Five days til New Year

Ermergherd four days til new year! I cannot believe how quick this year has gone, and yet some of the things I did at the beginning of the year seem so long ago. I'm struggling to get my head around the fact that this time last year I was on my holiday in America. I can still remember it so vividly. It's so weird that some things feel like forever ago, yet others are still so fresh in my mind. I've just done to many things that my perception of time has all been muddled. Brain, what are you doing?

Ok, back to my Thailand trip. Today we went to a lovely island called Koh Sak Island. It was about a 10-15 minute boat ride (speed boat, mind you) from the beach near where we're staying. It was a lovely day to spend at the beach. There were a few water activities for tourists to do such as scuba diving, banana boat rides and jet ski rides. My friend had told me about the banana boat so I gathered some of the other people I'm holidaying with together and we rode on that. It's a pretty fun activity. For this particular one, we had 5 people all sitting on an inflated tube which got pulled along by a jet ski. The aim is to not get thrown off. We all managed to stay on, but I think the guy riding the jet ski was going pretty easy on us. 

We didn't have a great deal of time allocated for the Island, so instead of doing all the water activities, we just swam in the ocean instead. It was seriously so lovely. The water was clear, not ridiculously salty, the view was gorgeous with some lush green cliffs in the distance and the sun wasn't scorching hot, and the water was perfect temperature. I'm not a fan of being out in the sun, but I could have stayed at this beach all day if I had the chance.

The rest of the day was super busy. We went to this elephant park where I took some photos with elephants and watched an elephant show. Don't get me wrong, they train these elephants to do some seriously amazing tricks, but a part of me felt so sad for these big fellas. I hope they get well looked after. 

Throwing a basket ball into a hoop

This is a baby elephant stepping over me

We then went to a lovely place called Nong Nooch Garden and Resort and had a bit of a walk around there. It was a lovely garden with lots of cute displays are beautiful flora. It was very serene. Next stop was the Alangkarn Theatre were we watched a performance about the origins of Thailand. The costume and set were amazing. They even had elephants up on stage. These creatures are so amazing. It was strange to see them so domesticated.

I love these pots. They were all around the garden. Each one with a unique facial expression.

Finally, we ended the night with a performance called Tiffany's Show. Kid you not, this was just an entire song and dance show with Thailand's finest transgender performers. It isn't a show that would suit every one's taste, but I guess the tour guides just wanted us to get a taste of what Thailand has to offer. Everyone on and off stage was male by nature but wow, some of these performers were hot. As in, they looked like extremely attractive women. There were of course the few that were obviously male by their face and physique, but most of them just looked so much like women. Gorgeous women. 

After the show, the tour guide was telling us that there are some women who walk out of a show upset because there are men who are prettier than them, but what he tells them is that these men get so much work done to their face and bodies that they're barely their real selves anymore. It's all just fake. At the end of the day. these guys remove their costumes and twenty layers of makeup and probably don't look anywhere as good a woman who still has her natural face. I totally agree with what the tour guide was saying. Anyone can look beautiful with the right makeup and clothing. A natural face is so much rarer these days, but it's what should be encouraged amongst women. 

It was quite lovely inside the theatre building.

This is a portrait of one of the performers who is dressed half as a man, and half as a woman. You can see the performer in the photo below on the left.