Goodbye Thailand

We are sad to end our vacation.  The kids really miss their friends and pets and school (not!).  Everyone in b-class the whole way home this time!

Bangkok - Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha Temple

The Grand Palace has been serving Thai kings since 1782.  They day we chose to walk around, it was blazing hot.  We did a quick walk around and entered the Emerald Buddha Temple to see the Emerald Buddha. 

 

After sweating it out, we tried to find a restaurant that was recommended by our guidebook.  It was a steamy and long cab ride due to traffic.  The restaurant wasn't good, but Chip, Charles, and John all tried a century egg.  Brandy thought it looked disgusting.

 

 

 

 

Bangkok - China Town

We had to try to go to China town twice.  The first night we were duped by a TukTuk driver and others walking around.  The next trip we knew better.  The market and food were awesome!

 

Always interesting things for sale in Chinatown!

First stop was some ice cream!

Our next stop was the main course.. awesome Chinese/Thai soup with fishballs, chicken, and pork.

 

Gillian wasn't a huge fan of the chicken.

The lady selling the noodles was hilarious.   We told her how good they were and she said "I know its good".

On our way home we stopped at a stand next to the hotel that Chip and Gillian discovered while collecting our laundry.  Banana and eggs inside dough covered in sweet milk and chocolate flakes.. yummy!  We hit it 3 times in 3 days!

Bangkok- Floating Market

We took a tour outside of Bangkok to a floating market. It was about 1.5 hours away and on the way we stopped at a coconut farm where we learned how to make coconut sugar, syrup and oil. It was super interesting and we left with tons of yummy candy!

The town was the same one featured on travel shows where the market surrounds a train track. Once a day the market moves to the side to allow the train to pass, then they move back on to the tracks right after. 

We drove past that market to catch a long tail boat ride to the floating market. There were tons of trinkets and food marketed to tourists. We floated along and ate yummy soup, fried coconut pancakes, fried coconut milk, and Gillian's favorite, fried bananas. Everything was cooked on the front of their boats. 

Charles lovin the fried coconut tacos! Talk about Thai/Mexican fusion at its finest!

The last making the fried coconut milk. You can see the small black pan where she ladled small cups of coconut milk to cook into a delicious custard. Only 20 baht!

Us with the floating market behind us. 

Gillian's new pet!

Johns new pets!  The second one is placed perfectly.

Charles's new pet!

Tour of how a Thai settlement along the canal. Their houses are raised on stilts with coconut farmland surrounding. Each house had at least one long tail boat for transportation.

Sailong Day 7 - Last Full Day - Ko Nakha Yai/ Ko Phae

On our last full day, Brandy felt kind of sick in the morning while the kids and Chip kayaked to the beach. There was a long line of beach umbrellas and a few bars and the kids didn't dig it.   Brandy relaxed under the shade on the front of the boat. When the kids and Chip got back to the boat, Brandy finally worked up enough nerve to jump off the side of the boat. It was fun but the strong current made Brandy nervous.

Before we left Ko Nakha Yai, the kids and Chip rented jet skis.  The kids thought it was the best thing since sliced bread!!!

Next, we went to Ko Phae.  It had a huge sandbar where the kids found tons of sand dollars. So relaxing!  We spent a long time there.  Once the tourists left, it was so peaceful.  It reminded us of Tahiti Beach in Elbow Cay. 

For our last night, we anchored outside the town of Laem Yang for an early departure to Bangkok.



This beach looked to be crowded later.  It was nice to have it in the morning!

 

 

Brandy finally got the courage to jump after her kids harassed her! 

 

The Thai version of Tahiti Beach..

 

The kids loved the green crabs.

Charles was really getting good at chillaxing.  After 30 minutes, the beach turned was a little bigger.

Here is our track for the whole week.

 

Sailing Day 6 - Jan 2 - Ko Hong Island / Ko Nok Khum

 We went to Ko Hong Island.  We went kayaking with loads of tourists in through a cave that opened up inside to a lagoon.   It was beautiful and worth the tourists. We kayaked down a small dead end cave when we had to inch along with loads of people. It was our first sunny day so the crew put up a tent on the front of the boat. We had lunch under the tent out front and it was delicious. Everyone especially loved the spring rolls. Gillian especially loved the outsides. She wanted to give away the inside, but she didn't have any takers! We also had fish soup and chicken with onions and broccoli.  And of course we had fresh dragon fruit and watermelon (John's Favorite).

After the kids kayaked and Chip and Brandy took the dinghy to the beach. We were all a bit grumpy and we had a bit of a spat over the kayaks.  Each kid wanted their own and I wanted one to sit on. With only 3 kayaks, that was a bit of a problem.  Charles was angry so he decided to swim back to the boat.  He got caught in a current and I stayed with him and offered to tow him in with the kayak, but he was determined! Eventually, Ming came to rescue him with the dinghy!

Afterwards Ming led us walking down a small dark and scary cave to a lagoon where we saw walking fish and got stuck in deep mud!

Later we went on a dingy ride around the island where we saw red and blue coral growing on the rocks and several slugs that Gillian quickly bonded with and wanted to take home!  She held one and named him Goop.    We saw bamboo poles that people use to climb up and get the birds nest. We wrapped up the day with chip and the kids jumping off the front of the boat while Brandy  showered (aaahhhh) and did some reading.

That small hole is what we were shooting for!  The tide was rising and was a little tighter on the way out.

This was the first opening we got to.. it was amazing.  Still hard to believe any sun got in there.

Charles jumped out of his Kayak and managed to walk on the rocks. 

 

 

Brandy getting a nice ride back! 

Our wonderful lunch on the covered front of the boat..

 

Next stop.. some more caves..  We brought some flashlights for this one..

 

  This was the tallest section.  We had to duck through most of the 10 minute trek...  Brandy almost pulled the plug on it as we couldn't see anything...

We ended up in a beautiful "bedroom" (in Thai).  We had fun!!!

This is a picture of the walking fish.

You can see by the roots on the mangroves that we can only get in during low tide.

 

 

 

This is a picture of Goop.  Gillian wanted to bring him home.