Hello Thai Islands

Thong Nai Pan Noi - it doesn't get much better than this!



Chumporn at 3am - waiting for the ferry...

It really is absolutely beautiful here. Spectacular scenery, great weather, and very relaxing. Thank goodness after the journey to get here. A 15 hour marathon. One phrase that the kids will probably never want to hear again: "It's all part of the adventure"! This generally means that you're in some horrible situation - such as sleeping at a ferry terminal at 3am or suffering from extreme seasickness on a rickety old ferry whilst fearing for your life!!

Notes for further Thai adventures: take the train or preferably fly. Cheap, cheap, cheap air travel in Thailand (notably Nok Air and Air Asia). Also a high speed catamaran is way better than the ferry - the kids would agree with this! We had a very, very rough ride over to Koh Phangan from the mainland. Luckily it is like paradise here and the kids don't hate us any more...

Island life has taken hold of us. We've found ourselves wasting hours staring out at the beautiful sea. Getting to the internet cafe to post a blog has taken us 3 days (it's only a 5 minute walk into town from our little bungalow by the beach)!

The highlight of the trip for the kids by far has been the 'elephant trekking' through the jungle (even better than the fish pedicures)! From what we understand the elephants were rescued from Bangkok, and seem to be living a very peaceful existance here.



Ella's Thai Elephant Massage



Ella: It was a long trip on the boat, and I thought that the boat would be good and maybe only 5% of the people would make it through without throwing up. It turns out that the boat was completely horrible and 95% of the people threw up. By the time that we got off, everyone was feeling seasick! But as soon as I saw the beach at our hotel I immediately felt better. The beach has pure white sand, clear turquoise water and is surrounded by mountains, the jungle and 2 lovely bays. Thank goodness the trip was worth it. Over the last few days we've played at the beach for at least 5 hours each day, and spent some time exploring the town. The town feels a lot like Mexico. The absolute best part of the trip so far is the elephant trekking. It was so cool. We got to ride on the elephants neck. I loved the elephants because they are big, gentle giants - with really rough and bristly skin! Have you ever had a Thai elephant massage? I have! Love Ella!



Riding high - elephant trunk style!



Lily: The bus and ferry were not that good. The ferry made me feel so sick! As soon as I got off I started to feel better. We have met some really nice people here. Some of their names are Jasmine and Soh. The island is really nice, especially the water. It's not cold or hot, it's just right! Although I have been pinched twice by a crab. It doesn't really hurt that much. The thing that I love about the salt water is that I can float really easily on my back. It's lots of fun. Last night I saw some fire dancers. It looked like they would get burned but they didn't because they moved the fire so quickly. I got to ride on an elephant's neck. The elephant picked me up with its trunk and also gave me a massage with its trunk. I wasn't scared at all, except when we went really close to the edge of the cliff and I though that we might fall off as the elephant reached out it's trunk for food. After our ride we fed bananas to them. They like them pretty green! love lilyxxx

Jumping for joy!

Isaac: It was pretty rough getting here. The reason I say that is because we had the worst seasickness ever! The boat we went in didn't seem to be too sea worthy, although we made it anyway. The horrible boat ride was worth it beacuse now we are relaxing on our own little beach. Thong Nai Pan Noi (North Eastern Kohn Phanang) is amazing. It has everything from great restaurants to really nice beaches. We have seen lots of little tropical fish swimming around in the water. I have spent hours snorkelling around the rocks to search for fish and crabs. The highlight of my trip has been elephant trekking. We got to ride on the elephants neck. We also got to feed them. They love bananas, and grab them out of your hand with their trunk. One of the elephants picked me up with it's trunk. I was excited and a little nervous when it did that. Loving the food here. The fresh seafood is amazing. We can watch the fishing boats catching our dinner from our beach. Bye for now - Isaac.



Aaron says hello to you all...



We love reading your comments. The blog is a great way to stay in touch with everyone so please keep commenting...We're off to Burma in a couple of days from now (if we don't miss our flight). Not sure that we'll have a chance to post from there. If not we'll post an update on our way through Bangkok en route to Vietnam!

Happy travellers!

Goodbye Bangkok (for now)...

Well our time in Bangkok has come to an end we've had an amazing time. It's very hot and humid... There was a massive storm yesterday afternoon with monsoon rains and the loudest thunder we've ever heard.

The kids are having the time of their lives: cooking classes, soap making classes, etching classes and playing with the resident bunny rabbits! A little sanity in the madness of Bangkok. Outside the B&B we've seen buddhas and temples galore, been on crazy tuk tuk rides, boated through the Bankok canals and yesterday the kids had 'fish pedicures' where little fish nibble the dead skin off your feet. Gross!!!

For anyone heading to Bangkok here are a few tips:
1. Get Nancy Chandler's Map of Bangkok (thanks Rob and Leisha for this tip). Great map.
2. Use the river taxis as much as possible. Only 15 baht - and this gets you out of the crazy traffic.
3. Take a canal tour - great way to see how people live.
4. Eat food from the street vendors. We have every day with no repurcussions!
5. Long pants and shoulder coverings are a must for the temples!
6. Don't trust tuk tuk drivers when they offer 'cheap' tours. Agree on price before you go anywhere.

We're heading down to Southern Thailand tonight. Overnight bus trip then 2 ferries to the island of Koh Phangan. Looking forward to some beach time.

Lily: I really liked Bangkok. I bet it's going to be my favourite place, but I don't know. We went to a night market, rode on lots of ferries, and went to climb a big tall temple. I even had a try at Thai boxing. Inside of one big temple called Wat Po there was a big gold buddha laying down. I wasn't even as tall as one foot! In the temple our shoulders and knees had to be covered. We also went in 3 tuk tuks and one of them was a crazy driver. He went around cars really fast in the wrong direction. Mommy was very scared! Daddy's tuk tuk driver had to go to the police station because he got caught going the wrong way up a one way street because he was trying to avoid a traffic jam. Our hotel has a sandpit, a swing, a massage room, an activity room and a rooftop patio with 17 bunnies. I got to go in their cage and feed them. I also got to help fix an injured bunny. Everyday we did some cool stuff, like make soap, make stamps and do a cooking class. We made pasta from scratch. It tasted like the yummiest thing I've ever had. The staff here are really nice. I spent a lot of time with them. Their names were a little different like Sai, Fon and Bow. They treated us like family. I'm sad that we have to leave but we'll hopefully come back again soon.

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Ella: Bangkok is probably going to be my favorite of all the cities. It was so cool how the buddhas were so humungous. The temples were so big and one of the ones that we climbed was probably 1,000 times taller than me. We climbed up some stone stairs that were as steep as the ladder we use to hang the Mexican Flag on the cabin. It was scary and if you looked down your tummy would feel weird!! The favourite thing that I did was a fish pedicure at a market and it tickled so much when they went in between your toes and on the bottom of your feet. Afterwards my feet felt so smooth it was amazing. The food at our hotel was really yummy. I loved it. I ate pancakes and salad for breakfast. I can't even say how delicious the smoothies were. I loved riding on the tuk tuks (it's kind of like a car with only 3 wheels, no walls, 1 seat at the front and 5 people can jam into the back row - which is designed for 3 people). We had the craziest tuk tuk driver that nearly hit 3 people, 2 cars, 1 bus and another tuk tuk. Mama looked as though she was going to have a heart attack!! Krap Kun Ka Bangkok! This means 'Thank you Bangkok'.

Isaac: I really loved Bangkok. It had everything! Our hotel was amazing - it's not like anything I've ever stayed in before. On the outside it looked very rickety, but inside it was a very nice place to stay. The staff were very helpful and easy going. They taught us how to cook some different types of food, how to do etching (I made my own stamp to keep) and how to make soap. Bangkok is less modern than Guangzhou but I think I liked it more. I loved that when we went to the river there were millions of fish, and we could feed them bread, and they went crazy trying to get it. The best thing that I did in Bangkok was the fish pedicure. This is where you put your feet in some water full of sucker fish and they eat all of your dead skin - it felt really ticklish, but my feet felt really good at the end. I loved eating the Pad Thai from  the street vendors. If anyone is coming to Bangkok I would recommend staying at Phranakorn Nornlen. It has lots of transportation close by (ferry, tuk tuk etc). The staff are amazing and the food is delicious.

Paradise in Bangkok

Our arrival in Bangkok was a shock to everyone. Though Guangzhou was packed, it had an order about it. Bangkok knows only chaos. That is until you step into Phranakorn Nornlen phranakorn-nornlen.com This is like returning to the '50's. It's hard to describe but when you're inside you can believe that Bangkok is gone.

Dining at the guest house

Lily falling to the river lights above her

When the kids saw the entrance to the guest house, down a dingy Bangkok alley they were sure that we had gone crazy. I think I agreed with them for a while until we went through the gates. This is the ultimate don't judge a book by it's cover experience. Since they have been inside they have had their best meals of the trip, best smoothie of their lives, pineapple juice to die for topped off with bedrooms that have been hand painted with murals.

Isaac and Ella looking at the fish

Ella has decided that it's not likely that we'll find better accomodation during the rest of the trip.

Guangzhou, China

First I should apologize for the tardiness of this installment of our blog. Though I have been known to have some powers of persuasion in the past, it seems that I could not convince the Chinese government to allow us access to a blog website. In fact even googling the word "blog" was not possible. As it was, this was the only thing that reminded us that we were in a communist country. Without encountering this restriction you would never know.

Now about our time in Guangzhou...

Canton Tower

My expectations of this city were that it would be, as Michael says, "all chicken's feet and cheap electronics" mixed with an incredible mass of people. It should be noted that GZ is approximately 13 million people. When we first arrived we were greeted with the most modern train system I have ever seen and had we understood where we were staying a little better, we could have gone from the airport to about a block from our hotel. Once we got off the train, one stop short, we found ourselves amongst the largest most modern buildings I have ever seen. Oddly there were no people though. We ultimately found a lady that understood a couple of words of English - enough to realize that we were lost- and she kindly walked us to within a block of our hotel. Shockingly it was hard to find, located as it was, on the 13th floor of an unnamed apartment building. Had it not been for her we would still be wandering arond GZ looking for a place to stay.

Shopping Underground at a Metro Station

Over the following few days we found that though GZ is very modern and unpopulated in the new area (you cannot imagine the scope of the housing projects that are going on now - think of literally fencing off Mission and tearing everything down and starting over) the older part is an amazing collection of sales districts that are packed with people shopping and eating. We visited a 25000 square meter electronics market that was one of many dozens in the area. Other markets we saw included a jade market, a lighting market and a shoe market all of which were multiple square city blocks composed of tiny merchants located in a maze of shops shouting and clapping to attract your attention.

Isaac playing hacky-sac in People's Park

While visiting all of these places it was instantly clear that GZ is not a tourist destination. Over the 5 days we only saw about 10 other caucasions and a couple of africans. Quite often the kids would cause a traffic jam of people simply hoping to see them. They were asked many times to be photographed as well. This was all done in a very polite way though and without exception people were very kind to the kids. They had ladies in a noodle shop teach them how to use chopsticks, men in a park play badminton and hacky-sac with them and Ella and Lily were even given inpromtu traditional dancing lessons by a lady who was dancing in a park. On the topic of children we found that there is great sadness caused by the 1 child policy and many older people would ask us if all 3 kids were ours. When we said yes it was all smiles clapping and thumbs up. Though it was clear that they were upset by the situaton imposed on them , they were genuinely happy for us and there never seemed to be a hint of jealousy.

Sports Stadium on Pearl River

Overall we had a great start to our trip and GZ certainly exceeded our expectations. The modern buildings were were mindblowing, the people were at times verging on Figian nice and the older parts were a delightful mass of humanity. If you ever visit I would highly recommend visiting the People's Park on the weekend. This is a mini Central Park that has Chinese opera in place of rap artists and people practicing Ti Chi in place of break dancing. There are all sorts of people doing all sorts of things that you have likely never seen.

Kid's thoughts on Guangzhou:

Ella dancng in People's Park

Ella - "I loved it there. The people were so friendly. It was amazing at night when all of the buildings were lit up with colorful lights. It was so warm every day, even when we had monsoon rains. My favorite part of our visit to Guangzhou was the 'People's Park' where I danced with a lady, played badminton, listened to music, watched tai chi and played hackisack with a badminton birdie hackisack. I didn't like the food there very much - it was very spicy!!!"

Lily the Wimp!

 Lily - "I love Guangzhou. It was so hot there. The people were so nice but they stared at us because we looked different. Someone even touched my hair! My favorite part was when we got to go into the rainbow tower (Canton Tower). We went on the 'bubble tram', I was scared and hunched on the ground in a ball. After a while, when I wasn't such a wimp, I looked down over the edge. We were so high that the clouds were passing below us."

View from 'Bubble Tram' on top of Canton Tower

Departure

A sad day for everyone! Although Ella managed to hold it together...