Family reunion

You must be thinking, what happened to Nikki, haven't heard from her in a while... I knowwww I'm sorry. I could say a lot has been going on, but actually I've just been to lazy haha. Last time I wrote was when Tanya just left and I was waiting for my parents to arrive in Bangkok. That was ages ago and it's true a lot has happened. July 18th my parents arrived and I went to pick them up from the airport, for the extra dramatic effect of course. After a few tears here and there, it was time for their first Thai experience. As true backpackers, and a I can do what you do-attitude from my dad, we went to the mini-vans to get us to our hotel. In my mind we were just taking a taxi, more for me and my sore back than anything else, but if they wanna rough it, fine by me. After some organizing we were seated in the mini-van, we leave in 5 minutes. And you know how this works, 5 minutes turned into 30 minutes. With my parents long flight and my sore ribs in the back of my head, I stepped out of the van, got our money back and arranged a taxi with airconditioning to take us straight to the hotel. We booked a hotel close to the other airport, cuz we were gonna fly out to the islands the next morning. I know jetlags by now, so we decided to not go chasing ourselfs around Bangkok and just have dinner and a few chang's (Thai beer) at our hotel and relax and catch up! We had so much to talk about, it has been 8 months since I'd seen them last. It was great to see them again!!!! Next day we arrived on Koh Phangan, one of the islands of Thailand. It's known for the fullmoon party's, but it's also very beautiful and great to start the holiday. We had a cute little bungalow, on the hill with a great view and of course an infinity pool. The beach was pretty and it was so quiet, which was perfect to start for my parents, not the busy crazy Thailand as it can be sometimes. When we were ready for some action we hired a car to get us to the other side of the island and explore a little. The driver took us to a chinese temple (??? Seriously we're in Thailand and the first temple we see is a chinese temple haha) and a beach with a small island attached where you can walk to. Another day we rented scooters and drove around ourselfs, which was way more exciting then being taxied by a driver, but you know, we have to think about our image as rich elite. We had a few perfect lazy days on beaches around the island, drinking cocktails, fresh fruitsmoothies, streetfood and good company. Next stop: Krabi. This time we really had to do it backpacker style: first a taxi, then a boat, a bus, and at last a mini-van to bring us to our hotel in Krabi. So far so good, we survived the long trip and my parents enjoyed this way of traveling. They never experienced something like this before, but it all went smoothly (no not smoothie, although we had those too) Krabi was really nice and I liked the little town with all the shops. We had a massage everyday and drank cocktails at the rooftof bar. We drove around krabi on the scooters and one day we hired a boat to brings us to all the perfect little islands around here. It was incredible and amazing. We got dropped at an overly crowded island where we had to pay €10 each to just bé on the island, madness so we asked the boatdriver to bring us a different island. He didn't like it, but eventually he brought us to an island and we had the whole beach to ourselfs, there was no one. Well, that's what you call paradise! Don't go where everyone else goes, go the extra mile and find a precious jewel like that. We went back to the hotel and before we knew it, it was time to get our asses on the boat to Ko Phi Phi. Yessss!! Finally, one of my favorite islands and the place where we were gonna celebrate my birthday!! We took the backpack-experience a little further this time. We didn't book a hotel and just looked around for a nice bungalow when we arrived. We installed mom with a drink on the beach and walked around. We had the genius idea to tell mom that we found this horrible place, no view all the way at the back of the island. Haha in staid we found these amazing seaview bungalows, away from all the party noise. That night was gonna be my birthday, so we went out for dinner and had drinks on the beach, watching the fireshows. After a few drinks, we switched to the famous buckets!!! These are literally buckets with a whole lotta alcohol init. We had so much fun, dancing, drinking. Dad did the limbo-dance for a free shot, but Mom didn't even wanna flash her boobs for a free bucket, can you believe it?! Well, that's what Ko Phi Phi like. Crazy drunk people and we were part of it. Haha we were so drunk that we almost forgot that it was midnight, I think (if I remember correctly) that we actually were too late, but who cares, on the way to our bungalo they sang happy birthday to me and we crashed in bed to wake up with a huge hangover the next day. My birthday!!!!! I found my parents hanging some b-day decorations (it was actually new years decoration, but thats just details, decorations are decorations) how sweet. That day we just chilled at the beach and had a nice b-day dinner with pizzaaaa!! Well, I must say, it was quite an experience and I'm kinda proud of my parents to party like that, but they could only handle it for two days, so we went to Phuket. My last stop in Thailand, before I had to go back to Australia. Phuket was nice, I was there a year ago and I didn't really like it. I stayed at a hostel on the barstrip and I was kinda repulsed by all the old men and their young Thai girlfriends, ladyboys, poledancers, prositutes and pingpongshows. Of course it's something you have to see when you're in Thailand, so we went there to check it out. It wasn't too bad, just really busy and there is so much to see, it's quite a circus, but not very enjoyable if you ask me. My last days with my parents were good, it was good to know that I don't have to miss them for that long now. Only 3 months and I'll be back in the Netherlands. They stayed a few more days in Phuket and a few days in Bangkok before they flew back home. I'm so so happy they came to visit me, went out of their comfortzone and flew half way to the other side of the world to see me. I enjoyed having them around and showing them what my life has been like for the last 1,5 year (!) and hopefully they understand why I'm so in love with traveling and Asia!!!!!!