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We are off to the Ancient City today, but before that, she slept through the night! Again! Woke up with a few tears, but did really great this morning. Breakfast was awesome, but Thai people can‘t seem to resist this girl and it‘s hard on me. They recognize that she is one of their own and they are quick to get in her space, offer their hands to pick her up, constantly touch her arms and say really sweet things to her. If she had known us for more than just a week and a half, maybe I wouldn‘t mind so much, but this girl is already torn between two worlds and attachment is such a steep hill to climb. It‘s made even harder when it‘s not just us together.
In fantastic news, Mia was crying today and a man offered his arms to pick her up and she held her ground, right by us, so that is a step in the right direction. She is no longer gladly taking any way out given to her, but is holding on to us instead. I hope that it is a trend that continues to gain momentum.
So gigantic day today and it was one that we had been looking forward to for a long time. If you are in Bangkok for the first time, I‘m going to say go see Wat Arun, the giant reclining buddha, and the Grand Palace for sure! Ride an elephant – it will be an experience you never forget. Go to Ayutthaya – it‘s perfection. If you have a little bit more time though, go see The Ancient City!
Oh my goodness, wonderfulness. It took us about 50 minutes from our hotel via taxi. Our taxi driver was pretty impressed with our Thai this morning. 🙂 We told him we only knew about a two year old‘s version of Thai, but he was happy as could be that we spoke the few words that we know to him. He dropped us off at the ticket counter for this “attraction“, we rented a golf cart (because it was an option), and set off for our great adventure. The Ancient City is like a theme park? Maybe? Or maybe more like an outdoor museum? As far as I know, a single man started this park with the intention of preserving Thailand‘s culture and architectural history. He has magnificently succeeded.
It’s 230 acres towards the south of Bangkok and is loosely shaped like Thailand. You start at the south through the entrance gate and can “travel“ to see some of Thailand‘s most treasured landmarks. Some are exact replicas, some miniature recreations, some were buildings that would have been demolished, but were saved, transported and reconstructed on site. Others are just strange fantasy buildings, but absolutely brilliant – all of it.
It‘s mixed in to the landscaping beautifully with ponds, waterfalls, large grassy areas – all there to best show off the buildings themselves. You can tour the “Grand Palace“ in Bangkok, or eat lunch at the “Floating Market“ (which we happily did). You can see very poor traditional Thai homes or tour a palace that was burnt to the ground in the 1700’s – miraculously now standing as a replica. Just an awesome experience. Super hot today, and we don‘t travel light between our camera gear and a little Miss Mia, so we were thrilled to have that golf cart to get around. Aaron loved every minute, getting to capture all of this amazing architecture in one place and I didn‘t mind it either. 🙂
As we were leaving the Ancient City, a taxi literally pulled up in front of us (saving us a good long walk out to the main road) with his air conditioner offering beautiful relief from the heat. Thank you, Jesus. Another hour or so back to our hotel and we were exhausted. Room service on the balcony again tonight. Just easier after a day of being out in the heat.
Mia did pretty well today, exploring, making funny noises, and offering lots of smiles. She does, however, still let us know when she isn‘t happy – like when I wanted a photo of just her (literally standing inches from her little body) and she would have nothing to do with it. We have a picture of Ty at the Grand Palace in Bangkok and it is one of my most treasured photos from his trip. I was hoping for something similar of her today, but this girl screams when she doesn‘t get what she wants. Yay. We‘ll be working on that when we get home. She took a nap in the taxi on the way back and woke up disoriented and cried / was fussy for the rest of the night.
Speaking of home… are you all ready for some great news!? Maybe not so good because it means our every night blogging time is coming to an end, but this is our last night in Bangkok!! Our flights were originally booked for Wednesday based on our agency‘s recommendation of when they thought her visa would be ready. We found out last Thursday at our embassy appointment that it would actually be ready on Monday. Whoo hoo!
We weren‘t sure if we would be able to move things around, so we didn‘t want to say anything until it was official, but flights are now booked for tomorrow night and our last two nights here at this hotel have been cancelled. There wasn‘t an additional airline fare fee, so by the time we subtracted 2 nights in a hotel, airport parking, extra meals, and spending time doing things here in Thailand, it wasn‘t much a difference to come home early and we are so excited to see our Ty again!
The sad news is that this will be the last regular blog post while we are here. Tomorrow we will be packing up, Aaron‘s going to make a run to pick up her visa while (hopefully) Mia naps. Our hotel offers super late checkout (part of the reason we booked here), so we can have the room up until 8pm which means we don‘t have to spend a day homeless while waiting to go to the airport. Our flight is at 10:40pm. We will get to live Tuesday twice, which is absolutely exhausting, especially when you are traveling with a little person.
We have so appreciated all of the prayer support while we are away, but can we ask you to keep those efforts going? For safety in travel, for a little girl who will be comfortable on a plane / sleep most of the trip, that travel and connections will go smoothly? I know Ty is really excited to see us, but his whole world is changing in just one moment when we introduce this girl to his life. Can you pray for his heart? That he wouldn‘t shut down when he sees us? That his heart would remain soft and just be super excited to see his sister? Continue to pray for Mia‘s heart as her whole world shifts tomorrow – leaving people, food, culture, weather, language, a schedule, everything that she has known up to this point. This is so much change for a little heart to process.
And can I be brutally honest? As a parent, this is the hard part. It isn‘t the two weeks away from home spent in another country. It‘s not the travel. It‘s not the little girl who is experiencing so much grief she can‘t hardly handle it. I can do that. It‘s when you look forward to home because home was the comfortable place you left, but when you get there, nothing is quite the same.
Creating a family in a foreign country – you are already off, so nothing really seems that off. That and you have 100% of your spouse‘s time to help carry the weight of that load. When you get home, you are absolutely exhausted from the travel. You have a child who doesn‘t understand what‘s going on. Everyone‘s sleep schedule is terribly off. It‘s just hard to even function in those first few days and weeks.
As much as I can‘t wait to get home and to see Ty, this is the part that has me on edge. Not as much as meeting her, or taking custody, or meeting with government officials. It‘s introducing her into what life looks like in our home and wondering how long it will take to find our new normal. It‘s a good life, but it will take a while for us all to settle in – to figure out where we now fit together as a family. After 30+ hours of travel, all of our bodies will just need rest, but that doesn’t come easily.
Thank you all so much for joining us on this journey! I will finish out our last day here and traveling on the blog when we get home, but no promises on the timing. 🙂 Just keep checking in and they will be there soon. Until then… goodnight from Bangkok. It‘s been an amazing journey.
Tools to document your day…
- Camera Phone (for easy pictures and handheld video)
- Wide angle moment lens (for wide angle interiors, stunning panoramics, and tight moments where you want to fit more in)
- Mini Tripod and / or travel tripod (for putting yourself in the space – so many great photo opportunities)
- SLR (for quality video or stunning photos)
- Osmo Pocket (for adding smooth movement to your video)
- Insta360 One X (for adding unique perspectives to video)
- GoPro + Accessories (for unique shots like on the golf cart & taxi)
- Mirrorless (because sometimes Aaron and I like to take pictures at the same time 🙂 )
The Ancient City was high on our list of places to visit / photograph, so today was a heavy gear day. It was a huge bonus having a golf cart throughout the day though so we could have access to each camera when we wanted it. There is NO drone flying in the park, so leave that one behind. A good camera backpack can keep you organized while keeping your gear accessible.
This is how we roll, but it doesn’t mean you have to. Mix and match what is going to give you the best experience and level of documentation that you are comfortable with. Technology changes quickly, so we’ll try to keep you up-to-date with what is currently in our camera bag and the tools we are now using to document travel.
