Thailand - Last Day

Ben and my last day in Thailand was absolutely miserable. I woke up nauseous, achy, and congested. Ben woke up with a cold. Neither of us are very surprised that we got sick, we’ve been exhausted for almost a month, and Thailand is a terrible place to test your immune system. Ben packed our bags, and I did laps to and from the bathroom. We checked out of our hotel room just before noon, and had the hotel hold our extra suitcases. We stopped at the ATM just outside our hotel to grab enough money for a lunch and a dinner, and then proceeded to head out into the city. It was windy and drizzling, so swimming didn’t seem very appealing, and we had read about a mall, where we planned to walk about in air conditioning for a few hours, to kill the time until the transport to the airport picked us up at 10pm.

                The mall was not indoor, not cool, and aggressively in your face. There was no option just to browse the goods, store clerks shoved things into your hands, shouted at you from other stalls that you wouldn’t get a good deal at the stall you were at, and heckled you when you didn’t buy anything. I couldn’t handle the culture shock, after I had spent the past year pampered by Japanese shopping experiences. We found a big fancy hotel, and decided to lounge about in the lobby until they figured out we didn’t belong. We decided to eat lunch at a nice looking middle eastern/Indian restaurant. The food was excellent but slow, and the waiter was very pushy, and tried to insist on us getting way more than we wanted. When it came time to pay the money we had anticipated covering lunch and dinner didn’t cover the cost of lunch, and I had to ask if they accepted visa cards, luckily they did. I went to grab my card out of my wallet, but it wasn’t there. I’m fairly certain I left my card in the ATM, but in the two hours between getting the cash, and dashing back to it to see if anyone had turned it in, it had gone missing. Ben and I spent the next two hours canceling my card, which filled the time, but was a miserable activity.

                We had dinner at a buffet using the remainder of our money, the food was terrible, and the staff was annoyingly insistent that we wanted to eat spaghetti with cheese which did not look even remotely appetizing. After dinner we spent some time on the beach, this part of the day was nice, a cool breeze came in from the ocean, and Ben and I talked about what we had wanted to be when we were kids, and what we would do if we won the lottery. We passed the time until we had to go back to our hotel to meet our airport transport.

                We got to Phuket Airport at 10:30, too early for our 2:30am flight, but there wasn’t anything we could do about it. We waited around until we could check in for our flight. A group of about 40 tourist all raced towards the line as soon as it was open, they were not well prepared, rude, and very slow, they held up the line, and were so loud that Ben and I had to shout to talk to each other less than a meter away from each other.

                We got to our gate at about 12:30, exhausted. Ben and I both tried to fall asleep, but I was hit with a wave of sickness. I spent about an hour bent over the nasty airport bathrooms, wondering how so much food could come out of me, as Ben took a nap. My skin itched everywhere, I was dizzy, and very nauseous. I went back to Ben, thinking there was something he could do for me, unfortunately despite his incredible desire to do so, there was nothing he could do to help. We waited near our gate for our 2:30 am flight, which got delayed to 4:00 am. This meant that our transfer in China, during which we would have to recheck our bag, and go through security again would all have to be done in the impossibly short time slot of one hour.

                All that being said, will I return to Thailand? No, I like traveling to observe and participate in foreign cultures. I cannot say I saw any of Thailand’s culture, as everywhere accessible to us had been so deformed by tourists, that it was impossible to go anywhere without being bombarded by dozens of types of tourism. The traffic in Thailand is scary, and it is impossible to go anywhere without having to jaywalk half a dozen times. Ben and I were most excited for the food in Thailand, as it is one of our favorite types of cuisine at home, but the only “Thai” food was either outrageously expensive, tasted terrible, or made me very sick. The beach was packed, and vendors walked up and down the beach constantly, shouting about their wares, or standing right next to you shaking their wares in your face until you either pushed them away or somehow verbally let them know that there was no way that you would be buying anything. The tours were fun, though it was very frustrating that the guides would stop at various times during the tour to pull out their poorly made jewelry, and try to guilt you into buying it, while you’re sitting on the back of their elephant.

                Thailand is beautiful, and I went to the country with my loving, and wonderful husband, so really truly I had a wonderful time, I do not regret going, but I will not be returning, and would not recommend our trip to friends. I think there are much better ways to spend your time and money.

Thailand-Animals and City Tour

 Our third day in Thailand, we decided to do a half day city tour. The tour took us inland to the beautiful jungles on the island.

 Part of our tour was done on elephants. We got to ride lurching seats atop the elephants. It was a surprisingly good ab work out, and a very interesting experience. We also got to feed and pet baby elephants, they were very cute. I was surprised by how dexterous the tips of their trunks are, they were easily able to pick up the sliced banana we fed them without smashing it.

 
 We got to wander around a small orchid farm, the flowers were gorgeous. The roots hung down several feet under the plants, spewing out of their small hanging pots.

 After the elephant park, and orchid garden we went to Big Buddha, atop Nakkerd Hill in the middle of Phuket Island. The buddha is 45 meters tall, and made of white marble. It is visible from far off, and is a stunning and serene call to faith from all directions.

 Big Buddha is still in progress, but is still a pleasant tour despite the construction. Many of the statues we saw had clothes wrapped around their faces, which looked eerie and foreboding. The temple had a very open air feel, allowing you to admire the beautiful scenery from atop the mountain.

 After Big Buddha, we went to Chalong Temple. A lavishly painted, grand temple. The temple was chaoitic, and any peace you might reach was often interupted by series of fireworks, set off by people either trying to get rid of their bad luck or bring on good luck. The place felt like it was part amusement park, part temple, every thing was gaudily painted, vendors pushed their products, but a distinct Buddhist theme prevailed.

 The temple felt very strange to Ben and I after all the Buddhist temples we have visited in Japan. Where Japan has a subtle beauty, the temples of Thailand are cheerful, with a full palate of exotic colors.

We finished our tour at a cashew factory, which was not visually very interesting, but the flavors were amazing. We ate dozens of flavors of cashews, and watched as people turned the brightly colored fruits into the light brown toasty nuts we all enjoy. We drank cashewy juice, which was a new experience for me, I expected a creamy nutty flavor, but it had a nice fresh zing to it.
In the afternoon, Ben and I took an afternoon siesta, and then enjoyed cocktails while swimming in the pools in our hotel that overlooked Patong. We got nothing done that day, and it was everything we wanted to do.

Thailand - Phang Nga

 Phang Nga is an area of Thailand, with spectacular limestone islands, that jut out of the water creating a spectacular scene.

I was in awe at the amount of life on the steep, rocky islands. Trees clung to cliff faces, small crabs scuttled on the underside of caves, but my favorite creature we saw were the monkeys, who seemed just as interested in us as we were of them.

 We paid for a full day boat cruise for two. All we had to focus on was enjoying ourselves; the perfect objective on a honeymoon. We got to canoe through caves, swim on secluded beaches, and look at hundreds of beautiful islands.

I was surprised I had never heard of Phang Nga before, it is such a unique place.
The most famous island is James Bond Island, named for it's appearance in The Man with the Golden Gun. It was a cool island, and I couldn't help admire the guns on my handsome husband.

Thailand- Lazy Beach Day

Ben and my trip to Thailand, is all about us being happily in love. It's our honeymoon 2.0, and we are dedicating ourselves to just enjoying ourselves. So far so good, today we spent almost the entire day in water, either at the beautiful beaches near our hotel, or in the pools with a view at our hotel.

 It's been an awesome day of swimming and eating. Thai food is amazing, and we are in heaven.

 Today we spent the day at Patong Beach in Phuket, Thailand. For those of you who were mistken like me, Phuket is pronounced like Puket, not like and English vulgarity (makes sense when you think of how we pronounce Thai, and Thailand).