Who's the fairest of them all?

I've always been pale, or fair skinned as I like to think of it. I've got tons of freckles and beauty marks all over my body. So, naturally, I make an annual trip to the dermatologist to get checked out. Sometimes, he finds something suspicious and needs to biopsy the area. I usually get a friendly phone call letting me know I'm totally fine a few days later. Most often visits end with a "see you in a year, stay out of the sun!"

During my last visit, my doctor noticed something unusual on my neck. So, he removed it to have it biopsied. I went about my business for the next week - waiting to hear "you're fine, it was benign." At the end of the week, that just wasn't the case. My doctor called to tell me that what they found was "neither good nor bad but looked as if it would likely turn into something bad." Once my full report came back, I would face 3 scenarios -
1, he'd see what he could do about the scar, and tell me they got all of the bad stuff;
2, he'd have to remove just a snip more of the bad stuff and I'd be free of bad stuff;
or the dreaded 3, there would be too much bad stuff left for him to remove and I'd be sent to a surgeon.

In my adult years, I've stayed away from the sun. Well, except for that one year in college when I had a subscription to Hollywood Tans.

I was still optimistic when I went in for my results but it was scenario 3 for me.

The dermatological surgeon's office was very fancy - there were biscuits and tea, big leather wing-back chairs, and hard cover copies of Vogue. I soon discovered my Fifth Avenue surgeon also does face lifts and nose jobs for upper-east-side ladies. I felt I was in good hands, literally!

A week later, I was back for my procedure. It took about 40 minutes. The anesthesia was local so I was awake for it but I felt no pain at all. And in the week following with stitches in place, I also felt no pain. No wonder all of the rich ladies go there! Don't get me wrong, it was not pleasant. There was a lot of bandage changing, wound cleaning, difficult showers, sleepless nights, and many many awkward questions about what happened to my neck (my standard response was vampire bite).

Later that week, my pathology came back 100% clear - WHAT A RELIEF!

My follow up appointment to have the stitches out was happily uneventful. And 3 weeks later, I "graduated" from the experience with only a scar on my neck and a clean bill of health. I feel very lucky.

But if anyone asks about my scar, I'm sticking to the vampire story.

The King and I

The second leg of our trip was to Phuket - an island in the southern part of Thailand. We spent our first day getting a massage at our absolutely gorgeous resort with a view of the water and mountains. It was glorious!

The next day we went to the beach and checked out the Indian Ocean - it was crystal clear with strong currents. We grabbed a street food picnic for lunch and ate on the beach while sunning and taking swims.

A trip to Thailand is not complete without an elephant adventure! We trekked through the jungle on the back of an elephant named Tuk Tuk, met a baby elephant (who was so cute and very smart), and fed the elephants at the sanctuary we visited. Elephants are my absolute favorite animal - they're emotional and gentle giants. I soaked up every minute of this part of our day of outdoor adventure.

Our day also included lunch in the jungle, a trip to the monkey caves, and a canoe ride down a river.

The final full day of our vacation, we lounged at our resort, spent time at our private infinity pool relaxing together and just taking in all of the breathtaking views. I have never been so relaxed and calm.

We had dinner at the resort every night. It felt like paradise. Right before we set off on our long journey home (including 3 flights and 30 hours of travel) we had our last Thai massage and a delicious tea.

Thailand is a beautiful country - both the landscape and the culture. There really are huge pictures and flags of the king everywhere and the play The King and I came to mind often as we traveled around. I loved it in Thailand and would go back in a heartbeat with Alex. Alex is so full of adventure and this trip was the perfect combination of exploring and rejuvenation. We sure had a hard time adjusting back to Eastern Standard Time and to the freezing weather in NYC but it feels good to be home.

One Night in Bangkok

Anyone remember that song?

Luckily we spent more than 1 night in Bangkok, we spent 5 and it was absolutely incredible.

After a 15 hour flight to Guangzhou followed by a 3 hour flight to Bangkok, we headed straight to sleep and awoke with tons of energy. We spent our first day exploring the city. We ate street food, went to the Jim Thompson House, went to the Temple of the Dawn (where visitors climb up a ton of stairs to see a giant statue of Buddha), and took a long boat tour of the city. We topped off our first night with a midnight food tour of the city. The food in Thailand is full of spices with influences from China, India, the Middle East - every bite is flavorful and delicious.

We spent our second day on a temple tour of the city. We took a tour of the Grand Palace which was even more spectacular than any picture can capture. We took in a golden buddha made of solid gold donated by Buddhists. We saw a reclining buddha the size of half a football field and covered in gold. It was eye opening and gave us a great peek into the Thai culture and Buddhism. We topped off the evening with the most delicious modern Thai tasting menu at Sra Bua.

On our third day, we went on a floating market tour of the city. In Thailand there are all of these marketplaces where elderly women make one or two dishes out of a boat and sell them to patrons on the shore. It was fascinating and my favorite day of our time in Bangkok by far. Our first stop was to Maeklong Market - a packed marketplace on a train track. When the train pulls up and beeps, vendors have 15 minutes to clear out so the train can pass through. We went early in the day before the train and I can't imagine how all of the booths could move away in time! After going to a less touristy floating market called Tha Ka, we were paddled by a local along a canal to take a tour of a coconut sugar factory. Before lunch by the water at a resort, we took a short walk through a ceramics factory and it was amazing to learn that every single piece was hand crafted. We ended the day with a longboat ride to a temple commemorating a war between Burma and Thailand followed by our last market visit to Amphawa, a huge market wafting with delicious smells around every corner.

For our last day in Bangkok we decided to take it easy. We ate at a local food court, took advantage of the amenities of our hotel, and finished our stay with a modern Indian dinner at Gaggan. We packed a lot of fun things in to our time in Bangkok! The second leg of our trip was to the southern part of the country and after one restful day, we were ready to travel to Phuket.



My favorite thing about traveling is soaking up all of the different aspects of a different culture, and Thai culture was most certainly different from American culture. I loved learning phrases in Thai, seeing how calm most everyone was during even stressful situations, and exploring the beauty of a city on the other side of the world.