Phuket - February 17, 2018

I know now why everyone speaks so highly of Thailand. Everyone I've ever known who has been here has absolutely loved it. I assure you though; it is not Bangkok or even Chiang Mai or the elephants that they love . . . although coming to experience the elephants is a very worthy reason for visiting. The true reason people love Thailand is Phuket (Poo-ket) and other beach resort cities. Phuket is a big island off the mainnland coast and my, my, my, the beach here is just beautiful. Astounding! Stunning! Amazing!

Now, I have to say that our sandy beach in Panama City Beach is actually prettier; it is wider and much more brilliant white, but the water here is a gorgeous shade of blue and it is crystal clear even at a depth of five or six feet. The soft sandy beach is more sand-colored than white but it's lined with natural palm trees—as a beach should be.

Man! The atmosphere made us light-hearted and happy. I simply love Stan Weeks.

We walked the length of the beach and returned to find a place to put our things down and relax in the sun. On our walk back we were approached by a man selling big, beautiful elephant cloths/wraps/throws. I don't know the designated purpose. . . it was just a gorgeous woven cloth. One big cloth was green with woven gold elephants; some cloths were orange and gold and others were blue with gold elephants. I fell in love. I had to have one. Actually there were several items being sold on the beach that I loved . . . of all the places we have visited on this trip, the goods on the beach today were the most unique and best yet. We shopped and negotiated what we thought might be good deals but who knows. We may have over paid but I don't care!! We were happy with our purchases.

Then we went into the water. The temperature was just right. Not too warm and not too cold. We swam, and surfed and jumped up and down in the gentle waves for a long time. It was so very pleasant.

I kept thinking . . . how wonderful it would be to have our whole family here with us to share this wonderful place with those we love so dearly.