November 2024 Newsletter
Hello! November is over, and those who celebrate are gearing up for the holiday season. For those of you in the U.S., I hope you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving.
Steve and I spent the month in Thailand, first in Chiang Mai, then in Bangkok. We will be in Bangkok until December 20th, then head to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
For those of you frustrated by the early push for Christmas, know that this is not unique to the U.S. We’ve seen Christmas décor in Thailand from the beginning of November, which is weird since over 90% of Thailand’s citizens are Buddhist.
What We’ve Been Doing
In November, we continued to explore Chiang Mai the best we could, given the heat and humidity. The city has an abundance of beautiful Buddhist temples and monasteries called wats. We saw dozens of them; like churches, each has a unique beauty.
Our Chiang Mai Airbnb was next door to the Shangri-La Hotel, so we took advantage of this and had brunch there twice. It was a buffet brunch with many seafood options, beef tenderloin, and other tasty choices. The topper was the pavlova for dessert. Neither of us had eaten it before, and we loved the combination of meringue, cream, and fruit.
The highlight of our time in Chiang Mai was an overnight visit to an elephant sanctuary. We learned about the elephants’ lives after being rescued from abusive situations. We got to feed, touch, and trek with them. Attendees could also bathe the elephants, but we opted out for health reasons.
Our stay in Bangkok began with a week at a hotel in the old town. This allowed us to see several tourist sights in that area, including the Grand Palace (which lived up to its name), the Golden Mount (a wat set high on a hill), and the interesting if somewhat creepy Siriraj Medical Museum.
We also toured the National Gallery (art), which was underwhelming, and a museum called Siam Museum that explores in great depth what it means to be Thai.
On a more practical side, we spent half a day extending our visas. Because we planned to stay for more than the 60 days allowed upon entry, we had to apply for a visa for 30 additional days. The visa extension office was a thirty-minute drive from our hotel. Once we arrived at the building it took about fifteen minutes to find it because the signs were only in Thai. The whole process involved DMV-type bureaucracy. It was a far cry from the online system we used for our Vietnam visas.
Nomad life isn’t all brunches and silver temples.
After the first week in Bangkok, we moved to an Airbnb in another part of the city. While there, we got to meet up with Michael, Anita, and their little girls, who were visiting Bangkok from the U.S. We met Michael in Cuenca, Ecuador, back in 2019.
One afternoon was spent strolling Bangkok’s Lumpini Park. The park is home to several hundred Monitor lizards. While they can reach 10 feet or 3 meters in length, we didn’t see any that big. However, many that we saw were 6-7 feet or about 2 meters long.
We had a lovely Thanksgiving surprise. We were looking for a place to have dinner when we saw a sign for a Thanksgiving buffet at the No. 43 Italian Bistro in the Cape House Hotel. It was wonderful, and now we have a great place to eat.
We ended the month getting routine medical care since we don’t plan to return to the U.S. until next December. We both got flu, COVID, and typhoid vaccines, and I got my annual mammogram and semi-annual check-up.
We did all this at MedPark Hospital. It is a new hospital just a ten-minute walk from our apartment. We walked in off the street and had our vaccinations done the same afternoon. My mammogram and check-up with results took less than four hours the next morning.
This didn’t come cheap compared to other medical care we’ve had outside the U.S., but the hospital and the care were wonderful.
Mojo’s Moments
Mojo had fun exploring the wats with us. He was excited to see the twelve animals of the Tibetan zodiac on many of them.
On the Website
I didn’t publish any posts in November, but I am working on several about our time in Thailand. I spent the time continuing to improve the Wind and Whim website. You’d be surprised at how many moving parts a website has.
I was excited to get my first coffee through Buy Me a Coffee. The donation was anonymous and is appreciated.
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Looking Back
It’s been a month since the 2024 elections, and I believe feelings remain strong whether or not you are happy with the outcome. I thought this would be a good time to share an older post, “Why I Wish Every American Could Travel the World.”
What’s Next?
After we leave Thailand, we will go to Siem Reap, Cambodia, the home of Angkor Wat. Then it’s back to Vietnam and then to Japan for the first time. After that, we plan to meet our daughters in Germany.
Until Next Time
Steve and I wish you a merry Christmas, a happy Hanukah, or a happy Kwanza as the case may be, and a safe New Year’s Eve.
Happy traveling,
Linda