Thailand is a place that quickly felt like home to us, similar to Guam. We were relaxed, got an excellent dose of nature, and established one of the best workout routines we’ve had since being gone. This month went faster than any other so far this year. Time really flies when you’re having fun!
Thailand has a huge Buddhist presence that can be seen and felt everywhere, from the monks walking past us each morning to the impressive number of temples. The food was a favorite for Dave and I, and everything about our time here felt easy. We truly loved exploring this beautiful country!
Here’s a slideshow of our favorite memories from Thailand, and some fun stats about our time here.
Thailand Life in Numbers
Number of walks around the Chiang Mai University campus and/or reservoir: ~56 (at least twice/day)
Percentage of times we saw our favorite local dog during our walks: 100%
Number of dead/decapitated rats found in the courtyard: 1
Number of different restaurants Jill ordered Pad Thai: 5
Number of items bought with elephants on them: 4
Number of different types of curry Dave tried: 6
Number of unique block towers Braxton made with the Jenga blocks in our condo (this became a favorite pastime of his): too many to count
Number of different temples visited: 8
Number of days we kept our daily journals (to date): 237
Number of times we tripped a breaker in the kitchen and consequently had to get the stove repaired: 1
Number of times someone declared “I quit gap year”: 0
Number of times we ate at our favorite local Thai restaurant: 7
Number of pictures Jill took of different spirit houses: 19
Number of times we ate delicious street food: 3
Number of times we ate NOT delicious street food: 2
Number of combined hours Dave and Jill spent booking/planning future travel: ~40
Next Stop Sri Lanka
We leave for Sri Lanka tomorrow afternoon and the past 24 hours have been a little stressful. We discovered that the area we had planned to visit in Sri Lanka (Hikkaduwa/Turtle Beach) has some issues that we aren’t willing to overlook. First, it is common for the nearby hotels to dump their septic tanks directly into the ocean, making the water very unsanitary/unhealthy for swimming. Yuck!
In addition to the potential water conditions, we also learned there is often some very unethical treatment of the giant sea turtles by tourists as well as local fishermen. The turtles were something we were all excited about, but we don’t want to witness or inadvertently participate in harming animals. So, last night we made the decision to cancel all of our accommodations and booked a new Airbnb in the capital city of Colombo.
Did we make the right decision? Who knows. When you search for information on Turtle Beach you get conflicting information (like most things on the internet). Regardless, we are still headed to Sri Lanka! We will only be there for two weeks (that was always the plan), so I imagine our time there will go extremely fast! Dave’s looking forward to more curry and we are all excited to explore a new country and culture.
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I’m sure that was such a hard deciscion about the turtle tours! I also know you guys will find a way to do something special, aside from that. Can’t wait to see what it is.
We sponser a child in Sri Lanka (her name is Kabishalani) and so I’m really excited to learn more about the country through you guys so I can better understand her and her family! We’ve been writing her letters for almost a decade, and so it feels like I should know more about her country than I do.
Where does your sponsor child live?
Looks like such a great time in Thailand! I love the videos and the stats. They’re always interesting and often make me chuckle. I’m sorry about the disappointment heading to Sri Lanka. I’m hoping for good things ahead for y’all!