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Bangkok, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, Thailand

Monday, June 15, 2015

We went to Bangkok's Grand Palace today. We left the condo at 8:30am this morning . It was 39 degrees today, and not much shade was available. We were all troopers, especially Hailey who did a lot of walking.

The Grand Palace is a 54 acre complex of buildings in the heart of Bangkok. The palace has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam since 1782. The king, his court and his royal government were based on the grounds of the palace until 1925. The present King Rama IX currently resides at Chitralada Palace, but the Grand Palace is still used for official events.This palace is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Thailand.

The complex was so big we couldn't possibly see it all. We purchased audio tours and listened during part of our touring but we were so sweaty after a while we didn't even feel like having the earphones on our ears. The detail of craftsmanship and gold used in the construction of the buildings was overwhelming.

When we all got so hot that we felt like we were going to melt into the cement, we thankfully found ice cream. We recharged ourselves for the trip home. That turned out to be a journey in itself. The cabbies outside the palace were all looking for gullible tourists they could rip off. We finally found one that said he would use his meter. Then after we were all in the car and he was driving, he changed his story and was trying to negotiate a fixed high price again. Erik said stop the car we want out. So there we were again trying to find a decent driver. Finally we found one, so we thought. He drove a little ways then we were at a stand still in a traffic jam and we could tell he was frustrated. He said it would likely take 2 hours to get to our condo. We decided to get out and walk 30 minutes to the transit station instead. Then from there we were able to hail a non tourist taxi to get closer to home for lunch. We completed the journey with the subway. Bangkok is insanely huge. We made it back to the condo exhausted at 3:00pm. This will be our last post. It's been an awesome unforgettable adventure. We will be spending tonight and tomorrow packing. Then our journey to Canada begins! We hope you all enjoyed reading the blog. We got some great photo's today here are some of them, enjoy!

Comments

Looks incredible. So glad you had this blog for us to all follow along. It's been fun watching and hearing about your adventure. Safe travels home!

From Jodi Lee, on Jun 15, 2015 at 01:37PM

I so enjoyed reading your blog....sometimes I felt like I was right there watching you experience a whole new culture!

Have a safe trip home , God be with you!

From Donna Moyer, on Jun 15, 2015 at 02:39PM

Happy trails!!! Hope you have an uneventful trip home! See you soon!!!!!

From Nicole McCorrister, on Jun 15, 2015 at 08:40PM

Thanks guys! We are all an excited bunch here, looking forward to getting back to Canada!

From Colette Lee, on Jun 15, 2015 at 11:29PM

So looking forward to your return. Thanks for your blog posts. Your 5 month Thailand Adventure will never be forgotten. So many memories for all of you.

From Nana, on Jun 17, 2015 at 10:17PM

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Tambon Hua Hin, Chang Wat Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

We are loving our return to Bangkok. We are staying in a beautiful condo with top notch security, complete with guards at the gate. We need a key to get on and off property even outside the garden area. There are 4 swimming pools and our favorite one is on the 32nd floor, the roof top! Beautiful view of the city that just goes forever. Our suite is on the 30th floor with large floor to ceiling windows. The view is really just mesmerizing. The lobby is Trump hotel style with massive high ceilings, and columns, and lounge areas with beautiful furniture. In fact the lobby is so large, we noticed signs posted that they were going to be fogging it for Mosquitos! No kidding...... inside the lobby. Weird. We found this place on Airbnb online. This is one of the best travel tips we have learned on this adventure. We've had very good luck using it on this trip. And I think we are much better at booking them now. Couldn't get much better than this one and we got it for $300 a week.

We took a bus to Kanchanaburi yesterday. It was a 3 hour trip that went well and was very comfortable. In 1942 Kanchanaburi was under Japanese control. It was here that Asian forced labourers and Allied POWs, built the Burma Railway and constructed a bridge, an event immortalised in the films The Bridge over the River Kwai and The Railway Man (2013). It is estimated that 80,000 - 100,000 people died working on the project, from maltreatment, disease & accidents. They say one prisoner died for every sleeper on the track. There are war cemeteries here as well. We took a 2 hour train ride on the line that went to the end at Nam Tok. The train ride takes you through bush alongside mountains and across the amazing Wang Pho Viaduct, a wooden lattice structure built by POW’s on the side of a steep cliff over the banks of the River Kwai, this section of the Death Railway offers some of the most spectacular views of the river Kwai. The scenery for the whole 2 hours was remarkable. It was a great day.

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Tambon Hua Hin, Chang Wat Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand

Monday, June 1, 2015

Dad and Mom planned a fancy dinner for us at Hilton Hotel, they reserved a table for 6. We got a tuk tuk to the hotel for $4 from the main road. We waited in the lobby until 5:30. Their pool is beautiful and the lobby is so calm and aesthetic. We went up to the 17th floor in the glass elevator up to the sky restaurant. You could see the view of the ocean and it was amazing, it was clear for as far as you could see, just ocean all along the horizon. We had the restaurant to ourselves the whole time we were there, people showed up to the bar along the balcony but there was no one else in the main restaurant. We ordered a couple of dishes and some appetizers with rice too. We had noodles with shredded chicken and bamboo in gravy sauce, a tofu dish, chicken ka pow, and fish. It was so much fun and the view was breathtaking. We were there past the sunset and we got to see lightning come from the clouds and hit the water. It was so cool!! The sky turned purple and red and pink, it was so beautiful. The king's ships were sailing along the water and they were lit up with Christmas lights. After supper we went downstairs ,bought some fancy cookies from the dessert bar and sat in a lounge area by one of the indoor waterfalls. We had such an amazing time tonight!

Lettie

Hilton Hua Hin Resort & Spa - 33 Naresdamri Road, Hua Hin, Thailand

Comments

Looks lovely!! Glad it turned out so well!

From Granny G, on Jun 1, 2015 at 10:47PM

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Tambon Cha-am, Chang Wat Phetchaburi, Thailand

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Blog post by ~Emma~

My favourite part of the elephant sanctuary was.... all of it! The first thing we did was go for an elephant ride. I was really nervous at first because the elephant was so tall, but it ended up being really fun! Our mahout (trainer) started playing on his phone and Madeline's and dad's got off and then got back on later!

The next thing we did was watch the baby elephant show. It was SO cute!! He played the harmonica, played soccer, and gave us hugs. It was soo cute!

After that it was time to bathe the elephant. After all that playing Songkran (the baby) was hot. We made sure to get all of him wet and scrub all the dirt away.

Later we walked around and met all of the older elephants and a volunteer told us all about them. Some of the elephants are grumpy she said. She was very friendly anyways.

Once that was all done we had to go home. We were all very sad to leave the cute elephants but we were glad that we got to have that experience. Overall it was very fun and neat!

A couple days ago we went and toured a historic Royal palace.The Palace was built raised from the ground on pillars and entirely made from teak wood. It was built with excellent ventilation and niches filled with water in the pillars to keep out ants.

King Rama VI used the Palace, which name is also written as Maruekhathaiyawan or Mrigadayavan, as a summer residence for him and other members of the Royal Family until his death in 1925.

Here are some photos from our tours.

Comments

Great post Emma! Loved the pics and vids. Looking forward to having you all back--Portage la Prairie misses you!

From Kevin Hamm, on May 19, 2015 at 09:21AM

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Hua Hin, Thailand

Sunday, May 10, 2015

The past couple of days we've been relaxing and enjoying the cool ocean breezes. We went to the beach the second day we got here and it's pretty nice! We rented chairs for 100 bahteach. The beach is about 1,000 feet from the chairs when the ride is out. e water is nice and warm and it doesn't get deep quickly so it's just perfect. Lots of people go kitesurfing on this beach and it's so pretty to see all the kites up in the air along the length of the beach. It's so peaceful here too. We've gone to the beach two times since we've been here so far.

The white people here are very rich you can tell because of the way they act. It makes you feel rich when your at the beach and in the mall because everyone here is so classy. You'd think stuff here would be more expensive because of that but we've found that stuff is actually pretty cheap especially at the markets. We're definitely enjoying Hua Hin very much! It was Mother's Day today so we made mom a traditional Thai breakfast of an egg omelette over rice. I made the rice, Madeline made the perfect omelettes and Emma set the table and decorated. Madeline and I ran down to the Village Market down the road to pick up Soy Sauce for the omelettes since we were out if it. We called Mom down to breakfast and she liked it a lot.

Dad and Mom went down to the beach for the afternoon and Mom came back super happy and excited because she got an ice cream sandwich somewhere between here and the beach and she got a nice coffee from 7-11. She had said a couple days ago that if all we got her for Mother's Day was papaya and iced coffee she would be happy. To top it off we had papaya and watermelon as a snack.

Mom took Madeline, Emma, and I to the market to look around. We bought sib song(12) pad thais for supper from our favorite vendor for only 10 baht each. They have the little dried shrimps but for only 10 baht I don't mind eating them or picking them out lol. Mom said it was her best Mother's Day yet so that made us pretty happy

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Tambon Hua Hin, Chang Wat Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

We decided to move to Hua Hin for our time here from May 5th to June 5th. When we left the Khon Kaen condo it kind of felt like we were leaving home after being there for 2 months. Our friends (The Sims) who live in a house across the street, own a songthaew truck and kindly drove us and our 16 bags to the train station. We had 4 more bags than since we've arrived but we brought all the house hold supplies we purchased, like broom, dustpan, frying pan, etc incase we needed it at the town house we are moving to. The day we checked out, our train didn't leave until 8pm so we packed sandwiches and spent most of the day at the pool. The 3 older girls went to the Sims house to play board games and bake cookies with their friends Hannah age 12, and Ahleah age 11, for part of the afternoon. We managed to get some takeout food for supper from the Indian restaurant at the pool(after lots of confusion and charades to explain the order) and the Sims invited us to their place to eat it together in the A/C. They dropped us off at the train at 7pm. We enjoyed getting to know the Sims, there were some tears as they left. The train was running half an hour late. Unfortunately it was very hot this particular evening at 38 degrees in the dark. We bought some refrigerated wet face cloths to try and help feel cool (but it didn't really help). A few tourist police came over to us to see if we needed help and asked us to take a photo with them. Whenever any Thai people ask where we are from and we say Canada they love saying " oh......Canadian..... " in a tone that sounds very envious", and it seems like they just like saying the word Canadian for some reason, lol. When we were at the train station a monk came up to me and the girls and was having fun using the little English he knew to say "Miss Canada!" He said it a few times with different names after, which we assumed were names of women who must have won the title in different years. It was a little bizarre....

We had to take two trains to get to Hua Hin. The first train was 10 hours to Bangkok. It had air conditioning which was good but it wasn't exactly what we were expecting as far as "niceness". It was old looking, kinda vintage I guess. We thought there would be a dining car from reviews we had read about train travel but were told just before boarding by a man who was translating for the police that there wasn't. He also said I should run and take Hailey to the bathroom before getting onboard as it wasn't easy to use on the train. Erik told him we were going by train as an adventure and he laughed and said " well......It will be an interesting....experience for you..." That was our first tip that we were in for an experience that might not be as comfortable as we had thought. He did say though that there are way more bus accidents than train accidents so it was safer travel in that aspect. Once on board it didn't take long to discover that there was in fact no bathroom in our rail car! And that to get to the next car we would have to walk outside while the train was moving and cross/step over to the next car! Yikes! Thank goodness we took Hailey before getting on and the rest of us were able to hold it till morning. We arrived at the Bangkok station at 5:30am. Here's a little tidbit of info for you too. Most public places in Thailand have people who sit outside at a table blocking the entrance to the bathroom and kind of lay claim to it, so they can charge you 3-5 baht in order to enter, and most bathrooms have no toilet paper so you have to make sure to remember to have your own with you. We found a cafe that was open in the station and were able to get some ham buns for breakfast and refill our water bottles. Erik purchased our tickets for the next train from Bangkok to Hua Hin with no interpreter around to help this time. He did get the correct location and departure time, but unfortunately he was unable to get them to sell him seats in the air conditioned rail car! This leg of the journey to Hua Hin is 4.5 hours, and by the time we arrived at the Hua Hin station it was 41 degrees outside.

Let's just say.... that train ride was the longest trip of my life!......We went through various stages of uncomfortable.

It didn't help either that we had dressed in warm clothes for the journey thinking both trains would be A/C, and when the Thai use A/C they have it cranked to the max like an ice cooler. Just unreal cold, which is....weird. Some of us had swim bottoms that we were able to find in our bags and managed to change into them out of our pants on the train, not an easy task! And yes we got some looks... Like these white people had noooo idea what they were getting into, lol.

We arrived in Hua Hin at 11am. Erik and the 3 older girls left Hailey and I at the station and took some of the bags with them to find the town house a few blocks away. They found it after some confusion as the addresses here aren't much help at all. The numbers on the houses are all out of order with no apparent rhyme or reason. It didn't help that they were very hot and having trouble thinking too. Thankfully the owner had emailed Erik a photo of the exterior gate and they were able to find it with that.

The owner was there and graciously offered to come pick up Hailey and I with the rest of our bags on their two scooters. Erik was telling them no no, we won't fit the bags but they laughed and insisted. I went on a scooter with the older lady with Hailey sandwiched between us. Erik went on the scooter with the son, who put two large bags in front of him between his legs and Erik had to hold onto 2 large suitcases, one in each hand on each side of the scooter and manage to hold on to the back of the seat behind the driver with his thighs! When we arrived at the house he said those bags were so heavy and was thankful he's been lifting weights at the gym the past couple months! We were extremely impressed with our new accommodations. This town house couldn't be anymore perfect. It's beautifully decorated, and is completely equipped like our home. Wonderfully soft luxurious beds, super clean, and I have yet to find an insect of any kind! Yippee! Also this town house is located in between several others and none of the windows face the sun so it stays a nice temperature inside without having to run the a/c like crazy or live in the darkness durning the day with all the drapes closed. That was one draw back of the Khon Kaen condo. Our unit there was located on a corner of the building that had all windows facing the scorching sun 10am until 7pm. The electric bill for our second month was $400! With temps in the 40's it was unavoidable there. We got settled in our new place today and explored a couple of the streets to find ourselves some lunch, chicken and rice $1.50 each meal and for supper salads $2.50 each. The salads were a bit of an oops as we bought them at the Tesco grocery store and didn't realize the amount they charged per 100grams is twice the cost as buying at the local outdoor market. Oh well not too costly a mistake and that's how you learn when you can't read or speak the language. We also found a couple ladies that have a couple tables set up in a vacant lot one street over that sell fruit. We bought 4 water melons for $1each, 7 mangos for 50 cents each, and a banana bunch for $2. Well it's 9:45pm here, I am going to finish up this blog post, everyone else is watching Captain America, streamed from Erik's iPhone onto the TV in the living room. Goodnight

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Khon Kaen, Chang Wat Khon Kaen, Thailand

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

We had to get our A/C cleaned today as it was dripping and causing some damage to the wall and potential damage to the flooring. The staff are so good here.

I like that we just call for maintenance related issues.

There is definitely something to be said for renting. No upkeep costs and you know what it is going to cost to live in a location. Plus if the condo has an activity center it means you have access to a gym, pool and anything else that the center offers. It is great. Homebodies can stay at home while the outgoing people go and use the facilities.

I would want to rent in a complex before I ever purchased though so that you can experience the building, staff, maintenance, etc. to make sure that all is well with the complex before committing to the purchase of a unit. I don't believe condos are great investment because they can become unsellable if conditions of the complex change.

The building we are in has cement walls so it is virtually noise proof. The staff are good and the doorman is a nice touch!! The activity center is close and contains a gym (complete with an included personal trainer , pool table, pool, sauna( who would want to use that I do not know!!), sitting area with newspapers and a restaurant. Very well appointed.

We are going to miss this complex when we leave next week.

My shoulder tensed up and I needed to go for a couple of Traditional Thai Massages to help loosen it up. The personal trainer from the gym, Tic, told me to go to a certain massage place and he got me to put the name of it in my phone and had another gym member explain the directions, in very broken English! So on Saturday morning I set out to find it. As I got to walking I looked for the note that I had made...gone...darn technology. So now I am on my way to find a massage place that will not be written in English in a location that is a little vague...Game On...I love adventures...especially when they involve finding a location and I don't have my family in tow. The only thing I remember is the word Wat which means temple and that seems a little weird because I can't imagine Thais naming their business with the name temple in it because of superstitions!

So I get to the corner by the 7-11 where I have been told to turn right and walk a Kilometer! I set my GPS on the phone and walk a kilometer, there is nothing around that resembles a massage shop. I start asking locals for help but none speak english, finally I find a lady who seems to understand what I want. After pantomiming it out again she changes her mind completely and tells me to get in the sidecar of her Dad's scooter and that he will drive me because I have walked WAY too far. So off we go to ???

He takes me back to a temple complex that I had walked past and turns into it...proceeds to point at a little white building and takes off. It turns out the Massage place is in the temple...maybe run as a way for the workers to make merit...I am really not sure. That may be the hardest part of this trip for me. Those who know me well know that I ask A LOT of questions so I can find out who, why, what, where, and when out about almost everything. Over here it is not possible to find out this kind of information and if you do try and ask it becomes a huge production because Thais just don't ask questions like that and so they may not know the answer...but because they are Thai they will give you some kind of answer...right or wrong!! They do not seem able to say No or I don't know, I guess it makes them feel like they have failed to help and Thais are an incredibly helpful people. We have even had a lady passenger get out of a Taxi cab to offer to help us because we looked confused and then get back in and proceed on her way!!

Well the massage turned out to be an experience, to say the least, I was given loose clothes to change into and taken to a back part of the "hut" through a door to a steel "outhouse" looking building that was about 4ft x 4ft x 6ft high to change. After "cooking" in this steel oven I was ushered into the room where a Thai lady proceeded to walk all over me, as well as dig her elbows and knees into almost every portion of my body. This is as she twists me into a pretzel and stretches me into poses that are almost anatomically not possible (especially for me as I am not very flexible). In between doing this she was laughing (more like school girl giggling) with the other workers. Very Thai! I do like this. Saksay says I am way more adventurous than him, he just sticks to the oil massages!!

Here is a funny aside about the school girl giggling of Thai ladies. I was able to go golfing a couple of times with a friend that I made Khon Kaen, Tim Sims. We went to a course that is on the Asia tour and it was a lot of fun, I shot 95 from the red tees so I was pretty happy with this.

Anyways...enough bragging...when you golf in Thailand the green fees include a caddy which is a Thai lady. When we were golfing we went by some other caddies who were yelling in Thai, "Hey handsome guys, turn over here and look at us!!" to which Tim says, "Ok, we are smart too you know!" because he can speak Thai and they just assume that we wouldn't know what they were saying. This set them off to a crazy level of giggling. Too much fun...only in Thailand!!

Well I will post some pics of my massage adventure and some of the neighbourhood we have been staying in.

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Khao Suan Kwang, Khon Kaen, Thailand

Monday, April 27, 2015

Heading into Laos

We woke up at 4am

4:30am- We've rented a van and driver and we are waiting for him to come pick us up. We are going to Laos to renew our Visas, and the Zoo today.

5am- I'm tired. I wish I could sleep but this van is so bumpy. Seriously though can you get worse shocks than the ones in this van. We are bumping so much my phone is asking me if I want to undo my typing -.-

6am- I tried going back to sleep but couldn't so now I'm listening to music. The bumpiness didn't get better it actually managed to get worse :/ at least there's only another hour until Laos.

6:20am- I'm surprised my stomach is holding up so well with all this jostling. Probably because I haven't eaten anything for breakfast yet.

6:45am- We stopped at a 7-11 and I got a bacon wrapped pork burger for 39Baht. One word...YUM!! The others got hot ham and cheese sandwiches 25Baht, fried egg and cheese sandwiches 35Baht, and Madeline got a chicken pie pastry for 35Baht.

8am- I think I just saw Jamie Curry. She's in Thailand right now.

11am- We were successful! We were able to buy the purses and wallets and clutches we wanted as gifts for some friends and family back home. We also purchased two big suitcases. We had one hiccup we unfortunately forgot to get our passports stamped coming out of Laos, so now us girls are waiting with the border guards inside the building to come back into Thailand. Dad went on the bus back over the friendship bridge to get our passports stamped. He's a brave man....The guards told Dad he could go back alone , so we wouldn't have to buy bus tickets again and load us all and Haileys stroller again. After Dad left we were wondering how he was going to explain to the next set of guards in Laos, to get 6 passports stamped without us there...? We sat on the floor and waited patiently for his return!

11:50am- Dad just arrived back , he said that again no one spoke any English and they weren't going to stamp the passports. Thankfully for some reason they changed their minds and agreed to stamp them!

12:50pm- We made it through the border safely and went to 7-11 to get lunch. Mmmm another bacon wrapped cheese burger for me! We drove to the aquarium only to find out it's closed on Mondays so we are headed to the Khon Kaen zoo now :) let's hope it's open!

2pm- We are at the zoo! It's open!

4pm- We are driving home now, the zoo was awesome! First we got into a tram that took us to the bears. The bears were standing up and posing for pictures. There were Malayan Sun Bears and Asian Black Bears. You got to walk inside the bird cages and there were all kinds of birds like Canadian geese, peacocks, roosters, pigeons, huge swans, and some Asian birds. I tried to get a picture of a goose and it started chasing me!! I got a video of me running away and all the Thai people laughing at the silly farang (what they call white people). We took an ice cream break. Then we went and saw Capybaras, Tigers, white tigers, lions, hippos, meerkats, and Apes! We walked up a huge hill and couldn't find the tram so one of the workers offered to drive us a little ways in the back of his pickup truck. He let us off in a deer pen and there were hundreds of deer all cramped into a little cage about an acre big, and we were inside of it! One came right up to Hailey and started smelling her. The trolley finally came and took us back to the main gate and then our driver arrived with his van. It started raining as soon as we were done. It held out for just the right amount of time!

5pm- We are back in Khon Kaen safe and sound. The driver is filling up the van with bensin (diesel). Now it's back to Lakeside Condos!

Lettie

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Khon Kaen, Khon Kaen, Thailand

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

We went to the dentist last week to get our teeth cleaned. There is good dental care here at a fraction of the cost in Canada. So we thought we'd spend a little and have it done here to save us a bunch when we get home. Our kids have been getting their dental care done at a Childrens dentist in Winnipeg $$$$$. The dentist visit went great for the kids. They cleaned & examined everyone's teeth for $18 each , and took an X-ray of Madeline's which cost $4. Unfortunately I (Colette) was the unlucky one, I was told I had 3 cavities that needed fillings. We made an appointment for me to return 2 days later for the fillings. I was very nervous being on the other side of the world they do a lot of things very different here, and I wasn't sure what to expect. The fillings went very well considering. The dentist started grinding away on my teeth and I thought...ooooookaaaay.... He's not going to give me any freezing....I thought well I guess I'll see how this goes , I'll stop him if I have to. The first two weren't very deep so it was tolerable. The third one was deeper. I could tell he was almost done though so I just bared down so he could finish. I was in and out of his office within 15 minutes. I know I'll never forget our trip to Thailand with the 3 souvenirs I'm bringing home permanently affixed in my mouth! My bill for the dentist was $120.

Saksay's favorite Thai holiday is here, Songkran. It is the Thai new year, celebrated with a 3 day country wide water fight. They really get into it too, so much so safety can be an issue. Trucks are piled full of people in the back, along with garbage cans full of water, often ice water. Some people line the truck bed with pool liners and fill the whole thing up. They refill at different stations throughout the city. Traffic isn't easy to maneuver. People on scooters get splashed with buckets of water, water guns and sometimes from garden hoses. If you go outside during Songkran you know you are going to get wet. Most business are closed during Songkran or only open before noon. We spent the last 2 days at Saksay's Aunts with all their family. Food & Karaoke are a big part of Thai gatherings. Everyone was outside the front of their business/house, eating listening to very loud music, some Karaoke and splashing passers by. They ordered a ton of ice for the day to keep adding to the water. It was so cold, I secretly got Erik to spray me with the garden hose so my clothes looked wet and I wouldn't be a target for their ice water! If their clothes started to look dry they'd turn their water fight back onto each other! It was a lot of fun to watch. At one point I was sitting off to the back watching from a table around the side of the house and I didn't hear a truck with about 8 adults had pulled up on the street behind me. They got me with ice water all down the back of my body. I jumped up screaming trying to get away from them quickly , I managed to climb over the table as it and the hedge was blocking my path. Just then as I had gotten away and took a huge breath of relief, Hailey got me front and center in the face with a cup of ice water! She had perfect aim, I was shocked, and she was laughing hysterically! Actually several times throughout the day Hailey's timing and aim were impeccable and every time the victim was stunned and thought Haileys joy and excitement of her hit was hilarious. Hailey had a stool she sat on right beside the garbage cans full of water so she could easily scoop water and be safe as it was too slippery and we didn't want her running around with all the traffic so close. One time Saksay's uncle went to fill the buckets with more water from the garden hose, and Hailey grabbed the hose real quick from him and sprayed him right in the face! And again that look of shock and joy at the same time as you watch her giggle hysterically. Madeline, Emma, and Lettie said they think that this is the most fun they have ever had. They don't remember ever laughing that much. Saksay's relatives are all a fun bunch, a couple comedians in there we think. Absolutely hilarious to hear them laugh and watch them together.Today we are going to take a walk to the Main Street where most of the activities are taking place, around 5 before it gets too dark. There is a lot of partying so it's best not to stay out too late.

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Ubolratana, Khon Kaen, Thailand

Monday, April 6, 2015

We got a phone call from Saksay, asking us if we wanted to go climb more stairs! And of coarse who wouldn't say yes to climbing over a thousand stairs up a mountain when the forecast high for the day is +39. Oh wait... We didn't check the weather forecast. But really, it doesn't matter too much what the forecast is here, it's always hot, hotter, and then just insanely hot. When we go exploring on our adventures with Saksay we leave early in the morning and head back home for the afternoons.

It definitely was a huge staircase to climb this time. It was a great challenge and a lot of fun. There was a neat area I found to explore half way up as well. The path led to more statues, a temple, someones cabin hut and a neat cave. Hailey did very well climbing and made it most of they way up. She was pleased with herself and when she went back down, the bottom couldn't come fast enough. When we were on our way up there was a very steep section where we had to hold on to the concrete wall to help keep our shoes from slipping. Unfortunately I think a lot of people seem to grab the same spot on the wall there and possibly leave behind residue that possibly attracts very Large red ants that bite. And yes I found that out the painful way. Yikes! I had my hands on the wall trying not to let my feet slip out from under me and all of a sudden I've got major pain on my hand and wrist. Yes those of you who know me, or have read previous blog posts know, I was screaming. No one heard me though as they were all way ahead of me, ugh, nasty.

I got them off me, gathered my composure and kept going. At the top we were able to buy some water and sit in the shade for a bit to cool off. The view from the top was fantastic. Back at the bottom there were a couple local food carts parked there selling ice cream so we indulged!

After the mountain climb we carried on to the Ubolratana Dam. It was a very scenic area with lots of trees, rocks and flowers.

We ended the day by going out for Easter Dinner, North American style, at Pizza Hut! First pizza since leaving Canada, it was yummy. Yes there are some restaurants like we have at home here, but they are very expensive compared to eating Thai. We are doing well with our budget for the trip by eating like the locals at the food stalls with a family meal for all 6 of us usually totals 250 baht which is about $10 Canadian. And since we found the Makro (Costco here) our meals cooked at home are averaging about $5! Now....compare that to the $34 supper at Pizza Hut.

We were able to find and book our accommodations for the next leg of our journey again through Airbnb online. We've had good experience booking through them on this trip. We will be moving to a town house in Hua Hin beginning of May for 1 month. We are paying 24,000 baht for the month plus utilities. Which is about $960 Canadian. It's location seems to be perfect from what we can tell online. It's in the main Hua Hin area close to the restaurants, markets, grocery store and a short walk to the beach. The temperature looks to be quite a bit cooler there with the ocean breeze.

We also booked the last accommodations we will need for June until departure. We found a condo beside the MRT where Saksay usually stays, close to the good shopping markets . The cost of this condo works out to about $34 a night. It looks very nice and has a pool and gym.

After booking the last accommodations needed to complete the trip, we were able to do the math for our trip budget. We are pleased to see that as long as we stay on track with our spending, we will accomplish our goal, the 6 month Thailand adventure costing us less than what we would have spent to have lived at home!

Here are the photos....

[coletteleeblog]

Khon Kaen, Thailand

Friday, April 3, 2015

Blog post by Erik

We had a great day today. Colette and I decided to take a walk to the train station today and get our tickets to go to Hua Hin after we are done our stay in Khon Kaen.

We have Saksay's car parked at our Condo but it is not easy to find parking in Khon Kaen so I prefer to walk to the places that are reachable on foot.

The train station and back via the bank to top up our cash was a 6 mile round trip!! Walkable but quite far. We left at 7:15 and were back about 11:15!

It is quite interesting to walk somewhere, you tend to see stuff that you would never notice when you are driving. We ran into a young man who we could tell wanted to talk, he had 2 backpacks on and an excited look on his face. We said hi and got talking to him, I was trying to figure out what the accent was when he said he was from Quebec, Canada. We have only seen 4 or 5 Canadians on this trip so that was cool. He was walking from the train station and was visiting Khon Kaen just to go and see the Cobra farm that is kind of famous here. Then he is going to Chiang Mai, Chaing Rai and then back to Bangkok to fly home. It turns out that he had been travelling with his parents and when they left he stayed for 2 extra weeks to travel on his own. What a good idea!

We got to the train station and went and sat on the platform for a while to gather our thoughts (and rest!) It is very beautiful there, a bustling place but fairly clean and very active. We saw one 3rd class train come and go. I would not want to ride that one all the way to Hua Hin as it was a little rustic with no A/C and all the windows open. Ok for a couple hours but not for a long trip like Khon Kaen - Bangkok - Hua Hin.

After making up our plan we approached the ticket agent who did not speak much English (if any) to begin the long process of trying to get tickets to the proper location, for the proper date in a sufficient quantity to transport 6 people. It is not easy but is an interesting challenge that I embrace. I have done a lot of research on train travel in Thailand and so I knew that I had MANY choices between day and night trains with 1st, 2nd and 3rd class options that had upper and lower convertible bunks, private berths and everything from wood benches to nice seats. As we started to work with the lady she passed me a piece of paper and a pen?!? and I noticed that there was a Monk behind us. Knowing that this was going to take a long time, I offered to let him go ahead and buy his ticket and we moved to the side.

As he was buying his ticket he started asking me questions in near perfect English. I am always surprise how much this makes my heart leap to find an English speaking person. He asked if he could help us and proceeded to make an hour long project into a five minute task. Pretty cool, I was so impressed that he seemed to know just what kind of train we should go on, and what kind of seats to pick, how we should make our connection in Bangkok and on and on. Crazy, another one of those coincidences that I so love, it turns out he was a travel agent in Koh Samui for years before he decided to become a Monk.

The more I tell these stories the more they happen to us!!

This afternoon we had a real treat. When we checked into our Condo the pool was closed for the first week and to make it up to us the manager gave us 2 gift certificates for an hour and a half traditional Thai massage. Wow! We were whisked off to the spa by the doorman in the electric golf cart and shocked to find that this was a 5 star experience. For those who haven't had a Thai massage before it is quite the thing. They try to twist you up in a pretzel, all the while squeezing you very hard with their hands in-between using their feet and elbows to "work" you over. It is delightful, although I am not sure Colette shares the same opinion. I had said we would just walk home (being the polite Canadian that I am) but the doorman knew better and was waiting for us when the two "Jelly Fish" walked out of the spa. Good thing!!

[coletteleeblog]

Sahatsakhan, Kalasin, Thailand

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

We had a great day at the Kalasin Dinosaur Museum. There is currently an archeological crew there working on various projects and we got to go see an actual dig site that has the bones from the dinosaur intact in its original place partly out of the ground! It was a really neat experience. Inside the museum in the main area there were many dinosaur skeletons and the center building looked just like the movie "Night at the Museum". Very memorable experience. When we were outside we came across a staircase in a mountain and three of us decided to start climbing to see where it led to. It was A lot of stairs to climb, and it was plus 38 heat. We decided to continue on though as we felt we were near the top. It was worth it for the view and sense of accomplishment! We found ice cream for sale at the bottom and indulged in nut covered chocolate ice cream bars with a couple climbers going back for seconds (and they were only 50cents each,even at a tourist location) On the way home we stopped on the roadside at a place with BBQ chicken, sticky rice and papaya salad. They serve you in huts that are like a tiki fort up off the ground. Very fun day. Here are the photos!

[coletteleeblog]

Khon Kaen, Thailand

Sunday, March 29, 2015

All for a computer cable... A blog post by Erik

Well...we don't seem to be able to get our Apple TV to work at our condo...this travelling is SOOO tough...I know!! Seriously though, it does kind of help your mental health to be able to have a family night movie, it reminds us of a comforting activity we used to do at home.

So begins the journey to find the cable that would allow me to connect the mini display port on my computer to our HDMI cable on the condo's TV. Try explaining this cable to someone who only speaks Thai...google search and images really has connected every human on the face of the earth in a way that is so far reaching that I do not believe any of us fully understands it. Kind of like the way Henry Ford never envisioned what his mission of putting an auto into the hands of every household would do to the world. It completely changed the way the world was run and would develop over the next half century. He spent the last couple decades of his life creating a huge museum in Dearborn that replicated early American life before the advent of the automobile sped up our pace of life. Can you imagine me trying to draw that cable out for someone...no...just google it. The flipside of such a quest is do we really need all this tech?!? At any rate here we were on our way to find it.

We decided to walk to Ferry Plaza because we figured we might find it there at one of the mobile stores. After striking out at Ferry Plaza we were told that we would find it at Tukcom IT mall. I do not believe in coincidences and coincidently Saksay had just this afternoon showed me where Tukcom was. (If you want to see an excellent Netflix movie about this please watch Finding Normal, it is very ironic that this is the movie we watched after getting our cable).

So off we went for Tukcom...and...the store there did not have it! Wow, the salesman let me know we would find it at Central Plaza...Ok...just a "little" bit further down the street. For anyone who has visited a developing country you know they are not exactly planned for easy walking. I mean there are no established street crossings, you have to navigate 16" high curbs and sidewalks that aren't really sidewalks. You navigate open sewer drains (Argh...Saksay says you never get used to the smell) and dodge traffic that comes out of places you would least expect...like living rooms...no joke.

I love walking and especially when I have a destination to get to...you see so much that you never see when you are driving. So with a little encouragement to Colette and Madeline, who had taken this trek with me, off we headed for Central Plaza. Talking my girls into going to a mall is NOT hard!

Success! The iStore at Central had our cable and after parting with my $43Cdn we were off for home to watch our movie...or were we. Someone (Madeline) suggested it might be prudent to find a washroom after our hour long journey to get there. Up to the food court we went and I took up my regular position just outside the washrooms in the hall to wait for my girls...I spend a lot of time waiting...usually with other men in the same predicament.

And I found someone that I have been waiting to see...I could tell by his look that I could talk to him. After introducing myself and I found out that this "Farang" or foreigner did in fact speak English, American english actually and was from Utah! Turns out that he is a missionary from Kalisin province for an evangelical organization. We had met Jason and Jennifer Byers and their two daughters, or at least one of their girls, the other one hasn't made her grand entrance yet! We talked about what they are doing in Kalisin and I got him to show me where they lived, in case we ended up in their area.

As we were talking about our trip and where we are staying in Khon Kaen they ended up offering us a ride home to our condo after expressing amazement that we had walked all the way to Central. It is not easy to drive here and we did not want them to go out of their way to get us home but coincidently they were staying in the hotel right beside our condo complex! 1000 hotels in Khon Kaen and they are halfway across the city right beside our condo!

We ended up going for ice cream with them at Dairy Queen. Then we got a fun ride home and just stood amazed at what God can work out. It is not easy to do mission work in this part of the world and I hope in some small way that we were/are able to encourage them in the work they are doing.

They recommended a church we might like, which is 20 minutes from our condo. We borrowed Saksay's car on Sunday, and did very well driving on the left side of the road. The church service was perfect, they serve hot lunch before it starts for 80 cents each. Then they meet in the gym for Thai worship music, have a short break and then separate for services in English and Thai. We were able to listen to a great message on video. Afterwords they get together again for visiting and fresh fruit snack. They want us to come back next week as they are having games for easter including a huge water fight.

After church we drove to the Makro store that the Byers told us sells cheese at an affordable price. Something we are really missing as its 3 times the price as in Canada anywhere else. Well we had a very successful shopping trip! We worked great as a team finding the best deals on groceries. We ended up purchasing $300 in food. Which is enough food to last for a month. We have been spending $300 a week at the food stalls. So this is a big savings for us. These savings will help offset the amount we've gone over budget on accomodations. We didn't realize it was cash only, until we got to the till, so we were holding our breath, putting our best bargain items through first inc ase we didn't have enough cash. Ended up we had about $12 left , just enough! Phew! We are almost out of cash now and we'll need to find a bank.

We had a lot of fun there it's very similar to Costco. We spent 3 hours shopping! The meat department is crazy. They have tanks with live fish that the customers dip nets in to catch the one they want. Whole large dead frogs just like they live one we had at our house in Koh Samui. Snails galore still on their shells, live catfish, sharks, massive shrimp, I had no idea they could be so large! It was overwhelming to say the least. We're guessing the staff in the electronic section get commission because there were about 25 staff members that were following and crowding around us to serve us in that area. There were taste sample stations too, fun to try some new food and drinks.Turns out that we are actually heading to Kalisin with Saksay on Tuesday so I hope we can connect with Jason and Jennifer if we go to the Dinosaur Museum as it is close to their house. Coincidences...there truly aren't any.

[coletteleeblog]

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Chiang Khan, Loei Province, Thailand

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Saksay borrowed his Aunts 8 passenger Suv, and took us 5 hours away to a historic village called Chiang Khan. This village isn't well know by tourists but is very popular with the locals. What a wonderful secret they have here. It is absolutely beautiful! We researched the name of the town online before we left but we couldn't find too much information or photos.

We booked rooms at a hotel called Norn-Nab-Dao which means lying down counting stars. The location is perfect, right beside the river and on the Main street. Rooms are great and include breakfast for $32 a night per room.

We rented bicycles this afternoon, for $2 a bike we get to use them till we check out on Friday. The view from the bicycles on the path along the Meekong River is so beautiful. Mountains can be seen in the distance, long tail boats in the river, flowers on trees and in the grass, riding along a brick pathway, passing by the local village people's homes and coffee shops. Cats and dogs lounging around, children playing, and families strolling along enjoying the fresh air and breeze off the river. The temperature was 28 degrees today here but it felt like 23. A welcome relief from the heat in Khon Kaen.

There are only 2 main streets here. The village locals set up food booths, selling their specialties and stores open up with decorative lighting. Which makes for a nice evening stroll. We tried all sorts of new things tonight and found some things that have become favorites. Tonight we tried fried quail eggs , bbq boiled eggs, and some kind of leaf wrapped skewers. We aren't sure of the names of everything we are eating here yet. One step at a time. Not knowing what was in the leaf wrapped skewers Saksay's friend had picked out for me, I stopped midway bitting into it, suddenly very concerned it might be full of crispy bugs like crickets! They quickly led me to the table to see it was only nuts, ginger, and onions, phew! And I loved them!

The kids are settling into bed for the night now, and Erik is back working on his computer. He's about to FaceTime with Cindy at Faithworks. He's been working on the computer doing lots of bookkeeping for the rentals this week while we were in Khon Kaen. The wifi is very good at the hotel here in Chiang Khan. I'm sure he'll appreciate that for the next few days!

Looking forward to our day tomorrow. Here's some photos from today.

[coletteleeblog]

Khon Kaen, Chang Wat Khon Kaen, Thailand

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

We all hoped on a song taew today and headed to the big mall. There is a large movie theater there that plays some movies in English, with Thai subtitles. We got there early enough for lunch at the food court. Very tasty meals. The mall has 6 levels and lots of escalators. The top 5 floors are so expensive, most items priced higher than in North America. Luckily Erik was on the phone with Saksay and he told us the secret. There is a basement level that the tourists don't know about, and that's where the prices are good. We looked around at the nice dress shops and Lettie tried on some grad dresses for fun. We went to Cinderella. Admission was $4.50 each, bucket of popcorn $4, drinks $1.50. We learned Wednesday's are the deal of the week with $3 admission. The movie was excellent, we all enjoyed it. We played a couple games at the arcade after. Then we went back for Lettie to try on some more dresses. She found one that she really likes and looks beautiful in. So we decided to risk the purchase as the dress still has some room as she grows over the next year (or alterations). The weather was so beautiful when we went outside, a cool 28 degrees! 10 degrees lower than usual. We decided to enjoy it and walk home. We stopped at some stores along the way. As we were walking we happened upon some men making large detailed sculptures out of sand. Amazing workmanship. I guess we looked a little out of place walking, to the locals. A man came out of his home and gave us a map to take with us, lol. We stopped for some of our favorite coconut, rice, and peanut topped ice cream along the way. We took our short cut through the temple. As we passed through the night market on the home stretch Lettie and Madeline spotted the shorts they've been looking to buy. They had their sizes and they were half price.

Well we've got to get to bed now, a little tired after all the walking today. And Saksay is picking us all up at 7am tomorrow morning for a 3 day trip to Chiangkhan, Thailand. It is village near the Meekong River.

[coletteleeblog]

Vientiane, Kalasin, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

Monday, March 16, 2015

We did our Visa run today to Vientiane, Laos. Saksay drove us all in his car in 2 trips to the border gate here in Nong Khai. Then we walked across the street to the office. * We filled out papers there. It cost our family $300 to renew our Visas for the next 2 months. The process went very smooth with Saksay's assistance. Once through the check point, we got on a bus for $1.00 each that drove us across the long bridge to the border gate at the other side. Erik didn't even have both feet in the bus yet and they started driving away, door wide open and Erik hanging on for life! They don't wait for anyone here. Once across the bridge we then hopped on a Tuk Tuk. For $12 they drove all 8 of us (and piled in 2 additional passengers as well) into the city center of Vientiane.

The food prices in Laos are very high compared to Thailand. We looked around a bit and grabbed some baguettes with deli meat, onions, cilantro,duck liver pate, and sweet n spicy sauce on them for brunch. After lunch we headed back to the border and did some shopping for designer purses including Chanel, Coach, and Dior to name a few , at the duty free market there. The girls were all very excited, as they had been looking forward to the purse shopping event. Erik even bought himself a money holder, a Gucci wallet. The cost of purchase for these items bought on the other side of the earth was actually affordable!

When we got back from the visa run we had a rest then walked down the street for supper at a local thai restaurant and had a delicious supper. Best tasting food we've had yet I think. Erik and I had beef with Chinese broccoli and rice, the girls all had chicken fried rice. While in the restaurant what do we see walking by on the sidewalk? An elephant! Right in the middle of town! Bizarre things happen in Thailand. Saksay says "This is freedom, no rules!"

Oh we forgot to tell you about something else that seems to be a trend here, unfortunately. Bugs in food! At the Korean BBQ buffet for example, I couldn't help but notice that there was about 30 ants crawling around in the large bowl of sweet corn on the ice cream toppings table. So I quickly go get the waitress to take her and point it out. She doesn't speak English but in charade form explains to me that it's for the ice cream. She didn't bat an eye at the bugs crawling around in it. Then Saksay comes over and says " Colette the ants are attracted to it because it's sweet" and then I realized " Silly Canadian, they don't care, they eat bugs here!"

* Erik's edit: the office that Colette is talking about was actually on the other side of the Friendship Bridge after the bus ride and Saksay's advice at the point that he dropped us off was,"walk over there". A little vague considering it is an international border and had 8 lanes of roadway to cross to get over to this slightly mythical "over there" that he spoke of! LOL. But once we had crossed the bridge (about a mile wide) and made a couple of blunders he showed up to continue his excellent guidance of our VISA run.

[coletteleeblog]

Nong Khai, Thailand

Saturday, March 14, 2015

At 7:00am Saksay came to get us and drop Colette and I off at the van depot so we could travel with Nong to Udon Thani and then on to Nong Khai to meet up with him and the four girls who went in his car. We paid 160 baht each (about $7.50 Cdn) to make the 3.5 hour journey north to the border and what would be the first glimpse of the Mekong River.

This was very exciting for me because I have known Saksay pretty much for as long as I can remember and I my limited understanding up to this point is that his family had escaped across the Mekong River in 1974 to get away from war torn Laos. I have a much better understanding of his trip to Canada now and am so much richer for getting to know this side of Saksay. He is an amazing person and I can only say that what he is doing to show us around is not easy for him and that it is a very self less thing he is doing. Traveling by yourself is one thing...adding another 6 people into your winter "escape", like he is doing...is a whole different experience.

He brought us to a little alleyway right behind the walking street where the night market is held each Saturday evening. We walked down and found a guest house that was able to accommodate our family of six in a traditional Thai house. It came complete with two king size bed's, so we are tripling up in each bed. I unfortunately have Colette and Madeline in my bed… Which makes for a pretty rest less night! They are definitely the two most interesting sleepers in our household and I'm stuck with them!! LOL. The cost of this little slice of Thai "paradise" is 1000 Baht/night ( about $40).

Time for an epiphany from Colette and I quote her words. "We are definitely learning to adapt to a whole different set of standards, in order to do the things that are becoming important to us, to make each of our dreams possible. " I must remind her of that the next time we have another livestock scare...oh... here is more, she wanted me to add this also.

Also from Colette "I think the biggest thing we are seeing & learning on this trip, is how people here live happily with fewer possessions , they spend their money very wisely, and they use whatever skills they have to earn money, every little bit counts. When we see what, as little as, 50 cents can buy over here, it really makes you see the value so much more. I've also gotten used to living in conditions that I first thought to be very uncomfortable and I now have a deeper understanding for how lucky we are in Canada." Erik's interpretation..." WOW, life is going to be more appreciated when going home...no bugs...and I probably won't buy anymore stuff because I am so happy with what I have" Hee Hee LOL. Probably get in trouble for this!! JK

Colette is right. We have learned how to be content and happy wherever we are. With much or with little. I am so impressed with all my girls and how adaptable we are all becoming. Other than the stress that accompanies trying to get 5 women moving out the door I believe we might be starting to squabble less. I definitely can say that we are one close family and that we are having a ton of fun with Saksay and Nong.

Back to our Nong Khai trip. After we got settled in our guesthouse and had a bit of a rest we went to have lunch and see the indoor covered market. More rest and then we ventured back out in the evening to see the night market which had absolutely taken over the walking street. This is where we ate our supper, managed to snag about a dozen free Pepsi's and watch some entertainment. Some was good, some was just bad. I will post a video of the "good" and just explain that the bad takes English humor to a whole new level of sexual perversion that would have been best left in someone's head!! The Thais seemed to flock to the "bad" and Saksay said it is comedy!! Let's just say I fear Peter Saunders may have enjoyed it!! Yikes.

After that it was off to bed because Saksay said he would be here to get us at 8:00 to go for an outing. True to his style that was the understatement of this Nong Khai trip. What he did was ferry us (it takes two trips in his Opal Swift (Geo Metro) to take us anywhere) to one of the most amazing thing I may have ever seen. It was right up there with my trip to Casa Loma in Toronto. We went to Sala Kaeo Kou and it was amazing. Things are so different here. Where else could your climb to the third floor of the museum part of the temple and see the mummified remains of the person who put this together.

Here is the story I was told...I probably will not Google this but choose to believe this account of Sala Kaeo Kou (which is probably correct). The wealthy Laotian man responsible for this had wanted to build it in Laos but was not allowed so he came to Thailand and created it. The communist Laos party had him killed before he was able to finish it (I don't think he intended to ever really finish it, given the magnitude of what he was creating) and the Thai government chose to keep it in this unfinished state. They charge about $.80 Cdn to help with the upkeep of the grounds. Absolutely astounding. For those of you following us @ our https://instagram.com/thailand_adventure_2015/ page you have seen some of the pics already.

Here are the way the workers were cutting foliage out of one of the monuments. They had first set up a ladder barely high enough to hack off the first tree that had started to grow out of a part of the monument before finding 2 VERY long pieces of bamboo that the worker was going to tie himself off to and shinny up to the very top to get the last tree hacked back. I estimate it was about 6 stories high...definitely not up to Canadian safety standards. Not that I am at all in favor of the ridiculous rules we have at home but this may have been easier with a lift of some sort!! We left before I was able to witness the (I hope) successful accomplishment of this task.

After the two trip ferrying of the Lee's ( and Nong) back to our guesthouse for a nap Saksay had another treat up his sleeve. He took us to the big Nong Khai night market over by the train station where we bought Hailey a new pair of Crocs and another soccer jersey and short set. She looks absolutely adorable in these and now has 2. Her crocs were to replace the set she was wearing which had a hole worn right through the bottoms...yes she has been walking ALOT.

He wasn't done yet though and for the foodies out there this one would have been right up your alley. We went to a traditional Korean BBQ where we were totally out of our comfort zone to start with. They put a propane fired grill/cauldron on the table and you go up to the buffet and grab whatever you want to cook yourself. It would not be an exaggeration to say that we only recognized a third of these "potential" ingredients...but with help from our benevolent tour director we were soon on our way to creating a masterpiece of supper. I was the most adventurous trying a lot of the available food, including shrimp, stuffed squid, 3 types of mushrooms (including the apply named pigs ears that grow as tree fungus), bacon wrapped straw mushrooms, side pork, chicken, beef, glass noodles, Chinese spinach, cabbage and to finish it off...self serve hard ice cream. Why don't you comment and ask Emma what it feels like the morning after when you eat 4 bowls of ice cream!?!

2 Opal trips later and home we were to get ready for the monumental VISA run. Monumental because this is officially a milestone in our trip. We have been in Thailand for exactly 2 months. What a blessing to be able to experience this trip.

Well I think Colette will write the blog entry for our trip to Laos tomorrow so stay tuned...

Hailey's quote of the day, "Here dad let me give you a kiss...(smack's a kiss on my cheek)...there now I'm married." To who I ask. "Daaaad,to you of course!!"