Six Months in Thailand.

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things: air, sleep, dreams, sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.”

We are now six months in to our year-long Thailand adventure.  It has been a quick and strange six months.  Quick because it feels as if we just got here.  And strange because we are pretty much in a state of perpetual movement and continuous change.  We immediately discovered that living somewhere for only a year is a very unusual way to live.  We are not tourists.  This isn’t a vacation.  We are here too long for that.  But we aren’t exactly “expats” either.  Bangkok isn’t familiar enough to us for us to be expats.  We still have questions about everything.  We are still adjusting to the perpetual heat, the language, and sharing our home with nannies and maids.  We are traveling and settled (and neither) all at the same time.  It is a very delicate balancing act, especially with kids.  At six months we are just starting to feel comfortable and soon we will be packing to leave!

Looking back at the last six months there have been a series of highs and lows (yes, I have broken down in actual tears a few times when the language barrier or the logistics of getting someplace got to be too much) but, overall, this tour has also been extremely rewarding.  We have been able to travel and see things that I never would have imagined a year ago.  We have hiked in the jungle, explored limestone caves, swam in the clear blue ocean, and fed elephants (lots of elephants… they are kind of a thing here).  We have been extremely lucky to take our boys on this adventure and even more fortunate that we were able to expand our family with the safe and healthy arrival of Anna Lynn.  She is a brave and fearless girl–and she is up for the rest of this adventure.

For those of you who don’t know.  I hate Bangkok.  I am just not a city person (I am a “country cat” as Chad likes to say).  But I know when we leave this place we leave behind so many wonderful memories.  I also know we need to make the most of these next six months… the last six months we have in Asia!

Here are the highlights from the first half of our year:

• The River Kwai and Kanchanaburi.  The lovely, beautiful, dark river and the cool, damp morning air.  We stayed in a float house directly on the river.  When we woke in the morning the surrounding mountains were covered in fog, making the world dreamlike.  I will always remember the boys feeding the elephants watermelon rinds from the deck of our hotel every day after breakfast.  (I will also remember Jack’s sleepless nights–our hotel, unbeknownst to use before our arrival, had no electricity or air conditioning and Jack couldn’t hang).

• Hong Island, Krabi.  Sam, Jack and I did this trip on our own without Chad.  It can be logistically intensive to travel alone with two kids but I always feel like I know my children a little bit better afterwards.  The boys loved the long-tail boat to Hong Island.  The water was so warm and clear.  Krabi is the Thailand you see on post cards.

• The train to Ayutthaya.  This was a solo trip (just mommy).  I took the SRT national rail line to Ayutthaya station, standing room only, and walked to the ancient ruins. The train was hot and packed but the sights along the rail were beautiful.  The ruins, of course, were amazing
• Khao Yai.  Did you know there are wineries in Thailand?  Yep!

• Chiang Mai.  The Saturday Walking Market and Doi Suthep are must-see attractions.

• Dolphin Bay Resort, Hua Hin.  Anna’s first trip and she was a champ.  Memorable because it was our first vacation as a family of five.  The boys were happy (there is just so much for children to do at Dolphin Bay) and the beach was beautiful.

•  Lumphini Park.  Our home away from home.  My memories of Bangkok will always begin and end at Lumphini.  Our piece of the jungle in the city.
• Burma.  Chad’s solo trip.  It was a unique opportunity because of the recent elections and because Burma has been closed off from the West for so long.

• Singapore.  The waterfall in the Cloud Forest was so nice and cool after months of living in the heat.  Also, we had the chance to reunite Sam with his favorite food: Fage Honey Greek Yogurt (not sold in Thailand).  After months of suffering through Thai food, his reaction was priceless.
• And finally, while in Bangkok: Jack turned two, Sam turned five, and Anna made her debut!

As we head into the next six months — the time is going to move even faster.  The first half of our travel was limited by a late budget allocation/lack of funds and by the fact that I was pregnant and unable to fly.  Now, we have an open ticket and a long itinerary to complete.  So, here we go… first up, Borneo…

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.”