My husband and I are moving back to Dallas for his work. It’s kind of bad timing that it happened to be right when we had planned our trip to Thailand, but the stress of traveling and moving was completely worth it from the amazing time we had. We rode mopeds along foggy rice fields, zip-lined over waterfalls, rode in tuk-tuks, saw ornate temples, turquoise beaches with rocky islands jutting up in the distance, hot springs and mineral baths so hot that we cooked eggs in them, orchid gardens, got $3 pedicures, $10/hr  massages, delicious food, took a river dinner cruise, a night safari…I could go on, but here are a few photo highlights of things we did in Thailand that you probably can’t do here at home:

1. Ride elephants through the jungle.

Me, my nephew Peyton, and husband Kristopher.

Getting a kiss from an elephant.

Sorry this shot is a little blurry, the wooden box you sit in is very wobbly.

2. Play with tigers at Tiger Kingdom.

I could sit in here with them all day.

Cage you can go inside…if you dare.

3. Hike to cave and go spelunking (with guide that doesn’t speak English just to keep things interesting.)

Crazy steep hike, but with beautiful views.

Cave entrance.

Sparkling walls inside cave.

Bats.

4. Sleep on house boats (read: cabins on log rafts anchored in middle of lake) in the mountains.

Jon boats that take you to the “house boat.”

Sun coming up while we had coffee on the deck then went kayaking.

5. Shopping at Thai markets

Market outside Chiang Mai.

Roaches, crickets, and worms that family members munched on while we shopped.

Pad Thai in a banana leaf.

Wild monkeys outside one of the markets.

Monkey with baby.