Category: Thailand

Tambon Ki Lek, Thailand
Today we drove about an hour to the mountains to spend the day at an elephant conservation and rehabilitation center. I did a lot of research to find one that cared about the welfare of the elephants more than the tourist bucks. It is the highlight of our trip so far! Grant said that it was the best day ever. We started out by learning about the elephants and their history, conservation, etc. We took a ride and got to bathe with them in the river! They were so playful and fun, especially in the water! They were rolling around and squirting water at the boys then picking them up. I haven’t seen the boys laugh so much in a while. The elephants are amazing gentle giants and so smart. Now I know why they are so revered in this country. We also spent some time with one of the hill tribes that live here in Northern Thailand. The tribe we met were called the Long Neck Karen. The women wear these coiled neck rings? As they get older they get more rings, so the old ladies are really long! The boys were fascinated!

Amphoe Mueang Chiang Mai, Thailand

After a quick hour flight from Bangkok we arrived in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is nestled into the foothills of northern Thailand and is a sanctuary with a laid-back pace yet is modern and has an international flair. It’s a nice balance between yesterday and today. We have a few days here so a lot of it will be relaxing since we have been jetting around the last week from big city to big city. Cocktails by the pool with a good book while the kids play. Our resort has the prettiest tropical jungle feel to it. There are maybe 10 teak bungalows that are dark wood and have hand carved designs on them. The insides are very comfortable and plush. It is family run and they are the sweetest family, plus the food is so good, real authentic Thai. Right outside of the resort are rice paddies, the boys loved looking for fish in the shallow water-they wanted to see where the Siamese Fighting Fish come from. Today we went to the temple on top of the mountain that Chiang Mai is famous for, Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. Even though it was overcast, the view down to the city was beautiful. Of course the temple was gorgeous, watching the monks chant was surreal. The boys sat silent in awe. The one thing that bothers the kids are the stray dogs that are around. They want to pet them because they think no one loves them. They are also afraid that they are going to get hit by cars as they run around! They have big hearts and keep thinking of Stanley. Our driver brought us to a local restaurant that was so pretty-it was set at one end of a huge reflecting pool surrounded by elephant figures. The food was amazing and we are like kings and had a few drinks for under $20! The Thai Silk factory was next, can’t leave Thailand without learning about how it is made and maybe buying a lot of things!!! It was a really cool tour, they showed us all the stages from moth to eggs, larvae, caterpillars, cocoons, etc. The best part is that all those stages we saw were alive and we saw them wriggling!! Then they showed us how they take the silk off the cocoons then finally the ladies hand weaving on the looms. Of course we spent about an hour shopping after that! Eating here is really stressful. I live to eat and I made up cards for every language explaining my food allergy. I even put it in pictures in case the people cooking couldn’t read. Then I laminated each of them. I have cards in Chinese traditional, Chinese simplified, Thai, Laotian, Vietnamese, French, Khmer and Malay. It has really helped me but it still isn’t easy. I put each bite of food in my mouth and wait about 5 to 10 minutes before I’ll swallow it. If I’m okay then, then I know I can eat it. I just wish I could eat everything…it all looks so good. It’s worse on when flying, I’m afraid if something happens then it would be worse! I have my Epi-pen but still want to know I am close to a hospital. But it’s all worth it to experience the beauty here. The Thai people are very friendly and Grant is like a movie star, everyone wants to touch his hair and look at his eyes and the ladies keep hugging Rowan because he’s so sweet.

Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok is pretty cool with some great things to see. It is very hot and humid and crowded. There is a lot going on and lots of traffic so we took the Skytrain mostly everywhere and tuk-tuks for short distances. the boys love taking the tuk-tuks, they thought they were awesome. While they were cool, all the fumes are spewing all around so it’s not too easy to breathe! We headed down to the Chao Phraya river to start our day and took a boat up to the temples. The first place was the grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The Grand Palace was the residence for the King of Siam and is now used for official events and Royal ceremonies. The complex is huge, were barely got through a few buildings in a few hours! The other main attraction in the complex is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The temple is spectacular! As with all temples you have to take off your shoes and cover up. People wear crazy patterned pants that you can buy right outside all the temples and for women they have skirts. Or they will give you drab wraps to put around yourself to walk around. Plus you have to cover your shoulders and take off any hats. I was so hot in my very light cardigan! Our next stop was Wat Pho which has the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. The Temple has the largest collection of Buddhas is in all of Thailand. The complex is also home to traditional Thai massage, the school that trains all the masseuses in Thailand. A one hour Thai massage is about $10, and it IS respectable!! No funny business. We all got massages and the boys even got Fish Spa pedicures! They loved having the fish nibble their feet-they couldn’t stop laughing. Jeff and I had no interest at all. The night market was a fun adventure. Rows and rows of different stalls selling everything and nice stuff too not junk. We could have spent two days there but our stomachs were growling and the food offerings smelled amazing! We all just ordered different things and all shared-look at the pictures for the descriptions of each item. Wow was it good! Then we got an amazing storm-everyone battened down the hatches and the wind was bending the palm trees back and forth and rain pouring down. The boys were so happy to see heavy rain that they kept going out and standing in it. They also can’t get used to the fact that there isn’t a drought here. They keep reminding us the not run the water too long! But they like how I’m not rushing them in the shower 🙂 While we had a nice time in Bangkok, I probably wouldn’t come back here just for Bangkok, maybe as a layover. It is a little dirty and run down but has many charms, great food, beautiful temples and from what I hear, a raucous night life! It was great to visit once and the people were very friendly and loved the kids but two days was enough. We are looking forward to going to Northern Thailand next.

Sadly we have to leave Hong Kong today, we really enjoyed it. Thankfully we had plenty of time to do some more shopping this morning since our flight wasn’t until 3:50pm. Shopping is amazing here, you can’t walk through anywhere without going through a mall and all high end retailers. There seems to be one on every other corner, a dream come true! The majority of our day was traveling to Bangkok. A 2.5 hour flight turns into an 8 hour day with travel to the airport a few hours before for check in, security, immigration, etc. Then baggage claim, transportation…… We made it to Bangkok late so we just had a drink and an amazing dinner right at the hotel, ready to sleep in our Heavenly Bed!