After spending several minutes crying earlier tonight when thoughts of leaving became overwhelming, I decided to look back on some of my funnier memories in Thailand.

Anyone who knows my sister Ellie wouldn't find it hard to believe that there were lots of humorous instances during her two-week visit here, despite the Red Shirt protests simultaneously occurring downtown.

One of our favorite sayings is "any opportunity is a good opportunity."

Disclaimer: for the sake of any children or concerned parents reading this, please know this statement was originally made in reference to wearing spandex and should not be applied to all situations, as not all opportunities are good. Some, in fact, are very bad and dangerous to your health and/or salvation.

But when it comes to trying new foods, adrenaline-producing adventures and wearing spandex, Ellie and I, as well as most Chase family members, would agree that "any opportunity is a good opportunity." So when Ellie and I were walking through a small talaat (market) near some historic ruins in Ayutthaya, she eagerly took advantage of a free candy sample.

After a few bites, Ellie realized that what she was eating was not your average piece of caramel.

It was some sort of sugar-coated larvae. Yum!

And because I would never want to admit that I had passed up an opportunity to eat bugs, I had to have a bite, too. As I remember, the candy wasn't all that bad, in fact, it was kind of tasty...but not tasty enough to make us go back and buy a bulk-size bag for the train ride home.

While Ellie was here, we also went zip-lining. I could probably write another post about what a beautiful and freeing experience it was, but instead I'll just mention one of the highlights of our day in the treetops.

There was one portion of the zip-line course that was a tandem line; up to that point, all the other trips were solo. Ellie and I were paired together and in a beautiful moment of sisterly bonding, we sailed through the sky, admiring the beauty of God's creation and zooming towards the platform where we were supposed to stop. However, upon reaching the platform, we failed to stand up quickly enough and went gliding back to the center of the line. Thanks to gravity, there was nothing we could do but dangle precariously for a few minutes while our Thai guide shimmied his way out to save us (well, after he took several pictures, including the one above).

Now for my favorite part of the story. Once the guide reached us, he wrapped his legs tightly around my torso in order to drag Ellie and me back to the platform. He pulled himself hand over hand along the zip-line until we finally arrived back on somewhat solid ground. While he was pulling us along, I was laughing so hard and totally wishing someone would take a picture of me intertwined in this little Thai man's legs.

Regrets.

Well, what a nice little walk down memory lane. I love how laughter can instantly make things better.