Beach Vacation...in January!

This past week we took our first family road trip in Thailand.  We piled into the mini-minivan and drove about three hours south of Bangkok to a place past Hua Hin, near Sam Roi Yot National Park, on the Gulf of Thailand.  We stayed at a lovely little resort called Dolphin Bay.  Very family friendly.  Very close to the beach.  Very sandy.

I decided that I would let the kids have their say about this vacation on the blog.  I am typing for them because I would like the blog post to be somewhat timely and they just don't type that fast, but these are their words.  More or less.

Anne: I finally learned what those hoses that they put in bathrooms next to the toilet are [EDITOR'S NOTE: these are very common in Thailand, especially with squat toilets--I couldn't resist another reference--since many Thais prefer to spray their bums rather than use toilet paper].  The only bad thing about beaches is that everything gets covered in sand.  I changed in the bathroom and still had sand everywhere, so I used the hose to get it off.  The sprayer was perfect, except that the water was about two degrees.  It was really cold.




Maggie: Um, I got stung by a jellyfish.  On my bum.  It looked like Sarah did, too.  On her bum, too.  I had a lot of fun bodysurfing.  Sarah and Ben lost their goggles, but they got snorkels [EDITOR'S NOTE: when we returned home there were two sets of kid's snorkeling gear, left by the friends who watched our house for us while we were gone.]  I got blue fins!  Okay, that's it.

 
Sarah: That wasn't jellyfish, they were mosquito bites.  I tried to wash the sand out of my swimming suit, but it didn't work.  So if you're ever wondering why my swimming suit pants are all bushy on one side, it's because the sand got stuck there.  I'm sad that the waves totally stole my goggles, but I'm pretty happy that I got a new mask and snorkel.  And that's all...



Benjamin: Uh, um, when we played at the beach...jump!  Jump in the pool!  Daddy, um, I'm going to do something...this looks like a telescope, Daddy, this looks like a telescope!  [EDITOR'S NOTE:  what do you expect, he's four!  Asking him to put together a coherent thought about something that happened any longer than ten seconds ago is like asking me to do calculus--I'll tell you something, but it probably won't be remotely related to the question posed.]





Jane: Bath?  Take a bath?  Okay!





Mali politely declined to be interviewed for this blog post, but did mention in passing that she really enjoyed the few days where she didn't have to prepare any food or clean up after any meals.  And I have to say, it was pretty awesome to be lounging on the beach in January.  So awesome, in fact, that I will refrain from complaining even a teeny-tiny bit about the fact that we all got a little sunburned.  That would just be mean to those readers who live in somewhat cooler climes.

And that's all I have to say about that.