Category: Uncategorized

March 23, 2019

We had wanted to visit one last temple before we flew home to California. I know what you’re thinking, ANOTHER TEMPLE?

Well, we decided that we wanted to get a little more rest and didn’t want to navigate the subway system. We decided to go for a walk – and attempt to find the #1 dumpling restaurant in Beijing. We still couldn’t find it, but decided we would just get food at the airport instead.

It was nice to walk around and see some of the local neighborhoods.

Joe and Lorraine had wanted to get to the airport a little early – and they invited us to join them in the Air China lounge. (We would have said yes even if the lounge wasn’t involved). On the shuttle we met two other girls who had traveled with Affordable World. Their trip took them to Japan and ended in China – they loved Japan. It’s still on my list – I am hoping that I might be able to score tickets for the 2020 summer Olympics. (But if not – Japan isn’t super high on our list).

Journey made sure we got checked in – luggage dropped – and took a few pictures of us.

Then we made it to the Air China lounge – which was amazing. There was free food and drinks. Plus, we were so excited to run into another couple that stayed their whole trip in Thailand. They told us that our group was missed – but they had a great time. (Naturally, they didn’t freeze their rumps off in Beijing).

The flight back was pretty anticlimactic, except for the woman sitting next to me who had the worst breath and was a mouth breather who had a tendency to sigh deeply frequently.

Our luggage made it – and we made it home without a hitch. We were able to drive to Stockton to meet our friends Audie and Vicki who watched our boys. It was nice to be home – but there is so much laundry to do!

March 22, 2019

Writing this on my couch – on a sunny day in California, while thinking back to the cold, wind, and all of the stairs is a funny juxtaposition to our day at the Great Wall.

The big item on our to-do list today was to see the Great Wall. For those of you who have asked what we will tackle since we completed all 50 states – we are chasing the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

They are:

Great Wall of China (Check!)

Christ the Redeemer Statue (Rio de Janeiro)

Machu Picchu (Peru)

Chichen Itza (Check!)

Roman Colosseum (Rome – September 2019)

Taj Mahal (India)

Petra (Jordan)

We’ve completed two – and we will see the Colosseum this September when we go to Italy. (Yay!) Naturally, when coming down from a trip I can’t help but start planning future trips. I’m not sure which one we will see after Rome – but more to come with that!

Back to our time at the Great Wall. It’s a quick trip from Beijing – and there are many airport shuttles that will take you directly out there. (So if you have a long connection, don’t rule it out! Another couple in our group that stayed in Thailand made the trip in the morning before they flew out in the afternoon with us).

Construction of the Great Wall began in 200 B.C. And was not finished until 1640. WOW! Only small sections have been renovated for tourists – and many sections are considered “wild.” Journey showed us pictures of the portions that hadn’t been fixed up – and the bricks were broken and the walls had fallen down. This section was beautiful – and truly gives you a small grasp on how long the wall truly is.

It was windy. And cold. But beautiful and absolutely AMAZING!

How thick the wall is.A view from the South Side – you are able to see the entrance area below.

A view of the North Wall.

We had two hours to walk around – we walked a short distance on the North Side and then walked a little further on the South Side because Journey advised us that the South Side was less crowded. We would have walked further if it hadn’t been so windy, but we both could feel wind burn on our faces. (And let’s be honest, I was freezing).

Andy had made the joke about walking the whole wall – but in case you don’t know your history, it’s about 4,000 miles long and the longest man-made structure.

They also called this the longest cemetery on earth – so many people died while building it. It was built to protect the Chinese from invaders from the north.

We did some light shopping after the Great Wall – and had a traditional Chinese lunch. (While included French fries – and I wanted to NOT eat them… but I was really missing potatoes). After lunch we made our way to the Sacred Way to the Ming Tombs. We didn’t visit any of the Tombs – but the Sacred Way is a roadway created in 1435. The roadway is surrounded by animals and different officers and ministers. There are 13 Ming tombs in this complex – ranging from 1368-1644. The belief was that the Emperor would return to heaven through this roadway – and he needed everything in heaven that he had on earth, meaning all of the animals and people.

After the Sacred Way – we had happy hour with Joe and Lorraine. We attempted to find the #1 dumpling restaurant in Beijing (which we thought was just on the other side of our hotel), but it was much further away. We attempted two restaurants in the vicinity – and ended up finding another in the hotel next to our’s. The food was cheap – the wine was not. But it was a great last night on our trip.

March 21, 2019

I’m writing from our apartment in California, we’ve just returned this afternoon from our trip. I knew that some social media was banned in China, but didn’t anticipate some of the difficulties with trying to keep everyone up to date with our trip.

With that being said, I’m writing about Thursday, March 21st. Our first full day in Beijing.

We met Journey – our China tour guide at 10:00 AM and started our tour of Beijing with none other than the 2008 Olympic Park! I was really excited to see this area because I love the Olympics (very high up on my bucket list – particularly the summer Olympics).

The weather was a complete adjustment from both California and Thailand – it was very cold and windy. Thankfully we had packed layers, but we were lacking hats and mittens. (I’ve gotten soft since moving away from MN).

We were able to see the Bird’s Nest stadium and the Water Cube – they had also repositioned the torch that they had used during the 2008 Summer Olympics. All of it was very cool to see. I could almost imagine how lively the city was during the Olympic Games. Journey also informed us that the Water Cube was going to be renamed as the “Ice Cube” in 2022 when China hosts the Winter Olympics. She thought that curling would take place in that center.

After that we got back in the bus and took off for Qianmen Street – this traditionally had been a market in ancient times. (Now it is famous for tourists – imagine Pier 39 in San Francisco). There is even a trolley that takes tourists down the center of it. This street and area date back around 600 years. Some of the shops and restaurants are hundreds of years old. Peking Duck Restaurant being one of them – and a shoe store that dated back over 200 years – to name a few.

The Central Axis of Beijing is 7.8 kilometers long starting in the south of the city from the Yongding Gate, running across the Zhengyang Gate, Tian’anmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Jingshan Hill, and ending with the Drum Tower and Bell Tower in the north. Most of the important buildings – are centered around this axis.

(The central part is the actual axis line – also where the trolleys go back and forth).

This portion of Beijing is the largest imperial capital city still standing

We didn’t do any shopping while we were there – we did browse through the shops. This is where we ran into a mother and her young son – she wanted to take a picture of me with her son. Journey had told us that a lot of people visiting Beijing were from the countryside and they had never seen Westerners. She also said that they would be interested in my hair and eye color. We did witness this a few times – and I’m not sure how many times were photographed/filmed without knowing. Naturally, I obliged – it made me feel like I was a celebrity of sorts.

We kept walking towards Tian’anmen Square – this is along the central axis. In 1989 there were protests in the square – Martial Law was enacted during this time. The death toll has never formally been released – but it is estimated that hundreds if not thousands of students/civilians had been killed during these protests. Say what you will about the stated of the USA, but we thankfully do have the right to peacefully assemble.

Even as we were walking with Journey we would see a few people to stop to listen to what she was saying – whether or not it was harmless, she told us to not asking any political questions while we were in this portion of the city. (Lorraine thought the man may have been regarding, but again – we don’t know for sure).

We then started walking towards the Forbidden City – the first structure we saw was the Meridian Gate which was built in the 1400s. The Forbidden City complex was famed for having 9,999 buildings – it was a large complex and we walked a TON! The complex is broken into the outer court – and the inner court. Journey told us to think about the outer court as the Empreror’s Office – and the inner court as his house. The inner court was where the emperor lived with the empress and his concubines.

(This map should give a better idea of how large the complex is – all of the portions in gray are NOT open to the public).

We didn’t see very many of the buildings when considering how many there were at the complex, but many of them were not opened to the public.

We were able to walk through the Meridian Gate, Gate of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Central Harmony, and the Hall of Preserving Harmony. In the inner court, we were able to see Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Hall of Union, and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. Additionally, we were able to see a courtyard where the concubine palaces would be as well.

Just outside of the Forbidden City – the man in the picture is Mao Zedong, who had made the announcement that China would become the People’s Republic of China, and named himself the head of the State.

The Chinese believe that the earth is square and heaven is round. That’s why you see the square/round door- the center door is the door that the emperor would go through.Inside the gate – looking back. Walking up to the Gate of Supreme Harmony – this was the one that had been repainted in time for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Closer view of the Gate of Supreme Harmony – still in the outer court.

It was amazing to see these structures that were built in the 1400s, and what they did to protect them. (Large vats to hold water in case fire broke out – and during the winter they lit fires beneath them to ensure the water didn’t freeze over). Some of the gates had been refurbished in time for the 2008 Olympics, but even those who hadn’t been touched up still had beautiful painting on them.

This marble was all one sheet – this is part of the reason why it took 10 years to get the materials needed for the Forbidden City.

Inside one of the buildings.

When it was decided that the Forbidden City would be built it took 14 years to complete – the first 10 years was spent gathering the supplies and only 4 years to complete the construction and detailing, etc. Crazy, right?!

After we completed our long walk we ended up meeting with Joe and Lorraine and had happy hour in the hotel lobby. After happy hour, we ventured to the 21st floor and had Cantonese food.

Logistics:

Olympic Park

Qianmen Street

Tian’anmen Square

Forbidden City

The Great Wall Hotel – Beijing

Tomorrow:

The Great Wall

Sacred Way

March 20, 2019

We knew when we woke up that it was going to be a heavy travel day – so we woke up early and decided to get breakfast. One thing we avoided for most of the trip was a breakfast crowd because we were up so early most days. This day in particular, we were shocked with how large the crowd was. And I don’t just mean how many people there were at breakfast.

I can safely say that I thought Americans took the title for “heavy weight,” but there were definitely quite a few European countries that made Americans look small at breakfast.

Immediately after breakfast I wanted to say goodbye to the Gulf of Thailand. Yui had warned the group that parasailing wasn’t safe in Thailand. However, when we were on the beach we could see easily 30 different companies parasailing in the Gulf. (Be safe everyone! I think they weren’t safe because they were all clustered in the same area).

Went for a quick swim and then headed back to the hotel. Andy had desperately wanted another Thai massage. We didn’t want to travel far, so we decided to check out the massage parlor in the hotel.

If our last Thai massage was sketchy – this one was also sketchy. They had bed sheets hanging up between the massage tables – but because we had just come from the beach I didn’t care too much. We were just happy that we both could get massages at the same time.

Yui took the rest of the group snorkeling – so we had said goodbye to her the night before. There were eight of us on the bus – and Yui’s colleague, Alice was taking us to the Bangkok airport. Two women were heading to Cambodia next, and the rest of would head back to China for a few days there.

We were thankful that Joe and Lorraine were on this leg of the trip with us, and two other girls were going to the Great Wall with us.

We took off around 5:00 PM from Bangkok – and it was about a 5 hour flight to Beijing. We landed well before our designated arrival time – which we were grateful for. However, a visa is required for travel in China. Unless, you stay for less than 144 hours, but you still needed a dedicated form for that. Affordable World made sure that we knew that on our itinerary so once we got off the plane we got in line.

This line took forever. There was a couple who didn’t have their travel itinerary – and another man who was having issues. And there were two other individuals who didn’t cause too many problems, but still took up time. This had me very nervous because our shuttle would only wait for 90 minutes after we landed. (Granted – we had landed so early, so I wasn’t sure if the clock started ticking from when we landed or our original arrival time). Once we got our sticker from this agent, we still had to go through the customs line. And pick up our luggage – and the Beijing airport is MASSIVE.

Thankfully, the rest went off without a hitch. Our suitcases were waiting for us on the baggage carousel. Once we made it out of that area we saw Joe and Lorraine waving us over. Of course they wouldn’t leave without us!

That was when we were introduced to our new tour guide, Journey. She was very kind. She got us on in our shuttle – and to our hotel.

We were grateful when she said that we wouldn’t meet until 10:00 AM the next day – since the other two girls got in so much later than us. (For some reason they were on a separate flight – and landed around 1:00 AM). The hotel is very nice, The Great Wall Hotel in Beijing is a Sheraton Hotel.

Logistics:

1. Left Long Beach Garden Hotel & Spa (Pattaya)
2. Arrive at The Great Wall Hotel – Beijing

March 19, 2019

Today we departed for Pattaya, which is a city along the Gulf of Thailand. Our drive today would take roughly 4 hours, including stops to get to our next hotel.

We knew there wasn’t too much on the agenda for today. We stopped to have lunch near our hotel and then we headed to the Gem Factory. This was something I had been looking forward to because I love collecting rings while I am traveling.

We stopped at Gem Gallery Pattaya – the World’s Biggest Jewelry Store. I haven’t actually looked this up, but I can assure you the store was rather large.

It actually had a ride! It reminded me a little bit of Disneyland – some others in our group made the joke that it reminded them of “It’s a Small World,” but anyone who spends anytime at Disneyland could tell you that it was more like Snow White because you were in a car vs. a boat…. And come on! The Seven Dwarves are mining for gems! (I think my joke was lost on some of them, ha!)

The ride took you through a journey explaining how gems are made, mined, and created. I didn’t really learn anything new – and I can safely safe that it was outdated (imagine early 1990s) and was at a child’s learning level. As soon as we got off the ride we were greeted by about 12 salespeople just waiting for us to complete the ride. One gal immediately came up to me and asked me what my birthstone was – and I told her sapphire. I realized later that she was only guiding me to sapphires because of this. However, even with our 30% discount the jewelry prices still cost what I imagine they would cost in the USA. Most of us didn’t bother purchasing anything.

Regardless, it was still very neat to see such a large store. As soon as we left the jewelry store we were able to check in. The nice thing about traveling with a tour group is that everything is ready when you get there. I mean, we walked in and Yui was already getting the keys for our rooms. (The lobby was full of other people who were waiting to check in on their own).

Andy and I immediately went to our room – changed into our swim suits and went straight to the beach. Since it was the afternoon, some of the people who had been out there since the morning had already gone in for lunch or maybe a nap so some chairs were available.

I got my favorite drink that I love to get when traveling – a coconut with rum in it. Yum! We sat on the beach for a bit and then went in to the Gulf.

It was so warm! I just love being near a body of water that has such warm water that you can dive into. We hung out there for a bit and then went back to our room to freshen up for dinner and the Cabaret show.

Quite a few people from the group went to this event – and we were all able to have dinner together. It was primarily a seafood place, but I opted for a salad and pasta instead. (The fish looked questionable and others reported back that it wasn’t that good). We still had a good time.

We got to the theatre where the Cabaret show was playing – and got there just as it was starting. Something you need to know about this show is that it is kid friendly, and all of the performers are men – dressed as women. Or as Yui likes to call them – Lady Boys. 100% of them!

And wow, were they beautiful! Their outfits were amazing – the stages were beautiful.

We had a great time! And that concluded our last full day in Thailand!

March 18, 2019

We had another early morning – but at this point they are starting to blend together. We had to drive from the countryside, where the Elephant World Sanctuary was, back into the city – Ayutthaya.

We drove past so many rice fields – and we actually had a quick pit stop to see Mickey Mouse. Yes, you read that correctly.

And when I say Mickey Mouse – I actually mean a food stand where they were barbecuing rats. Yes, RATS. Yui informed us that sometimes they even grill snakes, but there were none on display when we walked up to the stand. I don’t think that anyone purchased any, but this is something that the Thai people eat. Yui told us not to worry – that these were “clean” rats because they were only out in the field and not eating street trash.

We took a few pictures, but quickly got back onto the bus. We made another stop along the way to get gas – and I have to be honest, these “truck stops” put American ones to shame. There are so many street vendors cooking anything that you could imagine – and all of it is cheap. We purchased these cute little dessert cupcakes and we received about 8 of them for around a dollar.

We drove on for another hour or so and arrived at a mall. The reason we stopped at the mall was because the food court is massive, it’s cheap, and there is a lot of variety. We each loaded 100 baht (roughly $3) onto a card – we both tried pad Thai, got drinks, and had ice cream. And we still got 30 baht back!

After lunch, we left to go to the Kings’ summer palace. The Bang Pa-In Palace was very cool, except it was extremely hot and humid. The sweat was pouring off of us. Lorraine and a few others rented a golf cart and she graciously loaned me her sun umbrella. I think I would have passed out from heat stroke if I didn’t have it.

This palace reminded me very much of some of the castles and palaces we visited last September in London and Edinburgh. The architecture had a mix of Asia and European influences scattered across the property. They had their own guard – I didn’t see the changing of the guard so I can’t say that it was similar to the castles in London. Very, very cool.

Yui took us through part of the property, but then we were allowed to explore the grounds on our own. There was a small memorial for one of the queens who had passed away when her ship had sank on the way to the palace. It was very sweet.

Then we headed to some of the ancient ruins of Wat Yai Chaimongkol – and this is when things got REALLY hot. Half of the group didn’t go on the full tour, but there was a small group of us that climbed this staircase to a temple. It was absolutely beautiful and had a great view of the rest of the property. Each of the sites that we visited did not truly give us a real perspective on how large this ancient city was. They were spread out and very vast. There were stupas sprinkled across the city.

Surprise, surprise – there was also another reclining Buddha! This one was not as large as the one that we saw in Bangkok, but still big. It’s said that if you make a wish and put a coin on its foot and it sticks, your wish will come true. I found the most secure looking spot on his foot and made a wish. It stuck!

After that, everyone split off. Andy was really hot and wanted to be in air conditioning- but I had seen a few things when I was quickly trying to catch up to the group so I went back to look at those. The Ubosatha Hall had another large golden Buddha, and there were quite a few people worshipping in this temple.

We went to one more temple after this – and I know what you’re thinking… Yes! We went to a lot of temples while we were in Thailand. Wat Mahathat this was one of the sites that I was most looking forward to. At this point, there were probably about 8 of us that decided that we would take the 45 minute tour across the grounds – and try to not die of heat exhaustion.

I was very grateful for a gift that I had received for Christmas, from my boss, Tasha – she had given me a fan that I will likely use for camping that you can wear around your neck and it can help “cool” you off. It was more like a hair dryer – just blowing out hot air. But it did at least move the air.

This area had been ransacked after the Burmese had taken the city. The Buddhas were all broken – there were two sections of broken parts that were near the entrance. Throughout the grounds you could see the galleries were the Buddhas used to be – and they were attempting to reconstruct them. (You can see in some of my other pictures the galleries where there are just rows and rows of Buddha statues, which can give you an idea of why there are so many broken parts).

One of the more famous scenes at this location is a tree that continued to grow – and wrapped up in its roots is a Buddha head – facing outward. It really is a beautiful, but sad sight. They estimate that this Buddha head was from the 1600s.

At a certain point out of desperation, I noticed that there were sprinklers on to water the grass. I attempted to get sprayed by these to try to cool off. I was only somewhat successful in this quest.

On the way out, I found a blue telephone booth. Similar to the red ones that you see in London!

When we booked this trip we didn’t say no to any of the optional tours – they were all reasonably priced. So we opted in to do a night tour of the city by tuk tuk.

We went to the sunset temple – we got there a little too early. (The sun was still pretty high). But it was beautiful. There were only 5 of us – including Yui.

After a few pictures Yui said the tuk tuk driver was willing to take us to another temple. (Yes, another one).

Wat Phu Khao Thong – was a monument dedicated to one of the things. We climbed to the top of the stairs – and it was a beautiful view. It really looked a little bit like heaven – the monument was white and the sky was a beautiful color. The king that the monument was dedicated to loved cock fighting. I’m not too keen on that idea, but I do love eating chicken. So I felt right at home at this temple – since I’m practically a pollo-tarian.

Our last temple was Wat Chaiwatthanatam – which is supposed to be the most beautiful when considering the architecture. I think we enjoyed this one the most because it was finally starting to cool off – and we had entered the golden hour. It was absolutely breathtaking, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.

We hopped back in our tuk tuk and went to the night market. We picked up more sticky rice and then headed to the restaurant.

The waitress at the restaurant seemed to know Yui very well. She made sure we were well taken care of. We got to try a lot of traditional Thai food – but because I get weird about bones, legs, etc. I stuck to the soup, chicken dishes, and rice. I was still plenty full – and then they brought out the sticky rice for dessert along with fresh fruit. Yum!

We had a great night – and now tomorrow we are off to Pattaya.

Logistics:

Bang Pa-In Palace

Wat Yai Chaimongkol

Wat Mahathat

Sunset Temple (Wat Phra Ngarm)

Wat Phu Khao Thong

Wat Chaiwatthanaram

Night market

Saithong River Restaurant

Tuk Tuk ride

Stayed at the Krungsi River Hotel

Tomorrow:

Drive to Pattaya

Gem Factory Store

Cabaret show – and seafood dinner

March 17, 2019

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I woke up knowing that today was going to be a great day – because today was the day that we got to meet the elephants! I’ve always really loved elephants – I think that they are just so majestic and smart. I was looking forward to this part of our trip the most, and it did not disappoint.

However, we didn’t start the day there – so I’ll start at the beginning.

We had an early morning – we had to be on the road by 7:00 AM. The funny thing about this trip is that we are always running late, which drives me crazy. Thankfully, it isn’t the same people each time. But I really want people to get it together, considering they are inconveniencing everyone.

The Elephant World Sanctuary that we were heading to was out in the countryside, which is why we had to leave early in the day. We stopped along the way at a War Cemetery. What I didn’t know, prior to this trip was that Thailand had wanted to stay out of WWII, but Japan wanted to build a railway through Burma/Thailand to create an easier supply train. They used Prisoners of War and Thai civilians to build this railway. Many people died – about 15,000 Prisoners of War died as a result – and over 100,000 civilians. A lot of the bodies were buried at the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. The American bodies were brought home – but the bodies from other countries were still in this site.

We hopped back on the bus and we drove to the bridge over the Kwai River. This was bridge was part of the project that took the lives of so many – that were buried at the War Cemetery that we had just stopped at.

View from the bridge.

I’m going to briefly get up on my soapbox. This is a WWII Memorial – and people were treating this location like a photo shoot. It was appalling to me. I don’t know if there was a language barrier – or maybe they weren’t part of a group and they just randomly stopped. But it was really disappointing to see how many of them didn’t carry a somber tone at all. Lives were lost.

With that being said, I’ll hop off of my soap box. And I’ll tell you how we experienced “survival of the fittest” on this very same bridge. Yui had told our group that you can walk across the bridge, but just to be careful. She also warned us that if a train comes you need to get behind the red line (which also happened to be super faded – for the record!). We could see a train in the train station – yes, this train station was still in operation. The train honked a few times – and all of us from our group immediately went to parts of the bridge that were safe – and out of the way.

I cannot even begin to tell you how many tourists stood in the middle of those train tracks taking selfies. REALLY? By all means, if the train is coming and you just really need that selfie on a bridge that is known as the “Death Railway,” go ahead. Unfortunately, the train couldn’t leave the station until everyone was off the tracks. It was worse than herding cats. One group would finally get the idea, and then another group would run down the middle.

No one was hurt. #endrant You can see a few of the dumb girls looking at the train and trying to decide if they should walk out on the bridge. The only original part of the bridge is the curved part – the Allied forces bombed the bridge – and you can see where the Thai people began to rebuild (square portion).

It was time for the elephants. We arrived at Elephant World Sanctuary and it was amazing. We had a quick orientation from one of the workers – and then we had lunch. After lunch they brought baskets of fruit to us – and we were able to feed two mothers and their babies. One of them was nicknamed “Naughty Boy,” but don’t worry – I’ll get back to that. It was a lot of fun – and those elephants can eat a LOT. We were feeding them sugar cane, pineapples, and bananas. Some people in our group were nervous – but I was just too excited. Besides, I love pineapple and bananas and you gotta give the elephants what they want!

The babies had a tendency of dropping their fruit on the ground and coming back and picking it up. I think they wanted to keep their options open. Andy saw that Naughty Boy had dropped a piece of sugar cane on the ground. I was standing behind Andy getting ready to take a picture of him – when Andy bent down to pick up the sugarcane. Naughty Boy thinks that Andy is trying to steal it – before I know it Naughty Boy swings and thwacks Andy across the chest. He got punched by a baby elephant!

Naturally, the doting wife that I am handled it with grace. I broke into laughter and was extremely disappointed that I hadn’t been filming the entire thing.

Our host from Elephants World.

Elephant World is a conservation organization – dedicated to protecting and taking care of elephants. You do not ride the elephants. Anyone who goes there is working for the elephant. You feed them. You cut the grass for their dessert. You bathe them. And have a great time. They do a great job teaching you about elephants, and it’s a great organization. They also protect water buffalos, cows, dogs, and chickens. The staff was amazing – they were all friendly and very helpful. They were eager to tell you about the different elephants. Their organization has 24 elephants currently. If you’re interested in learning more, please visit: https://www.elephantsworld.org You will not be disappointed.

My favorite part was getting to help bathe the elephants. I was walking in the water and one of the elephants took one look at me, dunked her trunk, and came back up and sprayed me in the face. I have to admit, I don’t think I deserved that – but I loved how playful she was.

Me helping bathe the other baby elephant, she was far less naughty than the little boy.

One of the workers saw this interaction, and took her trunk and dunked it again. He was going to aim it at me and shoot me again – and I kept saying, “No, no, no!” And the elephant ended up spraying someone else.

These large creatures just loved being scrubbed. It was so cute – they will roll on

their sides when you hit an itchy spot. They really enjoyed it – and so did all of us.

After our time with the elephants we checked in to our hotel – and finally were able to hit the pool. They had a nice swim up bar area – and we got to spend some time with a few other people on our trip.

Logistics:

1. Kancdhanaburi War Cemetery

1. Bridge over the River Kwai

1. Elephants World Sanctuary

Tomorrow:

1. Bang Pa In – Summer Palace

1. Ancient Temple

Saturday, March 16, 2019

Floating Market

We had an early morning wake up call after our massage on Friday night. This is going to sound weird – sorry Mom – but our massage therapist came to our hotel room. This tends to be pretty standard in Bangkok. (At least that’s what we were told!)

Instead of you traveling to the massage therapist – they travel to you. We met her in the lobby, and Andy went first. I had no idea what to expect with a Thai massage, but it was amazing. I’m hoping that I can find someone who does them back in the USA.

(Attaching a cartoon version I found online – the only difference between this cartoon and me… is my face was contorted in pain/relief. I think that’s why they left her face blank!)

We had to be on the bus by 7:00 AM – I think having such a strict schedule has helped us adjust to the time difference. I really haven’t felt much jet lag, which was something that I was concerned about.

We got on the bus and started heading to the first floating market in Thailand. I had briefly read a little bit about the market, but didn’t know much about it until we got there. The formal name of the market is – Damnoen Saduak.

We stopped at a pier and boarded another rickety long-tail boat that would take us to the floating market. It was very important that there was balance in the boat, otherwise it would lean more on one side. Despite this warning, our boat ended up being unbalanced.

(Those men on the end are taking pictures of the group in the boat and trying to sell them to you. I didn’t want to purchase the picture, but I can tell you this much – Andy’s face was priceless).

The boat was a lot of fun – and it was great to get to see the canal and how the Thai people live.

We were directly in front of our driver – he either didn’t care that I took a selfie with him – or he just didn’t notice. You can be the judge of that.

I knew I had two missions I needed to accomplish while we were there. I needed to try mango sticky rice and coconut ice cream. Yui gave us directions and told us to head to the bridge and look down – and we should be able to spot a vendor selling it.

Before we even got to the bridge we saw that there were quite a few police officers, and then we noticed a man lying on the ground. This has been something that I always pay attention to when traveling – crossing roads and truly watching traffic. The area we were in was not a very populated one. The floating market is not in Bangkok – it probably took us 2 hours to get there – but this man was definitely hurt. We hope he’s okay.

Once we were able to cross the road, we parted from the crowd. The best way to describe the floating market is that it’s a flea market, but with a canal – and boats in the middle.

Very cool.

Here are some pictures of the mango sticky rice and the coconut ice cream. Both were exceptional.

The vendors are very forceful, and I tired of them trying to get me to buy things. I’m terrible at bartering, which is likely the reason I didn’t want to be there anymore. When I had found a bench to sit at – a woman came up trying to sell my citronella lotion, tiger balm, and something else. When I say trying to sell – I mean, she had pulled out a small amount and started rubbing it on my sweaty temples. I thought she would stop there – but instead she took more of a different balm and rubbed it all over my right arm. I needed to get out of there!

We had lunch at a local restaurant after the market. It was traditional Thai food, and most of it was pretty good. Although, they fried an entire fish and somehow when it was placed on the table it kept looking at me. (Thankfully they had chicken and lots of veggies/fruit to provide nourishment).

At this point we started the drive back to the hotel – it seemed like it went by a little quicker, but I think it may have been because I took a cat nap on the bus.

We had about an hour before we would go to another Thai restaurant and watch a traditional Thai dance show.

The restaurant was called, Calypso Thai Restaurant. The show itself was good and we were only with Yui and one other couple.

We had a good time – and got to experience a night market after the show had ended. We got back to the hotel and needed to start packing up – tomorrow is another early morning!

Logistics:

Floating Market – Damnoen Saduak

Asiatique Riverfront Night Market

Calypso Thai Restaurant

Tomorrow:

Leave Bangkok

River Kwai – Death Railway from World War II

War Cemetery

Elephant World Sanctuary (!!!!)

Friday, March 15, 2019

After our quick cat nap, I woke up caffeine deprived but ready to take on Thailand. We had to be on the bus at 9:00 AM – and this is where I really shine. Despite the lack of sleep, I refuse to be late. I made Andy set two alarms – because I didn’t want to miss a single moment.

The breakfast is complimentary at our hotel – and it puts USA hotels free breakfast to shame. I naturally gorged myself on fresh fruit (no pineapple this time – looking at you Mark), but had some amazing watermelon, mango, cantaloupe, and I dabbled with dragonfruit. (YUM!)

We met the full group in the lobby – there should have been 18 of us, but one duo didn’t show up. (Still not sure why – maybe they overslept?) The rest of the group was really great – and it seems like everyone will get along pretty well.

Our first stop was this temple that has a giant Buddha made out of solid gold. (Wat Traimit houses the world’s largest massive gold seated Buddha measuring nearly five metres in height and weighing five and a half tons). Bangkok has roughly 400 temples in total.

Andy will post pictures of this later so you can understand how large it truly is. One thing that I researched quite a bit before we left on our trip was the attire for temples was very strict. Men and women needed to cover their knees (sometimes all the way down to their ankles depending on the temple) and had to cover their shoulders. This can really stifle someone’s wardrobe choices – and considering it was forecasted to be a balmy 95 degrees I had picked out a few temple outfits.

You were also expected to take off your shoes at each temple, your hat, and sunglasses as well. A little gross from a foot fungus standpoint, but we knew what we were getting into.

The temples were very cool – and even though I don’t know much about Buddhism it was very interesting to experience. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

After leaving the first temple, we went over the the Temple of the Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho). I will be the first to admit, the United States has really ruined us globally. Our tour guide was telling us it was so many meters high and 46 meters long – and I was thinking – cool story, right? Uhm no, it was MASSIVE. So big you couldn’t capture it all in one photograph.

(You can see how massive this reclining Buddha is. He was photobombing our selfie).

I think that part was the most pleasing – just caught us by surprise. Everything is so meticulously crafted in these temples – mosaic tiles – gold – different gems and stones. Just wonderful.

And so many Buddhas. And these are not the Buddhas we are used to – these aren’t a jovial fat man – they are lean. They have four different types: sitting, standing, walking, and reclined. And we saw some of each type.

Yui had mentioned that Affordable World (the company we are traveling with) has massage therapists on staff, and that we could get a better deal through them if we wanted get a massage. I had heard from many people who had gone to Thailand before who said their only regret was NOT getting a massage each day. So yeah, I’m game. We would each get an hour long massage for $17 a person – and that number included the tip.

The large group had lunch together – and then there were eight of us that opted in for the optional tour, which took us to the Grand Palace and on a river tour.

The Grand Palace was packed – but very beautiful. This is also where the Emerald Buddha is housed – this temple is the most important and sacred in Thailand. It’s thought to have been made in the 15th century and was the cause of several wars before ending up for good in Bangkok in 1782. Photography is not allowed – and I can assure you, the Emerald Buddha is much smaller than the Reclining Buddha – you can’t just about miss it!

We were all a little warm at this point – and tired of getting mowed over by other tour groups. We sought reprieve in the AC on our tour bus. We got dropped off at the pier and got a few minutes to relax.

The boat tour was fun – we got on this rickety looking boat – the Thai people’s version of docking a boat is not a very safe one in my eyes. Andy hopped on first – and I took one look at the set up and realized that there was a strong likelihood I would end up in the water. With a little help we all safely boarded. The boat took us down a canal – and there is a spot where the Thai people (And of course hundreds of tourists each year) throw bread over the side of the boat for good luck. Feeding the fish is considered good luck. These fish come out of no where when they see that the boat has stopped.

I was throwing small chunks in – and Andy was taking pictures of the whole spectacle. Youi told me that for an extra blessing I should throw in the whole bun – I figured she meant that they would splash me, but hey! Why not try it? I did – and they went into a frenzy. They were all trying to eat it at once, but were unable to get it from the others. I took her lead and threw one whole bun in – and this time I got my extra “blessing” from the fish.

The rest of the boat ride got a little bit more bumpy – and because Andy and I had gotten seats towards the front of the boat we got plenty of extra “blessings” from hitting wave after wave. We were good sports about it. At this point, our feet were really starting to hurt from all of the walking and we were relieved that this was the rest of the tour for today.

At this point we got dropped back off at our hotel – when we looked at the time we realized we really only had an hour before our massage. We had heard from another girl in the group that she had gone to a mall/place with a bunch of restaurants called Terminal 21. I had misunderstood and thought it was a 10 minute walk, I’m glad we asked the concierge because it turned out that it was a bus or train ride away. That seriously limited our options. We were running out of time – so we ended up just eating at a Thai restaurant on the property. It was next to the pool and we were the only ones sitting outside.

It’s massage time. Can’t wait! Maybe I will get a massage each day I’m in Thailand!

Logistics:

Golden Buddha (Wat Trimtir)

Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho)

Grand Palace

Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew)

Boat tour (Drove past Temple of Dawn – Wat Arun)

Tomorrow:

Floating Market

Thai Dinner + Traditional Dance Show

Early morning hours of Friday, March 15, 2019

Today technically started while we were still at the Bangkok airport. We arrived just before midnight, but by the time we made it through customs and picked up our luggage it was closer to 1:00 AM before we actually got on our bus.

There were 8 of us that got picked up at the airport at that time, however we learned from our tour guide, Yui that there were two other groups that had flown in earlier in the day. (Lucky dogs!)

Despite the time of day, it still took about 30 minutes to get to our hotel. The airport is just that far away from our hotel.

I knew that the couple we had met on the plane, Lorraine and Joe, were going to be fast friends – to a certain extent they remind me of our friends, Jon and Yvonne. They are definitely worldly individuals – and the two really balance each other out.

Joe is the planner – Lorraine complained that her version of a holiday is sitting by the beach or the pool – relaxing and having a nice dinner. Joe’s version of a holiday is similar to mine – he wants to see and do EVERYTHING. He had signed up for all of the optional excursions. See, I told you I knew I was going to like them!

We got to the hotel and it was very nice. Because it was almost 2:00 AM – they were ready for us. They had the cards ready and a bell boy ready to take our luggage up.

Andy wasn’t feeling well – probably the long flight and lack of sleep – so he wanted to go to bed right away. I on the other hand was wired. I reread the itinerary – this one had more details – and started to unpack some of the items that I would need for Friday.

I finally got to bed closer to 2:30AM – with a 7:20 AM wake up call. Morning would come too soon – but I was too excited to sleep. (Brings me back to the night before the first day of school – too many thoughts running through my mind!)

Wednesday, March 13, 2019 – Thursday, March 14, 2019

Due to the amount of travel that I do for work – I almost always try to just squeak in to the airport with as little time as possible before my flight. However, I don’t normally play around with international flights. Andy and I arrived at SFO with plenty of time before our 2:50PM flight.

Well, we were very wrong. We did not have enough time. As soon as we got out of our Lyft we immediately saw the long winding line for Air China’s kiosks. NO!

This was not a good sign. We get into line and wait our turn.

At this point about 30-40 minutes have been eaten up just waiting. Once we get to the counter it takes another 5-7 minutes to complete the check in process. It turns out that Air China does not honor TSA Pre-Check because that is an American program. (We thought they would at least honor it in SFO!)

This is not looking good – I still hadn’t put up my out of office for work!

We round the bend to see an extremely long line waiting to get through TSA.

I’m counting down all of the luxuries I had been counting on during what I thought would have been an extra hour and a half to dilly dally at the airport.

My out of office was not set up (my Type A personality was cringing), no bathroom break, no fancy lunch, and no champagne! After all, this was our actual anniversary day!

I can tell you a few things about traveling with me:

1. I need frequent bathroom breaks – and I drink a lot of water. I needed that bathroom break. (First stop).
2. I need food. I hadn’t much before taking off for the airport – we found some fancy kiosk and dropped about $31 for cold food… no champagne! But at least we got a cupcake!
3. We had barely gotten to the gate with our bagel, wrap, chips, and the cupcake when they were already calling our boarding group. (I won’t complain too much – I had been considering if our flight was delayed we would miss our connection to Thailand). While standing in line, I quickly put up my Out of Office message so the world could keep spinning without me!

Air China is a very nice airliner. The plane was huge and had a large selection of movies – I watched: Ralph Breaks the Internet, A Star is Born, Beauty and the Beast (with Emma Watson), and started Gone Girl. (If you’re doing the math I only briefly took a nap.)

We had a window seat on our flight from San Francisco to Beijing. We had some cool views – we flew over Alaska, Russia, and China. We saw a lot of snow capped mountains – and what we think was arctic tundra.

Once we landed in Beijing we quickly made it through the additional screening checkpoint – in other countries where we’ve had connections we’ve had to pick up our luggage and bring it through customs. We were very grateful that we were able to just head directly to our gate.

Similar to the rest of our travel – we made it with a few minutes to spare. This time around we were shuttled over to our plane and boarded from outdoors.

We met a wonderful couple on that flight – it turned out they were in our tour group. They are very much what I like to call “global citizens.” They currently live in California, but were originally from Europe. They still have family members spread across the globe. They get to travel a lot – and we got to talking about all of the places that we want to go.

Her husband was from Italy originally – and gave us very good advice for our upcoming Italy trip. Can’t wait to do more research on the city they told us about – and even advice for our second trip to Italy. (Because you can’t do it all in one trip!)

It’s always fun being able to open up a map and look at the globe. I want to see it all!

For now, I will have to be okay with Thailand and China on this trip.

The cupcake that we got to celebrate our five year anniversary!

Logistics:

• Air China (Flight)
• Centara Grand at Central Plaza (Bangkok)
• Affordable World (Bangkok)