Vacation is Over!

I'm back from vacation and feels good to be back on US ground!  Hard to believe that July came and went just like that.  This year, Eddie and I decided to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary in Thailand.  It was a bucket list thing of mine to visit Asia a new continent we haven't been to.  We had friends that have been and told us how nice and cheap it is and since we used our AA miles to get there, it was worth it to give it a shot.  We decided to visit both the islands and the big city of Bangkok.  The beach to relax and the big city to go shopping!  I couldn't believe how cheap everything is there!  Our friends were not kidding when they told us you can get full hour massage for $10!  Once we discovered this, we of course had one EVERYDAY!  We would pay between $6-$15 for a full hour massage.  We got all kinds too.  Foot massage, oil massage, Thai Massage, etc.  It was awesome!!   I loved the beach stay more than the big city.

The beaches are beautiful and I enjoyed running on them almost every morning.  Watching the sunrise come up as I ran the beach is a memory that will stay with me.  The tours there was awesome.  We went on boat ride to another island and went snorkeling.  We went on an elephant ride as I feed him bananas and big highlight of our trip.  That was amazing to see how tame those huge animals are!  However, you can't beat the shopping in the big city.  City is much cheaper there, but could care less about everything else the city had to offer.

Bangkok is huge, highly polluted, dirty, smells bad and people there are either dirt poor or rich..no middle class.  Prostitution and lots of Ladyboys are everywhere and grossed me out.  People would wear face mask to protect themselves from pollution and disease.  That kinda freaked me out so was careful about what I ate and drank.  I also used lots of hand sanitizer..LOL! Also, no running in the city for me, but was able to get some workouts in at our huge fitness center in hotel.  Besides shopping, the city did have some cool sightseeing things like temples and floating market.

The only downside to this trip is the 15 hour flight getting there.  Will I go again?  No.  Was it worth it, YES.  Not sure where else you can get custom tailored suits/dresses made to fit you perfectly SUPER CHEAP!  The 4.5-5 Star hotels, food, tours...it's all cheap!  And get this, they don't take tips much either!  What!!  We were living like King/Queen while there and took it all in.  But for me, been there, done that, I'm good.

Yes, I'm back and ready to hit my Chicago Marathon training hard.  It's coming up Oct. 11th.  and will be here before I know it.  Oh... and I got blessed by a Monk in Thailand and he give me a lucky bracelet and hope to wear it for my marathon... if it last that long.  Let's do it!