Mom in Thailand

I know you all have been anxiously awaiting my Blog, but it has taken me this long to figure out how to sign in to Ryan's Blog. So, here it is:

I arrived in Thailand on the 15th of March at 1:45 am, now keep in mind that I left Sacramento on the 13th. With time zones and all, it took that long to get there. I flew in to Tapei and made a quick dash over to the waiting airplane to get me over to Thailand. I was greeted by Ryan and it was an emotional reunion. Oh, how I've missed him. I greeted his family, his mom, dad, brother and grandparents all met me at the airport. We all piled in the car along with my luggage and we spent the night at a nearby hotel. Ryan & I stayed up past 4:00 am just talking and letting him open cards and gifts; he said it felt like Christmas!

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel and we headed north to where he lives. We visited the King's palace (the King from 100 years ago), it was quite beautiful. And after that we stopped along the way to ride an elephant! What an experience that was, and it certaintly wasn't like riding a horse. We had many laughs along the way. While we were there, we also fed a Bengal tiger some milk...ok, a young Bengal tiger!

The next day Ryan & I caught a songtail (bus) to Khon Kaen where me met with other exchange students. We had lunch, played Guitar Hero and went bowling. Oh, we also went to Swensens and we all shared an Earthquake...all you Swensens fans will know what that is! We then hung around for the night market and got to shop around there for a while. That's where they have all the interesting fried bugs that you can eat. Did I? Oh no!

On Monday, we went to see Ryan's great-grandma. She gave me a bracelet which wished me happiness, richness and good health. So, if my bracelet breaks, does that mean they won't come true? Yikes!

We also went to see the property of trees that Ryan's grandparents own. They have Eucalyptus, Teak, Rubber and Coconut trees. We had a nice drive out to their tree farms.

I met Dr. Urot...he's the doctor that Ryan had shadowed at the hospital. Very nice gentleman and very young too. From there, I was introduced to Ryan's 2nd host parents.

We ventured back down to Khon Kaen and shopped at the mall, went to a temple with Meagan and Maria (climbed 9 stories) and we had Thai style iced tead when we finished at the temple.

That night we had a nice dinner with Ryan's 2nd host parents and their son. We headed to bed because we had an early morning trip planned. Ryan & I were going camping up at Phuk Ra Deung (National Park), so we got up at 4:15 to head over to the mountain.

So, it's Tues and we hiked the mountain. I believe it's 4,500 feet high and it took us 6 hours to climb it. It was hot and probably the most intense hike I have ever done, but we made it! We rented a tent, blankets and pillows so we didn't need to carry that stuff with us. We didn't have to carry our luggage either, a porter carried it to the top of the hill for us, those guys are animals!! Imagine carrying that stuff to the top, we barely made it ourselves!

We woke the next morning at 4:30 to watch the sunrise. It was quite incredible. We came back and crashed (slept) for a few hours to prepare ourselves for the next hike. We walked about 5 miles to this one location to watch the sunset but the weather was changing quickly and they didn't think there would be a sunset, so we headed back...another 5 miles. We ended up seeing a beautiful sunset on our way home and arrived back at the camp in the dark. We enjoyed a nice Pad Thai dinner and we headed to bed...only to be awakened in the night by either a deer or a boar that had a bag stuck on it's head! It was too dark to figure out what animal it was...we did see both animals earlier in the evening. Ask Ryan which one he thought it was!

Thursday morning we headed down the hill after we left our luggage with a porter to carry it down. A surprise to us was the fact that Ryan's host grandparents met us part way up the hill (the first rest stop up the hill). We walked down with them and had lunch with them and Tuk. After questioning what type of fish was in my soup, Tuk said it was Snake Fish...go figure! I'm not inquiring any more after that!

We went in to town to pick up a guitar case for Ryan and some things he needed for his Rotary trip to Phuket...that's pronounced Poo Ket by the way! We had soup for dinner that Atom (brother) picked up at the local restaurant, very good by the way!

Friday morning we were up early to visit with Ryan's possible 3rd host mom. She owns a stationery store just down the street from where they live. Ryan's 2nd host mom met us and we all had lunch together. We ran a few errands and said good bye to great-grandma and we headed to Korat to take Ryan to the location where all the exchange students were meeting to go on their trip to Phuket. Ryan and I had a tearful good-bye...ok, I had the tearful good-bye. It was hard to say good-bye again, but we'll see him in June!

We went to KFC for dinner, yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken! The only thing I can say is that the chickens aren't as fat in Thailand as they are at home. It was still good, but not fat on the meat! After dinner, we pulled up to the hotel in Bangkok called "Lam Park." Tuk, Atom & I shared a room.

The next morning we were up at 6:00 am to beat the morning traffic. We dressed up to go to the Imperial Palace, but found out that Atom & I couldn't go in to see the King's sister, because our clothes weren't black...only black clothing was allowed.
Oh, how I wish I was back in shorts and sandals! We still saw the rest of the palace grounds which was nice.

Tuk surprised me with a boat ride which I enjoyed. You ought to see these long boats, they are fast and the engine in them is huge, with a long rudder and propeller. We climbed to the top of a temple "Temple of Dawn" which actually gave a nice view of Bangkok. Afterward we had a nice lunch and then went to another temple.

We took Atom back to the hotel and Tuk, her friend and I went for a massage (Thai massage). Pretty relaxing especially after having hiked the mountain...I didn't realize how sore I was from coming down the mountain! We picked up her friends daughter and we all had a nice dinner at the mall at MK restaurant (suki soup).

Well, it's Sunday and it's my last day. We were up at 7:00 to go to the airport by 8:30. I got there in plenty of time for my 12:30 flight. We said good bye and it was difficult to say good bye to Tuk, she was such a wonderful hostess and I told her she has been a good mom to Ryan...I think we were both crying by then! So, I turned to go on my flight with Ryan's guitar in one hand and my laptop in the other.

It was a good flight home, long, but good. I left on Easter and came home on Easter.
I was greeted by Cody, Charlotte (our exchange student from France) and my loving husband Dennis. It was so good to be home, but it was also such a wonderful trip.
I've been filled with many delightful memories of sharing time with my son in Thailand.

I love you Ryan, give my best to your family in Thailand (parents, brother, grandparents, great-grandma and friends).Now it's his turn to fill you in on his trip to Phuket. I'm looking forward to hearing about it also.

Laurie (Mae Ma Li)