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.