Katie and I made the most out of our last day in Bangkok. We slept in Sunday before putting on our walking shoes and hitting the town. Around 10:30 we left the hotel and started walking towards the main shopping malls which just happened to be ground zero for all the recent fighting. Along the way we met a very nice lady making her living by weaving kids dolls from rope/string on the sidewalk. Unlike a lot of the beggars and the people selling "copy" stuff; her product was very nice and only 200 Baht ($6 us). We bought Abby a horse and kept walking. According to the GPS we walked 5.22 miles before we got to our destination.
The first thing we notice at ground zero was the burnt mall. This place was home to some very high-end stores and is situated between two other very high-end malls. It's amazing they were able to burn it; it's not like you just throw a match against the window. I still wonder how they did it. The whole place was fenced off but from the skywalk we were able to get a great view. The fire damage was obvious but after further investigation we noticed a significant number of bullet holes. We couldn't stop staring. Check out the photos in the Bangkok album - the link is a few posts below.
Our first stop was the MBK mall. This mall is 7 floors of knockoff merchandise including jeans, CDs, DVDs, watches, perfume, belts, jewelery, shoes, etc etc. We couldn't believe how much crap they packed in to this place. Katie and I were having the time of lives shopping around; wheeling and dealing. We started to run low on time; we wished we had come here the day before. We decided to cut our time at this mall short and go over to the high-end malls. In retrospect this was a big mistake but if we hadn't done it we would have regretted it. The high-end malls went on forever. It was never ending name brand store after name brand store; some stores we saw multiple (three or even four) times. We were told because of the recent fighting and the fact it's "low season" that everything was on sale --- LIE - shoes were still $800 a pair, belts were $600, etc etc. We didn't buy a thing at these malls.
By the time we made it through the 3 malls we were 2 miles or so from the MBK mall with only 2.5 hours before dinner. We decided to hop on the sky train and head back to the hotel. Another lesson learned; if you're ever in Bangkok stay at a hotel near the sky train and take the sky train everywhere. It was so much faster then any taxi and just as cheap (actually cheaper). If our travels ever bring us back here we'll probably stay at the Intercontinental just for it's prime location relative to the sky train and the best shopping. As we zipped towards our hotel we applauded our decision to take the train; the traffic below was gridlock.
The train didn't stop at our hotel (about 4 blocks away) so we jumped off at the river location and took a hotel ferry boat from the train stop to the Oriental. Back at the hotel we cleaned ourselves up and prepared for dinner. The restaurant, Siroco, was just a few blocks from our hotel so we decided to walk it. We arrived at the building and took the elevator up to the 64th floor where the restaurant was located. We were escorted out and WOW -- what an amazing view. Besides the view, the restaurant was so impressive. My knees got a little week walking around but after the first glass of wine I started to stand a bit taller. The way they designed this rooftop restaurant made you feel like there wasn't any railing. I looked at the pictures we took and they don't come close to doing it justice.
We walked to the bar for a couple drinks before being seated for dinner. One thing we noticed right away were the prices. This place wasn't cheap. I can't imagine a restaurant in Manhattan costing more. We ordered a bottle of wine, made our selections and sat back to enjoy our last supper. The wine that the sommelier suggested was amazing, the food was amazing, Katie was/is amazing,,, it couldn't have been any better.
As we finished up dinner, God treated us to an amazing light show. Off in the distance was a huge thunderstorm with brilliant lightning. We went back to the bar to finish our wine and from there I took over 100 pictures trying to capture the night sky. I deleted most of them but posted my favorites in the album. Katie and I both agreed we didn't want our trip to end and if it wasn't for my beautiful daughters that I miss so much we would have stayed longer.
As we headed back to the hotel we passed a nice looking spa so we decided to stop in for one last massage. Katie and I toured the place; it was very clean; we were sold. After a couples 90 minute massage (1000 Baht after trip, $32 US each) we headed back to the hotel. We got to bed late per our plan to be very tired so that we could easily sleep on the plane. Big day of travel coming up Monday: 4:20 AM pickup at the hotel for a 6:50 flight to Japan. Planned landing in Tampa: Monday night 11:55 PM - ETA at condo, 1:45 AM - total time from alarm bell to home = 33 hours. See everyone soon!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
On Top of Bangkok
Our last day in Bangkok....Our last day on our honeymoon!!! I cannot believe it has been a MONTH already...the time just flew by! If we could have Abby & Hailey with us I don't think we'd ever stop. We are having such an amazing time exploring.
Today we walked around a lot. Past 4 hospitals, a golf course, 2 malls, horse racing & polo fields. We walked for hours to go to a renowned shopping center and to check out the damage that took place last month. With one short stop at Starbucks (our first one since Tokyo.) The iced coffee put a pep in our step for our I-dont-know-how-many-mile walk. We got to the area where the fighting happened in downtown Bangkok, it was unbelievable. A huge shopping center was burnt all the way up the side....As Jesse said "thats crazy, you dont just throw a match for that to happen." You will have to see the pictures. Bullet holes seemed to only occupy one part of the street and besides the one building there wasn't too much damage. We were able to learn a little bit about the fighting from a nice British guy we were sharing the directory with.
The malls were fun. Had some lunch, marveled at the amount of people inside this 7 story shopping center. Anything you want, you can get here. Popular merchandise include phone covers, bootleg dvd's, shoes, belts, foot massages, etc.. The higher end mall had the usual stores, Burberry, Jimmy Choo, Gucci, Prada...stores we don't typically buy from, even in the U.S.
The most wonderful part of the day, the "Happy Honeymoon" part of the day was dinner. We ate outside on the terrace at the top of the 64 floor State Tower. On Top of Bangkok. It was incredible!!! It was so fabulous to see this great city at night. It was probably the most expensive dinner we've had on this trip but what the hey, it was the last night of our honeymoon and the view alone was intoxicating. Thankfully, we've been playing with the camera so much we got some great shots. Check out the pictures with the lightning in the distance. Jesse is quite the photog these days! They did not serve pad thai but that was okay - I've probably had more than my fair share. Although, I have made a pact with myself that when we get home I will allow it once a week. :) It's just soooo good!
It's so bittersweet to be leaving.... Bitter - because its been SO wonderful, I hope this blog has captured our emotions and excitement toward this amazing excursion. Sweet - because we will return home to our wonderful Families, J's sweet little babies, and of course, Savannah. Normally I would say "I can't wait to sleep in my own bed and shower in my shower" but the showers and the beds have been great, we really haven't even missed ours. It's funny how you can go on a 5 day cruise and be ready to come home, but you can go to the other side of the world for a month and not be ready to leave.
We've already started talking about our next trip abroad. We are trying to figure out how we can see the whole world. :)
Anyone want to join?
Look at this picture from dinner:
Until next time.... (next time we'll be almost home)
xoxo,
Katie Biter
While You Were Sleeping
While you were sleeping Katie and I were spending Saturday, our first full day in Bangkok, exploring as much as we could. We decided to eat breakfast somewhere in town vs at the hotel. Little did we know our choices for the first two miles of walking would only be street side mystery meat. Eventually we came to a nice little coffee shop which worked out perfectly.
After a quick breakfast we jumped in a Tuk Tuk and went to the Dusit Zoo. My research ahead of time suggested Dusit Zoo is the only place around that has a Panda Bear. I promised Hailey I would do my best to take a picture of a Panda Bear so that was our mission. After 45 minutes in the Tuk Tuk (traffic really sucks around here) we made it to the zoo. We spent about an hour walking around the zoo only to find there is no Panda. The closest Panda Bear is about 4 hours from here,,, I was bummed. It was interesting to see how poorly this zoo treated their animals. I hope nobody complains about Busch Gardens,,, compared to this zoo Busch Gardens is a 5 star resort for animals.
Once our zoo escapade was over we jumped in a taxi to enjoy some AC for our ride back. We learned a new trick in Bangkok, make sure your taxi is a metered taxi. He turned the meter on, 45 minutes later we were back at the hotel for only 75 Baht. I gave him 100 ($3 US) and we were back on our feet again. Katie and I continued exploring more of the shops near our hotel. We decided we would have dinner one night at one of the most popular restaurants in Bangkok. This restaurant is a few blocks from our hotel atop one of the taller buildings downtown. To eat there I needed to have long pants but unfortunately I had already shipped back all of my long pants thinking shorts would be fine for the remainder of the trip. We found a nice tailor who was able to bang out a pair of pants within a few hours,,,, perfect. We also found some nice brown shoes,,,, I was all set.
We made it back to the room early in the afternoon for a few hours of sleep before heading out to dinner and a night on the town. We stopped at the concierge on our way back to the room to book dinner. The restaurant was sold out for Saturday night so we made reservations for the following evening. The concierge suggested a cabaret show so we booked it and headed up to the room for some rest. Back at the room we found rest to be harder then planned. The unmistakable sound of a hammer drill was pounding away in a nearby room. After a few calls to the management we couldn't get it stopped. To the Oriental Hotel's credit (including help from Adventure Asia and Admiral Travel) they offered us another room. We had to decline, after a month of packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking, etc - we didn't want to move. They then offered a one night refund which we graciously accepted.
Around 7 we left the hotel for the 30 minute ride to the Asia Hotel which hosted the cabaret show. The Asia Hotel sounded grand but we were very unimpressed with the lobby and restaurant choices. We sat at the lobby bar and ordered fried calamari, pad thai and a few drinks. We enjoyed sitting there watching the crowd roll in for the show. It was a definitely a mixing pot of people; young, old, kids, parents, male, female, Asian, non-Asian, etc. At 8 we left the bar and headed down the stairs to the show. The theater was small but they still managed to fit a few hundred people in the tiny area. We had 3rd row center tickets which we thought were good but,,, no. There were only 6 rows and each row had two rows of people in groups of 6. Each group of 6 shared a very small table for overpriced drinks. Each group of 6 was pushed up against another group of 6 on either side of them. We felt like sardines.
Around 8:30 the lights dimmed and the "lady boy" show started. This area is full of "lady boys" - it turns out a sex change is a very popular thing to have in this town. These girls (guys) started running around singing and dancing. It was funny and sad at the same time. It wasn't a great show but we stuck it out the full 50 minutes. At one point during the show Katie offered some picture taking advice to the guy in front of us. (side note: by in front of us I mean on our lap). He was trying to take pictures with his flash on and they weren't coming out. She suggested turning the flash off (accurate suggestion). He spent the next 10 minutes trying to figure out how to do that before just giving up. I mentioned this because it was one of the funnier parts of the show (for us). During the bows and thank-yous Katie and I darted out of the theater to continue exploring the town.
The rest of the night we walked through a few markets and did some bar hopping. The nightlife around here is interesting to say the least. There are kids running around by themselves begging for money. There were mothers carrying their kids around asking for money. On one small side street (it looked like a mini-Vegas with bars, etc), we saw a one-legged guy dragging himself up the middle of the road. He would push his money dish forward then pull himself up to the dish. He did this over and over again as he slowly made his way up the street. The whole time his head was never more than 1 inch from the ground. We headed back around midnight and called it a night. Only 1 night left,,, I can't believe it. I miss everyone (my daughters especially),,, we'll be home soon. More to come....
After a quick breakfast we jumped in a Tuk Tuk and went to the Dusit Zoo. My research ahead of time suggested Dusit Zoo is the only place around that has a Panda Bear. I promised Hailey I would do my best to take a picture of a Panda Bear so that was our mission. After 45 minutes in the Tuk Tuk (traffic really sucks around here) we made it to the zoo. We spent about an hour walking around the zoo only to find there is no Panda. The closest Panda Bear is about 4 hours from here,,, I was bummed. It was interesting to see how poorly this zoo treated their animals. I hope nobody complains about Busch Gardens,,, compared to this zoo Busch Gardens is a 5 star resort for animals.
Once our zoo escapade was over we jumped in a taxi to enjoy some AC for our ride back. We learned a new trick in Bangkok, make sure your taxi is a metered taxi. He turned the meter on, 45 minutes later we were back at the hotel for only 75 Baht. I gave him 100 ($3 US) and we were back on our feet again. Katie and I continued exploring more of the shops near our hotel. We decided we would have dinner one night at one of the most popular restaurants in Bangkok. This restaurant is a few blocks from our hotel atop one of the taller buildings downtown. To eat there I needed to have long pants but unfortunately I had already shipped back all of my long pants thinking shorts would be fine for the remainder of the trip. We found a nice tailor who was able to bang out a pair of pants within a few hours,,,, perfect. We also found some nice brown shoes,,,, I was all set.
We made it back to the room early in the afternoon for a few hours of sleep before heading out to dinner and a night on the town. We stopped at the concierge on our way back to the room to book dinner. The restaurant was sold out for Saturday night so we made reservations for the following evening. The concierge suggested a cabaret show so we booked it and headed up to the room for some rest. Back at the room we found rest to be harder then planned. The unmistakable sound of a hammer drill was pounding away in a nearby room. After a few calls to the management we couldn't get it stopped. To the Oriental Hotel's credit (including help from Adventure Asia and Admiral Travel) they offered us another room. We had to decline, after a month of packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking, etc - we didn't want to move. They then offered a one night refund which we graciously accepted.
Around 7 we left the hotel for the 30 minute ride to the Asia Hotel which hosted the cabaret show. The Asia Hotel sounded grand but we were very unimpressed with the lobby and restaurant choices. We sat at the lobby bar and ordered fried calamari, pad thai and a few drinks. We enjoyed sitting there watching the crowd roll in for the show. It was a definitely a mixing pot of people; young, old, kids, parents, male, female, Asian, non-Asian, etc. At 8 we left the bar and headed down the stairs to the show. The theater was small but they still managed to fit a few hundred people in the tiny area. We had 3rd row center tickets which we thought were good but,,, no. There were only 6 rows and each row had two rows of people in groups of 6. Each group of 6 shared a very small table for overpriced drinks. Each group of 6 was pushed up against another group of 6 on either side of them. We felt like sardines.
Around 8:30 the lights dimmed and the "lady boy" show started. This area is full of "lady boys" - it turns out a sex change is a very popular thing to have in this town. These girls (guys) started running around singing and dancing. It was funny and sad at the same time. It wasn't a great show but we stuck it out the full 50 minutes. At one point during the show Katie offered some picture taking advice to the guy in front of us. (side note: by in front of us I mean on our lap). He was trying to take pictures with his flash on and they weren't coming out. She suggested turning the flash off (accurate suggestion). He spent the next 10 minutes trying to figure out how to do that before just giving up. I mentioned this because it was one of the funnier parts of the show (for us). During the bows and thank-yous Katie and I darted out of the theater to continue exploring the town.
The rest of the night we walked through a few markets and did some bar hopping. The nightlife around here is interesting to say the least. There are kids running around by themselves begging for money. There were mothers carrying their kids around asking for money. On one small side street (it looked like a mini-Vegas with bars, etc), we saw a one-legged guy dragging himself up the middle of the road. He would push his money dish forward then pull himself up to the dish. He did this over and over again as he slowly made his way up the street. The whole time his head was never more than 1 inch from the ground. We headed back around midnight and called it a night. Only 1 night left,,, I can't believe it. I miss everyone (my daughters especially),,, we'll be home soon. More to come....
Saturday, June 26, 2010
One Night in Bangkok
Katie and I were woken around 3 AM Friday morning by a massive storm with a lot of lightning and strong winds. After some on and off sleep we got out of bed around 6:30 to get ready for our trip to Bangkok. We left our room and headed up to the hilltop for breakfast. I spent most of my time inside the buffet room enjoying the cold AC. Because of the rains it was a very hot and steamy morning.
At 9:30 we jumped on the speed boat and headed to the mainland where the car transport met us to take us to the airport. The airport experience was uneventful except for the few minutes we got to Skype Ethan and Blair. We boarded the plane and off to Bangkok we went.
We were excited to arrive at an actual gate at the Bangkok airport but disappointed when they directed us down the stairs connected to the gate and into another bus,,,, ugh. They carted us around the airport then dropped us off right at baggage claim (that was nice). We loaded up our luggage and walked out of the baggage claim area where our guide was waiting with a smile. The guide and our driver grabbed our bags and off to the hotel we went.
After checking in we put on our walking shoes and started exploring. We quickly learned that this town is filled with some very persistent sales people. They will try to sell you everything; they don't quit. We decided to take a Tuk Tuk across town to a shopping area. We learned a few more things; 1) traffic here sucks (it can easily take over 5 minutes to get through one intersection) and 2) a 40 Baht Tuk Tuk ride (about $1.50 US) is just the start. Most taxis and all of the Tuk Tuks get some big commissions if they take you to a certain shop. The entire day they wanted to take us to get fitted for a suit or to a jewelery store. I think I had to use the word "No" over 500 times throughout the day. At night it was a whole different story. The places they receive commission from at night is a whole different story.
After some unsuccessful shopping we found our way in to a nice air conditioned mall where we stopped for some Thai food. The place we ate at reminded me of a small TGIF type restaurant you find inside a lot of malls in America. We ordered some green curry which all but burned our tongues off. After finishing up lunch we headed back to the hotel to rest up for dinner. On our walk I struggled a bit with the map and we ended up doing a little more exploring than originally planned. After a little R&R in the room we headed to the hotel bar for a drink before heading out on the town.
The drinks at the hotel are the most expensive in town. A double Vodka was over $30 US,, wow. Anywhere else around town you can get just about anything for $3 to $5 bucks. Katie and I ventured in to a few bars and then walked through the night market. This town definitely comes to life at night. Around midnight we grabbed a pizza then headed back to the hotel for the night. That was it, the photos are below.... enjoy :-)
At 9:30 we jumped on the speed boat and headed to the mainland where the car transport met us to take us to the airport. The airport experience was uneventful except for the few minutes we got to Skype Ethan and Blair. We boarded the plane and off to Bangkok we went.
We were excited to arrive at an actual gate at the Bangkok airport but disappointed when they directed us down the stairs connected to the gate and into another bus,,,, ugh. They carted us around the airport then dropped us off right at baggage claim (that was nice). We loaded up our luggage and walked out of the baggage claim area where our guide was waiting with a smile. The guide and our driver grabbed our bags and off to the hotel we went.
After checking in we put on our walking shoes and started exploring. We quickly learned that this town is filled with some very persistent sales people. They will try to sell you everything; they don't quit. We decided to take a Tuk Tuk across town to a shopping area. We learned a few more things; 1) traffic here sucks (it can easily take over 5 minutes to get through one intersection) and 2) a 40 Baht Tuk Tuk ride (about $1.50 US) is just the start. Most taxis and all of the Tuk Tuks get some big commissions if they take you to a certain shop. The entire day they wanted to take us to get fitted for a suit or to a jewelery store. I think I had to use the word "No" over 500 times throughout the day. At night it was a whole different story. The places they receive commission from at night is a whole different story.
After some unsuccessful shopping we found our way in to a nice air conditioned mall where we stopped for some Thai food. The place we ate at reminded me of a small TGIF type restaurant you find inside a lot of malls in America. We ordered some green curry which all but burned our tongues off. After finishing up lunch we headed back to the hotel to rest up for dinner. On our walk I struggled a bit with the map and we ended up doing a little more exploring than originally planned. After a little R&R in the room we headed to the hotel bar for a drink before heading out on the town.
The drinks at the hotel are the most expensive in town. A double Vodka was over $30 US,, wow. Anywhere else around town you can get just about anything for $3 to $5 bucks. Katie and I ventured in to a few bars and then walked through the night market. This town definitely comes to life at night. Around midnight we grabbed a pizza then headed back to the hotel for the night. That was it, the photos are below.... enjoy :-)
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| 2010-06-25_Honeymoon in Bangkok |
Friday, June 25, 2010
What was once lost, is now found...
Thank you Vietnam for helping me drop a few lb's, but Thailand....you brought it back. Although, the bowls of noodles, rice, and curry are well worth it. Luckily my trainer is back in business because when I get home I will put him into overtime.
Bangkok is great. We walked around yesterday going through the shops and looking around. We popped into this cute little "modern thai food" place for a late lunch. The 3 people next to us had already ordered and their food looked great so we gave it a go. We ordered the hot green chicken curry. Let the sweating begin. I wonder if the people next to us didn't order something spicy or if they have no sweat glands. Ethan, I think we had the thai hot you were talking about. The curry was fantastic, coupled with 2 big bottles of the local beer. Our plan was to have our daily pad thai for dinner, but we were still full from our late lunch so we decided to skip dinner.
(Until a 1am pizza stop.)
The city is huge and we haven't hit any great deals yet. We were only able to see a small portion of the city so we have a lot of exploring to do. We got so lucky that our trip landed us in Bangkok on the weekend because they have weekend markets and shops that are only open on the weekend. We got here yesterday (Friday) and we have Saturday and Sunday here.
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel is really nice. There are a ton of really nice hotels right around us actually. The Sofitel, the Pennisula, La Residence, etc. (Maybe thats why we haven't found the good deals.) We are on the "River of Kings" and it's beautiful.
If anyone has any suggestions of what we should do here, please let us know! We don't want to miss anything!!
Until next time....
Hugs from Bangkok,
Katie :)
Thursday, June 24, 2010
A Lazy Summer Day
Thursday got off to a great start. After sleeping in we headed to breakfast around 9 AM. We had a quick meal (overcooked eggs again) then spent time reading by the hilltop pool. Around 11 we headed back to the room where I actually got a p90x workout in. After working out and playing on the computer for a bit we headed back to the hilltop pool to eat some Pad Thai.
When we arrived at the hilltop pool the crew was setting up a chef's station salad bar. We sat down and one of the guys ran over to take our drink order. With nothing to do we figured a champagne lunch was in order. About the time our bottle came the Chef's station was complete. Katie and I were served an authentic Thai Salad which was mostly fruit mixed with spicy chili sauce,,,, it was cold to the touch and hot to the taste. After lunch we swam, read and sipped champagne in the pool until just before 2 when it was time for our spa appointments. We had two very relaxing massages which ended just before 4 pm.
At 4 pm we headed to the Thai language class. Something to note; at this point in our day we hadn't seen one other non-employee at the resort. We arrived at the designated spot for the language class and no one was around. A few minutes later one of the crew showed up and asked if he could help us. We explained we were there for a language class and he said "Oh, sure thing",,, he grabbed a few pencils and some worksheets. For the next hour the three of us sat there trying to teach/learn this very difficult language. It was a lot of fun.
Around 5 we headed back to the room and did nothing for about 2 hours before getting ready for dinner. We both took outdoor showers but somehow I managed to break the big clay light in the shower. I had been using it as a towel rack and when I went to retrieve my towel the whole thing came crashing down,,, pieces went everywhere. When I got back in the bedroom to call the front desk and let them know, I noticed rodent crap on the freshly made bed. Ut oh. Katie mentioned hearing something running around while she was reading earlier in the evening. I let the front desk know,,, they said they would take care of it.
We went to the main restaurant at the bottom of the mountain and we were quickly seated. The restaurant had every table in the place set with candles going, etc, etc, etc and we were the only ones there. We were told there are 2 other couples at the resort but they were nowhere to be found.
We ordered some beef appetizer and two main dishes; 1) Yellow Curry Chicken and 2) Asian Noodles with Beef. The entire meal was awesome but we ate way to much. Our Thai server, Prine, kept us entertained the whole time. He had lived in Australia for 6 years so his English was fantastic. He also suggested a few different beers for us to try. The beer went really well with the spicy food.
After dinner we checked out the main bar on the island,,, it was open but nobody was there so we just went back to the room to watch some TV and enjoy the AC. We got back to clean sheets and as best we could tell,,,, no mouse. That was it,,,, a lazy summer day here in Phuket,,,, no complaints.
When we arrived at the hilltop pool the crew was setting up a chef's station salad bar. We sat down and one of the guys ran over to take our drink order. With nothing to do we figured a champagne lunch was in order. About the time our bottle came the Chef's station was complete. Katie and I were served an authentic Thai Salad which was mostly fruit mixed with spicy chili sauce,,,, it was cold to the touch and hot to the taste. After lunch we swam, read and sipped champagne in the pool until just before 2 when it was time for our spa appointments. We had two very relaxing massages which ended just before 4 pm.
At 4 pm we headed to the Thai language class. Something to note; at this point in our day we hadn't seen one other non-employee at the resort. We arrived at the designated spot for the language class and no one was around. A few minutes later one of the crew showed up and asked if he could help us. We explained we were there for a language class and he said "Oh, sure thing",,, he grabbed a few pencils and some worksheets. For the next hour the three of us sat there trying to teach/learn this very difficult language. It was a lot of fun.
Around 5 we headed back to the room and did nothing for about 2 hours before getting ready for dinner. We both took outdoor showers but somehow I managed to break the big clay light in the shower. I had been using it as a towel rack and when I went to retrieve my towel the whole thing came crashing down,,, pieces went everywhere. When I got back in the bedroom to call the front desk and let them know, I noticed rodent crap on the freshly made bed. Ut oh. Katie mentioned hearing something running around while she was reading earlier in the evening. I let the front desk know,,, they said they would take care of it.
We went to the main restaurant at the bottom of the mountain and we were quickly seated. The restaurant had every table in the place set with candles going, etc, etc, etc and we were the only ones there. We were told there are 2 other couples at the resort but they were nowhere to be found.
We ordered some beef appetizer and two main dishes; 1) Yellow Curry Chicken and 2) Asian Noodles with Beef. The entire meal was awesome but we ate way to much. Our Thai server, Prine, kept us entertained the whole time. He had lived in Australia for 6 years so his English was fantastic. He also suggested a few different beers for us to try. The beer went really well with the spicy food.
After dinner we checked out the main bar on the island,,, it was open but nobody was there so we just went back to the room to watch some TV and enjoy the AC. We got back to clean sheets and as best we could tell,,,, no mouse. That was it,,,, a lazy summer day here in Phuket,,,, no complaints.
Dinner for Two
Wednesday started off a bit late for us due to the unplanned pool party from the night before. Because of our desire to sleep in, and the time change, we barley made breakfast. The buffet they laid out was impressive but the eggs we ordered weren't that good. We've determined that most people here don't eat eggs ala carte. I'm sure the Pho soup would have been awesome.
After breakfast we went out to tour the island. As we walked from breakfast to the main gate we stopped to check out the SPA (amazing) and a few other niches of the resort including the boutique. The tour was very interesting. For $1000 Baht ($31 US) we got a ride in the back of a pickup truck around this small island. Surprisingly the island has some other resorts on it,,, some were nice and some,, well,,, economy style. There were a few little towns where we stopped to shop, a pier we checked out and a few villages we drove through. This island is pretty small but it's home to about 3000 residents, most of which are Muslim (97%). We were back at the resort after about 1.5 hours.
We returned to the villa around 2 PM and just hung out in the pool. Katie ordered some Pad Thai which we both inhaled (it was awesome). Around 3:30 the rains came --- Katie and I both enjoyed sitting in our outdoor covered area and watching the rain pour down,,, the breeze was awesome. We left just before 5 to make our 5 o'clock spa appointment.
Our stay included two 80 minute treatments for both of us. Since we're only here for two full days we figured we'd get right to it. The room the Spa put us in was beautiful, probably the best I've ever seen. We had to walk over a moat to get in to the room which was enclosed in glass and surrounded by the moat. The outside waterfall was flowing down in to the moat,,,, it was awesome. A perfect setting to relax. My massage was great,,, Katie's wasn't as good. Her lady had sandpaper hands :-(
After the Spa we went to the villa and showered up then headed off to dinner. The resort set us up with a private dining experience which was amazing. When we arrived at the hilltop restaurant they had all the lights dimmed low and at least 100 candles lit all over the place. Katie looked beautiful in the candlelight (not that she doesn't look beautiful in any other light). Our table was placed right in the middle of the patio with three candles flickering in the light breeze. We took some pictures the jumped right in to it. The dinner itself was pretty good but not our favorite. The chef started getting a bit to authentic for us,,, but, we enjoyed it.
After dinner we took a buggy (golf cart) down to the bar at the bottom of the hill. There were no other guests to be found so Katie and I cuddled up on a swinging bench and enjoyed a bottle of wine together. With the wine gone and our belly's full we headed back to the room to call it a night. Thursday is another day on the island before we depart for Bangkok. More to come.......
After breakfast we went out to tour the island. As we walked from breakfast to the main gate we stopped to check out the SPA (amazing) and a few other niches of the resort including the boutique. The tour was very interesting. For $1000 Baht ($31 US) we got a ride in the back of a pickup truck around this small island. Surprisingly the island has some other resorts on it,,, some were nice and some,, well,,, economy style. There were a few little towns where we stopped to shop, a pier we checked out and a few villages we drove through. This island is pretty small but it's home to about 3000 residents, most of which are Muslim (97%). We were back at the resort after about 1.5 hours.
We returned to the villa around 2 PM and just hung out in the pool. Katie ordered some Pad Thai which we both inhaled (it was awesome). Around 3:30 the rains came --- Katie and I both enjoyed sitting in our outdoor covered area and watching the rain pour down,,, the breeze was awesome. We left just before 5 to make our 5 o'clock spa appointment.
Our stay included two 80 minute treatments for both of us. Since we're only here for two full days we figured we'd get right to it. The room the Spa put us in was beautiful, probably the best I've ever seen. We had to walk over a moat to get in to the room which was enclosed in glass and surrounded by the moat. The outside waterfall was flowing down in to the moat,,,, it was awesome. A perfect setting to relax. My massage was great,,, Katie's wasn't as good. Her lady had sandpaper hands :-(
After the Spa we went to the villa and showered up then headed off to dinner. The resort set us up with a private dining experience which was amazing. When we arrived at the hilltop restaurant they had all the lights dimmed low and at least 100 candles lit all over the place. Katie looked beautiful in the candlelight (not that she doesn't look beautiful in any other light). Our table was placed right in the middle of the patio with three candles flickering in the light breeze. We took some pictures the jumped right in to it. The dinner itself was pretty good but not our favorite. The chef started getting a bit to authentic for us,,, but, we enjoyed it.
After dinner we took a buggy (golf cart) down to the bar at the bottom of the hill. There were no other guests to be found so Katie and I cuddled up on a swinging bench and enjoyed a bottle of wine together. With the wine gone and our belly's full we headed back to the room to call it a night. Thursday is another day on the island before we depart for Bangkok. More to come.......
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Sorry Mom, I'm moving to Thailand...
THIS PLACE IS AMAZING!
Breathtaking. I don't even know how to describe the beauty that I'm staring at right now. So tropical, lush, and green. I never want to leave. It's so peaceful and fairytale -listically beautiful. I wish I had a canvas and watercolors because this place touches my soul. (I would of course, have to know how to paint. But I would try.)
I could see the concern on Jesse's face when we asked how close downtown was and they said a 45 min boat ride then a 30 min car ride. Sky scrappers and city lights so far away?? What are we going to do!? :) We'll be in Bangkok in a few days and I was ready to soak up every mile farther away we went! I knew we were in paradise when we saw coconuts floating in the water on the boat ride out.
Are we in Phuket or are we not in Phuket? I don't know, but Phuket.
I've practically finished my book (thanks Court), I wish I had brought another with me but we have the kindle so I can just buy one. Something about being in the jungle watching the ocean not holding a real book just doesn't hit me right. But I could get with the times and try to mix simple outdoor life with modern technology.
I absolutely love everything about this villa. I keep telling J there are so many great ideas for decorating our beach house. :D Maybe one day.... Outside our front door is this cute fish that when you are sleeping you close the fishes eye and when you leave for the day you open it...so adorable! Even the hangers are home-made out of bamboo. The mosquito net is romantically charming. (Don't worry, Mom, there's no malaria in Phuket.) The door handles are rope knots and the outdoor shower is framed with 12 foot bamboo shoots. Other highlights include the toilet paper holder, the pens, water bottles, the information books. I could go on and on....pictures to come.
The staff here is wonderful! Our butler Coco (KoKo) is the sweetest thing... She's so friendly and happy. She knows everything about this resort and you can tell everyone here loves her. I'm sure its not hard to do with the sweet smile she has. It's great to be at a place where the staff is so happy. We also met the food & beverage manager, Anthony, who was great and knowledgeable about 5 star resorts.
Speaking of food.... It's a tie between what is more amazing, the scenery or the food! Last night for dinner I had green curry with chicken, egg plant and peas, Jesse had grilled lobster tails and shared my curry - Is there another word for FANTASTIC?? So so so yummy. In addition, today I ordered chicken pad thai to our villa for lunch - Just like I thought it would be - Perfect! We didn't leave a lick on the plate. Everyone knows thats my favorite meal ever, every birthday I want to go for chicken pad thai. Well happy birthday to me, we are here 2 days and I think I'll have it everyday. :) Tonight we have a special dinner on the hilltop for just the two of us (happy honeymoon babe!) the menu is already picked out for us so I'm sure it will be amazing. All this food talk, are you hungry yet?
And more good news, facebook is allowed in this country and they finally changed my name! Yay! It's Katie Biter now & I've been practicing my signature :) ALSO, last night when we came "home" we saw Blair and Ethan (B & E) calling on skype...so much fun!!! We had fun laughing with them and joking (we were a little more silly seeing as it was midnight our time and noon theres) lol. I love you guys and lets do it again!! Their puppy Max is the size of B these days and he's just as cute as he was when he was 6 weeks old! Give that pup a treat for me!
Until next time...
Hugs from Thailand,
KB
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
R&R Time??? We hope….
We woke up at 6:45 to start getting ourselves ready to leave. Showers, packing,,,,, consider us experts at this point. We got all the bags ready by the door and made our way to the dining room for breakfast. The food was perfect, as always, and the service was top notch. They checked us out at the breakfast table while we waited for our food to arrive. After breakfast we met up with our guide at the main reception area where the hotel crew presented us with a gift from the staff. Soooo sweet. We said our goodbyes and off we went. As we looked back we noticed all of them standing and waving with big smiles on their face. Amazing….
We got to the airport, said goodbye to our guide and met up with our express customs agent. He started the immigration process while Katie and I checked in. “What, no there must be a mistake, we are booked Business Class this entire trip.” – I said…. His response “this is a small plane, no business class.” Ugh…. we had to pay extra for our luggage being overweight,,, but oh well,,, we’re off to Phuket,,,, but we weren’t off to Phuket,,,, why does my boarding pass say Bangkok? “You have to clear customs in Bangkok before you can fly to Phuket”,,, uh, ok (frown). We grab our boarding passes and head to immigration and,,,, what? A $25 per person surcharge to leave the country? I explained we paid $15 per person to arrive here,,,,, “yep, that’s what it costs.” Fine,,, whatever,,,, we paid and moved on. Next, security….
We arrived at security and, like the rest of this trip, there was no line, awesome! We threw our stuff on and moved through. Like America, in Cambodia you have to take your laptop out of your bag (but they don’t tell you that). Up to this point the previous airports didn’t care. Our bags came through, they grabbed them and asked us to remove our laptops. We did,,,, back through the belt our bags went. What, another problem? Katie had her nail polish in her bag,,, removed it, back through again. Katie’s laptop bag comes through again,,, another problem? They said we had a nail file in there. We looked for 3 minutes until finally we found it,,, Katie had been looking for that for a while, finally we found it! Butttt, now it’s theirs,,, they took it out and back through the belt…. What? Another problem? They found Katie’s nice Aveeno Suntan Lotion,,, opps,,, too big,,, trash (no other airport found that up to this point). Ugh,, finally it was over and we moved on.
We got to our gate and soon after they started to board, but not the plane,,, the bus. We hopped on the bus, rode out to the plane and jumped aboard. This was a small plane,,, about 64 passengers,,, 16 rows of 4 seats each (2 per side). The flight to Bangkok was quick, about 40 minutes. We deplaned, cleared customs (a 2 mile walk) and then,,, what?? Security again? This time it was no problem. We walked to our gate and waited about 30 minutes before boarding our flight to Phuket. We walked down the gangway and onto another bus,,,, ugh. They pack these busses full and without business class you just push and shove your way on like everyone else. A lot of the folks were wearing backpacks so every time you or anyone else turns around you take out 3 or 4 people. We finally got to the plane, a 737, jumped on and off we went. No worries though, nothing can upset us after what we’ve seen and heard over the past weeks. If a tedious travel experience is the worst we have to complain about,,,, I’ll take it.
The 1 hour flight to Phuket was uneventful. We got off the plane, made our way to baggage claim and out of the airport. We had no idea if someone was picking us up or not since we were so used to seeing our guide as soon as we got off the plane. Fortunately they were picking us up, they just happened to be outside vs inside waiting for us. We loaded up in to a tiny little BMW (my suitcase didn’t fit so it got to ride shotgun) and off we went. We learned the marina was 20 minutes away and then another 45 minutes to the resort by boat. Cool!!
We got to the marina where we met one of the hotel’s butlers. While they loaded our luggage on the boat he explained about the hour difference for the resort. Apparently the resort wants the guests to enjoy the sunlight longer so the resort has its own time,,,, interesting,,, I like it! We got on a small boat with twin outboards and off we went. The ride was wet at first,,, the sea was a bit rough and some water was coming over the bow. They had a nice dry spot for us and our luggage but the captain, mate and butler got soaked. We turned a corner after about 15 minutes and the seas were flat. We arrive at the resort in about 40 minutes. This place is gorgeous, built in to a hillside. We met with our butler Coco and off we went to our villa. Check out the video (it’s a bit long) but our private villa is amazing. Again, we have our own private pool, an amenity that we’ve grown to love. The master bedroom has AC but the rest of the villa is open air. It’s pretty hot here but the ocean / mountainside combination provides a nice cool breeze that keeps the villa feeling great.
Our butler showed us around the villa, got us checked in and made us feel right at home. After she left, Katie and I enjoyed some R&R before heading to the resort reception at 7 PM (resort time). The first surprise as we walked in was the large pile of shoes on the front steps. Around here you don’t go inside with your shoes on,,, I love it. We removed our flip flops and joined the party. We were quickly greeted by our butler who handed us 2 drinks and started showing us around the hilltop villa. This villa doubles as a reception / dinner area when it’s not rented out. Renting the hilltop must be quite an experience (look at the pictures and you’ll see why). And heck, it’s only 10k a night,,, not bad ;-)
We quickly met a lot of the other folks that are staying here. Everyone is basically in the same situation as us,,,, a couple here together looking to chat it up with strangers. One of the other couples was on their honeymoon as well. After about an hour and a half we all decided to eat dinner together. The restaurant was happy to accommodate us. They quickly rearranged a few tables and set them up for the 8 of us. After a great meal accompanied by a never ending supply of wine, the guys thought it would be best to take a trip down the slide. Off went the clothes, on came the water for the slide and down we all went. We hung out a bit longer before calling it a night.
Back at the room we received a Skype call from Ethan And Blair,,,, which turned in to a 30 minute plus conversation --- we loved it! We got to see Max (he is huge) and catch up on everything,,,, it had been too long since we all chatted…. That was it for Tuesday,,, enjoy the pics:
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| 2010-06-22_Honeymoon in Phuket |
Angkor Wat Sunrise (A 2 Dump Read)
The alarm woke us up at 4:15 AM and we both reluctantly rolled out of bed. I thought to myself, “this better be worth it.” Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not an early morning person. We started getting ready and, like clockwork, at 4:30 there was a knock at the door. The hotel’s room service starts at 4 AM because, as we were going to see firsthand, Sunrise at Angkor Wat is a big deal. We ate some croissants, drank some juice, chatted with my girls on Skype and then headed out to meet our guide.
Vibol was as vibrant as ever. His early morning enthusiasm got us a bit more excited to see what all the hype was about. We jumped in the van and started the 10 minute ride to Angkor Wat. Since Angkor Wat is the most impressive of all the temples it’s where everyone goes to watch the sunrise. We arrived at the front gate and it was still pitch black. That didn’t stop kids and women from running around trying to sell bracelets, books, water, hats, etc. We jumped out of the van, fought off the sales people and made our way through the front and second entrances to Vibol’s favorite sunrise spot along a small pond just before the temple. The pictures show a ton of people around where we were,,, I wasn’t able to get photos of the 100s of people we passed at other areas as well. I couldn’t believe how many people were there. And, they say this is the off season.
As we walked up to the pond a young lady came over offering free chairs if you buy water for $1. Vibol mentioned that we would be there for about an hour which made the decision to spend $2 on 2 chairs an easy one. We sat down, setup the camera and waited. We snapped a few photos as the sun started coming up; they turned out okay. I wish I had a full size tri-pod with me because it was fun to change the camera settings and see the different picture outcomes. The sunrise itself wasn’t the best according to Vibol. The sky was missing the reds and the oranges that normally accompany sunrise. We thought it was nice and we were happy we did it. Check…
After the sun was sufficiently up we set out to explore Angkor Wat. We walked through the last gate and then made our way up, down and all around this immense temple. Katie and I were very impressed with all the carvings and the attention to detail. Each rock used to construct this massive temple was brought from a quarry more than 30 miles away. This was all done in the early 1100s which makes it even more impressive. After exploring Angkor Wat the tiredness from waking up at 4:15 caught up with us. We asked Vibol to take us back to the hotel for a bit which he was happy to do.
Back at the hotel we napped a bit, caught up on some emails and Skyped with my parents. At 9:30 we went to breakfast and then met our guide at 10 AM. We had accumulated a ton of stuff on our trip up to this point (mostly clothes) so we asked Vibol to take us to DHL so that we could ship it all. WOW! $545 to ship 60 lbs of stuff. We guessed it was worth it considering the hassle of dragging it everywhere and paying the surcharge on each flight (last flight was $68). I’m guessing Cambodia is a very expensive place to ship from; we regret not shipping from Vietnam. After DHL we headed to the airport for a quick (very quick) helicopter ride.
Our Australian pilot took us up in a Robinson R44. It was amazing to fly over Angkor Wat and then to see the slew of other temples. In hindsight it was the way Katie and I would prefer to tour; quick 1 minute briefings on each temple with a quick flyover ;-) Honestly, I wouldn’t trade climbing around at least 1 or 2 temples for anything but the aerial tour is a must. From the air you really get an idea of how big Angkor Wat is and how many other temples there are. We had to be at 1500 feet over Angkor Wat because the local authorities are worried about noise upsetting the people and the temple. This is amazing considering they let people climb all over every part of the temple. The detailed inscriptions on the walls aren’t protected from the thousands of people that climb around them, poke at them, etc, etc. I couldn’t believe it.
We were up in the air for 5 to 7 minutes before returning to the airport. We said thank you to the pilot and off we went. On the way back from the airport we swung in to the war museum per my request. The history of war is much more interesting to me then the temples or the Buddhist religion. Not that those aren’t interesting but after seeing Angkor Wat the other temples aren’t much different (or as they say here; same same) and we’ve had 2 weeks of instruction on Buddhism so we understand that as much we’re ever going to.
The war museum was much different then what I expected after visiting the Buddha museum the day before and the war museum in Saigon. The Buddha museum is a 2 level complex, 60,000 square feet, etc etc. and the war museum in Saigon, besides not having AC, is what you’d expect to see in any major city museum in America. This museum was completely outside on a small property; I’d guess it was about 30% to 50% of a football field. The entrance / ticket office was someone’s house complete with beds (which is about all the homes around here have). They collected our entrance fee of $3 per person (US) and we drove in to the small parking lot.
We were greeted by a very nice guy (his name was hard to pronounce) and he went right in to showing us around. We were the only ones there and from the looks of it they didn’t get many visitors. We walked around the museum looking at some old equipment they dug out of the jungle. Everything was very old and mostly just a shell of what it once was. After looking at some of the equipment we were brought to the gun section. Like the machinery, the guns were beat up, rusted, etc. They had a good selection of SKS assault rifles which was neat to see since I have one of my own (mine is in MUCH better shape). The AK-47s, AR-15s, and all of the other old guns are very much what you see on TV when they show riots in faraway places. Old school stuff……
The gun display was neat but the really interesting yet very disturbing part of the tour came during the landmine demonstration. We walked alongside a roped off garden of sorts with a warning sign “Mines.” He assured us the mines were harmless but the funny thing was,,, we couldn’t see any mines. He walked through the garden and started uncovering mines and trip wires. Wow. We see people trip mines in movies and TV shows but this was no joke. These mines were once the real deal. Lesson for everyone: If you’re ever with me in a real mine field, stay far away because I’d be tripping them all.
He took us to another hut and showed us each of the different landmines and how they operate. Some are designed to take out just your foot, some just up to your leg, some pop out of the ground then explode cutting your body in half, others shoot shrapnel, some shoot lead shot and the list goes on and on. He showed us the two mines that affected his life. Before getting in to that I think it’s important to explain how bad the mine situation is in Cambodia.
Like I mentioned before, this guy Pol Pot (short for Political Potential) took control of the government in 1975 after the Vietnam war. With everything else going on in the world (America retreating, Vietnam recovering) nobody paid attention to Pol Pot. From Wikipedia: Pol Pot became leader of Cambodia in mid-1975.[2] During his time in power, Pol Pot imposed a version of agrarian collectivization, forcing city dwellers to relocate to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced labor projects, toward a goal of "restarting civilization" in a "Year Zero". The combined effects of slave labor, malnutrition, poor medical care, and executions resulted in the deaths of approximately 21% of the Cambodian population.[8]
He killed anywhere from 2 to 3 million people from 1975 to 1979. In 1979 Vietnam came in to liberate Cambodia from Pol Pot. They drove him from power and pushed him to the far north and west part of Cambodia. Pol Pot fought to defend his rule of the northwest parts of Cambodia from 1979 until 1998 when we died. Part of his strategy was to plant mines all through the area. Not just a few, he planted anywhere from 10 to 20 thousand mines. Once we became aware of the problem we couldn’t walk around this town without seeing people with missing feet, missing arms, missing fingers, etc. We even saw a number of mine victim groups playing music on the side of the road for money. I spent so much time writing about this guy because nobody really knows who he is or what he did. It happened during my lifetime which makes it so hard to believe I never even heard about this.
With that said; the museum guide showed us the two mines that affected his life. The first was a pineapple looking mine that he picked up when he was 6 years old (he is 32 now). The mine had already been disarmed but the trigger mechanism was still active. The trigger exploded and took with it 3 of his left hand fingers (down to the knuckles). The second mine he showed us looked like one of those Playstation Portable games. It was about 6 inches wide by 4 inches high and about an inch thick. When he was 10 he was out with his friends in the woods when one of his friends tripped a mine like the one he was showing us. His friends were killed instantly but, from 60 feet away, he got shrapnel in his eye and his hip. He was in tears telling us this story; it was very sad. It made Katie and I very sad for him while at the same time making us feel very blessed for the freedom and peace we knew growing up. The next person I hear complain about their life is going to get slapped.
We said our goodbyes and, even though we couldn’t pronounce his name, we felt a strong connection to our new friend. We gave each other hugs, said our goodbyes and headed off. Our next stop was the Jungle Temple near the Angkor Wat temple. You might wonder why we opted to do another temple given our philosophy of “once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all.” Vibol, our guide, explained this was one of his favorite because of the massive trees that have since grown through the temple and because it’s where they filmed Laura Croft’s Tomb Raider. By the way, the people here LOVE Angelina Jolie. Our guide even named his first daughter Angelina Jolie. The Jungle Temple was amazing, beautiful and sad at the same time. It was a huge temple like the others (newer than Angkor Wat) but in a horrible state of disrepair. These huge trees have grown from the foundation and have torn the rocks apart. After a quick tour of the Jungle Temple Katie and I wanted to see am authentic Cambodian village so we moved on.
On our way through the park we came across another temple. We didn’t stop at this one but people were crawling all over it. We saw from the car that the stair cases in this thing were just about vertical. I asked how many tourists end up at the hospital after falling down the stair cases from all these temples. He said on any given day you can go to the hospital and just watch them come in with broken arms, legs, heads, etc. I know he wasn’t lying.
The villages we saw were in the main temple park (the park is huge) and they didn’t seem as remote and poor as I pictured. Don’t get me wrong, this whole place is very poor but still, not what I pictured. Either way we figured we would stop along the road and look around. Further, we had this water bottle / water filter that Passport Health sold us which we never even came close to needing; we thought we’d give it away. As soon as we got out of the van women and children ran from every direction (literally ran) asking us to buy their stuff. Everything was a $1,,, loaded with singles (a great suggestion from Carrie and Michael) we bought as much of the stuff as we thought we could bring home. We gave away our water bottle/filter and then had to fend off the rest of the folks as we made our way back in to the van and out of the village.
Back at the hotel we grabbed a late lunch before heading to town. This hotel had the best “western food” which made us feel right at home. We jumped in a Tuk Tuk and off we went. The Tuk Tuks at the hotel are the nicest we’ve seen. The Tuk Tuk drivers in town have to wear helmets so at the hotel the drivers cover their helmets with safari hats;;; very classy. We walked around for a bit but quickly realized how tired we were. Per another Carrie and Michael recommendation we went to a local spa and had a 90 minute treatment. I had a massage while Katie had a body wrap / massage combo. With both treatments and a bottle of nail polish the total bill came to $72. I can’t believe how cheap the massages in Asia are. Cheap for a classy place (I’d compare where we were to a 4 star SPA) --- a hole in the wall costs $2 to $5 an hour. Nuts!
After the massage,,,, and feeling great, we walked downtown. There is a restaurant called The Red Piano that everyone was stopping at to take pictures. Not just that night but the night before as well. We figured we’d go in to see what all the hype was about. The place was empty because drinks cost $2 vs $1 or .50 cents everywhere else. It turns out that Angelina Jolie use to eat there while filming her movie so everyone loves it. After a few drinks we walked around a bit more, haggling over cheap stuff at the night market. After we loaded up on more knick knacks we made our way back to the hotel for a night swim. The hotel greeted us with two glasses of red wine and the customary cold wet washcloth. We wiped our faces, grabbed the wine and headed to our private pool. After a nice swim we were off to bed. We had to wake up early the next morning for our departure from Siem Reap for Phuket….. more to come….
Monday, June 21, 2010
How Lucky Are You
Today we went to the War Museum in Cambodia. Did you know there was ever a war in Cambodia? I sure didn't... And it was practically in my life time. 1974-1979. Til '79??? Are you serious? In this civil war, over 2 million Cambodians were killed.
This young man took us around the small outdoor property that housed Chinese, Russian, and Cambodian artifacts. Such as a helicopter, airplane, tanker, cannon, and many many guns, rocket launchers, etc.. The collection was impressive for how small the place was.
Jesse enjoyed playing with the different guns and learning about their origin. I happily played photographer. The young man that took us around was very knowledgeable. He was wearing a shirt that on the front said "same same" and the back said "but different." I think that might be the Cambodian slogan...not sure. I meant to ask but I forgot.
One station was designated to land-mines. Wow. How scary! He showed us all the different types of land-mines used in Cambodia. Some would cut off one leg, or both legs, but most would just kill you and injure or fatal injure anyone around you. There were so many different types it was very interesting.
Then he showed us his first hand experience with land-mines. Missing 3 fingers on one hand, and a scar on his left eye. From what we could see. He explained that when he was 7 he picked up something he thought was a piece of plastic or an artifact...it exploded and he lost his fingers. It's amazing that's all he lost. He showed us the land-mine he grabbed. He went on to show us his shoulder and hip which were clearly badly injured. When he was 10 he and a friend were playing in the jungle near his house (north Cambodia on the boarder of Thailand) when his friend stepped on a land-mine. He lost his friend that day and the shrapnel hit him in those two places from 60 feet back. He was emotional talking about it. Said he's lost 2 friends to land mines. He couldn't look at a stand with pictures of land-mine victims because his friend was in one of the pictures. He said, "please know how lucky you are." I was holding back my tears, I couldn't even speak enough to say "I know."
He hopes to have the shrapnel removed someday. It is uncomfortable for him.
We finished the museum and left. I gave him and hug and wished him the best. I still get a little teary eyed thinking about what this 32 year old has been through in his life. (He also lost his parents when he was four, lived with his uncle.) Sounds like a sob story but I assure you his sincerity couldn't have been made up. My heart goes out to him.
It is one more reminder how lucky I am, how lucky WE are to live in such a safe country. Proud to be an American. Thank you to all the Soldiers out there, I can't imagine going through everything you have.
God Bless Us All.
Until next time....
xoxo,
Katie
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Hit the Ground Running
7 AM,,, the alarm earned its keep. We woke up and started getting ready for a busy day which included a flight from Saigon to Cambodia. Yes, that meant packing again (this time without a butler ;-) Our flight wasn’t until 11:40 but we woke up early to have breakfast at a very authentic Pho restaurant also suggested by Zeb. After getting ready to leave it turned out Katie’s body wasn’t ready to go. We decided to take it easy, eat breakfast at the hotel and enjoy an informative documentary on the secret service. It was a very relaxing morning; I wasn’t complaining a bit.
PS: Happy Father's Day, Dad!
While watching TV the door rang. It was someone from the front desk with a present for us. Our tour guide, Tri, purchased a beautiful wooden Harley Davidson motorcycle with engravings on the saddlebags and the license plate. The saddlebags said “Happy Honeymoon” and the license plate said “Biters.” It was a very thoughtful gift and something we’ll have forever.
After it was time to go we called to have our luggage brought downstairs. We made our way to the lobby where Tri and our driver were waiting to take us to the airport. The luggage was loaded up and off we went. We arrived at the airport around 9:30 with plenty of time before our 11:40 flight. We said goodbye to Tri and headed in. The airport in Saigon was very nice and super clean. We found the lounge and chilled out until it was time to go. I uploaded the last of the photos from Saigon to the Saigon album.
Our plane was a few minutes late to board but nothing to serious. We got aboard our last Vietnam Airlines flight,,, goodbye Saigon. Besides one other guy we were alone in business class which aboard this 737 was very much what we’re use to in the US. The flight was a quick 40 minutes and,,,,, welcome to Cambodia. This airport reminded us of any of the outer Hawaiian airports. We deplaned, walked across the tarmac and headed in. Our express Visa agent was waiting for us and he quickly got us through the immigration / customs process. We grabbed our bags and met our Cambodian guide, Vibol.
Vibol was super excited to welcome us to his country. Without missing a beat we were off and on our way to the hotel. Vibol wanted to head right to the temples but we needed a little downtime before jumping right in to the tour. Right off the bat we noticed this town has a lot less pavement then what we’ve seen so far. Most of the driveways and store fronts are all just dirt. We arrived at the hotel and it seemed like everyone came out to greet us. It was a bit awkward because everyone was putting their hands to their face and bowing in front of us. We didn’t know if we should bow down back or just smile. We did a little of both.
The hotel’s GM took us around this beautiful property and then escorted us to our room where Richny, our “hotel assistant,” showed us the room and checked us in. Our room is amazing,,, again with our own pool! We got settled in and had lunch at the hotel. It was so nice to order some Italian food off the western menu. The food was great; we cleared our plates. After lunch Richny asked us to join her in the library for 5 minutes. We got there and we were very surprised to see a Monk sitting there along with 3 or 4 other people to greet us. I guess they had setup a surprise blessing ceremony for us,,,, interesting. We sat down and went through the motions. At one point the Monk started throwing flowers on our head as a cleansing ritual,,,, Katie and I kept it together and made it through.
After the blessing we met our guide who took us to the Buddhism Museum. This museum is 60k square feet of religious history. After spending about an hour and half walking around we headed to the park to see the temple of Angkor Thor. Before getting there we stopped by a memorial to the killing fields from Khmer Rouge. It’s disturbing to know that between 1975 and 1979 more than 2 million people were killed by this guy.
Pulling in to the area of the temples, which is near the hotel, was amazing. The temples are huge and wonderful to see but Katie and I got burned out pretty quickly. After about an hour we asked to head back to the downtown area. On the way out of the temple area we asked the driver to pull over so we could a close up of the monkeys. There were wild monkeys running around all over the place. We did get close to them, about 5 feet. A lot of other people were feeding and petting them. We got some great photos and video of the little guys.
Our guide was happy to take us towards downtown where we switched from our van to a Tuk Tuk. A Tuk Tuk is a 2 to 4 person carriage that is pulled by moped around the area. It was nice to have an open air tour, the weather felt great. Vibol escorted us around town showing us, amongst other things, Pub Street, the Night Market and a tree full of bats (check out the picture). After driving around for a while we asked to jump out so that we could be on our own. We said goodbye to Vibol and started walking around the very busy marketplace. People were doing their best to sell us anything and everything. It was fun to negotiate with the ladies (most were ladies) for the few purchases we made. Everything for sale was so cheap. Massages were $3 an hour (we didn’t get one), DVDs for $1.5 to $2, beers for $1 to $1.5, etc etc.
After enough of walking around we stopped at a nice little Mexican place right in the heart of Pub Street. They had .50 cent drafts and a table for two right along the busy street. While enjoying the busyness of the street, we started chatting with the three guys at the table next to us. 2 of the guys were from Spain and one was from Australia. They were all backpackers that had met on the trip due to similar itineraries. There are more backpackers in this town then we’ve noticed in any other town so far.
The Mexican food was awesome and very much welcomed after 10 days of fish oil. We enjoyed a long conversation with the table next to us and then called it a night. We found a Tuk Tuk to take us back to the hotel,,, cost,, $3. Since we planned on waking up at 4:15 the next morning to watch sunrise (a ritual around here) we went to bed pretty early. After a quick swim in our private pool it was lights out about 10:30 pm. With no TV in the room we fell asleep fairly quickly. I started the Cambodia album here below,,,, enjoy!
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| 2010-06-20_Honeymoon in Cambodia |
Saturday, June 19, 2010
A Different Perspective
The alarm was set for 7 AM but around 6:30 we started to stir. The sounds of the city (mostly scooter horns) and knowing we had to be up soon made it hard to get those last few minutes of sleep in. It mattered not. Since we got to bed so early we had all the rest we needed. While getting ready to go we got to enjoy a chat session with my parents which surprisingly turned in to a chat session with Tricia and Megan (Hi Guys)! It was nice to catch up and see everyone ready for a night on the town. Being 12 hours ahead we already knew Friday night was a good one and suggested they enjoy it ;-) I looked every bit the part of someone who just woke up and rolled out of bed (I had “Jesse Morning Hair” as described by my good friend Kristen Farrell).
We left the room at 8 to get breakfast and meet our guide at 8:30. To our surprise our guide was already ready to go. He explained that it is policy for them to be early but insisted we enjoy our breakfast first (we obliged). After breakfast we hopped in the car and started our 1.5 hour drive to the tunnels. Along the way Tri, our guide, explained how his company insists they get a 5 star “excellent” rating of 87% or higher from their customers. Anything less is unacceptable. The 87% is a trip rating, not just a guide rating. So, if a trip is rated less than 5 stars because the hotel was horrible (even though the guest chose a 3 star hotel) then it comes back on the guide. They go out of their way to ensure we are 100% happy in every way and it definitely shows.
We arrived at the tunnels around 10 AM where we met Chu Nam (In English: Uncle 5, which depicts his rank in the family). Chu Nam was a solider for the VC (Viet Cong) throughout the entire war. Right off the bat we noticed his missing right arm. Our guide and Chu Nam lead us down to a private briefing room where Chu Nam started to tell us, through our translator, about the war and the tunnel system. After he spoke for about 10 minutes we started a QA session, again, through our translator. Chu Nam had a kind yet in-charge way about him. It’s hard to put in to words (at least for me) but I knew this man had a good heart despite years of war.
Katie and I asked questions like:
- How did you lose your arm? (American tank round)
- How long were you underground? (in the tunnels for 15 years, at any one stint, without seeing light, 2 weeks
- What did you eat? (Rationed fruit, some meat and water from a well)
- Where did you go the bathroom? (small out coves in the caves or used ammunition boxes)
- Do you have a family? (Yes, wife, 2 boys, 2 girls and 7 grandkids)
- Do you live far from here? (No, about 7 kilometers)
- Have you ever travelled, and where do you want to go? (No, I’ve never been from this area. I’d love to go to the US but I cannot afford it. Even if I could afford it the US would never grant me a Visa).
The questions went on all morning as we walked around the camp looking at the tunnels, how they survived and the booby traps the VC made from whatever they could find. The booby traps were amazingly clever. I feel horrible for any person who ever had to encounter one. Check out the photos to see for yourself. At one point they gave us a challenge to scour an area for the hidden entrance to the tunnel system. They warned us that they set up some non-harmful booby traps to simulate what it would have been like during the war. In the war they put deadly booby traps around any entrance to protect it. As we started looking around they set off a VERY loud firecracker which cased Katie and I to nearly faint. It was extremely funny after we realized what had happened (they were already laughing). Check out the photos and video to see how small of an entrance they used.
We walked further down the path to a live ammunition gun range where you could choose whatever gun you wanted to shoot. The rounds went from $1 US to $1.5 US per round. Since I’ve never shot an M60 I chose it over the other guns available. As it turned out the M60 was the most expensive at $1.50 a round. I purchased 100 rounds and off to the range we went. I probably would have purchased more but they only took cash which is hard to come by around here. The ATM machines only give you $105 US at a time.
At the range it was interesting to see them grease the gun and the bullets in preparation for our shooting. Katie went first and fired about 3 times; each time was about a 3 round burst. After that it was my turn. I did a few quick shots to get use to the gun including how accurate the iron sites were. The targets were mostly shot up so I decided to take out a small 1 to 2 foot pillar used to hang targets. At 100 yards it was pretty tiny but with a fully automatic gun like the M60 it’s hard to miss. With about 50 rounds left I held the trigger in and watched the stick disappear. Very impressive and VERY fun. Check out the video…
We finished the tour by having a sit down snack with Chu Nam. They served hot tea and tapioca root. We chatted a bit more about our countries, our families and the war. After snack time we headed our separate ways. The drive back to Saigon was uneventful; about 1.5 hours total. I slept while Katie and Tri chatted about American slang. Tri was curious where “It’s raining like Cats and Dogs” came from. He even created his own slang “It’s raining like kittens and puppies.” (meaning, not as hard as Cats and Dogs)
Back in Saigon we went to lunch at a place called “Temple Club”. We felt bad but, excluding the spring rolls, we had to order off the western menu. We split a Caesar Salad and the “American Club.” We ordered a great bottle of New Zealand’s Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc. During lunch it started raining like Cats and Dogs so we took our time. It was amazing to see the city of scooters transfer to the city of ponchos. The people covered themselves and their scooters with these huge ponchos and continued about their crazy driving like it wasn’t raining at all.
We settled up with the waiter and had the driver pull up to the front door. Katie and I made a mad dash to the vehicle and off we went to the American War Museum. Wow. What an eye opener. There were some very disturbing pictures showing how Vietnamese families suffered during the war. In America the war was always portrayed to me as America, the heroes, coming in to fight for democracy. The North Vietnamese attacked the South Vietnamese and America came to the South’s rescue. This museum portrayed a very different story.
I can’t imagine how the Vietnamese people can be so nice to Americans based on what we were seeing at this museum. Every display was about how inhumane the Americans were. They talked about the bombing and killing of civilians, the use of Agent Orange, shooting of pregnant women and children, etc. It felt like we were reading about Hitler and genocide. It was hard to read such negative information about the country I love but they showed pictures backing up their claims. I feel very blessed to not have had to been a part of that and very proud that our country’s people and the Vietnamese people have a good relationship today. There were also many stories of the American Veterans making trips here to apologize and help rebuild Vietnam. We spent at least an hour at the museum before heading back to the hotel for some R&R before dinner.
The rain never stopped but we still opted to walk to dinner. Our friend Zeb suggested a place a few blocks away so we headed there. I was very impressed with the way this restaurant did business. We got there and they seated us like they do at any other restaurant (no AC, bummer). The waitress then gave us a sheet and said “walk around to any of the food stations and when you see something you like give them this sheet.” So, that’s what we did. Each of these food stations is operated by an independent family and they get a cut of whatever they sell. It’s like being at a flea market for food. We (I), picked out a few things and got back to the table. I handed our paper to the waitress and a few minutes later the food started showing up. It was pretty good. We finished up and headed out to walk the rainy streets of Saigon.
It was about 7:30 PM when we finished dinner and started walking around. It was amazing to see that the rain didn’t slow the town down a bit. The outdoor market was still open and people were wheeling and dealing. A man selling coconuts followed us for about 15 minutes trying to sell us his coconuts. He was actually very nice but we didn’t want his coconuts. After 15 minutes he said “For you, free, please take one.” Even that we declined but it was funny how hard he tried.
After enough of walking around we found a neat bar called the “Saxx Club.” We walked in and, other than one other couple, there was nobody there. The workers were all around the bar watching the world cup (which by the way is HUGE here). They stared us up and down then started talking loudly and laughing. Oh well, we found a seat and asked for some help. One of the guys walked over and took our order. It turned out that we were there before the bar opened but they were nice enough to serve us anyway. Around 8:30 they turned the game off and put on a Ray Charles DVD which was a live concert tribute to Ray Charles. It was in English and Katie and I enjoyed watching it for about 30 minutes. During that time the bar started to fill up with people and the jazz band prepared to play. A little after 9 the DVD was shut off and the live music started. We hung out until about 9:30 and then decided to move on.
We started walking towards the hotel when we met another persistent street vendor which we both regret not getting on video. She was a young and pretty girl, probably 15 years old. She said “Sir, you buy flower for pretty girl (Katie)” – I said “No, thank you” – she kept persisting so I said “I’m sorry, she’s allergic to flowers” – she ran up to Katie and shoved the flowers in Katie’s face “See, not allergic, you a liar” – Katie and I were cracking up. I said “I’m sorry but no thank you” – she said “Ok, you buy gum for your bad breath” then started trying to hand me gum. It was so funny and kept going on. After I said No enough times she said “You suck” with a big smile on her face and then punched me in the back (a kidding around type of punch). We were laughing so hard but we kept walking. At one point we stopped to take a picture and out of nowhere she showed up again. I ended up buying gum for 40 cents US and that was the last we saw of her.
Once back at the hotel we called it night --- probably around 10 or 10:30. In the words of Billy Joel “Goodnight Saigon”…..Tomorrow morning we’re off to Seam Reap (Cambodia)…..
Goodbye Vietnam
After almost 10 days traveling through the country of Vietnam, we are about to hop in the car and go to the airport.
4 cities
3 tour guides
1 junk boat
3 bottles of champagne
2 Nam Hai slingers
1 sickness
6 pairs of custom made pants
and a bundle of new friends..... It's time to continue on our journey.
We have had a wonderful time (as you know). The "most honeymoon" type place we were at was by far the last resort in Hoi Ann. Although the junk boat comes in second, sailing down Ha Long Bay. The most thought triggering part of Vietnam has been here in Saigon, meeting the Vietnam War Veteran, going through the tunnels and visiting the War Museum. I have so many more questions, I can't wait to take Blair's Dad out to dinner to learn more. It amazes me how little I paid attention in history class growing up, and how much more I want to know about all the wars we fought in. As well as all parts of American history. The Vietnamese are very proud of their country, how far its come in 40 years. It is quite and accomplishment and I think they are on their way to better things.
It's amazing how fast this time has gone by. The people here have been so friendly and thoughtful. I would suggest visiting Vietnam to anyone who is looking for a not-so run of the mill vacation. Off to Cambodia!
Until next time....
xoxo,
Katie
No Agenda
Friday started off great. We slept in as long as we could which ended up being about 8:15 AM. As soon as I got out of bed I noticed the girls calling in on the computer,,,, what a treat. I spent about an hour and fifteen minutes on the computer with Abby playing hangman, tic tac toe and chess while Katie was at the gym (not that she needs it). It was such a great start to the day, to be able to see my daughters’ beautiful faces was a treat.
After the Skype session I got a workout in (back to it after a 3 day break) and got myself ready for a long day at the pool. We got to the pool around 11 AM to have our breakfast/lunch which ended up being pizza,,,, nice. Shortly thereafter we met up with Carrie and Michael and hung out at the bar until about 4 PM. On our way back to the room we stopped at the hotel boutique, picked up a few things and then returned to the room. We were surprised to see that our butler had already packed our bags and had everything laid out so that we could easily inspect it,,,, nice. We showered, dressed and at 5 PM we were served dinner in our living room. After dinner we hopped in a buggy and headed to the main reception area to catch our ride to the airport.
Our guide was so sweet to present Katie with a wrapped present with the words “Happy Honeymoon” on the outside. The present was a box of Katie’s favorite pens (some local brand she is in love with) --- two of the pens have our names custom written inside the pen ---- so nice! We got to the airport about an hour earlier then we needed to be. It was nice to move on to our next destination but sad to say goodbye to Quah,,,, great guide! With time to kill we just hung out in the lounge until our flight started boarding. The boarding process was a bit different then in the US,,, here the business class goes last. It seemed we were the only ones in business class but as it turned out there were 3 others that had snuck on the crowded busses to get to the plane early. I was surprised and happy to learn we were flying a 777.
Our bus arrived at the airplane where they had two staircases up against the front and back of the 777. Our first time on a 777 was the Tokyo to Hong Kong trip however we boarded on a regular gangway. Standing next to a 777 is much like standing next to a high-rise building in the middle of the city. This thing is huge. I took a few photos but I’m certain they don’t do it justice. Look at the photo of the man standing near the engine,,,, he’s probably 5’10” and he can barley reach the engine. As we walked up the stairs to the airplane we stood in front of the fan blades of the engine in complete awe.
On board we were very disappointed by the substandard Vietnam Airlines interior. The plane was very dirty and many things were broken or just otherwise filthy. We learned later from our Saigon guide that Vietnam Airlines is run by the government and their concern for comfort and cleanliness is null. After landing our guide Tri was waiting with a big smile holding a “The Biters” sign. He quickly got us in the car and off we went to the hotel. We talked about our trip thus far, the good, the bad, etc. Then we learned he has been reading our blog,,, I was surprised to hear this,,, pretty cool, huh? Katie and I noticed right away that this town is much different than what we’ve seen in Vietnam thus far. There are neon lights, wide open streets, tall buildings, etc. It reminded us of what Hong Kong probably looked like 20-30 years ago (some parts of Hong Kong look like this today).
We arrived at the hotel about 30 minutes later. We’re staying at the Park Hyatt which we’re told is the nicest in town. The hotel is very nice but overall very typical of what we’re used to in the US. The suite we’re in is on the 7th floor which is close enough to the street to hear everything that’s going on. The common sounds of scooter horns can be heard throughout the night. We’ve learned to tune them out the like the roosters in the Bahamas. It was about 10 when we arrived at the hotel. After a day at the pool in the hot sun followed by travel we figured we had enough. We called it an early night and headed off to bed. I added the photos from the day to the Hoi An album (which is a few posts below) and the new photos I added to the Saigon album here:
More to come from Saigon tomorrow….
Friday, June 18, 2010
How to use Fish Oil 101
Thursday started early, about 7 AM. We were well rested from a great night of sleep and we were ready to tackle Hoi An. We called our butler and ordered breakfast by the pool. What an amazing setup,,, it really couldn't have been any better. After eating we caught up on a few emails and headed out to start our day. Speaking of emails,,, a quick shout out to anyone at HomeNet reading this blog. The people at HomeNet do such an amazing job keeping the day to day happening, keeping customers happy and moving the company forward at lightning speed. Those folks make a trip like this possible and even more enjoyable.
Our buggy picked us up at the front door to drive us to the main reception area. We picked up a few hitch hikers (neighbors) on their way to the same place. Bill and Rosemary from Virginia --- we ended up chatting with them for a while before jumping in the car with our guide and heading in to town. The first stop was Morning Glory, a restaurant in the center of town. There we met Lou, the head chef, who took us to the town's market. The market opens at 2 AM for fish sales and 4 AM for meat sales,,,, crazy. She taught us what to look for in fish and meat to ensure it's fresh and safe to eat. With fish, the clearer the eyeballs are the fresher the meat. I guess the longer a dead fish sits around the cloudier their eyeballs get,,,, very interesting.
After the market tour we went back to Lou's teaching room to start the class. Adventure Asia arranged a private class which was perfect. Lou is a fantastic chef; I'd feel safe eating her food anytime. She taught us a thousand and one ways to use fish oil in everything we cook. Katie and I enjoyed making our own food and then, of course, getting to eat it. Our guide was very excited to take pictures, we deleted about half of them but, as you'll see, there are still a lot of photos from that part of the day. After the last course we paid them $14 (for 14 beers) and headed on our way. (Everything is so cheap here).
After the cooking class which lasted from about 9 AM to 12 PM, we headed to the two clothing stores that we ordered from the day before. They had us try on all the clothes and for the most part everything was great. There were a few changes that needed to occur so we set an appointment for each company to come to the hotel around 5 for a final fitting. Of course, each company had some last minute deals to offer us. We ended up ordering 2 table cloths and 1 additional sport coat.
Then it was time to tackle the town. Katie, our guide and I went from store to store wheeling and dealing. It's amazing how poor the people in this town are. The average worker makes about $3k US per year. You can buy just about anything at 50% off the initial price they tell you. However, sometimes it's just not worth the effort to negotiate. For instance, at one store I wanted to buy these marble figures that represent the years of our birth (mine, Abby, Hailey and Katie's). After picking them all out I asked how much, expecting $10 a piece. They were $8 for all 4 ($2 a piece) - I was okay with that. Shirts were usually a $1 or less, PJs were $10, etc, etc. Everything was very inexpensive.
After the shopping we went to a quaint little bar alongside the water. After 2 beers, a water and a drink for our guide the total came to $1.80 US,,, wow! We really started to learn the value of a dollar here in Vietnam, it can go a long way if you're smart about it.
On the way back to the hotel around 3:15 PM we were reminded of our farm tour. While neither of us were really up to farming the tour did include a foot massage. Our guide confirmed we can pass up the tour and just enjoy the massage. We arrived at the farm and were greeted by the 2nd generation of farmers and their kids. The parents (1st generation) were there but mostly kept to themselves. The wife and her daughter and/or friend (we're not sure) gave us this wonderful sugar water drink then had us put our feet in some herbal hot water. They then started massaging our feet and back (again, our guide loved the camera and took a bunch of photos). The massage was great but Katie and I felt bad having these folks massage our feet. Our guide also mentioned that the grandfather use to work for the South (Americans) during the war but doubled as an agent for the North at night. He was captured and tortured by the South. They beat him so bad that he lost his hearing. It was really sad to hear...
Around 4 PM we arrived back at the hotel and made a mad dash for the pool. Our butler brought out drinks and snacks for us. We hung out in the pool until after 5 when the tailors arrived. After trying on clothes and inspecting the table cloth we thanked them and they took off. Katie and I got ourselves ready for dinner and headed up to the main building to eat.
We decided to eat at the bar so that we could enjoy the live music vs eating downstairs at the restaurant. At the bar we ran in to Carrie and Michael and ended up eating with them. Around 10:30 or so we were all beat and called it a night. Overall it was a relaxing day.
I wrote yesterday that we were trying to stay an extra day. We weren't able to easily change our plans so Admiral Travel did the next best thing. Originally we were to leave at 10 AM the next day but that got moved to 8 PM so we will be able to enjoy a day at the resort without any tours scheduled,,,, nice!!!
I added pictures to the Hoi An album below,,,, check it out.
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