Before the thoughts, details and emotions from our vacation have escaped me -
April 8th and 9th: 7381 miles and 5 cities in about 23 hours.
Left Kona at 7am - we're very excited for family vacation, Aaron has been working a lot and we will get time to relax and adventure together! Angie graciously picked us up at the crack of dawn and took us to the airport. Managed to slim down to 2 carry on suitcases and the car seat. Upon arriving at the airport we realized I accidentally left all of Autumn's juice, my watch and necklace at the apartment. Although we were very excited for this big adventure, we are always sad to be leaving Kona - our friends and the mild tropical ocean climate. Also we were realistically nervous about all the air travel, time zone changes and foreign cultures.
We arrived into Honolulu a bit late but had plenty of time to go check in at the gate and eat breakfast. Unfortunately we thought we had time for more - as I needed to pull some info off the internet and we called family. Neither of us checked the boarding time and I thought we left at 10:15 - I take full responsibility for being the one who is supposed to know our flight times and the fact that we almost missed our plane that indeed boarded at 9:10 and was going to leave at 9:40. We were about 1/6 of a mile down the terminal near the food and internet when the agent that had checked us in came around the corner saying - "your plane is leaving, you need to run." That we did with bags and baby - as we ran we could now hear the intercom system repeating "Aaron Brown, Aaron Brown please return to gate 7." Huff puff huff puff we got on the plane which promptly pulled out of the gate - disaster avoided - praise the Lord they hunted us down and we didn't even want to think about how this would have affected our next 4 connections if we had missed our flight to Japan!
Flights to Thailand - Depart 7 am on the 8th - Kona to Tokyo to Beijing to Bangkok - Arrive 11:50 pm on the 9th.
We had open seats next to us on all our international flights - which was super nice! We were only able to have the car seat with us on the first flight to Japan on United. We were on China Air the next 2 flights and although she gave us the extra seat, the request to bring our car seat on board was lost in translation. (as we later found out - they do not use nor understand Western carseats in most of Asia and our request to use it was usually denied even though we had empty seats all around us. One flight they let us take it in the cabin but made us turn it forward and then on one flight from Bagan to Yangon they let us use the car seat properly rear facing - all other flights we had to check it)
I was hoping to see more from our window of Japan and China - but visibility was minimal. The air in Beijing was very dirty and then it got dark. We had to go through security once in Kona, once in Japan, and then in Beijing we had to go through immigration and security. The TSA agents in China were very friendly and actually held Autumn for us as we dug for the DVD player and our ziplock bags of liquids.
Our game plan was to try and sleep on this last leg to Bangkok, but Autumn had napped earlier and it was only a 4 1/2 hour flight - so we didn't end up getting much more sleep.
April 10th - A long day to Phi Phi Island.
We landed around midnight, went thought immigration and then to get our carseat - luckily customs only checked people who claimed things - we could proceed to finding the shuttle to our hotel. After asking at an information desk, we quickly found the shuttle and headed to our hotel. The staff was amazingly friendly and helpful, even at 1am! We took showers and crawled into bed around 2am. Unfortunately Autumn thought is was more of a nap and was wide awake again at 4am. Her and I got up, walked around, checked email, let family know we made it and eagerly awaited the 6am breakfast. You know you are a bit comfortable with the tropics when to sit for breakfast and have no problem just squishing the ants on your table instead of trying to find a table without them. The breakfast was a simple egg and lunch ham dish with toast and coffee. We needed to head back towards the airport at 8 to catch our flight to Krabi. We packed our bags back up and then met up with our friends for Aaron and them to eat breakfast. It was wonderful to see friends that we hadn't seen in ages and know that we would get to spend the next 10 days adventuring around beautiful locations in Asia together! The last time we were all 6 together was at Todd and Alissa's Wedding in Pennsylvania in 2006.
Getting to the airport was smooth, getting a boarding pass for Autumn was not so smooth... for some reason even though we had paid for Autumn's ticket, it took them about 40 minutes to figure out how to check us in with her. After a brisk walk and a short bit of running to obtain water and juice we were at our gate just in time. We sat next to a kind British woman and talked about real estate, politics, travel and about Krabi. We landed, obtained our luggage and headed out to figure out how to get to the pier. A bus said it would get us there for a few dollars a piece. If only it had been that simple - the bus dropped us off at a ticket office a distance from the pier - after some odd discussion and no real resolution - a truck took us to the pier. We got some lunch and sat around at the chairs in a lobby next to a ticket booth for our boat. We were getting quite close to the time of departure and decided to look around a bit more, as no one had showed up to the booth - there happened to be a second booth farther in the pier where we were able to check it and get on the boat. It was a large boat and luckily there were a few seats where it was cooler for us to sit. Autumn slept from the time we got on the bus until a few minutes into the boat ride. The views were foggy from the humidity, but it was beautiful! We pulled into the pier on Phi Phi island around 3pm. Our last transfer was a walk to our jungle bungalow - a hotel worker hauled all our luggage on a cart through the little town to our rooms at the Chunut House. We checked in and cleaned up in our rooms before heading to the beach for dinner.
Phi Phi island is a a fun little island - the main little town of Ton Sai is between the two beach bays (Ton Sai and Loh Dalam) in the center of the island between limestone cliffs. It has a real island feel with activity booths, dive shops, clothing vendors, massage booths, restaurants, people walking around in swim suits, and stinky trash... (-: Technically there are no roads and most of the island is either concrete brick roads or dirt baths. On a morning walk I found a concrete road and saw a few vehicles. Most of the community uses bikes and carts and a few have scooters to transport materials. In 2004 the huge tsunami in this area tore the infrastructure of this island to pieces. About 70% of the buildings were destroyed and an estimated 4000 people died. Much of it was cleared and rebuild in 2005 by two independent organizations. Over 27,000 tons of debris was removed in and around Ton Sai. After talking to a British gal who worked at a dive shop I found out that the whole island is owned by 5 Thia families and the shops are mostly color coded - ie the green booths are owned by the Chi family... From our bungalows the beach was a 5-7 minute walk in any direction on the paths to the beaches.
It is still April 10th! After cleaning up we headed toward the town and ended up at the beach! A pleasant surprise. We took Autumn's clothes off and let her wade in the warm water. It was beautiful! We stayed close there and got some dinner on the beach - we were all so happy to be settled in one place - even if only for a couple of days. We found out that Holy Basil Noodles are very very spicy - but delicious!
Maybe I shouldn't write about this part - as it would be okay to forget it... (-: Oh well... I caught a cold right before we left Hawaii. I got more and more stuffed up each leg of our trip and spent a lot of time at the sink to trying to get my nose un-stuffed. This stinking cold was a nuisance the entire trip going from stuffed up to runny runny to a nasty cough. Luckily it didn't keep me from doing anything, only from feeling 100%. Only in the past couple of days have I been feeling even 90% )-: Stinko for the 3 1/2 week old cold!
April 11th: Jet Lagged and hiking.
Autumn did not sleep so well - she got up at 2am and I let her play in the shower for 45 minutes. We slept on and off until 5am, but I was so stuffed up that even after I got her back to sleep at 5am, I cleared my nose out and then went for a walk. I ended up on the Ton Sai beach watching the sun come up and light up the boats and rocks in the background.
I headed back to the bungalows long before any of the others awoke. The next 6 mornings breakfast was included with our room - at the Chunut House this was either a fried or scrambled egg, a croissant or toast, tea or coffee and fruit. Simple but filling and tasty.
The plan for this day was to hike around the island and check things out. After breakfast we took off for the view points which were up several long stair cases and walk ways. The views from the top really were breathtaking. Gorgeous beaches nestled into the cliffs, green palms, bushes and flowers everywhere! From there we chose to go down the back side of the island to the beach on the other side. After viewing huge spiders, spiky trees and maneuvering around the steep root filled path - I believe we ended up at Loh Ba Kao Bay. A beautiful stretch of beach much like Tonsai - just with many fewer hotels and people. We hadn't planned to swim, but the water was too inviting to not hop in anyways!
We hiked back to Loh Dalam for a nice lunch next to bay. The nice thing about beach restaurants was that Autumn could just hop on the 'floor' and play in the sand while we finished up eating. We attempted to find some ice cream (an american style ice cream shop would make a killing here) - and then went back for naps. For dinner we ended up on Ton Sai overlooking the harbor. It was a delicious meal - I got the papaya salad - a spicy dressing over stringed young papaya. On the way home I got a young coconut to share with Autumn - Mmmmm.
April 12th: Another early morning and lots of ocean.
When the light finally came through the windows, I put Autumn in the Ergo, grabbed the camera and headed out the door so Aaron could get more sleep. The gal at the front desk suggested a shorter hike that would not be as far as the top view point. I took the road I thought she was suggesting and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. After seeing chickens and goats - Autumn fell back asleep. I finally saw a sign for the view point and kept going. I crawled up some rocks, and who knew - I had found the road/trail to the top view point going around the town instead going straight up the stairs. No wonder it took forever. It was well worth the workout - it was gorgeous with the sunrise light hitting the cliffs and eliminating the leaves and flowers!
Back down for breakfast and getting ready for our all day adventure on a longtail boat on and around the Phi Phi islands. A longtail boat is a Southeast Asian boat that uses a car engine for the motor. Ours held about 20 people and had a nice shade cover over the seats. First stop: Monkey Beach. Humm... all sorts of nasty, hungry, demanding monkeys all over the beach - interesting, but I think I may have been just as happy watching from the boat. All 7 of us walked ashore with confidence and then got charged by a couple of larger monkeys who were staring at Autumn. I can firmly say those monkeys would have gotten a beat down had they come any closer - the human guys had their chests puffed and were ready to protect.
Next stop was some snorkeling - Autumn fell asleep in my arms, so Aaron and I took turns. The water was nice and warm and the fish plentiful. At this point I must admit that south Kona has ruined me for water clarity. Due to the lava rock land scape, I'm not sure there is a tropical location with as good of visibility. So, although it was beautiful - the water was not super clear. I only got a few minutes in the water - so I was eager for the next snorkel stop after lunch. We stopped on a long beautiful sand beach and ate our chicken fried rice with spicy soy sauce lunch which was included in the excursion. Autumn slept a bit longer in a chair that happened to be under a shade cover we found.
After lunch Ryan and Aaron headed out for a bit more snorkeling and Autumn and I went for a swim. We got back on the boat for our last snorkel spot about a mile off shore from Ton Sai beach around a teeny tiny rock island. I got a bit more of a snorkel and really enjoyed looking at some fish and coral I had not seen before. We then headed out to look around a few other islands with Vikings ruins, beautiful canyons and beaches. 
Our last stop was Maya Bay. WOW - this has to be one of the most idealistic beaches in the world. It is no wonder it was the chosen location for film makers to film "The Beach" - the 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio movie. It is a baking power beach, sea green water with huge limestone cliffs that shade the beach and make the water a more comfortable temperature. For some reason the air is not as humid (probably because the water is not as hot) and it is just really comfortable.
What a great way to finish up an amazing ocean day! On our way back to Loh Dalam we stopped to watch the sun go down and did a little jumping off the bow!
We headed back to our bungalows for our nightly routine of cleaning up and going to dinner. The night before we had walked a different direction and spotted some fancier restaurants and we decided to give one of them a try! We sat right on the harbor and ordered mostly seafood. Fried calamari for appetizers and I think I had shrimp massuman curry. Delicious!!! It was a bit late for Autumn - she did her best, needed a couple of walks and then fell asleep on our shoulders on the way home.
April 13th: A transfer day and first day of Songkran festival.
We ate breakfast and packed our bags to leave Phi Phi. The gentleman that helped cart our luggage to the ferry terminal covered it in a tarp as it was the first day of the water festival. I walked down the street to swim in the ocean before breakfast and got sprayed down with a water gun. If you want to read more on the history and significance of the water festival here is a link. We worked our way through town - having an umbrella and a baby in my hands seemed to help a little! The guys and Autumn hung out on the pier while the gals shopped around. I bought Autumn 3 tops that I just love and some magnets.
We finally got on the ferry and headed back to Krabi. Upon arrival at the Krabi pier - there are many people eager to drive us to our hotel. Figuring out which van to get in that was included in our ticket price took a bit of time. Finally we were on our way with a gal from England and her 12 month old. This was the slowest taxi ride as traffic was backed up for miles for the water festival. Although we did not get soaked, we got to watch the full extent of the water fun had in the streets. People filled huge drums of water and put them in the backs of trucks and then 8-20 people would pile in the back of the truck and throw water on people as they drove around. The sides of the street were also lined with people throwing water on cars and pedestrians. Young, Middle and Old... everyone was involved. After over an hour in the taxi, we finally made it to our resort - Emerald Garden. It really was a lovely garden with a nice pool. We originally were placed at the back of the property where they were doing loud construction. We asked to be moved to the front and got rooms that were a bit more quiet for our stay. It was worth it even though we ended up moving our stuff during a downpour. We all got some lunch from the restaurant on premise and then played in the pool for a while. We enjoyed a nice evening in and ordered pizza. We were excited, as Autumn had a crib of her own for these 3 nights in Ao Nang. It was a bit small, but with the right set up seemed like it would be okay. I don't remember it being a bad night - so we must have gotten some rest!
April 14th: The Jungle.
We arranged for a taxi to take us to Khao Phanom Bencha National Park north of Krabi. Our driver was a guy in the military that had recently returned from the jungle between Myanmar/Burma and Thailand. It is an area run by rebels and very dangerous. He was a bit confused as to why we were in S. Thailand and wanted to go to the jungle. Between fighting and medical problems - of the 72 men he went into the jungle with - only 15 returned. They were there for 6 year and had no leave. He had a seven year old son that he had not seen since he was one. He had some interesting perspectives and told us about the work he would be doing as security detail at the Kings Palace soon. Would be interesting to know if it was all true - as we had no reason not to believe him.
Alissa had picked Khao Phanam Bencha because she really wanted to do some hiking. When we arrived the rangers informed us that most of the park was closed due to the massive flooding that had occurred the week before. Days of rain did a lot of damage to the entire region and killed 60 people along river basins. This did somewhat affect our plans - but we were still able to hike into waterfalls, wander around cool trees and vines and even see a water monitor high up in a tree. 
It was a fun day with a very yummy lunch at the little park cafe! Autumn spent most of lunch playing in the grass and on the hill with mommy and Aunt Alissa. New discoveries were grass whistles and running down hills! When we returned we all went for a swim - Autumn watched us go off the diving board and insisted that she too must give it a try!
That dinner we had the most amazing Indian food I had ever had! I ordered ginger chicken and naan – so so so delicous! Aaron ordered some potato naan that was pretty out of this world as well. It was one of the two places where Autumn allowed the staff to play with her. A gal walked around with her and let her ‘ride’ on a few scooters, it was wonderful to be able to enjoy our food peacefully! 
April 15th: Railay and Coconut Shakes.
Up for another delicious buffet breakfast. Everything under the sun - rice, omelets, meats, cakes, cereals, toast, croissants, yogurt, juices, fruit... by far the best breakfasts of the trip! This day was our beach day and boy did we pick a beautiful one! We took a long tail over to Railay Beach for the morning. Railay is often on the list for top beaches in the world and there is a good reason for this. It was absolutely gorgeous! The one last thing I had wanted to do in Thailand was sea kayak around little islands and caves. As we neared the shore I saw kayak rentals and decided we had to go out! We had even done a practice run in Hawaii to see how Autumn would do out in the kayak. We found some shade to lay our stuff down on, put on the sunscreen and went to play! Liz and I went up the beach to take photos and everyone got a nice last soak in the beautiful green waters! Autumn had her first Popsicle and we basked in the sun! The only bummer was that there was something small stinging us - jellyfish maybe? The sting didn't last, but it was painful and irritating.
Aaron, Autumn and I headed out in the kayak (200 baht - about $8.00 US for an hour). As we rounded the corner there were caves and little islands! Exactly what I had pictured!!! We stopped at a little beach to play and then headed around the little islands. Autumn fell asleep in my lap and we headed back to the beach. It was perfect.
When we got back to shore the tide was going out and so the cleaner crabs had come out! Each group of balls is a crab that is removing sand from a hole, putting it through their system and popping them out as perfect little balls.
We then worked on getting back to Ao Nang - the guy wouldn't take us until we had a full boat - only 2 more people. Todd and Ryan finally convinced him to take us with some extra baht, as Todd and Alissa needed to get back to pack up and go to the airport.
We split for lunch and Aaron, Autumn and I ate at a Thai Kitchen right on the water. It was so so yummy and I found my favorite drink - a young coconut shake - blended coconut milk, the flesh and ice put back in the coconut! Absolutely the best drink I've ever had! I had a second for dessert!
We went back to the resort to clean up and take another swim in the pool. I went into town for a little shopping and then met up with Aaron, Autumn and the Brackens for dinner at the same Thai kitchen. I honestly had more fun taking pictures of the sunset after shopping than shopping. I got some postcards, pillow covers, a swimsuit cover and a few other things.
We went to the same Thai Kitchen with Ryan and Liz for dinner and it was just as yummy! I had another coconut shake!
April 16th: Transition to Yangon
We arrived in Yangon right at the end of their water festival.
Short report - yummy breakfast, taxi to airport, flight to Bangkok, lunch at Bangkok airport, flight to Yangon, taxi to Todd and Alissa's apartment seeing the last of Myanmar's water festival and then dinner out to a Myanmar dinner. Some good and some interesting tastes. Winner of the night was their papaya shake - papaya blended! Alissa, Autumn and I took a taxi back to their apartment while the others went to check out a pagoda. I should have put Autumn to bed much sooner, but when we were finally ready for bed I shut off the lights and put Autumn up on the bed and somehow she crawled off... bang... lots of crying and one huge knot on her head )-: We checked her eyes which were dilating correctly and called the medical facility that Alissa was familiar with. The doctor wouldn’t talk to us unless we came in, so we passed. Liz did some massage, we found a night light and rearranged the furniture. Back to bed for a few hours - our flight was at 6am, which meant a 4am wake up call! Ouch!
April 17th: Early up, Airplane, Gorgeous Oasis Resort:
Autumn slept well, still had even eyes and the egg sized knot on her forehead had gone down significantly. Four am… I always feel queasy when I get up that early, but up and off we all went. Autumn fell back asleep in the car seat, we were able to find a taxi at o’dark thirty and we got all checked in. It was the domestic side of the airport and quite simple. I don’t think more than a few dozen flights go out daily to a handful of locations. Autumn did well until we had to sit and wait for our flight. I think she wanted down and didn’t want her shoes on. After we got her shoes on she stomped around screaming at the top of her lungs for a few minutes. Luckily their were stairs and after she calmed down I was able to get her interesting in going up and down, one of her favorite activities. We got on the smallest plane of the trip and headed to Bagan with a handful of other people. Our trip was arranged with a local travel agent, so all we had to do was pay the archeological fee and then find our taxi and head to the resort. We were welcomed with fruit drinks and able to check in at 8am! Nap time!! The grounds were breathtaking! Plumeria, bougainvillea, perfectly trimmed soft grass and a lovely saline pool. Mid morning the others headed out to find bikes to ride around New Bagan and we took naps, all of us! It was glorious! After our naps we met of with everyone and headed to a place across the street for lunch – many interesting foods they did feed us. A couple of the chicken dishes were good and the lamb was pretty good as well, but a few others were, well… interesting and a bit bitter or oily.
I’m afraid this is the meal that started the travelers stomach issues with Autumn and I – never horrible, but our tummies were not right. The afternoon was filled with pool time followed by Todd and Alissa babysitting so Aaron and I could take the bikes out with Liz and Ryan. We headed through the dirt roads of New Bagan and to a temple they knew we could climb up. The people lived in thatched homes raised off the ground. The view from the top of the temple looked out on thousands of temples. Bagan is an ancient palace city where over 2000 Buddhist temples were built sometime between 1000 and 1200 AD. My reaction was similar to what I thought it might be – amazed at the architecture, but saddened by the idolatry.
We then rode the bikes to the place on the river the others had spotted earlier in the day. This seemingly uneventful dinner turned into quite the evening to remember! We watched the sun go down as people on the river did their laundry and fished, enjoyed the drinks on the porch and then Todd , Alissa and Autumn showed up. Autumn had fallen asleep on the way and received the royal treatment. The staff brought a couch from somewhere to lay her on and then between doing things the waiter would fan her. The sun went all the way down and after asking when the puppet show began, the waiter stood there for a few minutes and then said, "The puppet show begins now." And we all walked over to a new table to receive our dinner while watching a marionette puppet show! It was awesome!!! After the puppets, we got a Myanmar Xylophone show. Autumn was enthralled! After it was all done we walked the bicycles back and walked to our room in the oasis.
April 18th: Temples, Pagodas, Temple Vendors and more Temples
The morning began with a delicious buffet breakfast complete with Myanmar style juices served in big bowls with crazy wooden ladles. Part of our package while in Bagan included a day long mini bus driver escorting us around from temple to pagoda to temple. It was an interesting cultural experience – although the pagan idol environment was sad – the art and creativity put into each structure was amazing.
I’m sure we visited some of the more commonly visited sites and there were art and handcraft salesmen and women on each grounds, in the temple halls, on top of them and in the streets. Looking at the handcrafts and bargaining was actually my favorite activity of the day. We had not had much time for shopping in Thailand and so we were able to get a few souvenirs through out the day. The minimum wage for a laborer in Myanmar is equivalent to 50 cents a day and so the beautiful handcrafts were very cheap. The whole topic of Myanmar and other 3rd world country’s economy (or the concept of world economy) is much more complicated than I can wrap my head around – right or wrong – we just have to trust that they would not be selling the stuff for that cheap if they could sell it for more elsewhere.
Blonde girl, blue eyes and Myanmar culture – Autumn got mauled this day with calls, unsolicited touches and even gals trying to take her out of our arms to hold her. Our response was to politely decline or ignore the attention. By the end of the day Autumn’s response was to swing her arms yelling “NO” and “mama mama.” She had mild stranger danger before our vacation and from this day on she doesn’t even really tolerate strangers talking to her from a distance without an uncomfortable glare or burying herself into our shoulder.
The climate in Bagan is very hot and dry – we went back to the hotel for a mid-day cool down, rest and swim. We had a lot of fun in the pool again! Autumn is a little fish and was getting much better at holding her breath. We were unable to max out her comfort level of being underwater – she would stay under bobbing for 5+ seconds, come up and say “more, more, more!!”
We cleaned up and headed back out to climb to the top of a temple for sunset. Autumn wore her new Myanmar shirt and enjoyed watching the horse carts and climbing the stairs. We went to an Indian restaurant that Todd and Alissa had been to before and shared many delicious dishes under the stars. Autumn was completely exhausted and finally crashed in the car seat in the van.
April 19th: Rest and Transfer
We had all day at the resort to rest, clean up, pack and relax before heading to the airport. We took full advantage – only leaving to get lunch and some snacks and drinks for Autumn. We did walk around a local market with colorful spices and foreign fare. Lunch at a local diner was interesting, but certainly did not help our stomach ickies. Our friends had left the resort much earlier to go to another location in Myanmar. We took our taxi to the airport and made the flight back to Yangon just in time for sunset. We figured out getting a taxi and making our way back to their apartment for the night. We had Shan spicy noodles from the restaurant downstairs, packed our bags and tucked in for the night!
April 20th: Back to Bangkok
Another early call, up and at em back on the street to hail a taxi to the Yangon airport. Checked in, shared an egg dish and fancy coffee at the café and boarded our plane. We got back to the hotel we had stayed at 10 days ago around 10 in the morning. We knew we had the day and I had received a tip from a friend that the Bangkok Zoo was worth a visit. We also knew it was on the other side of town and were not sure how we were going to get their. After some discussion with the hotel guide, we knew we would not be using their services – he wanted to charge us the equivalent of $50 to get there and back. We started to walk down the road for some lunch and a taxi pulled up to see if we needed a ride. I decided it would be worth asking what he would charge to get us to the zoo. He said 200 Baht so we decided we’d just get lunch at the zoo. Once we got in he made a phone call and said “here, talk to my friend, he knows English.” Oh dear, he doesn’t have a clue where we want to go! To top it off we decided we didn’t want to carry the car seat all over the zoo and so we were not sure where we were going to end up and Autumn was in our lap. Aaron spent 5 minutes on the phone with this guy … “no not sue, the zoo.” Finally some comment about monkey’s seemed to do the trick and we were pretty sure he told our driver that we wanted to go to the Bangkok Zoo. We decided that where ever we ended up we would stay there and have fun. It was neat to see more of the city and then before we got to the zoo we drove by palace grounds. We are pretty sure that the grounds could be fully self sufficient with cows and everything. So…. We did end up at the zoo! After some yummy street food we went to check out all the animals. Autumn had a great time looking at everything… she would say “more ______“ (which ever animal we had been looking at) and we’d say say “let’s go look at the ______” and she’d say “name of new animal” and then we saw monkeys and for the rest of the day she wanted “more monkeys!” Then the torrential downpour! Not knowing whether it would last all day or not, we continued walking to see animals in the rain. At this point we were pretty glad we did not have the car seat in tow.
They allowed you to buy potatoes to feed to the Asian Elephants! Well, as you can tell by the shear terror in Autumn's face that it wasn't quite a hit! The elephant proceeded to rip the whole basket out of my hand while Autumn screamed at the top of her lungs! It was good fun! (-:
We did finally find shelter in the seal show stadium until the rain slowed. After seeing many crazy mammals, snakes and birds – we decided to take a tuk tuk to dinner.
The head tuk tuk guys new of a great seafood place – and said it wasn’t too expensive… The ride was slow and in traffic, but the restaurant was very very nice. The prices seemed high, but okay so we stayed. More cashew chicken and yummy curry, Autumn played with the waitstaff’s children, checked out the lobsters and crabs and played on the multi-tiered staircase! It was delightful and a total splurge – a bit more of one than we thought. Aaron told me how much they charged us and my mouth dropped – some how taxes added another $20??? Oh well, too late – we had already hailed a taxi and were on our way back to the hotel. The tip from the kind waitress to use the meter was very helpful – the trip back was only 250 baht. Off to bed – our adventure in South East Asia was wrapping up.
April 21st: A long day (literally) flying home
We made our way to the airport in Bangkok and checked into our Thai Airways flight to Tokyo, went through immigration and boarded. They gave us 3 seats in bulkhead (with the wall in front of us so we had like 3 feet of leg room)! Thai Airways is now our favorite airline – the food, service, equipment and comfort was top notch! We had 3 ½ hours in Japan to play in the children’s area and eat some dinner. I also got dad some amazingly yummy Japanese fudge! One more flight and we’d be back in America – Tokyo to Honolulu was pretty uneventful and we were able to get a little bit of sleep. We landed at 8am on the 21st – essentially the same time and day we left Thailand many hours earlier! We took a sketch van shuttle (I think sketchier than anything we had ridden in, in Asia) to our hotel! Thankfully they let us check in at 10am and got us a crib! I had scheduled 2 days in Waikiki for us to adjust to the time change and relax. We had a nice time, ate some Hawaiian and American fare, played in the ocean and watched a great fireworks show. We were somewhat able to adjust to the time change – but it really took about a week for us to be tired at the right time. By the time we got to the mainland Autumn was pretty well adjusted, just in time for us to got out east to see family!
Final thoughts: This was certainly a trip of a lifetime – getting to see far off, completely foreign places and people. It is not a trip we would have done by ourselves and are totally thankful for our friends who wanted the same adventure and to do it together! God is amazing – his creation never ceases to amaze and thrill me! His provision, mercy and graciousness as we traveled about was more than we could have asked for! God is Good, Life is Good and let the adventures continue!
Vacation Stats
5 cities - Bangkok, Ton Sai, Ao Nang, Yangon and Bagan
12 flights (Kona to Honolulu to Tokyo to Beijing to Bangkok to Krabi to Bangkok to Yangon to Bagan to Yangon to Bangkok to Tokyo to Honolulu)
16257 total miles
2 Resorts, 1 Hotel, 1 Bungalow and our friends apartment
9 beaches
Sit down meals: 8 Thai, 2 Indian, 3 Myanmar
Last weekend Aaron and I celebrated 8 years of marriage! We celebrated as a family in the Waikoloa area and scored a sweet condo for Saturday night. Saturday we drove up, check in, played in the pool and then went to the Hilton for dinner next to the dolphin pond. Autumn had a lot of fun watching them come up and down in the water! She's been there before, but this was the first time she really been able to understand and watch them so intently. We settled in for the night and then spent all morning playing in the nice complex pool all morning. Since 12 pm is check out and we were going to meet friends at 2:30 we decided to head up the Kohala coast while Autumn napped in the car. It was very beautiful and Aaron and I had a chance to just talk about life and plans for the future. We finished in Waimea by getting coffee - Autumn woke up as we went through the drive through by saying "Autumn want some!" (-: We headed to Beach 69 to meet up with our friends and meet their newest addition! It was a lovely weekend and I am so blessed by the last 8 years with my partner in adventure!!!
