Family Adventure Around Thailand!

Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand
May 14th 2012

Published: January 24th 2013

I was so excited when the time came for my family to visit me out here in Thailand! I ventured into Bangkok not just to pick up my family but to also get my foot checked out. Yes, I had done something remarkably stupid several months ago, I tore a tendon in my foot and instead of getting it fixed played two tournaments on it. So now with it swollen and all tournaments finished for the year I decided it was about time to get the sucker checked out.

After finding out that I would not need surgery BUT I would need to wear a boot, yes a knee high, plastic, suffocating, can't get wet or dirty boot, for 6 weeks I took a deep breath and wondered how exactly a trip to beaches and living on a dirt road would really work out. I then said, well I'm in for a smelly 6 weeks and went to pick up my family.

My mother, brother and aunt had all come out for two weeks. And after traveling for two days I forced them on a bus and up to my village. Arriving in town by 6, my Thai sister came and picked us up, drove us to her families house and offered us a feast to dine on. This was my families first insight into my Thai families ways, lots of food, lots of love and lots of laughter. As usual the food was amazing and as we conversed back and forth I was immensely proud of myself for all the language I had apparently learned at some point during the last year.

After the feast we headed to my house we’re my family was shocked to find that I do not live in a hut. Ok so they knew I didn’t live in a hut but they had no idea that I lived in a beautiful two story house with tile floors and furniture because despite my mom constantly asking for photos, I never provided any. They were even more surprised when I showed them were I sleep. Despite having two beds I sleep on the tile floor in my living room, I just like the cool tile underneath me when I’m drenched with sweat from the Thai heat, who can blame me really?

After my (Thai) sister and I argued over where exactly my family would sleep (she would have much preferred them to stay at her house despite the fact that mine is bigger) we got some pillows and such and set ourselves up in the living room. That was my families first day in Thailand. It ended at the rip hour of 9pm, pretty much my bed time anytime I’m in the village.

Bright and early I make my way to the village gym where I rock the hot pink elliptical for a time and then do some much needed breakfast shopping. Milk, cereal, yogurt the works, I’m going all out for my family. Family was already the talk of the town, followed closely by my new fancy foot, and a little further down the chain of gossip my new nose piercing (which nobody but my family thought was cute). Everyone wanted to meet them and with three days in the village I thought they would. Silly me, thinking we wouldn’t be Thaiknapped.

By 10 I had received a handful of calls demanding my families appearance at the Tesseban. Being that they were still tired from their travels, sore from sleeping on the floor, hesitant about bucket shows and enjoying a hearty meal of yogurt and cereal they were in no rush to head over to an office building. But when the calls kept coming, and coming, and coming we decided it was about time. And once there we were rushed to the bosses office were we talked and by we I mean I tried to translate back and forth without making a fool of myself in front of my boss.

It wasn’t easy when my aunt wanted to have a photo shoot with my boss, talk about embarrassing. From there more photo shoots occurred in pretty much every room, street, area we entered. We met every single person that works at the Tesseban as well as two of our ancient ruins and some farming equipment. From there we were whisked away to lunch were we had a feast that even I couldn’t help but find fantastic. Fish, shrimp, chicken, fruit everything and anything was there. And if that wasn’t enough we went and bought more fruit once the meal was over because naturally you can’t end a meal without some fruit.

We returned home only to be informed that in a few short hours we would be headed out once more to check out monkeys. And that is exactly what we did. After just a few hours of rest we were hopping back into a car to drive to a Wat to check out some monkeys. I personally am not the biggest fan of monkeys. I am less of a fan of feeding said monkeys but having become Thai I geng jaied everyone and hopped in the back with my brother. It was like last time, a bunch of monkeys scurrying around trying to get food. One even hopped up onto the back of the van which I expertly kicked off with my new and improved foot, i.e. boot.

From there yet another feast was served at my sister’s house were we ate a shit ton of food and drank our weight in beer. And if that wasn’t enough we were told that we would be repeating this tomorrow, at 9am, on our way to a fancy Wat known as Pan Am Yoi.

And they spoke the truth for at 8:30 am we were hopping in a van and by 9 we were drinking. I admit it, I am a drinker, I like it and can’t seem to ever say no to it, but even I don’t want it at 9 am. Didn’t stop me though, after two rounds of vodka shots we moved onto beer. Before we even got to the wat we were all feeling, well let’s say happy. Lunch was served and eaten and then we made our way to the wat. Pan Am Yoi, no doubt that is not how it is spelt but that is how I hear it. It is a beautiful wat, but it is also several floors culminating in a crazy spiral staircase with over a 100 stairs. True that doesn’t really sound that bad, but now add alcohol, Thai heat, and a boot on your foot. Oh have I mentioned that this is also the third time I’ve been here?

Despite all of that I made it up there second, just behind my aunt. I don’t know if I’m proud of this or just find myself making stupid decisions like running up stairs… we’ll see when the results about my foot come in in the near future. And after being up there for a few short minutes we headed back down to the more important aspect of any bpii tiao, the shopping. Clothes, knick knacks, a shoe (yes I just needed one) were all obtained. And then we headed back… not without a few more beers of course.

Our last night was spent with the most wonderful woman in KuKaSing, my tutor Ajaan Jinda. After eating some Thai style bbq, I broke her face by insisting on paying and then had her drive us home. Tomorrow we were headed out early, real early.

So we packed up and fell asleep only to be awaken a few hours later. We piled into the same van we were in the day before and headed to Ubon where we would take a plane down South.

Phuket:

Now I don’t live a life of luxury, I was planning an eight hour bus ride followed by a 12 hour bus ride. But turns out when you have people visiting that actually make money you can live a life of luxury so instead of the buses we headed up to the airport and took a 2 hour plane. In fact I don’t even think it was a two hour plane. It was bliss. And if that wasn’t the smoothest thing that could happen on this trip well then the booking of a hotel, taxi, ferry, taxi and another ferry went even smoother. Before we knew it we were lounging at Boomerang Village in Phuket. Perhaps the nicest place I have ever stayed, there were beautiful rooms, a huge pool, and delicious food.

I wish I could tell you more about Phuket but our hotel was a short distance from the beach and I was unwilling to walk there with my Boot. My family also didn't feel like venturing out because this was their first time to just relax. After traveling for 2 days and then being Thaiknapped/no exactly the most relaxing sleeps on the floor they were ready for a break. Can you blame them? Plus when you have a beautiful room, stunning view, lovely pool and a restaurant with all the tasty foods you could want how can you really blame us for not leaving?

Kho Phi Phi

We hung out there two days before we headed out to Kho Phi Phi. And as luck would have it we made friends along the way. A young couple from Miami were our new soul mates. In fact we followed them to their hotel, which was even more amazing than Boomerang. We didn’t make it there before we checked out a room that my mom had insisted on finding. I told her that this was the kind of place that you just go and find something but NO she had to look it all up. And so we went to where she thought would be ideal only to find construction, ugly rooms, and an inability for me to go anywhere because it was so steep. So we peaced out and moved on.

The Viking Resort topped the Boomerang Village, something all of us thought would be impossible. Why did it top it, well It was set up in the side of the island. It had its own private beach and each room was more like a tree house. It was spectacular. True I was now hopping all over the place and climbing up steep mountains but I wasn’t going to let a little issue like tendons, broken toes, and a boot stop me from having fun. And after having the workers bring all of our stuff up to our little suite I knew we had found an awesome spot. Each and every one of them laughed at my boot and I laughed right back, asking each and every one of them if it was beautiful. Being exhausted from watching them Sherpa up our stuff we headed to lunch.

We relaxed for most of the afternoon and only came back together for the food tasting and dinner. Seeing Larb on the menu I ordered that, it being my favorite meal in Thailand. We were joined by our neighbor who was traveling alone and when we were done the two of us took a stroll on the beach. The beach isn’t very long so when I saw my brother chatting up two chicks instead of letting him do his thing I totally bombarded them. In fact I sat right on down and joined them. Turns out Brian had already told them all about me so I learned about them. My two new Aussie friends.

My brother being very social brought over our two Miami friends from earlier, followed by two Canadians. This is what my brother would later refer to as his own little UN. We had two Aussies, four Americans, a Dutchman, and two Canadians. Perhaps not a UN but certainly a combination of wonderful people. It is amazing how even though we knew so little of each other we seemed to become fast friends. And we spent the rest of the night drinking some classy Chang and getting to know one another, each of them dropping out until Brian and I were the last ones left. Returning to a our little (not so little) bungalow we feel asleep almost instantly.

Breakfast was followed by relaxation which was followed by a shake which was followed by a trip into town. We decided to get some of our shopping over with so into town we went and shopping is what we did. After grabbing a handful of new souvenirs and clothes and the such we headed on back where we then grabbed some lunch. And from lunch decided to do a bit more relaxing. And from relaxing a bit more reading. And from reading more relaxing, until we eventually reached dinner time. At dinner I met up once more with my new Aussie friends who invited me out to the bar. I was glad for the invite considering my brother had passed out and looked as if he might just stay that way till next week.

I invited him none the less but after several refusals to remove himself from the bed I figured I was on my own. Ironically by the time Aussies and I left my aunt was screaming down if I had seen my brother head off. I hoped we would be meeting up with him. But before running into him we ran into the Dutchman. He said he would be coming to join us later on.

Once at the bar I see brother and the Miami couple and am slightly relieved. And new ridiculousness was already forming. After a beer and a banana daiquiri, both being paid for by my Miami friend because A) according to her I’m serving my country and B) she is my elder so I have to respect her especially in Thai culture, I was so thankful considering my Peace Corps allowance does not have a yummy alcoholic drink allowance. Hey a free drink is a free drink and something I will never pass up it seems.

At this point all of us are feeling pretty good from the drinks we’re drinking and that is when the DJ announces that we are playing a game each and every one of them stands up on command and walks forward. I am still not willing to follow every beckon call from the DJ and remain seated. But as the DJ asks for more and more people to come forward and nobody does what’s a girl going to do. As I walk up the DJ yells that I will have to run, seeing as this boot prevents that I say he either takes me or takes nobody. And finally another man joins us. So out of the seven places to fill 6 are from our group, we have a very good chance of winning this game. I knew we would be playing a form of musical chairs where instead of sitting with music the DJ will call out an object and we have to find it and sit down, last to sit down is out. For someone who can’t run I did pretty well. I make it to the fourth stage, leaving brother and the two Aussies to fight it out. It doesn’t really matter at this point, we’re all at the table together and know that we will be sharing the two buckets and beer that they will win. Brother comes in third and the Aussie girls take home the prize of buckets that we all enjoy. And with each and every sip we all get drunker. With each and every sip we begin to dance more and act ridiculous. We also now have Thai friends, the DJ, the waiters all of them are amused by us and even more amused by my Thai, which I always think gets better with beer.

After some time the bar shuts down and we walk ourselves back to Viking Nature Resort to lay our weary heads down.

Despite getting in at 3 it isn’t hard waking up at 7. Besides it is past my breakfast time and so I am hungry, real hungry. We head on down and grab ourselves some food. I then head into town with mom and Aunt to grab some money and make the trek back one more time. Each trek is stupid for my foot but hey its vacation. Once back we suck down one of those delicious shakes and sit sadly with our Aussie friends who are about to depart. Again I must say it is strange how in a short period of time people can get so close. Who is to say we’ll even stay friends but the hours (literally hours) spent together are all memorable. We wave our goodbyes, grab some lunch (if you haven’t noticed my life revolves around food for the most part), move into a new room bigger and farther up the mountain and I obtain my first real massage.

It is magical, I’m not going to lie. Despite being in Thailand over a year it is the first real massage I've had and hopefully not my last. It is terribly relaxing and when I am done I know I must venture up the mountain to the dreaded room. I have heard so much of this hike, I mentally prepare myself to head up there and not come down till dinner. And as I make my way up I’m wondering when the hard part will come. It is true it is farther than the last one, and at one particular spot a bit tricky but by no means this unbearable unconquerable quest my family had made it out to be. So once up there I decide to come back down.

I pull out my kindle to get my reading on only to be joined by Boi, one of the Viking Staff. He has been our server, bag mover, and all around cool guy since we got here. I hadn’t talked to him much prior to this but he had always been kind, asking about my foot and making sure everything was A OK. It was cool chilling with Boi. I got to learn a lot about him and the place and who he works for and everything. We spoke for nearly an hour and before he headed off I let him know that we were going to Hippy Bar that night and that he should join us. He also promised me that he would do a fire show if he came.

We headed back to Hippy Bar to watch a Reggae Band that evening. After being laughed at by a handful of people for my boot, and then laughing at them when they realized I spoke Thai Brain and I took our seats. After ordering drinks and then taking a call from my Thai sister I conversed with her only to have my brother run outside hand me the drinks and bolt in the way we came. Ok guess I’m hanging out alone for a while. And I did, milking my Chang which I didn’t really want to begin with. Sitting alone and lame, not even the Thai guys I was with yesterday were there yet. Finally Brother returned with Aunt and Mom and slowly after that Miami and Boi. We had a party going and before you know it we were all drinking and having a good time. I chatted it up with Boi and some other Thai guy who was trying to teach me southern Thai but I was failing miserably outside of Mai Pru.

The Reggae band started up. And so the night went on with us drinking and talking and finally the fire show began. I was excited to see that despite drinking Boi was headed up on stage. And he was fantastic. He had told me that his style was different because he learned it the old school way but the old school way was so much better than the new form and we all agreed that he was the best, outside of the DJ who was just AMAZING.

We headed back and nearly at our place it begins to rain. Now I fear the rain, not as a Thai person fears the rain but as a chick who has to wear a boot for an extended period of time and really doesn’t want it smelling like wet dog for weeks. So doing the only rational thing I could think of I ran, ran up a mountain and a flight of stairs to our bungalow. Ok maybe not the smartest decision and I would pay for it tomorrow but at the moment is seemed the only decision. And yes the next morning I was paying for it. We would be leaving today so we spent the day getting massages, eating good food, and chatting it up with the local staff who had all been great and I knew I would miss them.

It was a bummer to set sail from Kho Phi Phi but it had to be done because now we were headed to Railey.

Railey

At Railey our long boat was letting us off a good distance away from the shore. I stared at the distance as I removed Boot and got ready to walk and NOT fall on the slippery side walk we were ment to walk on. Brian and I were successful at this, as I cradled my Boot in my arms like a baby. Just like at Koh Phi Phi, we did the same thing by making plans for one hotel and then realize it wasn’t the best choice only to choose the first hotel we walked past. With our hotel in place we dropped off our bags and guess what we did, grabbed some food.

Brian and I then decided to do a bit of wandering and ended up at a little Reggae bar we’re we grabbed some drinks and met up with my friend Duffy and her friend Lindsey. We planned it out that we would be on Railey at the same time and it worked out fabulously. My mom and Aunt came and met up with us and bought us a round of delicious drinks as we talked about our Peace Corps experience. I don’t know why, but we made it an early night. First we caught the fire show, then we did a bit of dancing and from there we headed back to our respected hotels.

The next day was nice and relaxing. More wandering, although there really isn’t much to see since it is a small area and a bit more shopping. Naturally food was the most important part of the day for me, which included tasty meals of morning glory, calamari, and a fish with delicious sauce. Duffy came out for a hot second to the same bar we were at the night before, but tired from her days excursion she headed in earlier than the night before. Brian and I stayed out to watch the fire show once more when the horrors of rain came again. We were trapped at the “club” until the rain stopped and when it did we rushed back home before it could start up again.

Bangkok

After a relaxing time down south, it was time to head back to Bangkok because my family was already heading out. I was sad that our time was already coming to a close because it had gone so fast. We hopped on a plane and made our way out to the Ambassador where I would be spending two nights. Unlike everywhere else we had been I would NOT recommend this hotel. The staff isn't friendly, the rooms expensive and ugly, and it is just a bit dodgy I'll just leave it at that.

We wandered around Bangkok the evening in search of food. Unfortunately at this time I was no expert on Bangkok and frankly avoided the city whenever I could so we just wandered untl we came across an Irish pub. Yes, random to be going to an Irish pub in Thailand but we did none the less. Perhaps it wasn’t the greatest choice, since the food was nothing worth mentioning.

My families last full day in Bagkok was pretty uneventful. After my village followed by the beauty of the south, Bangkok just seemed loud and messy. Mom, Brian and I roamed around a bit, I really wanted to find Brian some bugs but it seems that you can never find bugs when you actually want to eat them. We went to MBK and Siam Paragon, which are pretty much just huge malls, before returning back to the hotel where my family packed up their stuff to get ready to leave.

That evening we met up with my Aunt’s friends at Lemongrass where we had an amazing traditional Thai meal. It was there last meal here in Thailand and it definitely was a good one. We had everything, Tom Yum Gung, Laap Bpeet, veggies, fish, ect. And everything tasted great!

Then the time came when I had to wish them farewell. It was sad to see them go, I knew I would miss them terribly but I was so thankful that they got the opportunity to come out here and see a little into my life. I can write these stories, e-mails and blogs and I can show pictures of the people and what I’m doing but nothing can truly convey what I am doing here unless you see it for yourself and I am so glad that they got to do just that.

Family Adventure Around Thailand!

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