Happy New Year -- Part 2 -- read the previous post first!

So apparently my previous blog post was too long!! Weird! So here's the continuation...

The best of the goatee pics:


After the goatee had been sufficiently shaved off, we went for an elephant ride!! I had been looking forward to this for a loooooooong time. Of course, we got the grumpy grandma elephant who didn't want to be giving a ride in the first place!
The handler had to keep encouraging her to keep going and not go off the path. The elephant in return went very slowly and rather bumpily. The other two elephants were very friendly and were always asking for bananas!
So much fun!! I'm glad we did it. These elephants used to be "working elephants", but because using elephants is becoming less common, now they give rides to tourists!
That night we explored Walking Street in downtown Pattya. It's like Vegas, Thai-style. Food vendors, beer bars and go-go bars everywhere, and lots of neon.
The next day we took a boat ride out to a nearby island called Koh Lahn. The beach was gorgeous - much prettier and cleaner than Pattaya beach.
That night (New Year's Eve) our hotel had a NYE party (that we had to attend/pay for). The party was totally lame, so we hung out in our room watching TV until about 11:30pm. We ran down to the party just as they were going to give away prizes from a drawing. Mike told me, "If they call my number, I'm jumping in the pool." As luck would have it, just at that moment, Mike's number was called. I didn't have the camera ready, so I don't have the actual jump on film, but it was glorious. The rest of the hotel guests gasped and cheered as Mike ran and canon-balled into the pool. It was like no one else had thought of it! Well, here's a soggy Mike with his prize: a cheap blingin' watch!
After the pool-jumping spectacle, we counted down the New Year and watched the fireworks from all the surrounding hotels.
The pool and stage:
Our last day in Thailand, we spend shopping and wandering about. We met an artist who makes sculptures out of old car parts and metal things. His sculptures were fantastic. He told us that he had a huge one up by the movie theatre and we should check it out. Lo and behold: Predator.
Mike loved it! We stared and studied this thing for a long time (in my opinion). I think Mike was inspired...
Anyway, we also spent some time relaxing on the beach before heading to the airport.

Bye Thailand! And so ends our wild adventures! Mike left last night and is greatly missed :(
I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Japanese phrase of the day:
あけましておめでとう Akemashite omedetou! Happy New Year!