Terrific Thailand

It never ceases to amaze me, the way that God disguises extraordinary moments in my everyday life. I am currently living out my wildest dreams, backpacking through Asia alongside Reid. Despite that, everything seems quite normal and calm. How is that even possible?!

We are officially two weeks into our three month adventure in Southeast Asia!! We are quickly settling into a nomadic lifestyle of moving from hostel to hostel, sleeping on buses, and doing laundry in the sink. Sounds pretty glamorous, right??

On our flights over here, there is no better way to describe our mindset than: we were feeling ALL of the emotions…excited, nervous, hopeful, anxious, curious, terrified, thrilled, and just about everything else you can think of. I kept thinking: “Is it too late to back out? What if I just went back home??”

Now I never really wanted to back out, but we always crave comfort, security, and safety. It is difficult to convince our minds to see all those things and run in the opposite direction. However, I have been trying to live my life by the words: great things never came from comfort zones. I say it over and over until I actually feel brave enough to live outside of my comfort zone!

Okay, that is more than enough of my rambling. Why don’t I tell you all about Thailand, the Land of Smiles!

The biggest reason the first two weeks here have been so wonderful is because we had my siblings, Ellery and Tristan, here!! They made the transition so much easier and they really helped us settle in. Ellery was our fearless leader through it all (she is the best!!). And Tristan was always able to search out the best coffee and spicy foods, provide comedic relief, and most importantly, support everyone!! Tristan is my rock!!

We started our trip off with a day and a half in Bangkok. Let me set the scene for you: hot, humid, busy, and polluted. Doesn’t that sound great?! We took no time to adjust to the time difference (or the oppressive heat), we just hit the ground running. We explored Wat Pho and The Grand Palace, two iconic sights of Bangkok. Of course we also sampled our share of mango sticky rice and Pad Thai. Though we were all a little overwhelmed, we could not have asked for a better start to the trip!

After our quick stop over in Bangkok, we made our way to Phuket, in the southern part of the country. We explored two beautiful beaches, Kata and Karon. We ate at a burger restaurant that was started by an expat from New York City. And most importantly, we went to the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. This wonderful place rescues elephants from all around Thailand. Many were used to transport lumber through the jungle for logging companies, give rides to people for trekking companies, and even entertain tourists in hotel lobbies! Now these elephants are rehabilitated and get to live out their days a sanctuary that promotes ethical tourism!

 

We got to feed the elephants watermelon and bananas. (Each elephant eats almost 450 pounds of food a day!!) Next we took them to the mud spa before giving them a bath and scrubbing them clean. These sweet elephants get pampered every single day, and they help teach people how to support tourism in a sustainable way!

After Phuket our next stop was Krabi, just a short two hour boat ride away. We stayed at Glur Hostel, which is basically a jungle paradise, with a pet bird named Hawaii!! We took a boat to the famous Phi Phi islands for some island hopping and snorkeling, what a beautiful day!! We saw intricate coral reefs, colorful fish, and the most beautiful beaches (with white sand that felt like flour!).

The next day we explored Railay Beach, just a short boat ride from Krabi. Railay is a little bay and is only accessible by boat, so it is a coveted spot. We lounged on the beach before walking around a little bit. We saw a sign that said “View Point” so of course we followed it. It led us on a thirty minute rock climbing journey to a beautiful spot overlooking the beach. It was well worth the fact that I felt like Alex Honnold in Free Solo. (If you don’t know who he is, look him up!)

We spent our last morning in Krabi doing some souvenir shopping and walking down the main road. Ellery and Tristan got Thai massages. Ellery thought it was wonderful and relaxing, but Tristan thought it was a little weird (If I got one, I would probably agree with you, Tristan!).

We went our separate ways that afternoon. Ellery and Tristan on a plane, ultimately to head back home, and Reid and I on an overnight bus to Bangkok. I truly treasured the time I got to spend with my siblings. I love that they were such an integral part of this once in a lifetime adventure.

Reid and I continued on to Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand. Our first morning here, we woke up and it was around 65 degrees!! WOW! The low temperatures in Bangkok and Southern Thailand were 80 degrees, so this practically felt like winter! We loved it.

While we were here we had the opportunity to explore Doi Suthep temple. It is a beautiful complex situated on top of a mountain (seriously, it took us 45 minutes to get there…up a winding road…in the back of a pickup truck!! ….okay the bed of the truck was covered and had seats, but it was still scary!).

We also went to Art in Paradise, a 3D art museum. There were paintings on the walls done by a team of graphic artists from Korea. The pictures were paired with an app that added effects when we took pictures/videos. We had so much fun exploring this museum and posing for pictures.

On our last day in Chaing Mai we took a cooking class!! This was one of my favorite activities we have done so far. Reid and I are both very inexperienced and untalented cooks, but our teacher, Momay, made sure we did not mess up! We made Pad Thai, coconut milk soup with chicken, and Khao Soi. They were all so yummy. I loved that we could alter the recipes based on our taste preferences. Khao Soi is a notoriously spicy Thai dish and sometimes pepper is too spicy for me, so I only put in a fraction of the curry paste, and it tasted awesome!!

The cooking school also had two dogs and three cats. Here is a picture of Coconut! He came over to Reid and I and sat between out chairs so we would pat him.

We had the opportunity to visit our wonderful RTR friend, Trenna!! She has been a teacher in Chaing Mai since November 2018 and it was so nice for her to show us her home away from home! RTR is such a special place, I have forged friendships that can withstand 8,000 miles!

This blog post would not be complete without informing you all of our Series Of Unfortunate Events on our last morning in Chiang Mai. We went to bed early the night before because we had to catch an early bus the next morning. My alarm went off at 4am and we left the hostel at 4:45. When we arrived at the bus station a little after 5am, we learned that our bus did not leave at 6am like we thought, but not until 10am!!! We were FIVE HOURS early!!!! I misread our voucher and we missed out on a lot of precious sleep!! Around 6:30, I realized I forgot something at the hostel. My beloved travel laundry line (When you have to do laundry in the sink, this is very important for drying clothes!)!!! I was devastated! However, our bus did not leave for four more hours. So we took a Grab (Asian version of Uber/Lyft) back to the hostel to retrieve the laundry line. Then we hung out for a little bit and got breakfast before taking another Grab back to the bus station. It was an unnecessarily hectic morning, but if this is the worst thing that has happened so far, life is good!

So far my favorite activity has been snorkeling on our Phi Phi Islands tour. Reid’s favorite activity has been visiting with the Elephants (and fruit smoothies).

 

Stay tuned! We are now in Cambodia for the next week!

Love, Sorrell

P.S. To Reid’s Family: Not to worry, he is a natural at backpacking! He is settling in well, I am both proud and impressed!!

 

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord -your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

-Deuteronomy 31:6