pad-thai

I just returned from a short trip to Thailand to visit my beloved Monica, who has been traveling through SE Asia visiting friends and family scattered abroad all month. I am so grateful for this incredible time, although feel slightly compelled to justify the elaborateness of two vacations in five weeks. I am a lucky girl to have been able to twice now visit with friends who have known me since I was a young chicken, especially at a time when my heart is re-connecting to passions and dreams that I haven't had since those days.  I only have a few days of vacation days left for the next 9 months, but oh how it has been worth it! 

We ate.... 

pad-thai, green curry, coconut and papaya shakes, pad-thai, banana rotti, more pad-thai. first stop though was indeed to a Bangkok mega-mall for a caramel machiatto. My excitement about the malls and brand named-makeup stores surprised me, as did my great delight over this latte. 

We explored...

Bangkok's Grand Palace (where we were required to "rent" clothing to cover our arms and legs after a man on loudspeaker publicly announced our clothes were improper, and I got in trouble for trying to sneak a picture of the Emerald Buddha - hah!), the city's amazing skytrain and public ferry systems, a mangrove forest growing out of the water off the Andaman Coast, a bat cave (self-discovery: for whatever reason I utterly love caves), and the Ancient City outside of Bangkok (that we toured...yes: on a golf cart. probably the only driving I'll do all year aside from my bicycle!) 

We layed around....
on the island beach of Koh Lanta, soaking up the sun, swimming, Monica snorkeling while I stayed back to beach-comb, finding favorite beachside restaurants (the tastiness of the pad-thai was always our gauge), both pouring over historical novels about SE Asia, and catching up on our lives and respective internal processes like most social workers tend to do. 

We have epic travel stories from a 3-week trip through Europe as starry-eyed 18 year olds, and haven't traveled together since. Ten years later I'd say we are much mellower travelers, and compatible as ever. Thailand was lovely, and I am grateful for a restful time with my dearest M. Thanks friend.