Thailand Part 4 - Koh Chang

Koh Chang: Island Chillin, Jamaican Pool, and "The Motorbiking Incident"
Left the north to head for the islands on the east coast via plane, bus and ferry from Trat to Koh Chang (elephant island.) Trekked up the hillside late at night and found "Little Eden" - great low-cost bungalows, main cathedral-ceiling hang-out house, yummy food and nice English/Thai host couple. Beautiful windy roads for motorbiking, up and down gravel roads, to end of the path stream, and late night billiards at Jamaican bar we had all to ourselves. Explored windy roads and switchback by motorbike again, found the end of the road/stream south of our town by bike, while researching new place to stay overnight, I had my bike-wipe out (super girl-style - flying over the handlebars and grazing the whole front right side of my torso). I hit wet sand that grabbed my rear wheel while turning. Got to pour rubbing alcohol on the bleeding flesh on my arm and hands. Then doused myself/wound in salty ocean water at our new beach front resort. Can't stop listening to Colbie Caillet here on the laid-back beach, a mix of grown-up hippies and artsy, Door County-like craftspeople. Love it.

Koh Chang: Snorkeling, Fishing and Boating
Explored port city and docks with restaurants, shopping and see-through into the ocean tables. Got adorable flowered skirt for Eva on the docks, reminded of how ready I am to see her again! Rented our own carved wooden Thai fishing boat for the day, left in pouring rain to get to the pier (although minus a very sick Jed :(. ) After drying out in the sun, snorkeled in aqua-perfect waters on top of magical coral and striped exotic fish; then later in the day deep-sea fishing started, at about the same time my sea-sickness started. Meghan - of course - caught fish, & guys caught some too, and I spent several hours in framed middle of ship watching for the horizon before performing an impressive second-story vomit into the water. Freshly-caught grilled fish for supper on the boat, or Tums - whatever works.

Koh Chang: Memorable Last Days
Cards at night, pineapple smoothies, and big french doors wih geckos on the ceiling here at this resort. Enjoy our own little beach, porch swing, and conversations about going back to real life after a vacation. Talk about not being afraid - fearless - how to hang onto the space and rest of this vacation away. Enjoy amazing crab, mussels, prawns, scallops, and more at fresh fish house out on the dock - talk with fun waitress there. 4 of us went with Tim to get his bamboo tattoo at Yo's - one of the coolest nights for me by far. Seeing how my brother was so excited, present, and gracious while having ink jammed into his upper arm - and learning about the Thai phrase he chose to have done: it means "finish well," or if its hard you can do it, work hard and you will complete it. :) Very appropriate and powerful. Oh - and saw cute little street puppies all over - decided Megs should get one.  Last thing I experienced in Thailand was a traditional massage by this spry older woman who did amazing work on every muscle in my body. A-Ma-Zing. Then saw Peter get a shortened massage and somehow she was picking his entire body up on her knees using just the torque of her (80 lb) body leaning back on her heels. Unreal.

Home
Leaving Tim and Megs after spending two weeks together felt strange - but knowing they were heading to our country shortly definitely helped. We all were at various stages of being wiped out/not feeling great on the flights home (three flights, to be exact), but played cards in the airport, packed my trusty Mentos (to fight off travel sickness), and I finished reading several books that felt right at home in the east (The Monkey and the Fish - by Gibbons, and The Centered Life - by Fortin.) Journaled much of my way back home, while listening to Fearless and Imogen Heap on repeat most of the way home.  Felt very aware of how when you travel, you see your own life - your own normal - differently, and it's a gift. Also was very aware that while breaks from stress and routine are so necessary, they do not solve the stress or questions waiting for me. Ready to jump back in, tackle and see things for what they are, for who I am, and work at taking some lessons learned from Tim/Megs/Thai culture back into my 'normal.' Am freshly aware of what expectations and rules are in my life - want to look at those more closely now. Also need to research buying a motorbike and what kind of tattoo to get. Stat. :)   

Thailand Part 3 - Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai: Motorbiking Up the Mountain Day

Loved our time in Chiang Mai - felt like a relatively big city with cool blend of industry/culture surrounded by countryside. Rented motorbikes for the first time and LOVED the first day speeding around the 8-lane city loop, climbing the mountainside on switchbacks to Wat Doi Sep, then motoring to a series of waterfalls and finally taking my own morning spin (24 hours for a 100cc motorbike cost just 200 baht = $6.00!) The mountain-top Wat was amazing - many people worshipping here. Torrential rain storm forced another afternoon break and slower pace while descending the wet curvy roads.Could feel a noticeable temperature drop as we leaned into turns heading down the mountain through fresh green countryside... beautiful, even though my helmet was an aquarium! Got Eva and other kiddo gifts at this temple bazaar. Also biked outside the city and into the evening to the state park with 10 waterfalls and damp, slippery rock trails. Good, good day.  

Chaing Mai: Flight of the Gibbon & Cooking Class Day
Peter, Josh, Tim and Megs spent the day flying through the jungle canopy - 100 ft or so above the ground! Saw gibbons, heard 'feet up' all day, and got back exhausted after all the zip-lines! I discovered the beauty of skyping Eva from our guesthouse's garden breakfast terrace and sleeping in :). Jed and I met Kenny from Bethel for lunch - small world thanks to fb! That night Jed, Peter and I took our cooking class at Asia Scenic Thai Cooking school - who knew we could make curry and stir-fried dishes! Learned about a 'bomb in your mouth' from our funny teacher and heard about RSA current politics from classmates. Shopped legendary night market - started the beauty of bargaining.

Chiang Mai: Up on an Elephant Day & My Down Day

I purposely carved out a day of "not doing" for myself - the rest of the crew took another jungle trek, this time riding on elephants up and down muddy hillsides, taking a bamboo raft, and visiting a native hill tribe village. I enjoyed the bliss of doing nothing, thinking, writing, reading, and spending a loung-ie afternoon at 'Love at First Bite' cafe - misty fans blowing in the palm trees as American 60's musak played around me and Thai couples of all ages ate quiche and cheesecake. :)

Thailand Part 2 - Sukhothai Highlights

Sukhothai: Train Rides and At Home
I loved the long travel days on the train from Bangkok to Sukhothai, and then from Sukhothai farther north to Chiang Mai. Saw the view of big cities change to outlying slums, then grasslands change to fields, then on to hills and mountains with lush vines all over and a misty sunset. Caught up with people while chugging further and further north, learned to not eat the sweet rolls served (they had a surprise black-bean-something in the middle), and read "The Shack" and talked through it forever with Megs. Listened to Imogen's "First Train Home" song, appropriately, and realized I had gone several hours in a row without thinking about Eva, for the first time on the trip. :)

We also found an amazing guesthouse, rightly named 'At Home' - and settled into teak-studded rooms with screens and shutters over big open windows, then had amazing dinners downstairs in Swiss Family Robinson-like open air family room. Singha, cards, Dreamgirls on the big screen TV, and my first taste of Massaman curry... what a place!

Sukhothai: Biking the Ruins
Had a GREAT day in the old capital of Thailand/Siam that is now home to vast acres of temple ruins and remaining statuesque buddhas. Took turns taking pictures of amazing sights - and taking pictures of each other taking pictures. :) Started being able to interact a little more with the local population, saw other people visiting the ruins from all over Asia, admiring families who gathered to worship and give offerings. Laughed at - I mean helped - Meghan when her tire on our already-low old bikes blew out.

Thailand Part I - Bangkok

In honor of Tim and Megs being back home, and since the time is already flying by... I wanted to make sure to capture some of my own mental highlights from our fab trip to Thailand last month. I know I can't remember all the details about our adventure, but between notes we took, photos, my ipod playlist and lingering impressions, I feel like I can hold on to some of the highlights from each stage of the journey. The following posts are just a few photos/experiences/songs that summed up the our trip for me, done in segments. This first post starts off with the first leg of our two-week trip:

Bangkok: Arrival
Arrived at 1 am, got off the plane on the tarmack while listening to "I Gotta Feeling" and grinning, then took crazy cab ride straight to Ko Sahn Road. "Angels" from West Wing soundtrack was playing as we 'descended' into the main streets of Bangkok and got off the highway - so appropriate. Reminded me of Burnout Revenge East Coast driving map...in some ways. :)  Learned to throw toilet paper in the garbage can and shower with everything else outside the bathroom door. Learned that one is capable of sweating even more than previously thought was possible. (Above photo is of our crew together our first night on the town in Bangkok: L-R is Tim, Jed, Peter, Liz, Josh, and Meghan - which includes two sets of siblings, two best friends, two serious camera geekheads, two married couples, five Minnesotans at heart, one Iowan for now, one Michigander, and two Chicagoans!)

Bangkok: Daytime
Saw the familiar stomping grounds for Tim and Meghan's weekends; ate at 'their' breakfast place. Whirlwind day seeing the Grand Palace/related museums/few big Wats downtown, then sitting & talking during an afternoon rainstorm about life and our futures and relationships and expectations and... life. Got street vendor Pad Thai, our first bucket, and shopped along the side streets with Megs. Bargained for fisherman pants before hitting "The Club" and soaking up the air-conditioned internet cafe that charged 1 baht per minute (roughly $2.00 an hour.)

Bangkok: Departure
Packed up for our train ride north to Sukhothai. Had real coffee in upstairs of train station while watching crazy Thai sitcom. Ran back and forth finding right train but had super helpful attendants help us out. Leaving Bangkok I realized I was feeling kind of sad - about the three year olds I had seen running around everywhere at 1:00am, the street people covering the corners just down the block from the clubs, and the fairly visible sex-trade industry that defines the party side of Bangkok. Beautiful country so far - but also complicated.        

   

HOO-RAY!!

After almost seven months of being in Thailand, my brother and sis-in-law (aka, two of my favorite people on the planet), returned to the States last week. :) While we did see them just last month on our trip over there, having them back in Chicago where they could hang out at our place, play Zuma on our couch, cuddle with our girl, and just enjoy some everyday life together again was precious time indeed. Above are Tim and Megs looking way too rested and tan for just getting off their marathon flight home.

Above is Eva excitedly waiting for them at the airport!

We had a great time with them in town, and I am convinced that Eva remembered them - she had a lot of fun with her 'Unca Poop' and 'May-guh' - we all thought we heard her refer to them that way. :)  

Even though they won't be in town again for a little while, or live up the street (or up one flight of stairs) from us anymore, just knowing they are back on US soil, with access to someone's cell phone that we can call them on, makes us all a little happier here in our household. :) Hoo-ray!

Stateside!

We got back into town Wednesday after a full two weeks of traveling. Whew! It was great and so much fun and full of so many different experiences... and we are still unpacking, cleaning, finding our "normal life" stuff around the house, and getting our sleeping clocks back in order!


My favorite phrase from Eva since our return home has been, "Momma home! Momma home!", closely followed by her newest expression of excitement, "Oh my!" (pronounced 'oh maui.') She did splendidly with the Mosbo grandparents while we were away and transitioned back home really well (so far), which of course helps us transition too. It was great to have a break from parenting and all the daily 'normal life' stresses, and I have to say it's also great to return to our normal life and to our little girl who is growing and changing and expressing herself more every day. I like that balance - enjoy time away, and enjoy the returning.


We have SO MANY great photos from our time in Thailand, and so many great stories! It has been fun to share some tidbits of our travels with others, but it is hard to sum up all we did - and it is surprising that it already seems so far away and long ago. We were lucky to have Tim and Megs show us all over and plan out our itinerary; looking back, it balanced out into a fantastic tour of seeing the country's various regions, doing touristy and every-day Thai stuff, and having a great balance of both fun and down time with our crew of friends, too.


I hope to get more pictures and stories online from our travels soon, but for now, the three of us are all getting used to life back in Chi-town. I feel very lucky that we got to celebrate ten years of marriage, having awesome siblings/siblings-in-law, and having great friends this way - yeah for "Toyland!"

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

We're off to Thailand for TWO WHOLE WEEKS tomorrow morning... and it feels surreal! I already miss our little girl more then I thought I would, and got teary-eyed making a little calendar for her that shows the days we'll be gone and ends with a picture of us holding her. Sigh.

I also cannot WAIT to see my brother and sister in law in just 24 hours, and have them show us around their world over there. We have such a fun group of people we will be traveling with, and I think it will be a perfect mix of adventure, relaxing, seeing sites and chilling on the beach - it all sounds so great... once we get going and on the plane all the running around the past week or so will fade away.

Here is the cute girl we are leaving behind (with loving grandparents!)

Below is a great recent video of Eva dancing and giggling with me. ( I also have a stellar clip of Eva reading with daddy, but it's not loading properly tonight... I'll try another time.) This clip is for her - and us - to have online while we are out galavanting around Thailand! I know Eva will have a fantastic time with her grandparents in MN, probably learning new skills, words, and songs every day - but I know I will miss her and will now have to work to remember how to be without her. She's at the age where she is a total information sponge and so fun to watch learn; my parents have planned so many activities for her visit that I wonder if she'll even notice we're gone? :) How blessed we are to have people who love our daughter so much and help keep her safe and supported while we are gone - and we are also grateful for the financial ways my parents also helped make this trip possible. Big thanks grammie and gramps! And thanks Tim and Megs for being our in-country guides! As Eva would say, "wow!" What an adventure we get to embark on! :) See you in two weeks.