travels in thailand.

Thailand is a country that us, Cliffords, have dreamed of visiting since we realized we enjoy trips:) So...once again, we were able to tag it onto a trip already being travelled by the mr. Brady needed to take a trip to China so I decided that I would go along!

It was a long trip and I was really camera happy so I'll try and keep the narrative to a small dose.

Because we were from America, (unlike 90% of the other thailand travelers) we were only able to stay for 2 weeks. If any of you have ever travelled outside of the US, you can attest that the ONLY bad thing about being an American is our minuscule amount of vacation time. (except if you are a nurse...its a pretty easy 'vacation' job) most of our friends we met were europeans or aussies where vacation time is 4 or 5 weeks!! lucky! anyway, since we only had 2 weeks, we had to see the whole country pretty quick. I am going to highlight the BEST photos of the 2 areas we enjoyed....KO PHI PHI and CHANG MAI.

KO PHI PHI. south thailand. island. beautiful. blue water. secluded....kinda of. mosquitos. monkeys.

    

      

Sweaty kids after a long boat ride to Long Beach on Ko Phi Phi "aka THE family side". 4 hour long boat right in a overly crowded "shuttle" boat. Capacity of 300--carrying probably a good 700 people. I think we were modern day pioneers coming to a new country, any longer and we would have seen rats and contracted scurvy. There was NO food and the toilets were overflowing. gross!!

      

People from different lands, kids crying, people with pale skin about to loose their breakfast, loud unknown launguages, no AC, all trying to gather around the 4 small openings to get some air. Me and my weak sauce American stomach included.

     

             

Yeah beautiful. ps. I have done NONONO editing to these landscape pictures...it is really that pretty...i know i still can't believe it!


A longtail boat can be rented for a mere $30.00 for 6 hours!! AND your own tour guide. one would just walk on the beach and find a barefooted thai boy. (I say boy because they were about 1 foot shorter and 50 lbs lighter than me....shuck...so to them I was probably a women) all of their names are conveniently Tuk. they speak very little english, but have great longtail boat driving skills.

Speaking of 'women'. On Ko Phi Phi we learned one of the things that thai people hold near and dear....they proudly claim their reigning title as THE BEST LADY BOYS in the WORLD. And boy are they proud...or girl ha ha (get it, its a joke)
our friend told us...
    "if you see a pretty girl, it is not a REAL girl. Thai girls are not naturally pretty, It a lady boy! He gets surgery to be pretty. yeah yeah you like."

We stayed in a little place called the Phi Phi Erewan Palms Resort.  It was so cute...upon arrival. We arrived to this! And then our own hotel lady boy to wash our feet and give us real juice drinks. Who can complain right?? well...I do have one complaint (or token of warning) concerning our little palms resort. Actually, it would be a complaint against all thai plumbing. or maybe it is a complaint against large and in charge americans?? Our American bowels just over power the sweet little thai bowels i guess. The toilets just don't quite have the same gush, swoosh that our american toilets have. and that could be a problem if you are two american plate-cleaners with rather weak stomachs. (AKA b and s clifford).

 

...going along with poor plumbing, i would like to add what great customer service thai people exhibit. The little elderly cleaning lady who cleaned every day refused to let us plunge our own toilet. every. time. I'll stop there. Take away of the last paragraph---if going to thailand, take your own plunger and eat like a small house mouse.

            

                  

                

           

   

               

          

About 5 min after arriving on our cute little island we saw the other visitors who had enjoyed the sun and disregarded the screen (you know those bright red vacationers who are burnt to a tomato chip crisp, yet continue to roast themselves under the sun.) We turned up our noses and said to each other, "oh look at those silly people....i can't believe they got burned! Haven't they ever heard of sunscreen?? maybe this is the first time they have seen the sun ha ha"

well, slap our hands and burn our backs because that next day, we became those lobsters. yep, forgot our sunscreen like we didn't know it existed. So the next couple of days we wore our shirts. Those americans, they never learn.

to be continued.....

at the races...

there are some genes embedded in humans that allow people to eat what they want, sleep in when they want, enjoy their free time on the couch watching ESPN when they want, and NOT exercise if they want. (I call those people BRADY's) and yet somehow those people maintain their figure nicely. i happen to know many 'BRADY's actually. 

then there is the type that can't eat what they want, do mindless silly arm movements or leg movements in place on a stationary something in front of a wall while trying to watch tv on a itsy bitsy screen trying not to fall off, eat sparingly when they are super hungry, (or say they are going too), and go phsyco when they don't exercise for 1 day. (I call those people SAMMI's) those that if they wake up on the wrong side of the bed, they might gain a pound. well genes, i have coped and accepted my label and now happen to enjoy exercising! so take that!! and I happen to like it! (or so i keep telling myself)

anyway, over the past year I have done some silly races--- paid for them too. Someone recently said to me, "you mean you PAID $100 so you could run 26.2 miles??" yeah, thats what i think. they should be paying me right?! i also participated in a  ragnar relay that was super fun! i always tell myself as i am training...'wait, why am i doing this?? this is kinda silly and i look goofy'  but they always tend to get me and somehow i end up liking it. go figure.

Prior to all of these races i ask my other half to participate with me. His answer is always, "I would rather do something fun, like play basketball or surf". don't blame him. makes sense. 

In june, my friend Mandy told me she was going to do a triathlon and asked if i wanted in. And just like before any other race, i casually asked brady if he wanted to participate? i asked him nonchallantly, making him think, "she doesn't really care one way or the other---so maybe i'll do it" he totally blew my socks off with his answer! SURE says brady!!!

yippee! that next day, the responsible person that he is, started to scope the web for 'Training for Your First Triathalon' schedules when he said, "well shoot, looks like we can't do it! we only have 8 weeks and this one is for 10 weeks".

not so easy buster. i wasn't going to let him get away. (deep down i knew he really was super excited to do something exercisey with me...) he kept looking and eventually found an 8 week training schedule. And we were off.    

i think we had a pretty good time! It was fun and maybe the best race out there! I would highly suggest it to anyone who may be {slightly} addicted to exercisey things.  we did a sprint triathlon @ Camp Pendleton in San Diego last weekend. 

ocean swim: 500 meters * bike 30 km * run 5K

       

gosh and i'm hooked! there i did it again, paid for something that I had to work for. in the end i would do it again...there is something about it that will have you hooked too!