Six Weeks of FUN, FUN, FUN!

Amanda, Matt & Allie in Ayuttiah

March and April were a whirlwind.  Within 6 weeks, we had a total of 11 visitors from all over.  Jan and Gregg (our brother and sister-in-law) arrived in early March.   It was great to have some time with both of them in our new stomping ground, even though both Jan and Gregg have been to Thailand many times before.  We had several adventures like when we tried to get into a rooftop bar with VERY casual clothes on.  There was also the time when, after waiting an hour in a taxi line, the taxi driver wouldn’t turn his meter on and insisted we pay 4x the price of a metered ride to a nice bar/restaurant across town.  Gregg used his “powers” of persuasion and we ended up at our destination.  Jan reconnected with her old tailor and found some great shopping spots, took a day trip to Ayuttiah with David, and fell in love with our favorite restaurant, Chai.  She also met up with some friends from Hong Kong who are now teaching at ISB.

All six young women at Monkey Mountain

A couple of days after Jan left, the group of six lovely ladies arrived.  This group consisted of Amanda and Allie (a good friend since club volleyball days) and Caryn with Nat, Sarah and Becky (all SOU teammates).  Our apartment was ROCKIN’!  We did so much and the girls were open to trying all different foods, learning as much about the culture as they could in a short time span and speaking as much Thai as possible.  David started their Thailand adventure by taking them to Cha’am to hang out at the beach and explore Hua Hin and the infamous Monkey Mountain (see previous blog post…).  We took a trip to Ayuttiah, the once capital of Thailand. At this point, Matt, our nephew, joined the party.  David was glad to have some additional testosterone in the place.  We saw some beautiful wats, took a long tail boat down the river, were drenched by an elephant and had tasty morsels at the floating market.  We then went to Kanchanaburri (home of the Bridge on the River Kwai) and Sai Yok.  Ken, Matt’s dad and David’s brother, flew in to join the group.  We stayed in a floating hotel on the river.  We hiked Erawan Falls, one of the most beautiful falls areas in Thailand.  Did I mention that we also rented a 10-passenger van for all of our travels.  We nicknamed it the “party van.”  In between all of these trips, the girls managed to eat heaps of Thai food, ride motorcycle taxis and tuk tuks, help David coach some middle school volleyball players (the ISB players are still talking about the VB visiting coaches), shop at Chattachuk market, hit an “ice bar” and rooftop bar in downtown Bangkok, have massages, manicures and pedicures, and drink too many “buckets’ on Kao San Road.  It was such a great time and a time that we will never forget.  We even hear that Becky plans to come back next summer!!!

A few days after they all left, my friend Shannon arrived.  She was in Bangkok to present at the NESA conference, as well as work with our coaches at ISB.  We had a fun week and learned a lot from her visit.  We ended her time here by heading to Koh Samet, a beautiful beach a few hours from here.  We hung out on the beach, had a lot of tasty beverages and continuously pinched ourselves that we were truly in a beautiful paradise.  Hopefully, Shannon will make several more trips this way to work with us!

Although this time was crazier than crazy, we wouldn’t have changed it for the world.  

Right before we were drenched by an elephant in Ayuttiah