Mom & Dad ...in Thailand?

Here's a report from Stefanie on the guided tour of Thailand she's given over the last couple weeks. Let's see if we can get some photos, videos, etc. published in the next couple weeks...

Hi guys,

Mom, Dad and two of my best friends Steph and Madeleine officially left Thailand today. I breezed them through Bangkok, introduced them to my home away from home in Chiang Mai, and of course took a few beach days in the southern islands near Krabi.

I was a little tour guide again, teaching Thai, teaching history and bits of culture and info about all the sights we saw. A little funny to be doing this, since I'm used to doing this for my job...not for my family. But hey! They only made fun of me a couple times, so I guess I did ok :)

Some trip highlights:

• Bangkok: Floating markets, having our boats fished out of the water by vendors trying to sell anything from hats, fresh fruits to magnets...and of course Steph buying an oil painting, only finding out hours later that it was actually a photograph of an oil painting...such a sad moment.
• Chiang Mai: Thai cooking class, watching Madeleine and Dad cough and sneeze through every chili dish, and Mom proving once and for all...'she really can cook.'
• Koh Phi Phi: snorkeling on a boat all day and surviving one of the worst storms out to sea anyone's ever witnessed (Dad: "I think this is a squall"). Later that day, when the sun finally came out, Dad complains about Mom holding his hand the whole day, keeping him "strapped to a buoy." On the plus side, 3 black tip reef sharks and some of the best diving visibility I've seen out there during the rainy season!
• Kayaking through the mangroves of Bo Thor: Dad complains again about Mom, being "trapped by an anchor." Dad splits his paddle in half hitting it against a rock, while paddling through the darkness of a sea cave...pretty cool day even though Mom ended the day rolling out of her kayak "like a taco onto the pier" since she couldn't lift herself from the kayak. Macaques, langurs, and cave paintings nearly 2,000 years old from ancient sea gypsy civilizations are some of the cool things we saw.
• Railey Beach: "Ninas bar"---Mom kept track of every night me and the girls went out to the bars, and kept a small notepad noting the time and date of each "ninas bar" outing...I'm still not sure why... Best highlight of Railey Beach has to be watching the sunset drop behind the beached long-tail boats, with our cool drinks in hand.

All in all, pretty great trip. Mom cried hysterics when she left me on the shore of the beach, and I can say now that I shed a few myself. I love you guys, and thank you again for sharing some time off with me here in Thailand. I couldn't have asked for a better break from work than being close with my family again!

As for now, I'm in Bangkok at the Queen's Garden Resort taking my last day of rest. Tomorrow morning I'm picking up my group at 6 am at the Bangkok airport, then we fly together to Chiang Mai to start another project at the Elephant Nature Park. I lead two more groups at the ENP, then one more back in Sangklaburi (working with the children from Burma) and then it's back to the adventure tours for the rest of the season until mid-September.

I'm going to be locked in the jungle for the next 6 weeks straight, so internet access is limited of course. I'll be sure to update on the new adventures with elephants, Burmese refugees and ISV students sure to come :)

Hope everyone is well and healthy!

Love,
Stef

Ayutthaya---The Ancient Empire

Ayutthaya--- The Ancient Kingdom of Siam's Central Plains (1351 AD- 1767)

In between the last tours, I took a day trip outside of Bangkok and headed North (3 hours by local train) to the UNESCO World Heritage ancient city of Ayutthaya. Ryan (ISV project leader) and I rented bicycles for the day (only 50 Baht!) and cycled our way through the ruins of the old city.

A lot of these structures were built in the early 1400s and were temples and palaces representing the strongest period of history in the fight against the Burmese invasions. In 1767 the city was destroyed by the Burmese army, and burned to the ground. The Burmese supposedly destroyed everything sacred to the Thais, including manuscripts, temples and religious sculptures....this could be bias-soaked information I was given though.

These lions stand guarding the entrance to the temple's sacred stupa/chedi (structure that is believed to hold sacred scripture, Buddha relic and/or Buddha bone)...the architecture looked Khmer (Cambodian) in style, more so than Thai traditional representation of the lions.

Ryan striking a pose, near one of the more scenic lakes of the ruins:

Ryan climbing the steps of an ancient chedi...

The famous 3 pagodas: Wat Phra Si Sanphet---the site served as the royal palace from the city's founding until the mid-15th c. when it was converted into a temple. Although the grounds are now well taken care of in comparison to others, they can't hide the effects of war and time.

The surrounding buildings are worn through to their orange bricks, leaning to one side from gravity over time. This complex used to hold a 16m high Buddha standing statue that was covered in gold; it was melted down by the Burmese conquerors.

Big Buddha---Little Buddha:

More of the grounds...

Sometimes it felt like we were walking through a maze, one could easily get lost in the feeling of stepping back in time.

Buddha, being swallowed by a fig tree. This used to be a sitting Buddha, but now all that remains to be seen is only the head.

Defaced Buddhas---unknown if they've been defaced by time, or defaced during the Burmese army's invasions.

The ferry to and from the train station to the old city: one bored boat man goes back and forth all day long, the 5 minute ride from one side of the river to the other...

A video to help catch the mood of the park...including traditional Thai temple music for ambiance!

In the end, not a bad day trip to kill the time in between adventure tours!