No Work and All Play

Why does this keep happening to me?  I inevitably find myself behind religious zealots who are acting like mobile missionaries.  No, I don’t GOT Jesus.  I respect him, but he is yours, Mr. VW, as a religious icon.

Enough about religion.  I am so excited because I am finally going on a trip.  My daughter and I are going to Thailand in August for a 10-day cooking tour with Brock, ex-chef and instructor at Hill’s Kitchen, who has taken up residence halfway around the world.

I’m not even thinking about all the walking through airports and markets, but rather focusing on how much fun it will be to experience days on end of Brock’s humor and half-full attitude.  We will probably sleep very little because we are going to a place that looks like this (credit to Brock for the photo).

Instead of sleep, we will focus on food, experiencing the best of Thailand's street food, $5 dinners in upscale restaurants, and "home-cooked" cuisine as a result of our classes. We are promised a lesson in basic Thai phrases as well, but I'm sure I will manage with sign language as I always have in places where I didn't speak the language. 

We will also be going up-country to see life outside the bustle of Bangkok and to enjoy the beauty of rural Thailand.  

It will be great to have almost two weeks of my daughter’s company.  I haven’t yet broken it to her that if we are renting motor bikes, she is driving.  She is quite adventurous, so I’m sure that will be fine.

I’m just waiting to hear back from Jason at World-Travel.com, the source of cheap airline tickets that cost the equivalent of our 11-day stay in Thailand.  I haven’t traveled internationally for a while other than on miles, so I wasn’t prepared for the sticker shock.  

But, hey, you only live once, so why not go and enjoy something new and different?  I’m sure Bangkok has changed a lot since I was there for work almost 30 years ago.  This time it’s no work and all play!