A View from and Elephant's Back

The one thing the kids wanted to do while in Thailand was ride an elephant. So on the third day we drove almost 2 hours outside of the city and went on an elephant ride. I think it is something the kids will remember for the rest of their lives. I mean, who could forget sitting on the back of an elephant, walking through a jungle in Thailand?



Matt, Chris and Sami went on the elephant ahead of us. So many of the pictures I have taken are from behind.


One of the neatest parts of the ride was walking through a small creek while on the elephants.

There were lots of pretty trees, flowers and other vegetation to see.

If you look real close you will even see a few monkeys in this picture. And yes, they are wearing shirts. Strange, I know. Imagine seeing a monkey running around wearing clothes in the jungle.



We did manage to get a few pictures of us front the front. And even a shot or two of Emily and myself.




Afterwards the kids were able to feed the elephants some bananas. Just a small treat for not throwing us off.

You can see many more pictures here. Just keep in mind it is hard to take decent pictures from atop a moving elephant.

Bangkok Floating Market :Damnoen Saduak

On the third day in Bangkok we went to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. It was such a different experience. You get into banana boats and ride up and down the river to different sales stalls, as well as buy goods and food out of other boats. There was everything, such as hats, fans, food, decorator items and paintings. I swear people even had weird things like Colonix and muscle medicines. .

Emily took some video with her camera so I thought it would be fun to post rather than pictures. As you can tell Chris sure likes to shake his head no at everything people are selling. He is his dad's son.

Enjoy!

Bangkok Day 2 -Dream World & Night Market

Our second day we went to Dream World –– Thailand's version of Disney. It was about an hour drive away. The kids really enjoyed it, and okay, so did us adults.







The best part was Snow Town –– a village with real man-made snow and sledding.


That evening we went to the Saun Night Market –– an evening shopping center with 100s of stands. There was also a "food court", where we ate dinner. Matt says he loves Thai food so much that we needed weight loss pills after vacation.



As always, you can see lots of more pictures here. Up next? The floating market and elephant rides!

Bangkok Day 1 - Spring Break 2009

Our first day was spent touring The Grand Palace, Wat Pa, the local shopping area, taking a boat up the river and eating some awesome food at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was really a cultural experience to see some of the history of Thailand and also to see how people live today.

The Grand Palace







Wat Po (The Reclining Buddha)





View from a River Boat



Local Shopping



Hard Rock Cafe (AKA- REAL Western Food)





You can see many more photos from our first day here. Next up? Dream World –– Thailand's version of "Disney World".

Bangkok Here We Come

Saturday morning we left the house at 6:20 am to head to the ferry for the start of our vacation (or as they call it in most parts of the world 'holiday'). The main international airport is in Osaka and the easiest way to get there is by a shuttle bus, taxi or a 29-minute ferry. Our neighbor swore to us that the ferry was the most economical and easiest way to get to the airport so we decided to give it a try.

Friday Matt & I did a "dry run" to the ferry terminal to make sure we knew how to get there. This is so not "Matt & Alexis" however in Japan nothing i ever how you expect it so we figured being prepared would be a good thing. So Saturday am we drove to the ferry and our neighbor was right –– it was super simple!

We had to buy our tickets from a vending machine (I swear everything in Japan is bought via vending machine) and then just wait until it was time to board the ferry.

The kids loved the ferry ride as we got to ride out with all the shipping boats coming in. I enjoyed watching the shore of our "home" disappear as we headed to the airport.

Our first leg of the flight was from Osaka to Hong Kong. We sailed through security and they had to wait until it was time to board. We spent lots of time teasing Emily as one of her teachers was on our flight as well.



I wish I had my camera within easy reach on the plane to take a picture of the meal. Let's just say it was so interesting that we rushed in the Hong Kong airport to Burger King and Starbucks before our flight to Bangkok.


Our flight boarded on time and we were excited to be on our last leg of travel before landing in Bangkok.

Who would have thought that we would have had to sit on the runway for 3.5 hours while they repaired a minor "technical difficulty'. We knew we were in trouble when the pilots and chef were walking around the plane after 90 minutes.

But we finally made it to Bangkok –– over 3 hours late. But we made it. It was a 45 minute shuttle ride to our hotel from the airport. We chose to stay at the Ascott Sathorn as it was able to fit our whole family (most places in Asia limit 3 to a room) and is more like a condo than a hotel (we have a 2 bedroom place with a full kitchen, laundry and living room). The place is amazing and has a great view.






Bangkok is supposed to be an amazing city. I can't wait to share our adventures with everyone.