So, we arrived in Chiang Mai last Sunday and have found our place of residence; the B.D. House in the inner city. Our accommodations are situated right inside the moat that surrounds the old city. It is a fairly large place with two pools, but it has only a small breakfast menu. We are in the second building, on floor 3, and we are one of the few people on our floor. Let me fill you in on what happened since I left you in Bangkok: We got to the train station around 4:30 PM on Sunday after we had gone to ...
Today was our last full day in Bangkok, and I thinkwhat we did a pretty good job of enjoying it while we could. Here are the things that we did today: We ate a meal (breakfast) consisting of rice, chocolate milk, mangos, and scrambled egg. Then we went down the street to the coffee shop (Chimney) and had mochas, small for the kids, medium for the adults. We also had two pieces of cake and a triple brownie. It was all very good. On our way back home we stopped at the Buddha Dharma Relics Museum and saw a lot ...
Today we went to the Lampini Park which is a big park right in the middle of Bangkok. For the first half hour we sat on a bench and took pictures of water monitors and turtles. After that, we went to a dock and rented two paddleboats that each had two duck figureheads made out of plastic. We paddled those around for about half an hour before returning the boats to the dock. Then we went home after going to the grocery store and getting ice cream, which we had for supper along with pizza after we swam in the ...
Wat Pho and Wat Arun are both temples on the river running through Bangkok. Wat Arun was my favorite because you could climb up high on steep staircases. However, Wat Pho was interesting because there were some school girls who practised their English by asking us questions about where we are from and if they could take their picture with us. On our way home, we stopped by Swenson's and had some ice cream before going into Tesco to buy some things for supper, which we had at home ...
Well, we finally found the resturaunt. As it turns out, it is a chain that is around Thailand, it is called MK. It is an interesting place, where, sitting in the middle of each table, there is a stove burner with a pot of spiced water in which you put in your food that you order. There are no forks or knives, only a soup spoon, a ladle, and a set of chopsticks for each person. Now to start at the beginning of the day, For breakfast, we went to the coffee shop down the street, then we went back ...
Ice cream and pizza, in Thailand!!! Who would've thought?!?!?! Sounds more like Italy, except there you would change it to be gelato and pizza (or would that be piazza??) Anyway, today started out like any other day, we got up, took showers and had breakfast. But that is as far as the similarities go, today we stayed at ourbapartment building doing schoolwork until we left for supper. Eryn had looked up everything for our supper arrangements and had it all planned out when we found out that she had remembered the wrong mode of transportation. So, instead of doing that, ...
Some people like Buddha, and some people don't, right??? Today we got to experience what people who like Buddha do and see when they visit the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Karo (pronounced Pre Q). We saw that, in a legend, there is a demon king with 10 heads and, when he gets angry, 20 arms. Also there are snake guardians that have five heads and necks. Their faces look like human faces when they are happy and crocodile faces when they are mad. Buddhists have lots of ways of getting good luck, including dripping holy water off of flowers ...
Today we got up early (6:45 haha) to go to the Jatujak weekend market and the Or Tor Kor to look at stuff. The Or Tor Kor sells fruits and vegetables, while the Jatujak market has just about everything. We found the weekend market but then could not find the Or Tor Kor. So we just gave up on that idea and went to the park for a little bit. On the way home we decided to go to Tesco and buy some more food for breakfast. When we finally got home it was around three and I swam in ...
Since you can’t be friends with dogs in Thailand and since it is so hot and Americans sweat so much, bottled water has become man’s new best friend. The pool at our hotel is fairly big, with fountains and tile whales at the bottom. We also found out today that 7-11 is a very common store on the streets behind our apartment building. On a single walk on only two streets we saw 4 7-11s!!!! ...
Today it is Saturday and we have been in Bangkok for about 30 hours, and we have done a lot of things. We have learned that almost all of the locals wear long pants and jeans, making us easy for pickpockets to spot as rich tourists if we wear shorts. So, since we decided to wear long pants, we sweated a lot yesterday as we walked around searching for the "elusive" 7-11, that, as it turns out is only a little ways down the street. We also have to keep ourselves from petting or in general, touching dogs, because most ...
Our whole family has been up since 5:30 (some earlier) taking showers, eating breakfast, and getting ready to go to the airport. Since then we have ridden one plane from Portland to Seattle. Soon, though, we will fly away to Japan for another layover. Then we will fly to Bangkok, in Thailand. Right now, though, we are sitting in the United Lounge charging our electronics and waiting to go to our gate ...
Two more days!! (and two exclamation marks, too!!) Are you done packing? We are leaving in two days! But we still have a lot to do. So no. Is it hard to handle the fact that you will be away from home for a year? Not that much, I mean, we don't even know when we will come back, because the airlines only let people book tickets 330 days in advance so we won't know anything until sometime in August. How do you fit everything in boxes? We don't, but we make it seem like we do. So many people say stuff like they packed ...
Ahhh..... The wonderful feeling of going on a new trip, the start of a whole new adventure. All of the planning and the packing, all of it in preparation for only one year of traveling around the world. Yet still, home is a place very dear to all of us, and being away from it for a year will be somewhat hard ...
Well good morning Ethan. Are you warm yet? The high here today will be 63 with showers. By the end of next week it will finally be almost warm here. Did you enjoy your flight? Laters, Love Grandma
It’s pretty warm here ( as in I sweat when I stay outside for 10 minutes) and the flights were long and very annoying
Good Morning Ethan. Your body will adjust to the heat. Give it time.
Be very vigulant while there. The pick pockets are very good at what they do!
Its in the 50’s here this morning and raining.
I would like some of you heat. Love you
I would gladly trade this weather for your weather, because I prefer cold to warm. Also, we have not gotten pickpocketed yet, so that is good.
Good Morning Ethan. Sorry we wern’t home yesterday to take your call. We went to the Rodeo to watch Bull Riding. The sun was strong so was pretty hot because we went early so we could get a parking place close in the handicapped area. There was one bull that was full of trouble. He’d dump his rider fast and then run to the other end of the arena. Three guys on horseback were susposed to push him back to the open gate that he was suposed to go through. But instead the bull chased the horses and anybody too close to the fence. He was having a lot of fun. Finally they let a big black bull in to have a talk to the unruly one and lead him out the gate. A couple minutes of excitement.
On the 4th of July we went to the Island Park in Springfield. Again we went early for close up parking. We acheived that but I was ready to go home by 7 pm! Fireworks don’t start ’til 10 pm. We stayed. Luckily I brought a book to read and my puzzle book! It was cold too after the sun went down.
Summer arrived on Thursday. Todays in the mid 80’s tomorrow in low 90’s.
I’m glad you’re having a good time and seeing and experiencing a lot of different things. Sounds like a place much different then you’re used to. ENJOY!!!!
Love You and Eyrn
Grandma
Hey all the food sounds sooooooo good im camping right now but when i get home for I am going to try to mango banna pancakes. Yum
Our thermometer says that it is 102 degrees farenheit, so we are staying inside……
Sounds like you had a lot of fun at the Rodeo. Did you like the fireworks?
Ethan
Thats really neat that you get to go to another country. Is that because you are waiting for the visa to India? You said the food was better. Why is it better? Oh what fun! Love you
I’m sure glad you enjoyed holding that cobra. He looks kinda harmless!! Glad you were careful tho.
We’re having summer today. 98 or 99 degrees. Its to start cooling down tomorrow. I had forgotton how hot this really was!
Grandpa is having a grand time in California. Today he’s enjoying Tony and Jack. Well Brittany too and the rest of them. They were getting ready to go swimming.
I went and had lunch with Barbara at the Stage Coach Restaurant. Too warm to do much. Thought of going to the beach today. Its actually nice there today.
Love You All.
Grandma
I think the cobra was harmless because I heard one of the handlers talk about the cobras not having fangs. It sounds like it is hotter there than here, but soon we will be in the desert where it will be over 100 every day.
Ethan