On December 30, Amber and I joined our friends Chai and Tamla, along with some of the students at Jen’s House, in Sanpatong. That afternoon, we took a 3 hour journey over the mountains and through the jungles to an authentic Thai-Karen village (and Chai’s hometown). To say the road was windy and bumpy would [...]
It was hard to see Amber’s mom head home to America. Her visit and the holidays flew by way too quickly! The day after she left, Amber and I felt a bit empty and homesick. To cheer up, we hiked and explored the Mae Sa waterfalls, which are located about 45 minutes north of Chiang [...]
Amber’s mom, Susan, came to Chiang Mai to spend Christmas with us – our first visitor from home! Amber and I became tour guides for ten days, and we had an awesome time showing Susan around the area. Here’s a summary of everything we did over the holidays: We took a day trip north to [...]
In mid-December, Amber and I organized a Christmas party at both of our ethnic minority students’ houses. At Amber’s, we taught the young women how to make a Christmas chain out of red and green rings of construction paper. Young children from a local missionary’s church stopped by to sing carols and dance the hula. [...]
For those of you that have followed our blog closely, you may remember that Amber and I visited a migrant school/orphanage during our first few days of exploring Mae Sot back in October. The sight of those few dozen children, living in total poverty but smiling and laughing anyway, lingered in our minds and in [...]
On December 5, the entire nation of Thailand celebrates His Majesty The King’s birthday (and I’m not talking about Elvis). Today, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has reigned as Thailand’s King since 1946, turns 83. Throughout the country, all government agencies, businesses, stores, and restaurants are closed for the national holiday, which is also [...]
On Saturday, December 4, Amber and I took a tour van east into the mountains between Mae Sot and Tak. We had the driver let us off at the entrance to Taksin Maharat National Park. We hiked into the park, and as an added bonus, the park entrance fee was waived in honor of His [...]
Hello to all of our friends and family back in the USA, and Happy Thanksgiving! As I’m writing this post, the Macy’s Day parade should be in full swing. Along with our friends Sofia and Htet (a Burmese guy who works at our guesthouse), Amber and I successfully celebrated the holiday here in Mae Sot [...]
On our way home to Mae Sot from Vientiane, we stopped in Chiang Mai to celebrate the combined holidays of Loi Krathong and Yi Peng on November 20 and 21. This holiday is the most beautiful event on the Thai calendar because of the lights, candles, lanterns, etc at night. During the day, we wandered the [...]
In mid-November, we did a visa run to Vientiane, Laos. Along with Sofia, we rode a 14-hour overnight bus from Mae Sot to the Thai-Lao border at Nong Khai. We had to stand in a lot of lines, fill out a lot of forms, and pay a lot of fees to officially depart Thailand and [...]