Traveling with Teens...

After the time traveling with Stuart and his friend, I figured I could write a little about taking teens abroad. Lucky me, Travelfish published it. Read it here.

what we are up to...

Visiting the coral-filled shore...

Watching a trained monkey retrieve coconuts then sit on the kids' shoulders...

Riding through the jungle on an elephant...

celebrating on Koh Samui

We made it out of Bangkok via train on Tuesday morning and spent the next eight hours choo-chooing down to a small city called Surat Thani. The kids slept nearly half the time, which was good for them (and me). Audrey was kind enough to let me borrow her lap for a bit and I, too, caught a bit of a cat nap. We'd been out far too late the night before at the night market (but did find Stuart some more school clothes) and then re-packing. I had to buy yet *another* suitcase there.

Did I mention that before? I'd sent Stuart along with Thang to ship some things home via the slow boat and had stuffed it all into a duffel bag. I reiterated to them both, Stuart and Thang, that I needed the bag back for packing other things to bring along, but in the chaos of the post office and numerous papers to fill out, the need to bring it back was forgotten. So the duffle bag was mailed home. Unfortunately that means we were short a suitcase. And of course this was the day before we were leaving Thanh Hoa, so I had little choice but to run to the open market across the street. I spent 150,000VND (about $8) on a small duffle. But the next day as we hobbled up the street to find our hotel, the handles broke off the new duffle. This was a problem and, of course, the solution would be to spend even more money. The night before leaving Bangkok we found another bag (and it did make it through the next leg of the journey).

Anyway, now after all those hours in the train, staying overnight in Surat Thani (in a crappy hotel, but getting to eat decent chicken at KFC), then a ferry ride and 1/2-hour car ride, we finally made it to Koh Samui. This is finally vacation.

I'd intended this to be our time to celebrate. Couples have anniversaries every year, but our trio hasn't marked an anniversary in several. But this year is special. We are celebrating our 10th anniversary as a trio and I'm thrilled to be in a place so beautiful and so calm to remember it. We've struggled through so much heartache, frustration and poverty over the years. Those things haven't really gone away either, they've just eased a bit. But in the fall of 1999, when we moved out of our family-of-four house and out on our own, I would never have though we would ever be in Thailand. Or that I would love teaching English in a small university in Vietnam. I never though I'd want to write a book or that my kids would be so eager to try out the world. I'm so grateful for all the people that came along the way to encourage me to do more, see more, trust more.

During our anniversary trip to Koh Samui, I'm thankful for so much. For my great kids, my family who help me in so many ways, for my students who've shown me such love, for Keith who went to Vietnam first, for Brian giving me two smart, funny and eager children. Truly, who'd have ever thought this is where I'd be ten years later.

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Happy 10th to us...

At our hotel (Samui Reef View Resort). Not bad for $35/night.

The reef that we have a view of...


Details from a temple being built down the street from our hotel in Koh Samui.


Goodbye Bangkok!

Hitting the streets of Bangkok

Long time no see, eh? Thanks to intermittent Internet in our dorm room, then the travel and lousy Internet at the hotel we are staying at... yeah, it's been far too long.

Brief update...
-We spent two days in Nha Trang, one of them at Vinpearlland. The *best* place to take the kids for a holiday, I swear. The waterpark and amusement rides and bumper cars and arcade all added up to a lot of fun. We also visited some Cham towers and a really huge Buddha.
-Zach went home after one more costly weekend in Hanoi.
-We said goodbye to students, friends and shopkeepers before heading up to Hanoi last Friday (11/9).

On the morning of the 12th, we flew via Asia Air to Bangkok where we were greeted by a city more cosmopolitan than any other I've seen. Could there be anything further from the streets of Hanoi than the streets of Bangkok? I think not.

So for the past three days, we've been checking out the shopping life of the city. We visited the Siam Paragon, an astoundingly large shopping center with Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, Porsche and even Lamborghini stores. A bit mind-blowing to see the amount of money that people can and do spend.

Then there's the shock of the sex industry here and just how overt it is. The foreigners who come here with their pasty white beer bellies and loads of cash make us all throw up just a bit when we see them fondling local women. Or are the women? It seems that for those dressed up in what I would deem clothes suitable for prostitutes (or 'prostates' as Audrey often misspeaks), out of them I'd venture to guess that a third or more are actually men. We've had to have conversations that I hoped would never happen, but the kids have become better world citizens and more understanding of the ways that the world works, including why it's so abhorrently wrong.

As for our plans, we head out tomorrow morning on the train. We'll head down to Surat Thani for a night, then take a ferry over to Koh Samui for a few days of rest and relaxation (something I could certainly use about now). I'm fighting a nasty cold and hoping that the four days of doing nothing much will help me feel well enough to do the rest of the trip. On the 21st we train on to Penang where we switch trains, then continue on to Kuala Lumpur. We'll spend three days there we get on that final flight and head back to PDX.

I will try to update, but it's harder than I'd like to get on the computer and the Internet (this is thanks to Lyle in Bangkok). I'm getting emails, but responding is difficult. For brief updates, you can check out my facebook page.