Narayan's here!

So after 30 hours of flying and layovers (and a completely moronic cab driver), my brother is finally here!  He arrived on the 5th and we let him have a jet-lag day where we just relaxed, hung out and noshed.  

Yesterday, we took him out to all our favorite places in Patong and it was quite a time.  

First of all, let me just say how strange it is to have someone else in the apartment with us.  For 8 months, it's been just me and Aaron and now to have another person is so cool!  Don't get me wrong, we've met lots of people along the way, but we've rarely invited people into our living space.  Not to mention, it's my brother and it's really nice to have someone from home here, like a warm, fuzzy blanket.

Not only is my brother here, which is so neat-o, but he brought my camera (which I ordered practically 8 months ago)!!!!  Yipee!  It's so beautiful (and kinda heavy now that I'm used to just carrying my phone around) and I can't wait to get picture-happy:

Ahh, much better!  

Anyway, we started Narayan off at our most favorite place, Big C Market!  Since we only have one scooter and Narayan was a little nervous to rent his own (us Sanwals are kinda on the clumsy side), Aaron is the designated driver, meaning he has to make 2 trips everywhere to get us all to the same place.  It's honestly idiotic and time-consuming, but it's saving us money (we don't have to take taxis, which are a rip-off here), so we go with it.  

Aaron dropped me off at Big C first, then went back to get Niny.  Since I was waiting, I toyed with the zoom on my new camera and took pictures of our apartment from below:

I could have even got closer!!!  Where have you been all my life, camera??!  Sigh.

Finally, we're all at Big C.  Time to start exploring:

We actually bought these rose apples, which were similar to regular apples, but the texture was different and they weren't as sweet:

I love how pretty they make food here.  This is bread:

and this is rice:

Adorbs!

Chicken blood, anyone?

How about chicken hearts?

Pig hearts, maybe?

I got a better picture of frozen black chicken:

A sheet of squid:

I just thought the salmon looked so pretty in pink:

My brother's name is Narayan, so this was funny:

Then we hit the Patong Beach (one at a time on the scooter again).

It kinda looks like Niny's wearing a crown (man, this is a good camera):

We opted out of parasailing this time, just because it's pretty pricey and only lasts about a minute.  You never know though, we might give in at some point.  It looks so frickin fun!

Let's get in the water!!!  All the in-the-water pics are on Aaron's Go-Pro, so I'll try to get them from him later.  Once I got out of the water, I took some of the boys:

We found a bunch of hermit crabs (and an actual crab) and tried to play with them like children.  Don't worry, we put them back in the water eventually:

We went home, showered and later that night, we went to a boxing match:

Super fun!!!

Then it was time to party the night away!

I didn't bring my fancy camera, so of course Aaron has all the good pictures on his phone.  Not to mention a video that's pure gold of Narayan ON STAGE at Red Hot dancing to Michael Jackson's Billie Jean.  He requested a Michael Jackson song and once it came on, then made him get on stage and dance.  It was absolutely hilarious!  Then I made them sing Happy Birthday to him, since his birthday is on Monday.  It was unforgettable.  I'll get the video from Aaron and post ASAP.
 In the meantime, here are the boys dancing to Red Hot Chili Peppers.
and us singing John Legend way off key.

They had a bet you couldn't hold this pull up bar for 2 minutes (and you can't because it's rigged.  The bar is super thick, slippery and rotates!).  Niny tried though:

He lasted about 30 seconds because as soon as you try to adjust your hands to get a better grip, it spins and you fall.  Oh well, better luck next time!

More bar pics:

Dancing queens.

Super fun night!  It got a little crazy at the end, but we managed to get everyone home safe and sound around 8am.

Today was a wash since we got no sleep the night before.  Tomorrow we will be packing for our few day trip to the island of Krabi (and maybe a few surrounding islands).  Can't wait!