8 Months This Once

Our 30 day tourist visas for Thailand were expiring on January 24th and we needed to leave on time to avoid paying a penalty.  Maybe it's because we knew we had to go, or maybe it was the rash of tummy troubles sweeping through the family, but it seemed like we were all feeling ready to move on to Cambodia. Sitting in our hotel room for one (last) night in Bangkok, we came up with our personal lists of the best and worst of our time in Thailand: Lucas : Best 1.  Rock Climbing in Railay 2.  Amazing Thai food (pad Thai, sweet and sour chicken, fried vegetables, etc) 3.  Chillin on the beaches Worst (all the same suckiness) 1. Being sick in Koh Lanta (stomach bug) 2.  Airports - so busy, so stressful 3.  Mini buses - too crowded, soooo many people Maya : Best 1. Zip lining in Chiang Mai 2.  Fruit smoothies everywhere 3.  Rock Climbing in Railay Worst 1.  Fried Grasshoppers in Bangkok 2.  Scooter Ride in Mae Salong 3. All of the bad

  Yesterday, we went to a beautiful extension of the mainland called Railay. There were two great white sand beaches and a small town. There is a big mountain range between Krabi and Railay so that you have to take a boat to from Krabi to get there. The boat ride was forty minutes. When we first got to Railay  at 10:00 AM , we registered for a rock climbing course that started  at 2:00 PM  so we had lots of time to kill. We went and hit a couple beaches, but I'll tell you about the rock climbing part. So, at two o'clock we went back to the place we registered to get geared up. Maya and I wore shoes, helmets, and harnesses. Nothing was that uncomfortable except the shoes, they were like 50 sizes too small, but that's how they are supposed to be because they give your toes better leverage on the rocks.  Next we went with our guide on a walk to the cliffs. There were about 15 lines in total, ( on that cliff) but I only did five. The best thing about this was that they d

After spending a couple of weeks in beautiful northern Thailand we were ready to warm up and relax with some time on the beaches in the south. There are so many islands to choose from, and we only had time for a few - tough decision time!  We narrowed it down to the Andaman Sea side since the Gulf of Thailand was rainy and apparently flooding in some areas.   We  eventually decided on Koh Lanta since it was described as beautiful, laid back, and fairly authentic. We flew from Bangkok to Krabi on January 11, spent one night in Krabi Town, and then caught a ferry to Koh Lanta to begin our Island Time.  We stayed at a hotel just off Long Beach, originally booking in for 2 nights, but then starting the next 2 days with "Should we stay another night"?  "Yes!", so we stayed for 4 nights.  We enjoyed the pool, the beach, the sunsets, the air conditioning, and the clean hotel room with a fridge!   Maya finding ways to be shaded because getting out o

Our days in Chiang Mai were drawing down and we had no set plans for where to go next.  In a café, we tasted some really good coffee.  It was a great antidote to the freeze-dried crystals we had been getting used to.  We then heard about a brand of northern Thai coffee, Doi Chaang, which consistently produces coffee rated one of the best in the world.   Small Akha village, Doi Chang, surrounded by fair-trade coffee plantations When we also learned from  another traveller at our guesthouse about a 'heavenly' mountainous village, also in the north, famous for its Oolong tea and for the history behind how it became a tea growing region (more on that from Maya), we decided to make a trip of it.   So we headed north - first to Mae Salong, nestled in the heart of the high elevation tea growing region, to taste the teas and tour around some of the plantations.     Then it would be onto Chiang Rai, with a day trip to Doi Chang, to see first hand how coffee is produced a