Family in Europe

These last 4-5 days in Thailand are a complete blur. While at our beach resort in Hua Hin, we found ourselves completely in vacation mode. We were tired, a little homesick, and perfectly relaxed swimming and hunting for shells on the beach. Our resort was very isolated from the city. It was a $6 taxi ride to get into the town of Hua Hin. By this point, we were not feeling very motivated to do much of anything. We ate at the same great restaurant 5 out of 6 nights! Chef Cha was pretty good. He even came and said hi to us on the 4th night and remarked that we were sitting at the same table each time. The menu had a good selection of Thai and Western foods. DD#1 was pretty happy with a burger by this point.

We happily spent hours hunting for shells at the beach. It was obvious that different critters occupied these waters.

We had laundry done for the last time. Receiving my laundry folded, clean, and wrapped like a present might be the thing I miss most about Thailand. (Kidding. But it is pretty fantastic!)

The girls and I headed to a nearby waterpark for one of our day's activities. Black Mountain Waterpark was so much fun! There were no lines and we spent hours rocketing down a variety of slides. DH stayed back at the resort and used the fitness facilities at the nearby Sheraton Hotel.

One night, we worked up the energy to head to the Cicada Market just south of Hua Hin. It was a great market full of authentic souvenirs. I bought a handmade wooden piano clock that I just love! The girls were happy to have their nails painted at the market. A 25 minute manicure cost about $1.50 plus tip.

Each evening, the clouds rolled in sometimes bringing a little rain. Usually, we could see an electrical storm off in the distance. DH tried to take pictures of the storm.

One morning, we found a special café for yummy smoothies, Thai iced tea, cake, and this marvelous red velvet waffle creation. Dessert for breakfast!

One of the many interesting snack foods in a Thai market.

We have all gotten used to special smoothies and iced drinks.

After many more kilometers logged around our resort's pool, it was time to head north to Bangkok for one last night. We checked into a different hotel, Bann Glang Soi, and explored yet another neighborhood. We did a little last-minute shopping at the massive MBK mall, ate one last yummy Thai dinner, and called it a trip! (Notice the no alcohol sign in the picture. We ended our trip on the holiday just before Buddhist Lent.)

We managed our nearly 15 hours of flying to get to Seattle. Ugghh. We flew EVA airlines and connected through Taipei. We stayed the night in Seattle with our wonderful family before heading south to Oregon.

I am so happy that we got to experience Thailand. It was a vacation that we will never forget! The food, traffic, history, weather, people, shopping, and pure adventure of it all will never be forgotten. I think we are all going to miss those $1 fresh fruit smoothies! But there's nothing like landing in the Pacific Northwest and seeing the mountains in the distance, the giant trees, and never-ending green. One of the best things about travelling is the reminder that there's no place like home.

So until summer 2017 (Europe again!) familyineurope bids farewell. Thanks for reading!

More History

And Paradise

The last few days have been quite different. We have gone from historical sights to a beach resort. Here's a brief summary.

We took a train from Sukhothai to Ayutthaya - about 3.5 hours. The train still uses tracks that were laid in the late 1800s. It was very bumpy and a little scary (for me). If you come to Thailand, do yourself a favor and don't google things like "train derailments in Thailand" or "Thailand tour bus accidents". It makes travel a lot scarier! Transportation has been my biggest surprise and source of anxiety on this trip.

Once we arrived in Ayutthaya, we made our way to a teak Thai guesthouse called Luang Chumni Village. The place was unique! The small door led to an all wood interior complete with mosquito nets. The small guesthouse complex was surrounded by a moat. The bathrooms were below the bedrooms (inconvenient) and the mattresses were on the floor. I thought it was cozy and felt a little like a cabin.

We found great street food that evening settled in for the night. A street food dinner for our family is around $7. It was delicious!

The next day, we were offered a nice breakfast once again. Most breakfasts consist of a plate of fresh fruit as well as eggs made to order, French toast, crepes, toast, etc... Pretty normal breakfasts. We rented bikes from the guesthouse and set off to discover more historical sites.

This is the most photographed sight in Ayutthaya. It is still a mystery as to how the Buddha head ended up intertwined with these roots. There is a guard near the head to remind tourists to kneel to stay lower than the head. Staying below the Buddha's head is a sign of respect.

It was incredibly hot in Ayutthaya - probably our hottest day yet. We took breaks for beverages and rode slowly. The kids were happy with Ayutthaya's most popular snack. It's a sweet crepe filled with cotton candy floss.

We rode back to the guesthouse and had a few snacks before hiring a small private boat to take us around the river that surrounds Ayutthaya's old town. For about $20, we took a tuk-tuk to the dock, hopped aboard a small boat, and saw the city from a different angle. The driver stopped at four different sights.

The most interesting part of the ride was going through these crazy rootless plants that take over the river. No kidding! We just blazed straight through them. We also saw three monitor lizards. Yuck,

She finally got her coconut.

We were very hot by the end of the boat ride and asked the tuk-tuk driver to take us to a place with cold drinks. The heavy rains were coming so we set out for a nearby night market for dinner. Tasty again! Well, except for the weird fishy flavored donuts that everyone seemed to be buying. At least we found mango sticky rice again for dessert. We didn't try the fried bugs and larvae. Here are a few market scenes:

An entire section of MSG. What?

The next day, we splurged and hired a private van to take us the 3.5 hours down south to Hua Hin. Hua Hin is a beach resort about 2.5 hours south of Bangkok. This last stretch of our Thailand journey is a vacation from our vacation! We were more than happy with the great airbnb condo we booked months ago.

The kind condo owner welcomed us with an excellent fruit tray.

The best part is the pool that wraps around the complex for one kilometer. It takes a long time to swim one kilometer!

We spent our first day at the resort alternating between the pool and walking along the beach. Check out the size of this jellyfish!

The condo complex is like a ghost town. Almost all of the units have been unoccupied. We are wondering if lots of Bangkok residents will head down here for the Thailand holiday weekend. We are here five more nights. Tomorrow might involve a waterpark. We shall see....

We have had a relaxing three nights in the quiet town of Sukhothai. With just 39000 people, it's been a big change from Thailand's busy cities. We have a weak internet connection here so uploading pictures is time consuming.

Our travel to Sukhothai was quite a challenge. We bought 2nd class tickets on a bus which seemed perfectly fine for the first two hours.

About two hours into the ride, the bus driver must have been in a hurry because he sped up to over 70 mph on Thailand's bumpy freeways. He was passing huge trucks on the right and on the left. DH and I lost our cool when the bus took a corner too fast and the left side of the bus scraped bottom. I'm pretty sure that the wheels on the right-hand side of the bus were airborne. We could smell the burning metal from inside the bus. The bus swayed back and forth before the driver was able to regain control. Not good. By this point, I was sitting at the edge of my seat with white knuckles. DH was sitting in front of me and was just as aware and concerned. The kids were aware but were in the middle of a movie and less afraid. After the near-accident, the driver seemed to slow down a bit. About 15 minutes later, he was back up to 70 mph around some mountainous terrain. DH made the decision to get off the bus! Luckily, the bus made periodic stops in little towns to pick up or drop off passengers. We opted to get off in some tiny little town. Phew! There were other passengers on board who must be accustomed to crazy drivers. Not us. I was never so relieved to get off a bus! There was a kind man sitting at the small bus stop who witnessed our distress. Even though he didn't speak English, DH was able to use the man's cell phone to talk to his manager in English. The kind man offered to drive us the remaining 2.5-3 hours to Sukhothai in his pick-up truck. We were a tight fit but it felt so much safer than the crazy out of control bus.

We were never so happy to arrive at Baan Georges - literally a mansion with a pool. Ahhh!

We walked to the nearby Poo Restaurant. Of course the kids needed a picture with that sign!

The next day, we enjoyed the relaxed rooftop breakfast and fabulous pool. We swam both in the morning and in the afternoon.

We took a slow open-air bus about 20 minutes to Sukhothai Historical Park where we rented bikes for less than $1 per person. It was relaxing to ride around the park full of historic ruins. We took so many pictures! At one point, we stopped for Thai iced tea. It's our new favorite! We had an easy Thai lunch near the historical park.

DH got a laugh at the men's bathroom signs.

We made our way back to the hotel for more swimming and relaxing. DD#2 and I walked around the workaday town and were most amazed at the local food market. An older Thai lady was killing fish with what looked like a baseball bat and then hacking them into little pieces with a huge cleaver knife. We were completely mesmerized. We continued through the meat and produce sections of the market. Many people stopped to stare, smile, point, or say hello in English or Thai. They aren't used to tourists wandering through the maze of their market.

We found a local pizza place for dinner! Yay for pizza and cheese. A welcome break from noodles and rice.

We had one more day in Sukhothai with little on the agenda. After breakfast and more swimming, we hired a tuk-tuk to take us to a large Casino supermarket complex. We stocked up on snacks, random toiletries we were running low on, and browsed the aisles. We had Thai food for lunch and came home to swim some more. Not a bad day. We walked around Sukhothai a bit more before returning for more pizza! The place was really good and cheap. We've played many games today and are mostly enjoying our time together. The kids are already planning their play-dates with friends upon our return.

Tomorrow, we are planning to take the train to Ayutthaya - a town about 75 kilometers north of Bangkok. We've tried to buy our train tickets online and at a local travel agent with no luck. Today is Sunday and many things are closed. Keep your fingers crossed that we get out of Sukhothai without riding on a crazy bus! I think I'm scarred for life.

We have really enjoyed our six nights in Chiang Mai doing a huge variety of activities. The city has certainly been discovered by tourists from all over the world. Even though the population is close to our home town's, it feels more chaotic and centered around the tourist trade. We cannot leave our hotel without being offered rides here and there from tuk-tuk and songthaew drivers. Sadly, the level of pollution is getting to us. The smells of car and motorcycle exhaust mixed with the city's sewer smells can be nauseating at times. Luckily, the great food, friendly people, and special activities have made the week memorable.

Zip-lining in the rainforest!

We were picked up from our hotel fairly early and driven about 90 minutes away to the rainforest. The company, Flight of the Gibbon, was rated highly for safety and offered 18 zip-lines as well as some cool sky bridges throughout the jungle. The kids were especially excited for this adventure!

We even got to see a family of gibbons in the wild!

After the zip-lining, we enjoyed a great lunch and got to see a lovely waterfall.

When we returned in the afternoon, we went for a swim while DH went out for a foot massage. We walked to a Mexican place for dinner. This town has everything! I decided to check out the only jazz club in town - North Gate Jazz. The scene was incredibly busy on their open-jam night. I signed up to play the sad Casio keyboard without a pedal. The jam started at 8:30 and they still hadn't started calling musicians from the list at 9:45 so I took off. It was nice to see such a vibrant jazz scene in Chiang Mai.

Elephant Sanctuary

We had another early morning and another ninety minute van drive into the middle of nowhere. This nowhere involved loads of elephants! Elephant Nature Park was unlike anything we've ever seen. It's a sanctuary for rescued and retired elephants. The elephants had disabilities and injuries from working in the logging industry, circuses, giving rides, or begging for money in cities. Some of the elephants had stepped on land-mines, had gone blind, or had simply been turned in by responsible citizens. We were able to feed, pet, wash, and hang out with the elephants.

One elephant was just two months old.

The sanctuary was also home to 400 rescued dogs and numerous cats. They roamed around freely. Some of the dogs even chased elephants and water buffalo!

We couldn't stop taking pictures! It was an unforgettable experience.

We returned to Chiang Mai and enjoyed a great Northern Thai restaurant called Dash. The owners spent a number of years living in Washington State and were very friendly. They even had a local IPA! The kids have had a record number of smoothies in the last few days.

On our last full day in Chiang Mai, I went for another polluted and sweaty run and then we had a great breakfast at DeLish Kafe. Yummy bagels! We made our way to the bus station to figure out how to buy tickets for our next destination, Sukhothai. After the bus station, we found ourselves in a new section of town near a mall. This mall had a great market with yummy food. So many dried fruits, fruits, the best filled waffle things, sticky rice, weird black jellies, etc...

We visited more historic wats in the old center. It was fascinating to see many monks chanting prayers. The embalmed monks were interesting to say the least.

We picked up laundry once again. How great it is to drop off a huge bag of laundry and return the next day to pick it up all clean and folded for around $6. We walked by the laundry place and saw our clothes hanging out to dry.

We really enjoyed northern Thailand but are eager to start our journey south.

First off, thanks for the comments on the blog! I write this blog late at night after everyone else is asleep. We are having a great time in Thailand and I do believe we're having more fun than I imagined. Yay!

We left our mountain retreat in Chiang Dao after another relaxing morning. The 1.5 hour drive south was easy.

We checked into Awanahouse. It's a bit of a change from the other places we have stayed so far. This is a modest guesthouse with a large bed and bunk beds all in the same room. The shower isn't a separate unit - it's just sprays all over the bathroom. But it has AC, a small pool, and is only about $45 a night. It's in a great central location so we're doing just fine. Luckily, there are some great cheap food options right across the small street. The "no durian" sign on the door is amusing. Durian is a fruit sold everywhere and it has a pungent smell. We haven't tried it yet.

On our first afternoon, the kids went for a swim and then we found some great Northeastern Thai food. The kids were thrilled with $1 smoothies. We walked around the old town a bit and did a little shopping. The shopping is great and so affordable! We settled on a pizza place for dinner run by an Italian guy. The city feels very international with tourists and expats from everywhere. Everyone seems very relaxed and friendly. I had a great evening walk and even got a little lost. Yikes!

The next morning, I went for my first run of the trip. The old city is encircled by a square-shaped moat. Each side of the moat is about 1 kilometer long. That was enough of a run for me! Next, we had one of our favorite breakfasts. The tripadvisor app has been very useful for finding great restaurants, Again, the prices make it fun to splurge on a yummy breakfast.

We decided to take a songtaew to the Chiang Mai Zoo.

The zoo has two panda bears so we knew it was a must-see attraction for DD#2. She is crazy about pandas! There are about 35 pandas in various zoos around the world making them quite rare. This was as up-close as you can probably get to a panda munching on bamboo. Both pandas had just been fed when we arrived. There was only a low barrier between us and the pandas.

And just when you thought the panda fun was over, there are souvenirs made from panda dung. Who can resist that?

This zoo was different in several ways. First off, most locals drive from animal to animal. You could drive through the zoo! We chose to walk. There was an old monorail line through the zoo that would have been great had it been operating. Also, the number of animals that you could feed was astounding. Feeding the hippos was my personal highlight. We were almost uncomfortably close to their gigantic mouths!

After the zoo outing, we had another Thai snack. This one involved our first culinary miss of the trip. None of us were fond of fermented pork roasted in banana leaves. Oh well. We took a swimming break and then went out to explore the Sunday Walking Street Market. This was probably my favorite market experience ever! I spent hours looking at Thai made crafts, jewelry, souvenirs, clothes, food, you name it! The market was so large that I never made it to the end. The hordes of people were exhausting but it was worth it. At 6:00, the Thai National Anthem came over the loudspeakers. Everyone became still and quiet to show their respect. I found some great deals at this market.

DD#2 was thrilled with her $5 Thai dress.

The next day was one that I had been anticipating for months - a full-day Thai cooking class! We were all excited to have our own wok station to make some traditional Thai dishes. The instructor was so knowledgeable and passed along her cooking wisdom with humor and confidence. A Lot of Thai was a great experience that I would recommend to anyone. I can hardly wait to try some of our favorite dishes at home. I even bought red and green curry paste at the market. Here is before and after Pad Thai:

We all learned so much today. We stopped half-way through the day to shop at a nearby food market. I'm eager to find some of these ingredients at home. The kids even had smoothies in a bag!

I have been so impressed with our kids when it comes to eating. They are open-minded and try just about anything. Don't get me wrong, there have been plenty of arguments and bickering. But the food thing has been easy.

After the cooking class, we were stuffed and happy to relax at the hotel. I went across the street to a massage shop and had an hour-long foot massage for about $6 + tip. Incredible! Massage shops are everywhere. The kids went for a swim and we called it a night. Tomorrow is our big day zip-lining through the jungle!