Easter Thoughts-The Last Supper and the Sacrament

I was asked to speak in church today on the Last Supper and the Sacrament. Many of you have asked for a copy of my talk and so I post it here.

Let’s start by setting the scene. We are in Jerusalem during the great season of Passover which celebrates the miracle of the children of Israel being passed over by the angel of darkness simply by placing the blood of an unblemished lamb on their lintels and door posts and, thus, finally being freed from bondage. It is a celebration that the Lord commanded should be celebrated as a reminder of their deliverance from Egypt.

A traditional passover meal is prepared and served in an upper room which has been specially prepared for this meal. It has been cleaned thoroughly to ensure not a crumb of leavened bread could be found. The menu of the meal included an unblemished roasted lamb, which had been sacrificed in the temple by a Priest having the necessary authority; unleavened cakes, to represent the hurry the Israelites were in that they could not wait for the bread to rise; bitter herbs such as horseradish or green onion to symbolize the bitterness of bondage; and a salt water which the participants would dip greens into representing the tears shed during the harsh slavery. Christ, the lamb of God, presided at this meal. Elder Haight stated that this “was significant because as the One who took the place of the family patriarch, He made a last symbolic sacrifice in preparation for the real sacrifice that He later offered. He understood this; the Apostles did not. By celebrating the Passover feast, He gave His endorsement to all those similitudes, signs and tokens of the past millennia that had prefigured his great sacrifice.”

The symbolism continued. Feet were washed as a symbol of cleansing and Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it offering it to his apostles saying, as we read in Matthew and Luke, “Take, Eat. This is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me.” He then took a cup of wine, blessed it and again offered it to his apostles saying, as we piece together various scriptural accounts, “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for the remission of sins. This do in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come again” meaning it would testify of his death.

The spilling of lambs blood for sacrifices and the commandment to offer sacrifices is a beautiful symbol that began with Adam when he and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden. The Bible Dictionary says that this included “offering the firstlings of their flocks in a similitude of the sacrifice that would be made of the Only Begotten Son of God.” The offering of sacrifices was carried throughout the years until this miraculous night. From this moment in time things changed. No longer was there a need for the sacrifice of animals, for sin offerings, burnt offerings and peace offerings. That night Christ would be found praying for us in Gethsemane and suffering for our sins. He would become our ultimate sacrifice, the perfect, spotless Lamb. He would endure a sadness so intense and so excruciating that he would declare “it caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit and I would that I might not drink the bitter cup and shrink.” And as he suffered, his friends lay nearby sleeping. Not knowing what Christ was enduring, they slept.

Later, Jesus would be betrayed by Judas, his own apostle, and he would be beaten, spit upon, scourged and then hung on a cross to die to later raise again and live, a sacrifice that guarantees resurrection and triumph over death for every member of humanity.

It is these events that are symbolized in the sacrament we partake of each week. And it is the sacrament that is the main purpose of our weekly gathering. A loving Heavenly Father knew we would need a weekly reminder of the most important events in the history of time as well as an opportunity to recommit ourselves to the covenants we made at baptism. And so he blessed us with the opportunity to partake of the sacrament and turn our thoughts, once again to Christ. Christ said to the Nephites, “Ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood, yeah, your sacrifices and your burn offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings, And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit.”

As we eat the bread each Sunday we remember the body of Christ. We remember Calvary and that through Him we may be resurrected. After breaking and blessing bread when among the Nephites, Jesus said, “this ye shall do in remembrance of my body, which I have shown unto you. And it shall be a testimony unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you."

As we drink of the water we remember the blood of Christ. We remember the excruciating anguish of His suffering in Gethsemane. And we rejoice that Christ, despite wanting to be relieved of this great burden, said “Glory be to the Father” and he partook. Through His blood both shed at Gethsemane and on Calvary our sins were paid for, upon the condition of repentance and obedience, as was the debt for Adam’s transgression. We were indeed bought with a price as the Apostle Paul said. An expensive price. After Christ invited the Nephites to drink the wine he said, “Blessed are ye for this thing which ye have done, for this is fulfilling my commandments and this doth witness unto the Father that ye are willing to do that which I have commanded you. And ye shall do it in remembrance of my blood, which I have shed for you , that ye may witness unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my spirit to be with you.”

And so you see that by partaking of the sacrament we renew the covenants we made at baptism which are that we will love and serve Christ all our days and keep his commandments. And, in turn, he promises to pour out his spirit to us. Each Sunday we are reminded that we have taken Christ’s name upon us and that we have covenanted to obey his commandments. Elder Featherstone states, “If we take of the sacrament with a sincere heart, with real intent forsaking our sins and renewing our commitment to God, the Lord provides a way whereby sins can be forgiven from week to week.” No wonder this meeting where we partake of the sacred emblems has been referred to as the “most sacred, the most holy of all the meetings of the Church.” No wonder we have been urged to prepare ourselves before coming to church that we might have a broken heart and contrite spirit to offer our Heavenly Father.

What an honor it is for young men to have the opportunity to bless and pass this most sacred symbol. What an honor it is for us to partake of it weekly. As I listen to the prayers offered in the blessings over both the bread and water the word “remember” sticks out. In the quiet moments as the sacrament is being passed do we take the time to remember and reflect? What a wonderful time for us to be able to ponder the life and ministry of our Savior and the importance of Christ’s roll. Do we make the partaking of the sacrament the crowning moment in our meeting?

The Lord said “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." I look forward to the day when Christ will preside in person over the blessing and distribution of the sacrament emblems. I pray that we will come prepared each week ready to offer up God our broken hearts and contrite spirits as we renew our covenants and our commitment to follow His commandments that we might more fully receive the blessing of his Spirit to guide us back to his presence.

Brothers and Sisters, I have been to visit the empty tomb. I have seen for myself that the tomb does indeed lay empty. I testify that Christ lives. That he suffered for us, that he was slain for us but that he lives.

Cambodia Day 2-The drive to Siem Reap

The bus would depart at 8:30 so we would be picked up at 7:30. For $10 a ticket we would take a 6 hour ride in this cramped bus. They had placed us in seats located over the back wheel which meant that there was a hump at our feet making even less room for our legs. Now, for Cheri and I this was an inconvenience, for Nate, however, this was not going to work. I would put Nate at about 6' 3". With legs that long you need all the room you can get. Nate was able to negotiate seats one row behind. While it was still quite cramped it was an improvement. As for my seat, I was still in the row with the hump but I was in an isle seat next to a local cambodian man. I'm sure he was very nice but the thought of sitting next to a stranger for the next 6 hours and not in a window seat didn't thrill me. As the bus started Cheri and Nate's abandon seats lay vacant so I took the liberty of sliding across the isle and occupying both seats.

For the next 6 hours we bumped along on a partially paved road under construction. At times there was so much dust in the air that I resorted to pulling my scarf over my mouth to filter the air. The ride made Nate, a normally strong stomached traveler, slightly nauseous. Despite the discomfort of the ride the scenery made it all worthwhile. The glimpses into Cambodian life were eye opening. The whole way of the drive the road was lined with simples wood homes on stilts with a ladder or stairs leading to the entrance. There were children and/or livestock in the front, dirt lawns and under the house where hammocks were hung. There was often freshly harvested rice laid out on tarps. I wondered what the purpose of walking through the rice with bare feet was. was it part of the process of separating the husk from the grain? Many of the homes had deep, wide pits in front that looked like perhaps they collected water during rainy season but for what purpose I'm unsure. There were also scarecrows at the entrances to several of the properties along the way. But they were different than the scarecrows I'm used to seeing. These had scary looking faces and some had pretend swords or guns in their hands. I learned later on what there were for. You'll have to wait to find out!

It was about 2:30 PM when we finally rolled into Siem Reap. We transferred from the bus to another bus to a tuk-tuk that finally took us to our hotel. Along the way he asked if we were interested in his services to drive us around Angkor Wat. He then gave us a price we could not turn down- $5 for the rest of the day, $12 for the next day and $15 for the following day. We told him to pick us up at 4:30 which would give us time to drop off our bags and prepare to head out and take in the sunset at a hill above Angkor Wat.

We walked into our hotel and the staff broke the news to us that they had overbooked and didn't have a room for us. They made a few phone calls and had us taken down the street to another hotel where we would spend one night and then transfer to the hotel we had originally booked. What could we do? We agreed.

We then met up with our driver and headed off to Angkor to see the sunset. On the way we had to stop at the entrance to pay the $40 fee. We started at THE Angkor Wat taking just a few minutes to enjoy the majesty of the ruins. While we were there admiring the beauty and intricacy of the stone carvings and architecture a monk struck up conversation with Nate. They talked for a while while Cheri and I continued our tour. I think the conversation ended when the monk (23 years old) asked Nate if he could all him father. That made us all laugh. We said goodbye to our new friend and then joined the masses of other tourists on a walk up a hill to enjoy the sunset from atop another temple. While the fact that we were with about a thousand other tourists did detract from the romance of the ruins in the light of the sunset it was still a beautiful sight. The silhouettes brought out in the setting sun, the color of the sky...I had to take a breath as I brought myself to the reality of where I was.

The sun set quickly and we all made our way back down the hill just as it was becoming dark enough to need a flash light. We had again met up with our monk friend at the top of the hill and so again, we said goodbye and headed back to town in our tuk-tuk.

The driver took us to Pub Street where we were able to choose from a number restaurants. We decided on one serving Khmer food and I selected the traditional Anok dish, a delicious fish curry and which I shall miss. Then it was off to the "Noon Night Market" which confused us a bit but we went anyway. The market was just like the ones in Bangkok. Even the products were the same. I came away with 2 Angkor Wat t-shirts and a hand embroidered pillow cases showing a scene of country life. Knowing we would meet the driver the next morning at 5 a.m. we headed home and crashed in bed.

Cambodia Day 1

With our adventure at Railay Beach complete we had a day to do laundry and repack and then we got back on a plane and headed to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. My first encounter with the idea of Cambodia came about 10 years ago. I dated a man who had been a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He had served his mission in the US but was Cambodian speaking. He introduced me to a book I read and my eyes were reopen to the atrocities that had taken place during my lifetime. My next interaction with Cambodia was when I went to the airport to pick up a Cambodian refugee. His spirit was strong and his smile contagious.

I was excited to finally meet Cambodia in person. I found that I wasn't prepared for the experience I was about to have. I am so grateful to have had my trusted friends at my side to experience it all with me.

After a short plane ride we arrived in Phnom Penh and headed outside the airport to catch a taxi into town. Once outside we were immediately surrounded by a host of men offering their transportation options to us. There were several options for riding into town including motorbike, tuk-tuk and taxi. Surprised by the mob that greeted us I asked them to leave us alone for a minute so we could discuss our options. We decided on the taxi and made our way to our hotel which was so lovely. We were greeted with cold fruit drinks and a cold wet towel to cool us down from the intense heat. The host showed us to our room where we left our luggage ready to meet the city. We only had an hour or two left before the sun would set. We stopped by the front desk and booked bus tickets to Siem Reap the next day and then began walking towards the riverfront where we found all sorts shops, restaurants and hotels. We selected among the many a french restaurant to enjoy dinner. During dinner we were approached several times by children wanting to sell us bracelets, postcards and other items. We turned each of them away slightly heartbroken. That's when we began to fall in love with the darling children of Cambodia.

After dinner we returned to the riverfront and walked back to the hotel. Along the way we met the personality of the city. The feeling was light and festive. There were several dance and exercise groups moving to various types of music...some more enjoyable to watch than others. One woman in particular looked like she was having convulsions. Poor thing. :-) There were food vendors and families strolling along the walkways. It wasn't a rich city, it wasn't a clean city, but it was a city full of seemingly happy people making the most of their situation. I had a good feeling about what lay ahead.

Railay Beach Day 5-Rock Climbing

Our last day on the beach. It had been so enjoyable. I love exploring a new area of this beautiful country. Doing so with friends was even more fun. We had done so many fun things up to this point. Our flight would take off this evening and return us to Bangkok but we had all day to enjoy ourselves. This meant relaxing on the beach for Cheri and Nate and for me it meant getting up early to meet my climbing team.

I was the first to arrive at the meeting point. I got my harness, shoes and chalk bag and then waited for the others. Two other girls showed up and one man. None had done any climbing which meant our guide would have to go through all the basics of climbing. I hoped they would catch on quickly so we could move on to the fun stuff...climbing. Once everyone had been issued equipment our guide gathered the necessary ropes and gear and we headed to the climbing site which ended up being just a short walk from my resort. There were several other groups already set up and ascending the limestone cliff. There were about 5 different routes. We dropped our gear at the foot of one climb and the guide began to take us through the important safety instructions and then he began to teach the role of each piece of gear and the basics of knot tying. I was glad that we were able to move through this quickly and then our guide started the climbing with the initial ascent to secure the rope and prepare the way for the rest of us.

It felt so good have my hands on the rocks, to use my muscles differently than I usually do and reach the top of a climb and then have the enjoyment of looking back to see the view, the sea, the sand, the cliffs, all from a different angle. Then then comes the fun part, the belay back down to the start only to start all over again on a new route.

After 4 climbs my muscles were exhausted! The last was the most difficult as my muscles had given all they had and the technique involved challenged my strength and nascent skills. About a third of the way from the top my body failed me and I was grateful when I fell, to be in the able hands of the guide. He held me steady and I clung again to the cliff and gave it another try. Again I failed and again I fell and again he caught me and held me until I have it one final effort. Determined to not to give up despite my fatigue and raw hands I drew all the energy I could find in my body and directed it to my arms and legs in an effort to hoist my body upwards. The efforts paid off and I finally reached the top. Once there I turned to enjoy the view one last time. The sense of accomplishment filled me as did the thrill of doing something I thoroughly enjoyed.

I left my climbing friends, the quiet girl who methodically took 3 times longer than anyone else to climb to the top, the valley girl who about drove me batty with her "Oh, that's totally cool" and other annoying mannerisms and the guy who tried too hard to impress everyone around him. Gee, I wonder how they are describing me in their blogs. :-) I went to find Cheri and Nate at the beach where they informed me they would be when they passed by between my second and third climb. I found Cheri basking in the sun and Nate swimming in the cool water. Starving, I went for a walk down the beach to where several vending boats were set up selling a varitey of food including sandwiches, noodles, omelets, smoothies, roti and more. I ordered a roti with egg and banana for Cheri and pad thai and a mango smoothie for me.

We spent the next few hours on the beach, in the water, soaking up the last drops of the salty water and the last rays of the Railay sun. Nate decided to go for a hike to the summit of one of the cliffs as Cheri and I were enjoying our final moments on the beach. When it was time to pack up we waited for Nate at the bottom of the path and when he descended we headed off to the pier. We had to wait for 8 people before the boat would take us back to Krabi or pay the equivalent of 8 people. After waiting and waiting I negotiated back and forth with the captain and finally decided that for 300B each he would take us to the pier as well as drive us to the airport.

Well, the rest of this adventure is very uninteresting. We caught the plane back to Bangkok and instead of being greeted by the warm evening air there was a surprisingly cool breeze, unseasonal for March, the month before the hottest month of the year. We breathed it in and made our way to the taxi line and headed home.

Railay Beach Day 4-Seaglass and Seashells

Cheri and I have a lot of things in common...and a lot of differences. Our similarities make our friendship so much fun and our differences balance and enrich us. We often end up purchasing the same clothes, the same bed spread and we have similar hobbies. One of the hobbies we share is the collection of sea glass. Since a mutual friend introduced me to the collection of seaglass and I saw how beautiful her collection was I started my own collection. I've collected glass in the Dominican Republic, throughout Thailand beaches and wherever I can find a beach. Seaglass or beach glass as some call it, is glass that has been roughened by the waves and sand. It's washed ashore and that's where I find it.

After having seen several pieces of glass on the beach we were on the day before we decided to start day 4 combing the sands of the beach collecting the glass. Sure enough, there was plenty to collect. There were also countless seashells in such great condition and such a variety of shapes and colors that we just couldn't help not picking a few as well. After several hours walking the beach with heads down and eyes focused on picking the glass out from all the shells we neared the end of the beach. I lagged slightly behind picking up the pieces that Cheri and Nate had passed up. I found them on a sandbar jetted out into the water. They were so excited to have found several large shells in great condition.

Hot and sweaty we decided to take a break at a little restaurant on the beach. It wasn't much to look at but all we were interested in was whether or not they had cold water. What a delight to enjoy the coldest water we had found thus far. It was refreshing on such a hot day. Inside the restaurant with us was a man and woman who had obviously been traveling a long time. They were dressed in typical "backpacker" style with dreadlocks. The man was helping the owners with something computer related behind the bar and the woman was busy redesigning a crotchless pair of pants into a skirt. I wasn't particularly fond of the style she had chosen for her redesigning but I didn't have to wear it!

With 2 large water bottles emptied it was time to head back to our beach. This meant once again climbing over the boulders and walking through the water. We all made sure to check our pockets to ensure there wasn't anything electronic we didn't want to drown (having learned from yesterday's experience) and began wading back. At one point of climbing over the rocks, Cheri was in the lead and she turned back with a look of fear in her eyes and declared that she had just seen a snake. Luckily we had brave Nate with us and he went ahead looking for the snake and navigating us safely over the rocks. Once we were over we had a better view of our snake which we then found out was a lizard. Not knowing which of the snakes and lizards are venomous we were sure to take all precautions possible.

We took our loot back to the hotel, enjoyed a late lunch and then were excited to rent a kayak and go out on the water. We initially tried to fit all 3 of us into one kayak but the kayak rode so low and was so unstable that I opted out and let Cheri and Nate have a go while I enjoyed sitting on the beach soaking up the rays of the end-of-the-day sun. After about an hour I saw Cheri paddling the kayak back to shore alone. Nate's recovering shoulder just couldn't endure the activity any longer so he opted to jump ship and swim back to shore. It was then my turn to head out to the open water. With me in the back and Cheri in the front we set out. We headed around the bend and out to twin islands side by side. We paddled around them and then over to the beach we had spent the morning. It felt so good to be out in our small kayak in the big sea. The feeling of insignificance was strong as I contemplated the vast creations both above and beneath the water. I took a moment to soak in the reality of my experience. I was in a kayak, on the Adaman Sea, just off the coast of Thailand, where I live and have an amazing job, hanging out with one of my dearest friends. I seem to have a lot of these moments these days. It fills me with gratitude to God for the opportunities he has guided me to.

We paddled back to shore and as we saw that there was a wedding reception taking place. Cheri and I deviously decided that they needed the added flavor of a kayak in the back ground of their photos, so we paddled back and forth trying to get in the photos laughing hysterically! All in good fun.

Once again we ended the day with mangos and sticky rice. That night there was a fund raising fire dance for victims of the recent events in Japan. We watched for awhile and then wandered up the walking street. Nate pointed out a shop that was offering 1/2 day climbing and I signed up for the next day. How could I leave this place without enjoying the climbing? Having not climbed for about 2 years I knew it would be a tough morning and that I would feel the effects for days afterwards but I also knew that because of my Bootcamp style training which I've participated in for 9 months I was up for the challenge. Guess I'll find out tomorrow!

Railay Beach Day 3-Elephants and Snakes

Day 3 began with what we thought was a 15 minute walk to a nearby beach. It ended up being an hour long trek through the jungle. The sweat poured from our bodies as we walked the path that lead us into the jungle, up a steep hill, directly into the mosquitos lair, past a monitor lizard, through the back packers bungalows (meaning wooden boxes on stilts furnished with barely a mat on the floor) and finally to the beach. Before reaching the beach we began to get nervous as it was drawing near the time we had been told a boat would pick us up to take us to Krabi for our elephant trekking adventure. Upon reaching the beach I found a group of boat taxi guys and asked them how much they would charge to taek us back to our beach. They laughed and told me just to walk around the bend and we would be at our beach. Getting there would require us to walk through the water and boulders. So, we followed the boulders partially buried by the water that reached mid thigh, climbed up and over some of the large rocks, tried to keep balance with the waves doing their best to throw us off balance and finally we reached the beach close to our resort. Unfortunately, in the process, we lost Cheri's IPhone as it was in a pocket of her board shorts and drown.

Luckily, we got back to the hotel just in time to catch the boat to Krabi. We arrived to the location of our elephant trek and the elephants were eager and waiting for us. We immediately hopped on and headed out for our hour long trek. We started off with me in the lead seated comfortably on the bench strapped to the back of my elephant and Cheri and Nate sharing an elephant behind me. Almost immediately my elephant began searching for food. She ate vines growing along the jungle floor, tore branches off of young trees, whatever she could find went in her mouth. I looked over my shoulder and found that Cheri and Nate were having a similar experience. For an hour we trekked around the jungle perched atop our elephants as they wandered about happy not to be hauling logs. At one point my mahout (elephant driver) asked if I'd like to sit on the elephant's neck. This is my favorite part of elephant rides. I climbed on the neck and the mahout dismounted. What he did next started off as cute but soon became creepy. He began talking to the elephant and whispering sweet nothings to her. he pet her affectionately and gave her lots of kisses and hugs. It turned creepy when this went on, and on, and on and then started chewing on her ear! NO, I'm NOT kidding! I'm totally serious. He really went on and on and on. Finally, he pealed himself off her and we continued on our way. We turned around and began to make our way back when in front of my eye s slithered a big 'ole snake! I was so grateful to be so high off the ground. He slithered into the growth and disappeared.

We made our way back to the beginning without falling off (despite some close calls for both Cheri and I) got off of the elephants and then went to get bananas to thank the elephants for toting us around. We watched as one of the elephants walked into pool of water in the nearby stream and bathed. The experience was a fun one and, as fun things often do, it came to an end. It was time to head back to the pier and back to the resort.

At the pier we found there was just one other couple waiting for the boat and we needed 8

people for the boat to leave the pier. We waited over 30 minutes and then talked to the other couple to see if they were interested in pitching in some extra money so we could pay the captain to take us back. They agreed and off we went.

Mangoes and sticky rice was the perfect way to finish off the adventure.

Railay Beach Day 2-Lion fish and Sharks

After our first night at the resort on Railay East Beach we woke to an alarm, dressed in our swim suits, ate breakfast at the resort and headed to the meeting point for our day on the water. The day would begin with a 2 hour boat ride to the dive/snorkel site. The water was somewhat rough the whole way. About 30 minutes into our ride the captain yells "SHARK" from above and we all ran to the side of the boat to get a better view of the dark shadow swimming around and the black fins that came in and out of the water. When it was determined to be a bull shark several people went for their fins and snorkels and got ready to jump in the water. "Are you crazy?" I asked one eager boat mate. "Sure," he responded, "it's just like a big cow in the water." A cow in the water huh? He didn't convince me to wanna jump in. I decided to see if the others got eaten first before I was going to volunteer to be shark bait. About 5 people jumped in as the captain tried to circle around and keep up with the sharks. Unfortunately, by the time they jumped in the sharks had moved on their way. They climbed back into the boat and we continued on.

The sun was already high in the sky at this point. The feeling of the breeze on my skin beaded with perspiration from the hot sun felt nice. I sat on a bench watching as we sailed past inhabited and uninhabited islands. I could see the change in depth of the water close to the shore as the water color changed from dark to light as the sea turned into beach. The landscapes along the way were lined with palm trees, white sand beaches and inviting blue green water.

At long last we reached the dive site, Bida Nok. I dressed in my wet suit, placed the weight belt around my waist, donned my Buoyancy Control Device attached to the air tank, placed my feet in the fins and giant strided into the water. The waters were rough and visibility wasn't terrific. It didn't help that I had forgotten to spit in my goggles to keep them from fogging up. Once at the bottom of the sea there was a variety of fish and sea creatures including box fish, moray eel, crab, scorpion fish, mantis shrimp, sea stars galore, crown of thorns starfish, sea wards, and trigger fish to name a few. I even found Nimo! But the highlight was taking a look at the lion fish, a strange looking fish with these spiky fins. A glorious, wonderful sight. I felt so privileged to enjoy its crazy company. If that had been the only dive of the day I would be happy just to have seen the lion fish. But NO, I still had another dive to look forward to.

We took a break to eat lunch and rest. I was sad to learn that the snorkeling experience for Cheri and Nate hadn't been good. The equipment inadequacies mixed with the roughness of the waters made for a much less enjoyable experience. They decided to give it another try when it was time for dive number 2-Maya Wau. Dive two displayed many of the same fish and creatures as dive one sans the lion fish, unfortunately, but in it's place some puffer fish, porcupine fish and you can imagine my surprise when several feet in front of me swam a black tip shark and then a leopard shark! And you can imagine my nervousness knowing that they were out there somewhere but I couldn't see them! It was exhilarating to see such marvelous sea kings on their turf, in the wild, and not in a glass box at the aquarium. This diving stuff is pretty terrific. The dive soon came to an and it was time to surface and swap stories with the other divers.

I was happy to hear, as the boat began to make it's way back to shore, that Cheri and Nate had enjoyed a better experience this time around and that they too enjoyed a swim with a shark. I happily pealed back the layers of my dive gear and welcomed the warmth of the sun to dry me off. I made sure to keep fairly covered both in sunscreen and in my blue sarong to avoid the unwelcome effects of too much sun exposure. I had lent Nate and Cheri my jelly fish repelling sun screen which they lathered on multiple times. However, to our surprise both had the craziest, diseased looking sunburns. We learned the hard way that while the cream may be good at repelling jelly fish, it was terrible at sun protection. Oops.

Back on shore we enjoyed mangoes and sticky rice...mmmmm. And when that was all gone we planned our next adventure. Tomorrow, elephant trekking!

Railay Beach Day 1-Monkeys and Toads

I had the great pleasure of receiving a visit from 2 of my dear, dear friends. Cheri and Nate were my Sugar House neighbors in Salt Lake and we had been talking about their visit to Thailand for quite some time. I could hardly believe the day had arrived for me to meet them at the airport. In fact, even on my way to the airport I was half convinced that they wouldn't even be there...kind of like when we would go to pick up a refugee family from the airport in the States and we never really knew if they would be there or if they missed a connection or in the situation of the Cubans, maybe they decided to deplane in Florida and start life there. To my amazement, they did arrive and the familiarity of being around old friends felt as delicious as Lyn's chocolate sheet cake.

The first week that Cheri and Nate were in Thailand I left them on their own to explore Bangkok while I went to work. I tried to fill their heads with all the information they would need. How to ride the sky train and the metro, how to ensure the taxi uses the meter, nearby restaurants and grocery stores, where to go, what to see, maps, keys and much more. Off I went to work as they went off to explore. I felt like a mother dropping her children off for their first day of kindergarden. Or was it that I was just so jealous that they got to play that while I went to work that I convinced myself that they would need me?

Luckily, that first week went by rather quickly. I would meet up with them in the evenings and we would have dinner while I listened to their various adventures for the day. The week soon came to an end and I made arrangements to be out of the office for the next 2 weeks while I joined Nate and Cheri on their vacation...now, our vacation.

First on the agenda was the beach. We took a plane to Krabi and from the airport headed to the pier to catch a boat to Railay Beach, a beach best known for it's limestone cliffs making excellent rock climbing. As Nate is an avid climber this was an area he was really looking forward to. Unfortunately, a recent shoulder surgery removed the option of climbing for him. Cheri knew it would be painful for him to be surrounded by climbers, ropes and quick draws but not be able to join in the fun. Nevertheless, we would have a great time.

Knowing from our guidebook that the longtail boat ride from the pier to our beach shouldn't cost more than 100 Baht ($3) we were surprised when we go the pier and the woman tried to charge us 600B. After some back and forth in my weak Thai the woman wouldn't budge on the price and we suspected that the driver had brought us to the wrong pier...one he was hoping for a kickback from. I pulled out my cell phone and called the hotel. I asked the voice on the other end how to reach the hotel and she said to go to the pier and take the boat that cost 60 B. I told her we were at the pier and they were charging us 600 B. After some back and forth we finally understood each other and I handed the phone to the woman behind the desk at the pier. When she hung up she gave instructions to our driver to take us to the pier we had asked to go and which was just 30 seconds up the road. Once inside the car driver said he had taken us to that pier since at the other pier you have to wait until there are 8 people for the boat to take off. I told him we would have appreciated if he had just taken us where we had asked to go. Once at the right pier we waited maybe 15 minutes and enjoyed the sounds of the calls to prayer from nearby minarets. We paid our 60 B ($2) and took the 20 minute boat ride to Railay Beach.

The boat ride was beautiful. We skidded across the bluegreen water, around the cliffs, by the white sandy beaches and finally arrived at Railay Beach. We unloaded the boat by stepping out of the boat into the warm water, grabbed our bags and walked the remaining distance to the dry beach. Not knowing exactly where to go we followed the signs pointing to our hotel and found ourselves walking in circles. Stopping to ask for directions we found that we had found the right place and we checked in. We unloaded our bags, grabbed our cameras and immediately headed out for a walk that lead us to a beach. The sand was so fine and almost silky on my feet. The feel of walking barefooted felt romantic and worlds away from the office.

Walking along, enjoying the heat of the sun and the sand beneath our toes we found a clan of monkeys swinging in the trees and walking along the beach. We joined the other tourists in the feeling of excited and joined in the photo shoot. The animals found snacks left unattended by sunbathers and took the "finders keepers" approach claiming the bags of chips and tall iced coffees. The sunbathers were too intimidated to put up much of a fight and some even freely offered their snacks to the monkeys. Once the monkeys had had their fill, they moved on and we remained enjoying the beach until sunset. Our stomachs indicated it was dinner time so we indulged and as we walked about continuing our exploration of our new surroundings we found a company that booked both diving and snorkeling adventures. We decided the following day would be perfect for that so we booked tickets, diving for me and snorkeling for Cheri and Nate. On the walk back to the hotel we passed a climbing shop and stopped to look at guide books (guess whose idea that was). The owner had a pet monkey and I asked if I could pet it, not knowing if he was friendly to others besides his owner. The shop keeper said yes so I began to pet the monkey (named Harry Potter) who proceeded to climbed on me and stole my barrett from out of my hair. When I tried to take it back the monkey got mad, hissed at me and gave me a little bite. With the help of its owner Harry Potter finally gave up my hair pin.

As we found our way back through the maze of the outside walkways through the resort to our room we had to be sure to walk lightly as we found along the path numerous toads hopping about and we caused a few near death experiences for them.

That ended our first day on Railay Beach. A great start to our grand adventures.