The Terrific3 travel blog

We arrived yesterday and our villa and grounds are gorgeous.

Yesterday was a whirlwind with jet lag, travel, trying to get groceries, unpacking, feeling overwhelmed trying to get the lay of the land. I knew we were rural and it definitely feels that way. There are no sidewalks here so you walk along the side of the road while fast vehicles buzz by. In looking for a lunch spot, we saw a lot of smaller restaurants where people spoke only Thai and no English. Lunch was good for me and Z did ok with pad Thai but sonu had a hard time as it tasted “different” than the Americanized version and he felt it was spicy. I made them pasta and veggies for dinner but cheese here is hard to come by, as is pasta sauce, so I put in eggs and butter. I tried to buy rice locally but they only had 15 lb bags. Our Airbnb host just gave me some out of his bag,

It’s interesting how the first few days in a new place have that unfamiliar family feeling—a mixture of exhaustion, overwhelming, panic (like WTH have I done coming here), loneliness, and some excitement. I’ve traveled enough that I give myself some time to settle in and not get too freaked out by all these feelings, but they are there.

S was the only one who slept a full night last night. I slept 4 hours, waking at 2am, and Z woke at 330am. This too shall get better. I ran 15 minutes and swam 30 this morning and am now chilling by the pool and it’s only 9am. Both kids want to just settle in today and walk around town. I’m going to try to find a place where S can get some familiar food, as he’s trying hard, but poor kid was almost in tears over lunch yesterday. This morning I made them scrambled eggs, toast and we had the yummiest mangoes and banana. S said, “breakfast here is now my favorite meal.” I’m proud of him, because despite his resistance to change, he has adapted better than I thought to the bugs and food.

This morning, the boys learned how to coax a gecko out of our house. and they are learning how to wash dishes without a dishwasher, after some initial resistance “why don’t they have dishwashers here?” Next up, hand washing laundry ;-).

I’ve been researching things to do in Chiang mai and will book some things for later this week with the kids’ input. And hopefully we’ll all sleep soon.