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Thailand
  • K Lynn Coleman
  • K Lynn Coleman

Thailand

January 2026 Read more
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  • Trip start
    January 7, 2026
    K Lynn ColemanThailandK Lynn Coleman
    Buddha sits atop the nearby mountain.Hop in the back of a red taxi Tuk-Tuk, listen to the loud music and take a fun ride.You can choose your favorite fish, and the vendor will grill it for you.Breakfast!

    Karon Beach: first 3 days

    January 8 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 79 °F

    We landed Wednesday, after 26 hours and three flights: Portland to Seattle, to Qatar, to Phuket. We’ve been staying on Karon Beach, a friendly, busy tourist area on the Andaman Sea. Mainly we have been exploring the beach, figuring out the currency (Thai Bahts), and enjoying the people and culture. Thailand is nicknamed ‘The Land of Smiles’ because of the friendly, kind people. We have found this true!
    This food is amazing! I’ve had Pad Thai (my favorite!) every day so far - twice for breakfast. The culture doesn’t have specific breakfast foods as we do in the USA, but eat what we’d consider dinner food for any meal. I rather like it.
    We just went swimming in the sea, with hundreds of other people. There are jellyfish in the water about the size of my fist. I wasn’t sure if they’d sting, and when I came up out of the water there were two big ones by my face. I screamed, then a nice man told me ‘They don’t sting! Don’t sting! Don’t worry!’ and I felt a bit calmer.    Read more

  • K Lynn ColemanThailandK Lynn Coleman
    Thailand's Queen Mother recently passed away. The street has a banner with her picture.The Thai people are very polite, but do not ever, ever think that stepping into the crossing is safe

    Chiang Mai

    January 11 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 75 °F

    We flew north yesterday to Chiang Mai, to explore for a week.
    Someone asked, ‘Why Thailand?’ The answer: Bill traveled here for work a few years ago, and wanted to return. The Camino? My idea! Thailand? Bill’s idea.
    Today we visited the Gathering International Christian Church, which was amazing. Singing familiar songs and hearing encouraging words was a huge blessing.
    After church, we explored the Old City. We ran a couple errands via a red Tuk-Tuk and then an open motor cart.
    And now? We’re exploring the hotel pool.    Read more

  • K Lynn ColemanThailandK Lynn Coleman

    Chiang Mai Cooking School

    January 12 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F

    What a fun day! Twelve of us jumped in a van and headed to the countryside, stopping at a market on the way. Our fun group included couples from Australia and England, plus a family of 6 from Utah. We made Pad Thai, Curry Soup, Spring Rolls, and a rice stir fry. The recipes included lots of ingredients and many unknown spices, and were quite complicated. Very, very tasty.Read more

  • K Lynn ColemanThailandK Lynn Coleman
    Pagodas for the King and Queen of Thailand.
    My pictures didn't do justice to the beauty and intricasies of the pagodas; I snatched these 2 shotsCan you see Bill, wearing his white baseball cap?These decks are built out over the water for people to enjoy a picnic!Coffee roaster - Thailand grows coffee in the hills north of Chiang Mai.Highest spot in Thailand!

    Waterfalls & Pagoda Trip to Hill Country

    January 13 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    We jumped into a van for a an all-day trip to the highest spot (8450 feet!) in Thailand. We visited several waterfalls in Doi Inthanon National Park, as well as the King and Queen’s Pagodas. The Thai people have deep respect for their royal family. (In fact, it is illegal to criticize the Thai Royal Family.) The pagodas were built to honor their 60th birthdays about 30 years ago. Stunning.
    Our new friends on the trip today were from Germany, Denmark, Australia and Norway.    Read more

  • K Lynn ColemanThailandK Lynn Coleman
    May, our guide, took us to markets and cafes. We took a short ride in the red taxi.Khai Soi is the common dish of N Thailand, with chicken and noodles.The brown shed was a small (6 tables!) cafe with amazing food!The meat was water buffalo, which was quite good.This is the inside of 'water buffalo' cafe.

    Chiang Mai

    January 15 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 82 °F

    We spent my favorite day here with (our Yachats friend) Rachel’s friend, who is a professor of Linguistics at a Chiang Mai university. She is a missionary with World Venture, the group I went to Senegal with, 40+ years ago. We sat at a university cafe with her for a couple of hours, hearing about her life and work here, teaching and translating. A fascinating visit! (I can’t post pictures of her. )

    Yesterday we went on a food tour that ended up being with just May, our tour guide, and the two of us. We sampled Northern Thai foods at five stops. May drove a Ford pickup, which was comparatively quite large, and she parked in tiny spots- now THAT was an adventure!    Read more

  • K Lynn ColemanThailandK Lynn Coleman
    I don't think I want to visit this place!

    Mae Ping River Cruise

    January 16 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    Once again, it was just the two of us on this outing, led by our friendly guide. We cruised up the river that passed through Chiang Mai, then stopped at a little garden area with a restaurant - where the 2 of us had dinner. Our guide/boat captain is from Thailand’s hill country, and lives in Chiang Mai during the high season.
    We will fly back to Phuket tomorrow.    Read more

  • K Lynn ColemanThailandK Lynn Coleman
    Bill is drinking water, and we were laughing at our funny, wonderful guide.
    This speedboat zipped us around the Andaman Sea to four islands.We canoed into sea caves and around small islands.Not the best video, but you get the idea....James Bond Island. If you saw 'Man With the Golden Gun,' you might recognize this sight.Aerial view of Paynee Island- gives a great picture of this village.Panyee Island is a floating village, built on pilings, on the side of a cliff.The next 8 pictures are of Panyee Island.Here's the soccer field, with blue flooring. The island's school has the orange roof.These are the caves, located on a small island, that Bill hiked through.From the cave, there was a beautiful view of the water.This friendly guy watched us board our boat.

    ‘Island Hopping’ Tour

    January 20 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 88 °F

    We took a speedboat ride to four islands. My absolute favorite was Panyee Island, which originally
    was built on stilts for just a few fishermen and families. The island city was built (sort of like Venice) on stilts in the water, out from a towering cliff in the Andaman Sea. Many years ago I heard about a group of boys living on a floating Thai island, who built a soccer pitch, practiced their skills, and competed in tournaments around Southern Thailand. My students and I marveled at this beautiful story. It was a huge blessing to actually visit this island and see the soccer pitch. Here’s a fun 5 minute video about the boys. I love the video! Watch it here:

    https://share.google/4JAIlVTstnZry2XyZ

    We also visited James Bond Island, where ‘The Man With the Golden Gun’ was filmed. We canoed through some sea caves, and also stopped on another island to hike through caves.    Read more

  • K Lynn ColemanThailandK Lynn Coleman
    Our speedboat ferry from Phuket to Phi Phi Island was ... exciting.Just step up, grab the ladder, and you're off the gently- swaying pier. Gulp.Toss your luggage into the cart, climb in, and you'll be at your room in a minute.Transport on Phi Phi Island involves scooters with attached carts.We went out to dinner in a nearby village, aided by our friendly driver.Our scooter ride home after night out in the town.Our hotel pool had a treehouse over the sea, where we spent an amazing morning... and afternoon!Here's my treehouse in daylight. Oh, my!

    Phi Phi Island

    January 23 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 86 °F

    We spent 48 hours on this small, beautiful island. The biggest obstacle was the journey: taking the 90 minute Bounce-a-Rama speedboat ferry to the pier, followed by a ride on a tractor-pulled trailer. I would love to return here.Read more

  • K Lynn ColemanThailandK Lynn Coleman
    Here's our speed boat guide for our island tour.Many, many interesting rock formations jut out of the Andaman Sea.Oops! We had to cross to get to our boat! What could go wrong??Koh Mor had interesting cave and limestone formations, plus monkeys.The island tour company sends a pick-up truck to hotels to pick up guests.Koh TubOur boat stopped so we could snorkel near Chicken Island. There's Bill!Charlotte and Maya from Australia were fun new friends!

    Krabi

    January 26 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F

    We spent three days in Krabi, with one day on a ‘Four Island Tour.’ The highlight was being reunited with two young Australian ladies from our previous stay on Phi Phi Island. We had enjoyed sharing stories, then separated after our ferry ride together from Phi Phi to Krabi. All four of us were shocked and happy when our little pick-up truck taxi picked them up for the island tour. We were able to spend another day with Maya and Charlotte.
    Two islands (Koh Mor and Koh Tub) are joined together by a sand bar, and at low tide it’s easy to walk on the sand back and forth. Alas, when we visited, it was high tide, and we had to trek with the Aussies in water up to the top of our legs to get back to our boat.
    We’re headed tomorrow to the small island of Koh Jum.    Read more

  • K Lynn ColemanThailandK Lynn Coleman
    Coffee shop on pierTake off your shoes before entering coffee shopWe stopped to explore little villages near the piers.

    Koh Jum Island

    January 28 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 88 °F

    We’re here for a week, on a small island. Yesterday Bill hired a man to take us around the island in a long tail boat. Fun day!

  • Trip end
    February 4, 2026
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