Welcome to Thailand

We’ve been in Thailand some 40 hours and I’m already behind on posting about our trip, so I’ve decided to try a rapid-fire effort and post short, quick items. It will all come together later on an Expedition page.

The lead photo is a view of the harbor that is less than a mile walk from our friends’ house and it was our first objective on Day 1, Saturday. (Reminder to those in the States, we’re some 12 hours ahead of you. To avoid my confusion, I’ll write from our perspective.)

To get to the harbor, we passed through a busy little market peddling a variety of foods – most noticeably a broad selection of grilled meats – as well as some tourist items. However, it was obvious their primary clientele was locals. We had not yet been able to acquire any local money (the nearby exchange office was closed when we passed by and the ATM and I had a falling out), so we have not yet tried their wares.

From the harbor, we walked up the beach a way, terminating at one of the many limestone rocks that populate this area. It’s interesting to look at but not inviting to crawl up through the jungle growth. Leah’s modeling in front of the rock in the above photo.

We eventually headed back toward the mainland and found we were cut off. The rising tide had overtaken part of the beach, requiring us to wade across. It was literally rising as we crossed.

We walked about three hours, covering at least 2.5 miles with a lot of stopping and looking. We stopped at a convenience store near the house and picked up something to eat. We got two cartons of yogurt, two bottles of water, a ham and cheese sandwich and a package of cheese crackers for a total of 82 baht, which converts to $2.32 U.S.

The heat (and dehydration) got the best of us and we pretty much crashed during the afternoon.

We ended the day with our first Thai dinner. Our host’s uncle’s wife is Thai and owns a restaurant north of Bangkok. I believe she intends to cook us a genuine Thai meal but wanted us to first experience what is passed off as Thai food in the tourist area.

She was pleasantly surprised and gave two thumbs up to our meal. Don’t ask me what it is. I just remember there was a chicken dish, a pork dish and lemon grass soup, among other things.

Day 1 was a big success.