The Terrific3 travel blog

We arose at 4am today to do the special sunrise tour of Doi Suthep, THE most famous landmark temple in Chiang mai, the golden temple which sits atop a mountaintop 1600 meters above sea level, and which is supposed to house the ashes of the Buddha within. The goal was to see the monks do…

There are a lot of elephant rescues and sanctuaries in Thailand. For many years, and still currently, elephants (mostly female ones) have been used in the illegal logging business to carry trees and do other labor. This has been hard for them both physically and mentally. These rescues give elephants a new life. They get…

Today consisted of a morning run for me, pool time for the kids and a lazy morning followed by lunch at Samsen villa by the river in Chiang mai. It is a Michelin star restaurant, and although the food was decent, I was underwhelmed by the food, the slow service, and the view of the…

We are at the Phuket airport waiting for our flight. It was a curvy vomit inducing hour ride to get here from my hotel and my boys are acting like they are high on steroids, running and jumping all around the airport. I’m looking forward to plunking down in one place now for at least…

We’ve settled in here and I considered extending our stay but Air Asia won’t let you change your itinerary less than 48 hours from travel. We haven’t done any tours or real touristy stuff but we have gone to the beach, played in the pool, and eaten lots of food. And slept—at least for the…

Let’s start by saying I slept almost 9 hours tonight and awoke a different person. I took some unisom last night and stuffed ear plugs in my ears. Z did wake at 3am and I did hear him, but less so, and I was able to fall asleep. He said it took him an hour…

Let me start by saying that I know I’m incredibly lucky and privileged to have a sabbatical and extended time and the means to spend a summer in Asia with my kids. That is not lost on me. That having been said, I’m struggling with exhaustion. My average sleep per night is a broken 4-5…

We flew to Phuket today. Here we are after a 2 hour plane ride and an hour drive to the hotel. Part of the reason I came here was to be by ocean. The other was that this place has a “kids’ club.” It’s the Novotel Phuket resort. The kids club is a joke—it’s a…

So… sleep still isn’t happening…except for S, who is sleeping quite well over in his own room alone. Z didn’t wake fully until close to 4am today but did toss and turn and kick mr much of the night, which made for very fragmented sleep. We are now going on about 6-7 days of poor…

Given the 2am wake up, we had a pretty chill day yesterday. In the morning, took a cab to the local upscale supermarket that has more “western” products. As much as I had fantasized about eating Thai food every meal, it’s just not happening—my kids don’t want it, I can’t quite cook it yet, and…