Our Trip to Thailand: Dec 24, 2005 - Jan 13, 2006

We left San Francisco on Jen's birthday, Dec. 24, to start our 3-week trip in Thailand. We wanted to experience as much as we could in the time we had. Things ended up falling into place nicely and it exceeded both of our expectations. Our favorite memories were the 3-day trek, snorkeling, the Thai people and the food. The people are genuinely nice and laid back. When things get stressful, the Thais live by the motto "mai pen rai" which means "no problem" or "there's nothing you can do so don't get upset".

Some of our food highlights include: our spiciest meal ever in Hua Hin, lunch on day two of the trek, pad thai in Pai, everything at the Aum vegetarian restaurant in Chiang Mai (especially the Kau Soi dish), banana pancakes (roti), and any food sold by a street vendor. It was surprisingly easy for Jen to find vegetarian meals. Thankfully, we never got sick the entire trip.

We had a lot of fun renting a scooter and seeing the sights around Pai and Mae Hong Son. This allowed us to get out of town and explore the region on our own schedule. We also enjoyed trying to speak Thai with the locals. They really appreciate foreigners who want to practice their Thai. The scenery, especially in the north, was breathtaking. The only real disappointment came from our bad luck with One-Two-Go Airlines. Our round trip flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai was delayed both times, once for 4 hours for a 1-1/2 hour flight.

In general, we feel we still didn't have enough time to fully enjoy more of the country although we did have a full, rich experience during the 3 weeks. We would love to go back someday and stay longer as we already miss it. We created this website as a way to document our adventures, share them with friends and family, and to help others who might be thinking of visiting Thailand. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to email or . Enjoy!