Thailand | Join The Adventure | Travel Pictures Videos and Tips

Travel Changes You

Griffin Stewart — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:30:58 +0000

We wanted to share a quick video we made using an awesome tool called animoto. This video shows many of the reasons we love travel so much. What are your reasons for loving travel? Let us know in the comments.

What is Animoto?

Animoto allows you to create stunning movies from your pictures and text. We tried it out for this movie as well as some we made for our moms on Mother’s Day and we really liked it.
Just upload your pictures, select some music, put in some text and it takes care of the rest. It really couldn’t be any easier. You have to pay to make a video longer than 30 seconds,to download the video and/or for higher quality video. But, if you just want to share a 30 second clip online it is free and their prices are reasonable if you want more options. We just paid for a month and then cancelled instead of having a yearly membership. We may do the same thing in a couple more months once we have some more ideas and pictures to share. Check it out here and let us know what you think.

Thailand Beaches and Waterfalls

Griffin Stewart — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 02:45:55 +0000

Here is a quick video from out trip to Thailand during our honeymoon in 2009. You can see more footage of Thailand in some of our other posts like the Floating Market, The Tiger Temple or Bridge Over the River Kwai. We stayed for about a week total on the beautiful island of Koh Chang of the coast of Thailand where we experiences some great snorkeling, elephant riding through the jungle and of course, some relaxing on the tropical beaches.

Bridge Over The River Kwai

Griffin Stewart — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 02:27:13 +0000

Here is a quick video from out trip to Thailand during our honeymoon in 2009. You can see more footage of Thailand in some of our other posts like the Floating Market, The Tiger Temple or Thailand’s Beaches and Waterfalls. We went on a day trip that included a visit to the famous Bridge of the River Kwai which is part of the Burma Railroad the Japanese built during World War II. We also show you some footage of the Thai Long boat. Enjoy!

Experiencing The Tiger Temple In Thailand

Griffin Stewart — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:44:28 +0000

While in Thailand, we had the amazing opportunity to visit the famous Tiger Temple. According to the history of the temple, people from the region brought tiger cubs to the temple for protection after their mothers had been killed by poachers. Presently, the temple is home to about 12 adult tigers and 4 cubs, among many other animals that reside there. As Auburn fans, we knew we had to visit this place! It was an incredible experience to get so close to these amazing and beautiful creatures God created. We got to pet the Tigers and walk with them as they headed back to their habitat for the night. If you are visiting Thailand we recommend checking out the Tiger Temple. It is a little expensive compared to other things in Thailand (about $30/person to enter), but the experience is well worth the expense in our opinion.

Here are a few of our favorite pictures from the Tiger Temple, but make sure to check out the rest of our pictures from Thailand here.

Here is a video from our visit. Enjoy and War Eagle!

Did you like this video? Want to see more of our video or watch them in HD? Check out all our videos here. Enjoy!

Exploring the Floating Market in Thailand

Griffin Stewart — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:17:27 +0000

The Damnoen Saduak Floating Market is located about 70 miles from Bangkok and is well worth a day trip. We decided to go on a three part day trip to see the floating market, the Bridge Over the River Kwai and the Tiger Temple. The floating market is really cool to experience as it gives you a glimpse of what life in Asia may have been like a long time ago with the vibrant colors, strong smells and the ongoing sounds and chaos that make the market a unique floating experience.

We spent about and hour exploring the market and really enjoyed it. We highly recommend the boat ride purchase if you go as it really let’s you experience the market first hand and since it is a floating market, is the only real way to explore it for what it is. One of Griffin’s highlights was trying fried bananas for the first time! They were so good! Later, when editing pictures he realized he had taken a photo of the same banana seller he photographed when visiting there in 2007.

Sometimes it is easy to think that the people we see while traveling may be there for a couple years until they get a new job or decide to move as we so often do in America, but the more likely case is that the people at the floating market may have been doing that same job since they were young and will continue to do that job until they die. As Americans we take so much for granted. I ask you to take a moment to reflect on the things you have started to take for granted and remind yourself how lucky you are and to thank God for your blessings.

Below are some of our favorite pictures from the market. You can see the “Banana Lady” picture taken in 2009. To see the picture from 2007, click here. To see more pictures from the floating market and our visit to Thailand, click here.

If you get the chance to visit Thailand, we recommend a visit to the floating market. We also recommend going with the expectation that it will be mostly very touristy and not traditional and then what little tradition is there to be seen will be appreciated. Enjoy the tour;-)

Valerie and I took a day trip the floating market in Thailand and rented a boat to fully explore and experience this market that has existed for hundreds and maybe even thousands of years.

Click on a picture to zoom in. Also you can use your up, down, left and right arrow keys to move around the pictures. Enjoy.

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Elephant Riding in Thailand

Griffin Stewart — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:52:00 +0000

On September 10th, we woke up early to head to the jungle for some elephant riding. The weather was perfect and we could not have asked for better temperatures. We were picked up at our hotel and took a quick trip around the island to pick up some other trekkers. When we arrived, we walked down a trail to the river where we were able to watch the elephants bathe and play in the water. We were then invited to sit atop the large animals while they playfully splashed water on us. Valerie was allowed to ride one of elephants back up the trail so we could get started with the ride!

When we arrived back at the hut, we were greeted with fresh pineapple and bottles of water. We were then ready to board a two-seater basket balanced on the back of our elephant. About 6 elephants caravanned through a well-known jungle trail carrying a dozen excited island guests, ourselves included. We rode as the elephants each went up and down steep hills and waded across small rivers. The gentle elephants were also kind enough to stop and pose for photographs. After the 1 and 1/2 hour ride, we arrived safely back at the hut where we were given bananas to feed the elephants, a reward for their hospitality to us. We, ourselves, were given fresh coconuts, cut open at the top and served with a straw. Though they were a bit too bitter for our liking, they were very tropical looking. =)

All in all this was a highlight of our trip and certainly an unforgettable experience for both of us. Check out the video and photos below to see more.

For our honeymoon we went on a three week trip to Thailand and Cambodia before heading to South Korea to start our new jobs as teachers. One of our favorite memories was swimming with and riding these gentle giants through the beautiful jungles of the tropical island of Koh Chang. Enjoy!

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Some of our favorite pictures are below. To see all the pictures from this trip and others, check out our Flickr page here. Enjoy.

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Honeymoon Top Ten

Griffin Stewart — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:37:42 +0000

We had an amazing honeymoon. I am so thankful that God worked it out so that we were able to spend three weeks exploring South East Asia together and so thankful to have a wife that wanted to forego the typical honeymoon destinations. Because of this and the fact that our plane ticket will soon be re-embursed by our Korean Schools, we were able to enjoy three comfortable weeks of adventure travel for the price of roughly one week of resort destination travel! Here are our top ten favorite Things we did on our honeymoon and some pictures to go along with them.

10. Going to day and Night Markets in Cambodia and Thailand

9. Exploring the Floating Market

7. Relaxing on the beach

6. Going to the Snake Show in Thailand

5. Snorkelling in Koh Chang

4. Petting and walking with Tigers

3. Bathing elephants and trekking through the Jungles of Koh Chang on them

2. Exploring the Ancient Temples of Angkor Wat

1. Growing Closer to each other and while enjoying God’s creation and different cultures/adventures

Some other Favorites that didn’t make the list are:

11. Having delicious fresh fruit shakes every meal

12. Mopedding around Koh Chang and Exploring The Beautiful Water Falls in Koh Chang

13. Seeing the Bridge Over the River Kwai in person

14. Riding a Tuk Tuk

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