What a day with the animals!

What a day we had. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would touch and get pictures with the animals we did at the zoo today.

I was quite hesitant about going to the zoo today in fear of inhuman conditions but I was pleasantly surprised. We brought along with us Dave, Jesse’s 2yr. old little guy or monkey he calls himself.

The first show we went to was the monkey show. They were so funny, the handlers were really good with the monkeys and let them walk freely
without holding a rope around them. The monkeys seem to love what they did and loved the attention. We were told that monkeys on the totem pole here in Thailand are not highly regarded so they are not treated very well by the Thai people. These monkeys looked very well kept and they were active and not sedated at all.

They asked for volunteers and Easton went up on stage and they tied his hands together and the monkey sat beside him and untied him to be free. Easton thought that was so great. I filmed most of it so I can not send the best part, the monkey extended his hand out to shake Easton’s hand and they shook hands like little men.

Then we went and visited “Billy” the orangutang who walked around on his own like he owned the place. He was hilarious, he loved posing for pictures and he kept grabbing at us. He extended his arms around us and the boys just loved him, Billy and Easton got along great. Emma was not so keen on him and Dave was freaking out. This was the best, Billy was so cute I was in aw that he was so friendly and was a comedian with everyone.

Now Bonnie I know you are not going to be happy we went here but I did my homework and it was good, they really respected their animals. It is better than how some locals treat the monkeys to fetch coconuts all day up in the trees.

Then we went to the crocodile show and these guys were nuts. The croc’s were snapping at these guys and you could see the sweat from adrenaline pouring out of these guys. This was the real thing, they were pulling these crocs out of the water and the croc would swing around and snap at them. I could not believe how much they risked to do this.

Now the elephants. The kids loved the elephants. It is so funny at home you are not allowed near the elephants and they live in such small quarters and here they are so respected and live with the people. We were able to feed the elephants bananas and touch them and even have a picture with them. They are highly respected animals here! We were also talking about how it is so normal for the Thai people to be around such animals and to us western people we are amazed. Easton could not get enough of the elephants and wanted to stand and feed them bananas all day. The handlers again were having lots of fun with them and were so loving with them, its better than the elephants being slave to the logging industry like so many of them are here.

We saw a sign that said picture with a tiger and I thought it would be a baby tiger, Oh no it was a 5yr. old male and it was HUGE! I could not believe that we were going to sit with him it was amazing to be so close to this beautiful animal. Again the handlers treated him with such respect. Now I did not like this beautiful creature stuck there for our benefit but a apart of me was thrilled for the opportunity to be so close to him, the cat was amazing…

At the zoo we had our three kids and added one more 2yr. old extremely active boy who does not really understand alot of english. If we had any thoughts of having four I would have to say no way. We did get alot of stares today, people trying to figure out why we had three white kids and then this little brown boy I was chasing all over, it was pretty funny. Dave looks alot like Sean did as a little boy and I keep calling him Sean without even thinking.

In the late afternoon Trent and Easton went to their first Thai Boxing class. When they came home Trent walked in the door he was having a hard time walking and his shirt was soaking wet. He said it was the best work out ever. East had his own trainer as did Trent. Trent said he had this little Thai guy yelling at him the whole time, and that when his sparing partner would go look at another student that he (Trent) would slow down to take a break and the instructor would yell in thai (blablabla) “no breaks keep going”.

Easton had his own instructor and was learning some punching routines (jab, jab, hook) and some kicks. Trent said he loved it and he did really good. I will go watch and take pictures next week when they go back. Easton was done his session and Trent said he was sure glad, it gave him an out to get out of the ring to rest …lol…

For dinner we went with a fellow Albertan and his girlfriend (thai of course) to this resturant for a buffet dinner $4.00/adult CAD. Oh my goodness it was soooo good. The resturant is owned by a Swedish guy and the spread was amazing. This particular area of Phuket is where all the Sweds stay. There is a large community of Sweds here and this resturant caters to them.

I found a ball hockey team for Trent and they play the Canadians vs. the Sweds on Thurday nights so next week we will find out how it goes.

It is time for me to sign off, Trent is out with some guys tonight checking out the island. The kids are all snoring and sorry to say it is hot so I have to go turn on the air conditioner.

Someone asked why we have not been to the beach yet. Emma and Everett have been battling colds so we wanted to keep them away from the water for a few days. Today it was raining off and on so we took in the zoo instead. Sunday Emma has her first dance class so maybe next week we will get there.

Also I was asked what our thoughts of Phuket have been. Well I asked Trent today if he would move here and he said “Yes I could”. It is obviously a different culture, slower, not as westernized for conveyance, driving is quite crazy until you get used to it. However the people are very friendly, it is not super fast, reasonable to live, food is excellent, very safe. The island is alot bigger than what I thought, people speak better english than I expected for the most part, the food is cheap but the ice teas are adding up in resturants, the kids love ice tea!

I was asked about food markets. They have a store called the Big C it is like Superstore, it sells a variety of things. There is alot of open markets at night that we have gone to, some stomachs would turn to see the things we have seen people eat at markets. We were told about deep fried bugs, a salad dressing made of fish parts that sits for one year, it is black…. so gross…

Well I am off and I will check in a few days.
Love to all and Merry Christmas everyone.

xoxooxo Jody & my crew