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Sophie And NeveSophie And Neve
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We are a family of 4 from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories Canada. We (Sophie,14 and Neve, 11) will be posting updates every few days about our year-long adventures. We hope our blog inspires others to explore and go on adventures. Read more Yellowknife, Canada
  • Sophie And NeveExploring the Unknown
    Day 143

    Beautiful Malaysia (KL and Langkawi)

    January 20, 2020 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    On January 18, 2020, we arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I knew the moment we landed, we would love it here. As we began our descent, you could see the sparkling Indian Ocean and then gradually we could see land that was filled with huge palm trees. And the heat - it’s been an average of +35 since we arrived; we have all agreed that we much prefer -35 as opposed to the heat.

    Since we have been travelling close to 5 months now, we knew we needed to do some shopping in Kuala, Lumpur. We couldn’t have picked a better city as Malays love their shopping malls and they are all air conditioned. The girls and I spent an entire afternoon at the Mid Valley and Mega Mall. We replaced some of our worn out t-shirts with some really fun New Year’s themed shirts. The malls were really busy as many, many people prepared for the Chinese New Year which is celebrated on January 25 and 26, 2020. Welcome to year of the Rat!

    We also visited the KLCC Tower, the Petronas Towers, Little India, saw some really cool street art and learned about Malaysia’s history by visiting the national museum. There was so much more we could have done, but after our experience in Ha Noi, we also just wanted to regroup and take it easy. We had an amazing apartment in KL, that was perfect for hanging out in. Our apartment building also had an infinity pool so the girls went swimming at least once a day, and we also managed to get a couple of family runs in on the dreadmills (so boring, but with the heat, the only way we managed to run) in the building’s gym.

    After 3 days in KL, we flew to Langkawi, an archipelago made up of 99 islands on Malaysia’s west coast. It is surrounded by turquoise water and the beach, which is a 1.5 km walk from our rustic cottage style accommodations, has beautiful white sand. The only annoying thing about swimming at the beach is that tiny, 1 cm jelly fish sting you in the water. About every 20 seconds you feel a pinch somewhere on your skin. The stings don’t itch or leave any marks, but it is a bit annoying. But as Sophie and I agree, we can now say we have all been stung by jelly fish. There is a netted area that you can swim in, which catch the jellyfish, and sometime you can see jellyfish washed up on shore. It is high season for jellyfish so I guess the little ones getting through the net is to be expected. I really do hope that none of us gets stung by the larger jelly fish as I'm sure that would hurt much more than a pinching sensation. We have heard that vinegar helps with the stings, so may add a bottle to our beach bag. Despite the tiny jellyfish, visiting the beach will be a daily occurrence. On our first day here, we managed to catch the sunset on the beach, so I will be sure to go back to get some better photos.

    The last thing I’ll mention is that every Thursday evening between 6:00 and 9:00 pm, there is an amazing food market/clothing market about a 10 minute walk from our rustic cottage. We went last night and were not disappointed. I had Nasi Goren for dinner (Heit, your’s is still the best I have tasted), but this one was pretty good. David and Sophie had BBQ lamb and corn on the cob while Neve had sticky rice with Mango and a Mango milkshake - it was so good. You’ll know where we will be having dinner next week. We also tried some cookies for dessert that were in the shape of fortune cookies but with a fruit filling. The average price seems to be 5 RM per meal item, so about $1.62 Canadian.

    The rest of our days have been filled with catching up on banking, correspondence, submitting school receipts, finding a decent grocery store, and finalizing our dates for flying back to Canada. It is hard to believe that we have been away from home for almost 5 months. It has gone by so fast, but we continue to be incredibly grateful for this year away from the business of work and being able to spend quality time together as a family. Signing up for the deferred leave program and travelling abroad was one of the best decisions we have made and while there have been hiccups along the way, we wouldn’t trade this experience for anything.

    Clarinda    Read more

  • Sophie And NeveExploring the Unknown
    Day 135

    Pedicures, Manicures and Cat Cat Village

    January 12, 2020 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Today we visited a traditional Black H’Mong Village, called Cat Cat Village. The H’Mong people make up 53% of the Sa Pa population. In Cat Cat, there were lots of stores selling traditional dresses. If you go on a tour into Cat Cat Village, you can rent these traditional dresses as you walk around the village. We saw lots of women whose hands were blue because they dyed fabric with indigo dye. They used the dyed fabric to make lots of tapestries, bags, table cloths, coasters, scarves and clothing. The H’Mong women also embroider designs into their crafts. The the wife at our homestay embroidered Sophie and I some earrings that are very pretty.

    In Cat Cat, we went into lots of the shops. We bought some traditional tea and a tapestry. We also walked down to a series of waterfalls. There were also bridges that we could walk along. The waterfalls were very pretty. There were also water wheels, as well as lookouts and restaurants. There were also statues made out of dried ears of corn. You could go inside of them. Some of them were designed in the shape of a well, and a grinder. When we were leaving the waterfall, we stopped at one of the lookouts and saw a group performing traditional dances; they were wearing traditional clothing, which was very pretty. The only annoying thing about Cat Cat village was that the people trying to sell items kept asking “shopping, shopping” and getting annoyed at us when we didn’t buy everything.

    For lunch, we had yummy BBQ veggies and meat for lunch. When we were in Sa Pa, we lived with a H’Mong family and learned a lot about their lifestyle. The best part of staying at the homestay was learning how they cooked all their food on only one burner and yet made amazing meals. They also only had one cutting board, but a lot of sharp knives.

    Neve
    _ _ _

    Aujourd’hui ma Mère et moi on eu des pédicurie et Sophie a eu une manucure. Ma Mere a choisi la couleur grise - violette Sophie un blue foncé et j’ai la couleur bleu- vert. Les personne qui ont fait nos ongles étaient vraiment gentille. C'était vraiment relax et amusant. Ils ont fait nos ongles regarder parfait et vraiment beau. Les personne qui a fait nos ongles à prix beaucoup de photo de nous. Après les pedicure j’ai aller a un “coffee shop” et puis on avait un après midi relax et on est aller fair du shopping. On a acheté des headphones et des groceries. Ce soir on vais regarder une film d’aventure.    Read more

  • Sophie And NeveExploring the Unknown
    Day 133

    Worst Trek Ever!

    January 10, 2020 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    We came to Sapa to trek. We wanted to trek up Mount Fancipan, the highest mountain in Vietnam and Indochina, but it was really expensive and would have involved an overnight. Instead, our homestay owner took us through a bamboo forest. Our day started by taking a half hour taxi ride to a set of waterfalls named the Love Waterfalls. After looking a the waterfalls, we started on the trail to Fancipan and trekked uphill for 2 hours. We eventually arrived at a little lodge and had lunch. On the way, our guide used his machete to make me and Neve walking sticks out of bamboo. For lunch, our guide gave us some bread, some veggies, a bit of meat and some fruit. There were also little containers of something. Our guide pointed at it and said “Milk,”. We opened one up and it looked like yogurt or something. Someone said that it was probably mayonnaise, so we put it on our sandwiches. We thought that the bread was sweet, and it was a weird combination with the sweet bread and the meat on our sandwiches. Neve said that her bread wasn’t sweet, so it was a little weird, but then I realised that it wasn’t mayonnaise, it was condensed milk. My mom and I had put quite a bit on our sandwich. There was also a cat who was very friendly and was really wanted to help us eat our lunch, especially the apples!

    After that, we went uphill for another 2 hours before we started heading back down. At this point, we had trekked up halfway of Fansipan mountain. When we got near the lodge where we had lunch, and then we took a different path. This path took us through lots of jungle. There were huge leaves everywhere. We were going down through the jungle and there were trees everywhere with lots of bushes and plants. It was slow going because sometimes we would have to crouch down to get under leaves or trees. My dad and Neve were only a little bit behind my mom and I, but we could not see them because the jungle was so dense.

    After the jungle, there was a bamboo forest. The bamboo forest was the worst part, because we were still going down and some parts of the downhill were really steep. We had to go a lot slower because we didn’t want to fall. I had already fallen 3 times. Our guide kept on telling us to hurry up because it was getting late and it got dark around 5:30. We tried to go faster, but we still couldn’t go very fast, because it was super steep. The trail was washed out and the rocks were super muddy, wet and slippery. We had to crouch down on our hands to make it down!

    Eventually, it got dark out and we had to use our phone flashlights. Our guide had his phone, and we had one phone. It helped a little bit, but we were moving super slowly because we still didn’t have a lot of light. I think I fell 9 times on the whole hike. At one point, I almost fell off a cliff; it was dark out, so I couldn’t see very well and I fell, slipping down but caught myself just in time. My dad had to pull me back up. Everyone in my family fell and my mom was really scared going down. She does not like heights and she was worried about my sister and I. We finally made it to a road, and walked about 10 minutes before we got to a taxi. It was 9 hours of trekking, with 1.5 hours in the dark! The guide said that he hadn’t done the trail in a few years and that it had eroded because it wasn’t like that when he had done it before. The next day, we all got to rest. My sister and my mom were pretty sore.

    Sophie

    La nourriture dans Vietnam est très bon. Chaque nuit, les personnes de notre homestay nous cuisinent du nourriture différent. Ils nous donnent des petits plats avec 5 différents types de nourriture. Il y a toujours du riz et il y a toujours du soupe. Ils font des petits spring rolls beaucoup, et du brocoli ou champignon dans du porc. La nuit dernière, ils nous ont fait des frites et du riz de bamboo. C’est du riz qui a été cuit dans du bamboo, le riz est enveloppé dans un mince couche de bamboo. On a aussi des plats de légumes, come du brocoli ou de l’épinard.

    Pour le déjeuner, on a toujours des crêpes avec des bananes, du sucre et du lait condensé. Ils nous donnent du thé aussi avec le déjeuner et le souper.    Read more

  • Sophie And NeveExploring the Unknown
    Day 130

    Traveling to Sa Pa, Vietnam

    January 7, 2020 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 3 °C

    Yesterday we said goodbye to our homestay owners. We had such a lovely time in Ninh Binh. This area of Vietnam is beautiful, but what made our stay special was our homestay. We were treated so well and it was nice getting to know the owners. Our homestay owners made our travel arrangements to get to Sapa, a 7 hour bus ride. We were picked up at 8:20 and driven to the bus “station” in Ninh Binh. However, after arriving, we were told that the bus we were supposed to take had broken down. But, not to worry, a van had been arranged for us to take us to Hanoi and from there we would go to Sapa. We were told numerous times that this was going to be more expensive, but that the bus company would absorb the cost. We were also told that buses left Hanoi every half hour and that we would be dropped off at office number 679. It’s at times like these during our travels, that David and I look at one another and really hope we aren’t being scammed. But we remind ourselves that we never have been and that if things don’t turn out, we can always sort it out.

    A limousine van arrived to drive us to Hanoi. It was quite nice and we arrived at office #679 only to be told that what we assumed was the bus to Sapa would leave in 1.5 hours. So much for getting to Sapa in 7 hours. At 11:45 another van arrived and we were told to get on. As I figured this was going to take us to Sapa, I got settled in. I removed my watch, sweater, shoes, got out my kobo and started to read “Educated.” Imagine my surprise when we actually arrive at the Hanoi bus station to be hurriedly told to get out of the van in Vietnamese and to follow a random guy who already had some of our bags, into the station. Such a bad decision to get settled in! We arrive at the bus station with no bus tickets, but somehow were told to get on a bus. We were told to remove our shoes and place them in a plastic bag and find a “sleeper” seat. Rather then a typical bus, this bus was comprised of three rows containing bunker style sleeper seats which reclined and had blankets. It was a great way to travel, except for the last 45 minutes which involved switch backs up towards Sapa. David told me it was a good thing I didn’t have a window seat because I didn’t really want to see how we were making it up the mountain in the dark. But we made it and while I had my doubts, I try to remind myself that most people are honest.

    Sa Pa is beautiful! We are in staying with a Hmong family, one of the Indigenous groups in the area. The food and hospitality has been amazing!! For breakfast we had crepes with sugar, a type of condensed milk and bananas!! We are still in one room with all four of us, similar to our homestay in Ninh Binh, but we are managing and still getting along well! Our homestay is about 4 km outside of Sa Pa, so this morning we hiked up the 4 km hill to get into town and familiarize ourselves with our surroundings. The scenery is stunning. This afternoon David worked on our budget to ensure our spending is on track while I came up with a 6 day itinerary for our stay. Tomorrow we’ll walk back to Sa Pa and climb Ham Rong Mountain. Stay tuned!

    Clarinda    Read more

  • Sophie And NeveExploring the Unknown
    Day 125

    An Interview with Neve...

    January 2, 2020 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    For today's blog post, I interviewed Neve to get a bit of her perspective on our trip, Vietnam and Ninh Binh...enjoy!

    What has your favorite thing been about Ninh Binh?

    The scenery and the hills covered by trees. I also like the little ponds that have giant lily pads with flowers in them.

    How would you describe Ninh Binh to your friends?

    Ninh Binh is a good place to go if you like exercise. It is really pretty. If you are going to stay here, don’t go with too many people because the homestay rooms aren’t very spacious. You would also want to stay just outside of Ninh Binh because it is less busy, smaller and the scenery is nicer.

    Your friend Nina is planning on travelling to Vietnam. Do you think she would like to visit Ninh Binh?

    Yes, because she would like Trang An because of the scenery and would enjoy the boat tour we took yesterday.

    If yes, what do you think she would like the most about this place?

    I think she would probably really like the hills and the fact that she could bike everywhere.

    What’s been your least favorite part of Ninh Binh?

    I don’t like that my parents make us bike everywhere. That’s not always fun! It gets annoying to have to bike everywhere and my legs start to hurt!

    What is something interesting you’ve learned about Vietnam?

    The food. They sell entire goats!! The food isn’t spicy, which is a good thing. The vietnamese usually take a bunch of little things and eat it. For example, if you go to a restaurant, you would order a plate of rice, a plate of various meats and take a bit from each to make a meal. They eat snails, but I don’t want to talk about them, because they are disgusting in my opinion. Who would want to eat them?

    Can you tell me what you did yesterday?

    Yesterday, we went on a 2 hour boat ride, where we went through a 1 km cave and some shorter caves. We also stopped at some spiritual temples. The 1 km cave had a lot of stalactites hanging from the top of the cave and we had to duck because they were so big. We also got dripped on by water. We also heard bats because at one point we came into a large chamber. The scenery on the boat ride was really hilly and there were lots of lily pads in the water. There were also huge rocks coming out of the water.

    What did you do today?

    Today, I biked into Tam Coc and a bit further to a bird sanctuary (we didn’t actually go into the bird sanctuary). Then we biked back into Tam Coc and had ice cream and tea. We biked 24 km today. This afternoon I did some math with my dad and now I’m answering your questions.

    What has been the hardest part about travelling?

    Umm...missing my friends, but it’s also missing Ginger because when I’m at home I don’t see my friends everyday, but I do see Ginger every single day. I also miss the snow.

    What have you liked the most about travelling?

    Getting to see new things like Notre Dam and the lock bridge in Paris. I also have enjoyed learning about different cultures, which has been interesting.

    Out of all of the places you have visited, where would you recommend your friends visit if they could only choose one spot?

    Budapest!! It has lots of coffee shops and there is lots to do.

    What has been the most favorite thing you have done while travelling?

    You can’t ask me that! It’s like if you have a cat and a dog and you had to choose which was your favorite. I’m not answering this question!

    What has your favorite food been in Vietnam?

    I like the crab spring rolls in Hanoi.

    What has your least favorite food been?

    Snails!!

    Clarinda and Neve    Read more

  • Sophie And NeveExploring the Unknown
    Day 123

    Happy New Year!!

    December 31, 2019 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    Happy New Year! To celebrate the last day of 2019, we started our day with a run. We ran past cows that were just sitting on the road and goats that were running around. Then, we took some bikes and biked 2km to the Mua Caves. We walked on a wooden walkway that went across a pretty shallow lake. There were fields beside the lake with lots of goats running through them.

    The Mua Caves aren’t really caves. There are some caves at the bottom, but they are mostly filled with water. We walked up around 500 steps to go up to a viewpoint. It was really windy and foggy, but I think the fog made the view better. Then we walked down 250 steps and went up 300 more. At the top, there’s a big stone dragon. We got a bunch of pictures of us around it and then went back down.

    We spent most of the afternoon at home reading. We did go to a place called Rosa’s and got some smoothies. Rosa’s had some board games, so we played some of those.

    In the evening, the owners of our homestay invited all the guests to a big dinner to celebrate New Years. It was us, three other guests, the host and his family and his sister with her husband. For dinner, we got to make our own summer rolls. They’re like spring rolls, but they use rice paper instead and they’re not fried. There were plates of meat, egg, vegetables and noodles to make our summer rolls. They were so good!

    After that, they served us tea and watermelon at another table.

    There were fireworks in Ninh Binh, but we didn’t go to them. We stayed in our room and me and Neve watched a movie while our parents read.

    Sophie

    Pour célébrer le Nouvelle An, la famille qui est propriétaire de notre appartement a invité tous les personnes à un souper ensemble. Il y avait seulement notre famille, 3 autres personnes, la famille et la soeur du propriétaire. On a fait des wraps de riz vietnamien. Il y avait des plateaux avec du viande, du oeuf, des nouilles et du concombre. On pouvait prendre un papier de riz, mettre la nourriture qu’on voulait et l’enrouler.

    Après le souper, on a allé à un autre table pour du thé et du melon d’eau.

    Il y avait des feux d’artifices, mais on a rester dans notre appartement. Moi et Neve on regarder un filme et mes parents ont lu.    Read more

  • Sophie And NeveExploring the Unknown
    1
    Day 121

    Snails, Biking and Christmas Eve

    December 29, 2019 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Yesterday we took a 2 hour train from Hanoi to Ninh Binh, Vietnam.
    When we got to Ninh Binh we took a taxi to our homestay. After putting our backpacks into our room, we decided to look for lunch. We biked to a restaurant that served authentic vietnamese food. The people sitting next to us at the restaurant had a yummy looking salad and chicken. We tried to ask them what they were eating, but they didn’t speak a lot of english. The lady kept on telling us “chicken.” All at once, food arrived at our table even though we hadn’t ordered anything. A huge bowl of snail arrived! I did not eat them, but my parents and sister did and quite enjoyed them or at least thought that they were pretty good. After the snails arrived, a plate of chicken arrived. We only had a few pieces because we just ate a big pot of snails so we asked for the rest of the chicken to go. When my mom was boxing up the chicken, she found the chicken head in with the rest of the chicken. After that, we biked back to our homestay and had a relaxing afternoon reading. In the evening we had western pizza at our homestay. It was really good!

    Today, we took our bikes and went on a gravel road. At the end of the road, we discovered a pen of pigs - they were very cute. We then rode about 10 km to explore all the while trying to find a grocery store. We were not able too, so biked back home again. We biked 22 km. There were many pretty mountains and hills along the way. We came across small ponds that had huge ducks and lily pads with beautiful pink flowers. We also biked along small towns with just a small groups of houses as well as banana trees. The bananas were still green so we couldn’t eat them. For lunch we went to a restaurant called the Mona Lisa and in the afternoon we relaxed and did some homeschooling. I think Ninh Binh is really pretty, with lots of farms and hills.
    Neve
    _ _ _

    Aujourd'hui on est aller a une rue. La rue avait beaucoup de petit magasins qui avait des decoration de Noel, des petit costume du père Noël et des bois sur des bandeau. Il y avait aussi des ballons de père Noël et des chose comme ça. Après qu'on est aller sur set rue on est aller a un cathedral pour ecouter des chanson de Noel. Il y avait des danseuse avec des vraiment beau vêtement. Qui ont dansé au music. Il y avait aussi des personne qui chante an Vietnamese. J'avais beaucoup de plaisir fair sesi.    Read more

  • Sophie And NeveExploring the Unknown
    1
    Day 111

    Nam Pha Pa Yai

    December 19, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    On Monday we arrived at Nam Pha Pa Yai, a climbing camp in Thailand. We took a 2.5 hour non-air conditioned train from Bangkok to Kaeng Khoi Junction in 30+C heat, and from there we got a ride in the back of someone's pick-up truck. It was a half hour ride going pretty fast over bumpy roads filled with holes. For the last 3km, it was the road leading into the camp. The road was even more bumpy and had huge holes in it. We didn't have seat belts and had to hold on the sides of the truck so we didn't fall out the back.

    The camp is very remote and in the jungle. There are huge insects and geckos that crawl into your hut. We are staying in one bamboo hut with an attached bathroom and my sister and mom are sleeping in a tree house. There were 17 people here one day including us, but today there are only 9 people including us.

    There are lots of different climbing areas, some of which are across the river. To get across the river, you have to take the zipline across. There aren't really any platforms to land on, you just have to grab onto a tree or something or you'll go halfway back and get stuck in the middle of the zipline. If you get stuck in the middle, you have to pull yourself uphill along the line until you get to the other side. Hopfully, there will be someone on the other side to pull you up the last couple of feet. That happened to most of us at least once and it's a lot of work having to pull yourself up. Usually the first person to go across will catch the other people and hold onto them so they don't get stuck in the middle. The first time I went across, I landed on my back on the other side, but my backpack protected me so it didn't really hurt and my shoe fell off. I caught it before it fell in the water, but it almost fell in. My mom tried twice to get across the river on the zipline, but was unable to because she was too scared.

    The river under the zipline is all green and dark, and it has a fast current. I think it's filled with alligators or crocodiles.

    There's a little restaurant outside that we eat at. We order breakfast and lunch and for dinner it's a buffet.

    There's also a sitting area with lots of hammocks, a couch, a table and a few chairs. There are two slack lines and an area to do yoga with mats too.

    Normally, we climb a few routes in the morning, come back and have lunch, read for a bit, go climb a bit more, come back and play cards or read and then have dinner. This is because it gets really hot here in the afternoon; we have seen temperatures up to 35C in the afternoon, and you can't climb when the sun is directly on you.

    There are a few dogs around camp too. Every night at around 7:30, they all start howling and barking for a few minutes. When my parents went on their run Tuesday and today, three of the dogs followed them and went with them. My mom likes the dogs as she says they make good running partners and make her feel safe while running in the jungle.

    Sophie    Read more

  • Sophie And NeveExploring the Unknown
    1
    Day 109

    Climbing Like a Local in Thailand

    December 17, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    We had options for outdoor activities in Thailand, but we were leaning towards somewhere with climbing. The two well known locations are Railay Beach in the peninsula, and Chang Mai in northern Thailand. Chang Mai has had some sort of land access dispute for the past year or so, and there seems to be no solutions coming anytime soon, so that was off the list as the dispute has led to the climbing spots to be closed. Railay beach is well known, but for a number of reasons, didn't end up as the winner for us. We chose a lesser known spot: a private climbing camp a 2.5 hour train ride north of Bangkok and then a further 30 minute ride in the back of a pick-up truck and the camp, called Nam Pha Pa Yai is reached. It is truly off the beaten path.

    The camp is truly a camping experience, in the sense that you can bring your own tent, or sleep in one of theirs. They also offer bamboo houses to sleep in, as well as some treehouse options. There is a restaurant at the camp, running water etc. The food is some of the best I have had in Thailand. Breakfast and lunch are from a menu, with dinner being buffet style.

    There are several crags, all offer a variety of high quality routes across a reasonable skill level. The part that excited Neve the most is that to access many of the crags, you need to take a zip line to get across a river.

    There were a handful of other folks staying at the camp. A pair of Dutch pilots that do outdoor climbing whenever they can (they had a three night stopover in Bangkok), a German couple who seemed to only climb (we learned that they've set up climbing camps in other countries and are about to do the same again). As with most climbing communities, everyone was welcoming and encouraging.

    We've climbed long routes and short routes. So far the favourite long route is called "zero energy", it's a 25m 6a, involves a long chimney, up what is essentially a bat cave. Not to worry about getting dirty hands, that particular part of the cave does not seem to be as full of batshit as other places.

    We have also climbed some short routes through some rock with lots of tunnels in it. I'm pretty sure we don't have anything like it back home, I would imagine that the tunnel structures would get water trapped in them in winter, and the ice would shatter the rocks -- but I'm not a geologist, so take my opinion on that for what it's worth.

    David    Read more

  • Sophie And NeveExploring the Unknown
    Day 108

    Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market

    December 16, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    After participating in Thailand's International Half Marathon, David was pretty clear that he wasn't up for much in terms of site seeing in Bangkok. I had only run a relaxed 10 km so had more energy and wanted to make the most of our two days in Bangkok. To strike a balance, I decided that leisurely strolling through a floating market might just be the perfect outing. In researching our options, I found Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market, a 30 minute taxi ride just on the outskirts of Bangkok. Many of the floating markets are quite touristy and up to 90 km outside of Bangkok, which certainly didn't meet our criteria for being relaxing. The other thing that made the Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market appealing is that it is mostly visited by locals, known for good food and steeped richly in Thai culture. No english was spoken, which always makes for a more interesting experience as you try to figure out food prices and risk not always knowing what you are eating.

    We began by exploring one side of the floating market by leisurely strolling through the many food stalls, while drinking our freshly made mango smoothies. The Thai people love meat, so no outing would be complete without sampling some meat on a stick, including Gai Galae (bbq grilled chicken). So good!!!

    To take a break from our strolling and food sampling, we decided to take a 1.5 hour tour on a traditional long boat. The intricate canal system is known as the Venice of the East. Our long boat tour took us through the canals to a temple that we had 20 minutes to explore as well as a beautiful orchard filled with local flowers, especially orchids. Along the way, I was lucky enough to spot a 5-6 meter long Asian Monitor lizard. A little later in our tour David and the girls were also fortunate enough to spot one of these lizards. I'm not sure how friendly these guys are, but we definitely decided that keeping our hands out of the murkey river water was a good idea.

    Visiting the Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market was the perfect way to spend a relaxing day.

    Clarinda    Read more

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