You guys! I know it’s probably been a while since I last posted, but it happened. My family finally came to visit me in Thailand. I did, however, basically pick them up from the states. It’s okay, they were able to return on their own. And as I’m writing this, they had just left yesterday morning and had technically arrived early this morning.

So, how did this all come about? Well, I had plans to go back to the US with some friends. Let’s just say they didn’t exactly make it and I ended up going back on my own. That national park road trip I was originally supposed to go on never panned out, but I did get to spend quality time with family and friends and also, got to celebrate one of my younger cousin’s engagements.

I started my visit with 1.5 weeks of hermit in the house alone (R was still in India). L picked me up from the airport (whoo). I picked R up from the airport the day before I was set to take off for MN. Just before I went through TSA, I realized I had forgotten my coat back at the apartment in Chicago (oops!). It’s okay, technically my other winter coats are in MN and also, I could try and borrow my brother’s (which is what I ended up doing). And yes, in MN, I still needed a winter coat (there was still snow on the ground and even a few days where it actually snowed).

Anyway, back to Thailand, we got a flight from Chicago to Tokyo and from Tokyo to Bangkok. I had just over 24 hours with them in Bangkok before I was headed down to Phuket for a dive trip aboard the Aruna Voyager bound for the South Andaman Sea. This would be my 7th liveaboard experience since I became a certified diver. This would also be the first time I was in the South Andaman Sea.

After abandoning them and leaving my friends to help watch after them, I came back to Bangkok to resume my duties as tour guide and host. I moved them out of the hotel and we moved into an AirBnB (a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom kind of place – more suitable for 3 people). This is the place we’ll live for the next 3 weeks.

Weekend 1 of my return has us staying in Bangkok and seeing things. We did some sightseeing and on Sunday drove out to the UFO temple (my mom’s request). As we had a car, we also decided to drive up to Ayutthaya. The ancient capital city of what was once Siam. I’ve been up there once (last year)…and it’s incredibly hot and not a ton of shade is found, but really cool to walk among the ruins. Oh and the UFO temple campus (yes, it’s that big) was enormous.

The second week found us going to Pattaya. We couldn’t not get some beach and ocean time…even if it was just a little bit and not the super pretty stuff I’m usually surrounded by. But we just relaxed at the pool, on the beach, walked around the floating market and ate a ton at the grilled seafood buffet (aka talay pao).

We were only back from Pattaya for 2.5 days before we were hopping on a flight to Chiang Mai. Sadly, we did not get see the walking street markets (we were there only Wed-Sat). The markets are Sat and Sun nights. So sad, next time. But we still had a lot of fun. We moved at a relaxed pace. My brother and I rented motorbikes so we could tool around and it was fun. I took him up the mountain to Doi Pui viewpoint.

We got back to Bangkok on Saturday afternoon…go ready quick and head out to meet my friends on Khao San Road (Thachang – the thai bar experience). We, of course, ended up on Khao San Road for a bit after drinking 6 pitchers of random colored concoctions.

Then, before we knew it…it was Sunday. Sunday included breakfast at my favorite spot (which I’d yet to introduce them to Mr Joe) and massage (their last of the trip) and to say goodbye to P’Weaw. After that, my brother and I visited Van on Silom Soi 4. Dinner was with my friend Praew so she could say goodbye to my family (at her favorite thai BBQ place TUI). After being super full, we headed home. They still had to pack. I had to do some last minute shopping with Jessie. She came up to help my mom pack and to say goodbye. After helping my brother finish up around midnight. We “slept” only to wake up at 3:45am to leave the house around 4am. Online check in was not available. It was a bittersweet goodbye seeing them off at the airport.

I was glad to get back to my regularly schedule program and to finally be able to nap again, but it was nice showing them a bit of my world.