8 Months This Once

Observations after 2 weeks in Central and Northern Thailand 1. Thai people are, for the most part, so friendly and welcoming.   We've had so much patience and kindness come our way as they endeavour to help us enjoy their beautiful country. 2. There is a huge level of respect and love here for the King.   Tributes to the recently deceased King are **everywhere** in the forms of huge black billboards to small displays in businesses, guest houses and tuk tuks. 3. Religion is a huge part of Thai life.   Temples are elaborate, beautiful, and everywhere. Many guesthouses and businesses have a small shrine for Buddha where incense and/or candles are burned and offerings are made, often flowers and, strangely, open but full bottles of red Fanta, always with a straw coming out. 4. Thai people are hardworking and resourceful, little businesses selling food or goods are positioned in every little nook in the cities. Bazaars and markets are common at n...

Learning to Make Thai Food Thai cuisine is a big part of the Thailand experience, and, for the most part, we were really enjoying the food, so we decided to take a cooking course.  It was a pretty great experience.  We got picked up and taken to a Thai market where we were shown the various herbs, vegetables, and other ingredients that we would be using.  We didn't buy any because our class was on an organic farm where they grow everything themselves.  When we got to the farm we walked through the garden with our guide, smelling, tasting, and collecting all kinds of ingredients like Thai ginger, 3 types of basil, peppers, cilantro, Thai eggplant, lemongrass, kaffir limes, and more. Walking through the organic garden at our cooking school We then went into the outdoor kitchen and chose the dishes we would make.  We all got to make spring rolls, then a main course, then a curry paste to be used in a curry and finally a soup.  We each got our own sta...

           We had a choice between ziplining and going to see elephants at a sanctuary. me and my sister both wanted to go to the ziplines. We were happy about our choice, but started to regret it afterwards. Anyways.... a bus came to our guesthouse to pick us up. We were so happy about this until we got of the highway. The line of traffic to get up the side of the mountain was terrible. What would have been a ten minute drive turned in to a 1.5 hour one. When we arrived at the ziplines, we were given a small Thai lunch buffet. It wasn't the best food, but it was still food. After the food we were taken to get suited up. We were given harnesses and helmets, and a lot of carabineers. Our guides were really fun and, although completely safe, grabbed us and scared us a lot. Some of the ways they did this were by yelling, telling us not to go, then pushing us. other times, they would go first and pretend something went wrong, and grab m...

We planned to take the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, apparently it is a scenic day trip or a neat overnight ride.  It turned out that we couldn't do either because the trains were booked solid for several days, this being the holiday season in Thailand.  So we flew to Chiang Mai instead, and stayed for 4 nights at a lovely guesthouse called the Golden Fort Guesthouse in the Old City section of Chiang Mai.  Our guesthouse hosts were Mr. Pong and his son and daughter - they were very accommodating and ran their guesthouse with pride.  They had a nice little garden where they offered breakfast (instant coffee/tea and an assortment of sweets) - it was a nice place to start the day and chat with other guests. We arrived on December 30 and immediately liked the feel of Chiang Mai - it is surrounded by hills with lots of greenspace which I, for one, missed greatly in Bangkok.  The old city itself is surrounded by a beautiful moat and, in places, the old ci...

Answer:                         Before I did any research on the Buddha, I thought he was the god that Buddhists praised and believed in. Sort of like Jesus Christ when you're a Christian, but I was way off. Buddha was a man named Gautama Buddha, his parents were the king and queen of India. He was born in 563 BCE and died in 483 BCE. He was a normal man who lived in a magical world full of gods. Gods controlled everything from weather to wealth, shelter to trees. The gods could not end Buddha's suffering so he stopped praying to them. He went into the woods and took of all his clothes and jewels and covered himself in rags. He wanted to feel what it was like to suffer so he would no longer have to watch others suffer. Buddha meditated for 7 days without moving, eating or drinking. Finally, he had found happiness. Buddha them went on to go all over India and teach wha...

Maya’s Entry #1 (Dec. 29, 2016) It all started on Dec. 25th in Bangkok, Thailand, when we attempted to get a taxi. It was really confusing for both the taxi driver and us to find out where we were going because the driver spoke little English, but after about 15 minutes we got it. Once we got to what my parents like to call “home’’ we listened to some tips from the people who were staying at the house before us. After, we went and explored around the main street closest to our “house’’, where we got some smoothies, groceries for breakfast and dinner and found out that the driving rules are nowhere near the same as Canada’s. For example, scooters rule the streets. Scooters weave in and out of traffic as they please and vehicles have the right of way - when you want to cross the road, you wait for a space between two cars and make a run for it. There is no standard for the cars; open sides and no seatbelts are a normal. It was a little tricky finding our way back to the house...

Hello friends and family.  We finally got on the road to Vancouver on the 22nd, only 4 hours later than planned.  It was fitting that as we drove away at dusk it began to lightly snow, reminding us that we are leaving behind winter to spend most of the next 8 months in warmth and sun. After an amazing traditional Christmas Eve Polish dinner with the Nowotny clan in Langley we headed for the airport.  Halfway there, Lucas scared himself thinking he'd forgotten his iPod on the counter at his cousin's house.  But after a couple minutes of fretting and calming words from his mom, he realized it was in the deep pocket of his new pants.  Phew!!! On arrival at the airport, we learned that our flight, originally scheduled to leave at 12:50 a.m., had been delayed 2 1/2 hours.  This would have us arriving into Taipei after the departure of our connecting flight that was to take us to our first destination, Bangkok.  So we m...