I saw something amazing today!!

I've posted 4 pages of post all at once today to catch up, so please scroll back and look at all the pages.  You can view old posts by clicking on "Older Posts" at the bottom of the page. :) 

Jeff, Todd, Kristen, Glenn, Janelle and I jumped on our scooters today and did a beach day.  It was my first day driving on a scooter in traffic, so everyone was very helpful and made sure I was safe.  It was a very nice way to learn to drive in Pattaya, to have friends completely surrounding you to make sure your doing ok.

This was a seafood place we stopped at for lunch.  It was right on the beach.  I got crab fried rice, it cost me about $3.  

This is Todd and Kristen.  They are wonderful, comments amazing, and always ready to give good advice.   They are friends with Phyllis (Greenway Hills Congregation) and Edna Pennington, and will see Edna in a few weeks when they go home to Washington.  

Yes, I saw an elephant!! He was so cute and I was allowed to pet his trunk.  I looked right in his eye and said "Hello Elephant, your beautiful" although I didn't say it in Thai, so he probably didn't understand me.  See his mahout in the right of the picture?  There were about 30 elephants here, it is a big tourist attraction and they charge 400 baht ($13) for a 20 minute ride.  We were on our way to the beach, so I didn't get to stay.  But I will get to ride an elephant yet! There is a video below, but it's the first video I've posted so not sure how well it will turn out, but at the end you can see Kristen in her motorcycle helmet petting him.

Here is the walk to the beach.  We parked in a construction area and walked about 2 min to get to this beach. 

Here are Kristen and Todd again, and in the foreground are Glenn, Janelle and Jeff.

This is the beach we played at today. 

There are fruit stands all over, and all the fruit is delicious. 

Glenn, Jeff, and Janelle

All along this beach are buildings (to be hotels) being built. 

At the end of the swimming, sunning and fun, we played cards.  :)