Jared and I started our trip off with an 8 hour bullet train from Luoyang to Shenzhen. Shenzhen is the city next to the Hong Kong border. We spent the night there. During our time there we went for fun taxi rides and did a little shopping. Shenzhen is an amazing city, especially if you are in down town Shenzhen. The next day we crossed the border into Hong Kong. We spent a lovely day adventuring out in the most expensive city in the world. We felt like Daddy Big Bucks, but then were quickly reminded where we really lie on the food chain. It was fun for a day though!
At around 9PM we were off to the airport. Our flight left at 5:00 AM so we thought we’d check in the night before. Turns out you can’t, but we thought we’d try. We spent the night in the airport. (Bucket list check off! Become a REAL traveler buy spending the night in an airport) I didn’t sleep very well but somehow Jared did. For anyone who knows both of us that is super weird. I can fall asleep anywhere at any time, almost; while Jared has to have perfect conditions to fall asleep and the littlest noise or light can wake him up.
Anyway, back up to speed. We hopped on our plane and landed
in Thailand at 9:00 AM. When we were on our way to our hotel it was just a
whole new world coming into view. If I can describe Thailand it’s half
Guatemala and half China. Bright colorful apartment buildings everywhere, but
Chinese type business buildings pained in gold on all the streets. Our hotel
was splendid, we had an amazing view of Bangkok, Thailand. The weather was hot and
humid and so that meant one thing. Time to swim! Jared and I went to Siam Park
City for two days.
It has the world’s largest wave pool and Asia’s tallest
water slide. It also has the world’s best pancakes on a stick! They were so
good! It was so fun at that water park! In the afternoon they do water aerobics
for anyone who wants to join in. Three fitness instructors come out on a
floating trampoline while everyone slashes around in the wave pool.
(Here are the video's Jared took of the water park. I'm not sure why they're so bumpy, sorry!)
That was in
my top three things I loved about Thailand! The energy and the happiness was
contagious. They had different water slides
and different pools, you could get lost there! At night we’d go to different restaurants,
we tried a lot of street food and it was to die for! Our hotel had a killer club sandwich with
fries that we had for breakfast every morning the 4 days we were there! After a
few foot massages and traditional Thai massages we were off to the Bangkok
Train Station.
We got on our train and headed off to Koh Samui, Thailand. It’s
near the bottom of Thailand. Our train ride there was a very, very hot experience.
We rode a 12 hour train ride on a sleeper train; 90 degrees, 100% humidity, and
a stuck window that wouldn’t go down for the first hour was not all that great.
We played some games, met new people, I got a new 3 year-old boyfriend who
liked me to play Barbie’s with him, we ate and eventually went to sleep. The
next morning I was awoken buy a sweet kiss from my man, the 23 year-old, not
the 3 year-old. He told me to come down to his bed, where the window was, to
look at the view. I will never forget the incredible sunrise I witnessed that
day. Seeing giant mountains covered in Jungle like vegetation with rivers
cutting through them. There were all sorts of different animals wondering
around and then the next minute you’d see a tiny village of 10-15 bungalows. We
saw a water buffalo and Jared said, “Hey look! A dead Rhino! Oh wait… It’s not
dead, and it’s not a Rhino…”. What a cute boy! We got to our stop and said
goodbye to our new friends and headed off to try to find some breakfast.
After eating we got on a bus, that bus drove for 2 hours and
dropped us off at a fairy. We boarded the fairy and 2 hours later we were on
our way to our beach side bungalow! Jared and I rented motor bikes and
adventured through the mountains of Koh Samui finding awesome waterfalls,
breathtaking view, Giant rocks to climb on, and perfect swimming spots.
We
spent the next 5-6 days being regular beach bums. I really mean it! I didn’t
put a real bra on the entire trip. Maybe I would have if I would have packed
one, but I didn’t. I packed 6 swimming suits, 4 pairs of shorts, 3 sports bras,
3 shirts, 1 pair of undies and a pair of shoes. I really had nothing but
swimming on my mind. Who can blame me, I’m a fish.
We got super dark! Well I did, Jared burned, but it turned into
a tan eventually. I have my “Love for Clara” bracelet still on. I never take it
off. I wore it on my wedding day, I wore it every day since I got it. (For
those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about The Woodward side of the
family had a sweet little angle who passed away of cancer. I believe she was 3
years old. We bought bracelets from her family for to show support and love.) I
pushed it up on my arm so it wouldn’t fall off in the water. It gave me a nice
tan line, and another reminder of how fragile life is.
After our time was up
on the beach, we did our trip in reverse. Fairy ride, Bus ride, Sleeper Train,
Plane ride, Bullet train ride, Taxi ride. We had some fun along the way, we ate
the best Thai food, I got my hair braided like a little Indian girl, snapped
some pics and bam back in China. Yep in a nutshell that was our Thailand trip.
