About our trip to Thailand.....

Wow, what a trip!! I must say that this trip was one of the best trips that I have ever taken. Thailand is an incredible place. The people are just wonderful. We did not have one bad experience with anyone. My impression as a tourist in Thailand is that the Thais are happy and very friendly people who love kids. In fact, Ben hated that fact that everyone felt that they had to touch him.

The Thais love their King. In fact, the current King Rama the IX has been the King for over 60 years.

The highlights of the trip for me were the following:

1. The canal long-boat trip to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. The boat trip was through these narrow canals where people lived. There were many traditional Thai houses which are rich in beautiful wood and are incredible to see. We also got to try the famous Durian fruit which is known for its pungent odor. The fruit was quite good. We all like it. We also enjoyed the mangosteen fruit which a tropical fruit....very good.

2. Our trip to the Elephant Camp outside of Chiang Mai. Even though the elephant ride is not one that I care to repeat, it was an amazing experience. The elephants are very smart and personable. It was incredible to watch them play soccer and paint. I could have watched them all day.

3. Our Thai Cooking class at an organic farm outside of Chiang Mai. What a fun day and such great food. I think we all enjoyed it. It was good because it was Thai cooking for foreigners. I have decided that I prefer the Thai food that is cooked for the foreigners. I think that is because it is the type of flavors that we are use to eating.

4. Experiencing the beautiful beaches in Southern Thailand. Wow, how beautiful. My favorite beach, although it was very crowded, was the Phranang Cave Beach which is a short long-boat ride from Ao Nang. The water was so crystal clear. It was were Emma and I got hooked on the wonderful fresh fruit shakes that they serve in Southern Thailand. I was partial to the pineapple shake and Emma loved the strawberry/banana shakes.

5. One of my favorite experiences was going to the Chatuchak Weekend Market in Bangkok. The local market has over 15,000 vendors and covers over 30 acres. Wow, what an amazing experience. They sell anything from pet squirrels to food and handicrafts. I think this place would be a shopper phobic's nightmare. There were thousands of people and it had to be 95 degrees with 100 percent humidity. I have never sweated so much in my life, but if you like to shop and barter what a place to come. I really enjoyed seeing Emma learn to barter with the locals. She started to really enjoy it. In fact, she was a lot better than me. I was always concerned about hurting their feelings, but not Emma. She stuck to her price. What a great memory watching her learn and grow. I think both Emma and Ben are great travelers and they seem to not be afraid. They welcome the new experiences. Emma got to be quite good at using the non-Western toilets as well.

6. The beauty of the many temples in Thailand were amazing. The Wat Pho and the Grand Palace in Bangkok were incredible. In fact, there are so many beautiful temples in Thailand, after you have been in Thailand for a week, they begin to blend into the background.

7. In Bangkok specifically it is amazing to just walk the streets and the local markets. They are a country where you don't have to cook if you don't want to. There are street vendors with an amazing assortment of Thai food to choose from that is very cheap. Most foods that we saw on from the street vendors averaged about a $1 a dish.

I think Thailand was amazing because it offered the cultural experience with some Western comforts. The people are amazing. When I have traveled to Europe, I have experienced many locals taking advantage of the tourists, but not the Thais. They are very hard working, friendly, honest, and punctual people. What a delightful experience. I only wish that we had had more time on the trip so that we could have visited the neighboring countries of Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Those countries will have to wait for a different trip.

Last day in Bangkok

Snake skeleton

"Milking" the snakeAlbino snake
Sculpture at the Bangkok Airport
Big sized tuk-tuk

For our last day and a half in Bangkok we didn't do a whole lot. We hit the Bangkok Night Bazaar for some last minute shopping. On our last day we went to the Bangkok Snake Farm. This snake farm was the second snake farm created in the world. It was created due to the the fatalities and injuries of people bitten by the many species of venomous snakes (over 60 different species) in Thailand. It was very interesting and it made me very glad that I live in Alaska where there are no snakes. We were lucky to be there at the time of the "milking" of the snakes. During our showing they milked seven snakes for the venom and only got a little amount.

After that we took the kids to see Avatar in 3D at the IMAX theater in Bangkok. Wow, what a movie and it sure was great to see it in the IMAX theater.

Ko Phi Phi Lei

Maya Bay (where the movie "The Beach" was filmed).

Maya Bay



Well, today is our final day on Ko Phi Phi. Tomorrow we are off to Bangkok for a day and a half before flying back to Alaska. Today we hired a long boat to take us around Ko Phi Phi Lei and to Maya Bay which is the bay where they filmed "The Beach". It sure was a beautiful place and the water was so clear you could see down at least 20 feet. The fish were beautiful and very colorful. Jim, Emma and Ben went snorkeling and had a wonderful time. There are a massive number of people who visit these areas so if that bothers you, don't go to Ko Phi Phi. I was so in awe over the beautiful water and scenery that I just ignored the massive number of people. I was very glad that we hired our own long boat and did not have to join the masses.

Tomorrow morning we take a ferry to Krabi then a plane to Bangkok where we will do a little bit of final shopping. I hope everyone has enjoyed the photos.....

Ko Phi Phi Don

Thai Chicken Fajitas...
Chicken Panang Curry.
View leaving Ao Nang.

Ko Phi Phi Don.









Well, our final three days in Thailand have been on Ko Phi Phi Don Island. What a place!! It sure is beautiful, but it sure is crowded. This is a big party town with all the 20 year olds. One of our favorite restaurants on the whole trip was at Ko Phi Phi Don called the Cosmic Restaurant which is local right in the center of town. It is mostly a favorite of the tourists. The food was varied, cheap and wonderful. We ended up eating there every meal when we were on Ko Phi Phi. We sure have enjoyed our trip. Look forward to coming home though.....

James Bond Island and Panyee Village

Reclining Buddah at Monkey Temple
Panyee Village (Floating village of 1500 people - 200 years old)
View from James Bond Island
Shops on Panyee Village
Reclining Buddah at Monkey Temple
Panyee Village
Monkey outside the Monkey Temple

James Bond Island
Emma bartering....(She is awesome at this. She gets better deals than me. She says "you can't worry about insulting them and stick to your price."
Calamari

Well, we did the touristy thing and went to James Bond Island. It was a good trip. We enjoyed the Panyee Village which is a village all on stilts. They call it the "floating village." The village is wall to wall houses with a population 1,500 people. They say that the village started 200 years ago. The community started with a group of people from Indonesia. Anyway, I can't imagine living that way. I guess some people would say that of life in Fairbanks.....:)

Ao Nang and Phranang Cave Beach

Phranang Cave Beach
Phranang Cave Beach
Restaurant on the beach
Railey West Beach
View from the Phranang Cave Beach
Phranang Cave Beach
Jim on the beach before sunburn....

Hotel in Ao Nang (Somkiet Buri Resort) - very nice.....

Ao Nang Beach
Ao Nang Beach

Is there anything more to say.....it's beautiful here. In fact, it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The temperature of the water is perfect and very inviting after sitting in the sun which can get quite hot. We spent the day on Phranang Cave Beach which is a short longtail boat trip from Ao Nang beach and what a beautiful beach it was. We all got a little sunburned except for Ben.

Last night Jim and I got traditional Thai massages and that could be habit forming. If my feet aren't too sunburned tonight, we hope to go get foot massages. You can't beat the price, we paid $7 for each of us for an hour plus tip.

Tomorrow we are off to James Bond Island. I know it is the touristy thing to do but what can I say I want to see the beautiful islands. However, if I had known how beautiful it was at the beaches around here I would have skipped James Bond Island and stuck around here. Two more nights here then we are off to Ko Phi Phi for 3 nights before heading back to Bangkok for 2 nights and then to Fairbanks.

Phuket and Sea Kayaking

Sea kayaking in the Mangroves outside of Phuket
Sea kayaking - Emma
Sea kayaking - making the offering
Sea kayaking under the caves to get back to the mangroves

Big jellyfish
Lunch on the John Gray's Sea Kayaking tour.


View from Mak's Views Guest House in Phuket.

Mak's Views Guest House - Phuket

We arrived in Phuket on the 4th of January. The town is quite developed as many people had told us, but we lucked into staying at a guest house that is located right on a beach that has very few people. How beautiful it is here. Yesterday we went on the John Gray's Sea Kayaking tour to the caves and mangroves. What a great tour. In addition to the fun we had with them, they also fed us quite well. Some of the best Thai food we have had so far. I must admit I will probably not have much Thai food for awhile once we get back to Fairbanks.

We were concerned about the monkeys, but the only monkeys that we have seen so far have been at the zoo. I am glad about that. Tomorrow we will be taking the ferry to Krabi. Our trip is coming to an end soon. This last week we hope to be doing a lot of relaxing and soaking up the sun and warmth to get us through the Fairbanks winter.