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I'm back! And I guess you have to come home sometime, so here I am, back in the States and the sorrow I feel for having my trip end is real and all my many experiences are now just memories.
Once landed, it was a perfect surprise to be greeted by my favorite sister and closest friends at the airport. The flight was quite long, launching from Bangkok to Japan, through San Francisco and finally a trails end in SLC - it was roughly 22 hours in transport. I can't say I slept much at all, and also left on no sleep, trying to enjoy my final moments in Thailand - with a massage, 11:30 pm pedicure, and all my last minute shopping. The worst thing about the flight is that the movies were rotten and I only wished I could've slept through them. I was quite tired once we touched down. But having the girls there to welcome me home was fabulous. They'd bought matching "Hello Kitty" t-shirts in honor of Asia, and I was lucky enough to get one too.
It was an incredible journey over the last 4 months. I was able to visit Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar/Burma and Malaysia. Words can't quite describe how I've felt and what I experienced. It opened my eyes to new cultures and a history lesson everywhere I went. I have an overwhelming love for the people and admire their strengths and the hope in their eyes. I saw a whole new level of poverty in several of the countries and I will forever ask the question why I was so lucky to be born here and have so much opportunity, choice and freedom?
Well, after 5 rain-filled and windy days in Ko Samui on the east side, we tripped it over to the west coast of Thailand to Phuket, in hopes of finding sunshine. However, the same weather pattern seemed to be hitting all of southern Thailand and ruining every tourists search for some beachtime.
However, you have to make the most of the hand that's dealt to you, so while in Phuket, we found a lovely place to stay up on the hill with a beach view and a covered porch. This meant that we could sit outside playing cards, writing
postcards or reading books and not be pelted with raindrops. Prior to our arrival in Kata Beach, we had a small argument with our minivan driver, who dropped us off on the curb and told us to walk. Haha! So we recruited a taxi 
driver, with a fellow Nepalese couple, and were carted to Kata. This beach was a little more remote than Patong Beach - which is where all the craziness, lady-boys, the couples of old white men with young Thai girls, cabaret shows and flashy neon street lights thrive and tourists flock. This is not so much our scene but we did head there one night for the experience and to eat an overpriced seafood meal. My dad was grateful to be strolling the streets with 2 ladies, to avoid the overly agressive women loitering at the bars. Besides the experience of walking down BangLa Road in Patong Beach, there were a few moments of sunshine. We spent a couple hours down on the beach, splashing in the waves and soaking up the sun when it occasionally peaked through the clouds. But then the rains began to fall again and with the nightly downpours, water filled the streets.
We looked at the weather report for the week and it looked like rains were in the forecast for the next 6 days, so we only spent 2 days in Phuket before booking our flight out to Bangkok.
Our time in Bangkok was short. I'm not a huge fan, although it gets better each time I go back...that's 5 times now. The highlights were shopping at the large weekend market, Chatuchak. Where my dad was such a good sport and waited around patiently while my mom and I bargained and bought silks, purses and jewelery.
Then the folks set off for a boatride up the Chao Praya River and sight seeing at Wat Pho (the reclining buddha). I met up with them later at Lumpini Park, for a little bit of greenery in our lives. We also had a delightful Thai bbq dinner, where we were waited on by a ladyboy...the he/she was quite cute! 
This is where there was also an elephant parading down the street that my mom got to feed bamboo to. She was scared to get too close, but the elephant had no problem extending his trunk as far as he had to in order to slurp up the bamboo shoots.
The days with my 'rents ended on the sunny beaches of Ko Samet. This is an island just 3.5 hours south of Bangkok. It's frequented by the local Thai folk on the weekend. So we conveniently arrived on a Sunday evening to avoid the crowds. It was a lovely way to end our time together and wrap up my travel adventure as well. We stayed south on the island at Ao Thien Beach, where the ladies working at the bungalows just fell in love with my dad. They called my parents "Papa" an
d "Mama" and in daily convo to my father I heard "Oh, Papa...you so strong. Pap
a...you so handsome." My mom and I just stood by and rolled our eyes. The Thai women loved to stroke his ego and he soaked it right up.
All and all, it was a good couple weeks with the 'rentals. It's too bad the weather didn't cooperate. I had really wanted my mom to ride an elephant and for us to do a couple day tours by boat or up to waterfalls. But you can't do it all and we definitely couldn't control the weather. So we'll just have to come back, and be sure to get the 7-day forecast before we leave!
