This year for spring break, we went to Thailand. We've enjoyed our spring break trips for the past two years, and so I've decided to make it a family tradition. I'm enjoying having children that are old enough to travel fairly easily after so many years of always having babies to make things difficult. We don't have that many years left in the Foreign Service and so we have to take advantage of travel opportunities when we can.
After making it through most of an Astana winter, our spring break this year was especially welcome. I've decided that the first week of March is the best time to travel. The anticipation and planning helps us make it through February and January, the coldest months, and by the time we get back in March, winter is nearly over.
We decided to invite my parents to come and join us, and they eagerly took us up on the offer. They're thoroughly enjoying their retirement and had just finished a trip to the Caribbean a week or so before crossing half the globe to come and join us. The children were happy to have the undivided attention of the grandparents, and we were all happy to have an audience that kept us from getting too grouchy with each other.
After doing some research, I settled on Koh Samui, an island south of Bankok that isn't as heavily developed as Phuket. I found a nice house on the south side of the island with an incredibly helpful Englishman as the host. He booked all of our excursions for us, found and hired a chef, and even did all of our grocery shopping. We were within walking distance of two completely deserted beaches, and the walk was through fields of coconut palms. It was very nice and quiet.
We spent a lot of our time at the beach and in the pool. When I asked the children about how many excursions they wanted to do, they all told me that too many would get in the way of our beach time. The beach provides endless entertainment for everyone, and I'm perfectly happy to sit on the beach and watch them enjoy themselves.
While we were not at the beach, we managed to fit in a tour of the island. We saw two waterfalls, fed bananas to elephants, ate a delicious seafood lunch at a beachfront restaurant, visited numerous wats, a large Chinese statue, had fresh coconut ice cream, and visited a night market.
My parents are I are all scuba certified, so we took a diving trip with Sophia, Edwin and Joseph. The scuba sites were two islands up, so we had a speedboat all to ourselves with two dive instructors and crew. We did two dives with lunch in between before heading back to Koh Samui. All the children really enjoyed their first experience with scuba diving, and I had a nice time diving after an eighteen-year break.
We took the whole family on a boat trip to the Anthong Marine Park, a group of islands to the west of Koh Samui. The trip was on a big boat with a lot of other tourists, and we visited two different islands on the trip. Some of the family (not Elizabeth, whose legs were too short), climbed to the top of one island and enjoyed a lovely view. Eleanor and I took a 'hike,' which consisted of scrambling up slopes with the aid of ropes, to a limestone cave. We all got to do some kayaking and then hike up incredibly steep stairs to see an emerald lagoon at another island. When I asked all the kids about their favorite part of the trip, they all said that the boat trip was their favorite part.
My favorite part of the trip was the chef. Every day he spent five or six hours preparing amazingly delicious dinners. When our host first sent us the menu, it was list with eight different dishes on it. I asked him if I had to choose what I wanted, and he replied that those were the dishes for just one meal. Every night we would have at least one curry, a salad, several meat dishes, some kind of rice, and dessert. He cooked so much food that we could never finish all of it. I knew Thai food was good, but I had no idea of the variety of dishes. The kids all agreed that Thai food is the best food in the world. I'm inclined to agree.
My other favorite part of the trip was the mangoes. I love mangoes inordinately, and was overjoyed that Thailand's mango season had begun when we arrived. I had mangoes every day, and smuggled several back in my suitcase so that we could enjoy them later. I shouldn't have bothered trying to smuggle them, however, as just about every other passenger on the plane carried plastic crates of them on with them for the return flight.
But even more than the mangoes and the food, I enjoyed having a lovely week with my family in a lovely place. I don't have many more years left before the children start leaving me to start their own lives, and so these times together are even more precious. These trips will be memories that we will all enjoy together for many years to come. We are so blessed to have them.