Spiders, Snakes, Monkeys, and Elephants

In the summer of 2011, we moved back overseas, this time for two years in South Korea.  Once in Korea, we had a new continent to explore, and several new trips to plan.  A separate posting will be about our adventures in the Korean peninsula, but in the meantime, I want to tell you about our trip to Thailand.

The flight from cold, snowy Korea to tropical Thailand takes about 6 hours, and we arrived around midnight, when we inhaled the warm, humid air and made a sweaty dash across the parking lot to the airport hotel.  A gorgeous hotel and a peaceful night, the perfect way to begin our relaxing holiday.  In the morning we enjoyed the beautiful courtyard pool and fancy bathroom before picking up our rental car and heading out into Thailand proper.  No more fancy bathrooms!

Our first stop was in Kanchiniburi, roughly 3 hours northwest of Bangkok, famous as the town where the bridge over the River Kwai (of the 1957 Oscar-winning film fame) is located.  It turned out that the English-language version of our hostel was incorrect and a 2-hour comedy of errors ensued, but after much driving around, some friendly locals actually got in their pickup truck and led us to where we needed to go.  Our hostel was a cottage in a retreat center, complete with an open-air dining hall and playground, and was surrounded by banana trees.  Bananas picked fresh off the tree from hand-made bamboo ladders are so delicious -- so much yummier than Chiquita!

Thailand was already pretty idyllic for us with its warm sunshine and fantastic food, but now the true adventure was about to begin.  Next stop:  elephants!

We were picked up by a guide service and spent the morning on an elephant ride into the rainforest, where we trekked for about an hour to a delicious lunch of grilled chicken with rice steamed inside bamboo stalks and fresh pineapple, all served near a waterfall.  Our guides pointed out many interesting plants and bugs, and we sailed toy boats they made out of banana leaves.  A short ride in the bed of a pickup truck (one of Hans' highlights of the whole trip) took us to a small river where we got to play Huck Finn on a traditional Thai raft.  Off to a hot springs for a soak, then back to the hotel for the playground, a homemade dinner, and bed. 

As the next morning dawned, we returned to the playground to wait for our guides to pick us up again.  The first stop was a national park for a hike near a waterfall.  Here we saw some local wildlife:  some snakes and lots of monkeys.  And the fish.  The ponds of the waterfall are full of  "spa fish" which nibble on the swimmers.  It's a strange, ticklish feeling, but it does provide an excellent pedicure!

After lunch in the park, we were off to the activity where we took the most photos (thank goodness for digital cameras!) -- bathing an elephant!  This was amazing fun.  We walked down to the river with our elephant and her handler, where she sat down in the water and we clambered up.  Climbing onto an elephant isn't like mounting a horse, it's more like scrambling up a mountain, and their hair is wiry, like a pig's.  We spent a delightful 45 minutes scrubbing the elephant and being sprayed by her, followed by a bareback ride and hand-feeding her some tiny pineapples. 

Following the elephant excitement, we took a train ride on the "death railway", the railroad built by WWII prisoners, and spent time at the Bridge Over the River Kwai.  We said good-bye to our guide and spent another quiet evening back at our retreat center.  The next day we left Kanchaniburi for a few days at the beach at Hua Hin.  We didn't actually eat at McDonald's (we never do at home either), but we couldn't resist the photo with Ronald and his Thai greeting of "Sawadicrap".  We built lots of sandcastles, splashed in the ocean, and enjoyed the pony rides.  The shopping center was still lit up for the holidays, and the decorations almost made Rockafeller Center seem plain in comparison.

On Wednesday, we headed back to Bangkok where we turned in our rental car.  Once in the city, we could use the monorail, taxis, water busses, and tuk-tuks, and the public transportation was part of our adventure.  Over our days in Bangkok we enjoyed the markets, paddle boats, zoo, and snake farm, where one of the other highlights of our trip was holding the Burmese python. 

We flew back to Seoul overnight, and a quiet ending to a wonderful vacation that let us arrive just in time for Sunday School.  Thailand is a beautiful, friendly, country, and our trip was full of priceless memories.