or a big one. But lets not haggle details.
*I realized that without inflection (or being able to read my mind) what I wrote previously might not always come across as intended. I revised a bit. I want those reading and me reflecting back on this experience, to know how much I enjoyed and loved this trip- not how my non-witty comments reflected it as being.
So- a slightly different version:
*I realized that without inflection (or being able to read my mind) what I wrote previously might not always come across as intended. I revised a bit. I want those reading and me reflecting back on this experience, to know how much I enjoyed and loved this trip- not how my non-witty comments reflected it as being.
So- a slightly different version:
King and I just got home from a fabulous two weeks in Thailand. It was a lot of things: refreshing, eye opening, fun, hot, insightful... I could go on...
My sister offered to help fund (100%) a plane ticket if we'd help her travel home to Bangkok with her three young children. We figured all the stars had aligned. 1) Tickets were now "half off." 2) It was summer and my mom VOLUNTEERED to watch ALL of our children for two weeks! 3) I wasn't pregnant and Millaker was old enough she could be done nursing. 4) King had enough time off from work!
Now tell me- when were all of THOSE stars ALL going to line up again?
Exactly. We went!
Now tell me- when were all of THOSE stars ALL going to line up again?
Exactly. We went!
It turns out it was a good trip to have extra adults for. On the way out- instead of
roughly 24-30 hours of travel time, it took us 45 hours to go from Utah
to Bangkok. After a delay departing from Portland, then a mid-Pacific
turn around due to a medical emergency, then a necessary night at a
hotel in Narita, Japan (we'd missed connecting flights from Japan to Bangkok), we FINALLY
made it.
My first impression? Wow- Bangkok is hot!
That statement stayed true the whole trip- despite the fact that it was the rainy season.
My first impression? Wow- Bangkok is hot!
That statement stayed true the whole trip- despite the fact that it was the rainy season.
A few things are VASTLY different in Bangkok. Not necessarily bad- just... different. Prime example: their wiring. This is a common sight walking the streets. It was surprising to see a man climb a rickety bamboo latter leaning against the pole (or wires) to fix things. I don't think I would have volunteered. It looked terrifying if you ask me!
We got a few surprises from their sidewalks as well. In the smaller side-streets poles aren't always on the edges and the sidewalks aren't as wide as I'm used to.
It took me a few days to get used to everyone driving on the LEFT. It's a good thing I wasn't behind the wheel- we'd have been in numerous wrong-way accidents for sure. King and I thought this photo was an accurate depiction of the motorcyclists. See that car turning right with the swarm around him? The motorcyclists are allowed to drive between lanes of traffic (or in their own personally created lanes) and certainly seem to be the fastest- though not the safest- way to cut through traffic. Tuk tuk (three-wheeled, large motorcycle) drivers do this as well. Traffic is busy and the road signals didn't seem "mandatory." Despite the fact that navigating through traffic made me a tad nervous, you couldn't beat the service. Our driver, taxi driver, and tuk-tuk drivers were ALWAYS kind and polite. I think we only EVER saw one mad Thai. Not a bad ratio if you ask me!
In case you forgot, it was rather hot over there. I'm not terribly fond of sweating, but just walking around I was dripping. Gross. Even had I not been toting a camera, I think the sweat alone marked me as a tourist.
In case you forgot, it was rather hot over there. I'm not terribly fond of sweating, but just walking around I was dripping. Gross. Even had I not been toting a camera, I think the sweat alone marked me as a tourist.
Speaking of walking around. We saw some fabulous sites! For instance, their are statues everywhere . . . dragons, Buddhas, gnomes, random animals, etc.
As you can see, Buddha is more popular and prevalent in Thailand.
Though we saw a lot of tourists as we visited the Temples, we also saw a lot of devoted Thai. It was interesting to have people explain the meaning or reason behind some of their traditions and religious customs. I've become so accustomed to my own little life that these experiences caused me to reflect a bit more on why I believe as I do and why customs are important.
Though we saw a lot of tourists as we visited the Temples, we also saw a lot of devoted Thai. It was interesting to have people explain the meaning or reason behind some of their traditions and religious customs. I've become so accustomed to my own little life that these experiences caused me to reflect a bit more on why I believe as I do and why customs are important.
Flora and fauna look fantastically exotic! I'm pretty sure this flower came from the Buddha tree. The tree had vine-like appendages under the bigger branches. At the end of each vine was this flower. At first I thought the vines and the trees were different plants- not true. It's just unique. Our Buddhist driver who was a monk for three months picked this flower off the tree for us.
Their architecture is so detailed and ornate!! I took SO many pictures of their Temples (Wats). They are exquisite! So many of them looked grey from a distance but were colorful and intricate from close up.
See?
We spent a whole day going on a river tour and getting off at various stops to look at Temples, China Town, etc. This wasn't our boat, but I wished it was! This is exactly the kind of boat I'd have envisioned had you asked me about Thai boats. In reality, most are fairly regular looking.
King and I were able to go on a bike tour one evening. It was about 13 km long through the main part of Bangkok. They took us down side streets around town. It was neat to see streets we normally wouldn't have gone down. We stopped at the Wats which were all lit up at night.
We also stopped by the flower market, which sells THOUSANDS of flowers of every kind every night. A dozen roses would cost you roughly a dollar! I wish this were by my house!! They had flowers I'd never even imagined. There was row after row of exotic flowers being set up and unloaded as they prepared for the evening market. Some new friends of ours were brave enough to try the local cuisine: grasshoppers and crickets! We passed. Call me boring. Our guide swore we were missing out.
I'm pretty sure we traveled on EVERY form of transportation available: Train (1st, 2nd, and 3rd class), taxi, tuk-tuk, motercycle, scooter, bicycle, van, truck, bus, sky-train, metro, car, boats big and small, raft (rubber and bamboo), elephant, and our own two feet. Above is a picture taken on the third class train we rode to Ayutthaya. It wasn't the fastest mode of transportation, and the trains seemed to stop for cars rather than vice-versa, but it gave us a good chance to try and talk with others and meet new people. On other trips we took first and second class berths so we could sleep, but this was good for a short trip.
It was new for me to see so many people living in such humble circumstances. This picture was taken from our train. I'd go out of my mind with worry if I lived there with my kids. It sure made me grateful for my house and fenced yard! The Thai people are a very patriotic and loyal people. If you look carefully, you can see a picture of their king on the far left. It seemed that no matter how much or how little the people owned, they made it a point to have a place or picture to reverence Buddha and their King.
This is at Ayutthaya. Its the old Thai capital that was destroyed by the Burmese a couple of hundred years ago. It was fascinating to walk around! We rented bikes for the day (for about a buck apiece) and biked to all the different ruins we wanted to see. It was a good way to go! Most places you could walk in and around the ruins. We had to see some ruins from afar due to preservation work that was being done. The ruin in the picture below had a steep, narrow staircase you could take. Two floors below there were old paintings on the walls you could still see.
Here's proof that I ate authentic Thai food. This fact might need to be documented for future posterity or they might not believe it.
To be completely honest, I was a little nervous about the food heading into this trip. I tend to like all things plain and not spicy. King's favorite joke for me is "the less flavor- the better." He might be right. All things considered, I was pleasantly surprised! Thai food (when not overly spicy) was great! My favorite dishes from the trip include Pad Thai, chicken and basil in oyster sauce, sticky rice, mango, smoothies, omelets on rice, and rotee (a fruit-stuffed pancake, sort of).
There were a few occasions I chose my boring food though. King and I ate out one morning. Can you tell who's plate was who's?
We went to the island of Koh Tao, which is South of Bangkok. It was amazing!
If you're going to get in the ocean, it might as well be warm. . . and warm it was!!
We rented a scooter (200 baht= $6 for a day) and rode to a little beach. While looking at the water was nice- turquoise water, beautiful scenery, looking IN the water was incredible! You couldn't see much from out of the water, but BOY were there a lot of fish. We swam right next to several schools of fish and saw some with amazing colors!! I wish my camera could have gone under water! This was one of my absolute favorite things about this trip. I wish we could have done more.
If you're going to get in the ocean, it might as well be warm. . . and warm it was!!
We rented a scooter (200 baht= $6 for a day) and rode to a little beach. While looking at the water was nice- turquoise water, beautiful scenery, looking IN the water was incredible! You couldn't see much from out of the water, but BOY were there a lot of fish. We swam right next to several schools of fish and saw some with amazing colors!! I wish my camera could have gone under water! This was one of my absolute favorite things about this trip. I wish we could have done more.
We meant to- and had decided to go to another beach on the island called Mango Bay and snorkel there- it was rumored to be one of the best places to see fish. We hopped on our scooter (which I was refusing to drive since I'd tipped us over already) and went about six feet... then hit sand. Thankfully we were ok. A little road rash (which hurt plenty) and some scratches on the scooter. Those scratches cost us a little heartache and a pretty penny!! Lets just say we returned the scooter, nixed mixing our wounds with salt water, and took it easy the remaining day in Koh Tao.
What we missed in snorkeling, we made up in eating! I have a new favorite treat thanks to this trip. Its called Rotee (stuffed pancake).
Y.U.M.
This is it below. You spread dough out REALLY thin. If you're good at it, you do this crazy fast turning/flipping thing to thin it out. I want to try this, but have a feeling I'll have to revert to the rolling pin. This took obvious talent. Then you put it in the pan, add an egg, a banana (or any other fruit combo: mango, coconut, pineapple, chocolate, peanut butter, rasin etc) and fry it up, folding the edges over. Then they put sweetened condensed milk on top. We're trying this tonight with our kids, I'll let you know how it goes! (addition: it was good- but not as good as the original.)
A few days later we took the night train up to Chaing Mai. We signed up for "Flight of the Gibbons."
ZIP-LINING in the jungle!! Awesome!!!
I'm fairly certain there were more than 25 zip lines- one over 800 meters long! (That's nearly a kilometer!) We met the nicest people! Our favorites were a family from Belgium! I'd do this again ANY day.
The day after, we went on a "trek." Along with 11 others and two guides, we rode out to the jungle and started our day off by riding elephants. This baby followed us around constantly begging for bananas.We learned that the end of an elephants trunk is rather moist.
The first half of the ride was excellent- even if our elephant wandered a bit off-trail. The best picture isn't scanned in yet- so hopefully that will be up soon.
The second half has no pictures since it was dumping buckets of rain. Nothing like riding an elephant in a down pour.
Afterwards we hiked about three hours up the mountain to a Lahu village. The view there was amazing. I'm using that word a lot. I need a thesaurus- or on second thought- it was all just amazing!
The showers and bathroom facilities were . . . authentic! It sure made me grateful for hot running water and indoor bathrooms!
These were our sleeping arrangements for the night: little mats and pillows with blankets on a bamboo floor. Again, not the most comfortable, but it worked. Its amazing how much I take for granted.
Our guides were quite the comedians. They were constantly making themselves (and others) things out of the local plants. Here's king's hat they made him along the trail. He looks thrilled doesn't he?
They even had a local "7-eleven" rest stop on our hike.
We hiked out the next day and stopped for some whitewater rafting and bamboo rafting. Their version of bamboo rafting is different than we envisioned. It included sitting on a bamboo raft that floated a foot or so under water. We were up to our ribs in brown water. Some experiences you only need to do once- even if you're glad you did them.
When we got back from our jungle trek, some friends we made on our trek took us back to their hotel. The woman was a
nurse from France. She patched up our road rash that was getting
infected. My toe had five bites from some bug on our trek. Lucky toe.
Completely unrelated side note:
my toes are actually painted! A head massage, hair wash, hair style,
and mani pedi was around $15. Hence- my first pedicure. We also enjoyed an hour long Thai foot
massage for just $7. It was heavenly!
Alright, back on track.
Alright, back on track.
That evening in Chaing Mai we stopped at this store for a smoothie. We ate smoothies on a daily basis and they were delicious. When we sat down to wait I did a double take. Yes, that's a TREE TRUNK going through the roof . . . that's a new one for me.
We took the "special express sprinter" slow train back to Bangkok in time for one last day with A and D. They'd been GREAT hosts and were kind enough to help King find spicy food and me the not-so-spicy food. Somewhere in there I'd had a birthday and they treated us to an Italian dinner and the yummiest Icecream cake I've ever had! It was great to visit with family, vacation with my sweetheart, and miss my kids so much I was motivated to come back and be the best mom ever! It was interesting what things I MISSED about home, and what things I'd taken for granted, and also to realize that really, I don't need much to be happy. My life is pretty perfect, pretty remarkable, and I am so very blessed.
Would I go back?
Any time.
