Family in Thailand! - Part 1

We had a big busy itinerary for their 11 days in Thailand - here's a look at what we did. With all the photos from 5 cameras it was hard to choose and limit for this blog - enjoy!


Friday - Arrive in Bangkok
We were so excited to see our family at the airport Friday night! :) After many long overdue big hugs we hopped in the taxis and headed to our area of town.

The group.

Saturday - Bangkok and Nonthaburi
We took Beth's family on a school tour and chatted with some of the teachers in the office. We then checked out our apartment, we actually got 7 people our one bedroom studio- ha! Then we headed to Chatuchuk Weekend Market - one of the biggest outdoor markets in the world! We all piled into 1 taxi (a small compact car) 7 of us and the driver - it was a tight squeeze! After some shopping and exploring in the market we all piled into one taxi again for the 15 minute ride back to our apartment. We then went for lunch at our favorite Kow Pad (fried rice) place. It is a small hole in the wall family restaurant near our apartment. We spent the rest of the day swimming in the pool and relaxing poolside to allow our newly arrived travelers to slow down and relax a bit after the sun at the market and their 24 hour journey to Thailand. They all needed it because we had a full schedule for the remainder of the trip planned for them.

 

Our School

All 7 of us in one taxi!

Chatuchuk Market Stalls

Sunday - Ayutthaya
We arranged for a student of ours (Pink from Beth's 5/4 class) to come with us to Auytthaya, be our tour guide. She and a driver picked us up in a very nice and big van (sure beats a cramped taxi) and took us to Auytthaya, about 45 minutes from Bangkok. Auytthaya was the second capital of Siam (name changed from Siam to Thailand in 1939) was founded in the mid 1300s; in the mid 1700s it was destroyed by the Burmese. We visited three ancient sites, made up of many temples and buildings. The first was fairly preserved and some parts restored. The second was almost completely destroyed, none of which has been restored to any noticeable degree; all the Buddha heads were cut off at this sight, all ransacked by the Burmese.
We had a great Thai style lunch (everyone shares all dishes - Beth's favorite kind of dinning!) right next to the river. We moved onto Auytthaya Floating Market. Some got a fish foot spa, others more shopping, and all delicious Thai desserts. We then visited a modern Chinese Buddhist temple with a massive sitting Buddha (dating back to before the fall of Auytthaya) in the temple.

Wat Yai Chaimongkon

Wat Phra Sri Sanphet

Wat Mahathat - Headless Buddhas

Delicious Thai Dessert!

Wat Phanan Choeng

After this sweaty exhausting day exploring history we were dropped off at the airport to catch our flight to Phuket.

Monday - Phuket & Khao Sok National Park
Today was elephant day, everyone was excited! We took a 3 hour bus ride to Khao Sok National Park, the oldest rainforest in the world, the breathtaking scenery helped pass time along the way. Once there we learned that the elephants were all females. This camp in particular is noted for its humane treatment of the animals. We boarded the large elephants and made our way into the jungle. The manhouts, elephant trainers, let the elephant travel wherever she wished, so some of us did some off-roading elephant style. What a great feeling it was to be on top an elephants back with the tall limestone formations and thick green jungle surrounding us. After elephant riding and a delicious Thai lunch we boarded inflatable rafts and floated down the river.
 

Baby Elephant!

Khao Sok National Park

 Tuesday - Kata Beach, Phuket
Beach Day! We were very surprised and disappointed by all the tourists here, it did not feel like Thailand to us. We did expect some tourism in this area, the Phuket beaches are a well-known tourist attraction, but the scale of it was surprising. In Bangkok we are used to seeing signs in English but here we even saw signs in Russian, which was a first for us. Regardless, we made the best of the busy beaches. The water on the beach was warm and the sun powerful! There was some snorkeling right on our beach. We all took snorkel gear out a few times through out the day to check out some reef (unfortunately most was not colorful anymore) and some fish and other sea creatures. Most of the coral around Phuket was damaged in the tsunami so it had lost its color. We had a great day on the beach. We played a few games to end the evening.

 

Wednesday  - Koh Phi Phi and Surrounding Islands
We decided to take a speedboat and snorkeling trip around islands of Phuket, mainly Koh Phi Phi. We loaded into a speedboat with our snorkel gear and sunscreen and headed out to sea. Our first stop was Maya Bay, a location from the movie The Beach. It was a gorgeous bay of aqua water surrounded by large rock formations - and tons of boats! After spending time on this beach we headed to the backside of the bay to snorkel. Lots of colorful fish and coral formations, but again these were damaged so most color was gone.

The Gang

Next up was Monkey Beach. This beach is overrun with monkeys. Tourist feed the monkeys little peanuts and fruits, we even saw one monkey drinking a coke! Next up was a drive by of Viking Cave - where they collect bird nests for the famous bird nest soup. No, we didn't try it.

Beach-side lunch was next on Koh Phi Phi island. Then we traveled to get some sun on Khai Nok Island where there was white sandy beaches and clear water. We enjoyed more snorkeling and sun before boarding the boat heading back to Phuket.

Riding the wave on the floating dock.

Khai Nok Beach

We enjoyed our time in Phuket - the sun was powerful and the temperature was HOT! It was great to spend adventurous days and conversation/game filled evenings with family. Stay tuned for Family in Thailand - Part 2, we travel to Chiang Mai then back to Bangkok/Nonthaburi.