Arrival in Thailand

A little geography on Thailand:

• 200,000 sq miles in size, with 2000 miles of coastline, and 2500 miles of waterways
• Lies in the middle of mainland Southeast Asia. Borders with Burma to the north, Laos, Cambodia, & Malaysia to the south
• Population of over 65 million. Religion is primarily Buddhism with 95% Buddhist, 4% Islam, and 1% Christian
• Bangkok is the capital. There are 75 provinces grouped into 6 regions. Bangkok is not a province, but a special administrative area
• Unified Thai kingdom established in 14th century and was known as Siam until 1939. Currently a constitutional monarchy.
• The Thai Highland mountains lie in the north and are part of the range that becomes the foothills of the Himalayas. Central Thailand is a plateau. The Chai Praya River is the main river which runs through Bangkok and empties in to the Gulf of Thailand
• The southern part of Thailand had been hit by the tsunami of 2004 (see below)

On monday evening (Dec 20th), we arrived in the Phuket Province of Thailand. It was a 6 hour flight from Abu Dhabi to Bangkok, then a 1 hour flight to Phuket. Then a 45 minute drive to our hotel. It had been a long day!
This island is in the south of Thailand on the Malay Peninsula. It is the largest island in Thailand at about 30 sq miles. This area is known for it’s beautiful beaches. It’s west coast faces the Andaman Sea, while the east coast faces the Gulf of Thailand and features mangroves along the shores vs the west coast’s sandy beaches.
We spent our first day sleeping late and lying by the pool! The weather was actually warmer than we had expected and a bit more humid than we would have liked! This surprised us for some reason! But we all napped fine under the umbrellas at the pool. We enjoyed a yummy Thai dinner at the hotel! I do love Thai food! Our biggest challenge when we travel as a family is that Leon & Elise like to sleep in and relax either in the room or at the pool. I on the other hand much prefer to sight see! Sara is wonderful and is up for anything! So our compromise on this trip was 2 days of relaxing and 3 days of sight seeing!! I was happy!!
Wednesday the 22nd was our first sight seeing expedition – a half day safari!! With elephant rides included! We were very excited! We were picked up from the hotel and driven to a camp about a half hour from the hotel. Here we learned about planting and harvesting rice (which is an important part of their economy), how rubber trees are tapped to produce natural latex in rubber plantations, saw how monkeys are trained to pick coconuts, and have a Thai cooking lesson! I really enjoyed the cooking lesson – and we did get a chance to try the results!
But the highlight I will say was the elephant rides! We paired up and spent a half hour on a very peaceful trail. Much more comfortable than the camel rides we took in Jordan! This was followed by baby elephants performing in a short show for us – they were so cute!
We were then treated to a dinner of traditional Thai food – rice, noodles, chicken with green curry and a fish dish. This was followed by sweet melons! Common herbs used in thai cooking are: cilantro, lemon grass, thai basil, mint, ginger, tamarind, turmeric, garlic, shallots, and of course chilies. Another ingredient that is found in most dishes is fish sauce. I was not aware of this but found it very tasty! All of the dishes here are so fresh and flavorful!
As we drove around the area we noticed that the towns seem very poor. There are hundreds of outdoor roadside restaurants, and stalls or tables set up along the road where people are selling everything – souvenirs to food that they will cook for you! The traffic is insane! Many people ride motor-scooters, with sometimes 2 passengers behind! The beach just north of where we were staying – Patong Beach- had been severely hit by the Tsunami of 2004. While most of the area I’m happy to say has been rebuilt, some older buildings still show signs of destruction and water damage. It was very sad to think about that day.
We arrived home just in time to see the sunset over Karon beach! Then it began to rain! Now this may seem uneventful to most – but we had not seen rain for over 6 months!! The girls were so excited they ran outside and began dancing in the rain! It was so cute! They used to walk in the rain in New York with Leon. This wasn’t always possible in Florida as there was usually lightning with the rain! You never know what’s going to make the kids happy! It was a good day!