Operation: “The World” is a Go

That was the going question for our next part of the trip as we ventured into Northern Thailand. We decided to take a trek and chose a 3 day 2 night, non-touristy trek around Pai. Pai is about 2 hours north of Chiang Mai. The trek was unforgettable for us. It was a great way to see the landscape of the north and experience the culture of the local tribal villages. We also met a great group of people that were able to hang out with after the trek for a few nights.

The trek was more difficult than we expected or at least for us it was. Others in our group seemed to have no problem. We climbed into the back of a pick-up and drove to a local village where we had lunch and visited the school children.

We think the children were learning how to cultivate the land or just playing with hack saws…not quite sure?

From there we started our trek. On the first day, the climb, was mostly uphill and in the hot sun and definitely a rude awakening for us on how out of shape we were!

We arrived in the afternoon at a local village where we played football (soccer) with everyone. Soccer has never been my sport so I thought I would try being goalie then I could at least use my hands. After a few good saves and a ball in the face I wanted to dodge the ball instead of block it. I handed my spot over to one of the locals and decided to play sport photographer instead.

There were eleven of us on the trek. Six English, two American’s, one Australian, and our two fearless leaders from Thailand, Crazy-boy, and Danny. Crazy-boy was simply that a little crazy, but in a good way. He was 23 years old and grew up in one of the tribal villages. He was born deaf so he can’t speak or hear. At one point, we all thought it was a little funny that we were being led through the jungles of Thailand by a boy who can’t speak or hear us. It just added to the adventure!

After soccer, we headed back to our 5 star hotel for the night. A room made from bamboo with mats on the floor.

We had a great dinner cooked by our guide and then watched and listened to the local children sing and dance.

The little ones always made us smile!~

The next morning we set out again on our next trek where we would stop at another local village and take a swim in the nearby waterfall. The waterfall was refreshing.

Here is when we gave a BIG THANKS to WASHING MACHINES! Something we have done a few times on our travels.

We had some sort of noodle soup and rice for lunch. It reminded me of my college dorms days where ramen noodle was our staple as well. A couple of hours rest and then on the trail again till we arrived at the elephant camp.

The elephants were awesome. What amazing creatures they are! We were happy to see the people at this particular camp really taking care of the elephants. One of the elephants was sick and we couldn’t ride it so our group had to trade off a little to ensure everyone at least got some riding in. It took a little while to get used to of the idea of sitting on an animal that could easily overpower a human at any minute. I was glad to find out these elephants were well trained and listened accordingly.

Being able to sit back and ride for awhile and not have to look at where we were putting our feet let us really take in our surroundings. We couldn’t believe where we were! We were treading through creeks with baby elephants following us and in one of the greenest backdrops I have ever seen. Absolutely beautiful! I don’t think our pictures can even compare.

Once we left the elephants we had another short trek of “up and downs” and then we arrived at our next village and bamboo hut for the night. We all were starving and eager to see what our next meal would be. A potato and chicken curry along with a pumpkin dish. This is where Brian decided he hates Corriander, even more than he hates tomatoes.

We had a bonfire and then retreated to our mats for the night. The next day was an easier trek through the jungle where we climbed to an awesome look out point and then to our bamboo rafts.

Bamboo rafting again another first for us. We floated down the river and tried our harderst and not getting our raft over taken by the English. But to no avail by the end each raft had been overtaken and we had destroyed two of them. I guess that’s what happens when you put six grown men on a bunch of bamboo tied together. Soaked and tired we crawled in to the pick-up with the others and drove back to Chiang Mai…and that was the end to our trek adventure.

Coming soon…

Culture shock is right! Things are definitely different. We arrived shortly after midnight and had arranged to have a driver from our hotel meet us at the airport and escort us to the hotel. The drive to the hotel was the first sign that things were going to be a little different here. The streets were lined with super modern shopping centers and small make-shift buildings made out of tin and whatever else they could find.

We stayed at the Avana Hotel which was very nice and had all the Western amenities that we are accustomed to. It was a nice way to ease us into this new culture.

The next morning we ventured to the hotel restaurant for our first Thai breakfast. A buffet style breakfast was included and had everything from Thai rice dishes to American fried eggs. Nothing seemed outstanding yet, but it was edible and that was a good sign. At this time, we had no idea how much we would end up loving traditional Thai food. After breakfast and much needed showers we ventured out to see Bangkok.

We took a taxi to the sky train to bring us into the center of the city. The sky train again was ultra modern with flat screen TVs and trendy design. We bought day passes for the public transportation which totaled 240 Baht about $3 a person. This was a welcome change from what we were spending to get around in Europe. We got off at Siam Square and walked into what was one of the craziest and largest shopping malls I have ever been in. Everywhere I looked I saw top-end stores! Emily, you would have been in heaven. I couldn’t figure out what all this was doing in Bangkok. Were people really shopping in these stores? Or were they just there for show? I still haven’t figured it out yet and after making a couple different stops at the mall. I still have not seen anyone actually shopping in the stores. We have been told by many that Bangkok is not Thailand. I think they are right.

We made our way to the river and picked up a river express boat. Another fun form of public transportation.

We took it to one the temples where the famous large reclining Buddha was displayed.

We strolled through the grounds of the temple admiring the details of the Asian designs.

After two days at Avana Hotel we moved to the Bed and Breakfast Hotel in Siam Square which is the shopping mecca of Bangkok and also a great hub for all the public transportation. This was a small and neat little hotel and we were starting to get a good feel of the city.

To end our few nights in the city we made sure to take a trip to Khao San Road. This is the famous street or small neighborhood that has catered to backpackers for hundreds of years. As we toured this part of the city it became clear how highly regarded the King of Thailand is here. There are pictures of him posted everywhere!

The people of Thailand also found a great use for all those promotional AOL cd’s that you get in the mail. I wonder if St. Paul can implement a similar recycling strategy?

Our next stop would be the floating market in Damnoen Saduak which is just a few hours from Bangkok.

California here we come! I just love to say it. We arrived in San Francisco Wednesday afternoon and were greeted at the airport by Lindsay and Luke. We decided to drive straight into the city and get something to eat. A sour-dough bread bowl of clam chowder on the wharf seemed fitting….and it was! I never thought I would like clam chowder but it was mighty tasty.

We spent a few hours walking along the wharf and piers and then took a drive over the Golden Gate Bridge. It is one long bridge.

We found a little turn off after the bridge that led us up to a great view of the city and the bridge. We stayed for sunset and all took several night photos of the bridge.

The next day we decided to take a trip along the coast and Highway 1 and head into Napa Valley for an overnight stay. The coastline was gorgeous and really gave us a view of the fog that covers the city.

The roads were windy and reminded us of our drives in Europe. Luckily, no one felt sick this time. The drive took a little longer than expected and we arrived in Guerneville in the afternoon famished. We found a great little burger and sandwich shop to eat at and then we were off to find the Korbel Champagne factory.

We got there about 15 mins after the last tour but we were able to catch up with the group and experience the most important parts of the tour, such as, how it’s made and the tasting.

Cheers!

Our waitress from the burger shop told us where we could find a national forest full of redwoods so we quickly drove the few miles to get some tree hugging in before night fall.

We barely made it. We walked a short little path before we decided that it was just too dark and scary to continue farther in. Except for Brian, who ran in farther to make a quick video of how quiet and dark it was. It seriously is a black video of silence with Brian’s occasional whispers. I’m sure you are all dying to see it…I know I was. : )

We took the short drive in to Calistoga, the start of Napa Valley, to rest our heads for the night, but not before we joined the masses in getting mud baths and hot spring treatments. It was a first for us all and very interesting. I think some enjoyed it more than others. We had a light dinner and went to bed since we had a full day of tasting wine in the morning.

We grabbed a wine tour guide from our motel to help us along the way. The young girls there also recommended a great breakfast place. We filled our stomachs and set out to find our first winery. We missed the first winery on the list so we pulled over in a driveway to turn around and realized that we were looking up at a castle!

We couldn’t believe it. We drove up the long Tuscan-looking driveway to find ourselves staring at a winery housed in a European Castle. We signed up for a tour and tasting that started in an hour. In the meantime we headed back to another winery to get our taste buds ready. I could not believe how similar the landscape looked to Tuscany, Italy and the fall colors were just beautiful!

The Castello di Amorosa tour and tasting was definitely the highlight for us. The castle had been modeled after 12^th and 14^th century European castles. You can see where the look of the castle changes (the quality of stone) based upon the century.

Everything was done by “old world” ways and they tried to keep everything as authentic as possible. Most of the building supplies were brought over from Europe.

The castle grounds have over 16000 sq feet underground in cave systems that are complete with wine cellars, a dungeon, and a torture chamber.

The wine followed suit and was some of the best that we had. We all voted on joining the club in future years to come so we could join in on the parties that are thrown there each year. We visited several more wineries for tastings on our way home and stopped off for some Italian food before we got back to San Francisco.

Over the next few days Lindsay had to work so we took it easy at the apartment with Luke watching movies.

We then jumped the Cal Train to the city for a day of cable cars, listening to Christmas music, playing with the seals, and eating in China Town and Little Italy.

To end the Cali trip we took a scenic drive to Santa Cruz with Luke where we watched the surfers, visited the land bridges, and strolled through the streets.

I would recommend this trip to anyone that wants a taste of Europe for less without crossing big seas. I think Nancy (Brian’s Mom) was right on with San Francisco being one of the most European cities in America.

Overall, we had a great time and when Thanksgiving morning came around we were sad to say goodbye. We had such a great time at home and in California that it was tough to leave. The journey must go on. Off to the airport and the next 19 hours on a plane.

After much discussion we decided that we both would come home in October for the wedding instead of just Brian. To help offset the plane tickets we made the trip home for about a month instead of a week and flew home around the same time as everyone else the first week of October.

HOME is WONDERFUL! We were pleasantly surprised to find it 80 degrees and sunny when we got home. We were loving it. Brian’s parents and my brother Paul met us at the airport and took us to Perkins to meet my parents for some good American food. Well, the “good” part I suppose could be debated but the “American” was pretty right on. I was eager to get my chimis and side salad loaded with ranch dressing and Brian his chocolate-chipper. We were happy campers.

On our first weekend home we joined Brian’s parents and their MG Club on a fall color tour. Brian was very excited to be out driving his little red car. We were designated as the photographers of the tour and I found myself in awe of how beautiful everything was. After being in foreign places for so long, you start to look at everything in a different way. It was as if we were discovering MN for the first time. I think sometimes we take for granted how beautiful and fun even our familiar places can be.

We spent the next weeks visiting our families, taking it easy, and eating way to much food. While the first few days we were up early and what some might call “go-getters” it didn’t take long for us to get into a more of a laid back routine. 

 We did re-evaluate our trip plans and had to scale things down to the rising cost of jet fuel and the decreasing value of the dollar. They both led to a faster deflation of our “trip-money” than planned. We had a lot of fun and learned a lot on the way about traveling and ourselves. So, for the next part of our trip we estimated high. We decided that we had enough to comfortably enjoy one more region of the world and after much deliberation we chose Southeast Asia. We both are really sad and disappointed that we will not be making it to New Zealand and South America; however, we are excited to have the opportunity to visit a country that has cultures and traditions so different than our own. We felt that we could stretch our dollar the farthest here and it would be best explored while we are still in good health and a little crazy. I think we might be a little of both!

We hooked up with a great travel agent at University Travel in Minneapolis and found a ticket that would let us stopover in San Francisco and visit our travel buddies Lindsay and Luke for a week and then to Bangkok, Thailand. The only downside is that we have to spend Thanksgiving on a plane. We are extremely lucky that we were able to have Thanksgiving and Christmas, complete with stockings and a miniature tree, all in one day before we left.

We plan on exploring Thailand and the neighboring countries in November and December and then spending the month of January in Vietnam volunteering with Global Volunteer Network based out of New Zealand at the local orphanages and community sites. Our ticket includes a stop over in Tokyo, Japan on the way home where we will spend about six days soaking up the Japanese sights. Let the adventure begin…

Coming Soon…

Coming soon…

Coming Soon…

Coming soon…

Coming soon…