Words or Phrases to help us remember some of the adventures we had in Thailand. A brainstorm session I did with Adam and the kdis on July 17th before our 3 month stay in India was over.
- Taking Tuk Tuks everywhere in Bangkok (for around 40 baht or $1.25) for an hour if you went and looked at a touristy place for 5-10 minutes. And getting kicked out 2 different times from drivers who refused to take us to the Grand palace unless we went by boat.
- The awesome view from our 2 bedroom apartment in Bangkok (40th floor?)
- Getting a tour guide at the Grand Palace and nearby wats and loving seeing the magnificent temples with so much detail and intricate work.
- Dressing up in Thai clothes and taking pictures at the temples.
- Running through huge groups of pigeons at a pier in Bangkok and seeing turtles and snakes
- Eating at street vendors for practically nothing and having all the food be FABULOUS!
- Having Pad Thai that was the best we’d ever had at our first restaurant in Bangkok and Dawson falling asleep at the table and then falling off his chair!
- Going to church in Bangkok where the missionaries translated for us, but most of the talks were in English anyway because the mission president and his wife were speaking.
- Eating 3 scrupteous sandwiches and juice on our hour long flight from Bangkok to Krabi! (turkey sandwich, egg salad sandwich, and crab meat sandwhich? Not sure) LOVED the service!
- Taking a long boat to Railay beach from Krabi at night and getting in at low tide requiring us to change from our church clothes to our swimsuits and walk in the shallow water about half a block to the beach with our kids and luggage over our heads. Also requiring 3 trips back and forth to get all our stuff and begging our long tail boat driver to help us (which he did – eventually on our last trip).
- Dragging all the kids and 8 pieces of luggage to our room and up several flights of stairs while Adam tried to find us all some food to eat (we were starving!)
- Eating fried rice, Thai noodles, white rice, and several curries on our balcony at the Princess hotel at 10 pm at night.
- Eating the most delicious Thai pancakes/crepes with nutella, banana, mango, jam, you name it 2 for $1 (30-60 baht each).
- Taking a walk to Pranang cave and beach and having Dawson cut his head open when he fell and hit the cave wall requiring us to put wadded up wetwipes with a tight fitting hat (mine) on his head to keep pressure on to stop the bleeding. We thought it might need stitches but after walking to the beach it had mostly stopped bleeding.
- Jumping in the waves at Pranang beach and just how CROWDED it was there. It was right next to a huge cave, and had a Buddhist looking small temple in 2 spots, one of which had lots of different looking penis’s all over carved out of wood etc. So weird. We didn’t point any of this out to the kids and they luckily didn’t seem interested in it anyway.
- Laughing because our terrified of water little boy Dawson (who had on a life jacket) couldn’t be pulled from playing in the waves at the beach – even when he got knocked down. His favorite was when Adam took him out in the waves and they “jumped them.”
- Watching Adam save an Indian family who couldn’t swim well and who got too close to the rocks and were getting hurt – all the while holding Adalynn. I luckily saw the commotion and went to get Adalynn to free up Adams hands to help more people (there were 3) and also took one of the Indian girls back with me. I got two. Adam got two. They were most grateful for our help.
- Meeting some people from Canada who we ended up hanging out with almost our entire trip in Railway (Max, Mary, Stephanie, and Jim). We went on a 4 island tour with them, and took a walk to Tonsai bay with them. Great folks!
- Bargaining around the island for good deals on a phi phi island tour and finding the best deal with a he/she named Amy who was really awesome and made the kids origami like turtles, airplanes, and other animals.
- Taking short cuts through fences and over fences to get to our hotel in Railay more quickly!
- How I left my photo card in my computer and my awesome amazing husband sprinted all the way back to our hotel on Railay to get it for me holding up the boat for a few minutes so I could get pictures of the islands we would be touring that day. My hero!
- How a big storm hit just as we left for the 4 island tour, soaking all of us on the boat with rain, and making the waves a bit crazy and getting some serious air on the boat (which everyone smiled and laughed at every time it happened).
- Getting to the first island and having the water be warmer than the outside temperature (when it was raining) and spending our time swimming in the ocean. LOVE this memory and family time.
- Going to the Pirates cove and not believing the color of the water and how beautiful it was. There was also a cave nearby.
- Having lunch on Phi Phi with our Canadian friends (who had bought tickets with us for the tour as we could get a deeper discount), and then swimming in the beautiful blue waters. This was my favorite beach we’d been to because of the amazing water). Also the island the Tsuanmi hit a few years back.
- Snorkeling with the kids for the very first time and having Harry FREAK out about it. Eventually he got the hang of it though and loved it. Adaynn and Dawson didn’t feel comfortable putting their faces in the water, so we put them on our backs like turtles and snorkeled while they sang songs and enjoyed getting “to ride on us.” Everyone thought it was so cool that we would take them all out snorkeling.
- How our friends got a water bottle filled with sand and squished the sand out underwater which brought a whole school of fish scurring for food. We saw some awesome fish this way.
- Taking a sunset walk over to Tonsai bay, crab hunting in tide pools (Ad & the boys), and then taking a very slippery, muddy, and dark hike back to Railay beach (each of us falling in mud and having to use my head lamp for light).
- Catching frogs on our way to our hotel room at the resort.
- Swimming in the pool on top of the hotel that overlooked the ocean where Adalynn floated on her own in her life vest for the first time and would kick and “swim.” HUGE step for her.
- Getting a massage from Adam when I didn’t feel comfortable going out alone on my own to get one. He pretended he was a Thai massage therapist and made me get into a white bath robe and even spoke in a Thai accent. Love him
- Taking a long tail boat ferry to Krabi, then a taxi to Ao Thalane, and then another long tail supply boat to Koh Yao Noi where we rented a 3 bedroom beach house for $60 a night. Our Niece Jessica Egbert flew in from India herself to join up with us and got in a few hours after we did. Adam went and bought dinner at a restaurant 5 minutes from our house and the food was fabulous. Best Masaman curry we had in Thailand. We ended up eating at this place everyday we were on the island (3 nights).
- Sleeping in beds with mosquito nets for the first time with no A/C. We ended up putting a floor fan under the mosquito nets to keep us cool. Worked pretty well as we both ended up wanting a sheet on us by morning. 🙂
- Eating all our meals OVER the ocean water on our outdoor huge deck at the beach house.
- Watching sunsets and the moon come up at nights while chatting with Jess.
- Needing to book our last nights stay when our reservation fell through (but then getting to stay at the place afterall when their other reservation fell through. HUGE tender mercy!)
- Renting a scooter with a side car on it and taking all 7 of us around the entire island exploring. We went on every road we could find and found 4-5 beaches (with absolutely NO one on them), we played soccer with some locals (Adam & Harry), eat at street vendors, shopped at markets, jumped off the pier, and had to push our little scooter car up big hills because we were all too heavy. We saw rubber trees, a green snake and even a Gila Monster on the road as we were traveling. Such an awesome fun day!
- Having the tide go out each evening and going out and catching crabs and getting our feet and shoes stuck in the mud.
- Falling asleep to waves right under our house.
- Being able to hear everyone in the house because none of the walls went up to the ceiling and were all open.
- Having Gecko’s scare the tar out of us when we would go to make toast and they would scurry out of the toaster! ha!
- Buying a million water bottles and going through them all.
- Eating at an Italian place with ping pong and hammocks and getting yummy Italian food.
- Getting Gelato and dessert at a restaurant owned by a German man by the name of Frank – but having him be out of most of the things we wanted. Doh!
- Buying gas in little liter bottles all of which were different colors and not knowing where or how to put in the gas. Thankfully the locals knew just what to do.
- Having pancakes with honey on them. Best invention EVER!!!
- Going on a 5 island tour on a long tail boat which we had all to ourselves. Getting to the boat required two separated trips on a scooter side car with a man whose legs were paralyzed.
- Going to several of the Hong Islands and snorkeling – some of which were heavily populated and others had NO one on the beach. Our favorite was on Hong Islands itself where our boat driver took us to a very remote beach (and small) where we had lunch. It was absolutely PERFECT. The color of the water was amazing and very clear. The beach had a cave nearby and lagoon, there was a homemade tree swing someone had built and not a single soul besides us on the beach. We loved it. It also had breathtaking views and was surrounded by tall cliffy mountains. Heaven on earth. We had fried rice with shrimp for lunch and then some different Thai fruits our driver brought. All was delicious.
- A storm came on our way home making things a little choppy but luckily we missed the rain. Our boat driver ended up dropping us off RIGHT at our beach house which we thought warranted a nice 100 baht tip! (Like $3). He was so so happy! Another great day in Thailand!
- On one of the islands we visited it was so packed that our driver had to squeeze in between boats by pushing them to the side. There was literally NO space. But it was a beautiful beach with beautiful water. We didn’t stay long but loved the soft sand and snorkeling.
- On our private beach Dawson was throwing sand at Brans and so he turned his head to avoid getting sand in his eyes and ended up running right into a tree and scraping up his eye pretty bad. Luckily it didn’t get his actual eye, but just the skin around it. He was hurting pretty bad though.
- Before leaving the beach we had each of the kids pick up 40 things so we could leave the each cleaner than we found it.
- We ended our 5 island tour by going to a green lagoon right by our private beach that was just gorgeous and had mangrove trees all over. Amazing!
- Shopping for Thai balls and T-shirts (Jess anyway) at the local markets
- Finding a kids park with exercise equipment all over it. Strangest park ever but cool too!
- Going to the bathroom in the grossest bathroom ever!
- Trying to find ATM’s that work on the island.
- Calling our niece Jessica “Jessa” and having her bond with Ady.
- Meeting a family from France who had taken a year off to see the world. They had been all over and only had 3 weeks left and 2 kids. So fun to hear their adventures. Their favorite place? Tahiti! 🙂 Still on my bucket list!
- After 3 days on the island we took a ferry back to the main island and to Ao Anang where we had rented a very posh house for 2 nights. It had its own swimming pool and enough space to sleep 10 and was very luxurious costing us a whopping $140 a night for all 7 of us. A steal! The kids LOVED playing in the pool and were so sad when we wouldn’t let them swim on Sunday It came with a free tuk tuk (truck with seats in the back) which would take us into town to the beach, to go shopping, or out to eat. Adam took it to get groceries while the kids and Jess and I napped. The next day was Sunday but the nearest branch was an hour planes ride away, so we opted to do “Egbert church.” Everyone picked a church song to sing, and then everyone gave either a lesson or talk or shared a favorite scripture and then bore their testimony (it was fast Sunday). Adam and Brans and I all fasted for Jess.
- Later we took the tuk tuk into town so we could go and walk along the beach. We couldn’t believe it because the beach was completely made up of seashells. No joke either. There wasn’t any sand and just tiny little pieces of broken up seashells all over for about a mile or 2 mile stretch. Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen but one of the coolest as well. I took pictures and video to show.
- We did as many loads of laundry as we could to get packed up and then air dried them outside. We had a few storms and had to bring the laundry under the deck to keep it dry.
- Jess took Ady to a bakery one morning and got caught in one a storm and we sent the tuk tuk to pick her and Ady up but he never found them so they just walked home with their umbrella. We loved having banana and chocolate muffins for breakfast. Thanks Jess!
- We went to McDonalds for dinner that night and it was seriously like heaven for us all. I don’t even like McDonalds but it had been so long since I’d had a beef burger that I just devoured it. We also got tons of fries, and sundae’s and shakes for everyone. It was the most expensive meal we’d eaten in Thailand! ha ha! But it all tasted soooo good!
- Checking out of one house and going to another for our last night called Birds view Paradise. Another great find with 3 large bedrooms in a beautiful location and GREAT A/C. We rented a car for the day and had it delivered to the house and then we went to a nearby National park to see some waterfalls and then went Elephant Trekking as well. We were really worried the elephant was going to throw us off as it kept wanting to eat and the driver was getting angry at it and even hit it and made it bleed on its ear. It even let out a very loud couple of trumpets because it wasn’t happy. We all had a blast though. We also saw some of the biggest spiders any of us had ever seen. They were about the size of a tarantula but their legs were thin and spindly instead of hairy. Crazy ugly things though. We had lunch at a shack off the side of the road for 50 baht each (less than $2 a plate) and spent $15 to feed us all. Great food and the owners loved our family and we had fun petting their cat as we left and having their little girl get mad at the attention the cat was getting and steal it away. So funny.
- The day we went to the beach all 3 kids had to go to the bathroom and Adam couldn’t find any bathrooms ANYWHERE. Hotels wouldn’t let the kids use them, no one would. Finally he found a lady that could see he was desperate and let the kids use hers in the back even though it was dirty.
- Having our awesome landlord at the Bird of Paradise house offer to take our luggage to the airport for us so we didn’t need to make 2 trips (we had a small car). We put our luggage in the cab of her truck and she met us there (she had to pick up her husband anyway).
- On the way to the airport we needed to get gas and Adam started pulling into a gas station. A motorcyclist wizzed by us at the same time and Adam came within inches of hitting him. So scary!
- We went to the Tiger Temple which has an awesome temple with dragons and big tigers (not real) out front. Then you can walk up the mountain on a 1266 steep step path to get to another temple at the top of the mountain that overlooks the valley. Adam, Jessa, and Brans and Harry went up while I stayed back with the littles who we all knew wouldn’t make it up. We looked around at caves and other temples while they climbed and then hung out in the car trying to listen to Thai music (never heard any as it was all talking on every station) and then started playing I spy or I’m thinking of….games.
- On our last day in Thailand it started raining and Adam drove the car into every puddle he could find. I was so worried about Hydro Planing but the kids absolutely loved splashing all the water around. But Adam unfortanately also splashed a few people at times too which got him some dirty looks!
- How we had to go through security several times because we needed to either get something out of our checked luggage or send something with it (we lost our full bottle of sunscreen forgetting to check it darn it all).
- How at the airport in Krabi the kids were all running around like crazy so we had to put them in a time out on the airport chairs while we waited. They looked so funny and were trying so hard to be still which made us laugh so we started taking a video of them and then got in trouble for using electronics! Oops!