Traveling There and Back

Our Asian Adventure has come to an end. We are a little woozy with jet-lag, but so pleased to be home to beautiful (and HOT) Oregon and our beloved pug. Doug da Pug is quite jealous of our new friend, Sticky Rice, who lives at a tiger preserve in Northern Thailand.

Anytime a person travels, they return a little bit different. I have brought home a new love of papaya salad, a great pile of new recipes, about 10 pounds around my middle section, and an odd new accent. I think the accent is the fault of British and American East Coast travelers. We spent the last week of our trip with more tourists then Thai, sadly. It could also have been the huge pile of British romance novels I read while lolling around on the beach of Koh Samui. Phrases like, "Quite right!" and "Don't be daft!" keep coming out of my mouth, much to my own amusement.

As someone who loves to travel I have a deep fear of the actual travel. I hate flying. I am sure that anytime the plane wiggles in the air it is about to plummet to the Earth. This makes for a stressful 9 hours in the air. Luckily, Justin is more then accomedating when it comes to holding my hand during turbulance. I am pretty sure this doesn't keep the plane up, but I feel like if I am about to fall back to Earth there is something romantic about doing it while holding his hand. Also the little bottles of wine on international flights helps a great deal. They almost make being crammed into a chair for 9 hours bareable.

We flew a random combination of airlines on this flight, mainly because we used miles for the ticket. On the way home we had the unfortunate luck of flying United. It may have been the stark change from the warm hospitality we recieved in China and Thailand, but man, they were a surly bunch. Before take off an attendant yelled at a pregnant lady and a very elderly old man to place their bags in the overhead bin, and then turned on her heels and stalked off. What?!? Yes, I did help both of them. Then they charged $6 for the tiny bottles of wine. That was almost too much to bear! Being told that in economy class, they may ask if you want cream for your coffee, but really it is milk. No cream for you! I felt like a valued customer.

But really, the last straw was what constituted as food 6 hours into the flight. I think it is egg...
Almost picturesque, isn't it.

There will be lots of food adventures to come! We literally ate our way through Beijing and Chaing Mai and I can't wait to practice and share the recipes I learned. Cooking school was fabulous and so educational.

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