White Sand Christmas, Bangkok New Year, Laos, and Our New House

As always it's taken me a while to update the blog and as a result there's a ton of pics. So, I'll spare myself the time and you readers the lame captions and just post the pics. However, a few of the pictures definitely warrant an explanation, specifically those involving extremely skimpy swimwear. So the explanation is this: most all islands in Thailand are generally populated with huge numbers of Western tourists - European, Australian, etc. - and virtually all the men wear speedos. Spencer and I simply didn't want to feel left out. Besides, it was Spencer's birthday and what better reason to give our wives the sexiest beach experience of their lives...

An additional explanation - in one of the New Year's pics, the two Spencers are posing with what may seem to be a random "girl" - quite the contrary, though. The girl is actually a guy. Don't believe me? Take a closer look and you'll see the 5 o'clock shadow and an unmistakably masculine hand. Not a bad presentation, really. We gave this ladyboy an 8.5 out of 10. Some of them can really fool you. What a surprise that must be for the lucky foreign boyfriend...

As for the mustache, greatness such as this needs no explanation.

Anyway, life in Bangkok is fantastic. We recently moved to suburbia to be closer to the school that Laura now teaches at. The neighborhood is beautiful and even came complete with a couple of stray dogs that of course we took in. The new family members are Nelly (the white one) and Cocoa (the brown one). They should have the house all warmed for Cooper who arrives on the 16th. Seriously, I can hardly sleep at night I'm so excited to have him here with us.

Enjoy the speedos, I mean the pics.

Peace.

Christmas at Koh Samet

































































New Year's Celebration with the Edwards and the Hummistons























Laos











Fantasitc New Year's Mustache


The New House

The Bridge Over the River Khwai

December 5th was the king's birthday/Father's Day, so we took advantage of the day off and did a little traveling. We met up with our friends Spencer and Chrissy and hopped on a bus heading for Kaanjanaburi. To those of you who are not familiar with this place, it is where the bridge over the River Khwai is located. Once we got there, we toured some of the old war museums, cemeteries, and an old cave with lots of old Buddhist statues, etc. Then we went to the bridge, took some pictures, and ate some fabulous Thai food and watched the fireworks show commemorating both the king's birthday and the the bridge. Great day. Enjoy the photos.


This taken just outside one of the war museums - a great shot of up-country Thailand.


Devin and Laura riding in the back of the truck, or soong thaew, from the museum to the cave.


Our friends Chrissy and Spencer.


Laura enjoying the breeze and the view.


A shot of the temple grounds where the cave was located.


Bells and gongs at the temple leading the way to the cave entrance.


Devin and Spencer (fabulous pose) at the cave entrance. By the way, if you had any degree of claustrophobia, the cave was more frightening than interesting...


Devin in the cave with a pot-bellied Buddha.


A brief glimpse of daylight before heading deeper into the cave.


Ducking through the cave and trying to stay calm...


Laura, obviously not as bothered with the enclosed surroundings.


Spencer figuring the odds of survival in the event of an earthquake.


Chrissy and Laura working their way down the steep descent into the abyss...


Laura in front of one of temples just outside the cave.


A monk peacefully carrying out clean-up duty around the temple grounds.


This little guy enjoying a coconut snack.


A cemetery full of Dutch, German, British and American soldiers who died while building the bridge over the Khwai River.


Devin and Spencer viewing the entire burial ground. This was a very moving tribute to the soldiers. Rumor was that for every railroad tie placed, there was a soldier who died building the bridge.


A great shot of the landscape of the Thai countryside on the way to the bridge.


Another great shot - this of the river leading to the famous bridge.


A train used by the Japanese during WWII.


And there it is - the bridge over the river Khwai - still in use to this day.


The river at dusk. Great shot by Laura.


Cooper's long lost twin - we almost stole him and took him home. Cooper, we promise we're coming back for you...


Folks waiting for the train.


Devin and Laura at the bridge.