Author: mkaltreider

From Bangkok we fly to Chumphon, a small rural town in southern Thailand, where we spend the night before we hop on a bus and a ferry that takes us to Koh Tao.

We get to Chumphon late at night (they are literally waiting for us to leave the itty bitty terminal to turn off the light!). It is pitch black and we leave the following afternoon so unfortunately we do not have too much time to explore but we get a sense for the town and its surrounding beautiful rural area of fields and hard working farmers, jungle vegetation, overloaded motorcycles with full-on families riding at once (we had a contest and the wildest we saw was a mom with her 4 kids, no helmets, of course!) and a very authentic and yummy meal at a local restaurant, that did not look much like a restaurant, quite honestly!

Koh Tao is a beautiful island, neighbor to Koh Phangan and Koh Samui. It is the typical idea of paradise that most would imagine: warm crystal-clear turquoise waters, green and lush jungle vegetation, bamboo huts perched on the hillside or resting in the fine sand of the beach waiting for the wandering tourist in need of a massage (aka Jeff), lazy sunny days and endless stunning views.

We end up in this amazing hotel on top of the hill with the most fantastic infinity pool overlooking the ocean from where we are mesmerized with the most striking sunsets and dry lightning storms in the distance that offer incredible electric drawings in the dark sky.

We relish on delicious Thai cuisine, we enjoy the company of all kinds of colorful fish and marvel at the coral gardens while snorkeling in Mango Bay, Hin Wong Bay, Tanote Bay, Ao Leuk and Shark Island. We walk along the fine sand of Sairee Beach and collect beautiful shells and pieces of coral and even play with an unexpected pet monkey in Xaloc Bay.

Koh Tao is very good to us and we are sad to say goodbye after after 5 days but we know we will be back, maybe even with friends next time! We are off back on the ferry to Chumphon where we catch the train to Bangkok. A great 7 hour train ride, where we make friends that share their food with us and make us all kinds of handcrafted gifts while enjoying the beautiful scenery from our window.

We are back in Bangkok just for a couple of nights so we can spend a day at Damnoen Saduak, the famous floating market. The market is about 1.5 hour + outside of Bangkok (assuming that traffic cooperates, ha, ha…) and to get there by 9:00 am we need to get a very early start but it is totally worth it. Swarms of people and merchants selling all kinds of goods in their beautiful skinny boats. We try the most delicious skewers and mango sticky rice, we bargain for souvenirs and we admire from the distance the proud owner of a giant Boa. It is complete sensory overload and an experience that cannot be missed. So much fun!

Back in Bangkok we spend the afternoon playing at Lumphini Park close to our hotel in the neighborhood of Silom. Lumphini Park is a little oasis in the city: lush green fields, lots of trees, a great kids playground, idillic ponds and tranquil paths (with the occasional hila monster), a few people running and exercising, a match of sepak takraw going on and the sound of a bustling city far in the distance.

Next stop Northern Thailand. More from Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai soon. We are so excited!

We started in Bangkok taking it very easy. We were jet-lagged and Jeff was fighting a bug that started on the flight to Taipei on our way to Thailand.

“I like Bangkok.  It is a dirty city, but it is a very exciting city.” – Marcus

We introduced the kids to the big city which they learned to appreciate once they got over the initial shock. Bangkok is a very busy city; lots of everything going on all the time. Swarms of people, endless traffic, sidewalks packed with food vendors, lots of smells (good and awful), hot, humid, loud, polluted… yet interesting, exciting and fascinating!

We have visited markets of all kinds, eaten all sorts of delicious food from the street vendors, practiced (and improved!) our negotiating skills with the very street savvy merchants, gone on long tail boats to discover the Thai way of life in the canals, we have been startled by enormous dragons (called hila monsters) sunbathing on the rocks by the brown river water, we have been mesmerized by the gorgeous temples, the immensity of the reclining Buddha, the views of the city from the Golden Mount, enjoyed many exhilarating tuk-tuk rides, figured out subways and sky trains, admired matches of sepak takraw played throughout Bangkok’s parks and streets (a cross between soccer and volleyball played with a small sized bamboo-woven ball that the players skillfully pass to each other over a net without touching it with their hands or arms)… never a dull moment! Just like Papá and Mamá fell in love with this crazy city 10 years ago, so have our kids this time around.

No doubt we’ll be back in Bangkok again, but now we are off to island paradise!