Travel to Thailand Tomorrow!

Phillip and I begin our next adventure tomorrow (Monday, April 25) with a three week trip to Thailand. We will travel with Phillip’s brother, David, and sister-in-law, Miriam. Miriam is from Thailand, the Chang Mai region, and David spent many years in Thailand as a missionary. They both speak fluent Thai and know the country. David and Miriam make a trip to Thailand every other year to visit Miriam’s family, and we are tagging along with them on this year’s trip.

Thailand, a very beautiful country, is on our list to visit. With David and Miriam, it will be even more fun. Unlike the case of Ecuador travels where our Spanish was sufficient to get us by on our own, we speak no Thai. And the language is so different, I don’t think a crash course could help us. I’ve checked out a few phrases on the internet (thank you, how much?, etc.), but the Thai language uses not just the letters, but also the rise and fall of your voice. I could pronounce the word, but without the right inflection, the word I actually say would most likely have the wrong meaning. We are very glad to be going with David and Miriam!

Our flight leaves at 1 pm. No ice on the road like we had when we left for Ecuador, and hopefully any storms will hold off till later in the evening. From DFW, we fly into Tokyo and change planes for Bangkok. Our Tokyo layover is just 2 hours, so we won’t have enough time to start glowing in the dark. No side trips up north in Japan to view the radiation leak. We aren’t that adventurous!

Again, we are traveling with one suitcase and taking the nested empty suitcases to leave in Bangkok (filling them up with treasures we buy on our final Bangkok stay). Packing was easier this time, practice makes perfect! I did invest in more ziplock bags so I don’t have the issue of small loose items in the suitcase. Also, no coats or sweaters as we won’t be climbing 5000 meter mountains in Thailand!

Hopefully, I’ll be able to post regularly to the blog on the trip. Thailand and its temples, landscape, and people are spectacular. David also promises us that we will ride elephants. A worthy blog post indeed. When we ride the elephants, we will be looking for Diego to see if he needs help with animal rescues in Thailand!

Our flight takes about 24 hours, and we will be going forward in time by 12 hours. We won’t even land in Bangkok till Tuesday night, so don’t expect a posting for a bit. Have fun back here in the US of A. Go, Diego, go!