Shout out to all our family and friends for helping us move in our final month and seeing us off at the airport. 🥰  After getting on a plane at midnight, and spending 15hr+ in transit, WE FINALLY MADE IT!
We flew with China Airlines (which is actually a Taiwanese airline - confusing, I know). The flight was pretty 'meh'. Nancy of course didn't sleep at all. She watched movie after movie. I on the other hand slept as much as possible because it was a red-eye flight.
There are no direct flights from Vancouver to Bangkok. Â We had a layover in Taipei (makes sense given it is a Taiwanese airline), where I first found my favorite scotch - Mortlach.
Nancy and I have traveled quite a bit, and been to many different airports. It feels like some of the larger airports are just turning into locations for luxury retail stores. Also, alcohol prices confuse me. Some things at duty free are cheaper than home...and other times they are much more expensive. I suspect this has to do with a combination of taxes and import duties?
Hot Hot Hot
We landed in Thailand 🇹🇠around 10AM, the land of GIANT BILLBOARDS. Seriously, wtf? I have never seen billboards this big (sorry, no pictures were taken, but Google can be our witness).
Holy balls. Thailand is always hot. I get it. We are closer to the equator blah blah, southeast Asia is hot. Walking out of a building in Asia is always hard. The nice air conditioned space is replaced by 100% humidity. Your clothes immediately stick to you, and you feel damp. Lots of people from warmer countries say Canada is too cold. Just remember, you can always put on more layers, but when it gets hot, you can only get so naked before people get upset.
Taking a Bus to Paradise
After landing, we only stayed one night in Bangkok. We quickly boarded a bus for the south of Thailand. Everyone always says that buses are dangerous in Thailand, but we found the government run VIP bus service to be very enjoyable. The staff were super friendly towards us - I would say friendlier towards us than the locals on the bus. There was only one moment during which I was worried, but it wasn't for our safety. It was for the safety of the scooter riders I thought that we were about to turn into road kill. On the roads in Thailand, the largest vehicle has right of way. If anyone reading this says otherwise - please, by all means, prove me wrong. Take a video of yourself trying to make a bus yield while riding a scooter.
We spent 3 days on the island of Ko Surin (I think Ko actually means island, so I feel dumb for writing "island of island..."). It is a national park, so it isn't the typical resort that most people think of when they are in Thailand. They do have some cabins that you can stay in, but they are relatively expensive for what you are getting. We chose to stay in a tent. I mean, Â we do like camping, so it was great.
We decided to visit Ko Surin rather than a popular destination like Ko Samui because we didn't want to have to share the beach with a million tourists, and we aren't into the fancy resort scene. Going to Ko Samui would probably have been a lot easier, but where is the fun in that? Ko Surin was a lot of fun for us. I have never been snorkeling before and this was one of the places I really wanted to try the GoPro out. More photos and footage to come of Ko Surin - stay tuned!
Kuraburi - Thailand's Countryside
We also spent one day in Kuraburi, the small town you depart from to get to Ko Surin. There isn't much in Kuraburi. I would compare it to a rural community in Canada. This was also the first time I had seen a toilet - like proper toilet bowl, seat and all - but with no flush function. It worked by water pressure. You just keep scooping buckets of water into the toilet to make things go down.
How to be a Local - Kinda
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6Dwt7VALrT/
Kuraburi is also the place...where Nancy and I did something slightly more dangerous. We rented a scooter. Holy poop. I know, my mom is probably going to have slight heart palpitations when she sees the photos. We figured this small town was probably a lot safer than any other place. I think all the locals thought it was cute that two foreigners were riding around on a scooter because they all smiled at us as we went by.
We spent the day visiting a near by beach and a waterfall!
Right now, we are back in Bangkok resting a little bit. "Resting". That means creating a blog post for the family, editing the GoPro and Drone footage, editing photos, coming up with witty captions for Instagram and doing some laundry of course. Nancy must have the smelliest feet in the world. Jk. Those are my feet. Haha :(
Coming up next is a short little jaunt over to Kanchanaburi before Joy and Peach's wedding!
