Collages - A visit from Justin T. Strickland

Justin Strickland is many things.  Afraid of the camera, he is not.  Justin took over 600 pictures in his seven days in Thailand. If you include all the deletes and retakes, this number might be more like 700.  Because Justin wants to get that perfect shot, there are many retakes and duplicates of nearly the same shot.  I thought the best way to show a vacation from JStrick would be through a series of collages...with some commentary, of course.

Justin arrived on Monday, but we had to work. :(  So, Justin went and got his Bangkok temples on.

We all met downtown to check out the Bangkok nightlife.  Since Thailand is such a tourist destination, every night of the week is a party night, even Monday.

Tuesday and Wednesday, we had to work again.

But, we did have time to eat...

Finally, after a grueling three-day work week, we all three took off for Krabi on Wednesday after school.  One of the coolest parts of Railay Beach is that long tail boats are the only way in and out.  It is on a peninsula that has no roads connecting to the mainland due to the limestone formations.  This is also one of the most famous rock climbing destinations in the world.

They welcomed us by adding a dish named in our honor to the menu.

The next day, we played on the beach....

and watch monkeys do it (or so Justin claims, you be the judge)...

and got massages...

and had a contest to see who had the vainest arms.  I won. My prize - disgusting arms.

After a good night rest, we woke up to watch the Fightin' Texas Aggies beat the hell outta t.u.

Image from sports.ap.org (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

After an emotional morning, we took it easy the next few hours and went to the beach, you know, instead of working like I should have been.  Let me take a moment here to fully endorse the five day weekend.  After recovering a bit from the game, we took a sunset snorkel cruise.

I just thought Justin looked hilarious in this picture.

These pictures are in order.

This snorkel trip easily had to be the highlight of the trip.  Why?  Was it because of all the beautiful coral and tropical fish?  Perhaps the sunset completely blew us away? Maybe the bbq on the beach was magical?  Could it have been the phosphorescence that lit up the water as we swam in it?  While all of those things were great, there were two key developments on this snorkel trip that made it unforgettable.

The first was a young woman who thought it would be a good idea to wear, wait for it, a thong to snorkel in.  Please see the picture below.

Who the heck snorkels in a thong?

The second thing that made this cruise so awesome was immediately following the BBQ dinner.  We had dinner on three small islands that are all connected by sandbars, so you can walk between the islands.  Because of the tide, only a half the people could take the small boat back to the larger boat at a time.  We got stuck waiting.  In the mean time, God unleashed his fury with some of the loudest and brightest thunder and lightening I have ever heard.  And then the torrents came.

Fortunately, we made it back to the boat, and back to the beach safely.

The last day in Railay called for more beach time.  But first, we had to complete a ritual for anyone visiting Thailand: getting some tailored clothes.

Once we made it to the beach, we decided to swim out to a couple of small limestone islands just off the beach.

The view looking at Railay.

That night, we checked out the night life.

The weather was great to us the whole trip, but we woke up to rain on Sunday morning.  Thankfully, we were leaving.  Bye Bye Railay.

With only a few hours left in Thailand before Justin left, I thought I would show him our local market where Becky and I buy most of our food.

And with that, we said goodbye.  If you are keeping track at home, Justin is the first pre-marriage friend visitor I have had.  Emily Q. made it last year, as Becky's pre-marriage friend.  Katie, Dr. and Mrs. Kyle also have made the trip east.  So step it up friends and get your butts to Asia.

See you soon.

iBeck