So, as you read in my last blog, I couldn’t have been more enthused about my first round of visitors in Southeast Asia, my parents, best friend and college sorority sister! I’ve been planning our trip through Thailand and bringing them to Cambodia to see my home for months. But when an unexpected turn of events occurred, it brought all of my excitement to a teary halt.
My guests arrived in Bangkok on a Wednesday and were going to explore for two days and I would meet them in the Bangkok airport on Friday evening. My flight from Phnom Penh was an hour and a half delayed, leaving me not more than two hours to catch up in the airport as planned, but only 45 minutes to find my family and connection flight in Bangkok. I was so frazzled and literally running through the airport like a movie when I finally spotted my dad and tears of happiness came over me! I gave him the biggest hug and he looks at me, starts to tear up himself and says “Megpie, I have bad news”. I think at this point my face went completely blank and he continues “Mom broke her ankle and is going home”. I look down the way to see my mom in an ace bandage in a wheelchair with her foot propped up. I started running towards her as the tears kept flowing! It all happened so fast and I only remember repeating “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!” when kneeling down to hug her. How could she come all the way to Asia after not seeing her for 4 months to break the first bone ever in her body on the second day of her trip? The next flight available home was in two days but she wouldn’t let me stay with her and wanted me to continue my travels with my friends. My dad planned to stay with her in Bangkok of course and then would join us in the Thailand islands and to see my home in Cambodia because that’s what she wanted. So, after my long awaited visit from my parents, I only got to see my mom shy of 7 minutes before I had to run to my connection flight…
As I tried to make the most of my next few days, they were still pretty difficult since I imagined everything to be so different. I even called my mom the next day at her hotel to check in and she could tell that I didn’t sound like the typical “Meghan”. Luckily I had great friends to keep me occupied and we soon started having tons of fun. We started on the island of Phuket sunbathing on the beach, shopped and ate delicious Thai food. The hotel we stayed at was beautiful and I was even able to have my first “American” breakfast since I’ve been in Asia (yay buffets :). My father soon joined us and we all enjoyed our first Thai massage which was quite different than any other massage we’ve had. Lots of pulling, pushing, stretching, etc. which was really nice and also humorous at times! The next day we took a tour to monkey hill, river rafting, waterfall and an elephant ride. The rafting was one of the best trips with constant rapids from beginning to end and although our guides didn’t even need our assistance and only knew how to say “hold the rope” we still had a great time (I uploaded a picture to prove it!)
After Phuket, we took a boat to Ko Phi Phi Island for a day to relax on what most claim to be the most gorgeous island in Thailand. It was stunning! White sand beaches and crystal clear water made it easy to relax and take tons of photos. We rented beach chairs and lounged for a few hours, then walked through the market for some shopping and lunch. After, we took another boat to our next destination, Ao Nang Beach in the province of Krabi. We stayed at another beautiful hotel that was a close walk to the beach, shopping and delicious restaurants. While in Ao Nang, we got pedicures and foot massages, rented moto’s half a day (and got lost on the way home!) and did more shopping for people in Cali! Time was coming to an end when we had to say farewell to Thailand and Tara Cook :(
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