I’m old. Officially. My 20th year high school reunion is upon me. I went to Brookwood High School in Snellville. My parents still live in the house I grew up in. Lucky for me, I am still really good friends with a lot of people I graduated with. My graduating class was overly large, 600+, maybe more. My old brain can’t remember. Lots of people stayed relatively local, living in the greater Atlanta area, so it’s easy to still bump into someone occasionally or find that you kids go to same school. And there is Facebook, which makes people much easier to keep track of. But, seeing someone in person and having a conversation is way better then scrolling through a few pictures of what they did for Spring Break this year.
It was really great to see everyone, it warmed my heart. A lot of these people I’ve known since primary school too. I loved High School. I had great friends, played on a state championship soccer team, met my husband, just had some really great times. And I had some nice bangs. I think I cut them right before 9th grade and started growing them out freshman year at UGA. 
After the Reunion we went for drinks at the Living Room, a bar in the lobby of the W hotel in Midtown.
We partied like it’s 1999. Cheers to 20 years my friends.
xoxo-sk
Uncle Daniel taking the girls and Andrew for a ride around the lake.
All sweaty on our way to the hotel via a catamaran and air-conditioned (YES!) van.
A usual post-dinner night- beer and checkers. Most of the bars had them set up. A few nights we found some live music.
Good-bye Thailand. It was an amazing, relaxing, chill two weeks. You were everything we wanted you to be. 
Beyond out hotel was a lookout point that Andy climbed up. I did not, as it was hard for him, and I would’ve died, similar to the one on Koh Phangan. 
It was a good ten minute steep hike downhill to the beach. While this wasn’t necessarily a “lounge all day at the beach” kinda beach, I thought it was the prettiest of the beaches we saw.
Without a lot of access to other food options, we ate mostly at the hotel. Luckily they had good options. Pictures of some of their yummy offerings. They made amazing onion rings with a sweet and sour sauce.
Good-bye Ko Tao.
The sit up is simple- open air kitchen and seating. The chef Nim cooks everything. She is a rockstar and super sweet. She has her sister helping her serve, prep, and clean. On the second night a man helped clean the dishes as well.
We were only in Koh Phangan for a couple of days and we ate here twice for dinner. If we would have found out about it sooner we probably would have eaten here every night. Some of our meal from our first night’s visit.
But it was worth the wait. 
Thank you for the wonderful food Country E-Saan.
The beach, the water, and the surrounding area was beautiful. Very picturesque. The sand on the beach was rough though, and by rough I mean Andy and I both cut up our feet on it. Since it was a man-made beach it didn’t have the lovely smooth sand we are so used to. Fear not, we ventured to the pharmacy in town and bought ourselves some Thai hydrogen peroxide.
Most nights we walked along the beach and ventured into town.
Gotta love the translations! But I appreciate the effort.
The lovely view from our balcony.
We went on a half-day snorkeling excursion here. The weather (and the water) was a little rough, but it was still fun and a nice way to get a look at some different spots around the island.
This was the long-tail boat we were taking around the island. I was a little concerned when our guide had us take dramamine before we left. A lot of choppy waters on our way out. Thankfully by the time we reached our first site it had calmed down.
We ate on the beach. My orange looked like a lime.
On the way back we spotted wild packs of monkeys in the forest. Not in the picture, I was not fast enough.
Some bits and bobs from around the hotel that I liked.
That evening we ventured across town via Grab (their version of Uber) to check out Soi Cowboy. If you’ve seen the Hangover 2, this is where they have their wild night out.
Soi Cowboy is known for its bars and “dance” clubs. It has been around since the 70s. It’s crazy, bright, loud, and fun. You see little bit of everything there. We stuck mostly to the outside tables and people watched.
We also walked about twenty minutes down the road to the equally colorful Nana Plaza. 
They had pitchers!! My favorite.
Veeerrry interesting night!
The entrance. Lucky for us, it wasn’t too crowded. The complex was built in 1782 for King Rama and his court. It has been added onto over the years by successive Kings. It is 218,000 sq meters, rectangularly shaped, and is enclosed by four walls. The King and his government was based here until 1925. Some offices still remain here. We have about a million pictures from here, but here are some of our favorites. 
First impression- it was huge, colorful, impressive, and the buildings were practically on top of each other in some cases. I definitely would have liked to know what each building was used for. (I looked into that when I got back.)
If you wondering why we are dressed in pants in this weather, it is because they have a very strict dress code here. No shorts, tight pants, sleeveless shirts. And they mean it.
This white and blue building was my favorite.
Somewhere in the Grand Palace we saw Wat Phra Kaeo, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It is part of the Grand Palace, and it houses one of Thailand’s most precious Buddhist relics. The temple was built to hold a meditating Buddha from the 14th century, carved from jade and dressed in gold and diamonds. Interestingly, the Emerald Buddha has three different seasonal outfits- summer, rainy season, and winter. I remember the Temple being so bright and golden inside that you could hardly even see where the statue was (its 66 cm tall, including its base.) It was so elaborate and full of ornamentation. No pictures, as it is disrespectful in Buddhist culture to take pictures inside temples or pictures of Buddha.
I was truly impressed by the Grand Palace, and so glad we were able to see it. It wasn’t like anything I’d ever seen before, which is exactly why I travel.
Bangkok is a city unlike anything I have seen before. It is full of beautiful temples, piles of garbage, tuk tuks, all kinds of street food, and friendly locals. It is super tourist friendly. It’s a great city to do the thing we like to do best- just walk around and explore. There is so many unique things to see and eat here. Much different than what we are used to and we have seen/done around Europe.
This is Santi Chai Prakan Park and the Chao Phraya River. In the distance you can see the Rama VIII bridge.
Back to Khao San Road. We actually stayed about five minutes from here.
Very interesting nightlife here. You can keep it pretty tame or you can go a little deeper. We visited a bunch of different bars around the area, they all had very different vibes- some were more local, some touristy, some geared towards backpackers. And no, we did not partake in any of the laughing gas.
Goodnight Bangkok.
xoxo-sk 