Here we are, sitting in the Phuket Airport, waiting for our flight to Bangkok. We’ve fallen in love with Thailand – the people are incredibly kind, the service is attentive, the food is fresh and flavorful, the fruit is sweet, the landscape is stunning…. we’re already looking forward to our next trip to Thailand.

When I started this blog, I imagined writing the kinds of posts that I wrote when I was traveling in my 20s and 30s – longer, thoughtful posts that gave me a chance to share my reflections about the culture, history and architecture of wherever I happened to pass through. But I’m slowly realizing that kind of travel belongs to a different phase of my life. I love this phase – we’re getting a chance to share the world with our kids and see new places through their eyes. In this phase of travel, we explore and rest, and find some kid activities and explore those and rest. I’m proud that our kids are learning how to notice the differences in a new place, and be respectful and curious about those differences. We can go to a Buddhist temple or Catholic cathedral and be confident they will act appropriately. I absolutely love this phase. But it doesn’t leave much time for thoughtful, writerly reflection.

So, instead of thoughtful, writerly reflection, I’ll leave you with a few scattered impressions of our time in Thailand…

• Thailand heat is like no other place I’ve ever visited. Robin William’s monologue at the beginning of ‘Good Morning, Vietnam’ keeps coming to mind.
• Did I mention the fruit is amazing? Like, blow my mind amazing. Sweet, perfect fruit!
• Phang Nga Bay reminded me of the Aegean Sea in Greece – a sailing playground filled with jaw-dropping seascapes. But where it’s hot and arid in Greece, it’s hot and humid in Thailand.
• Thailand seems to be built at the scale of walking – small intimate street stands, with an incredible texture of shrines and fruit stands and street dogs. But everything moves at the speed of scooters and motorcycles and tuk tuks. Everywhere we went, I felt flooded with details that I just couldn’t process fast enough.
• Boundaries here seem permeable. Inside / outside… permeable. Water / land…. permeable. The only boundary that is not permeable is passport control. That’s a very hard boundary – only navigated with lots, and lots of paperwork.
• The tide in the Boat Lagoon varied at least 12 feet between high tide and low tide. We happened to be there right at the full moon, so that was part of it. When the tide was high, some of the roads within the lagoon had to be shut down.
• The economy of Phuket used to be based largely on tin mining. Tin mining was replaced by tourism a few decades ago because the ecological damage was too severe. Since then, some enterprising people have converted the old mines into lagoons that get used to irrigate golf courses.
• We saw a lot of rubber trees all over the place. Rubber farmers have to get up in the middle of the night to collect the rubber. I have so many questions….
• I am thoroughly converted to working with a local guide when traveling. Our guide transformed our trip from merely fun to amazing. I learned so much more from her than I would have without her help!
• When a waitress asks if you want something to be 0 chiles hot, 1 chile hot, or 2 chile hot, you will actually get 0, 1, or 2 chiles in your dish. I ordered a 1/2 chile papaya salad and there was my 1/2 chile right there.

We’re all sad to be leaving. But we’re looking forward to visiting friends and family back in the states later this summer.