My last trip to Thailand

 

About to start the bike ride

One can read the title of this blog post in two ways - that this was either my most recent or my final visit to this remarkable country. Time will tell which is correct. I have now visited Thailand (to the best of my reconning), eight times with five of those times going to conferences or for consulting. It is a country which seems to have changed over time - or at least my perceptions of it. 

The was large enough for five passengers, our bikes, and our luggage.

I got home last evening, about six hours later than planned due to late flights, deicing of planes, and a rebooked flight. But I got home. I spent a whole day in the Incheon airport with an airport hotel room given to me by the airline due to my schedule change. Basically, I spent two days in airports and airplanes. I got a lot of reading done. 

Monkeys used to harvest coconuts.

The bike ride itself went well. There were only three riders - Fiona from Victoria, Canada, Carlos from New Jersey, and me. We got along quite well. Per usual, I was the old man in the group with the other two being in their late 50’s. “Tom”, our Thai guide, was fluent in English and had an encyclopedic knowledge of all things regional. The driver “Long” spoke no English but did a very competent job driving the van, loading and uploading the bikes and luggage and passengers. My ebike was a Peddle Lynx, a brand I’d not heard of before. It had a bit of a rattle when peddling (or maybe it was my knees) but it also had a powerful electric motor and good battery life. For 90% or more of the ride, I kept the bike on its lowest power setting and highest gear, boosting the power only to be obnoxious on hills. The bike was about the right size giving me sore shoulders and butt only the first couple of days. 

Fishing boats on the Gulf of Thailand

The ride itself was both good and bad. We rode in the van for long periods of time to get to and from our biking routes to our hotels. We biked far too many miles on busy roads rather than back country roads as advertised. And we had one day of steady rain and high winds which canceled our ride. Some of the small restaurants at which we ate were rather shabby. Waa, waa, waa.

Our ecolodge the last nights of the bike ride

But the ride was quite wonderful as well. We did get to ride a lot of small country roads. Views of the coast were amazing. The small villages were interesting, as were the pineapple farms and rubber plantations. We saw monkeys on scooters used to harvest coconuts, cattle grazing among the trees, and stray dogs happily napping in the roadways. Our hotel/resorts were very, very nice, mostly with pools, good restaurants, and spacious rooms with balconies. The ride was mostly flat and our longest day was 45 miles, with the days closer to 35 miles. Easy, peasy on an ebike, even for an old guy. Other than Tom’s chain coming off going up a steep hill, no one had any mechanical issues - or physical ones except tiredness. All of us rode all the distances, no sagging. Our weather was hot and humid but not excessively so. 

My cooking class teachers

Along with the biking we toured temples (one in a cave following a very strenuous hike), rode a rubber canoe along a river spotting lizards, snakes, toads, and monkeys, and took a cooking class. Nice changes of pace.

Wild monkeys viewed on canoe trip

I have to say, though, Thailand has not been my favorite place in which to bike - at least this part of the country. It’s just too congested with too many miles between good bike routes. (The Siam Reap to Ho Chi Minh City ride a few years ago was much better.) In fact both Bangkok where I spent a couple days before the ride started and Phuket where I spent a day after the ride were more crowded with cars, motorcycles, and pedestrians than I ever remembered them. Patong Beach in Phuket had two giant cruise ships sitting in its harbor, and while on a morning beach walk I watched literally hundreds of passengers disembark, crowding the streets. Patong’s primary businesses are massage parlors (got an excellent foot massage), shooting galleries, bars, and marijuana shops. Not much of a “cultural” experience there. 

Rough canoeing

I am glad I went. My eSIM worked well. With the exception of a sore butt and shoulders for a couple days, I felt good the whole trip. And I got a chance to revisit some spots fondly remembered from previous trips - Watt Arun, the Grand Palace, and the Shangri La hotel. I re-mastered the SkyTrain. I mentally converted currency. And I booked flights and hotel rooms for the correct days.

Dawn breaking over the resort's pool

Each time I head out solo I ask myself if I am getting too old, too senile, too physically inept to be doing this. As an old guy, the Thais were kind to often offer a steading hand while on rough paths, honored reserved seats on mass transit, and even directed me to a special line through security at the Bangkok airport. I had purposely not yet booked any major trips for 2026, waiting to see how well I handled this one. 

1988 - 2025  At least the statue has held up

I think I will start seeing what’s available!

Link to all my trip photos is here.

A return to Thailand

Thailand friendship - 1986

As an adult, I have often known that peculiar legacy time brings to the traveler: the longing to seek out a place a second time, to find deliberately what we stumbled on once before, to recapture the feeling of discovery. Sometimes we search out again even a place that was not remarkable in itself—we look for it simply because we remember it. If we do find it, of course, everything is different. The rough-hewn door is still there, but it’s much smaller; the day is cloudy instead of brilliant; it’s spring instead of autumn; we’re alone instead of with three friends. Elizabeth Kostov, The Historian

This Saturday, weather permitting, I am flying to Bangkok to do a guided week-long bike ride along the coast of the Andaman Sea to Phuket. In retirement, I have been going on late fall/early winter independent trips - Morocco in 2024, Malta 2023. While I usually go to a country I have never visited, this year I am returning to an old favorite.

I first visited Thailand when I was working for ARAMCO in Saudi Arabia in 1986, My wife, six-month-old son, and I divided our time between Bangkok and Chiang Mai, visiting the usual tourist traps (elephant rides, snake farms, temples, markets) and while in Bangkok staying at the old Oriental Hotel on the banks of Chao Phra river. At restaurants, the staff would often take Brady into the kitchen and look after him, allowing the adults to enjoy a meal in peace.

I have had many chances to visit Thailand in subsequent years, primarily due to international school organizations (NESA, EARCOS) often holding their annual or leadership conferences there, mainly at the luxurious Shangri La hotel. After a few days of conference work, giving lectures and workshops for techs, librarians, and administrators, I would bail Bangkok and take a few days to travel the area - Myanmar (then Burma), Laos, and Cambodia. Another place I enjoyed in Thailand itself was the Friendship Beach Resort near Phuket where I would spend a “writing week” working on books. I was last in Thailand during my first year of retirement in January of 2020 right after my son’s wedding in Vietnam. I had planned to stay a month, but I was growing homesick after being gone for more than a month in the Philippines and Vietnam, so I went home after just a few days.

During the two days before the bike ride starts I am staying at an old favorite small hotel: The Stable Lodge (once the Mermaid's Rest). I first stayed here in 1987 with my buddy Clair after a NESA conference. Lovely pool and European restaurant on a quiet back street. In Phuket, I will be staying for a day at the Neptuna, also a small hotel away from the main drag. When traveling alone, I don't need five star accomodations.

So why a return to a country I know fairly well rather than trying something new? Increasingly I am looking for travels that in some way challenge me. As I creep into my mid-70s, the need to test both my cognitive and physical abilities has grown. A week-long bike ride (ebike, thankfully) along rural Thai beaches seems the right degree of difficulty. I am still navigating hotel reservations (pre and post biking), getting to and from airports, mastering the Skytrain, converting currency, completing visa applications, purchasing  international phone plans, etc. We’ll see if I make it back.

But I also look forward to seeing some of the old tourist traps I remember from earlier visits - palaces, temples,and floating and nighttime markets. I’ve even downloaded a Top Ten travel guide for Bangkok. Even if the temples themselves have not changed, I have and I am curious about the new perspectives they evoke.

Wish me luck.

A 22 year labor of love

First and latest family calendars

My good buddy Cary inspired me to begin a project that I did not realize would continue for nearly a quarter of a century: making a yearly family calendar.

Each November since 2004 I have found, selected, and organized family photographs that became part of an illustrated calendar. I find it much appreciated by the members of my family that receive a copy each Christmas.

My first calendar was in black and white, created on a Macintosh desktop “calendar maker”, and printed on card stock. It was really just for me and my kids, but I discovered that my mom and aunts really liked it as well. In subsequent years, I expanded the range of photographic subjects to include my brother and sister, cousins, nieces and nephews, and grandchildren - all with my mother in mind as the primary audience. Some years included old photos of long-deceased relatives, favorite pets, and special events like graduations and award ceremonies. Travel pictures usually take up a month or two. Online Shutterfly is easy to use.

I have also made a few “speciality” calendars - a trip to Alaska, calendars of my trips with the grandsons (for both them and me), and a calendar reminiscing about a long-loved resort called Cry of the Loon when I learned it was closing.

I do my best to balance the “coverage” of the annual family calendar. I do not want anyone to feel slighted or left out, especially my great-nieces and nephew. Since Mom died, I realize I have a broader audience on which to focus, hoping to please not just myself, but my siblings and my children as well.

I have kept these old calendars in a file box in my office closet. They are as close to physical photo albums as I now have with the bulk of my pictures stored online. And yes, I get a thrill from looking at paper photos.

It’s been a real labor of love over these past twenty-plus years and one I hope to continue for at least a few more. Give it a try with your family!