Coming to the end of Thailand

Hi all this is my first blog for ages it seems. If you are in my mailbox then you will have recived this as an email and don't need to bother reading it.

Thailand has been interesting and not really what I expected.

Expectation: Bangkok would be really horrible, polluted, full of sex tourists and noisy and dirty.

My experience: great fun, lots to see and do, big, bustling city with ancient and modern living side by side, sex tourism not as all pervasive as I had imagined and mostly confined to certain areas.

Expectation: islands would be idyllic, restful and a great place to chill out for a few weeks.

My experience: islands beautiful - but no more than Kerala, and full of tourists and expensive - not very relaxing and not very Thai -most people there are working in the tourist trade and a lot of them are Burmese anyway - very few people going about 'ordinary' life. Probably would be great if you are escaping work for two weeks and just want to collapse, rejuvenate, soak up the sun and the (relatively) cheap food, accommodation etc. but not the most stimulating or interesting of places for us at this point in our adventure.

Expectation - Everyone that I know that has been to Thailand has loved it and I expected that I would too.

My experience - I haven't loved it! I've certainly really enjoyed a lot of the things we've done - meeting up with my sister and nephew and mother-in-law, meeting nice Thais, meeting elephants, snorkeling, eating delicious food, seeing beautiful scenery, buying lovely clothes etc etc, but I haven't really developed a love of the place and wouldn't particularly want to come back. The 'sex tourism', or just seeing old white blokes with beautiful young Thai girls all the time, definitely is off putting and rather depressing and even besides that the relationship between farangs (foreigners) and Thais/Thailand just feels exploitative and colonial and I don't feel very comfortable with it but not in a way that I can really put my finger on or articulate. Strangely I didn't feel the same in India - which is an ex-colony but maybe it's because Western tourism isn't such a big deal there, or maybe I'm just prejudiced towards India and nowhere will ever compare!

We are staying now in a nice Northern city "Chaing Mai", not doing too much in the way of excursions or major activities (mostly through lack of funds) but it is great. We have been doing some regular 'home education' here and swimming, yoga, salsa, eating nice food, making some Thai friends (at last!) and some non-Thai friends too, watching films and generally taking it easy and getting into a nice routine.

Anyway we are now in our last week here and gearing up for the move to Australia and New Zealand. The girls have bought jeans and trainers and are very concerned to 'look the part' - a worry they haven't had too much whilst we have been in the developing world. All of a sudden they want 'trendy clothes'. We are looking forward, very much, to staying with Mark's Aunt and her family (two girls around ours' age) and then on to NZ to stay with a lovely family we met in India - they also have similar aged children so Melissa and Rosa are really looking forward to that. After three weeks there and one in California with one of Mark's old college friends we are off to Mexico and are beginning to brush up our Spanish - only 6 weeks there and then two in Jamaica and two in Cuba and then we are home!!!! Can't believe it - it's going so fast and I am NOT ready to go home yet!

Hope you are all well and happy - for those of you who are Europe based, it's Spring hooray and the weather must be improving. It's really been great for me being able to keep in touch with you all and even getting many responses back - I'm sure its helped me to avoid the terrible home-sickness that I generally get when I'm away. So keep in touch and let me know your news and views.

Must go swimming now with family and Fanta, the 15 year old Thai friend that the girls have made

lots of love

- Heather