Asia

Scott and I decided to take advantage of being “close” to the Far East and visit Thailand.  Michelle has been phenomenal with the kids, so it was nice to be able to comfortably leave them with someone other than my mom for an extended period of time to go somewhere “close” and exotic.  The “close” part ended up being as “close” as 12 hours on a jet can be.  We spoiled ourselves and upgraded to business which made it not quite as bad as it would have been without the more comfortable chairs and the ability to sleep for a few hours.

Once we arrived, the trip was completely worth the travel!  We spent several days in Bangkok doing everything from the river tour in a long-tail boat, to visiting a snake farm, to eating street food (and befriending the local who ran the…street place), to the highlight of Bangkok: taking a Thai cooking lesson from a local.  While all of the city that we saw was unbelievable to see and experience, by far, our favorite part was going to the local market with our cooking teacher, seeing the live frogs, eels, turtles, and various other creatures, shopping Thai-style and then cooking in her home some authentic Thai food.  It was deliciously fresh and proper Thai spice!!  We did enjoy the hustle and bustle of Bangkok but we were admittedly ready to leave after 3.5 days in the craziness.

Next, we flew down to Phuket.  It was unbelievably beautiful with the small rocky islands out in the sea, the rugged mountains, the magnificent rain forests, and of course the cascading waterfalls.  We stayed for the first 3 nights at an amazing place called the Pavilions.  I have stayed in a few swanky places, but this place beat them all.  It was so hilly that to go from our villa to the restaurant or bar, we needed to call for one of the employees to come pick us up in the golf cart.  It was warm (read: pretty hot), but our private and secluded pool was perfect to cool off in.  Really, if I could live there, I would’ve loved it!  Perhaps the second highlight of the trip was one night, four people came to our room and set up a barbecue poolside and the chef cooked all kinds of delicious meats, fish, prawns (the size of lobster), and more.  A-m-a-z-i-n-g.  Those who know us well will see the pattern of our favorite things involving really good food…

We did other things besides eat of course.  We went on an eco-adventure which was wild.  It included climbing and zip-lining through the rain forest.  I think the longest zip line we did was 400 meters, which took about 45 seconds to go down.  Exhilarating.  We also were able to see the Gibbons rehabilitation site which was heart warming.  To know that the monkeys are shot from the tops of the trees so that the babies can be used for tourist traps was sad, but it was nice to see the volunteers rescuing these monkeys and training them to be monkeys so that they can be released into the rain forest.  And of course the trip to the rain forest also included playing with the (giant) Asian elephants.  They were massive!

Our last night we stayed on Naka Island at a beautiful resort that is basically the only thing on the island.  It was nice and fun to stay in a hotel where you had to take a five minute speed boat ride just to get to it.  I will be honest and say that the “Tsunami Meeting Point” sign had me a little worried.  Fortunately it wasn’t needed.

Overall, the trip to Thailand was a once in a life time adventure for us.  The food was amazing, the country was really beautiful, the sunsets the best I have ever seen, and the Thai people were gracious, pleasant, curious, warm and friendly.  We never went anywhere that we weren’t greeted with a smile and a slight bow of the head.  Of course, if I was lucky enough to eat Thai food everyday, I dare say I would be as happy, pleasant and laid back as they were! 

Video highlights:

Honorable mention:

The street food is going to be good and spicy if tissues are on the table…