Well that was something. World wind of a trip. Not to self, next time ignore the what the wife says she wants to do and just plan it. In the end she wanted to stay longer as I originally planned and would have made the trip much easier..
Only 14 days vacation and 8 flight.Thats because ever let had a stop/layover somewhere.
MY original plan was 1 week (not counting flights (in Thailand then 2 weeks in Philippines (2nd home) and doing some local traveling to islands while there and then fly home.
Ended up being 5 nights in Thailand, 7 nights in Philippines, 2 more nights (really 1 1/2) in Thailand and home.
Got to do most everything we planned. Rode on elephants, played with tigers (played with baby tiger, photo/video op with larger ones) swam with dolphins and visited the Sanctuary of Truth in Thailand.
Sanctuary of Truth was pretty spectacular and if it wasnt to hot we would have spent more time there but the wife gets winded pretty easily and there was a lot of walking up/down stairs.
Riding the elephants was pretty much what I expected but a little short. Only 15 minute rides. They said there ad been overwhelmed with Korean and Chinese tourist and didnt have time to do the longer rides (45 min) into the jungle and through a couple rivers. It was still interesting. Big majestic creatures.
Tigers were a bit more intimidating that I had originally thought they would be. You can feel the power with the size and if you are smart you respect their presence and understand this is their space. The sad think is some of them they have pretty drugged up and 99% knocked out. It was pretty easy to tell by looking around and observing the compound that they have enough tigers of each size, small, med & large to rotate them 1x a week so they most likely only drug them 1 day out of the week or less and dont have to use the same tiger multiple days in a row causing it excessive harm. That being said I would be find visiting them in the wild in a secure vehicle vs being able to touch them and have them drugged. Have to feel sorry for the king of the jungle.
Swimming with the dolphins was fun. They aren't trained as good as the one in the US but you get a LOT more 1 on 1 time with them. Wife and I had our own 2 dolphins for a good 30 minutes in a DEEP pool and did the typical pull around the pool on the dorsal fin and a couple laps around the pool while they swim on their backs nad you hold onto the Pectoral fins. They appear to be well cared for although free is always better and we did not get to see their living habitat. Water was clean and their skin appeared in good condition with no visible scaring or damage.
Had fun visiting some of the bars/clubs. Wife got a kick out of all the girls trying to flirt with me and more so all the girls flirting with her. lol (yes girls, not lady boys).
She was getting a little annoyed by day 3 of EVERYONE trying to speak Thai to her because Thai and Filipino have similar features of course. I was considering hanging a sign on her that said, No speak Thai. A bit of Thai came back to me so I was able to navigate with those who didnt speak English and didnt understand why she couldnt speak Thail lol
The hotel/condo we rented was perfect. Not big but big enough and pretty new, clean and good location. Walking distance to most places. Nice swimming pool on the roof, 30th floor and key card access so no having to check in, show ID or anything all for under $40 a night in Pattaya.
On our return trip to Thailand for the 2 nights the hotels we stayed in was a dive but it was cheap and only 1 1/2 nights really so we didnt change. No bugs but old, musty and not some place you would want to stay more than a couple nights. Location was good, right next to Soi Cowby. Basically a mini walking street but in BKK, not Pattaya. Its a block worth of bars/clubs piled into 1 block length and fun to walk through a few times and people watch.
We also visited a couple of the malls. One thing is clear, Thai's like to eat. There are a LOT of small stores in most all the malls vs the big box type stores in the states, 100s on each floor and they like to do multiple level malls with a small grocery store on the bottom alone with small eateries/kiosk style and many more on almost every level until you get to the main food court that have probably 50+ places to eat ranging medium size sit down to dozens of the kiosk style again.
We ate at one restraint in one of the malls that had one of those robot waiters who brought you food and next door was one of those sushi bars with the never ending conveyor belt with different types of sushi.
Wife bought a Bunch of good quality fake hand bags. She did pretty good browsing through multiple stores within a few blocks to find the best quality and prices and used my tactics I taught her. Act interested but no to interested and say they are nice and you will think about it and start waking away. They always come back with a lower price. Then you ask what If I get 2 of them, then 3, 4, 5. lol
All the fake name brand purses (LV, Proda, Fendi, Gucci etc. were for her sisters and nieces in PH, not to bring home. We did visit one of the HIGH end malls to check out the real name brand due to online saying they were better prices than the US. After visiting LV and seeing a small purse she liked for $3500 and one in Gucci for $4000 she was ready to leave.
Our house is still in Good shape all things considered. Exterior paint is really faded after only 2 years due the the daily heat and rain. Need to find a GOOD exterior paint brand next trip.
Mother-in-law had not been staying at the house much the last couple of weeks and prefers to stay in the mountains about 30 minutes away near friends in a bamboo hut. I didnt know this until right before we left and told the wife that if that is the case we need to do something about securing the outside water pump because it got stolen last time the house was not occupied. Yet it got stolen a few days before we got there.
Luckily I saw our electrician contractor the 1st day there and he put a new pump in for us the next day.
We spent a full day up in the mountains at one of the banana farms where we own several hector and it seems will be acquiring more soon. We might own 1/2 the mountain soon. lol Hmmm Walton's/Lovbyts mountain? hahaha
One of the best part of the trips is spending time with all the indigenous people who live in the mountains and especially the kids. Most of all the other (Very few if any) tourist or spouses of locals have been bad experiences for them. They say the visitors smell bad, never smile, complain and get annoyed with the children easily so the kids are afraid of them. Every trip my wife is overwhelmed with the elders and other people coming to her saying how much they enjoy us visiting them because we are different. We dont expect, ask for or require any special treatment. We mingle with everyone, bring candy/snacks for the kids and participate in all the activates. Even when we get back down to our town people come up to my wife talking about what they have heard (all good) about our visit.
Its fun having the kids lead me around (wife stays back with her mother and siblings visiting old relatives) while Im paraded around the small village to everyone's house/bamboo hut or less and shown where they to to school, church, play or the river where they play/bath and get water sometimes. They do have a community well that water is pumped from and limited power that is brought in. Many of the places we have visited in previous trips didnt even have power they were so remote but didnt have a chance to visit this time.
I wish we could have stayed longer but like I said, next time Ill just plan as I see fit.
Here are a Few pictures, most of them I have not had a chance to upload yet or taken off the thumb drives.
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