Teaching in Asia: WE GOT MARRIED IN THAILAND!
Rebecca and Justin are two teachers currently living and working in Asia. In this post Rebecca shares some huge news. Congratulations guys!!
Our story in brief:
Justin is from the US. I am from Canada. We met online, e-mailed for two months, and were pen pals.
Justin was wrapping up his time in Canada on a 6-month tourist visa, and we only met once. As cliché as it sounds, we silently knew that we had both just encountered our future life-partner. Sadly, Justin had to return to the US that same week.
Due to Visa restrictions and jobs, we were bound to long-distance love. We traveled every two or three months and shared a week here and there, but we wanted to share our lives! Legally, we could only spend six months a year in one another’s respective countries, and only one of us could legally work no matter what.
The Dilemma: How can we be together and make this work!?
The Resolution: Start a life together teaching overseas!
Two years later:
We just returned as Husband and Wife from a glorious excursion to Thailand!
After our first 6 months of teaching in Hanoi, summer vacation gave us a great opportunity to travel, and for us it was a perfect time to get married.
We were wed in Bangkok with the help of a translator at a local Amphur’s office, whilst being hilariously serenaded by the background music of ‘The Funky Chicken’ playing on the radio. Perfect.
Later that day we hopped an overnight bus from Bangkok to Trat, then caught a ferry to Koh Chang. The following morning, we were honeymooning in paradise!
Honeymooning, Koh Chang style
We stayed on Bailan Bay in a beachfront bungalow. Our view was impeccable, incorporating every conceivable element of destination relaxation.
The Koh Chang archipelago is a National Park, both marine and nature-wise. One of our most memorable experiences was renting a private boat to take us snorkeling and fishing for a day. The trip was punctuated by incredible views and swimming amongst vibrant and enchanting marine life in teal waters.
Fishing was awesome, too. Justin caught four fish. I caught none, which was fine because our crew fried up the fish Justin caught right there on the boat for us! We dined on the freshest fish we’ve ever tasted in our lives, and it was delectable.
We also couldn’t help but feel incredible when other snorkel boats pulled up to the pier with up to 100 cramped tourists per vessel. Many of the tourists were staring at us with a combination of envy and confusion
Travel tip: If an island snorkel trip is on your bucket-list in Thailand, get a few friends together and you can rent a private boat for the same price you’d pay on a jam-packed one.
Kayaking, climbing, motorbikes and waterfalls…
Less than a 10-minute walk from our bungalow was an incredible jungle ropes course overlooking Liska beach. We zip-lined and climbed and balanced and wobbled our way through the treetops for two hours. Sweaty and exhilarated, we then swam in the ocean and lay on the beach in complete and utter bliss.
Another favorite activity was renting a kayak and rowing out to an island with an isolated beach. We had the entire beach to ourselves for an exquisite time. So many things! We ate incredible food, watched sunsets, saw monkeys and elephants, swam in a waterfall, had a massage, rented a motorbike, and simply enjoyed the heck out of ourselves!
We will always cherish our experiences from this vacation, and none of them would have been nearly as possible without our decision to teach English in Vietnam. If our international relationship barriers sound familiar, I strongly recommend taking the TEFL course as an option to expand and enhance the quality of your future lives together 😉 It has certainly worked well for us!