Thailand! Part one.

Hello Friends Across the Globe!

As many of you know, we've recently been in Thailand for our honeymoon and yes, yes it was amazing. We had an incredible time and liked Thailand so much that we're really like to visit again. We're toying with the idea of spending some months there when we're finally finished teaching in Korea.
But enough about that. I know you're dying to hear about our adventures so we won't keep you waiting any longer.

I'm going to explain the adventure in a few parts. First is simply a listing of the things we did. it will be slightly boring, but will help me to remember what we did when i come back to make the stories "jump from the screen." ha! Ok. let the listing begin!


Night 1: Arrival
We arrived at the airport at 11pm and found our shuttle to be transported to the "Green Queen Resort."

Day 1:
Explored resort area and then took our first taxi cab ride into the city to find our new digs in the touristy part of town, Banglamphu. Checked into the New Merry V Guesthouse (NOT the Merry V Guesthouse) and set out to explore. We found a walking tour in our travelers bible (AKA the lonely planet) and set out. Partway through we stumbled upon free bangkok bikes and we borrowed two to continue our journey at a cruising speed of 7mph. Finished up back at our hotel and went to get dinner and massage. Shannon got a foot massage and jamie a neck and shoulder.

Day 2: Monday. Bike Tour, ABC Bike Company
Up early to get to the bike company. they piled all 12 of us on bikes and we headed out through bangkok. down tiny little allies with one room apartments, green streets with overhanging balconies, quick stop in the shoe making district, through the market, down a highway, onto a boat and across to the jungle island. Hard Rock Cafe for lunch and then back.
Afterward? What else, drinks and massage.

Day 3: Tuesday
Siloam Cooking Class. Started with a trip to the market, a short lesson on spices in thai cooking and then back to the school for our 5(!) course cooking lesson. Oh man. we were stuffed.

Afterward we headed back to the hotel, took a short nap and then got taken for a ride in a tuktuk. Literally. We visited the standing buddha, the sitting buddha, a travel agency and a thai fashion store (the last two being against our wishes). Afterward it was back to our corner of bangkok for another foot massage.

Day 4: Wednesday Flight of the Gibbon
Up to meet our 6:30 am bus to be taken to the jungle for our jungle zipline adventure.
Um. awesome.
we did the full "adventure" version, so we stayed in the jungle, toured the open zoo both during the day and at night, slept in a 5 star tent (air conditioning and electricity) was given a HUGE dinner and then we to sleep

Day 5: Thursday: Flight of the Gibbon Part two
Woke up early, rode on a elephant, did a ropes adventure course (awesome) and was put on the bus back to bangkok. Arrived in bangkok, headed straight for the train station and hopped an overnight train to Trang in the south of thailand.

Day 6: Friday: Trang
Stranded with no money in trang. We had $30 and an ATM card that didn't work. Stayed at a 5 dollar hotel, ate a 5 dollar dinner, panicked, walked around and called the bank that night to settle the situation.

Day 7: Saturday: Lao Liang aka Paradise!
We took the van to the ferry to the long boat and by 2pm we were eating lunch in the paradise of lao liang. We unpacked and lounged, we ate, we swam, we drank, we relaxed.

Day 8-12: Sunday to Thursday: Lao Liang
Our days we mostly like this:
wake up at sunrise. Eat breakfast. Snorkel OR Kayak OR Rockclimb. Eat lunch. Siesta and drinks until 3. Snorkel and Swim. Eat Dinner. Chat with fellow travellers at the bar. Sleep.
Repeat.

Day 12: Thursday: Lao Liang to Bangkok
We took the long boat, to the ferry to the van to the overnight first class bus that took us back to bangkok.

Day 13: Friday: Bangkok
Arrived back in banglamphu by 6am. slept until 9 (because the bus, albeit first class didn't' cut it). Woke up, ate and headed over to Wat Pho temple to see the 46meter reclining Buddha. Wandered the temple, got a temple thai massage, headed back for dinner shopped a bit and then got another massage before bed.

Day 14: Departure.
6am airport shuttle. Walk through the front door of home at 9pm. le sigh.

Interesting things about Thailand:

Driving:
The driving is by no means as scary as it is in Korea, HOWEVER, people drive on the left with made us chant (outloud) when crossing the street: look to the right. look to the right. look to the right. No car accidents.

Massage:
As you may have guessed, there's lots of massage in thailand. our most expensive one was $15 for an hour. In our time in thailand our combined massage total was 10. Awesome. We would have gotten more but the masseuse on the island wasn't around.


Our adventures continue next time.