August 11 - Packing? Who needs to pack? LET'S EAT!

I was planning on packing today. Geoff informed me this morning that we'd have the Delta van(with Peter the driver) available to us. So much for packing.

We went to Geoff's favorite restaurant in all of Thailand. It's down by the water. On the way we pass fish farms. There's no "city plumbing".
Houses are on stilts. Flush the toilet by dumping water into the toilet from the rain barrel. Homes have large clay pots to catch rain water for home use. At the restaurant... When you first walk in, take off your shoes and put on a pair of slippers at the door. There's toys for the kids to stay entertained. It gets chilly with all the strong bay breeze so the restaurant keeps long sleeve shirts and light jackets on hangers for guests to borrow.

While you're watching the tide come in you're entertained by the lung fish and crabs in the mud below.
It's comfy, casual, and of course... The food ROCKS!







After that we stop by a market an pick up dessert. It's sweet coconut grilled in banana leaves. YUMMMMMMMM. We should've bought more. I could've eaten that all night long... ok, it's good that we didn't buy more. We have a few other sweets and smoked buko(young coconut) juice. People are STARING at us BIG TIME!

We visit another striking wat.










Finally we meet Jack and Ying and their niece and nephew for a kick butt dinner. It's going to be sooooo hard to enjoy Thai food restaurants in the States after having the real deal. I'm beyond words. The kindness and hospitality is endless!

The restaurant is practically floating. It's in a neighborhood equivalent of Orange County. Live music, private karaoke rooms, and water features are ALL OVER the place. Unfortunately Felicia did get a small 2nd degree burn when she grabbed on to a light. But she got over it pretty well. It was a spotlight for one of the waterfalls. There's also lots of coy and the kids are having fun feeding them. It tickles me that in the photo you can see my kids have finally learned the "Asian squat". Sitting... without really sitting :o)

June 25 - Back to Bangkok

I didn't sleep well last night. I woke up in the middle of the night, freezing. Looks like we went a bit overboard with the AC setting so I got out of bed to adjust the thermostat. Later (or earlier, depending on how you look at it), I wake up to the sound of DRIPPING. My investigation in the dark reveals a puddle under the AC and wetness in one of the suitcases. DANGIT! So I grab a towel to make a quieter landing area and move the suitcases. All this on top of the LOUD screaches of a particularly freaky looking lizard.

In the morning we're trying to get it together before we head out to do more touring. I discover that last night I actually turned the AC dial the wrong way and only made it colder... hence, the dripping. NICE... Geoff takes a quick shower and heads for the office to look for Internet access. Work is busy for him. While he's gone I get the kids dressed. Nui and the crew show up asking if we're ready to head out. I need Geoff to get back so I can take MY shower. Nui offers to wach the kids so I can get it together. YIPPEE! I get cleaned up; Geoff gets back; Nui's been trying to keep the kids from wrecking the arrangement of carved wood tulips.

Before we head off... we take a couple of pictures of the house and go check-out. At checkout Geoff discovers that Nui's family's connections has gotten us an AMAZING rate at this resort. WOW! Wish we could've stayed longer... next time :o)


Today, we'll go get breakfast in town and visit Wat Phra That Doi Suthep before separating. Nui's group will drive back to Bangkok and we'll tour a little more before going to the airport to fly back to Bangkok. At breakfast Geoff spends a lot of the time on a conference call. Our driver, Nui, and her driver pitch in to manage kids. Yippee! I get to eat with both hands! Good food as usual :o)

We have a beautiful visit at Wat Phra Doi Suthep. We take a diagonal elevator to get to it up on the mountain. One if the first things we notice is this beautiful tree of one of my favorite fruits, langka(jackfruit).


After we remove our shoes we head up and pray... Holding flowers, incense, and candles we walk around 3 times, stop to burn the incense and pray, then light the candles.

Next we are welcomed/blessed by a monk who showers holy water and ties sua sin around the wrists of the boys/men. His sidekick takes care of the women/girls.



Next... more picture taking and ringing bells. This first picture is of Nui's parents. They've been extremely generous hosts.




Now, the vans go their separate ways. They'll drive back to Bangkok and we'll take in a couple more sights before catching our flight to Bangkok. On our route we visit a HUGE waterfall that was made up of about a dozen falls like steps. After that we try to go to a wood carving part of town but instead end up at a furniture market... still ok. Geoff spends most of his time on a conference call anyway so it's not a real good shopping opportunity.


Finally, it's time to end the adventure and head home to the Bangkok burbs. K. Supachai drives us to the airport and we have a smooth check in. Guess what... you can enjoy your beer AT the gate while you're waiting to board.





At Suvarnabhumi we're all pooped. Cam's especially tired. We EVENTUALLY make our way to our driver's van. Given the restrictions put on hired-non-taxi vans, it's an excruciating walk and wait in the heat before we can get IN the van that will take us home. Next time we'll take a taxi. We can't wait to do this all over again... :o)

June 23 - We go to make merit in Phayao

So we have our final morning at the beautiful PhuChaisai Resort and hit the road to the temple in Phayao. On our way we'll make a tourist stop or two.

First, we stop by a town whose name I can't remember and do a little shopping. Cars and motorbikes drive up and down the narrow roads lined with shopping stalls. We try to keep an extra close eye on kids.

Second, we make a quick stop at the Golden Triangle to get our obligatory photos of our family in Thailand with Laos and Bhurma in the background. There's a school field trip of squeeky, teenage girls who are determined to take photos of the kids... the boys are less than cooperative. Again, we were a tourist attraction at the tourist attraction. Before we get back in the van... some important business. It's 3 THB to go to the bathroom. What a deal! It was the cleanest pay toilet I've seen! And I've paid more for more foul toilets... They were squat toilets. I'd learned from previous squat toilet experiences with Felicia that it's just easier to have her take OFF her bottoms and underpants.

Third, we stop by a very striking wat whose name I don't remember. While we're there we get the call from Geoff's friend Nui that we need to head straight for the wat for the ceremony. We won't have time to get cleaned up. We hit the food stalls and buy Pringles and sodas for everyone... our lunch on the road. Nui calls again, they're going to delay the ceremony an hour to accommodate our late arrival.

We arrive at the Gateway Hotel in Phayao and are frantically trying to get cleaned up for the ceremony and town festival at the wat. At the hotel, I'm so tickled to see we have a bug-free room with super strength air conditioning. It's a BIG room with a huge window that overlooks the town. We'd also learned that this room was also once occupied by former PM Thaksin... it's the only hotel in town.

So we arrive at the wat. We'd been coaching the kids in the van: We'll take off our shoes, Sit on your feet and don't point them at people, Girls don't touch the Thai monks, When we're at the wat do we yell, jump, push or spin? etc, etc... I'd decided to wear my dressy heels for this occasion... I only wore them for the 5 foot walk from the van to the wat. (I should've left them in Maryland.) So, it turns out that by being an hour late we were still one of the first ones there... the ceremony didn't start for at least another 1.5 hours. In that time we'd decided it was better that I sit in the van with the kids while they watched a Garfield VCD. Geoff would represent the family. He was blessed with lots of water by the monks. He was given "bracelets" for the family, a poster of a famous monk and a bottle of wild bee honey that the monks collected from the forest.


After the ceremony in the wat everyone goes outside to eat and watch traditional Thai dances. Nui tells us that the kids and folks in the town have been preparing for over a month. The dinner was a northern style kantoke meal. Very delicious! And the dances where very entertaining. Especially one that involved "fire breathing". We had to leave before they released the balloons but we all had a FABULOUS time.




Once we get back to the hotel we get the kids laid out on the blankets and pillow on the floor.

Geoff and I contemplate the next day. We're suppose to be ready to head out at 7am. I'm going to need more caffeine.

April 23 - Would you recognize him in the next life?

Geoff has made “good merit” today. His Thai language teacher (from a previous trip to Thailand) is involved in the building of a new wat (temple). After Geoff pledges money toward its construction Jack (from the Thailand company) offers a comment that goes something like, “That is very good merit. Maybe in your next reincarnation you will be handsome.”