Just wanted to share what we have been up to on our Thailand vacation. Kind of weird to take a vacation from travel, but we needed to slow down after our nine weeks of non-stop activity in New Zealand and before a month working in Cambodia. Here are some highlights:
- Talking with family on Christmas Day–both our Christmas Day and our day after Christmas which was still Christmas back home. It was great to feel like we were sitting in our parents’ living rooms talking with them and just hanging out. Gotta love Skype! We sure enjoyed it, but it made us miss home, in a good way. It’s wonderful to have that feeling, as odd as it may seem. We have met many travelers who couldn’t be more happy not to be with family during the holidays and it makes us grateful for what we have.
- Hiring a motorbike/scooter for a day and cruising the island. There’s really only two roads on the island and we managed to take the wrong one. We realized when the water was to the east instead of the west that we had somehow ended up on the wrong side of the island, but it was a nice detour and we ran into several other tourists who had also taken the wrong road. Once we got on the right road we made it to the very southern tip of the island and then trekked back to find another place to stay for our last five days.
YouTube Direct - Found the Sunset Bungalows on Klong Nin beach, south of Papillon, the first place we stayed on the island. Met Rak, the owner and host of the bungalows, who jokes about charging 200 baht for every service (for example: sitting in his hammocks, picking us up from our last hotel, etc). We still haven’t seen our bill so we sure hope he is joking, but he does laugh every time he says it so… fingers crossed. The people here are very nice, the rooms are super clean, the food is good, and it’s ocean front! Our room doesn’t have a view but about 10 meters from our door is the sand (and it’s half the price of the ocean view bungalows). We thought it was really easy to find a place since this was the first spot we had pulled into, but we later learned that some other guests had checked most of the resorts on the beach and found that many were quite full.
- Had our first Thai massage on the beach. Ahhhhh…. this is a combination of torture and relaxation techniques. There were a couple of times where we both wanted to cry out, “UNCLE!” but we’re sure they would have no idea what we were talking about. The real sound of the ocean versus the recorded sounds you usually hear when getting a massage really did make the experience that much better. Planning to get one more massage on the beach and probably one more when we get back to Bangkok. For $7 an hour, how can you pass that up? John says we are practically making money!
- Eating more Thai food: Panang curry, Massaman curry, papaya salad, tom yum soup, and more phad thai. We have also learned that pointing at things on the menu is dangerous, similar to raising your paddle at an auction… if you point at it, you’re getting it. We ended up with twice as much food and two beers that we didn’t order one afternoon at lunch. We keep our hands in our pockets now until we are sure of what we are ordering. We have had one guilty pleasure–homemade pizza and bread sticks from Nick’s Pizzeria. It was a needed break from 10 days of eating Thai food and it was gorgeous.
- Most of the rest of our time has been spent lounging and reading (at the moment, John: High Fidelity by Nick Hornby; Erin: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez) and watching the sunset. Our new place has many spots to lounge, both in the sun and under shade. John has found another hammock he has fallen in love with and wants to try to bring home (for those of you who don’t know, we brought two hammocks home with us from Costa Rica in 2007). We did realize after five days of doing pretty much nothing but eating that we better start doing something so we have taken to running two miles on the beach before breakfast. It does feel good to be active, but lazy is quite nice as well.
We have three more days here before we head back to Bangkok (13 hour bus ride), have a day of rest, and then take another 13 hour bus ride to Phenom Penh, Cambodia. Not totally sure how our New Years Eve will be spent but you can be sure we will be banging some pots and pans together at the stroke of midnight and thinking of family and friends (we may even play a favorite family game, I Betcha a Quarter… or I Betcha Eight Baht, since we are in Thailand).
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
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- Thai Spider which is the size of Erin’s hand if you include the legs
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- Yes we are that cool
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- Its really is the bike that makes the man
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- Chicken Satay with peanut sauce
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- our pool at Papillon
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- spending some time underwater
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- Can you spot the three little pigs who had more than just there house blown down
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- Rice
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- Another type of Thailand parking lot. Glad they don’t all have SUV’s
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- more time underwater
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- This is where we are blogging from in front of the Sunset Bungalows
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- Cheese… hmm
great to have someone give you a little guidance and a really good time. That’s exactly what the Bauers did for us. Jeff, Jan, and Maddie Bauer moved to Bangkok in September from San Diego (Oregon natives, though). We have been connecting with them (thanks again, Tim!) over the last few weeks to get advice on coming to Thailand and also to see about the possibility of meeting up. They were more than welcoming and offered to spend a day hosting us in their new city. What better way to spend a day in Bangkok, but at the largest outdoor market in the world, Chatachuk Weekend Market. According to our Lonely Planet, over 200,000 people visit this market every weekend, and we were right there in the middle of it with them. We knew we were in well over our heads when even 
Jeff and Jan had trouble finding places they had been before in the market. It was like a labyrinth with new sections behind every corner (and, unfortunately, no David Bowie). There were animals (puppies, flying squirrels, snakes, fish, turtles, hedgehogs, and things that Jeff said are illegal and are too deep in the labyrinth for us to find); housewares; heavy metal rocker paraphanelia; cowboy boots; silk; toys; furniture; hats; wallets; bags; knock-off high-end backpacks (John was in heaven, but didn’t purchase anything… yet); jewelry; and most importantly–FOOD!
They even gave us a personal Thai language lesson which included ordering food. We have been using it since that day and have got some really good eats (the type that will make your lips burn and your forehead sweat). Our first food stop was for iced coffee which, being from the NW, 
home of the world’s best coffee, we have to say was quite good. We wandered around the market working up an appetite for lunch. When it was time to order lunch, we didn’t use a menu (there weren’t menus anyways), we ordered Thai style, to the best of our ability. The “restaurant” was basically a cart on the sidewalk with tables set up. In the middle of the small table was a spread of bowls filled with basil, bean sprouts, and cabbage which you add to your basic noodle and meat dish when it arrives. The Bauers also taught us to put a little fish oil and some chilies on our meal to make it just right. As wel, John learned how to ask for the check–if you don’t ask for the check, you just might sit there until sundown.
course it cost less than $1 USD.
us of something you’d see in Disneyland. It was basically a huge concert hall filled with rows and rows of tables and chairs, with a stage at the front. We have always enjoyed eating family style, being able to sample a bunch of different meals, and Jeff ordered for the whole table a variety of Thai and German dishes including pig knuckle (actually German, not Thai, and very good), Tom Yum (a spicy soup), Pat Pak Ruam (veggies), German sausages, and another Thai rice dish (can’t remember the name). Jeff asked us if we were okay with a little heat and that is what this meal brought. Thankfully, they also brought lots of water and cucumbers which helped quench the burn. Everything was really good!
was a really fun day and Jeff and Jan were wonderful hosts. We learned so much throughout from them about Thai culture and language, and they helped us feel comfortable and excited to be in SE Asia. We look forward to seeing them again at the end of our SE Asia time and possibly sharing another pig’s knuckle.
