Number 10….. The Floating Market just outside of Bangkok.  We went here on Chinese New Years.  This was a real blessing as it was not very busy and was really relaxing.

Number 9…..Ko Lanta- This island was pretty neat.  We loved the tuk tuk rides, Long Beach and the Muay Thai fight.

Number 8….Bangkok- This city was scenic with the many skyscrapers, the Grand Palace and the temple with the Reclining Buddha.  We watched The Lego Movie Two here and really enjoyed the malls.

Number 7…..Albert and Poorita.  We got to meet my cousin Albert and his wife Poorita.  The kids really loved the 9 cats that they had and the kids in their neighbourhood.  Albert and Poorita literally chauffeured us around great distances, cooked for us and even offered up their house to stay at, their hospitality was out of this world.

Number 6…..Night Markets- if you have been to Thailand you get this.  These are everywhere. The food is unbelievable and the prices are reasonable to boot.

Number 5….Thai people- All that we experienced in Thailand was love form the people.  They really took to our kids and were extremely kind and respectful.  We definitely felt safer in Thailand then we do in our own city.

Number 4….Fruit Shakes- these real fruit shakes are incredible.  When you have the kids asking for these instead of pop you know they are doing something right.

Number 3….Ko Phi Phi- We only stayed here for one night but it made a lasting impression on the kids and Renelle.  It has a laid back atmosphere and is cool how there are no scooters or cars in the town.

Number 2…..Phuket- we thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Kamala.  Our host Nick really helped us out in our travels.  We loved our day with our driver Sedat.  The Trick Eye Museum, Upside Down House, Big Buddha, and feeding an elephant was one of our favourite days on our whole trip.  We went to a great restaurant and enjoyed Kamala Beach as well.

Number 1…… Koh Jum- this was our unanimous first pick of Thailand.  From leaving off the ferry halfway in between Ko Lanta to Krabi and jumping on a long tail boat, to scooter rides everyday, to amazing beaches.  This island really had EVERYTHING for us.  It was so laid back.  It brought us back into what felt like how Thailand used to be before the tourists came.  As Nick from Phuket told us “just don’t tell the kids about it, if they find out about it they will ruin it.”

Feb 2 – Shawn’s cousin, Albert Vermette and his wife Poorita kindly picked us up on the side of the road where the bus dumped us off at 3:15am in Hua Hin.  They took us to our hotel and we got a few hours of sleep that night.

We had breakfast at the hotel and then toured Hua Hin by first visiting Monkey Mountain. We admired a 20 foot tall golden Buddha at the bottom of the hill and continued on to see the view and monkeys of course.  The kids were a bit apprehensive about all the monkeys in the wild that we were walking by due to our last experience with aggressive monkeys that are used to being fed.  We climbed up to the top of the hill and shared the steps with the monkeys going up and across them.  Here there was a small temple and a nice view of the city ,Hua Hin, and the beach.

Choosing bracelets.

At Monkey Hill

Monkey Hill with Poorita.

Here are the monkeys.

View from the top with Albert.

View of Hua Hin at the top of Monkey Hill.

Our next stop was fruit and coffee shakes because it was so hot out.  From there, we went to a beach just outside of Hua Hin called Pak Nam Pran and rented some chairs in the shade.  The kids rented some inner tubes to play on in the water.  We spent quite a few hours here as it was the weather was perfect.  We had some lunch and drinks and got to know Shawn’s relatives a little better.

It ended up being an overcast day here.

Tubing at the beach.

Once we left the beach we stopped at a night market on the way home. We had to buy Gabe a new shirt for $4 since he had taken off his wet swimming shirt before we got into the car. We had some fruit shakes and supper here.  We went back to the hotel and went for a swim before bed.

At the night market the kids found Pugs.

Feb 3 – We woke up and packed all of our luggage into Albert’s Mazda and loaded in to the vehicle just like the day before.  Albert and Poorita sat in the front and the 5 of us sat in the back seat with Sayer on Shawn’s lap and Gabe on mine.  Yes, vehicle safety has been a bit different on this trip.  We left Hua Hin and headed to their house just outside of Bangkok in Long Khaem.  They invited us to stay with them but we weren’t 100% of that plan.  We knew they had cats and Shawn is allergic so we figured we would see how it goes.  The kids loved the cats and when I saw cats, I mean CATS!  Nine of them! It was quite the spectacle seeing them all being rounded up from the neighbourhood, each getting their own dish and some having to be separated because they were either too timid or aggressive.

The cat show at Albert’s house.

All 5 of us in the car. Can’t see Gabe though.

We went to the mall to grab some lunch and we found an arcade. We couldn’t get Gabe off of his virtual fishing game because he kept on catching fish.  At least he caught some virtual fish since the other Thailand fishing trip was a bust.

The fishing game at the mall.

Poorita’s supper she made for us.

We headed back to Albert and Poorita’s house and Poorita made us supper that was very good.  The kids played with the cats and met some local kids that they played soccer (football) with.  We then headed to our hotel which was just at the end of their block.

Feb 4 – We woke up early at 5:00am to beat the Bangkok traffic.  We had some breakfast at Albert and Poorita’s and were back in the car to head to the floating market.  We arrived at Damnoen Saduak Floating Market at 7:30.  It was very quite at the market because it was Chinese New Years.  There was far less vendors and tourists as usual.  This was okay for us since we didn’t need to buy much but mostly went for the experience.  We had heard it would be hectic but we got the leisurely version.  We found some Thai coconut ice cream in the coconut. Delicious! We also found a tuk tuk ornament that would go on our Christmas tree with the ornaments we collected from Chile and New Zealand.

On the boat.

Taking in the sites.

Buying coconut ice cream from this lady’s boat.

Yum!

We headed home after the market and had a little siesta or quite time since we were up so early.  Albert and Poorita took us to the mall where we had lunch and then we took the kids to a water park.  We paid a little too much for this park and also had to rent swim caps, tubes, and a locker.  We found out Gabe wasn’t even able to use the two slides that were open.  He had a blast anyway playing in the lazy river on the tube when the big bucket would fill with water and dump to create waves.  we met Albert and Poorita again after and broke down and had McDonalds for supper.  We went back to their place again and tried to book our place for our next destination, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Feb 5 – Today we slept in and planned to go to the Grand Palace and temple today.  We made a pit stop at Albert’s school where he teaches Grade 5 and 6 social studies.  It was nice to see the beautiful Thai school and how it was laid out.  We then continued our drive to Bangkok and went to Wat Pho to see the Reclining Buddha. Its pose is representing entry into complete spiritual enlightenment.  This Buddha was 46 meters long and a beautiful site.  It was busy with lots of other people admiring Buddha.  After seeing the reclining Buddha we went off to see the Emerald Buddha at the Grand Palace.  It was quite the walk and we were under the impression it was at the same location.  We got to the Grand Palace and there were swarms of people.  They were quite strict with the people entering and blowing whistles if you weren’t dressed appropriately.  They made Albert, Shawn, and I buy pants and I also had to purchase a t-shirt.  You didn’t even get a choice.  They just handed whatever pants and shirt they wanted to us.  It was 30  degrees this day and the kids were starting to melt down from being in the car for almost 2 hours and walking in the heat for so long.  When we got to the next gate we found out that our ticket was not good for the Grand Palace.  It was only good for Wat Pho.  They wanted 500 baht each ($21 cad) and were only open for one more hour.  The kids were done and getting hungry so we decided to call it a day.  How nice of them to have us buy the clothes first before we even bought the tickets to enter.

Albert’s classroom.

Albert’s school

At Wat Poh.

Entering the building to see the reclining Buddha.

They lent me the green robe to cover my shoulders.

The photos we got at the Grand Palace. Notice Shawn’s pants.

My new pants and shirt.

New friends. Beem and Day

They exchanged numbers.

The boys walked us to our hotel.

Feb 6 – Poorita organized a taxi for us to bring us to our hotel in Bangkok this morning.  We settled into our two adjoining rooms and spent some time on the computer researching and trying to book our bus for the next day to Cambodia.  We went to eat at the restaurant in the lobby and then took the kids for a swim at the pool.  We never received our e-ticket for our bus so we had to use the live chat with the company.  She got back to us and said our bus was full.  We ended up having to book another day later so would now leave February 8.  After that was arranged we took a taxi to the night market.  This was more of a local market where people would buy their groceries.  We didn’t see any places to eat so we hailed our first tuk tuk and went back to the hotel restaurant to eat and called it a night.

In the tuk tuk.

Feb 7 – Today we took a taxi to the Central Plaza.  It was nicely air conditioned and about 10 stories in the mall.  We decided to go to the Lego Movie 2.  The theatres were pretty similar to back home but we did have to stand for the national anthem prior to the movie starting.  We swam at the pool today at our hotel and it was pretty relaxed.  We did not see Khaosan Road while we were in Bangkok.  Our hotel was located closer to the bus station we need to get to and not in the heart of the city.  We are hardly went out in the later evenings.  It was a family friendly time in Bangkok.  Tomorrow we leave on bus to Cambodia. – Renelle

Love the prayer room.

Cute bathroom sign in the mall.

January 30 – Today was a day spent cruising the island on our scooters, snorkelling and boogie boarding.  In the evening we went back to our favourite restaurant one last time and then hit up the market in the village where the boys blew off some steam at the bouncy houses again.  Danika wasn’t feeling great so she stayed back in the air conditioned room to read.

sand bubbler crabs.

The last breakfast at our favourite restaurant.

Snorkeling and floating with the boogie boards.

The bouncy castle at the village.

The kids joined the others on the trampoline.

January 31 – The kids said goodbye to their boogie boards and gave them to one of the employees at the resort.  We were tired of hauling them around and didn’t think we would use them much more.  We boarded our long tail boat at the resort and it took us to meet the ferry that would take us to Krabi town.

Leaving Andaman Beach resort.

We are on the long tail boat saying goodbye.

Once we arrived in Krabi, a taxi took us to our hotel (hostel).  This was one of the nicer rooms we stayed at in Thailand.  We then toured the town to find a market to eat at.  Here we found a delicious stall to eat at and other stands with the cheapest fruit shakes yet. We bought our bus tickets to Bangkok then headed back to the hotel to cool off for a bit before going out again for the night.  While walking around the town we were offered a long tail boat tour for a good price so we hopped on in.  We went to an island Khao Khanabnam to see the caves. There was a large sign with scientists names and the dates they discovered the bones of a giant human and a large serpent in the caves.  We were wondering what was happening because surely we would have heard of this but they had posted all the dates and scientists names.  When we got to the bones a lady had jumped over the railing and knocked on the skull to tell us it was plastic.  We found out later that it was one of many art installations around Krabi.  We then got to go through the mangroves via boat. We saw the floating villages and then a stop at a fish market.

testing out the hammock at the hostel.

The market.

On the riverboat tour.

This is an art installation. They had a billboard prior to entering the cave with scientist names declaring the discovery date.

Driving through the mangroves was so beautiful.

Our original plan was to bus to Bangkok on Feb 1 so we booked our hotel for three days.  We connected with a relative of Shawn’s, Albert Vermette, that lives outside of Bangkok.  He told us that there was toxic smog and schools were closed down for six days.  We cancelled our hotel and decided to change our bus stop and got off two hours earlier at Hua Hin where they would meet us when we arrive on Feb 2.

February 1 – We got up and went to find breakfast.  Not all the stalls at the market were open yet so we picked up a few snacks for the bus ride ahead.  We settled for breakfast at a restaurant instead and later walked to a plaza.  We then went back to the hostel and paid some more money to stay in our room a little longer.  The kids did some homework while we waited for the shuttle to get us.

We look up to each other.

At a plaza.

Cool stop light.

The shuttle took us to the bus depot and we waited almost two hours before it showed up.  We got talking to another couple and they wanted to line up early to make sure they got good seats on the bus. We decided to do the same and ended up getting good seats at the front of the bus.  After travelling for two hours our bus stops and some luggage is getting taken off the bus and we could see ours was also taken off.  Some people were getting off the bus so we decided to look into what was happening.  It turns out we were to switch buses.  Our good seats were not so great anymore as we were the last ones on the new bus and we ended up having to sit in single seats, except Gabe and Shawn because a lady asked a backpacker to move to a different seat so they could sit together.  This was a smaller bus and so uncomfortable especially since we had to ride it for 7 hours touching the stranger next to us. – Renelle

Jan. 29- So, all the boys decide to go fishing.  Gabriel hardly slept all night and was awake before our 6:45 wake up call.  Sayer was beside himself with excitement with reeling in the big fish and I couldn’t wait to finally get to go fishing.  We got to the pier at 7:30 and then waited for one hour as the guys boat was acting up.  We finally set out on a long tail boat to catch the big one.  30 minutes into our trolling the guys boat breaks down again. Anyways……we trolled around the ocean for about 5 hours….. not even getting bite.  This was the first time I fished and didn’t actually touch a fishing rod.  On the positive side, the food was great and we got to see a tuna boil with birds attacking the bait fish from the sky.  – Shawn

Start of the adventure…..so excited!

After a few hours the excitement wore off.

Gabe’s was done

Terrible picture of the boil.

They kept their spirits up!

Koh Jum continues to be great!  We did more snorkelling, even managing to do a full lap of the rock reef out front of our resort.  We discovered more of the island and found an unbelievable restaurant,

Who has two thumbs and orders French toast in Thailand?

MMMM….beef fried rice

Thai Pancake

Sign when you get to the village.

Swings at resort

Our favourite restaurant.

scooter, scooter scooter.

Furthest beach north.

Rubber Trees

Sea Gypsy Village

On Sunday we decided to get massages… Sayer and Gabe got a 30 minutes massage each.  Danika got the 30 minute massage, a pedicure, manicure and her hair braided.  Renelle and I got a 1 hour massage and pedicures.

Finally we found Thai Ice-cream!We went for long walks on the beach in the dark, other then the crabs scaring Renelle it is quite special. The only down side thus far is that Danika has not been feeling the greatest the last two days. – Shawn  “Dad, dad, I know what you should write about, that hole with the fish in where the crab came out and grabbed a shell.” – Gabriel

Jan. 26- After a not so great sleep (the bar was hopping, I was on what Danika calls the “table top bed”), we took an early morning ferry ride to Krabi.  We got off half ways at Koh Jum.  The ferry stops and about 6 long tail boats come out and grab their guests.  Arriving to our resort felt like being in the Bachelor, minus the other tourists with us, our luggage and our kids.

Long tail boats

Almost like the Bachelor!??!

This island is what we were looking for!  We are staying on the beach in a family friendly resort that is very quiet.  There are hardly any tourists.

View from our resort

Notice….no people!!

Had to have a Chang!

We found out that we could rent scooters for 150 baht for 12 hours.  This works out to about $6 for each scooter.  We rented two and were off to see the rest of the island.  We stopped at two food markets.  Later in the evening the jungle really came alive!  We could here the cicadas calling in one part, the birds erupted in another part and there were even monkeys kicking around.

We found 30 baht ($1.25) fruit shakes on the beach, went snorkelling, and chased the sun in a beautiful sunset.  We saw many crabs, including hermit crabs which the kids really enjoyed.  We even got to witness a fish boil ( about 100 fish jumping out of the water as a predator fish tries to eat them).

– Shawn

Jan 22 – This is our last morning in Phuket.  We went to our favourite restaurant and said good bye to Nick, our Studio host. He helped us out so much!

We then took a 2 hour ferry ride to Koh Phi Phi.

Koh Phi Phi

This place is like one big resort.  It didn’t really feel like Thailand, it was like a resort on a hot beach in any part of the world.  We did see a pretty cool fire show.

Supper over the ocean

Fire show

Thai Pankace (Pancake)

Jan 23 – The kids loved the rope swings on the beach in Phi Phi.

Breakfast in the Bay

Pool at our resort

We then were off on another 1 hour ferry ride to Ko Lanta.

KO LANTA

We got to our place that is sandwiched in between a bar and a Muay Thai gym.  As luck would have it there was a live Muay Thai fight tonight.  I convinced the whole family to go, we also got a ride in our first tuk tuk.

First tuk tuk ride.

Tuk tuk back home at 11:30

Jan 24 – We went to a restaurant across from our place, it had three kittens.  The kids were over the moon about this.  We then took a tuk tuk to Old Town, Long Beach and then back to our complex.

Long Beach

Chilean like a villain

Long Beach

For supper we checked out the street market (we found the same stall that my Aunt and uncle were at 2 weeks ago)

and then the kids and Renelle experienced the Doctor Fish.

Jan 25- We went for breakfast at the kitten place again,

went back to Long Beach and then to the street market for supper again. – Shawn

Jan .19 – After 20 hours of flights, in 4 airports (Christchurch, Brisbane, Singapore and Phuket) and being awake for over 24 hours we arrive in Phuket to our Studio Apartment  and crash (sleep).

Jan 20. Upon waking up we see three large elephants walking by our studio apartment. After chatting with our host at the Studio (Nick),

we found a great restaurant.  Finally…some real ethnic food on our journey.  It was delicious and the kids even tried some squid.  The best line of the day was Sayer……  Waitress comes to order, Sayer asks “do you got any crickets.”  We then checked out Kamala Beach and then went to the night market close by.

Jan. 21- Our host Nick, found us a driver, Semsak.  This guy was amazing!  We went to the   Trickeye Museum,

the Upside down House,

Monkey Hill,

Big Buddha, Chalong Temple

and stopped to see an elephant.  As the kids write about. -Shawn

Jan 22 – Yesterday we went to see Big Buddha in Phuket, Thailand.  But first we went to the Upside Down House.  At the Upside Down House we saw many things that are upside down.  We saw the living room, kitchen, master bedroom, and garage, etc.  It was cool

Next we went to Trickeye.  Trickeye is a 3D art museum and you can get some cool pictures that you stand in.  My favourite ones were the angel wings, the cherry blossoms, and the big ones.

After that we went to see some animals.  We saw evil monkeys that when you feed them and they see you have food that will come at you until all your food is gone.

We also saw a cute baby elephant who we got to feed and pet.  It gave my mom a kiss.

Finally we got to the Big Buddha and trust me it was big!  When we went up to it my mom and I had to put on a skirt.  We went up to the Big Buddha and bought a marble tile and wrote on its they could put it on the wall.  Then we bought two metal heart things and hung them on a tree to pray for some people.  Then we went down to the prayer space where we prayed.  We took 1 flower, prayed then put it in a dish.  After we took around 15 sticks of incense, lit them, then bowed three times to a statue then put three incense sticks in a bowl of burned incense sticks.  We did this to Four more statues .  When we were done we went to the biggest statue and rung the bell 3 times, rubbed the slippers in his hands 3 times, rubbed the bottle 3 times, and rubbed a foot 3 times and on the third time we stopped on the foot then stood up and bowed.

Then we went to the Chalong Temple.  At the temple we did the same thing with the flowers and incense sticks but we did 2 other things.  We had gold confetti things and stuck them on some statues.  Then we shook these sticks with numbers until one falls out.  You take that number paper to read your fortune.

Then we left the temple, got ice-cream and went home. – Danika

yesterday we went on an adventure.  Our first stop was the upside down house.  That stop made some pretty cool pictures.

My favourite one came up pretty quick.  That one was the Phuket Trickeye Museum.  That one made really cool pictures.

We went to Monkey Hill next.  The monkeys were scary and they tried to steal our bananas.  We also saw a baby elephant.  It gave my mom a kiss.  We also got to feed it.  Last but not least Big Buddha.  We got to find out how to pray in a different way and I quite liked it. More about prayer, their were 5 statues, we bowed to them 3 times each and gave them each 3 incense sticks.

What a day!  – Sayer

Jan. 22 – Yesterday I went on a tour the guy that owns the plays (place) said that he is the best driver he tock us to the upside down house everything was on the roof there was a pool so me and Danika were in the cannonball posotioin en then my mom en then my mom Tok a photo and then my mom switched the photo upside down.

Jan. 23 – 2 days ago we went to a elafent plays and we fed it some bananas and some cucumbers it was a baby elafent and we got a photo. – Gabriel

Note: Elephant tourism is huge in Thailand, Renelle and I were really trying to give the kids an experience but also educate them on the down side of having these animals available for our entertainment.  So we gave in with the baby elephant as our driver said it was a reputable place.  We had long discussions about this elephant…..then the morning after this experience everything became very clear to the kids…..we woke up early to watch the elephants walk by our apartment. Just as the handler was almost out of our eyesight he started caning the elephant, like really hitting the animal.  Our discussions grew from here but the reality of seeing this really got them thinking.  We know there is no easy answer for these elephants and the caning might not have even hurt the animal,  and these animals need to be in control as they could be extremely dangerous, but it has really opened our kids eyes up and needless to say they have not asked to ride an elephant anymore.

Number 5…..Hostels (for Gabe) – we only stayed one night in a hostel, but sleeping with strangers in the same room has soured Gabriel’s taste in even trying this again.  Spoiled kid, I’d say.

Number 4……Weather- we seemed to hit an unseasonably cold snap the last two weeks.  With temperatures around 15, we could not hit the beaches.

Number 3…..Mullets- either New Zealand is way ahead of this fashion trend or……… these were everywhere.  We saw the standard, the skullet, the half shaved in front, the dreads mullet, we saw them on kids, men and even women.

Number 2…..Driving- the first few days of driving were stressful.  Everything on the opposite side(or as Gabriel says, “wrong side”) really messed with my brain.  From going to the wrong side of the SUV to driving in the wrong lane to signalling and the windshield wiper comes on.  Even after one month of driving I still hit the wipers when I am trying to turn.

Number 1…….Prices- when they say “New Zealand is expensive.”  They really mean it.  The petrol was at $2.06 per litre when we left.  A green pepper was around $3 for one.  Even avocados and kiwi fruit was more expensive here then it is back home and they are produced here.

Number 10………… Museums- the museums were really interactive and modernized.  They were a great retreat, especially in our last two weeks of poor weather.

Number 9……..Playgrounds- the Kiwi’s really know how to make playgrounds for children.  They have avoided the “bubble wrapped” playgrounds that us Canadians have to endure.  Special shout out to the Margaret Mahy Playground in Christchurch.

Number 8……..Boogie Boarding- we got to do this mostly in Papamoa (North Island), but also caught some waves at Woodend Beach in Christchurch.

Number 7…… The Cream Trip Tour- this tour took us into the Bay of Islands.  We saw orcas, dolphins, penguins, hammerhead sharks and a flying fish.  The hole in the rock was cool as well.  Boom netting was interesting(kids loved this).  Too bad we saw the dolphins on their lunch break (no swimming with them).

Number 6…….Te Puia- this geyser park in Rotorua was really great. Boiling mud pools, geysers erupting, a kiwi house (this bird is way bigger then any of us originally thought), a traditional cultural performance ( yeah….Haka), we thoroughly enjoyed it all here.

Number 5……Inflatables- Action World and Inflatable World were a lot of fun.  We really worked up a sweat at these two places.

Number 4…….Christmas- Christmas in Papamoa was truly great.  We got to boogie board on Christmas Day, had a tree filled with candy and received some great Christmas presents.  The girls loved their Blackwater Rafting through the Glow Worm caves and the boys took full advantage of going to the full contact car races, seeing 4 days of racing and 10 car rolls!

Our top three were so close that it was pretty much a tie, so here is our top three in no particular order.

Number 3….Lindy and Rick’s- this place was truly amazing!  We all loved this experience in Horeke (30 minutes from Paihia).  From making cheese to getting eggs to moving cattle to being invited to two bbq’s.  The kids loved the roaming chooks (chickens), the cats and especially the dogs.  What really made our stay here was Lindy and Rick, one could not ask for better hosts, when we left it felt like leaving family.

Number 2…..Luge- In Rotorua, this luge was great!  Going down a mountain on these luges was adrenaline pumping action for the whole family.  A few of us even got air!  And no Lewandoski race would be complete with out an accident.  Sayer and dad may have gotten pretty tangled up, but rubbing is racing.

Number 1……Wallaby Park- this impromptu stop on our way back to Christchurch from Dunedin did not disappoint.  Hand feeding, petting, and cuddling wallabies was truly heart warming.  Everyone loved this experience!