Greatest Hits So Far - Thailand

Composed by Michael. Contributed by all of MAJK . Posted 2 days after we drafted this.

Here we sit at dinner by the river which runs through Bangkok. It’s about 7:30, there’s a few mosquitoes (this is good – as compared to swarms…) and we’re viewing the city’s normal evening parade of illuminated dinner and drinking sea-craft for the many tourists to enjoy as they dinner cruise Bangkok’s waterways. “There goes one that looks like a Wat.” And sure enough, we spy a boat designed with a litany ofdistinctively Thai inspired temple-like rooflines. “Here comes one in the other direction that’s lit up in blue, or is that purple?” Jeanne asks. “Indigo,” chimes in Kira.

“Can we go to that buffet restaurant again?” Adam asks out of the blue – which he can just barely spy from across the river. What a scene that was. (Editors note: – We did return, and Adam already posted about it. He didn’t mention the platters of grilled prawns, clams, fish, kabobs, plethora of raw items to cook, steamed buns, fry station, coconut ice cream, assorted wriggly deserts, kitchey thai entertainer duo on a big stage playing guitar/bass/drum machine/vocals – and each pop song alternated w/additional round of happy birthday for yet another table of guests – and the total price of this feast - $3.50/head!) So perhaps you now understand why Adam had hoped to return and got his wish. But I digress…

We arrived in Thailand 2.5 weeks ago, to the Krabi area, with the strategy of beginning with some mellow seaside time before venturing into the more intense atmosphere of Bangkok (where we are) and then to Cambodia before visiting North Thailand. We kayaked, snorkeled, beaches, swam, motor-biked, and got our bearings – attempting to do so in a mellow manner. There were so many fun things that we want to remember that we’re going to create a list in real time to share - so here’s a few highlights since we arrived, including who mentioned them:

J – Pineapple from street vendors.
K – Snorkeling on the 4 islands!
A – Kayaking and seeing the caves and cave painting.
K – Eating all the Thai treats, like the mysterious green jelly cubes, warm coconut cakes, freshly wok’ed mini doughnuts, mango w/sticky rice and chocolate snow.
M – Seeing the kids view an elephant responding to its master as we motor-biked by.
J – Our Thai cooking class. And watching the kids enthusiastically make Pad Thai.
J – The fine grained white sand beaches on Koh Lanta

K – Spring rolls
J – Sitting in our bungalow veranda or walking the beach watching the incredibly red sunsets
M – Collecting sea glass. Making MAJK on the beach.
K – Having PVE (physical volleyball education) in the pool at Supsangdoa, our hotel in Ao Nang. (A volleyball like game we invented w/our mini inflatable beach ball.)
M – Carving our way through the endless street vendors and markets, taking in the cornucopia of sights, smells and sounds. (In particular, the market in Ao Nang - which was the first for A & K: grisly raw meat, delectable sweets, our first exotic fruits, and so much more.
K – The water taxi ride from which we spied our first views of Bangkok from the river.
A – Tuk Tuk rides, particularly the radically fast and crazy one yesterday returning from the Grand Palace.
J – The powerful yet serene Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho, the exquisite murals surrounding it, and being present as the chanting of the saffron robed monks reverberated inside us all.
M – Running Long Beach early AM, sitting on the rocky point, and then running back.

J – The grandeur of the Grand Palace.

Signing off…
MAJK Fam

The Amazing Food In Thailand

Posted by Adam

If you've never had the pleasure to eat a meal in Thailand, then you don't know what your missing. There is some great (and not so great) food here. I'll start with the good stuff. Of course there is Pad Thai, my favorite is the one we made at the cooking class. Another personal favorite is the grilled, skewered meat sold at street vendor stalls. The Thai treats are pretty weird, but some of them are surprisingly good. When we were at a street market, bags of green jelly cubes caught my eye.
When I took my first bite, they squished around my mouth like jello. There were also some great dinners. I loved them all, but one stood out to me the most. It was the giant buffet. When we walked into the open air restaurant we saw a sea of green chairs and Thais.Each occupied table had a platform with embers on it. Above that was a metal dish with high edges and a raised center. The low outside was filled with water and the center was dry.People were grilling meat, seafood, and veggies in the center and poaching everything that the buffet had to offer in the water. I walked up to the buffet and piled my two small plates with french fries, Thai chips, fried chicken, many kinds of raw chicken, raw beef, and pork. I grilled and poached the raw stuff and so did the rest of my family. With all of our things put together we had a great meal. Aside from meat, sea food, and veggies, there were noodles and tons of Thai desserts. That was my favorite dinner of all! A lot of Thai restaurants serve western food. Here are some great dishes. Burgers! I have had three burgers so far and they all taste like home. We went to a restaurant down the street from our hotel and ordered some amazing pizza and pasta. Our hotel has a great American breakfast buffet. It has eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes, french toast, and fruit.

I may have made western food sound great, but there were definitely some failed attempts. The one that I hated most was the Thai enchiladas or "thaichiladas" as my family calls them. They were like Chinese chicken and some kind of red, sweet sauce wrapped in a bready tortilla topped with a slice of the Thai style American cheese. I also hated the "thaichetta", which was supposed to be bruschetta. It was a baguette cut in half, each half topped with three tomatoes, somewhere around ten slices of garlic, and that cheese that seems to be everywhere. When I was ordering the thaichiladas my sister ordered some pizza. It was pretty good except for the tomato sauce. It was ketchup. I have noticed that if we have a ketchup bottle as part of the condiments, it says tomato sauce on the bottle. The last funny thing is the misspellings. When we were walking down the street, I saw a restaurant that was advertising their wood fried pizza. As we walked further down, I saw another restaurant that had wood fired pizza. There was also a restaurant that had noobles and moobles, but no noodles. So for a summary, Thai food is good in Thailand, but if you're ordering western food you're taking your chances.

Mom's Perspective

This is Jeanne, chiming in at last with the mom’s perspective. So where have I been, you wonder, since all the other family members have already posted at least once? Why, making sure everyone has sunscreen, finding the missing eraser or pencil (or the missing whatever), explaining the difference between a scalene and an isosceles triangle (remember that?), and waiting for an uninterrupted turn on the computer. (I’ve started this post about five times.) But first -- there is one thing I’ve wanted to clarify since Adam initiated our blog with the first post. For those of you who read about that early adventure in Thailand with the baby monkey -– the monkey bite did not break the skin. That was my first question when Michael and the kids got back to our hotel and told me all about playing with the monkey and the ensuing monkey bite. Whew. After establishing that, I could share in their delight with the experience.

One more example – We just spent the last week on Koh Lanta in Southern Thailand, where we stayed at a simple but idyllic beach resort owned by a Swedish couple. They have a 9 year old daughter who has two kittens, and Kira made a new friend. One morning, Kira (bless her heart) stopped by our bungalow to ask me if it was OK to pet the kittens. She and her Swedish friend had been playing with them all morning, but Kira has steadfastly been abiding by our “do not pet any animals because we don’t know who is sick or has rabies” rule. It had been excruciating for her, and I was so impressed by her honesty. I relaxed the rule for her – just for those kittens.

So, being a mom on the road does require a bit of extra vigilance. But as all you moms out there reading this know – we come by this completely naturally.

One of the highlights on Koh Lanta – besides the pristine white sand beaches and exquisite sunsets– was our Thai cooking class. We had dinner one night at “New Time” restaurant on the road near our beach bungalows. (More authentic food and more authentic pricing on the main road vs. on the beach.) Everything was delicious, and we enjoyed talking with the Thai proprietress, Rin, as she single-handedly welcomed guests, took orders, cooked and served the food, cleared dishes, and cared for her demanding two-year old. Before we exited, Michael had managed to arrange a family cooking lesson for the next afternoon.

We arrived at the appointed hour the next day hungry and ready to cook (after returning our two rented motor bikes we’d been using to explore the island – yet another cause for vigilance.) The kids were excited, and we had an extra one with us. Megan, a 12 year old from Scotland, was our neighbor at the hotel and we’d invited her along. First was Pad Thai, the classic Thai noodle dish.

Rin showed us how to fry the tofu, then chop the carrots, garlic, shallots and spring onion. The garlic and shallots went into the wok, followed by the noodles and a little water. Then the secret ingredient – tamarind sauce (yum). Break in the egg, add the tofu, carrot, preserved radish, bean sprouts, scallions. Then all the secret sauces – different soy sauces, oyster sauce, fish sauce, and sugar. It all happened very quickly, just a minute or two.

Everything went on to the plate, Rin added a few garnishes (more sugar, ground chilis, ground peanuts, lime)– and the kids devoured it. Then they had a turn at the chopping block and wok and repeated the entire process themselves – and devoured a second plate of pad thai. This was followed by instruction on making chicken in green curry, and tofu with cashew and onion. I took notes while the kids enthusiastically participated – so I can’t wait until we’re home and Adam and Kira start making Thai dinners for the family.

We’re now in Bangkok, and that cooking class seems like it was in another world. The kids are loving this city, and are proving again to be amazing travelers. We arrived bleary-eyed a few days ago at around 5:00 a.m., after a twelve hour overnight bus ride. Kira and I camped out in a coffee shop with all the bags, while Adam and Michael ventured out and found us our current wonderful, air-conditioned (key!) hotel on the river. More to come soon about our adventures in Bangkok…

Further In

This post is from Adam Lipson, age 12



As we go longer on our trip it gets even more amazing. There have been many great experiences like the snorkeling tour, but recently we had an experience that I liked even more... kayaking. I started the day by waking up and said, "I don't wanna get u...WE'RE GOING KAYAKING!" The wait for the van to get there was torture but it finally arrived. It took an hour to get to the ocean inlet (it looked more like a river) where everyone would kayak. The owners served us tea before our guide arrived. My mom and I got into a double and started to follow our guide through the mangrove forest. As we rounded a bend, the mouth of a cave appeared in front of us. There were tons of stalictites hanging down throughout the cave, which actualy turned out to be a tunnel to a pond surrounded by stone walls.After we were out it was back to the mangroves to paddle to another cave. To explore this one, the tour had to get out of the boats and walk up a flight of stairs. Inside, the guide shone his light on the ceiling and revealed a cave painting! My family explored the cave by ourselves and saw many more. After that cave,we paddled back to have lunch, then take a van to a nice wimming hole. we swam and had lots of fun. it was definately the best tour so far.

Yesterday's Beach Art

Submitted by Michael, Kira's Artistic Accomplice

Kira's spirit soars when we do art together. Jeanne & I think it's a part of who Kira is, what she feels, and how she expresses. So... what a joy and gift it is for us to to have the time and circumstance to spontaneously create art together.

Our plan has been to include art as part of our home schooling

curriculum. Lots more fun than math and language arts, and less resistance too! Kira has been patiently awaiting our first art class, and after over 1 week recently began requesting (repetitively!!!) that we get it gong - as we had yet to cover that. Our first class, a still life pencil drawing assignment inside our bungalow, wasn't inventive enough to satisfy her hunger. So the next morning Kira and I awoke from our beach bungalow, walked onto the beach, and spontaneously started collecting and creating:

As we collected, we decided our theme would be to create MAJK art out of local materials, and that this would be the first in our Round the World series. We collected and used coral, sea shells, beach glass, and palm leaves. Adam and Jeanne joined us after the project was underway, so it was a full MAJK FAm effort, resulting in this:

And then we let it go.....

Thailand – Now & Then

Posted by Michael, Intrepid Dad - 11pm

Greetings from Koh Lanta, an approx 20-mile long Island lined w/beaches down most of its Western coastline. If it were the Thailand Jeanne and I remember from 21 years back it would be sparsely bungalow’d w/a few little backpacker enclaves sprinkled throughout. The locals would be curious about us, speak minimal English and play videos in their restaurants to draw in tourists. The fisherman would actually fish. The travelers would mostly be international backpackers on the super cheap, looking for the next full moon party to rave all night. The pace would be very, very slow and a sense of seclusion would permeate throughout.

Welcome to Thailand 2011 – a tourist magnet for Europeans and others run by locals with an increasingly sophisticated sense of how to capture the tourist Euro. 10% of the accommodations here are cheap bungalows ($13 for a double bed in a thatch hut, most likely w/a primitive toilet,), 70% are mid level cottages, bungalows and hotels ($35-$100) that for the most part sport plumbing, swimming pools & AC, and the remainder appear to be higher end resorts ($150 - $2000) with beautiful aesthetics, exotic amenities and a wonderfully peaceful and pampered experience. We are finding ourselves in the lower side of the mid range and that’s treating us just fine. We’ve noticed just about everything is called a “resort”, no matter the level, so Adam has taken to occasionally saying “hhhmmmm, check out that resort” when he notices the most dismal, dank and sorry looking places. Forget about missing towels, pools, windows – we’re talking plumbing and doors off their hinges.

Not only are there lots more tourists but it seems a Tribe of them defected to drink in year round sunshine, Singha and simple living. - purchasing or building “resorts” and hiring locals to cook and clean. A Swedish couple with a 9-year-old girl owns and runs our place. Their daughter attends a Swedish school here w/60 other students, is comfortable speaking to all the guests in English and more, and seems to take great pleasure at alternating between torturing and caring for what seems like a few dozen tiny kittens that are about her at any point of time. While on the subject of our proprietors, another thing that’s changed is the density and intensity of tattoos (at least on the farang foreigners that is) and tattoo parlors. Adam and Kira are still wondering what a “Bamboo Tattoo” is, which were offered for free at the shanty restaurant we ate at last night’. Maybe that’s why it took over 1 hour to prepare 4 basic dishes for us – were they too busy giving away tattoos, and if so wouldn’t it be better to wait until after the dinner hour to do so. But I digress… Our Swedish bungalow operator sports a tangle of feminine forms permanently inked onto his back along w/the requisite barbed wire motif armband tattoo plus more. A long blond pony tail, never wearing a shirt, sot spoken and easy going, he seems to alternate between an occasional cigarette, a local beer, and a mention for one of his Thai workers to attend to something. This appears to be a pretty typical profile around here, except for maybe the soft-spoken part.

So who are all these tattooed people and what compelled them to do that to their bodies? I’m not talking about a discreet little bit of body art – it seems bigger and badder is better from what I can see. But even with all this “edge”, I was surprised yesterday when I ran by the prior night’s full moon party at 7:30AM and all that remained was a DJ and 1 table of 4 post sunrise revelers. Years back the scene woulda still been pumping and thumping – so it seems to me the “average” tourist may appear more visibly extreme but is perhaps actually a lot more restrained than days prior?

Fortunately, there’s plenty that hasn’t changed. Pineapple shakes, banana pancakes, smiling Thai faces, the spectacular warm turquoise aquamarine ocean, distressing plastic litter everywhere (tho less than before), everyone stopping to watch the sunset and transport by motorcycle tuk-tuks. The restaurant menus are pretty much the same, as are the palm thatch beach shanties in which to dine or relax. Thai massage is still available and cheap, along with hair braiding and more.

I knew things would be different, and yes they are. But the joy brought from sunsets, corals and fine grain sand beaches are timeless – that’s inviolable, a least until there’s so many tailor shops built beach side (so far we saw 1 here by the beach) that its too distracting to take in the timeless pleasures. The good news – there’s still plenty of paradise to find just beyond the commerce and modern tourist conveniences.

On the Road as a Family - Chapter 1

Posted by Michael. Koh Lanta, Thailand, 8AM

It’s been near 1 week since we departed, which means we’re that far into “getting into the groove” of traveling as a family – if there really is such a thing. There are certainly moments when I wonder, but my role in all this includes instigating it all, envisioning the “high side” and helping us move out of the inevitable ruts and into as many sweet moments as possible. No – this is not a holiday (tho t times it is). Yes, it can be a challenge – creating a routine and lifestyle that promotes safety, wellness, harmony and learning. What I can say with even more confidence is that this trip will become part of our family’s fabric – and I believe that will be a marvelous thing.

I traveled mostly Asia for 1 year on the cheap back in ’90 (and Jeanne joined me the last 4 months – while we were dating – and we lived happily ever after… Ooops. Wrong tape!) I know what that groove felt like. Being self-responsible and self reliant on the road is one thing – being parents and operating as a family team iwith disparate appetites, tolerances and interests is a whole other kettle of fish sauce. Let me set the record straight – I never for a moment expected family travel to replicate the unencumbered fluidity of solo travel, but for sure there’s a part of me that wishes it did.

So what’s it like? I’ll start by thanking Buddha or Allah (depending on which side of the street you’re on here in Krabi province) that Adam and Kira have the temperaments and dispositions they have. They’re great travelers who can handle long journey times with more ease than most. I can easily imagine a much rockier boat with another pair of juvenile personalities. I think we’re acclimating to the travel lifestyle pretty well and doing GREAT as a unit, bt we’ve had a few moments already. Here’s a little snapshot of how it’s going s far:

• Possessions – My ideal is for each of us to be responsible for our own. This means each of us carry, wash, care for & don’t lose all of our own things. Plus Jeanne & I are responsible for community possessions (computers, first aid, important papers, etc.) Obviously this is a high bar that will take time to attain. We’re on our way – kids have washed some of their clothes, carried/moved their packs at times, and more – but M&J have been picking up quite a bit of slack. And I’m not proud to say I’m the biggest failure to date as I’ve already lost 2 valued possessions after a few long days (prescription swim goggles & pack towel) so who am I to talk?
• Food – Obviously, the food is different than we’re used to, but we’ve adapted pretty darn fast. Adam was already an adventurous eater- so he’s in Pad Thai heaven (as are J & I.) Kira has always had a far more limited range – but she has bucked up and tried several things, a few of which she’s discovered she likes. On a side note, A & K had their first local attempts at Western food yesterday: Adam’s chicken enchilada tasted more Italian than Mexican (he said “yuck”), and Kira’s pizza seemed to use ketchup instead of tomato sauce (she said “pretty good”.) We Marin parents aren’t OK w/picky eaters to live on plain white rice, fruit and banana/chocolate pancakes alone.
• Health – Skin health is our nemesis so far; mostly mosquito bites but also jelly fish stings. Seems the younger they are the sweeter their meat - so A&K are welt ridden. Worst are bites on the feet, which made walking very uncomfortable for both kids today. There’s always swimming… While on the health subject, sleeping when there’s 4 to a room isn’t always so easy either but we’re finding our rythym with this too. While on that subject – “family rooms” which accommodate 4 are fairly scarce, creating another “family flow” challenge when locating where to stay. We can default to 2 rooms when needed, but its not preferred.

There’s lots more to share: schoolwork, 24-7 togetherness, deciding where to go next, how many treats the kids get when, who gets which email device when, do we allow ice in those smoothie drinks, who sits where, and more. But I’ll table that since dinner is about to arrive – more to come.

In summary, were doing pretty well. I’d estimate we’ve been at least 80% upbeat to 20% or less downbeat - pretty great considering what we’ve put ourselves through so far. I’m optimistic, boy am I excited and optimistic – but then again, that’s my job here…

My Adventures in Thailand

This post is by Kira Lipson, age 9, 3rd grade, Wade Thomas School

I've been gone for about a week now, and so many amazing things have happened already. After about 37 hours of traveling (to be exact) we finally arrived at our hotel. Once I got into the room, I plopped down onto the bed since I was so tired. I barely got any sleep the days before because we were on airplanes almost all 24 hours of the day except when we were waiting for the planes to change. After we had unpacked our bags, my dad took us out to the market. It was so different from the stores we have in America. On the way, we passed a snake and monkey show, and saw a 7 month old monkey being trained. We went a little closer and we talked to the trainer, who let us pet and hold the monkey. After about half an hour of playing with it, we walked down the street to the market. There we saw lots of interesting things: dragon fruit, coconut cakes (which my brother loves), and raw meat hanging on strings. We also saw raw fish, and when you buy it the person who is selling it cooks it for you. What I liked best about being in the market was watching someone cut the pineapple so the stem turned into a stick and it was like a popsicle. My brother calls them pineappsicles. We we got back home, we ate what we bought and took a nice long swim in the pool.

The next day mostly all we did was do math work and swim in the pool. My mom was up in our room while me, my brother, and my dad were in the pool. My dad brought down a beach ball and we started playing with it. My dad called it PE. Instead of an "E", I put a "V" for "pool volleyball". Then my brother added an "E" at the end for "education". When my mom came down, we said that we did some more school and she asked what we did. Then I said "PVE". She asked what that was and we explained the whole thing.

I was really excited because we were going snorkeling the next day. That day came and we had to hurry because we were getting picked up around 8:30 or 9 a.m. When we went to the next hotel to pick up more people to go on the tour, we met a family that was going snorkeling too. We all got on a boat that took us to four different islands. We stopped at the first island and swam offshore into the water. I was getting water in my snorkel so I had to wait behind while my mom and my brother swam ahead. Once I was ready, I swam out and saw all different kinds of fish. I also saw some sharp black sea urchins. Some of the fish were tiny and bright blue. Others were big and blue, green and purple, but they looked rainbow. The first island was my favorite. After an hour had passed, we got back on the boat to go to the second island. The boat stopped in the middle of the water and we jumped out with life vests. There weren't that many fish and the water wasn't that clear, so I went up to get some lunch on the boat. When I finished lunch, it was time to go to the third island. The third island had very shallow water and me, my brother and my dad snorkeled through it. I thought the water would get deeper, but it didn't. That island wasn't so fun. The fourth island we didn't snorkel. We gave our masks back and went onto the beach. We swam awhile with the other kids and then my parents took us to a cave where we explored through tunnels and that was lots of fun. When the time was up, we got back on the boat and it brought us to where we started. We said bye to our new friends and a bus dropped us off at our hotel. That was a fun day.

These are some of the adventures that I have had so far.

Getting Started

This post is from Adam Lipson, age 12, sixth grade, White Hill Middle School.

It's only been a few days and the trip is already amazing. We arrived at the Krabi airport after thirty-seven hours of traveling, including thirteen hours between flights. It was a giant relief when we got to our hotel. After a lunch of a few snacks my dad took me and my sister to an open air market down the street. On the way, we passed a snake and monkey show. We went to get a closer look and there was a seven month old monkey being trained! We walked up to it and started talking to the trainer. We even got to hold and pet it! It crawled up my dad's leg right away. I tried to hold it, but it bit me so I had to settle for a few pets. When we were done with the monkey, we walked to the market. There were so many things there including tons of different meats, pineapple on it's stem, fresh seafood, shirts, little pets, coconut cakes (my favorite), and even dragon fruit. It was really fun to explore. After we got back, my whole family went swimming in the pool to cool off. The next day everybody hung out in the pool, and then went to the beach to swim and get dinner. The pad thai was amazing! My mom, sister, and I took a taxi home while my dad stayed out to book a snorkeling trip. Right now, it is the morning before we go and I'm really excited. I have a very good feeling about our trip.

PS you can email me at alipson98@gmail.com