If we were on the phone and you said, "So,... tell me about Thailand" Here is what I would say:
Awesome!
We stayed in a very remote place. While flying into Bangkok, I looked out the window and had to do a double take - Uh, Peter? Did you know they drive on the other side of the road? And we rented a car for six days.... Luckily, master driver himself, pulled through again. Fortunately for us all, Peter had spent a couple of months in Australia many years ago, and did an amazing job. I, on the other hand, tried not to scream too often, and had to grip the door handle a lot. If you're ever in a country and see this; you'll know the driver isn't a local: for the first couple of hours, every time Peter went to signal - he turned on the windshield wipers. We laughed a lot about that.
So the resort was 1.5 hours north of Phuket (the southern tip of Thailand) and was beautiful. It was full of people from all over the eastern world. We noticed a couple other Americans, but we were VERY much the minority. Ton's of Asian's and Europeans. The place had a 3km long pool. Like canals that ran though the resort. They just wind through the place. And there is SO much foliage and fauna, that it feels like you really are just in the jungles right outside the gates. The sounds at night were so fun. Frogs singing, birds, bugs, lizards, etc. The kids caught frogs at night and hunted for giant snails. The snails were as big a lemons! Sol found one he decided to name "Snailano"; He's Italian. One morning we saw an 18 inch monitor lizard swimming in the pool. Normal, here, I guess. It was fun to watch, but I did mention that if I were IN the pool (open 24 hours, btw) I would NOT think it was cool.
The resort had a giant breakfast buffet each day. Then around two we'd venture into Khao Lak town and head to the 7-11. That's right, folks! Sevie is even in Thailand. We ate weird flavored Lay's potato chips - like dried shrimp and chilies, and tried the juice selection out. Lichee juice - ew. I thought it was going to be good. Good if you like soap, apparently. For dinner it was street food or Thai food from shacks on the beach. Mmmm. Pad Thai, spring rolls, fried shrimp, Musseman chicken, Tom Yum soup. Heaven, I tell you.
As you all know, Simon is allergic to peanuts. This was scary for me, and I have not really wanted to go to Thailand for this reason. While we were home this summer we ran into a Thai friend of ours and told her about it. She printed up (and laminated!) a little card for Si, stating the situation - in Thai. We used it every day and it was SO helpful. Lot's of peanut oil, I hadn't even thought much of that. But everything went great and we didn't have any trouble with Si's allergy. Thank goodness. (see mom? - another precautionary measure - I'm so safe, aren't I?)
We spent the days in and out of the beach and pools. You should have seen Gid on the boogie board. He was hilarious. I wish I would have filmed it. He just hung on for dear life and had a great time! I would pull him out, wait for a wave, then send him right onto it and away he'd go. Then he'd roll off into the sand, jump up with his goggles half full of water and yell - Again!
Um. Did I mention the Thai massages? Yep. I will go ahead and use the term "awesome" again! Sorry, but they were. An hour massage for 12 dollars? What couldn't be awesome about that? Right on the beach? Okay. Well, if I have to get another one - fine. And Roo got her hair put in corn braids. Poor little Thai grandma lady. Roo's hair is really fine, it took the lady 2.5 hours to do it. She loves it and looks adorable - even a week later. And um, *guilt* it was only 15 USD.
Besides the other highlight's I will share in another post, one thing we did and loved - was light 'good luck lanterns' on the beach. We had a little family home evening about sharing our light with others. Then we lit the lanterns and each of the kids let theirs go up into the sky. (think 'Tangled' here) As they were floating away we sang We'll Bring the World his Truth as a family. It was really nice. The lanterns were fun, and being together in such a remote place, feeling the holy spirit was wonderful.
Yep. I totally recommend Thailand. It was pretty jungl-ee, I would say. If bugs and rainforrest-ee things bother you, it may be a bit much. But after living where we live - life is just one big adventure. And this was one I hope we won't soon forget.
Awesome!
We stayed in a very remote place. While flying into Bangkok, I looked out the window and had to do a double take - Uh, Peter? Did you know they drive on the other side of the road? And we rented a car for six days.... Luckily, master driver himself, pulled through again. Fortunately for us all, Peter had spent a couple of months in Australia many years ago, and did an amazing job. I, on the other hand, tried not to scream too often, and had to grip the door handle a lot. If you're ever in a country and see this; you'll know the driver isn't a local: for the first couple of hours, every time Peter went to signal - he turned on the windshield wipers. We laughed a lot about that.
So the resort was 1.5 hours north of Phuket (the southern tip of Thailand) and was beautiful. It was full of people from all over the eastern world. We noticed a couple other Americans, but we were VERY much the minority. Ton's of Asian's and Europeans. The place had a 3km long pool. Like canals that ran though the resort. They just wind through the place. And there is SO much foliage and fauna, that it feels like you really are just in the jungles right outside the gates. The sounds at night were so fun. Frogs singing, birds, bugs, lizards, etc. The kids caught frogs at night and hunted for giant snails. The snails were as big a lemons! Sol found one he decided to name "Snailano"; He's Italian. One morning we saw an 18 inch monitor lizard swimming in the pool. Normal, here, I guess. It was fun to watch, but I did mention that if I were IN the pool (open 24 hours, btw) I would NOT think it was cool.
The resort had a giant breakfast buffet each day. Then around two we'd venture into Khao Lak town and head to the 7-11. That's right, folks! Sevie is even in Thailand. We ate weird flavored Lay's potato chips - like dried shrimp and chilies, and tried the juice selection out. Lichee juice - ew. I thought it was going to be good. Good if you like soap, apparently. For dinner it was street food or Thai food from shacks on the beach. Mmmm. Pad Thai, spring rolls, fried shrimp, Musseman chicken, Tom Yum soup. Heaven, I tell you.
As you all know, Simon is allergic to peanuts. This was scary for me, and I have not really wanted to go to Thailand for this reason. While we were home this summer we ran into a Thai friend of ours and told her about it. She printed up (and laminated!) a little card for Si, stating the situation - in Thai. We used it every day and it was SO helpful. Lot's of peanut oil, I hadn't even thought much of that. But everything went great and we didn't have any trouble with Si's allergy. Thank goodness. (see mom? - another precautionary measure - I'm so safe, aren't I?)
We spent the days in and out of the beach and pools. You should have seen Gid on the boogie board. He was hilarious. I wish I would have filmed it. He just hung on for dear life and had a great time! I would pull him out, wait for a wave, then send him right onto it and away he'd go. Then he'd roll off into the sand, jump up with his goggles half full of water and yell - Again!
Um. Did I mention the Thai massages? Yep. I will go ahead and use the term "awesome" again! Sorry, but they were. An hour massage for 12 dollars? What couldn't be awesome about that? Right on the beach? Okay. Well, if I have to get another one - fine. And Roo got her hair put in corn braids. Poor little Thai grandma lady. Roo's hair is really fine, it took the lady 2.5 hours to do it. She loves it and looks adorable - even a week later. And um, *guilt* it was only 15 USD.
Besides the other highlight's I will share in another post, one thing we did and loved - was light 'good luck lanterns' on the beach. We had a little family home evening about sharing our light with others. Then we lit the lanterns and each of the kids let theirs go up into the sky. (think 'Tangled' here) As they were floating away we sang We'll Bring the World his Truth as a family. It was really nice. The lanterns were fun, and being together in such a remote place, feeling the holy spirit was wonderful.
Yep. I totally recommend Thailand. It was pretty jungl-ee, I would say. If bugs and rainforrest-ee things bother you, it may be a bit much. But after living where we live - life is just one big adventure. And this was one I hope we won't soon forget.
No comments:
Post a Comment