HUA HIN -Dolphin Bay Resort Pictures, and Elephant Trekking

I'm back. I decided to honor this blog with a reserved time each week. I have been bogged down with thoughts about grad school, finding a job (to pay off those student loans), and other issues. Maybe not issues to some, but to me I find "my" issues weighing me down. So here I am in this great place called Thailand - the land of smiles, the city of vibrant life and so on. I look at resource guides and see tons of stuff to do and places to visit, and I have only scraped the iceberg of it all. So this blog might motivate me to do more.

Places we have visited

HUA HIN - this beach resort is situated in the South, on the Northern Ithmus which is said to look like an elephant. An animal greatly depicted in most art. It is Thailands oldest beach resort. We went to the Dolphin bay resort http://www.dolphinbayresort.com/ - a small family resort. The resort sent a van at a cost to pick us up at our apartment. The drive was reminscent of many drives I took with my parents and siblings to Lake Malawi, Malawi. Thailand and Malawi share many similar aspects when it comes to weather (same temps, but more humidity here), fruits (mangoes, guavas, papayas etc), use of coconut milk in most dishes, and curries, and similarities in plants and trees. This was the part I saw that made a little nostalgic for what I had known growing up. We checked in at 2. The resort is not for honeymooners, or those who have no children NOR those who have children but cannot stand other people's children! We are neither of those. The resort was filled with happy, loud children in the pool. The resort had good food, at a good cost. We ate only once further down the street at another resort for change. The rooms were adequate. Do queen beds not exist in resorts? When looking for open bookings I found many resorts to offer two twin beds! A rollway bed for a child was often offered at a cost. I don't know. That was strange. So we ended up getting two rooms with two twin beds in each. The cost was minimal though. Worth it. We spent our days in the sun by the pool and stuffing our faces with dessert and more dessert. We took a boat ride to an island, where we came upon the advertised "Monkey Island" - many monkeys who are now used to the boat coming with people to feed them. The man whistled, and these monkeys in all sizes came. One was not civil. One jumped (humped?) my daughters leg whereupon she admitted a scream so loud I thought she had lost it. One decided to mate with another, and Mike and I were at loss of words when our 9 year old daughter asked, "what are they doing,". Man! The rest of the trip around the island was uneventful but peaceful. We also rented bikes and went for a bike ride on the small tarred road infront of the resort. The beach front was not nice. A few brave souls went in The water was somewhat clean, but the beach seemed eroded, and it was dirty. Think broken glass, lost slipper, plastic etc. But no too much to scare a good walk on the beach. It was just a chance to teach a lesson on pollution. We went to Hua Hin town to go elephant trekking - that was a neat experience. Sitting on these giants as they trekked up hills, and down hills (hold on!) and through a small pond? river?. I recommend doing this anywhere. Hua Hin the town was a good 30 min drive. Small town where some of the big hotels are. Would recommend you staying in the town if this resort is not you. Nevertheless if you are looking to take your children to a small, reasonable resort this is the place to go. We missed the night market.

Wat Phra Chetuphon - (Wat Po) - Reclining Buddha

We took the children there on a Saturday. Easy to get there. Take the River Taxi to Stop # 8 (Tha Thien) - on most maps. THere is the What Phra Kaew (Grand Palace) which we did not get to see after the children pulled the stop signs to this visit. The Reclining Buddha is housed in a temple, amongst other temples in this courtyard. The Wat Po is Bangkoks largest and oldest temple dating back to Chakri dynasty, and apparently still houses monks. Did not see them. The Reclining Buddha is magnificent, but comical at the same time. I risk saying that, but I say it in an amazing sense. Its size is what is comical. The statue is made out of brick and gold and is 150 ft long(don't quote me here) and isn't that ridicously long? Maybe not. It is Buddha waiting for his escape to nirvana as he lays there. It was hard to take a picture that depicted its length. But its amazing to see its size. His feet had mother of pearl inlay that is beautiful. This visit made me wish I had one of those fancy schmacy cameras rather than my little in the palm one! Do walk around the other temples and take pictures with some of the statues for your children's history books. It was a nice day!

I finally did it!

I am such a procrastinator - it feels like sin now. I realize its not something that is going to be redeemed, now that I am in my 30's, so I accepted the fact that I am a natural born procrastinator. But it does not soften the feeling of being "bad" when I lay things off. Like what you ask? Well, like this blog for one. I have wanted to chronicle my thoughts, actions and the parts of my life that are ok to be public for yonks!, but kept putting it off. So here I am ..... and I think this blog is going to mostly be about Thailand, and my adventures here. I arrived September 6th. We found out in March 2008 that we were moving. The anticipation had been so high that when Mike called me that one afternoon (which was not a common thing to do) I knew we had orders to move. I took the news negatively, and had to be calmed down when I went off into one of my tirades. Shamefully, I had to look up as to where Thailand was exactly on the map. I set my expectations low, and have been pleasantly surprised how that meter went up some when I settled. I had the headache of getting the house ready for rent, closing down the child care business, graduating and other stresses. He had to leave early, and before that he had to leave for training so I was left with a list of things to do. I did not believe I would get through it. I honestly thought I was going to go mad. Moving within borders is a headache, but try moving overseas - that is a migraine! What to take? What not to take? What to sell? Who will buy this oversized vehicle? (Someone did!) and shots! and passports! and trainings to attend! (I did not go to them), and all this stuff that suddenly was in the "urgent" pile. When I finally got on that plane I had to blink and start breathing because I had forgotten how.

Being on the plane was a nightmare on its own. I am not great with flying. The children whom I feared would cause me to swallow the Benadryl medicine were actually good. The youngest one slept when it was time to sleep; sat in his seat when he was supposed to, and ate when he was supposed to. My daughter was a great help, and was little Ms. Independent. Though when my son was awake he talked a storm about everything. New mothers out there arm yourselves with knowledge because once the whys? come in you will have to know the answers. For surely to lie to their innocent faces would be awful. So there we were on the plane to Bangkok. Excited. Nervous and tired. I had cut my hair earlier in the week so I was sporting my new hairstyle trying to keep it looking pristine so when the hubby saw me he would be reminded never to leave me again - now try doing that with what? 16 hours in flight or less than that? Head up. Hair in place etcetra. LOL.

Next day at our new apartment (which raised the bar a notch on my scale of what to expect in Bangkok) we hung around, and then took a gander outside the vicinity and to one of the Malls. Yes, one of the Malls. Who would think so many Malls existed in one place and were all accessible in minutes? Some are grand with stores whose names we pronounce well, but prefer not to go in. Some have items of interest, and others we associate with in terms of price. But such an array of stores. We had our first Thai meal in Thailand. Mike has always been for spicy food, and I could see he had already adapted to the local food. It was good though. We took in sights, and sound, and ......crowds. I also took in the fact that I was one of the few dark skinned people, ok! tanned is more like it... amongst a sea of very fair looking people. The girls are pretty. They are tiny. They are fashionable. Did not notice the males much. Are there more women than men in this city? Hmmm. Anyways we took it all in. More on Bangkok and my travels later. I am glad to be on finally.