Kata Beach, Phuket: Part 2

06.30.08: We only planned to stay here for a few days. But, we ended up at Kata Beach for a week and a half. Yes, we really got sucked into this place! As a matter of fact, we probably would have stayed longer, but our 1 month visa’s for Thailand ran out on us. Sure, we probably could have gone down to some “official” offices to have them extended. But in the end, we still want to have time in Bali/Indonesia. So, it was time to leave….

The past week in Kata Beach, we didn’t venture far at all. Most of the time, we woke up, had the hotel breakfast included in our room rate, and went to the beach to play in the sand and switch off surfing. The swell picked up, then it rained for a day (internet and “getting stuff done” days), then the weather got better and we surfed again. Another day or two, it would rain again, but only long enough for us to duck into a restaurant for a drink or lunch. When the swell started dying, we rented a longer pink, flowery Walden board. Then, borrowed Kevin’s really, really long board. (He’s pretty tall. Plus, more about him below.) We made some great friends who all hang out at the surf shop, Phuket Surf, that we’ve been renting our boards from. Every few nights, we’d go to a BBQ at the bar, The Tube, also managed by the same as Phuket Surf and where the Kata Krew hangs out at. Kailani’s best playbuddy is Jum, who works at Phuket Surf and at The Tube (and needs to take a day off!) and charges on the waves with her gal friend who she lives with (wish I could remember her name!), both of whom I think of as a “Thai Blue Crush…without the scardey-cat white girl”. I kept talking Jum to come home with me to surf the waves in Santa Cruz!!!! I’m sure she’d just love it! There’s also Jenny the sweetheart, radio station DJ, who is half American, grew up in the states as a kid, but then moved to Thailand the later half of her childhood years. She also charges in the waves. Next, there’s Caleb, born and raised in Bangkok, but now lives in TX as a teacher and comes here every summer. He was nice enough to give us the scoop on everything that goes on here. Then, there’s Marco, originally from So. Africa, then he decided to move to Asia. He said this was one of the first places he stopped at and he has now been there for 2 years. I can see why! Also visiting Thailand while we were there was Kevin, originally from Belgium, then moved to Thailand but now lives in Melbourne, Australia with his Thai wife, Nup (sp?), and their two kids, Catlin (sp?) and 3 ½ year old Anthony, who Kai had fun playing with. And, of course there were a few others: Mark (half Thai too), Jum’s friend’s mom, who does all the cooking at The Tube and also lives above The Tube, the bleached blone guy who does all the instructing, and some of the other members of The Kata Krew that I’m failing to mention. We all appreciate their hospitality and friendship!

After almost of week of extending our days at Kata Poolside Resort, they finally told us someone else had dibs on our “poolside” room. That ended up being OK though, because we were spending more time at the beach and not “poolside”. We also had troubles with their wireless access that we had to pay for. So, we moved next door to the Sugar Palm Resort, a swank modern place that had free wifi for a few hundred Baht more AND it worked. Foodwise, we really never found a place that we really loved. Mostly, we ate at Kata Mama, next door to Phuket Surf, only because it was more reasonable and we could hang out and chat with the Kata Krew. The last night that we were there was the best meal so far. Somehow, we ended up conveniently getting ourselves invited to a dinner at The Tube that was really more for “family and friends”. We had some great grilled squid, fish, mussels, and clams and some saucy chicken wings, spicy noodles, veggies and other home-cooked Southern Thai food, made by “Mom”. The company was great and it was the prefect way to end our stay at Kata Beach and say goodbye to “The Krew”!

Overall, I think it’s safe to say that this has been the best stop on our trip so far….especially because of the friendships we have made….ok, and because of the surf too! Who knows, maybe we can come back and Gloria could help Walup (sp?) put together the next Kata surf competition, considering that they need volunteers and I could bring some materials to make some boards for the local crew.

Kata Beach, Phuket

06.21.08: Our boat came from Ko Tao back to Ko Samui late in the afternoon, we ate take-out dinner in our room (including some wonderful banana fritters!) and headed to the airport at the crack of dawn. Our flight to Phuket was actually on time this time. It was again on Bangkok Airways, “Thailand’s Boutique Airlines”. I’ve come to the conclusion that Thailand has completely over exploited the word “boutique”. Yes, “boutique hotel” is a common title. “Boutique living quarters or spas”…OK. But, “boutique airlines”?!? Come on!

We decided that taking a mini-van to our beach/hotel would be a convenient, inexpensive means. We jumped in and I was thinking that they must make some good money considering they can stuff at least 10 tourists in there for 350 baht (~$11 USD) each. Halfway there, the van pulls off the road and a woman opens the door telling everyone that they need to get out, go into the office and show their tickets. I stayed in the van, but Sean and Kailani went in. There, they tried to sell all the passengers all these tour packages: elephant rides, island hopping, snorkeling/scuba diving, etc. Sean said it was like sitting in a timeshare presentation. He had to say “no” a hundred times. I’m glad that he did. Personally, I wouldn’t have bought anything out of principle, considering we were essentially hijacked.

We were the last passengers to be dropped off because we were going to Kata Beach. Most were going to Phuket’s most popular beach, Patong, which seemed as crowded and congested as Bangkok, only next to the beach. There, Sean and I looked for signs of tsunami damage but only saw a bunch of fairly new shops and hotels near the beach. We finally made it to our hotel, Kata Poolside, where we were stoked when we found that our room was literally poolside. We got one of the two rooms there where, out the back door there was a deck with a ladder going down into water, into the pool. Yes, RIGHT into the pool! So of course, we had a good session playing in the pool. Later, we headed a block down to the beach to find that it is, although not as popular as Patong, still a fairly developed beach, similar to Hawaii. But, that’s OK with us because there’s surf! We had some lunch, checked out the board rental options and it started raining. We headed back to the hotel just in time for Kailani’s nap. Later in the afternoon, we went back to the beach to pick up a board. Sean and I switched off surfing and making sandcastles with Kailani. The waves on this beach break were not that particularly huge. But, after not surfing in a while now, it’s nice to start out slow. And, who cares when the water’s this warm! Anyway, the swell is supposed to pick up in the next few days. We also ran into our friend, Strick, who we ended up having dinner with that night. Afterwards, we tried an outstanding banana pancake from a cart outside our hotel. Either we have the same taste in places to visit or Lonely Planet has quite an influence on their readers. Whatever the case, even though we just met him a week ago, it was nice to see a familiar face.

On Sunday, we woke up, ate breakfast and…of course, went directly to the beach. And, the waves did pick up a bit. We did more switching off, surfing and playing in the sand with Kailani. Everyone at Phuket Surf, aka “The Kata Krew”, in true Thai style, are all really friendly and laidback. Although not nearly as bad as Boracay, I did see some trash wash up on the shores. While out in the water, I ended up fishing out a large plastic bag. I decided to take it ashore and fill it up with trash on the beach. It was nice to see that the guys that worked on the beach renting out lounge chairs threw it away for me. It was also nice to see that my surfing legs came back to me! We’re also seeing some color change to our skin. Unfortunately, I lost my sunglasses to a wave while taking Kailani out there. But, there are lots of cheap knock-off replacements. So, I picked up a pair of cheap (but not nearly as cheap if I weren’t so desperate for some) “Channel” ones. Early afternoon, we took a break to eat lunch and put Kailani down for a nap. Unfortunately, when she woke up, it started raining again. Considering that we are here during rainy season, I guess we have really lucked out with the weather so far. We really can’t complain over an hour or two of rain as it’s no problem to go back to the beach for a late afternoon surf session.

Ko Tao

06.18.08: In the morning, we packed up one bag, left the other two at Eden Bungalows and caught our ride to the ferry pier. There was a full moon that night, so the pier was filled with ravers going to Ko Phangan for the Full Moon party. We were looking forward to a quiet and peaceful island. The boat was not quite as slow as I expected. Instead, it was a high speed catamaran. It took about 2 ½ hours to get to Ko Tao. We got off the boat and got attacked by everyone there trying to sell you a taxi ride or scuba tour. But, we found our resort’s taxi waiting for us. A “taxi” there is a 4-wheel drive Toyota Hi Lux pick-up truck with two benches in the back. I thought the dive industry must be doing good because I saw some nice-looking trucks with burly wheels. But as the paved road turned into dirt, I realized you HAVE to have something like that. To get to our bungalows on the other side of the island, you have to go up the mountain in the middle, and then down the other side. The roads were extremely steep and deeply rutted. The truck slid a few times going downhill when the driver hit the brakes. He was a pretty good, cautious driver too. Luckily, it wasn’t raining. The landscape was absolutely amazing – lush, green tropical forest with HUGE boulders strewn throughout. It looked like something they try to create on a movie set, like Jurassic Park. We felt like we were on some type of Disneyland ride. And throughout all this excitement…our baby decides to take a nap!

We arrived at the Diamond Resort in Tanote Bay, put our stuff down and checked out the beach. After that, we were getting pretty hungry, as we skipped lunch while getting there. We sprayed down with mosquito stuff and sat down at the outdoor restaurant. The spray didn’t seem to be doing much. I sprayed down again, but it still didn’t seem to be doing much. So, we promptly ordered and went back to our bungalow to change into long sleeves and pants. I got back and our food was there. But STILL, those mosquitoes, way larger than I’ve seen so far, were biting me through my clothes, even when I was sitting over the mosquito coil that the staff had lit for us! By then, Sean was freaking out, and he usually doesn’t freak out that easily over something like that. He left me to go back to the bungalow to change too. I quickly tried to eat and ignore all the mosquitoes and their fly friends swarming around me and landing on our food, but seriously could not maintain composure. And by then, Kai was starting to cry. One of the gals there tried to offer me some spray, but I was already over trying that. Finally, she suggested that we eat in our bungalow. Apparently, there’s one hour of the day, late afternoon/early evening, when the mosquitoes come out, and it was that time. Luckily, eating in our bungalow kept us away from those pesky critters. There were still three flying in our bungalow as we ate, but that was nothing compared to the restaurant. Sean forced me to eat and ignore them. But after we were done and Sean left to return the empty plates, I gave them a good whack. One big fat one left a nice bloody mark on the wall. I couldn’t help but to leave that one hanging on the wall just like a hunting trophy head. (I usually miss, but was pretty determined!) Later that night, we ventured out to the beach again. By then, the mosquitoes were gone, the full moon was shining bright and the glistening water was absolutely calm. All the sudden, our trauma was erased. It was absolute peacefulness and we were on an island paradise!

The next day, we had nothing to do all day but frolic on the beach and play in the crystal clear and warm water to cool off when it got too hot on land. I tried to remember some yoga moves. Then, I gave an impromptu lesson to Kailani who was trying to copy me. Sean rented a snorkel and swam around checking out the underwater life. Supposedly a lot of the sea life and reef had died from the 1 to 2 degree water temperature change over the past few years. After exploration, it was nice to see that there was still a lot life down there even though you can see that some of the reef is dying. It was very fortunate to have seen what was there today because it just might not be there tomorrow. After lunch (with more swarms of flies, but we weren’t too bothered by them…they didn’t bite.), I got a 300 Baht (~$10 USD) Thai massage under a beachside hut with the sound of the gently lapping water in the background. Later in the afternoon, we hid in the bungalow during the “witching hour”. Then, we headed back to the beach for another moonlight session. This was a great session for us lying on the rock in front of the moon light gleaming on the water listening to Jack Johnson and realizing how far we have come on our journey. It’s hard to explain how peaceful and thankful we felt to have had this experience. We could have only wished that others could also experience this feeling.

The next morning, we did a bit more beach frolicking and then had to pack up and leave. I erred on the side of a short trip to this island because it was so remote. I didn’t want to take too much and didn’t know how we’d fare. But in the end, we were sad that our time there was so short. But, I think we ended our trip there just in time. Back at the ferry pier, after Sean picked up his new favorite fruit, mangosteen, we saw HUGE crowds coming off the ferries. I suspect, since the Full Moon Party was over, everyone was now coming here looking for some peace and quiet, even though they were all coming at the same time. As we were leaving, we were glad we had it to ourselves!

Thanks to Chris and Heather for recommending this place! :-)

An Interlude about Kailani

(Ko Samui Airport)

06.17.08: I just wanted to note how many changes I’ve seen in Kailani just in the past week. Though we’re not ready to turn our heads for a minute while she’s in the pool, she was really progressed with her swimming. But, that’s to be expected with all the time she’s spent in the water lately. I also see that her face is changing. I noticed that, in pictures, she doesn’t have as much baby fat and looks more grown-up. Her smile has changed from the “pirate face” (squinty nose look) she used to make to a “real” one. She’s walking with less of a waddle. And, she’s definitely using more words and speaking with longer sentences.

In addition, she’s learned how to say “Hello” and “Thank You” in each country’s language that we’ve visited: French, Spanish, Italian, German, Chinese, Filipino and now Thai. Here in Thailand, she’s also learned a “wai” greeting, holding her hands together by her heart and bowing her head when saying “Sawadee Kaw” (Hello) or “Corp Kun Kaw” (Thank You). And, she’s learned customs such as, when she bows to Buddha that her toes should tucked behind her.

It’s so fun to see our little flower bud blossom before our eyes!

Ko Samui

06.13.08: We spent one last, fast night in Chiang Mai and went to the airport for Ko Samui the next morning, Friday the 13th. Our plane was delayed again for about 2 hours. At least, Bangkok Airways let passengers hang out in their VIP lounge, offering drinks and snacks. It also had wifi, which was perfect since we hadn’t booked anywhere to stay yet. The 2+ hour ride seemed a bit long as Kailani was getting grouchy but wouldn’t take a nap. But finally, after stopping her from playing with the attendant call button, one came up and gave her a puzzle for 4-8 year olds to play with. I guess she was pressing it for a reason… ;-) To my surprise, she somewhat figured out how to put the puzzle back together.

The island of Ko Samui is where I spend the majority of time at when I came to Thailand last time, around 10 years ago. As we landed, I could see from the air how much more built-up it had become. As we deplaned, I noticed that one other gal and I were the only Asian passengers. That’s the most Westerners I’ve been around since landing in Asia a month and a half ago! I expected mostly tourists in this beach-resort atmosphere, just like in Boracay. But there, the majority of tourists were Filipino, not Western. I couldn’t recognize anything from our taxi ride to Bo Phut beach, a.k.a. Fisherman’s Village, where we were staying. Finally, after settling into our room and going onto the beach, I realized that this was the same beach I stayed at on my previous trip. I actually only spent one night here, frankly because it was a little TOO quiet for me since I was traveling alone. Before, there were only a couple fishing boats, local kids playing on the beach and a couple Chinese chophouses. Now, there were modern yachts and boats in the water, and development all along the beach. The chophouses were now converted into modern restaurants, mostly cooking Western food. That was kind of a disappointment to see. Personally, I don’t see why you would travel all the way to Thailand to eat predominantly Western food when there’s Thai. I think I could eat Thai food every day. So that night, Sean and I enjoyed a romantic sunset beachside dinner, sitting on large cushions with table low to the ground, at this modern Thai restaurant called Starfish, with nice décor and red walls, all without having to get a babysitter. Kai had fallen asleep and was lying on a cushion next to us as we ate. It was pretty nice, but we could have just as well eaten at a divey little shop or street stall. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any. Poor Kai got all bit up from mosquito bites laying there. We put long pants on her. But still, they got the bottom part of her legs and tagged her a couple times on the face and arms. Since then, we’ve been more diligent about covering ourselves with spray.

Kailani found a great playmate who was also staying at the Eden Bungalows, 4 year old Elizabeth from Kent, UK. Elizabeth shared her floaty toys with Kai and the two played together in the pool a good half of our first day. We also enjoyed chatting with John and Theresa, Elizabeth’s parents, and John’s mom from New Zealand. We were also going to rent a scooter later in the day, but Kai played so much in the pool, she took a long nap. When she woke, it was raining sheets. After the rain, it was dinner time. For some reason, you really didn’t see anybody eating at any of these upscale places. Since that’s all we could really find, it’s a wonder where all these people you see on the streets are eating at. But, there was one place that we saw some people eating at, a supposed “California” style BBQ restaurant, The Shack, that played blues music. The bacon-wrapped asparagus, mango salmon and Sean’s rib/chicken combo were all good. But like everything else here, I could feel our wallet getting lighter.

The next day, we got a scooter and drove around the island. After almost getting run over by others who rented a car and tried to drive through narrow streets like the one where we were staying on, we decided against that. So, Sean drove our little pink scooter, with our “biker babe” Kai on his back in the carrier, and me behind the two of them. Of course, three people riding on a scooter, one being a two year old, would be unheard of in The States. But this was quite the norm here, not that it made it any less dangerous. Sometimes, you would see up to four people on one scooter and some kids smaller than Kai. Some even had a small seat for baby attached to the bike right in front of the regular seat. Sean was a good, careful driver and at the very least we all had helmets. Our first stop was right down the street, to see the Big Buddha. There, we already got a flat tire. And of course, it was at our expense to get it fixed. I’m sure the guy that rented us the bike just filled the flat tire up with more air right before he gave it to us. But, the cost of rental and repair was still less than getting a taxi. Next, we headed to Chaweng Beach, which is where I spent most of my time the last trip here. I knew there would be more development than 10 years ago, but there was way more than what I could have imagined, complete with Starbucks and a 24 hour Burger King. Of course, the road is now paved. I was surprised to even recognize a couple places still standing from 10 years ago, tucked behind all the development around. We stopped for some breakfast and Kailani instantly fell asleep. We have never seen her fall asleep like that in the morning. The only thing we can figure out is that it’s from the movement of the scooter and/or she went into complete overload with the excitement of the bike ride and the wind in her face. After eating, we ran into a family from Denmark that we met while in Chiang Mai - Rune, Tina and their two little girls. Small world! After a brief chat, we walked down to the white sand beach with crystal clear shallow water protected by an outside reef. It was beautiful, but way more crowded than our beach. Sean was a bit miffed by the staff at our bungalows upon check-in and I thought it was a bit pricey for what you got. So, we were also hoping to find somewhere else to stay at. But in the end, we ended-up deciding that we liked where we were at, especially because Kailani had such a nice play buddy there. Still, we decided to check out the Amari hotel, which was where I considered staying at, but the last minute internet rates were still a bit steep unlike in Chiang Mai and Ang Khang. By the time we found it, we were hot and Sean was ready for a beer. I ordered one and tried out one of their lounge chairs on the sand. Next thing I knew, Sean and Kailani left the beach and jumped in their pool. Their kid’s pool was the perfect depth for Kailani to practice her swimming, not too deep but not too shallow. She had a blast. So for the rest of the afternoon, we made ourselves at home on their lounge chairs, using their towels, in their pool and using their toilets, all for the price of a couple beers and lunch for Kai, rather than the cost of a room. Still, the food was not cheap. But, at least we compensated by buying lunch there, instead of completely freeloading and eating lunch from one of the makeshift BBQ guys that roam up and down the beach! From Chaweng, we hopped back on the bike to see the rest of the island. But by then, Kai was falling asleep again. So, we headed back to our bungalow for the rest of the day. That evening, we had another session in the pool before dinner. There we met Strick, who’s from…of all places….San Jose and works for Google in Mt. View. For dinner, we tried another upscale Thai place, Samui Spice. It was less than stellar but food was OK. But for the price, I much preferred Starfish.

Day 3, we took the scooter for a ride to the side of the island that we didn’t see the day before. Kai started to fall asleep again, so we took our first pit stop for lunch at a more “local” looking place near one of the ferry piers where I got some epic roasted duck curry. I still have yet to have bad Thai food since coming here! Then, we stopped at the bottom of a trail where you can hike 2 km up to some waterfalls. As we stopped, I realized that I did this hike last time, but didn’t know where I was going and only hiked 90% of the trail, stopping JUST below the waterfalls. It was nice to break new ground and actually SEE them this time! By the time you get all the way up there, you’re dripping wet with sweat. So, we stripped and cooled off in the water for a bit before going down and continuing around the rest of the island. Sean wanted to find this temple that had a mummified monk, complete with sunglasses and a cigarette hanging from his mouth. But unfortunately, we never found it. After stopping briefly for some supplies at the grocery store, we finally made it all the way around the island back to our bungalows. I believe it takes around 55 km to go all the way around. So, it’s not like it’s a big island. But, you also don’t go that fast on a scooter either. As we entered our village, the traffic had stopped. A local girl had wiped out on her scooter. She appeared alright as she was able to get up and walk. But, that was enough for Sean to see. He promptly returned our bike after that. We finally looked a little harder and found a reasonably-priced divey Thai place for a light dinner of spring rolls and noodles that night. Yea!

Day 4 was another “rest” day. We had another long morning session in the pool with Elizabeth. Kailani had such a great time playing with Elizabeth that she actually started to fall asleep in the pool while in the floaty. Guess it was time for a nap. Then, while Kai had her afternoon nap, Sean and I got busy planning out the next couple weeks. We needed to book our next stop to Ko Tao, but couldn’t do that until we decided whether we wanted to go to Kuala Lumpur, and if so, how much time we wanted to dedicate to see the rest of Malaysia. There is a Malay island near the Thai border that sounded very nice; especially because it’s in the Andaman Sea which I hear is beautiful in its own right. But, it would take some backtracking to get to, flying down to Kuala Lumpur, and then going back up by land. Unfortunately, we read that crossing the Thai border into Malaysia by land is quite unsafe. Our other option was to skip Malaysia and go directly to Singapore for a few days, and then spend the rest of our time in Indonesia/Bali before meeting Caitlin and “Tutu” (Caitlin’s grandmother) in Sydney. It was a toss up because I’d love to see Malaysia, but spending a good portion of time in Indo/Bali without having to move around so much sounded really nice too. During our research, I started reading about Phuket. My impression was that it would be too developed for my taste, even more than Ko Samui. Our friends from Denmark also commented that they cancelled their trip over there because the weather was not so great. But, depending on where we chose to go, we could have ended up there en route. As it turns out, there is one beach there that actually gets surf AND if there’s weather, the waves get better. It’s also situated in the Andaman Sea and you could fly there directly from Ko Samui. SOLD!!!! So in the end, we booked a boat ride and bungalow for a couple days in Ko Tao, one more night in Ko Samui, and then a flight to Phuket before heading to Singapore. (That’s unless we change our minds again…)

That night, we packed and then found another great place to eat. It was not too expensive or upscale, but more pleasant than a dive. It was called the Happy Elephant. I kept passing it up because it looked like all the other places. But, I think it’s been around for a while. There’s one part that you can see from the street that looks like a new addition (hence overlooking it) and a whole other side that looks like it’s older. They had a couple guys playing live music, little kittens wondering around looking for table scraps and a couple rocking wooden elephants that they put right next to our table for Kai to play on. They did a really nice whole steamed fish that you get to pick, simply seasoned with soy sauce and green onions, just like we make. But, they do theirs wrapped in a foil pouch on the BBQ. We had it with some sautéed veggies in oyster sauce and steamed rice. It was just like how we cook – YUM!

One last observation is how many farang families we saw walking around with nice strollers here. Personally, I didn’t think twice about not taking a stroller to a third world country like Thailand. But, I suppose my impression was that the roads were unpaved, and now they are. Still, they aren’t very smooth, there are no sidewalks and there can be many puddles after torrential rainfalls.

Doi Ang Khang

06.10.08: I don’t think I’ve seen Sean any more nervous than this part of our trip so far. We decided to go from Chiang Mai up north to Doi Ang Khang, about three hours away, up in the mountains near the Thailand and Myanmar border. We decided to rent a car and Sean’s never driven on the left side of the road before. In the end, he did great. It’s only one left turn from the hotel, up a paved highway/road for 75% of the way, and another slight left up the hill…..up a very STEEP hill that our gutless little rental car seemed to barely make it up. But, we made it! In the end, it was nice to have a car so we could take our own route and see what we wanted along the way.

Personally, I think this might be the best part of our trip so far. We are staying at the Ang Khang Nature Resort, which consists of little cottages that have a very cabin-in-the-mountain feel to them (complete with that musty smell…) I wasn’t sure how much it would cost. But again, I was able to score a pretty nice last-minute discount on their web site. (It is owned by the same parent company as the hotel in Chiang Mai, hence the same type of web deals. Actually, looking at this resort’s web site is how I found the other one.) In this area, apparently called Thailand’s “Little Switzerland”, the weather is very temperate, especially in contrast to Bangkok and even Chaing Mai. It’s somewhere in the 70’s. The elevation is 1,400-1920 meters (4620-6336 feet). Going up the hill, I saw pine trees growing amongst bamboo in the lush forest. The atmosphere here is utter peacefulness, almost a bit unnerving with rambunctious Kailani (sometimes lovingly called “Demolani” or “Crylani” when she’s having a breakdown). The resort is supposedly run by someone who is very ecologically-conscious and they serve organic food produced by the Royal Project Foundation (more below). We took a walk around the very large grounds in the evening. Cottages are spread out between the absolutely stunning gardens. We tried to point out to Kai as many indigenous as well as imported plants, flowers and fruit/nut trees as we could recognize. I believe all the imported plants probably came from the Royal Project (again, below). It’s low season right now and we were the only one’s staying at this fairly large resort. Regardless, we were blessed with fairly clear weather. It only rained for a few minutes our first and last days.

Besides visiting some of the hill tribes in the area where they produce local handicrafts, another attraction to Doi Ang Khang is the Royal Project Agricultural Research Station, adjacent to our resort. This is the very first station of the Royal Project, set up in 1969. The Royal Project is an effort, put forth by the King of Thailand, to help nomadic hill tribes in this northern region of Thailand. Research is carried out to find alternative crops for them to replace the previously cultivated opium poppy. This is not only to curb drug problems for both tribal members and the world, but to stop the slash-and-burn methods of opium cultivation that was destroying the forests and watershed areas. Hill tribe people are encouraged to farm in appropriate, permanent areas, keeping the forest and farming areas separate. This area had been previously deforested, and it is now covered with fertile forest again. The Research Station covers the introduction of temperate-zone fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers from other parts of the world. They now grow Western berries (strawberries, raspberries), grapes (and make wine too!), lettuce, artichokes, macadamia nuts, avocado, kiwi, etc. It even covers growing linen, livestock farming, fishery, capital costs and marketing, rehabilitation and conservation of natural resources as well as social, health, education and cultural aspects of the hill tribes. His Majesty’s guidelines were quoted as “Keep the procedure as short as possible, work as quick as possible, in the manner of attaching gold-leaf to the back of the Buddha. Don’t perform to show off, but to help those people to be self-reliant.” It seems like quite an impressive undertaking if you ask me!

What we expected when we walked into the Research Station was far less than what we found. The grounds were spectacular! We spent at least a good hour or more just on the first 10% of what there was, checking out the nursery/store (where they sell products made from the crops, like peppermint tea and macadamia nuts that we purchased) and the bonsai garden with exotic plants and a stunning rock garden. The Royal Garden next to the clubhouse and restaurant was pretty impressive too. Again, we enjoyed trying to recognize all the different crops and pointing it all out to Kailani. After a pretty good walk, we also visited the Baan Khum village (Thai Yai and Chinese Yunan descendents), next to the Research Station, and picked up some raisins and dried strawberries that I’m almost sure were grown by the Royal Project. Later that day, we also drove around, visited the Angkhang Pagoda and Nor lae Village (Palong descendents) which sits so close to the Myanmar-Thai border that the guard station is right at the end of the village. Along the way, there were a large group of kids of all ages walking down the road. I wish I could have taken a picture or video of their smiley, happy faces waving at us as we drove by. But, because I know some tribes in the area don’t believe in having their pictures taken, I was sensitive to taking pictures of anyone. We waved and said “sawasdee kha” to them. Some said it back to us while a few said “hello” or “hi” back to us instead. That mere interaction melted our hearts!

The next day, we took the scenic route out of Ang Khang, back to Chiang Mai, which takes you past a few other hill tribe villages. Because the route also straddles the Myanmar-Thai border, it also takes you past a couple more guard stations, which can be a bit unnerving when you get stopped. But, we passed with no issues. Between the mountainous forests are farming areas, which I’m sure some are receiving the benefits of the Royal Project. But, most was a plant that we didn’t recognize. We are still trying to figure out what that might be. Once out of the mountains, near Chiang Dao, we decided to visit one of the several elephant camps in the area. Recently, we purchase for Kailani a Babar the Elephant book and the movie, Horton Hears a Who. So, she gets excited over elephants right now. It was a bit worrisome to think that it might not be the most humane thing to support. I definitely did not want to see an “elephant show” for this reason. But, unsure how to gauge what good living conditions should be, we decided to at least pay them a visit. I try to think of it as no different than how Americans and other cultures have domesticated and stabled horses, except that elephants do more work in the forest. (Perhaps, wishful thinking!) We ended up at the Mae Taman Elephant Camp, mostly because it was the only one still open, and about to close right after we arrived. In the end, we decided to take a short ride on one of the elephants. It was a more thrilling ride than Sean and I expected. We expected the elephants to be large, but they are truly amazing when you are sitting on one. After the ride, one of the mahouts (elephant trainer) brought out a smaller elephant and let Sean and I take turns sitting on it bareback. Being able to get so close to the elephants like that is truly an experience that we won’t easily forget.

Chiang Mai

Those are oranges. Even though they are green in color, they're actually very sweet.


My birthday cake.

Just a picture of Kailani looking cute! :-)


06.07.08: I woke-up our last morning in Bangkok to a knock on the door. Delivered to me was a huge pancake, the size of the plate, with some fruit and a lit candle on it. It was a wonderful birthday surprise arranged by my dear husband the night before. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate my birthday than in Bangkok! After our last breakfast of winter melon soup and chicken and tomatillo green curry on the Bangkok streets, we headed to the airport for our flight to Chiang Mai. For once, it was on time. Although, they did change gates on us, so we were running back and forth a bit.

Arriving in Chiang Mai, you could sense a bit more peacefulness in the air. The weather is also slightly more temperate. Don’t get me wrong, it is still a city and there are still motorbikes, scooters, tuk tuks and cars buzzing around like a free-for-all. And, after being out for half a day, you are still dripping wet with sweat. But there was a little less buzz, dirt and congestion going on…just a little. At our hotel, I felt a little “bait and switched”, just like Hong Kong, because our hotel room didn’t look like the recently renovated ones as shown on the web site. But we did get an excellent last-minute deal, therefore able to stay at a class of hotel above what we normally would, so I can’t complain. With Kailani, having a pool at the hotel is a great commodity. They had a beautiful one lined with aqua-colored crackled glaze tiles (just like the dishes in my kitchen). Chiang Mai is approximately 700 years old. The Old City of Chiang Mai is surrounded by a moat and partially standing walls. The neighborhood where we were is just outside the city walls, but on a street of boutiques and cafes. We wondered around the first night for what seemed like a while, looking for a place for dinner, somewhat missing the street stalls of Bangkok that you could practically trip over. We couldn’t find this Thai place that we were looking for, so settled for a restaurant called West, owned by an Aussie where only Western food is sold. Of course, after, we found the Thai restaurant. It looked pretty cute, quaint with an old-fashioned feel, so we went in for dessert, fresh fruit and black sesame paste balls, mochi on the outside, served in a sweet syrup. I haven’t had those sesame balls since my mom served them for Chinese New Year.

Sunday, we started with a really good breakfast buffet at our hotel. We weren’t feeling the best, probably catching what Kailani caught in Bangkok. So later, we thought we’d fight whatever we had off by taking a tuk tuk to an organic juice joint/café that I read about in our guide book, Juicy4U. Unfortunately, it was closed on Sundays. So, we headed to the Sunday Walking Street where they close off the main drag and open food and craft stalls. I thought I got my shopping all done in Bangkok. But there was a much better quality of things to buy here, rather than the mass manufactured cheap clothing/stuff on Thanon Khao San. There are definitely some creative and artistic people here in Chiang Mai. There were also some great handicrafts from the local hill tribes. One of our favorites was very intricate the metal wall art pounded into three dimensional images. Unfortunately, most of it, I wouldn’t want to carry in my luggage another halfway around the world. So, besides getting a cotton skirt, we strolled, ate mango with sticky rice (my new favorite dessert), Kai got another bottle orange juice (freshly pressed right in front of us this time) and Sean got some fried chicken elbows….yes, I said elbows! We also got 60 Baht ($2 USD) foot massages. We were surprised how long this street went down. By the time we reached the other end, we were ready for more foot massages! Unfortunately, they didn’t offer any on that end of the street.

Monday, we took advantage of the breakfast and pool in the morning. Then, we made attempt #2 to get juice at Juicy4U. Luckily, they were open. :-) But, I was a little bummed to find out they were out of wheatgrass. :-( Still, it was nice to have fresh, organic juice like I used to make daily at home and chat with the owner who knows her thing about nutrition. (Kai must be getting really spoiled with what I would call “fake juice” because she wouldn’t have anything to do with it, and she used to drink it every day with me.) At first meeting, she right away invited me to go to yoga class with her. Little did she know how much I would have LOVED to go, but wasn’t dressed for it, nor would Sean or Kailani be prepared to let me go since we already had plans. Her boyfriend owns a yoga studio too. And, once she sells Juicy4U (it’s on the market), they plan on opening a larger place where they can offer classes and retreats. I’d love to go back there when that happens! From there, we headed to the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar. We picked up a couple pirated movies, Kung Fu Panda and the latest Indiana Jones one. We seem to have taken a liking to buying movies and CDs lately, I suppose because they are so readily available and cheap. We tried to look around the Night Bazaar more, but I guess we were finally shopped-out. There was some absolutely stunning, beautiful Lanna carved wood art there. But again, it wasn’t something I’d be carrying halfway across the world with me. We found pleasant Thai place for dinner on the way to the hotel and then headed back to pack up for a trip up north to Doi Ang Khang in the morning.

Bangkok Part 2

Making Pad Thai on the streets of Bangkok

Floating Market

06.04.08: Kailani woke up with a sniffly nose. I think it’s a cold and hope it’s not because she’s inhaled so much darn exhaust in this city! Needless to say, we’ve been taking it a bit slower the last couple days in Bangkok. Honestly, regardless if she was sick or not, we’d be fine without rushing to see all the sights this city has to offer. And, there ARE lots of sights to see. We’re still having fun just wondering around our neighborhood, mostly when we want to get something to eat. On the sidewalks, in front of the stores are stalls that sell food, clothes, souvenirs, etc. It feels like the city (or at least our area) is a big flea market. We’ve still try to sample all the different street foods. Most dishes are about 25-35 Baht (~$1USD) each. We FEASTED the other night, going to three different stalls where we got soup (simple pork spareribs and greens in broth that reminded me of what my mom used to make), curry (the guy called it mild, Sean considered it HOT), stir-fry noodles, jook (rice congee, one of my favorites) and a roasted lemongrass catfish on a stick. And, we only spent 105 Baht (~$3USD).

But we did do a couple noteworthy things. Something I didn’t get to do last time here was to experience why they call Bangkok “the Venice of the East”. So, we started Thursday by going on a canal boat/ferry. I wanted to make sure Sean and Kailani had their share of seeing Buddha, so we decided our destination would be Wat Traimit in Chinatown to see the Golden Buddha. I don’t see how you can pass up seeing a 3 meter tall, 5.5 ton solid gold Buddha. We followed with another swim session back at the hotel. The next day, we signed up for a tour that took us via bus then long tail boat to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. It was said that this is the oldest floating market. But really, it caters to tourists these days, selling mostly souvenirs. Still, it was fun and we got a couple new things for Kailani, one being a toy Tuk Tuk. After taking a HUGE nap, she started racing her toy Jeepney against the Tuk Tuk!

Unfortunately, I wish I would have time to do a couple more things: go to the Aw Taw Kaw Market, which sells organically grown fruits and vegetables; take the Sky Train, which wasn’t running last time I was here; or take a yoga class because I found that Absolute Yoga actually offers Anusara classes. But also, five days seems like enough time in such an intense city such as this. Hopefully, there will be a next time!

Other random notes/thoughts: So far in Thailand, I’ve only seen recycling containers today at the Floating Market - pretty much a disappointment. When we have used bottles/cans, we leave them in our hotel room. We HOPE they recycle. It’s a contrast from Hong Kong, where I refused to leave empty containers in the hotel for fear that they’d just throw it away. Most Hong Kong locals carry bags that are probably full of their prized purchases. Instead, I’d carry our recycling around in a bag. I shocked some old guy digging around in the garbage looking for used cans, when I gave him what I had in my bag. In the Philippines, although it was hard to find a garbage can, no less a recycling can, we did find “biodegradable” containers (for composting?) as well as a MRF (Materials Recovery Facility) on Boracay. Unfortunately, the facility is only really used for materials used by the resorts and not by the locals.

It was pleasant, but not too shocking to find biodiesel available in normal gas stations a couple times in Europe. I think we were actually in need of diesel and bought some once or twice. I didn’t expect to find any, but did see it available, also at normal gas stations, a couple times in the Philippines. Today, on the road on the way to the Floating Market, I did look to see if it’s available here. Unfortunately, the signs are all in Thai, so I can’t understand it at all…

Since arriving to Asia, I’ve been using calendula oil to ease itchy mosquito bites. Though it’s not really for that, it is supposed to ease inflammation, which hopefully would ease itching. It’s the only thing I had. While we were with Sean’s Aunty Vicky, we stayed in her guest room/home office. I found a book on her bookshelf. I believe it’s called Jerry Baker’s Garden Tonics. It said that if you rub a wet bar of soap on mosquito bites, they’ll go away faster and get rid of itching. It’s also supposed to work for bee stings to help pull out the stinger. So, I’ve been rubbing soap all over my bites since then. The best thing, we received a couple bars of all natural, botanical Waikoloa Bob’s Insect Repellent soap last Christmas. So now, it’s serving double duty. We rub ourselves with soap before going out to keep those pests from biting, plus ease the itching. It works great! I feel semi-normal again, not itching like a flea-bitten dog. J (OK, now that I just typed that, I went out and got all bit up! Not because it stopped working, but because I probably should have applied another, fresh layer.)

Bangkok

Us in the Tuk Tuk

One of the statues at Wat Phra Kaew

One of our favorite food stalls

06.02.08: After leaving Manila on Monday, we had a stop over in Hong Kong just long enough to walk to our connecting flight. Then, we arrived in Bangkok late in the evening and took a taxi directly to our hotel. It’s probably been around10 years since my last whirlwind trip to Thailand and they built a new airport. Even after going through Hong Kong’s, I do have to say it’s quite impressive. I read that, once up to full capacity (which I’m not sure if it is or not yet), it’ll be the largest in Asia. My first impression of Bangkok is that it’s really modernized since I’ve been here last! We were quite worried when the taxi driver looked perplexed as he read the map/address that I gave to him, printed out from the hotel’s web page. Especially because it was two blocks from Khao San Road, which is a big time farang (Westerner) backpacker’s hangout. Aren’t taxi drivers supposed to know where everything is?!? Luckily, I already got a new SIM card for my cell phone at the airport. So, I called Villa Cha Cha and he was able to find out where it was. He kept saying it must be a new place.

The next morning, we wondered around, found somewhere to eat breakfast, stocked up on supplies (water, diapers, etc) and jumped in the hotel’s pool. Villa Cha Cha has a very nicely decorated lobby/restaurant/pool area with lots of Thai and Indonesian decor. Besides think walls, the rooms aren’t half bad either. After reading our guide book, it seems to be a real deal for what you get. As mentioned, it’s a couple blocks from Khao San Rd., which really doesn’t excite me to hang out with a bunch of dreadlocked farangs listening to loud house music. Perhaps, 10 years ago. But back then, I didn’t go to there. But it really is SUCH a feast for the eyes, as well as taste buds, even just walking around the streets on our block. There are food stalls selling all different types of foods, some pre-made like spring rolls, potstickers and curry, and some made right in front of you like pad thai or noodle soups. I even found a stand that made fresh juice…and was excited to have a couple shots of wheatgrass! Of course, there are also lots to buy like cheap clothes, souvenirs, Thai-style decorations and artwork, pirated DVDs/CDs. I took advantage of the shopping and ended up with a couple pieces of cheap clothes (USD $3-6/piece) that, of course, didn’t really fit great when I went back to our hotel to try them on. Sean got a half hour outdoor massage (hand, arm, shoulder, neck and foot) for 120 Bhat (USD $4). It was fun, at least for the first day. I’m sure we won’t be hanging out that much as watching a “freak show” (especially at night) also gets old.

In the afternoon, we took our first tuk tuk ride. I guess a tuk tuk will now replace jeepneys and tricycles as a mode of transportation. They are DEFINITELY faster than a tricycle. I though they only have the equivalent of a scooter/Vespa motor. But when we asked the driver, he said it as a Dihatsu 500 CC engine running off GPL (propane). You could tell he had some tricked-out exhaust. I thought I was going to have blisters on my palms from holding onto the bars so tight. Kai was still in my back carrier and I didn’t want to squish her nor fall out.

We visited The Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, practically a city of temples within its walled grounds. I think there are around 200 buildings, and they are absolutely gorgeous! Basically, we were seeing Catholic cathedrals in Italy, and now Buddhist temples in Thailand. Although I could appreciate the intricate detail and work put into cathedrals, I love the style of the temples. Wat Phra Kaew is also where the Temple of the Emerald Buddha is, which is really made of jade, one huge chunk of it, not from emerald. A short walk next door, we visited Wat Pho where there is a giant, gold reclining Buddha. Almost too big for his building, the 46m long/15m high Buddha illustrates the passing of the Buddha into nirvana (death). I kind of wish that we hired a personal guide, at least for Wat Phra Kaew, but I was too cheap to get one. I found myself very interested in learning more about everything like who are all the different Buddha’s and what they represent, and would have loved to have someone there to explain and ask questions. Although, I’m sure we’ll get the chance to find one at another temple soon.

By mid afternoon, we were completely wet with sweat, especially because you need to dress in appropriate clothes (covered skin) for the temples. So, we jumped into another tuk tuk (easy enough to tell the driver to take us to Khao San Rd.) and went back in the pool. It’s been pretty nice to have a pool to “come home” to! Although still not popping her head above water, Kai’s really becoming comfortable in the water and can hold her breath for quite some time. Our little “surfer-in-the-making” is almost jumping in too fast for comfort and she can paddle her way from me to Sean, or vice versa, standing about 8 feet apart. I was getting tired just watching her swim back and forth without taking any breaks. Needless to say, we took her back out to the streets for some dinner afterwards. Quite honestly, there are so many street stalls around our neighborhood that I’m not sure if we’ll eat at another restaurant in Bangkok again!

Iloilo

This is Aunty Vicky's father, AKA Sean's grandfather. Do you see the resemblence?!?


"Please can we take one with us, pleeeease?!?!"

From left to right: Aunty Vicky, Sean, Kailani, Gloria, Uncle Esme and Kenneth (their driver)

Kailani eating cassava cake

06.01.08: Again I’m on an airplane, a Cathay Pacific 747-400 to Hong Kong to be exact. (Then, we transfer to a Bangkok-bound plane.) After pre-boarding at 11:40 am for a 1:30pm flight, we finally took off the ground about 1:15pm. We sat almost as long as it takes to get to there! I’m fairly impressed with the plane and service. It’s only roughly an hour and a half flight, and they ACTUALLY served us some sandwiches (with beer/wine!). Each seat has a TV screen, and the best part, each seat has an electrical plug outlet. Unfortunately, I found out later the outlet didn’t work, my battery halfway drained. Air New Zealand was also pretty nice. I used to like Lufthansa, but I notice the crew disappears quickly after take-off and doesn’t offer you anything anymore. Air Philippines is supposedly worse than Philippine Airlines. This was said as we saw Philippine Airline planes take off to Iloilo more than once as we sat there waiting for our Air Philippines plane, and the two are sister airlines. Asian Spirit had some really old planes. Kai’s seat cushion wouldn’t stay put. But, they did have a nice departure lounge in Caticlan. It had a beautiful lush garden and was like an oasis!

Anyway, we just got back from a couple days of visiting with Sean's Dad's sister, Aunty Vicky and her husband, Uncle Esmereldo Haro, who live in the town of Oton, 45 minutes from the provincial capital of Iloilo. Sean’s been kicking himself that he waited until our 2nd week in the Philippines to call her. We thought she lived further south in Mindinao, which has Muslim presence and can be a bit dangerous. Turns out she lives on the same island, Panay, that we landed on to get to Boracay. You land on the north part of the island to get to Boracay and Iloilo’s on the south side. So basically, we already flew there, went to Boracay, went back to Manila, then North to San Juan, and BACK down to Panay again. We’ve done a lot of backtracking here in the Philippines, to and from Manila, etc. I left the planning up to Sean, thought he had some big master plan, but I guess it didn’t happen that way.

Aunty Vicky and Uncle Esme moved here from WA state 3 years ago, and are STILL re-building their retirement house that’s Uncle’s family house. At least they are currently living in it though. Building a house in a 3rd world country is quite different than in the states. EVERYTHING has to be done by hand. There are no machines to do anything. But, I have to say that their house is coming along quite nice. They actually purchased the TREES for the rails for their stairways and then had the wood milled. There are some quite gorgeous touches to their house. We were definitely in Uncle’s home town. On Aunty and Uncle’s street is the Severino Haro bridge, named after one of Uncle’s relatives. On the next street is a small market named Haro. Uncle went to elementary school down the street from that. There’s a local town called Haro, the rich side of the family. There’s another town called Jaro, pronounced the same, the poor side of the family.

We were seriously treated like royalty and we only met Aunty and Uncle once for a few minutes, when they came down to see Sean's dad, after years of no communication with him. They fed us WAY too much, three very square meals, and there was much evidence on the scale in our Manila hotel room after our visit. Immediately upon our arrival, we were whisked away from the airport by their driver in their fairly new Nissan SUV to a seafood restaurant, complete with live entertainment. They also have two maids at the house that were more than willing to play with Kai and feed her when she wouldn’t eat for us. Having maids isn’t what you’d typically see in the states, but more common there. I suppose if I had 7 kids and retired, I wouldn’t mind having a couple maids to take care of a fairly large house either!

The next day, we took a drive a couple hours up the coast to the town of Conception. Before we left, I was reading our Rough Guide Philippines book about the area. It seems that either way you go up the coast, East or West, it said that there are very little or no services/accommodations for tourists. I believe it said about one area “be prepared to camp or sleep in the beach”. We drove through small towns, rice paddies and undeveloped landscaped. It was gorgeous, and we learned a lot about the way of life such as rice cultivation, etc. from Aunty. Outside of Conception, we had another big lunch. Kai again wouldn’t behave and eat, until I pointed out to her that we had cassava cake for dessert. The smile on her face in the picture that I took of her eating it is priceless! Then, we went into town. It was a very rural, remote town and there seems to be a lot of controversy over building coal burning electrical plants in the area. Sean and I were glad to see banners that pointed out the health hazards associated with them: asthma, lung cancer, etc. Aunty and Uncle planned for us to find somewhere to stay for the night. But, they had a hard time finding anywhere besides taking a ferry to a remote island resort. I was surprised that they even found a tourist office. I let them take the lead and Aunty Vicky came out with a place for us, but then asked Sean to go in and see about activities. It seemed like it took him long enough to plan an entire month of activities, so a warning light went off in my brain. By then, Kai was bouncing off the back seat walls, strung out from cassava cake. I went in there, and as I suspected, there was some elaborate plan for a full day of island hopping and snorkeling that they were trying to decide upon. Mind you, all we only planned for was a couple days of visiting with Aunty and Uncle, not some elaborate island holiday (which I was also afraid of who would pay for it). The clouds were also starting to loom over, so I bursted the “plan bubble” and we took off promptly back towards Aunty and Uncle’s house just before it started to rain.

The next day we were back at a mall. It really seems to be a social staple in a Filipino’s life. But, I needed another phone card and Sean wanted a shirt, so it worked out. Shopping was followed by lunch at a Chinese restaurant, where Sean and I goofed because we ordered a little something form the menu after Aunty already ordered enough for us. Later that afternoon, we went to Aunty and Uncle’s local resort/beach (just for day visitors, no accommodations) for a sunset swim in the pool. Later, we went back to the house for another feast for dinner. The maids don’t cook, but Uncle’s niece comes in to do it for them. The next day, we went to the Iloilo Museo for some more history about the town and local area. Unfortunately, there were mosquitoes galore, and Sean and I left the place feeling like we were feasted upon. We weren’t prepared with our trusty spray because it was daytime. I wonder how I’m going to fare with two more months in mosquito-land, seeing as my allergic reaction to bites leaves me itching like crazy. Just as I thought we just agreed that we all ate enough the past couple days, Aunty and Uncle took us out for one last lunch before our flight, at another niece’s seafood restaurant on the beach. It was called “our going away party”, a little something to bribe us to come back for their 50th wedding anniversary in 2010. I loved the beachside setting, the décor, they really took care of the fish tanks and loved what their sign said, “Better than fresh, live!” Just as I thought I couldn’t stuff anymore in my belly, we feasted on some grilled catfish (each one simply prepared on one skewer), lobster, crab, diniguan (blood pudding/chocolate meat, pork in pig’s blood), a traditional vegetable dish, lechon and whole young coconuts split open with a straw to sip it down. I’m sure I probably forgot some other dishes.

Overall, we've had a great 3 weeks here! The beaches in the Philippines have been gorgeous! I've also LOVED the landscape, especially the tropical foliage and rice paddies. As far as the rural towns and the city of Manila, it wouldn't exactly be for everyone. Not an easily accessible or picture-perfect vacation spot. There are definitely some dirty dusty areas. But if you have enough patience and courage for adventure, you can find some stunning scenery. Overall, it's been a good way to get used to undeveloped Asia, since there's more coming up for us. It's definitely a third world country, but they also embrace the American lifestyle. So in a way, it's foreign but familiar. Everyone speaks English. So at least it's easy to communicate. But, I can’t wait to be revisiting Bangkok and Thailand next!