It feels like we have a lot of lists to check these days - and often times, as soon as we get items crossed OFF our list, we'll add more things to our to-dos, and as a result, I feel like I live in a perpetual state of accomplishing a lot... and needing to accomplish more!
This week, though, with the end of the school term, means we're coming down toward the cut off point for a lot of items on our "do while we're in Chiang Mai" list.
Today we got a lot accomplished!
This morning we graded and added scores from our grade books. I finished Grade 2's final tallying, but we still have a little to do with Grade 1 and Grade 3 next week.
We also bought our tickets fly home from New Zealand in December. This is the last of our international airline purchases (well, except for how getting from France to Dublin in order to catch our flight to Honiara, but we might try to do a bus/train/ferry option with that anyhow). The good news? It was $600 cheaper than my estimated budget. Thank you, Jesus!
So, this blogpost is serving two purposes - to record our check list accomplishments, but probably more importantly, to contribute to the online community of information about how to travel and live overseas - specifically in Chiang Mai right now.
First review: www.skyscanner.com This website has been my best friend as I research for our various flights. Skyscanner has three amazing features we love:
First, you can search from a starting point to "Everywhere" (without specifying a destination). You'll get a list of possible destinations sorted by descending price. That was how we found our rock-bottom prices from Bangkok to Venice. We knew we wanted to get to Greece, but we also knew that it might actually cost us less to fly into Germany or France or something like that on a sale deal, and then catch a small, budget-airline flight a day or two later closer to where we wanted to go. As it ended up, the cheapest price to ANYwhere in Europe from Bangkok was going to Venice - which happened to be only one country over from Greece ;)
Second, you can also search using a departure point and a destination city, but look at the whole month of prices at once. This helped us as we planned for getting from Athens to Marseille, for example, but wanting to get the cheapest possible flights within about a 2-week time zone.
Third, Skyscanner has a map feature - it's similar to the "Everywhere" feature, but rather than a lift of destinations, you can see a map of the world with prices listed next to cities - so we could see that flying to Nador, Morocco, was significantly cheaper than flying into Melilla, Spain - even though they're basically right next door to each other.
All in all, Skyscanner.com has been an awesome resource for us to use as we've planned our trip.
Second review: today we went to the dentist for our 6-month cleaning. Last fall, we went to a dental clinic that a friend had told us about and, although it wasn't super expensive (I think less than $30 for both of us), it was a little bit of a freaky experience - the dentist spoke a little English, but not a ton, and I'd told her I wanted my teeth cleaned, but the very first thing she did was start up a machine that sounded an awful lot like a drill! Now, I have to say, I've really had very pleasant experiences with dentists - I've never had a tooth pulled or a root canal or anything like that, just cleanings and the occasional cavity to fill or sand blast - and because of that, I LIKE my teeth! When that dentist started in on "drilling" near my gums, I about came out of that seat!
We decided to not go back there. Instead, we went to a commonly referenced English-speaking-friendly clinic called Grace Dental. (Also recommended by friends) The website is a little cheesy, I'll admit, but the care we received seemed top notch! First, they actually used the pick/cleaning things that I'm used to seeing at a dental cleaning, not a weird, high-pitched drill! Second, the dentist that cleaned my teeth spoke excellent English, as did the receptionist when I called 2 weeks ago to get an appointment set up. And third, even though it is slightly more expensive than the very Thai place we went last time, it wasn't that much more so! We ended up paying less than $40 for both of us to have a 50-minute cleaning. Am I happy? Yes.
Third review: another thing on our to-do list was getting boosters on a couple vaccines. We are required to have some basic vaccines for our DTS, including Tetanus and Typhoid. Gabe's tetanus is due to expire in January 2017, and I figured while we were here in Thailand, we might as well try to get that taken care of - presumably at a fraction of the cost, since we don't have "insurance" per se in the USA, we have a Christian "bill pay" cooperative - but they don't cover vaccinations. We also both needed Typhoid - and frankly, since we're heading out into the jungle of Burma for a month in a few weeks, I figured we should get those NOW rather than wait until the day before we leave SE Asia!
I had initially thought we'd go to Ram Hospital, but after reading some reviews, I was feeling hesitant. I stumbled across the name of a clinic in the area over by Grace Dental: CM Mediclinic and even though it looked relatively new and didn't have a ton of reviews, I thought, "Let's just give this a try." We didn't call ahead - we just planned to drop-in after we finished at the dentist.
Now, to be fair, it was a little confusing to get to just because it's off the beaten path (fortunately, it's very close to one of our favorite post-church-on-Sunday lunch spots, so we had an idea of where we were going), but nothing that having a good map and a little extra time planned didn't take care of. It's a small, two-staff-person place, only open in the afternoons on weekdays and then all day Saturday, but it was a great experience! The gentleman that greeted us was a chap from England, and we had a lovely talk with him. He was able to give us the prices of our vaccinations up front so we could decide if we wanted to get them there or go elsewhere. The woman who actually administered our shots was very kind, explaining what brand she was using and why, and honestly, it was one of the gentlest shots I've ever had!
We were in an our in about 20 minutes, and that included a fair amount of visiting. The total cost for both of us to get a Typhoid vaccination and Gabe to get a Tetanus/Diphtheria: under $75.
After that, we went and got one last Mexican-food dinner at The Salsa Kitchen, a seriously unique and fun take on Mexican food.
Lastly, we stopped at Boots, a pharmacy chain, and picked up a 40-day supply of Doxycycline for an antimalarial while we're out in Burma for $35. Sometimes I just love how convenient Thailand is! No call to the travel advice nurse, no $50 charge for a consultation, no special trip to your healthcare provider's in-house pharmacy... Just go to the store, tell them what you want, ask for any advice that you need, and purchase the product!
Now we're home to do a PiYo workout (and since I'm posting links and reviews anyhow, we're doing Chalene Johnson's Beachbody series that a friend back home super generously gifted to us last fall!) so I'll sign off. But now you have my recommendations for flight planning, dental cleaning in Chiang Mai, vaccination location, Mexican food, and a workout plan ;)
This week, though, with the end of the school term, means we're coming down toward the cut off point for a lot of items on our "do while we're in Chiang Mai" list.
Today we got a lot accomplished!
This morning we graded and added scores from our grade books. I finished Grade 2's final tallying, but we still have a little to do with Grade 1 and Grade 3 next week.
We also bought our tickets fly home from New Zealand in December. This is the last of our international airline purchases (well, except for how getting from France to Dublin in order to catch our flight to Honiara, but we might try to do a bus/train/ferry option with that anyhow). The good news? It was $600 cheaper than my estimated budget. Thank you, Jesus!
So, this blogpost is serving two purposes - to record our check list accomplishments, but probably more importantly, to contribute to the online community of information about how to travel and live overseas - specifically in Chiang Mai right now.
First review: www.skyscanner.com This website has been my best friend as I research for our various flights. Skyscanner has three amazing features we love:
First, you can search from a starting point to "Everywhere" (without specifying a destination). You'll get a list of possible destinations sorted by descending price. That was how we found our rock-bottom prices from Bangkok to Venice. We knew we wanted to get to Greece, but we also knew that it might actually cost us less to fly into Germany or France or something like that on a sale deal, and then catch a small, budget-airline flight a day or two later closer to where we wanted to go. As it ended up, the cheapest price to ANYwhere in Europe from Bangkok was going to Venice - which happened to be only one country over from Greece ;)
Second, you can also search using a departure point and a destination city, but look at the whole month of prices at once. This helped us as we planned for getting from Athens to Marseille, for example, but wanting to get the cheapest possible flights within about a 2-week time zone.
Third, Skyscanner has a map feature - it's similar to the "Everywhere" feature, but rather than a lift of destinations, you can see a map of the world with prices listed next to cities - so we could see that flying to Nador, Morocco, was significantly cheaper than flying into Melilla, Spain - even though they're basically right next door to each other.
All in all, Skyscanner.com has been an awesome resource for us to use as we've planned our trip.
Second review: today we went to the dentist for our 6-month cleaning. Last fall, we went to a dental clinic that a friend had told us about and, although it wasn't super expensive (I think less than $30 for both of us), it was a little bit of a freaky experience - the dentist spoke a little English, but not a ton, and I'd told her I wanted my teeth cleaned, but the very first thing she did was start up a machine that sounded an awful lot like a drill! Now, I have to say, I've really had very pleasant experiences with dentists - I've never had a tooth pulled or a root canal or anything like that, just cleanings and the occasional cavity to fill or sand blast - and because of that, I LIKE my teeth! When that dentist started in on "drilling" near my gums, I about came out of that seat!
We decided to not go back there. Instead, we went to a commonly referenced English-speaking-friendly clinic called Grace Dental. (Also recommended by friends) The website is a little cheesy, I'll admit, but the care we received seemed top notch! First, they actually used the pick/cleaning things that I'm used to seeing at a dental cleaning, not a weird, high-pitched drill! Second, the dentist that cleaned my teeth spoke excellent English, as did the receptionist when I called 2 weeks ago to get an appointment set up. And third, even though it is slightly more expensive than the very Thai place we went last time, it wasn't that much more so! We ended up paying less than $40 for both of us to have a 50-minute cleaning. Am I happy? Yes.
Third review: another thing on our to-do list was getting boosters on a couple vaccines. We are required to have some basic vaccines for our DTS, including Tetanus and Typhoid. Gabe's tetanus is due to expire in January 2017, and I figured while we were here in Thailand, we might as well try to get that taken care of - presumably at a fraction of the cost, since we don't have "insurance" per se in the USA, we have a Christian "bill pay" cooperative - but they don't cover vaccinations. We also both needed Typhoid - and frankly, since we're heading out into the jungle of Burma for a month in a few weeks, I figured we should get those NOW rather than wait until the day before we leave SE Asia!
I had initially thought we'd go to Ram Hospital, but after reading some reviews, I was feeling hesitant. I stumbled across the name of a clinic in the area over by Grace Dental: CM Mediclinic and even though it looked relatively new and didn't have a ton of reviews, I thought, "Let's just give this a try." We didn't call ahead - we just planned to drop-in after we finished at the dentist.
Now, to be fair, it was a little confusing to get to just because it's off the beaten path (fortunately, it's very close to one of our favorite post-church-on-Sunday lunch spots, so we had an idea of where we were going), but nothing that having a good map and a little extra time planned didn't take care of. It's a small, two-staff-person place, only open in the afternoons on weekdays and then all day Saturday, but it was a great experience! The gentleman that greeted us was a chap from England, and we had a lovely talk with him. He was able to give us the prices of our vaccinations up front so we could decide if we wanted to get them there or go elsewhere. The woman who actually administered our shots was very kind, explaining what brand she was using and why, and honestly, it was one of the gentlest shots I've ever had!
We were in an our in about 20 minutes, and that included a fair amount of visiting. The total cost for both of us to get a Typhoid vaccination and Gabe to get a Tetanus/Diphtheria: under $75.
After that, we went and got one last Mexican-food dinner at The Salsa Kitchen, a seriously unique and fun take on Mexican food.
Lastly, we stopped at Boots, a pharmacy chain, and picked up a 40-day supply of Doxycycline for an antimalarial while we're out in Burma for $35. Sometimes I just love how convenient Thailand is! No call to the travel advice nurse, no $50 charge for a consultation, no special trip to your healthcare provider's in-house pharmacy... Just go to the store, tell them what you want, ask for any advice that you need, and purchase the product!
Now we're home to do a PiYo workout (and since I'm posting links and reviews anyhow, we're doing Chalene Johnson's Beachbody series that a friend back home super generously gifted to us last fall!) so I'll sign off. But now you have my recommendations for flight planning, dental cleaning in Chiang Mai, vaccination location, Mexican food, and a workout plan ;)
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