Graceland Khao Lak Beach Resort

Khao Lak, Thailand

After two days in the jungle, we decided to go a bit upscale (with a steep discount from Agoda) and try the Graceland Khao Lak Beach Resort. Not usually our cup of tea but we enjoyed the beach, the crazy fun pool, and the over-the-top breakfast buffet. And the comfortable room from which to observe the on-and-off monsoon rains. We'll be back.

Back to Art's Riverview Lodge

On the edge of Khao Sok National Park, Thailand

This was our third trip to Art's Riverview lodge, though this time we only spent two nights. Food was great, the room a bit rough, but generally good to be back again. Went on a great tour of the park that Art's arranged in conjunction with other nearby lodgings.

Return to Chumphon Cabana

View from the restaurant

Saphli, Thailand

It took us five years, but we are back at last at our favorite place in Thailand: Chumphon Cabana! The cabanas are still wonderful, as are the views, the beach, the food--and the staff (!) even as nature continues to reclaim the back portion of the property.

So wonderful to be back! 

Green Papaya Salad: my dream food

Maybe it's not true and you CAN go home again...

Shades of Mongolia, Jordan, and Thailand

Ladyville, Belize

When I arrive in a new place, I often find myself trying to figure out what the new place reminds me of. It's silly in a way because the new really is a NEW place, but somehow arriving in Belize drove home the point that my experience of "place" is very relational.

My mind quickly turns to trying to figure out into which "categories" to put the new place. These calculations seem to be based on some combination of food, landscape, language, architecture, people--and who knows what else. So, yesterday when I went out and made a few purchases, my initial sense of place was registering as Mongolia (I will always associate ultra-pasteurized milk with Mongolia because it was one of our main staples for three years), Jordan for the McVitie's Ginger Nuts (they got me through two long years of teaching) and Thailand--both for the papayas, the tropical weather and vegetation, and the architecture. 

It's early days, though, and this place may yet re-register itself on my internal index of place...

Fun to look at, boring to eat

Chumpon, Thailand

Friday, November 17, 2017

Today we drove into the city of Chumpon because Frank was on a quest for mangosteens. But, alas, they were not to be found. Pictured here are the dragon fruit we did find: pretty to look at, but truly not very interesting at all to eat.

A taste of Thailand

A lot of this fruit you can't eat...

Seattle, Washington
Thursday, October 16, 2014

A trip to the nearby International District provided a delicious reminder of our time in Thailand: Jack fruit. A wonderful treat in rainy and gray Seattle weather...

...but these bits are golden treasure

Bye-bye Thailand

Bangkok, Thailand
Thursday, January 2, 2014

One last Thai tea latte (way too orange and way too sweet), and we are headed home to Jordan. Thank you, Thailand--it's been great!

Phetchaburi adventures

Phetchaburi, Thailand
Wednesday, December 31, 2013

On the return drive to Bangkok this time we WISELY broke the trip into two parts and stayed over in Phetchaburi for two nights. This gave us time to explore this fun city--and not go crazy from driving 8+ hours in one day. A famous Buddhist cave with hoards of aggressive monkeys and a lovely temple from the Khymer period were the two sites we visited. It was fun to see something new--especially the cave.

Sunday market

Saphli, Thailand
Sunday, December 29, 2013

Tonight we enjoyed another trip to Saphli's Sunday market. All manner of food for sale: fruit, spices, vegetables--even fried bugs. We bought some treats and headed home...

Beach pursuits

A's inland empire

Outside Chumphon, Thailand
Sunday, December 29, 2013

Over the past week or so, we have spent many, many hours on the beach here at Chumphon Cabana. Our favorite activities have included looking for shells (me), picking up garbage (Frank) and building sandcastles (A). The wind and waves are strong this time of year so we haven't spent too much time in the water--except for jumping in the waves as they crash in...

Here's what I found on the beach...

Jungle roses

Outside Chumphon, Thailand
Saturday, December 28, 2013

We have returned to Chumphon Cabana for a few more days at the beach--and the festivities surrounding the New Year. This morning the staff were making these wonderful flower arrangements out of newly cut palm fronds. It's like origami with plant leaves. Wonderful creations.

A "tree house" at last

Khao Sok National Park, Thailand

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Frank had eventually given up trying to find the guest house he really wanted near Khao Sok National Park--Art's Riverview Lodge. They have no web site and all the phone numbers listed for them on the web didn't work. Then, by accident, Frank happened upon the Lodge once we were already staying somewhere else near the park. So, for our last night in Khao Sok, Frank booked a cabin at Art's Riverview Lodge. It is located at the bend in a small river with a nice swimming hole, complete with rope swing.

Being in the cabin is like being in a (low) rain forest canopy--well, sort of anyhow. It's on brick stilts about 15 feet up in the air. Last night we sat on the porch and watched the bats come out and listened to the cries of the far-off gibbon monkeys. As the bats came out, A got inspiration to draw some more of the creatures we've seen on this trip. As the light faded, Frank got out the headlamp and A kept drawing--well-coated with bug spray, of course. But actually, the mosquitoes weren't too bad here.

And the mosquito net "tents" inside the cabins glow magically in the dark...

IF you can find the place, it's well worth the effort.

Into the park

Khao Sok National Park, Thailand
Wednesday, December 25, 2013

We made a brief foray into Khao Sok National Park today. We were ready to explore some of the nature trails and see some waterfalls, etc., but the youngest member of our party was a bit too tired to get much out of this experience.

We did, however, get to walk a ways among the stunning bamboo, watch a bunch of monkeys do their monkey thing, and get startled by the buzzing of an enormous beetle that Frank was inspecting at close quarters. There's lots, lots more to see here, but for us it will have to wait for another time...

Khao Sok super beetle

"goi, goi"

The elephant in question

Outside Khao Sok National Park, Thailand
Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Great was my reluctance to get on that elephant. I wasn't sure if I should be relieved or worried to see that an actual seat belt was part of the contraption that we were supposed to ride on. But get on I did. This elephant ride was too-long awaited for me to turn back.

Thai coffee beans

To simulate the experience of "trekking in the jungle", our elephant handler led the elephant up, down, and around the mountainside near the camp where the elephants live. I had some doubts about how well the elephants here are treated, but I hardly know WHAT a 40 year-old elephant is SUPPOSED to look like.

In addition to learning what a coffee beans look like "on the branch", I have now learned one important phrase in elephant-handler talk. "Goi, goi", I learned, means "carefully, carefully" which, I am happy to say, brought us back safely to the elephant dismounting station in about one hour's time...

To see the view from "up top," click below...

At the edge of the rain forest

Khao Sok National Park, Thailand  
Monday, December 23, 2013

After motoring south and west for about 4.5 hours today, we are now staying just outside the entrance to Khao Sok National Park. They say Khao Sok is one of the world's oldest rain forests at 160 million years old. Tomorrow, it's adventures in the park--but this afternoon it was a stroll in the secondary forest and down to a small river. The limestone cliffs are amazing and the flowers, too...

Bouncy castle, the Thai version

Saphli, Thailand
Sunday, December 22, 2013

This afternoon we headed into the very small town near where we are staying in Chumphon province to go to the weekly market. Lots of great fruit and food stalls but not much to interest a six year-old. Until we found the bouncy castle. The best 66 cents we spent all day!

Breakfast salad

Outside Chumphon, Thailand
Sunday, December 22, 2013

The concept of a salad for breakfast is about as foreign to most Americans as pancakes or bacon is to the rest of the world. But give it a try (you mix all the ingredients together), and you really might find it as wonderfully interesting as I did. Really good stuff!

It's called "salak"

Saphli, Thailand
Saturday, December 21, 2013

Long time readers of this blog may recall that Frank sees it as a personal challenge to try every tropical fruit that Thailand has to offer. Rose apples, dragon fruit, sapadillos, rambutans--all are old stuff by now. This time he came home from the fruit market with something that neither of us had ever seen before--and which required both persistence and gloves (which we did not have) to open. Various consultations with the hotel staff and Google gave us this answer: it's called "salak" or snakefruit (Salacca zalacca). The spines on the fruit can get in your skin like so many tiny slivers and most of what's inside that dreadful skin is a big pit. But the fruit is interesting and quite tasty nonetheless. Turns out it's the fruit of certain palm trees (just as dates are) and common throughout Southeast Asia. Don't look for it in a supermarket near you--it's way too much work.

Return to Chumphon

One of the cabanas

Outside Chumphon, Thailand
Saturday, December 21, 2013

The view from the cabanas

This is our third stay at Chumphon Cabana in the past four years. It's located about 15 km outside the city of Chumphon along Thailand's southern east coast. In some ways the place continues to get a bit more tired with the passage of time, but there are also signs of some fixing-up as well. The staff continues to be super-friendly and the location lovely: a wonderful beach, nice pool, fun "cabanas" and pleasant hotel rooms. It's a great place for families; there are lots of Thai guests as well as a good dose of Europeans. We are happy to be back.

A root beer float, anyone?

Immediately south of Bangkok, Thailand
Thursday, December 19, 2013

The day started with us watching a "driver safety tips for Thailand" video on Youtube. Then we headed out to the airport for our first Thai car rental. Getting past Bangkok to head south was just as crazy as Frank feared: at one point we accidentally got off the main highway and spent nearly an hour driving back and forth trying to get back ON the highway. About half way to our destination, we stopped at a gas station/convenience store--and there we found an A & W. Honestly, I didn't know A & W still existed. Frank had the first root beer float I've ever seen him drink. Must have been the stress of getting out of Bangkok...

Nine hours after departing the airport, we arrived at our beach cabana in Chumpon--just as a lovely orange moon rose up out of the sea...

Thanks for all the careful driving, Frank.