Beth Hunt (and baby on the way). The Hunts are in Bangkok awaiting the arrival of their first child since the hospital facilities in Bangkok are preferable to Myanmar where they are living. We first met Adam and Beth when they were still engaged and we all went on a mission trip through Purdue Christian Campus House to Uganda in May of 2007. It was so wonderful that we were able to catch up with the two of them, and we all joked that we obviously connect best out of the United States (jokingly)! So excited for them as they wait for God's perfect timing in bringing Baby Hunt into this world!

Tim, Adam, Beth & I as we take a water taxi in Bangkok

After a lovely evening with the Hunts, Tim and I ventured to the Gulf of Thailand for some rest and relaxation on Koh Samui - "koh" meaning island. We stayed in a luxurious resort the first few days and took full advantage of the beautiful suite and views of the Fair House Villas & Spa! We biked, swam in the pool, got a little sunburned, and met a fun Australian couple our age celebrating their honeymoon. We also had some unexpected visitors on our second-story private balcony - kittens! They must have known that I was a sucker for cute and cuddly kitties because they showed up our second day and remained on our balcony until we left. A gorgeous suite and pets for the duration of our stay?? What could be better! ;)

Me in front of the red taxi we took from the ferry

Entrance to the Fair House

View inside our suite

Free bikes to ride at the Fair House

The kitties: we named them Sandy and Curly (curled tail)

Dinner at the Fair House; what a view!

Panoramic view from our balcony

Night scene from our balcony thanks to Tim's superb photography skills :)

Next on our "itinerary" was meeting up with Beth and Zack - friends who are also at Osan with us and happened to be in Koh Samui at the same time we were! We all did a day trip to Angthong Marine Park which is a series of beautiful islands off the shores of Samui. We kayaked, snorkeled, hiked, took in some gorgeous scenery and generally had a great day! The islands were such an incredible sight to see.

Kayaking was a great way to see some of the islands

There are over 100 small islands included in Angthong National Marine Park

Tim, Zack, Beth and I doing some snorkeling

While on the island of Samui, Tim and I tried scuba diving for the first time. We completed the open water section of our training and literally dove right in. Tim and I went with a small group of other divers and got a dive experience with one-on-one instruction by our guide, Nick! It was truly amazing! At first I thought I might freak out a little, but I got over the "claustrophobic" feeling quickly and focused on the beauty around me under the surface of the ocean water. We've snorkeled quite a bit before going to Thailand, but it was nothing compared to what we were able to experience down among the coral and fish and other sea creatures. Thankfully, no large predatory animals came our way, though! We both can't wait to try scuba diving again!

Nick took some awesome underwater photos

It took some practice to get used to removing our masks 12m under the surface! We couldn't just swim quickly to the surface if we didn't get our masks back on well! 

Fishes!

On the speed boat with our personal scuba instructor, Nick

After nearly two incredible weeks of vacationing, it was time to say farewell to Thailand and we made the journey back to South Korea. We had such an amazing time and would love to go back, but Tim is already planning our next adventure in another part of the world. We will just have to see what destination is next! 

Bon Voyage Thailand!

Getting off the plane back in Korea, already wishing we could go back!

Thanks for checking in and I will post pictures very soon of my trip to China for the Great Wall Marathon! Love you all and we pray blessings your way :)

Much love,

Nicki

Newness

It seems like there is never a dull moment for us here in the Republic of Korea; so that is what this post is about. But, then everything I've posted on this blog has been new.

Tim and I's good friend Brad Hunt had a birthday in February so we spent a day walking around Seoul having a wonderful time with some of our dear friends here in Korea. It seems God continues to bless us with good friendships wherever we go.

Beautiful restaurant we went to 

On the subway with Mason, Clancy, and Alex

And I also had a birthday! I got to go home a couple weeks before my birthday I was able to go back to Indiana and see my family and some friends back home. I celebrated my birthday and Easter with my family which was a wonderful gift. It's amazing how special it can be to be able to spend a holiday back home with your family. My parents and siblings, and my "in-laws" still make me feel so loved when I go to visit them, especially on my birthday! I was only back in Indy a couple weeks and I spent quite a bit of time trying to locate Trigger, so I didn't get to see as many friends as I would have liked but I knew I'd be going back to Indy for a couple months this summer. I'll try to catch up with y'all then!

Love them all so much!

 My friends here in Korea also made Easter and my birthday very special. Clancy lives two doors down from Tim and I and she had us over for breakfast on my birthday - so fun and thoughtful! We went to church afterwards and it just happened to be the Sunday that the congregation sang "Happy Birthday" to the March birthdays. So I got to stand up in front of the whole church. After church, we met up with some friends from Kunsan AB who were visiting for the day. We all had lunch and Clancy surprised me with a homemade lemon cake! So delicious! And then Mason surprised me with a funfetti lemon cake he had made for me; so sweet (literally)! I felt showered with love from friends :) Tim got me what I've been wanting: a Korean mother-of-pearl jewelry box - gorgeous! Then to top off the evening, Tim took me to a delicious dinner at Pasta Vino - a yummy Italian place in Songtan. It was a lovely day!

Yummy birthday breakfast thanks to Clancy!

Thanks Clancy :)

My wonderful husband

Lunch at Chili's with cake!

My Korean jewelry box

Cake from Mason!

Some other new things around here are as follows:

* Well, you've met Roki if you read my last post but he is just too cute:

Mr. Mischevious

He loves water, go figure, but he loves the sink, the toilet, and even the shower ;)

He also likes to sleep in some odd places, like luggage...

...or the laundry basket

But he also crosses his paws like Chloe does!

* We got a scooter! And I've even learned to drive it! I ended up on the sidewalk outside the BX already (haha) but no one was on the sidewalk so no big deal ;) I'm still figuring it out, but I did drive all the way from the middle of Base to our home off Base so I figure that is pretty good.

No motorcycle, but at least I can drive this one!

* I make Korean yakimandu! Well, someone else makes it and I heat it up on the stove ;)

Yakimandu...our favorite street food

Mmmm-mmm good!

* Tim and I got named as a Fiend and a Fiendette! Tim's name is "Check" for "Check Six". For those of you who don't recognize that phrase it means to always watch your "6 o'clock", your back, while up there in the air flying; the squadron Tim is now part of uses "Check Six" as their motto of sorts so it is all over their Fiend party suits and shirts. So it was a natural thing to name Tim! He has been called "Check" for a while now but now it's his official call sign, at least until we go to the next assignment. By the way, out squadron is the 36th Fighter Squadron and our mascot is a Fiend...whatever that is ;) So the guys are called Fiends and the wives/fiances/girlfriends are "Fiendettes". That brings me to my name. Not every squadron names the wives/girlfriends as well, but the 36th does. We wives have to fill out a questionnaire before our "naming" party; one of the questions I had to answer was what my pet-peeve was. I said when Tim cuts his toenails and leaves the clippings sitting in a little pile on the coffee table - gross. Especially when I find the pile as soon as a guest walks into the living room - embarrassing and gross ;) Anyway, so they named me "Thirty" as in Nicki Thirty Six...Thirty Six, like our squadron. I think the ladies couldn't pass up naming me Thirty because of our last name. And it stands for "Toenail-Hating Innocent Religious Talented Youth"; it's a good name but not so sure about that acronym ;) So Tim and I are Check and Thirty around the squadron now.

Nicki "Thirty" Six

Andrea became "LOLO" and Jaimie became "SKOUT" - fun night!

The last thing I wanted to mention in this post was the state of things over here in South Korea. As I'm sure most if you have heard, the political climate with North Korea is pretty tense over here right now. That much is true, but what has been reported in the US is about as much as we know over here. That is pretty much all I can say about that right now, and honestly that is about all I know. Tim isn't at liberty to say anything different even if he knew more, not that I know he knows more. He doesn't say and I don't ask. It's safer for us all that way :) But Tim and I did have a lunch date the other day on a rooftop to watch the B-2 and F-16s flyover - very cool! Obviously that doesn't happen often ;) I see F-16s and A-10s frequently, but not B-2s. I always get a little bit of an eerie feeling when I see a B-2 but they are still pretty neat to see. Never a dull moment when you live overseas!

It was foggy that day so we could barely see them in the distance at first

Pretty cool!

Well, my friends, that is all I have for now but I will try to post again soon once I have more interesting things to say/show. We are going to Thailand in a couple weeks for a couple weeks, then Tim is off for some training within S. Korea and I'll be going to China for the Great Wall Marathon in mid-May! So excited for both trips and will post more after we get back from those. Then I'll be back to Indy for June and possibly July. Tim is still waiting to hear if he'll be in the States for some training this summer; if so, he will probably get to visit Indy as well for a little bit. Thanks for all your love and prayers! We miss y'all :)

Much love,

Nicki