Has there been a fruit in the entire history of mankind that has the ability to evoke as visceral a response as durian? No one can remain in the neutral category when it comes to their stance on durian: they either love it or hate it.

  LIVING IN THAILAND: UPDATES ON CURRENT EVENTS AND MORE Military coup Thailand: It’s been a few months since our last blog post, which was published only a couple days prior to the announcement of the military coup.  In the following months, a lot has seemed to change within the government, while at the same […]

When we tell people where we live, we always say Hua Hin, since most people, especially those familiar with Thailand, know of Hua Hin, but this is technically not quite true. One of our favorite areas–where we decided to settle down and build our dream house, actually–is a small town (even smaller than Hua Hin!) about 20 km south of Hua Hin center called Pranburi.

As I reflect on our move to Thailand two years ago already, I realize that we’ve come a long way in those short years, both literally and figuratively.  I remember that giddy excitement before we left on our adventure.  And I remember the fascination with everything that was so new and different once we arrived in Thailand.  These days, the things that made my jaw drop when we first arrived in Thailand don’t even cause me to bat an eye.  In some ways, I miss that feeling of newness and excitement, but the regular, mundane and everyday moments of life are pretty good, too.

I have been a single, working parent for the past two weeks. I suppose if I had to be a single, working mother in any country, Thailand is where I’d want to be.

If you haven’t figured it out by this point, I’ll say it clearly: I love food. I love all kinds of food, every type of cuisine and nearly all types of meat, fish, fowl, fruits and vegetables. Never to be labeled a picky eater, I will try everything at least once. Paul goes out of his way sometimes to challenge me with my self-imposed motto. Recently he steered me towards some fried insects at the local night market, and I sadly admit that I turned down his offer.

We are fast approaching the one month mark for our new lives in Thailand, and when it feels like we aren’t making as much progress as I’d like here, I have to keep reminding myself that we have indeed accomplished a lot in just over four weeks.

I took a leap of faith today and drove a borrowed car that was graciously lent to us by our real estate agent. The car has been sitting in our parking space for days, but up to this point, we have not had the courage to take it out for a test drive.

We made it!!  The dog, the child and the parents have all made it over safely, and now we are ready to begin our adventure in Thailand!  We are disoriented and completely jet lagged, but excited nonetheless.

I don’t know if I have mentioned this already, but I lived in Thailand once before. After graduating from college in Seattle, I decided it was time for a break from academics, and I moved to Thailand to reconnect with my Thai roots. Unfortunately, none of the locals believed I was actually Thai, so I was in this weird limbo state where no racial group truly accepted me. Kind of like the dilemma that Lieutentant Commander Spock faced being half-human, half-vulcan. But I digress…