DAYS 12 - 25: Bangkok, Thailand

After the Grand Canyon, we cashed in a few hotel points and spent a couple days regrouping in Sedona - sleeping in fluffy beds, spending afternoons by the pool, eating entire bags of halloween candy…it was lazy and gluttonous and absolutely fantastic.

After that we did a little climbing in New Mexico* and Brad took me to Santa Fe for my birthday. He treated me to this mind blowing Japanese spa*(a perk doing this type of thing in our 30s rather than our flat broke 20s), and patiently waited while I hunted for turquoise around the city plaza. Meanwhile, he seemed fine hunting for tamales.

We then made a quick pit stop in Denver, swapped out some gear in our truck, busted out the second cross-country road trip of the month, danced our butts off at a wedding, hugged my parents and headed to the airport. T’was time to get the party started. First stop Bangkok.

And then came the travel. Detroit to Denver to Tokyo to Thailand. Twenty-four hours of security lines, gate changes, fighting for elbow room in chairs that never recline quite enough and trying to brush your teeth in airplane bathrooms that don't allow for horizontal arm motion. But the misery was quickly forgotten the second we stepped foot in a foreign land, 8,000 miles across the globe.

And Bangkok? Bangkok is totally awesome. Huge and dirty and crowded and bustling. Full of vibrant colors and pungent smells. Tiny, old ladies on street corners mixing huge pots of savory sauces and roasting mystery meats on skewers. Their husbands tapping you on the shoulder trying to get you to buy their wares or go into their gem shops. Motorbikes that whiz by you in every direction at 30 miles per hour and seem to follow no traffic pattern whatsoever. It's loud and bold and overwhelmingly brimming with life.

And my god, the humidity. I have never sweat so much in my life. The air sticks to you like glue. Like it has been smeared all over your body. Like you've been dipped in a pot of modge podge and let loose in a hot yoga room. Bleh.

After sorting out a baggage debacle, checking into our hotel and trying to get some much needed rest (not easy when you're adjusting to a 12 hour time change), we set out to explore the city.

We spent time touring some of the temples, admiring their amazing architecture and intricate details. The golds and blues and mirrored mosaics. The shrines to Buddha. The hundreds of scary, dragon monkeys that are painted so ornately, it makes your hands hurt thinking about the poor old guys who must have had to painstakingly labor over each and every one.

We walked the busy streets, visited Khao San Road, a place filled to the brim with shopping carts, bars, restaurants, hostels and backpackers from all over the globe. The one place our light skin and gigantic-ness didn't make us stick out like a sore thumb.

We indulged in the infamous Thai massages. For about $7 you can get an hour of relaxation bliss. My first one was awkward. Imagine a fourteen year-old boy trying to undo your bra strap so he can rub oil all over your back. But the second time we opted to just get our feet done and I literally felt like melty jello when it was over. I could barely walk in a straight line when I got up.

We had beers at a few of the hole in the wall bars*, ate some absolutely delicious food. My brother will be very disappointed to know we didn't try the insects or eyeballs or anything else that would cause an automatic gag reflex, but the orange juice and Pad Thai* are to die for.

Brad got a custom suit* made, I got my hair cut by a team of Thai women and men*, we strolled through Chinatown, risked our lives riding tuk tuks, cruised around on riverboat ferries, had one of those pedicures where hundreds of fish suck the dead skin off your feet and finally ended up at the train station. What a whirlwind.

And here I sit, in the dining car of the purple (yes purple) train that has taken us through the night past rice fields, small villages and jungle landscape, sipping a tiny coffee, listening to loud Thai music and trying to write this blog. It's pretty tough to focus while you're whizzing by the most beautiful sights you’ve ever seen in your life. I literally just had a quick conversation with a smiling monk in a train that stopped next to ours. God, I love this place.

We will be spending the next week hanging out with elephants, learning acro yoga and exploring the northern Thai town of Chiang Mai. It keeps getting better and better :)

Until next time friends.