Sitting Budda image at Sukhothai.

Adrian and I spent three weeks in Thailand for our honey moon and the trip involved a good bit of moving from place to place. Day in and day out there were new interesting things to see and do. Of course, I took my new SLR and among many other souvenir, we returned home with around nine-thousand pictures (isn’t digital great?).  This is also the first trip for which I have ever kept a travel journal. This is a practice I think I will continue on future trips. I wish I had done it on some of my past trips, like Philmont.

Thailand was a wonderful country, with diverse environments and culture and we tried to see as much of it as possible. We started our trip in the south and progressed to the north and there was a marked difference each place we visited. In general though, the Thai people were very courteous, timely, and attentive to requests, at least when we make ourselves understood. All in all, Thailand was one of the more hospitable and welcoming places I’ve ever been.

Adrian walking on rocks in Kao Lanta.

With very few exceptions, every scheduled pickup, transfer or event started on time or early while the staff running things were relaxed and easy going. It was a strange combination. Laid back like the Myan Rivera, but on time like an English train. Even our special food needs proved to be not to difficult. Thailand does not have any real vegetarian population outside of the backpackers and tourists and garlic is a staple of much of the food. This was a serious worry going in, but ended up being a non-issue most of the time. When we made a special request, and it was understood (we don’t speak Thai, but made a sign in Thai about half way through the trip which helped a lot), we had no problems.

An elephant family group at Elephant Nature Park near Chiang Mai.

The main thing I would do different the next time we go back, and there will be a next time, is to learn a little bit of the language: the numbers, phrases for bartering and phrases like “may I take your picture” if not much more. Not that we had to know Thai to get around. It was very easy as an English speaker to navigate and survive in the areas we visited. Much of the signage is in Thai and English and a large fraction of the population speaks English. I want to know Thai because it seems like a better way to experience the country and it became clear that those that made even a small attempt to speak Thai received better deals (barter, barter, barter) and were allowed more leeway in their actions, such as taking photos of locals. Ask in English and you usually get told no. Ask in Thai and you usually get told yes.

Trying our Larb Gai at cooking school on Kao Lanta.

This is the first of many posts about the trip. As I go through the photos sifting for the good ones, I will post about each place we visited. This should happen sooner rather than later, but it is hard to say for sure.

As for the title of this post, I’m 6′3″ and most Thais are not… Their architecture is a reflection of their stature. I hit my head more on this trip than any other time in my life…