Archives for 2010

I came home a year older.

It was a happy coincidence that my birthday fell during our semester break. I really can’t think of a better way to celebrate my 25th birthday than by having an exciting Thai adventure. The only trouble was… I couldn’t keep track of the date! Nearing the end of the trip I kept having to double check with Molly what day we were on. I was pretty sure on the afternoon of the 8th that it was my birthday… but, no.

Our last morning at the beach Molly and I woke up early to catch our ride back to the ferry. It took me a few hours to realize it… but… ding ding ding! It was my birthday!

We spent the first half of the day on a ferry and a plane making our way back to Bangkok. We returned to our first hostel to a very welcoming staff. It was nice to see familiar faces! After getting cleaned up a bit (like I said, no showers at the beach)… we headed into town to explore our options for our last day in Thailand.

Strangely… we ended up in a mall. I hope that if you know me, you know that I’m not so much the mall type. I’d much rather eat at a hole in the wall restaurant than a food court. But now I have to admit that I was in awe of the food options we found! We went to a section of the mall known as Food Avenue (I think). You get a little gift card type deal as you enter and then you are free to visit food vendors from all over the world. Molly and I settled on some Mexican food which I’ve strangely come to like over the past few years after a lifetime of abhorring it. [Don’t get too excited family, I’m not ready to take the Villa off my x-list yet!] Molly was very sweet to treat me and let me choose the dessert. It was a difficult decision that I never really made… I just ordered two!

After lunch we did a bit of shopping… trying to finish picking out a few things for friends and family. Then we headed to the Jim Thompson house where I received another little birthday gift. Jim Thompson was an American that came to Thailand and helped to jumpstart the Thai silk industry. He was also a collector of Thai artifacts and a Thai culture enthusiast. Visitors are welcome to tour his house and view his collection. AND… if visitors happen to be under 25 they get a discount. The sweet cashier decided that I qualified.

Later in the evening we wandered back towards Khao San Road for some birthday massages. While I enjoyed some street noodles, Molly became obsessed with documenting that certain kind of traveler you’ll find on Khao San.

We tried our own Khao San looks in the taxi.

Early the next morning we flew out of Bangkok back towards the Middle East. It was a wonderful and exhausting experience! Novelty snack post coming soon!

xo, jill