Joe Comes to Asia!

He finally did it!  He made it across the world to come hangout with yours truly and tour Thailand among other places.  Our first weekend we headed to Khanom for some fun in the sun!  Mother Nature had other intentions and instead ladened us with rain the entire weekend. During the briefs moment of sun...or clouds...we went outdoors to see what Khanom had to offer.  

I had heard about the pink dolphins in Khanom since my first weekend there and didn't believe it!  Pink dolphins?  Pink?! No.  No way.  That's insane.  But they are as real as Santa! (Don't ruin Christmas for me.)

We boarded a long tail boat in a small fisherman's village at 6am to check out this rare breed of dolphins that live in Southeast Asia and parts of South America.  Along with dolphins we stopped at a small island right off the coast that was used as a Buddhist shrine. We walked up the stairs of the island to find beautiful statues and offerings to Buddha surrounding by the trees and just the sound of the ocean in the background.  I wish we had been able to spend more time there, but the tour must go on!

These dolphins definitely delivered!  I expected more flesh tone dolphins rather than pink, but up close they looked fake - as if someone came in and spray painted them in the night!  It was so quiet and still out in the water that early and it was amazing to see how close they would come to the boat when the driver banged on the floor boards.  These are the best pictures I could get between my excitement and their quick surface times!

When the weather cleared a bit we tried our luck at finding a nearby waterfall but to no avail.  We hiked and hiked and hiked...ill equipped and with no direction.  Flip flops and half a bottle of water were a terrible idea.  We continued to walk and asked any locals we saw if we were heading in the right direction.  Our broken Thai and their broken English translated into: "Oh, waterfall. Yea just make a right, it's right there!"  By that I believe they meant: "There is usually a waterfall but it's the dry season and it's a pretty far walk...good luck."

You think I look miserable here?  This was still on the way up!  Coming back down was even more fun!  Yay hiking!

In the end the hike made for a funny memory but we decided to spend the rest of our time sitting by the water and waiting for the sun to come out.  

This walking stick would've been a good addition to our hike.