Thailand 2011, Part II

(As a note for our parents: the posts end up in reverse chronological order. You can also click on any picture to see it better, then just hit your 'back' button to get back to what you were reading.)

After the wedding and ceremony at the school, we drove back to Khon Kaen. We changed our clothes and took off to explore the city a bit. As with other places that we have visited in Thailand, the people were very nice. Khon Kaen was a much bigger city than I anticipated; it has a population of about 100,000. We found a fun restaurant to have dinner and made a new Australian friend. After that, we were off to the night market. Honestly, this was like an episode of Anthony Bourdain! We debated trying some fried insects, but let's just say that I don't consider myself to be too weak-hearted, but this was one of those times in life where being an observer was just fine!

Saturday morning gave us some time on our own, so we explored a bit more. The City Temple was close by, as well as a mall. The mall was very modern and a fun place to do a compare and contrast. Here's a few shots from around the city:

We went to the wedding reception Saturday night. It was done in more a Western style. The food was Thai, though, and it was really delicious. Chris didn't even sit with us - he opted to sit with his new Thai friends! We had to laugh at one point when we glanced over to the kids' table and saw them all raising their glasses of Coke and clinking them. Some things are universal! 

Sunday afternoon we left Khon Kaen by car with our friends. We drove about an hour and a half back to Udon Thani. From there, we hopped on a plane to Phuket, getting in about 9pm. We spent Monday on a boat with our friends, seeing the MOST beautiful islands (including the island in the James Bond movie "Man With a Golden Gun"). Needless to say, I have hundreds of pictures! I'll share them with you later...the sun is swinging our way and calling me to play! ;)

Thailand 2011

Hi all! It's Tuesday morning, we are in Phuket and the trip has been non-stop up until this point! Here's a quick synopsis to this point.  We left DC on Monday, arriving in Thailand on Wednesday the 12th. We flew directly to Phuket this time, bypassing Bangkok. There are my guys on the beach in Patong! It was just a quick visit, though, as we needed to fly from Phuket to Udon Thani (north, by the Laos border) for the big wedding.







After arriving in Udon Thani, we drove for 2.5 hours to Wan's village in Nong Bua Lamphau. When we arrived there, Chris and Will quickly befriended the children who were at Wan's parents' house. We met the family, and spent a couple of hours learning about the wedding preparations. When it was time for us to leave, we went to our hotel in Khon Kaen - about an hour away.

Here are the boys in their traditional Thai dress shirts in the lobby of the hotel. We left bright and early to go back out to the village for the wedding on Friday morning. When we arrived, we joined our American friends and several of our new Thai friends for the groom's parade. I have so many amazing pictures of this, but in short, it is where the groom's family gathers to parade to the bride. There's music and dancing, and the groom's family carries gifts that are presented to the bride's family. Each gift had symbolism (for example, a plate of bananas to represent fertility for the couple). It was such an interesting thing to be able to be part of! Here are a couple shots - I'll show you more at home!

The parade arrived at the bride's house, the gifts were presented, and the ceremony started. It started by the presentation of the dowry, although in Thai culture, the groom brings the dowry. The ceremony was pretty lengthy and in Thai. The man who presided over the ceremony was referred to as the Medicine Man. Here are the bride and groom (the medicine man is the gentleman on the left):

Very shortly after the ceremony, we walked to the grade school next door. This is the school that Will and Chris raised money; they were able to pour a cement floor and create a small stage. As a thank-you, the school put on quite an elaborate show for us. We were amazed, and I can tell you, there was hardly a dry eye among the Americans! The head of education from three provinces came and gave a speech, and a very nice lunch was served. Will and Chris were asked to give a few words at the end and Wan translated for all in attendance. We brought a few treats for the school children, too, super balls and Hershey's Kisses. The children LOVED them! After lunch, there was a fun soccer game. Here are some pics from the school.

What an amazing day! I'm going to take a short break, publish this and be back shortly with the continuing adventures.

Days 4, 5, and 6

Gosh, I bet you think I forgot about you! It's been a crazy last week or so, but here's more info about the trip. This was the portion of the vacation that was all R&R. Our hotel was nice, but more for the exterior accomodations than the interior. All in all, we didn't do much during these days, so this is short and sweet.

This cove was the private beach for the hotel. The cave was off limits for exploring, so we didn't get to go into it. There were other small ones at the bottom that you could go in, though. Chris had a great time exploring down there!





Here are the boys doing their finest fish impressions:



Our rock hound:


While I was re-sizing this picture this morning, I called Will in to see it (because I loved it so) and he declared he didn't like it because he looked too old. Hmm, I think he may have a point!



Our hotel was just on the outskirts of a small beach town called Carvoiero. It was a nice little walk to go into town, so we would go in for dinner. There were the typical souvenir shops and such, as well. Here are the boys on the public beach:


This was one of my favorite scenery shots - I love that fisherman on the rock. These boats were available for hire to go on cave tours (I guess our cave wasn't the only one in the area).



This was one of the sidewalk cafes that we ate at. The beach was just a stone's throw away, and on this particular evening, the municipal workers were setting up for a Fado concert in the public area.



That's all for now! Chat with you soon.

Day 3

On our third day, we rose early to prepare for our departure from Casa do Forno. We had another yummy breakfast of bread, coffee, and fresh-squeezed orange juice at the table under the olive tree in the beautiful cool, crisp air. I found it hard to believe that a morning that starts so brisk becomes SO hot, but sure enough, once the sun hits, it warms up quickly.

We left our new friends and set out for Lisbon, where we intended to spend the day. The drive was about half country roads and half highway. We stopped for gas on the highway and had an amusing time trying to figure out how to use our credit card. The pay-at-the-pump feature wanted a PIN (which I'm sure we have, but I sure don't know!), so we needed to determine how to pay without that, but also without disabling our card for too many bad attempts. The attendant didn't speak any English, so at the time, it didn't feel as funny as it seems now. Luckily, things started to fall into place once I realized the Portuguese verb for "to pay" is the same as Spanish and we were allowed to pay after pumping. Funny how the simple things can become so problematic!

Once we found our hotel in Lisbon, we were determined to find the closest McDonalds. Since Chris is so finicky, he hadn't been eating much the first few days. We've found that when we're traveling with the boys, it's best to make some compromises when it comes to food, so we told them that when we arrived in Lisbon, we would search out McD's. As it turns out, the closest one was in the zoo! We hadn't planned on going to the zoo, but since it was only about a 1.5 mile walk, we set out to go!

We found it pretty easily, but so did the rest of the zoo, it seemed! I went and found a table while John stood in line. This McD's was pretty interesting because it was surrounded by the crocodile habitat. Here's one of our lunch companions:



This picture completely cracks me up - Will is determined to ignore his lunch companion! You can also see in this picture John's new found love of Portuguese McDonald's - the McBeer! (As he put it, "This sure would have made all those toddler birthday parties a lot more tolerant!")



The gorgeous tile that Portugal is so well-known for is everywhere! Here's the boys with some:



After lunch, we went back to the hotel for a swim and general R&R (we were all quite tired after our day at the park). After our rest, we took a taxi to one of the older sections of Lisbon (taxis were a great deal in Lisbon!). Here are a few shots that I snapped:












We found the Hard Rock Cafe and decided to have dinner there. Another place to make sure Chris actually ate! ;)



After dinner, we continued exploring. We were hoping to find a little cafe that was having some Fado music (explained HERE). As luck would have it, we did find one, and it was a fantastic little place - just take a look at this ceiling! I didn't take any pictures of the performers out of respect to them (with the flash), but it was really wonderful to see. It was one of the things John most wanted to do while in Lisbon, so I'm glad that it worked out.


After, we grabbed a taxi back to our hotel - we were all very tired by that point! I did manage to snap this picture of one of the old street cars; it gives a nice idea of the streets in the old section.



Thanks for stopping by to check what we were up to!

Day 2

Our second day revolved around our plans to volunteer at the Geopark. You can learn a little more about it here. I think I mentioned about how the Portuguese liked to give exceptionally simple directions - well, this was no different. Our directions to where to meet Carlos (who oversees the park) were something to the effect of "drive to this village, follow the main road to the parking lot and I will see you there". Well, we get to the village, but the 'main' road is no different from any other road. We meander through, trying to find this 'parking lot'. After looking for 15 minutes, we finally stumbled upon it, just when we had nearly given up hope.
(The 'lot' was really just a place on the side of the 'main' road where people tended to park. Had Carlos not been standing there waiting, we would have driven right by!)

We started up through this village, learning about its Templar roots. The streets (not meant for cars) were narrow and twisty and the homes were so interesting. Here's the templar castle that overlooks the village:



I've already told you the story of how we decided to split up at this point. Here's the tunnel of cacti that Will and I encountered about .25 mile into our hike:



The path was really beautiful, with stunning views. Will was really challenged on this hike, though, so I gave him my camera to keep his mind occupied. He took some really great shots, but I think this one is my favorite - I love the way he framed it. I think we have a budding photographer on our hands.



So, pushing fast forward through the path confusion and the attempts to get back with John and Carlos, we arrive to the point where we are supposed to be, the fossil house at the bottom of the gorge (drawing a blank on the proper terminology - I'll probably receive a phone call from my sister later letting me know what I was looking for!). Carlos was leaving for the day to attend to park business in Lisbon, so I quickly took a group shot. From left to right, there is Domingues, Carlos, Vanya, Chris, John and Will. If you look above Carlos' head, you will see the same castle on top of the cliff. Domingues is Carlos' right hand man, but he doesn't speak English. Vanya, who just graduated from university (with one semester of English), did her best to translate for us, but it was an interesting afternoon!



We spent the rest of the morning cleaning fossils. There were many interesting ones, and we saw quite a variety.



When Domingues went to lunch, he closed the house for a couple of hours, leaving us with some free time. The boys changed into their swimsuits and we made our way down to the natural pool. This place was just fantastic, and loved by the locals, as there was already a family there with a picnic and a few others coming down the paths. It has been made more accesible over the last several years by the addition of a foot bridge and rock paths and steps. To make it even more unique, there are two pieces of art floating in the pond, and 6 foot trilobyte and a 10 foot cephalopod. Both were put there to be representative of the fossils that they've found in the area. (The trilobyte was easy to climb upon, but the cephalopod wasn't and provided lots of good laughs as people tried to mount it - and then stay on while friends shook it!)



A closer look at the boys under the waterfall:



We went to the neighboring village for lunch, as it was highly recommended by Carlos. The house specialty was wild boar, so my adventurous husband ordered some up right away; I stuck with a tamer pork loin. Chris proclaimed that the wild boar tasted like McDonald's hamburgers (but it didn't sway me into trying it one bit!). The restaurant only had a few people there (we were a bit late for the lunch 'rush' I guess), but was lovely. Here's Chris with one of his favorite things (bread!); take a look at the tiles in the background. They were really gorgeous.



And here's Will with the boar:



After lunch, we returned to the park. We finished cleaning the remaining fossils and set out to find some of our own. It was VERY hot by this point, so we did this for about an hour. Will stayed in the shade at the fossil house, and we set off for the cliffs. John and Chris were the spotters, and I recorded the location on log sheets using a GPS device to record the exact location. They found three great sets of fossils in the rocks. Chris was just elated, as you can see here:



It was not an easy day, by any means, but it was meaningful and one that we will never forget! Thanks for reading.

Day 1

OK, here's the thing - I took A LOT of pictures on our trip. I think I'm just going to tackle it a little at a time, otherwise it's just going to be too overwhelming (for you and me!).

This is the front of the bed & breakfast where we stayed. The town was named Salveterra Du Extremo and used to be a town of about 3000 people, but currently only has 200 residents (and only a handful of kids). It's a wonderful old village and just crazy-quiet! The loudest things we heard (other than Will & Chris!) were the goat herd walking through town and the rooster who thought sunrise was any random time.


Here's the view from the backyard:





This is the guest access side. (Hey Mom, notice all the embroidery samplers on the wall?)


There were olive trees in the backyard, too. They're just everywhere there!


Since we arrived to the B&B earlier than we initially thought, the owner hadn't anticipated us for lunch. There weren't any cafes in the town, so we needed to drive to the next town. We found this little place, and the food was fantastic! The owner spoke great English (he had lived in London and Amsterdam), so we had a great conversation.


The serving sizes were HUGE - this plate was one meal (that all four of us could have shared!).


We decided to buy some water to take back to the B&B, and this is the little market that we found. It was a really odd little place, but it served its purpose.



After lunch, our host Jaoa asked if we would like to go for a walk to see some different things. He said he had a specific place in mind, so we set off - first through the village, then through the pastures (this was the path between pastures).



About a mile later, we came to this gorgeous expanse of land that was the border between Portugal and Spain. Jaoa told us that we needed to be pretty quiet in this area, as it was a nesting area for vultures. He showed us the nests in the cliffs with his binoculars - it was really interesting!

Here's Chris (in all his glory!)


And Chris with John:



Here's the gorge that was below, but it really doesn't even do it justice. It was breathtaking.



And here's a better picture of the castle I showed you last week. To just come upon this was so unlike anything else I've ever done.



Our day ended here, under an olive tree, for dinner. Jaoa, his wife Rita, his parents and grandparents joined us for a yummy dinner of homemade pizzas, followed by dessert of jam and liqueors made by Jaoa's mom. We sat chatting for hours, well into the night. It was the perfect location for a relaxing evening.



That sums up our first day pretty well! We're all very tired, so we're off to catch some zzz's - here's hoping my commentary is more colorful tomorrow! ;)