FANG, THAILAND

A good friend recently moved back to her hometown to help open a coffee shop. Therefore, when the opportunity arose to visit her over a weekend, it was an easy "yes." So one Saturday morning, I got in a van with some Thai family friends, and we made the windy, curvy, long journey to Fang. Upon arriving, I spent approximately 5 hours sitting, reading and eating food at Zit A Long, Fang's best new coffee shop. Not a bad beginning.

When Muay got off work, we went to Doi Pha Hom Pok National Park for a swim. Jai walked me around to show me all the good views, which were impressive, despite the haze.

Leaving the park, we headed to a market in town, bought some shrimp, greens and noodles and sat on the front porch and made suki, laughing and having half our sentences get lost in translation. Not-so-early the next morning we headed to Muay's family's village, maybe an hour from the town. 

We'd brought some snacks along and spent a little time visiting with her parents and resting on their front porch. After a while the kids in town came up to see us and Muay said, "Ok, Alli. You're going to tell a Bible story, chai mai?" So, there wasn't another option. She handed me a sheet of paper and a pen, and I sketched out some crude animals and stick figures before Aom helped me tell the story of Jesus' birth. They listened intently and knew all the answers when I asked questions at the end, even the really hard ones. This is one moment that'll be hard to forget.

After the story, one of the neighbors climbed the coconut tree in front of the house and in no time we were drinking fresh coconut water and eating the meat from the inside. Taking "fresh coconut" to a whole new level.

While we packed up to leave the village, I couldn't help but smile, knowing that I'd been able to experience something so out of the ordinary for my normal western life in Asia. Being a part of this trip made me feel more at home in Thailand than anything else had. Watching my friends be themselves and include me in it was pretty awesome. Telling the most important stories to those who've never heard, getting to love on kids I've never met and seeing the faces of those I'd asked so many to pray for: too good.

DOI INTHANON, THAILAND

This isn't the first time I've been to this chilly place. Doi Inthanon is the home of the highest point in Thailand, and the first time we came here, it was wet and cold and we were on motorbikes... This time was much more sabaai, Emily and I headed out of the crazy heat of April, opting out of the 108 degree days in town for the 65 degrees of this national park.

In days past, the entry fee for this park has been upwards of 300 baht. That goes a long way here, so Em and I heard of a route that would take us the back way, and rumors were floating around that you didn't have to pass any ticket booths going that way. We found out why. The roads must have been–no joke, 45 degree grades, with curves that merited U-turn signs all the way up. Definitely a dangerous road, but we survived. And all the Thai families we passed on the way didn't seem to mind the treachery at all...

Emily is a pretty stellar photographer, and she had me model for her (after days of saying no I finally gave in when it included escaping the heat of Chiang Mai). We stopped at several clearings and places we found along the way... I may add a few of these photos in an update.

We visited the King and Queen chedi's at the top of the mountain, explored the botanical gardens and disturbed sleeping hill tribe women. Part of the Thai new year celebrations include visiting various wats to make merit, wash the buddha statues and appease spirits, so there were plenty of people milling about these beautiful grounds.

The brightness of the gardens is a pretty big contrast to the shadiness of the summit. There's no view or anything, just a big ol' sign that says "Highest Point in Thailand," which is almost typical of Asia. "Hey! This is cool, so we'll stick a sign here, view or not." This area of the park is quite nice, the shade covers a bamboo bridge that winds through the trees behind a beautiful white shrine, and the light underneath the canopy is beautiful. When you emerge from the trees, there's a coffee shop overlooking the road up the mountain.

This day trip should have really been made into a weekender, but it was worth it none-the-less. If you're looking for a way to escape those crazy hot season temperatures in favor of a mild snap of cool season, this is how.

KRABI, THAILAND

My parents are island people. They love white beaches, blue blue water, and everything about tropical paradises. I had never been to a place like that until last month. Krabi is a dream, and while I heard from locals and expats about it's greatness, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Rest assured, Krabi is amazing. People had told us that two days wasn't really enough, and though we experienced an amazing time here, there is no denying that leaving was the last thing we wanted to do.

Alex, Mary Austin and I arrived in the evening, taking a cheap bus from the airport to our guest house in Aonang. We stayed at MiniHouse Aonang, a modern and adorable little hotel about ten minutes walk from the beach, and to my knowledge we were the only westerners there. The night we arrived we ate at a restaurant a few blocks down called Jenna's Bistro, where we ordered delicious fried things like spring rolls and aubergine bites.

In the morning we were picked up by some folks from SeaKayak Krabi, a kayak tour I had booked about a week prior to our travels. Again, not quite sure what to expect. Even though the reviews had been raving, you never know what can happen in Thailand. Talk about an overwhelming and surprising success. We had a little team of five to our group, led by an amazing Krabi local, Aey. Aey had been a fisherman in Krabi for about 15 years before starting as a kayak guide. He explained all about each island, how the string of high cliff landmasses was linked under the water, and told us about his experience with the Tsunami in 2004.

Along with our new friends Ellen and Irv, we headed out to Koh Hong, an island named for the lagoon (or, "room") that lies in the middle. Mary Austin wasn't feeling the best, so when it came time to pick our duos, she chose to go with Aey, who dubbed himself her "motor." Alex and I teamed up and traded off rowing so we could both take the whole experience in via camera. The pictures below don't do this place justice. The water was crystal clear and bright blue all at once, and each turn of the tour brought a new majestic cliff sticking straight from the water, my mind blown everywhere I looked.

In the middle of our day, we stopped to eat a homemade lunch in the shade on the shore, Thai cuisine of course. We put our cameras down and sat in the water for a while while neon green striped fish swam around us and the piles of broken coral on the sandy floor. Aey took us to a few more islands to wander and frolic before we headed back to our starting point. Each place we stopped was like something out of National Geographic, or really just Google. 

When we had showered and freshened up at our hotel, we headed out to Ao Nang for dinner, deciding on Indian food at Moti Mahal, where the chana masala and the chai were incredible. We splurged on banana nutella roti and called it a night, 'cause we're grandmas. Kayaking-around-islands grandmas, but still grandmas.

In the morning we lazed around at the beach soaking in some more sun and watching the boats come in and out. Our lunch was gai yang (grilled chicken) and somtam (papaya salad) with sticky rice and ice tea at the White Elephant, and we practically ran back to our hotel to make our 1pm checkout time.

We took a songthaew to Krabi Town, but we were too early for there to be much going on, the weekend market wasn't yet going on. We had plans to go up to the top of Wat Tham Sua, or Tiger Temple, named so because of the "tiger paw prints" in a rock near the base of the mountain. We proceeded to climb the 1,267 steps to the top, plagued by monkeys and lack of water (stolen by the monkeys near step 245). We finally made it to the top, thankful that the beautiful view was totally worth the effort. Those monkeys, though, I've never been so scared for my life in such a real way.

Our flight out was only about an hour or two after our descent from this lovely temple, and our songthaew driver made sure we were there exactly in time, or, we sat in our seats two minutes before take off.

Thanks, Krabi. I wish I wish with all my heart to make it back to you before I leave Thailand, but I don't know if that is possible. I do know, however, that Mary Austin, Alex and I have already planned a reunion trip of their time in Thailand that will probably put us there in the next three or four years, you can bet.