Somewhere between Loas and Cambodia the realization that this epic trip, which began as a vague idea and evolved in my mind over a decade, had an actual end, that was ever approaching, crept into my mind.  With each passing day and week, which seem to be flying by at this point, we grow closer to The End.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not dreading returning to our home on Kauai, full of friends, natural beauty, and a lovely laid back lifestyle; who could?  It is the ceasing of this current lifestyle that is causing me to be uneasy. 

I have become accustomed to being surrounded by the exotic and it is intoxicating and keeps me motivated.  This journey is full of the unexpected.   Adventure surrounds us.  Even on the most mundane of days there is always something new, literally surprising us, opening our eyes, and causing figurative lightbulbs in our brains to ignite.

Thailand is a great introduction to travel in Southeast Asia.  Quite accustomed to tourists, it received a whooping 26.5 million visitors in 2014, securing its ranking as the 10th most visited country in the world.    For us, Thailand was the perfect place to acclimatize to a new continent while treating ourselves to some comforts that we hadn't experienced in months. 

We settled into Bangkok for a week.   What better place to get accustomed to the new (delicious) food, cool transport, and the pervasive religion, Buddhism, with its exquisite temples and orange clad monks?  (Note this blog post covers our entire 3 weeks in Thailand, which was split up into two visits,( 1.Bangkok and 2.Chaing Mai),  by our three week jaunt to Myanmar, covered in a previous post)

Since Kiko and I have spent a fair bit of time in our pre-kid lives traveling through Southeast Asia, entering Thailand was tinted with a bit of a "coming home" sort of feeling.  A sensation that was no doubt amplified by our previous 2 months in Africa, which while being an utterly amazing and unforgettable experience, was althogher new ground for me, and to a large extent Kiko as well.   But what surprised me the most about Bangkok was the ease at which the kids adjusted.  Can it really be as simple as some parenting literature suggests; i.e. the kids simply reflect the parents' attitude?  Hum, something to ponder when considering some of the rough patches on this trip...

Or maybe it just boils down to the fact that Thailand is super traveler friendly.   I think what captivated us first and foremost was the delicious food.  Street food and local restaurants all seemed to delight.  One exception would be the food aimed solely at the backpackers, which tends to be super cheap and rather bland.  

Our flexibility was rewarded.  Stories of a land reminiscent of Thailand 30 years ago, with beauty and friendliness that even the most jaded of travelers couldn't help but be taken with, were finding us at every turn as we stood perched in Bangkok, the entryway to our open 3 month S.E. Asia leg of our journey.  The common refrain was an unequivocal, "Go to Myanmar now, before it changes."  It took a little research to rid myself of outdated ideas of Burma, officially changed to Myanmar in 1989, as a dangerous and inaccessible land of never-ending opium fields, with its refugees flooding into Thailand, which I still held from my previous SE Asia travel, 20 years ago.   With small yet consistent positive changes in the government, and improvements with human rights,  Myanmar slowly began opening to tourism in the late 1990.  After much research on the internet, available at a speed in Bangkok which we hadn't experienced since Europe, and planning visa/flight logistics, Myanmar found its way onto our itinerary.  

Our entry point was the city of Yangon and our first outing, a morning visit to the most important Pagoda in Myanmar, 2500 year old Shwedagon, with its tall gilded stupa.  With this visit I immediately realized we had been well guided in our decision.   Myanmar's maintains a strong belief in Theravada Buddhism, which is evident with the countless temples and scores of monks and nuns seen throughout the country.     

As we wondered through Yangon I found an undefinable beauty in the dilapidated and chaotic streets

As always we were quite happy to stumble on some street markets, which make for a quick way to familiarize oneself with a place through its food, dress, and social interactions.   Constantly on the look out for new gluten free snacks, the kids were pleased with the wide choice of rice and coconut goodies, along with the wonderful selection of fresh fruits and veggies.  

With our allotted 3 weeks in Myanmar, we were eager to explore more rural areas.  Bagan, the land of mist covered pagodas,  was  "just" a 10 hr bus trip away.  

Christmas is a much anticipated holiday steeped with traditions; extended family, piles of presents, cheery music, special holiday sweets, and the frezy-like state created from the reminders of the upcoming holiday everywhere you turn.   All these combine to create what our kids know as “Christmas”.  There are many ways to celebrate the holiday but I think there is one universal, no one wants to have a disappointed kid on Christmas.   Yet I was nervous about that ever-present possibility given that we wouldn’t have any of our normal “ingredients” this year.  So I thought why even try to compete with such a longstanding tradition: why not just simply change the playing field entirely?  Choosing to do something completely foreign and totally unforgettable seemed to be a surefire recipe to allow even the most unique of Christmas experiences to be declared a success.   Unfortunately Christmas time is pretty much “high season” everywhere causing prices to soar.  Luckily our first pick, Maji Moto Maasai Cultural Camp in Kenya, maintains standard prices all year round.  A week learning about  the Maasai, a tribe of semi-nomadic people inhabiting Kenya and Tanzania,  including a couple of days of game drives and some warrior training, seemed to fit our needs perfectly.  

The two days of game drives in an pop-topped safari vehicle was a great start.

We felt truly lucky to spot so many animals but seeing as we were accompanied by, Salaton, a Maasai Chief with a lifetime of experience living in the bush,  perhaps it wasn’t a matter of luck at all.  

We had seen many animals in Samburu with Elephant Watch the week prior and Maasai Mara worked out to be the perfect complimentary game drive as we saw an array of different animals and the scenery was taken right out of the The Lion King. 

Its OK ‘cause I was already up since 2AM with a bad travelers belly, the second such occurrence in the last 3 days.

When I woke Zuki she was in a cranky mood.   Its probably the lack of sleep, since our “splurge”  hotel with pool in Bagan, land of the temples, has serious plumbing issues causing our room to sporadically fill with methane gas, the smell of sewage gagging us, which we were trying to alleviate into late last night.  The idea of another long travel day ahead isn’t helping either.  
She sleepily berates me for arranging it, stating that I was blatantly taking advantage of the fact that they (ie the kids) didn’t complain on our last 10 hour bus trip, only 5 days ago.  

Luckily the boat is surprisingly comfortable with working toilets and 3 deck levels with indoor and outdoor seating and only a handful of other passengers because at $40 a ticket the super budget travelers and the locals opt for the bus ($7), whereas the high-end tourists take a flight.  The views of the landscape as the sun rose were spectacular and continues to be as we pass villages, mist covered pagodas, and exotic fishing boats.  

With just the slightest bit of imagination, one can envision oneself a part of the herd.  We are in very close proximity to these gracious, enormous animals.  They are fully aware of our presence but are not spoked since the Samburu guides leading us can understand many of their actions and noises and act accordingly, making the elephants completely comfortable with our being there.  

One elephant slowly and completely scratches his neck and trunk against a large tree branch.  In the silence we hear the rough sound of his skin rubbing along the bark and clearly see his contentment.  

Zanzibar island in Tanzania, was not on my radar when initially thinking of our time in East Africa.  Kenya, the quintessential image of Safari Africa, was slotted for the month of December, following our customary pattern of spending about a month per country, our magic time frame for acquiring a feel for a place.    Because I knew a considerable percentage of our time and monster portion of our budget was going towards safari and that Christmas is considered high season almost everywhere, I began attempting to plan Kenya in November while still traveling in Morocco.  Weak internet, the lack of a Kenyan guide book, and honestly not a clue about East Africa, I was becoming overwhelmed just as I received an email from a friend gushing with rave reviews of her recent multi-family trip to the island of Zanzibar.  And as simple as that, a  little inestinguishable light was lit.  A quick google search of "images of Zanzibar" secured a spot for this white sand island in the Indian Ocean on our itinerary.  

With my toes covered in the powdery white sand, and images of kids frolicking in the Indian Ocean filling my mind, its tempting to just skip a bit of this journal blog.. just Be-In-The-Now.  Insistently, our story calls me to keep a complete account.    

But I can allow the sea breeze to persuade me to keep the prose short and stick to a more visual presentation.  

Acknowledging the fact that in general we are more of a rural-loving family rather than a city-thriving group we really wanted to optimize our time in the remote areas of Morocco between the must-visit cities of Fez and Marrakech.  A tour was really out of the question, price and freedom wise, and a good friend had informed us that he had no problem renting a car and driving himself when he visited a few year prior.  So we opted to rent a car in Fez ($34/day) and take 2 weeks to explore before dropping it off upon entering Marrakech.  I did read something to the effect that Morocco has one of the highest rates of car accidents in the world but really is it any more dangerous for Kiko to be driving than a hired driver?  At least with Kiko driving, we were the ones deciding the speed and risks we were willing to take when passing.  

Armed with the recommended Michelin map of Morocco and our handy google maps on our phones we headed south out of Fez towards the Sahara.  After a little adjustment as far as timing of pedestrians, bikers, and mules crossing the road, and getting accustomed to the fact that drivers tend to pass at times that seem totally inopportune, Kiko was soon driving with confidence.  We loved the freedom and the changing landscapes were truly breathtaking. 

One of the secrets to making our long car rides enjoyable for all, has been books on tape.  Funny right?, but it keeps us entertained and all eyes available to check out the ever changing scenes out the windows.  The best is when we are able to access free downloads from our home library, which pertain to our current travel.  We learned about the life of Da Vinci in Italy, and listened to Arabian Nights in Morocco.