Sri Lanka, India

The most southern tip of India is an island named Sri Lanka, a predominately Bhudist culture. In the background is one of the oldest religious monuments called a stupa, usually used to cover a relic of the Buddha.

One of the many statues of Buddha. There is a sign that states "Please do not take your picture with your back to Buddha."

Cow's corner. Here, the cows direct the traffic.

The remains of an ancient rock palace.

The Royal Palace was built of wood and rock and once stood seven stories tall.

The kings bath

An ancient building with a small stupa in the middle surrounded by pillars. The stone pillars of the building resemble the stem of a lotus and a creeper. In the middle of the building is a seat of stone which resembles a lotus in full bloom.

The Lion's Rock in Sigiriya is a large stone and palace ruin.

On the rock, frescos were painted on the walls.

A beautiful view from the Sigiriyan rock.

The final entrance to the rock palace, had lions paws. Before modern times, you would have to walk through the lion's mouth to enter the palace.

At the foot of the stairs, the rainbow rock is called a moon stone at the circular house of relics.

Another view from on the top of Sigiryan mountain.

Little village

laying budhha

Budhist Monistary that is carved into the rock and built the building

Budha Shrine in Kandy. The home of Budha's tooth relic.

Sri Lankin Wedding Party

Vegetable Market

locals picking tea leaves

non-local picking tea leaves

Tamil village in tea country. Tamil people were imported by the British to pick the tea leaves.

Local boys

Waterfall Outsid eof Kandy

Southern coast of Sri Lanka beach view

Beautiful beaches and blue waters

My husband says this looks more like a postcard than him taking this one.

Fisherman

Room in Galle Fort. Dutch Fort, formers printer's mansion

Galle beach wedding. red

Yet another beautiful beach photo.

Inside Galle fort. Note the top of the building. The Dutch building has been converted into a mosque.

The Sri Lankins have knock offs from popular fast food restaurants such as Indian Hut = Pizza Hut, Subrounds = Subway

Matt outside of Galle fort putting his little toes in the nice warm Indian Ocean.

Ramp parts of the Galle Fort

Remains of the 2004 Tsumani. Damage of the southwestern part of the island. Many Many houses destroyed and haven't been rebuilt.

Loi Krathong Festival (lantern festival)

Heading downtown in a tuk-tuk!

Loi Krathong is a lantern festival in Thailand. "Loy" means "float" and "Krathong" is a little boat made from banana leaves. So "Loy Krathong" is roughly "float banana leaf boats".

Who knew...a bar on wheels

Entering festival territory. You can always tell there's a party when dozens of food vendor's arrive.

The Chiang Mai Beauty Contest!

The beauty contests that accompany the festival are known as "Nopphamat Queen Contests"

The large lanterns being lit up on the Ping River.

You are able to buy small lanterns and light the candle, incense and sometimes coins to float on the river. The festival is believed to originate in an ancient practice of paying respect to the spirits of the waters.

Lanterns are hung all around down town. My little beauty had fun walking through the hundreds of lanterns.

This is the fun part! Launching lanterns, called Khom fai (comb figh) or fire kite, are a popular activity to do during the festival.

We launch the lanterns for good luck. As the lanterns float off into the night sky it takes away all of our sin and bad luck from the past year.

Here it goes! I already feel luckier:) I do have to comment the first time Hailey let this one go, it didn't have enough air and was falling back to the earth in the middle of the busy street.

So here I am running into the street attempting to grab the lantern before it gets destroyed by a vehicle.

Spatular view!! It looked like hundreds fireflies moving through the night.

We stayed up late until the lanterns appeared like distant stars.

This my friends was an experience of a lifetime!

Chiang Mai Culture Center

An evening at the Old Chiangmai Cultural Center was a treat. We had a traditional khantonke dinner surrounded by music and dancing from the Hill Tribes. The khantoke is a pedestal tray used as a small dining table used by the Thai speaking people of the "sticky-rice" culture. As we sat and ate delicious Thai food we watched the fingernail dance, sword dance, silk-reeling dance, flame worshipers dance, the rich winnowing dance and a few more. They had a small session where they invited about 10 people from the audience to learn some Thai moves and dance on stage. Hailey was one of the lucky ones asked. She was about a head taller than the Thai dancers. So, she was easy to spot. I would recommend a traditional dance and dinner when you're visiting another country. Incredible experience!

Tiger Kingdom Thailand

Oh, look how cute! The problem is they get bigger and bigger. It was very strange feeling that at any time one of the tigers could go Madagascar on me. We were told that tigers are are not nocturnal but do most of their hunting at night. I'm glad we were there in the morning.

The youngest cubs we played with were one month old. The trainers were feeding them from baby bottles. The little guys were playful and ran about. I'm happy the older tigers didn't share in their enthusiasm.

Maesa Elephant Camp

Along side a rushing river in a beautiful and lush mountainous valley is Maesa Elephant Camp. We learned that Asian elephants have small ears and a big head while the African elephants have large ears and a small head. What I noticed touring the camp was that the elephants have different personalities and talents. I know some of the mahouts or trainers prepare them for a show but most of these elephants seem genuinely happy. After watching them dance, parade around the camp, play soccer and paint (yes, they painted real portraits) they played games. One game, Hailey was called to the middle of the arena and had a dart throwing contest with an elephant. Thank goodness she tied by both of them popping two balloons or I would have never let her live it down.

Thai Massage School

Spent a couple of days getting certified in reflexology! Had a great time with people from all over the world. Now, I have had a ton of requests for foot massages.

My response " I take Visa and Mastercard!"