Hello, my fellow eggs!
As you may know, I'm Thai through my mother's side and we often go to Thailand to visit all our relatives. I went once in 2012, during my junior year of high school, and was blessed to meet cousins, aunts, uncles, and other relatives I'd never met before. I went again a few years later, during my undergraduate study of university.
My mother's family is primarily from Lampang and Chiang Mai, so we spent most of our time in those areas. Some cousins work in Bangkok and we had another relative move to Phuket a couple of years ago for business ventures.
My uncle Chai (my grandmother's nephew) worked as a tour guide, so he showed us around and it made my mom feel really happy because she hadn't been in Thailand ever since she immigrated to the United States during middle school.
My highlights of this trip included eating crab fried rice and mango/watermelon smoothies every day. I struggled with scoliosis during this time, so having massages every other day really soothed my back.
Another highlight of the trip was being able to see the resting place for my great-grandmother in one of Lampang's wats. We had the opportunity to connect with my grandmother's brother and I got to see the house my mom grew up in before she immigrated to the United States.
I never got to meet my great-grandmother because she stayed in Thailand and she passed away in 1995, the same year I was born.
Writing this post makes me a little emotional because I remember having so much fun with my grandmother (I call her Yai or Koonyai, which means 'grandmother' in Thai). I had plans to visit Thailand after I finish my current studies for a master's degree in criminology and criminal justice, but unfortunately, she passed away July 15, 2020. I have these wonderful memories of her and for that, I'm grateful I got to meet my family. I only wish I got to say goodbye to her, but I know she's watching over my family and I.
I don't have a photo available to show all of you but we also went elephant riding. I remember being absolutely terrified because of how high it was and how much I was slipped on the bench that was seated on top of the elephant.
As we do with every place, we always visit the zoo. In this case, we went to the Chiang Mai Zoo!
We went to a monkey camp in Lampang with my grandmother and some relatives. The monkeys were well cared for and fed, and they were even trained to do a few tricks like riding a tricycle.
The monkeys also did sit-ups!
As you can see, there are a lot of things that you can do in Thailand! You don't have to go to the resort-y areas to have fun. Going to towns like Lampang or Chiang Rai are nice and quiet if you want to get away from the busy tourist areas. Chiang Mai will always have a special place in my heart too because that's where my mother lived.