Bangkok, Thailand; Day 8
Today was our final day here in Thailand. The 5 Adventurers leave on an overnight flight to Africa. We had one last chance for a field trip to this very fun Asian mega-city. Brian visited the National Museum of Bangkok which held the answers to many of our questions about what happened to some of…
Bangkok, Thailand; Day 7
As we prepare to leave Thailand tomorrow we were up and out early for our Covid tests so we could get same day results. We got a recommendation from our hotelier for a private hospital that is reliable and affordable and it was exactly that. The hospital seemed to take things more seriously than our…
Bangkok, Thailand; Day 6
What does a King Cobra, the Thai Royal family and a laundromat have in common? They were among today’s sights and Adventures during our 6th day in Bangkok. We awoke planning to get a pre-departure Covid-19 PCR test required for our next port of entry in Nairobi. However, we were also planning to see the…
Bangkok, Thailand; Day 5
Today started with some life maintenance activities. Everyone’s favorite – dental cleanings!! Hard to believe we’ve been traveling for over 7 months and we’re due for another cleaning. Actually we’re a tad early, but we decided getting them done in Bangkok would be easier than where we’ll be traveling in the next couple of months.…
Bangkok, Thailand; Day 4
Today the kids asked for a day off from cultural or educational content but of course we still tried to find something fun to do. On our way to our big Adventure, we thought we’d have some small ones. We got dropped off about 1.5km away from our destination so we could walk through Chinatown…
Bangkok, Thailand; Day 3
We booked our first tour using the company GetYourGuide. We’ve had them recommended to us multiple times and finally used it. It’s a global online marketplace for booking tours – they find you a quality guide for a private or group tour. They have a big selection of the popular activities in any given area.…
Bangkok, Thailand; Day 2
We have a list of desired destinations and fun activities for our week in Bangkok and got started on completing these right away. We wanted to take a long boat ride in one of the canals and we were able to achieve that goal in the morning. We are staying in the Old City which…
Bangkok; Thailand; Day 1
You can fly from Chiang Mai to Bangkok in an hour and 15 minutes. You can take a train in 11 hours or a bus/car in about 10. We decided not to do any of those. Instead we took 10 days to make it from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and are glad that we did.…
Kanchanaburi, Thailand; Day 4
Tiffany has had a strong desire to ride a train on our world tour. The other 4 Adventurers talked her out of the 2 week Trans- Siberian trip across Russia and out of the 1 week trip across Canada. But they relented today with a ride on the so-called Death Railway. We visited a War…
Kanchanaburi, Thailand; Day 3
Today’s adventures were lazy, hang around the resort ones. Our complimentary breakfast was served on the porch of our villa and the rest of the day was spent doing some math, playing in the pool and watching the sun set over the river. Timtub Siam still have a LOT of holiday lights up and turn…
Kanchanaburi, Thailand; Day 2
We began this school day with a field trip to the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. This cemetery honours the remains of the captured Allied soldiers and airmen who died as POWs building the Burma-Thailand railroad during the Second World War. There are 5,000 British Commonwealth and 1,200 Dutch casualties commemorated in this cemetery (all of the…
Kanchanaburi, Thailand; Day 1
We have less than two weeks left in Thailand and when we leave, it will be from Bangkok. We started the day a 45 minute drive south from there, but that is not the direction we chose for this travel day. Instead we went 2.5 hours west to Kanchanaburi. This town of around 30,000 people…
Ayutthaya, Thailand; Day 3
Today was a bit of a slow moving, discombobulated day for these 5 Adventurers. We were all a little tired from our activity yesterday and from all the Wats and ruins over the last few days. Ayutthaya has been a tougher stop than Sukhothai. Perhaps because it’s the second ancient capital and we’re less excited.…
Ayutthaya, Thailand; Day 2
Today, we rode in a tuk tuk, hired 4 Grab cars (think Uber-Asia) and rode a river boat – yet we still walked 5 miles. Phew, no wonder we’re tired. We haven’t walked this much since our hike to watch a sea turtle lay eggs in Tortuguero, Costa Rica last September. Fun fact; those eggs…
Ayutthaya, Thailand; Day 1
This morning we said goodbye to our charming hotel in Sukhothai. With 5 Adventurers, we don’t fit in the standard hotel room with two beds so we have the debate to either squeeze into one room or get a bigger place/two rooms. If we’re staying a while, we’ll get a bigger place but for 2-3…
Sukhothai, Thailand; Day 3
Today we continued our Adventures in the ancient city of Sukhothai – but this time we had an expert local guide and more transportation than our feet. It still involved our feet, but included 10 wheels! After another hearty breakfast at the hotel, we met Sumitra (nickname ‘Me-ow’) and her colleague in the driveway of…
Sukhothai, Thailand; Day 2
We enjoyed our breakfast at the Thai Thai Resort and needed every calorie consumed to help is with our 4+ miles of walking the Old City of Sukhothai, Thailand. We started the day with a tuk tuk ride which took us out to one of the oldest temples in the area. The Wat Si Chum…
Sukhothai, Thailand; Day 1
We really enjoyed our time in Chiang Mai these past 4 weeks. We did our best to burrow into the day-to-day of living there and also see the local sites. But after almost a month it was time to move on to see more of Thailand. We hired a van to drive us 4 hours…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 28
On our 4th and final Sunday we finally made it to the Chiang Mai Sunday Walking Market. This is a major event where the municipality closes several streets and vendors, tourists and locals mingle to hear music, eat food and buy and sell all kinds of items. The walled Old City is the location for…
Chiang Mai, Thailand: Day 27
We made a school day out of some visits to two temples in the area. Tiffany was fond of telling the kids that “we had ‘Wats’ to do today”. The kids weren’t amused by that pun either. Our first stop was to visit Wat Phat That Doi Kham which features three enormous Buddha statues in…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 26
We had a quiet day today after a lot of Adventures this week and a late night last night. A good Thai lunch, using up food from the kitchen for dinner and family movie night were the highlights of our activity. We leave Chiang Mai on Monday to explore some other parts of Thailand before…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 25
We had read good things about both of Chiang Mai’s zoos so we thought we’d pick one of them to try. One is the regular type of zoo – go during the day, see animals in enclosures etc, etc. The other one is called the Chiang Mai Night Safari and boasts a tram tour through…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 24
At least one of our kids noticed an advertisement for a quarry waterpark in Chiang Mai. The photo looked like a death tourist trap but we were interested in a recreational outing and agreed to give it a chance. The place was called the Grand Canyon Water Park park and it was themed US Western…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 23
The 5 Adventures Academy worked from a remote location today and came back stuffed! This afternoon we were under the excellent care of the CookVenture Home Cooking Studio. They teach how to cook delicious Thai food. It was a fantastic experience. We highly recommend cooking classes where you travel and this school if you’re ever…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 22
We visited one of the most famous Buddhist temples in Chiang Mai called Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. The legend of this temple is fascinating and worth a five minute read here. It was a school day today so the kids were positioned to look, listen, and learn. This temple is named for the mountain that…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 21
We are over a month in Thailand and it’s been 3 weeks since we left the extravagant breakfast buffet in Phuket and came to Chiang Mai. So we thought we’d share a little about the cooking and eating we’ve been doing. Back during normal life in San Clemente, we cooked at home for a lot…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 20
It was another wonderful Saturday here in Thailand as we relaxed, enjoyed a pool day and had a Dad date (with CreeperPuppy). He and Brian went to the Dairy Queen to catch up on life and other interesting topics on a 1-on-1 basis. It was Children’s Day in Thailand – celebrated every year on the…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 19
Today these 5 Adventurers headed off to the Chiang Mai Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. It was a great experience and got all of us closer to these animals than we had ever thought we’d be. The elephants we were visiting are either rescued, retired or unemployed. It used to be common in Thailand to use them…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 18
We are going to try to get more days of school out of the house (visiting temples, seeing historic sites, etc.) but today was a tablet school day for the kids. We did start a new book today. You may remember that we have read three books as a shared reading experience (Alice in Wonderland,…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 17
We had so much fun Monday on CreeperKitty’s birthday that we couldn’t fit it all into one post and decided to share it on our quiet Wednesday. After visiting the Umbrella Factory we went a little ways down the road to a place called Art in Paradise – there we got a lesson in perspective…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 16
Today was a normal day living life in Thailand. School, reading, laundry, etc. For dinner Brian and Tiffany decided not to cook so we went to a place for BBQ and…cooked. But it was fun cooking over a clay pot with hot coals. There are a bunch of similar places but the one we chose…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 15
The 5 Adventures Academy had a field trip to a factory today. It may be a bit different from what you may normally think of as a factory. The Borsang Umbrella Center makes thousands of handmade umbrellas and parasols every year. The Borsang village is the originator of the paper umbrella craft (yes, including those…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 14
Today was CreeperKitty’s birthday party! His actual birthday is not until tomorrow but we had an all day adventure planned so decided to celebrate today. We’d tried to convince him it was going to be a pretty lame birthday and he believed us since he’s seen no evidence of shopping or presents. It felt a…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 13
Happy New Year to all of our friends and family. In June 2021, we began our global adventure. We have been to many places so far but perhaps not nearly as many as we had hoped before this Pandemic changed everything. We are hoping to get to Africa, the Middle East and Europe in the…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 12
Many of the stores and restaurants in Chiang Mai are closed for New Year’s Day. We had also learned that some were closed today as well. We decided to take this Friday off from school to give us a jump on the holiday weekend like many others here in Thailand. Today we indulged our American…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 11
Today was routine as we settle into the second week of our month-long Chiang Mai stay. School, wander the neighborhood (in this case in search of a liquor store, a fly swatter and AA batteries) and have a meal at a new restaurant. Suaram was the star of the show today. She is learning how…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 10
Computer-based lessons are unavoidable for the 5 Adventures Academy but we try to throw in variations every chance we can. Yesterday, we visited some Buddhist temples to follow-up with Brian’s religion section on Monday. Today, we played a game to follow up on Tiffany’s lesson teaching us all how to count confidently up to 13…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 9
Today we took school on the road (finally!) We all like field trip days better than online curriculum days. After brunch out we headed to the historic and cultural center of Chiang Mai – the Old City. Built in the late 13th century, it is a 2¼ km square area in the center of current…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 8
In anticipation of our upcoming visits to some of the Buddhist temples in the area (there are over 300 in Chiang Mai alone) Brian prepared a presentation for school today on the fundamentals of Buddhism. The students seemed engaged by the material and provided their own perspectives on 4 Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 7
Today had a relaxing start and then a flurry of activity. The kids got some cash for Christmas yesterday and were itching to spend it. We’d heard a rumor there was a ToysRUs on the other side of town and this week at that mall is a joint Japanese/Thai festival (which is why the parents…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 6
Merry Christmas to all! We had a wonderful time today celebrating Christmas and opening gifts from each other. The kids loved their gifts from Santa and Brian & Tiffany were grateful for a happy and healthy family. Here is one quick image of the morning disarray. We hope that all of you enjoy the company…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 5
Today was Christmas Eve for the 5 Adventurers in Thailand. No school today so this afternoon we headed out to Nic’s Restaurant and Playground. They had an extensive menu, a playground for the kids and SANTA. Well, one of Santa’s helpers wearing a beard over his mask and an obvious pillow under his coat -…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 4
We had a fun day of school today finishing up the group reading of The One and Only Ivan by watching the Disney film from last year. Apparently they do this in public school as well (i.e., read a book and then watch a film adaptation). The kids loved the movie and the teachers thought…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 3
Most of the day was hanging around the house for school, present wrapping, reading etc. but around 4:30 we (ad)ventured out to explore more of our part of Chiang Mai. Our house host recommended the local Ton Phayom fresh market for fruits and vegetables so we thought we’d check it out and grab dinner while…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 2
After school this morning the 5 Adventurers spent some time apart gathering additional ingredients for a very Merry Christmas. We decided a while ago that we’d try to make Christmas special and familiar for the kids even though we would be in Asia. We also wanted to avoid carrying gifts for each other across 12…
Chiang Mai, Thailand; Day 1
Today was an early but short and easy travel day for us. We left the resort about 6:15am and headed to the domestic terminal at Phuket airport. Our destination was Chiang Mai in northern Thailand and we flew Vietjet – a discount airline akin to Southwest or Frontier in the US. The experience was familiar…
Phuket, Thailand; Day 11
Today was our last full day here in Phuket and we chose to visit some of our favorite places to do some of our favorite activities. The boys spent a few hours in the Kid’s Club. Mom and Suaram had a long conversation in the pool. Dad read Dostoyevsky in the shade with a cold…
Phuket, Thailand; Day 10
We were looking forward to visiting the market at Nai Yang Beach which is held on Saturday afternoon but were fearful that a rain storm might put a damper on the shopping. Fortunately the rains held off and we were able to sort through a wide variety of items for sale. Tiffany was right to…
Phuket, Thailand; Day 9
The faculty and student body of the 5 Adventures Academy were happy to see the school week come to a close today. We intend to press ahead with another few days of school before the Christmas weekend but were glad to see the end of our “resort school” week with all of the distractions and…
Phuket, Thailand; Day 8
After our favorite breakfast buffet we did school and then spent the afternoon at the pool. Buy one get one free happy hour was a draw for Brian and Tiffany while the kids decided to spend all their allowance money on donuts and then throw them in the pool. Afterwards we headed back to Weena…
Phuket, Thailand; Day 7
This morning was our 7th at the Phuket Marriott Nai Yang Beach. That means it was also our 7th morning of the (complimentary) breakfast buffet. The kids are always thrilled with a good breakfast buffet – mainly because there are always treats offered which is highly uncommon when Mom or Dad cook breakfast. According to…
Phuket, Thailand; Day 6
Thailand requires 3 Covid-19 tests for travelers visiting from the United States. One before you board the plane in the US, one when you arrive in Thailand and the third on your 6-7th day in the country. The third test is an antigen rapid test we did ourselves – our first time doing one like…
Phuket, Thailand; Day 5
Monday morning meant back to school for everyone. Typically we will have a segment for Mathematics and a segment for Language Arts. Today we added a creative block and gave the kids an assignment. They were given 25 minutes to create a new game of their own invention. They needed to write down at least…
Phuket, Thailand; Day 4
Today dawned with clear, sunny skies and quickly started heading for the high 80’s in temperature. Despite the heat, we decided today we’d have some adventures off the hotel property. Since we arrived we have seen boats and other activity about 1/2 mile up the beach. We also frequently have seen hotel guests heading that…
Phuket, Thailand; Day 3
As a Saturday, we took the day off from school which meant that we could get a morning pool session in. It worked out great except for the quality of the hotel sunscreen which left some of the Adventurers more pink than they would like. We walked down the beach at lunch and had a…
Phuket, Thailand; Day 2
สวัสดี (Sa-wa-dee) (hello) We promise not to do as much Thai language in our posts from Thailand as we did Spanish in Central America. It’s a much harder language and alphabet to learn but we are making a try of getting proficient in some of the common words travelers need. Most of the people working…
Phuket, Thailand; Day 1
4 of the 5 Adventurers awoke early this morning (2am local time) but Mom was resolved to get onto a more accommodating sleep schedule. After reading for about 90 minutes, “lights back out” was declared. Surprisingly, all were soon asleep until after the sun came up which wasn’t too bad for our first day of…
Travel to Thailand, Day 3
Our 5 Adventurers arrived in Phuket, Thailand this afternoon. We are all very weary from our four flights of travel but are in good spirits. The kids have been remarkably patient through it all. Here is a quick recap of our 3 day journey half-way-around-the globe Hours 1-3: Depart Leesburg, Ohio, lunch with Mamoh, and…
Travel to Thailand; Day 2
After barely making our connection at JFK, we settled into our 12 hour flight to Doha. Honestly we were hoping for a little less adventure on this second travel day and we got it. A long haul flight in economy is not anyone’s first choice, but if you choose to do it, Qatar Airlines’ offering…
Travel to Thailand; Day 1
Today is the first of three travel day entries as we go from Leesburg, Ohio to Phuket, Thailand. We are leaving Jeremy Picklepants in Mamoh’s garage for the next few months so our launch point for this adventure is Cincinnati. We originally had booked this route for early November and we had two stops in…
5 Adventures Together 