Preparing for Vegas

While away on my adventure in Thailand, my husband was awarded a 3 day trip to Vegas in December. Skpe is a beautiful communication medium and as I sat in an Internet cafe in Ao Nang, he shared his news. Somehow I remembered that friends were running a 1/2 marathon in Vegas that same weekend. Next thing you know we are booked to run too. I think after my adventures trekking through the jungle I thought I could do anything.LOL

My training scheduled suddenly got boosted from running a 1/2 in April to running 3weeks after returning from Thailand. And you know I was training in Thailand. NOT. Well, hopefully the hiking, biking and kayaking helped a little or a lot!

Since returning home we are runnong 10 km a day, topping of with 17km yesterday. Yes my longest run ever, completed in 2 hours 12 minutes. Today I rest, and a small run Tuesday and Wednesday. THursday I pack and we are off. Can I do it? Absolutley!!

The Missing Adventures in Thailand

Part of the challenge of documenting an action packed tour is finding the time to log the highlights of each day without missing out on any of the excitment. So obviously there are a few days missing that I want to share and capture, starting with the midnight train from Chiang Mai.

Following the afternoon visiting the tigers and walking through old town we boarded the night train from Chiang Mai to Ayuthaya. The agreement was whoever slept on the bottom bunk on the way to Chiang Mai got the top bunk on the way back. So the top bunk for me it was. The challenge was 2nd class on this train was quite different than 2nd class on the first train. So much so that we got a refund on a portion of the fare. What this meant was there was plenty of room to sleep as long as you didn't need to turnover. NO problem though, they had the equivalent of seatbelts to prevent you from falling out. I chose not to test them! SInce we only got to sleep until 4:30 am, it was a short night. We reached our destination at 5:00 am. Backpacks on we were ready to go!

Hiking into Ayuthaya, we crossed the river on a very primitive ferry, and headed to the guesthouse to drop of our bags, a quick shower and then time to explore the local market. Overwhelming! Venders with their merchandise covered every corner of the street market. Fruit, vegetables,raw meat,fish, clothing,and the occasional pigs head. It was all here, out in the open, no refrigeration. You had to wonder how it all got sold, but rumor is it does.
After breakfast in the market we explored the ruins of the World Heritage site by bike, including stopping to give prayer to the reclining Budda. Truly moved by the magnificance of the temples and the beheaded buddas, it was hard to understand why in war it was deemed necesary to destroy the site.

Ayathaya was the Thailand capital from the 14th to the 18th century and it's splendor definitely captured our admiration.

From Ayuthaya we headed up to Erawan National Park where we boarded two rafthouses for an evening on the lake. Coincidence had it that tonight was Halloween. After playing in the water, a few canoe rides and a feast of fish purchased earlier in the day at the Ayuthaya market it was time to celebrate. While Halloween is not celebrated in all countries represented, the creativity of the group quickly presented it self as we produced interesting costumes from the depths of our backpacks. Cross dressing does seem to be the outfit of choice and the laughs never seemed to stop. The beverages may have helped??

The next morning we were on the road to Erawan waterfalls. Seven tiers of clear blue water, with fish that nibbles at your feet. While getting a solid workout as you climb up to each level of the waterfall the sites are amazing. At level 3 we stopped for a fish massage and swim to cool off. At level 5, we remembered that we were looking for monkey's. Since we were climbing our focus had been on the ground, so da let's look upward. Sure enough a pair of monkey's in the trees. Now unlike the monkey,s we had seen in the mongroves, we were told the monkeys at Erawan were not friendly and could be darn right mean. So here we are taking pictures of the monkey's when they start to come towards us. Chicken hearted we were as we ran back to the path away from them. Too funny, 3 ladies searching for monkey's but to scared to get the picture. Thank goodness for Jeanne, who was our resident, expert photographer. By noon the park was getting extremely busy with locals and it was time for us to head to Kanchanaburi. Home of the river Kwae.

Back on our bikes, we rode to the Museum of the Railway on the River Kwae. The history of WW11 documented in the museum was overwheliming and very emotional. It is extremely hard to comprehend the degree of hardship the POWs experienced! As the Japanese tried to establish a supply route to Myanmar and India, POWs were used to build the railroad. Over 100,000 Asians and 16000 POWs died during the construction.
Visitng the museum, war cemetary, under ground caves and the Bridge over the river Kwae, took our bike ride well into the evening and we found ourselves riding home in the dark. A bit scary!

Talking about scary, that night we headed off to the local night market. After wandering around for an hour we decided it was time to head home. So we took Scooter taxis. Our guide told the drivers where we wanted to go. They put on their helmuts and away we went. However the passengers don't get helmuts, you just get to hold on for dear life. A short ride and we arrived safely at our destination.
Interesting rules in Thailand. First they drive on the wrong side of the road, and only the driver is required to wear a helmut. However very few helmuts were seen on anyone and often 3 or more indivuals were riding one bike.
The motto- honk, honk and more honking to advise you are coming through, get out of my way or I am passing.

Day 9 is a day of travel as we leave Kanchanaburi and drive to Bangkok to catch a flight to Krabi. Final destination for the day Ao Nang, arriving in time to celebrate the Full Moon Festival.

Heading Home

Leaving Ao Nang Friday afternoon, it was pouring rain. I forgot to mention that it rained every evening the last week in Thailand, from about 5:30 to 6:30. A great time for shopping, supper and refreshments.

Anyways the rain, helped make our departure a little less sad. Karbi to Bangkok
Friday evening and then a 12hour wait until we leave Bangkok. WE decided to book a hotel for the evening rather than sleep in the airport. Bangkok airport is big, noisy and not really conducive to spending the night. Fortunately you can check you bags at the airport at " left Luggage". Which we did, and headed off to the hotel.
A nice meal, and oh yeah a complimentary massage ( yes tha was 2 for the day) and we were good for the night.

Back at the airport at 6 am for the long flights home. Time to catch up on our sleep!!

The last day in Thailand

What do you do on your last day in Thailand? For us it was easy to decide; we needed to relax and capture as much sunshine as possible.

A few hours at the pool, one last manicure, a pedicure and for sure a coconut oil massage.

It has been a great three weeks and we have done absolutely so much it is hard to capture it all! 4 of us from the GAP Tour, talked about what our favorite part was and it was truly to hard to decided. It was all fantastic!. The people were amazing, the Gap tour outstanding and the country awesome. With weather hovering in the mid 30's the entire time, even when it rained it was warm.

The last day in Thailand was my wedding anniversary and I would be amiss if I didn't thank Randy for being such an amazing husband. I am truly a very lucky lady!! His support made the trip possile and encouragement stretched me to participate in the adventure to the fullest. While he wasn't here in Thailand with us, he was here in spirit. Thank goodness for emails. Happy Anniversary Love!

Phi Phi Island

With only a few days left to capture the entire ensense of Thaland we decided on Thursday that a visit to Phi Phi Island was a must!

The island is recognized as having some of the most amazing beaches in the world. It offers scuba diving, snorkelling, rock climbing and of course playing on the beach..
During the day when the tided is out you can walk out into the sea for what seems like miles. Sand like silk and water clear, emerald blue, what a great place to soak up the sun. Of course working on the tan was a must!!
The entire island is truly an tourist haven. Small cobblestone roads are lined with shops and food kiosks. Mercahnts use oversized wheel barrows to transport goods and tourist's baggage from place to place. NO cars here. The town is like a small maze and fortunately we had friends to show us around.

Sitting on the beach with friends from England we found "Pail" drinks, that once empty were great for making sand castles. Too much fun and certainly not enough time too experience all the island has to offer.

The ferry leaves Phi Phi at 3:30, which meant we had to leave much earlier than hoped, but it is low tided and the ferries are unable to dock in Krabi later in the evening so home to AO Nang we went.

Just meant more time for dinner and drinks at the resort. Oh the challenge of the traveller!!

Trusting Tourists

A fancy brochure catches your eye. The pictures look fun and the itineray looks interesting. The hotel is more than happy to book you into the tour and take your money.

So 7500 Baht later you are packed and ready to take on a new adventure. A nice young man appears at the hotel with the appropriate T-shirt on, so you blindly jump into his car and begin a 3 hour drive across the countryside with him. Now at home we all tell our children not to take rides from strangers. SO why do we just expect this person will drive safely? Fortunately he does. He points out Pineapple plants, rubber trees, Palm Oil trees and stops at a rice field for us.

In southern Thailand the climate is quite dry compared to the north so the rice is grown in fields similar to grain at home. Harvested by hand and then put through a de-husking machine.

We discover an amazing temple in the back country with a huge Budda overlooking the valley. Really quite spectacular!!

Then we are of again. Destination the Elephant Adventure. This elephant ride was extremely nice, travelling down the river bed, thru the jungle to a small waterfall. The elephant master provides direction to the elephant from the ground, which seemed way nicer that him sitting on the elephant head, holding a huge stick. Our second elephant ride and we are duly impressed.

We reach the waterfall and are told to get off. Thinking the ride is over we start looking for the path back to the car. This was our first clue that our guide for the Safari was not as helpful as he could be. What we later discovered was that the elephant master would wait for us while we went for a swim in the waterfall. We did realize that we would get a ride back on the elephant but totally missed the swim. Cathy was able to ride back on the elephant head, while I remained in the chairlike saddle. Yes we bought the photos!!

SO far our trip was going OK. WE continued our travels to the site of our home for the evening, which was a hut on stilts. Several monkey's were leashed in the area and two were more than anxious to play and cuddle. However we soon found that the other two were not so friendly and apparently don't like women, as one chased after Cathy in attack when she got too close. A little scared, we were again reminded of how glad we were with all the bootcamp exercises we did this year. Something like the crab crawl took place.

A canoe ride down the river, dinner and then a night canoe ride finished off the day. What did we see? Two snakes and several frogs..LOL. I have to admit we were a bit nervous that we were the only ones on the adventure. Fortunatley before the night canoe ride a very friendly couple from Belguim joined the camp.

The next morning we head off to the National Park. Pay our entrance fee. Oh yes no one said we would need money. Before heading into the park we are told that the biggest flower in the world is in bloom and a government guide will take us to see it if we are interested. So why not? A trek straight up the Thailand mountain takes place and after 30 minutes we arrive at the very interesting, unusual plant. Nice.

We are now told that we won't get to see the park as there is not enought time, go back to camp and spend the next 2 1/2 hours waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. Why we didn't go to the park, is anybodies guess. A disappointment for sure.

However during our wait Cathy tried to teach me backgammon. IF I play every day for the next 2 years I might eventually beat her, but maybe not...LOL.


The best part of this adventure was arriving at the river rafts for the next night. Very quaint huts, built right over the water. Only the picutres will do the story justice.

Cathy and I bow out of the Longtail boat night right and choose to spend Wednesday morning suntanning in front of our huts. The message from the rest of the group was we made the right decision.

After lunch we board the Longtail boat and start our journey back home. We could not get there fast enough. Now we admit we were spoiled by the Gap trip, but the guide on this excursion was just awful. We never knew what was happening until he was at our door, stating "we have to leavce now". For where, for what or for how long was never shared. OF course he received No Tip.

We did arrive home safe and sound and glad that part of our adentures was over. A guide can make all the difference!! OF course we are probably a bit too trusting of a fancy brochure.

Time for Pampering.

Saturday November 7th, saw us sleep in for the first time this vacation. We finally got up at 10 am. We are registered at the Golden Beach Resort which is truly a 5 star location. With a seaside view and lot's of hot water, we have died and gone to heaven! Hot showers have been a bit spares these last 2 weeks.

Today was the day for pampering. A Manicure, pedicure and facial massage started the day. Then a rest on the beach followed by a full body massage.

What more could a girl ask for? Oh yeah, time at the Night market in Krabi. Truly an authentic local market. We ate quails eggs, meat on a stick and fried ice cream as we wondered through the market. Young artists painted, children preformed song and dance and you could buy a variety of food and clothing. I bought nothing. The market definitely had a East Indian(muslim)apearance and focus. Two hours in Krabi and we were headed back to Ao Nang for the night.

Tomorrow we head of on the Khao Sok Safari for 3 days and 2 nights.