a river to skate away on.

Last week, we skated away to Bangkok for a few days to celebrate our anniversary (7 years!) and breathe.

In case you haven’t noticed, we need some space in our lives for breathing, and we’re working it in. {Not without effort! Last week we attempted an escape to camp one night away, but found our tent flooded before 3pm and we ended up at home drying off sleeping bags, a tent, and all our gear that was yet unused and wet. Apparently rainy season is not yet over.}

Bangkok is becoming our friend, offering anonymity, delicious Western food, coffee shops, used bookstores, clothes that fit…

We also visited IKEA, which I love and hate. I usually love it when I first walk in, because the possibilities are endless. By the middle, I wonder why I live where I do, when I could live in a house and country that allows for such nice, soft things and an item to creatively solve every minuscule problem. And by the end, I just want out and to go back home, to little mom and pop stores and real world problems that new pillows won’t solve. And IKEA really is that big, that I can experience this slew of emotions in one stop and have it autocorrect every time I type it in lowercase letters. Wow.

We did both nearly lose it in the Christmas section, because we might be the most homesick we’ve ever been right now. So we took a picture of the warm coziness that is Western holidays. Because sometimes the river you skate away on is just Christmas decor in a superstore!

For our anniversary gift, we went on a 60-kilometer bike tour outside of Bangkok. It started as we biked through the city in the midst of morning traffic–us and our guide on three bicycles on a six-lane roundabout at one point; at another point Stephen looked back and saw just a bus, who had squeezed into the bike lane between us. It was not for the faint of heart.

We made our way to the train station and then caught a commuter train out of the city to Mahachai.

Trains are such a great way to see a place! I loved seeing the variation of rural & urban; the wealth in Bangkok compared to the poverty.

Mahachai is a fishing town along the ocean, full of fisheries and farms, often worked by Burmese laborers, we learned.

It was a really beautiful bike ride along the ocean and on trails outside of the city. We had fresh seafood for lunch. We also took a ferry somewhere in there, which is another very fun way to make your way around a city.

In the afternoon we stopped at a sea salt farm, where we got to see and learn how they gather sea salt from the ocean.

This is all done by Burmese workers, who we got to chat with and loved that we knew Burmese and live in Mae Sot.

And it looked like snow!

We really loved the tour, loved meeting some more Burmese friends, and loved seeing more perspectives of Thailand.

We also took a night out in Bangkok to listen to live jazz!  It was such a fun trip to celebrate seven years together, with six spent here in Thailand!