When Michelle inherited some money from her grandmother, she knew she could hide it in a savings account of interest, or gamble on some high-performance stocks. Or, or, she could spend it on a lifelong adventure.
My husband sat on the playground, brushing talc powder from his hair, and a broad smile appeared on his face. We just played a fun game that involved passing a cardboard with talc from our heads to teammates. These teammates are our three children (13-year-old Carmen and 11-year-old twins Anna and Nathaniel), and their new friends are from us Thai family holidays Group and children of Baan Hua Tung, a remote village in Thailand’s lush green Jiangdao Valley.
As my husband smiled and shaking more talc from his t-shirt, I said a quiet thank you to Gran. Thanks to her, and the money she left me when she passed away over a year ago, we have been a life-changing family journey for a week Thailand.
We have had many moments to be grateful for in the past week – from standing in awe of silence, the elephant bounced away, to sailing along the quiet river Kwai in a long tail boat – but this happy day has confirmed this: we made the right decision, the right decision on how to spend the legacy.
It needs a village
We took a minivan to Baan Hua Tung. Adults come together, and the “blue” van with beautifully decorated gem ceilings became the kids’ van of choice – they formed a tight bond in a few days on the journey – our local leader Ning. Ning provided a lot of fun on the route, teaching them Thai words and an elephant song, including action, to perform for the children in the village.
From the moment we arrived we felt welcome. Our hosts do not hesitate to waste time immerse us in rural life through traditional hands-on activities: making flowers from paper napkins, weaving baskets with bamboo, and helping prepare desserts by rolling colorful rice flour balls into sweet coconut milk.
Later, we headed to the jungle, a nature walk led by knowledgeable local guides. The growing sense of independence and new discovery is evident as I watch the kids laugh with their new friends. They happily took off their shoes and socks and wade in the water, giggling as they jumped behind the older teenagers in the group and jumped from the deeper section.
I think our kids once imagined later that day they would watch mom and dad happily pretending they were caterpillars who transformed into butterflies through songs and dances. We really enjoy watching the country kids perform this kind of dance so it feels right to get up and join them in the second round. Our kids rewarded the favor by performing the elephant songs they practiced in the blue van, which was a great entertainment for rural children.
Nor do I think our kids ever wished to see us running wildly around the talc in our minds. I suspect they have seen us before being relaxed and happy. We are usually too tired or busy with stupidity. But neither of us has considered work or chores for nearly a week and we don’t even have to think about how to entertain, feed or organize children all the time. Most importantly, it’s exciting every day and we love seeing our kids having fun.
Seeing the kids’ faces exuding joy as they run on the playground with balloons tied to their ankles will not warm your heart. As they twist, turn, dodge and weave, avoid having their opponents pop up balloons with foot stamps, the playground is filled with excitement screams and crazy musical laughter. Ning always tried to equip us with some Thai vocabulary, and that day, laughter and smile were the only form of communication we needed.
Valuable childhood memories
We are still talking about special days at Baan Hu Tung. We can still see the huge smiles of the children we meet and hear Ning’s loud, contagious laughter. We recall elephants, new experiences with overnight trains and emotional visits to the Kwai River Prisoners Memorial, which reminds us how lucky we are.
Most importantly, we talk about the people. The kids are still in touch with their friends – updated by the constant flow of the “snapshots” they shared on Snapchat – Anna still remembers the little girl she dated in Baan Hua Tong.
Gran is glad to know that we used her gifts to create such a special memory together through travel. Whenever I was in her home as a kid, I would play with her grandpa with her souvenirs: Open and close a wooden wooden house like Switzerland, blowing into the Spanish ceramic bird whistle, and picking up the lid from the small copper saucepans, bringing the little copper from France.
Our souvenirs from Thailand are valuable memories we share and photos that decorate our corridors, such as a selfie of a family from Nathaniel looking at chiang mai from the doi suthep temple while we stood on the railway bridge over the Kwai River. On the day our caterpillar grew into butterflies, we also had video evidence (only our eyes).
Transformative Family Travel
In a sense, we do experience our own deformation. The trip was transformative. When it comes to family vacations, we venture out of our comfort zone – never traveled with strangers or participated in an organized tour before. By doing so, we found an interesting and accessible way to see the world. A place where we can see more, do more things and build a lasting connection at the same time. We have decided to travel this way from now on our kids.
“We only have two lasting legacies to hope for our children. One is the root and the other is the wings. This sentence I read a long time ago but has always been with me, and it is the foundation of our parenting philosophy: it is our job to make our children stable and independent with the same attitude. My Gran’s money helped us give gifts to our kids through an eye-opening travel experience – we are all very grateful.
I believe our time in Thailand will always remain in the memory bank of my children and remind them to seize opportunities, be brave, and work hard to realize their dreams, especially to enjoy life. What else do grandparents hope to be their legacy?
My inheritance may not earn my interest in a savings account somewhere, but the expense still feels like the best investment I have ever made.
Michelle and her family in a lasting memory Thai family holidays. Find the right place Brave family trip Serve you and take your young people on unforgettable adventures.
