Thailand knows how to……

…not ruin it’s beautiful beaches and countryside with huge resorts and sky scraping hotels.

…have a good time. Hello, Songkran.

…cook the most amazing food. You want spicy? Great. No spicy? No problem. Seafood, vegetables, meat, noodles, rice…these are a few of my favorite things.

…treat tourists. Refer back to our immigration experience.

…speak English. But as a side note, their language and writing is like the beautiful version of Chinese.

…do airline customer service. Before you board your flight they offer free newspapers, drinks, snacks and internet. While on the flight, there is always a meal and whatever you want to drink….at no cost to you.

…price products and services. $0.40 tank tops, $9 for a purse, $1 bracelets, $2 t-shirts, $7 massages, $5 pedicures and the list goes on and on.

…how to handle a nature disaster. The Tsunami was in 2004 and pretty much all that is planned to be restored has been.

…be awesome, making it my favorite place I’ve ever visited.

Our trip was not all white sand beaches, blue skies and beautiful scenery. There were a few funny, China like moments. When we were in the middle of the ocean and leaving Ko Lanta, our boat caught fire. Fortunately, the crew was able to put it out quickly and we slowly coasted to our destination with just enough time to jump on our connecting boat. Next, we had to stay in Bangkok overnight before our flight back to Guangzhou on Sunday. All we wanted was a room close to the airport, with air conditioning, a pool and free breakfast. I called a place on Travelocity and it was only 1,200 Baht ($30) and they had rooms available that night. Our sketchy taxi driver took us a good 20 minutes from the airport, then down an even sketchier road where 3 barking dogs chased our car and pulled up to this 1970’s inspired hunting lodge. We walked in the lobby and discovered that it was not only a hotel, but a butcher shop and a boxing arena that had karoking and dancing every night until 1:00 am. As we where shown to our room, we saw the pool, which was a color of green that I have never seen before. Fortunately, the room was fine, the air worked and we had quite a few TV stations.

In conclusion, it was a fantastic trip and I will be ever grateful to Fabien for taking me on this adventure of a lifetime. We were both a little bummed to return to China and as soon as we set foot in the airport, the shenanigans started. We couldn’t find an ATM that would allow us to withdrawal money, the taxi driver wanted to charge us double because we are white, no one in the airport spoke English, etc., etc., etc. So for the next blog, I’ll be back to ripping on China.