Sawatdee, Thailand!

Most of you know that Jeremy and I were recently in Thailand for 3 weeks. It was an amazing experience - Thailand is a relatively easy place to travel. Most people speak (some) English, it's easy to get around and it's safe. Oh, yeah - and people are remarkably friendly. They don't call it the "Land of Smiles" for no reason. 

I'll give you some of my impressions here, but if you want to go straight to the photos, I won't blame you one bit.

Up North

Charming, cheap and friendly, Chiang Mai - which used to be the capital of 17th and 18th century Thailand - was our favorite place (among many great places). It's near the border with Myanmar and (like most of Thailand) is chock full of great smells. 

Buddha statues are ringed with hundreds of pomelo flower garlands; street vendors hawk deep fried bananas, skewers of meat and plenty of spicy rice and noodles; exhaust from thousands of motorbikes add a tang to the air. Even the smell of the elephant we rode was somehow charming (at least at first). 

At the Beach

It's great to feel the sand between your toes, and it anchored us as we craned our necks to look at the soaring limestone cliffs of the beaches at Railay. Accessible only by boat, these beaches are amazing - clear water, pock-marked spiny black boulders and lots of fish. 

Of course, beauty like this comes at a price: lots of European tourists and industrious Thais who are selling anything you might need - a foot massage, food, beer from green plastic buckets. Somehow, the raucousness was okay; it only added to the laid-back festive atmosphere.

The beach on Koh Phi Phi - an island in the Andaman Sea - was different. We stayed at a resort that sat alone on a spectacular stretch of beach. Gone were the crowds and the sellers, replaced by swaying palm trees and peace and quiet. Oh, and plenty of Pina Coladas with orchids and umbrellas in them.

Pampering

One of the best parts about Thailand is their attitude towards massage. They treat it as a necessity, rather than a luxury. That means that in every single city we were in, you couldn't go a block without running into an open-air Thai massage place. 

Now, don't get any dubious ideas about "happy endings"; these places are legit. Thai massage is like yoga that's being done to you. You keep your clothes on while industrious Thai women stretch your muscles, walk on your back and more. It's so good, and all at a price of $8 or less for an hour.

Eating

Eating was one of the main reasons we chose Thailand, and it didn't dissapoint. (There's a reason that our revered rooster sauce hails from Sri Racha, a town south of Bangkok.) Steaming rice soup for breakfast. Pad Thai wrapped in an omelet. Red, green and brown curries. I lost count of the number of bowls of steaming noodles we ate, peppered with veggies and laced with the Thai "holy trinity" of spices: fish sauce with fresh chilis, dried red chilis and sugar (yes sugar!). Who knew a bowl of noodles could be so, so good (and usually under a dollar)?