Nothing about this past year has gone according to plan. In November last year, while on a trip to Thailand to switch visas, we discovered Kristen had kidney cancer. After having a successful operation and a quick recovery States-side, we landed back in China this past February. A couple of months later, we flew back to Thailand for Kristen’s 6 month cancer screen (see the blog post titled “operation redeem” for her update). However, due to reasons beyond our control, we ended up having to stay/live in Thailand for 4 months. Through all of this transition, Elise was a rockstar, and our time in Thailand ended up being a real blessing for us.
Growing up in Houston, I know what it’s like to live in a place that is humid and has a ton of mosquitos… however, after surviving the rainy season in Thailand, I’ve decided Houston is rather dry and the mosquitos there are really not that bad. Jungle life is a whole different beast. We saw snakes, spiders that were as big as my hand, mosquitos that attack like nothing we have ever experienced before, and a billion other types of birds and insects. But then on the flip side, we had bananas, dragon fruit, mango, jackfruit, and several other types of fruit growing in our yard and neighborhood. It was an incredible experience and we are so thankful for the opportunity to learn about and live in another country.
Sticky Falls is one of the more unique places we visited. People can literally walk up the waterfall as the limestone develops some sort of sticky suction on top instead of green, slippery moss. Look it up if you’re interested… but check out that jungle!
And where there isn’t jungle, Thai farmers have cleared and created rice fields. Lots and lots of rice fields.
One of the sweet blessings was this house we were able to sublet for 2.5 months. It had enough space to host family and friends who came to visit us, a huge yard for Elise to play in, and was in a great location that gave us easy access to the mountains and city.
Our house for the summer! What?!
We’re thankful for family visiting us and all the meaningful new memories that we made…
Since life and travel now consist of things we can do with a 2 year old, here’s a summery in pictures of what Elise’s summer looked like:
And even when it was raining, we still played outside…
But one of the coolest things we did (with both Kristen’s family and mine) was visit an elephant sanctuary. This particular sanctuary rescued elephants that had been mistreated in the past. This place (Lanna Kingdom Elephant Sanctuary) was rated number #1, and for good reason. From the moment you arrive you are feeding, touching, and learning about Asian elephants. And the staff was amazing too. Oh, and they also give you some pretty sweet clothes to wear so that you don’t get your own dirty.
It was a tough call determining who had the most fun… I don’t think Kristen or my mom wanted to leave.
It was unbelievable and far exceeded any expectations we had. So if you are ever in Northern Thailand, this is a must on the bucket list!!!
Fast forward to today… it was a great experience, but we couldn’t be happier to be back in our “China home,” as Elise calls it 🙂
nomadic texan 