One country, four female family members, one big adventure.

This is how our little trip of a lifetime came about.

In 2007, Mom proclaimed that for her 65th birthday, all she wanted was to “go have an adventure where I can ride an elephant.” (Little does she know that riding an elephant is akin to sitting on a hairbrush with the occasional snot shower.) With elephants long being extinct from the Canadian prairies, it meant a trip.

My very thoughtful sis-in-law Tan, the purveyor of make-everyone’s-dream-come-true, set out to make it so. Kimbo and I couldn't help but tag along now. After much discussion and negotiation, on January 12, 2008, we’ll meet in Bangkok to start our 12-day tour of Thailand. At the end of the tour Kimbo and I will head to the beach for some rather selfish sun-bathing and snorkeling, and Mom and Tan will selflessly go to Angkor Wat and volunteer for a couple of weeks at the children's hospital. No doubt one of them will also donate a kidney while they're there. Kimbo and I, on the other hand, after our beach excursion, may need to get new livers.

(Segway alert: Having been to next-door Cambodia the year before, Tan decided to combine Mom's dream with a charitable endeavour and set out to secure not one... not two ... but three ultrasound machines for the Angkor Wat Hospital for Children and $20K in donations. Brother is going to meet them there to do training in radiology, while Tan will teach physiotherapy. Mom will cuddle sick children. More on that in another post.)

Four female family members, from four different cities across three provinces, who see each other, maybe, a couple of times a year, are going to be spending nearly three weeks together in Thailand.

How will it all turn out? Check back for updates as the journey progresses!