For our last foray with the family we headed to "James Bond Island", where they filmed "Man with the Golden Gun", which was very touristy but great to see the amazing landscape amongst the hundreds of islands in The Gulf. We also got to learn how rubber was made, go on a sea kayaking trip that invlolved weird walking fish, and we went to a monkey temple where we got to feed (& pet!) the monkeys.
We hung out in Bangkok for a coupla days after the fam left, munching on 30baht pad thai and wishing for a bit more solitude than the city can deliver. We avoided the heat by going to the movies, HP6, and also finally made it to the Grand Palace and got to see the Emerald Buddha. Success!
Three days ago we hopped in a tourist van and scooted on down through Trat and then hopped on a big passenger ferry to arrive in Koh Chang. Our ultimate destination was Koh Mak, but as it is low season, things don't always go as planned. We took a sawngthaew down to Bang Bao, the fishing village on the southern tip of the island, and found that the inter island ferries are suspended during the monsoon season, so we ran on over to BB Divers to get the lay of the land before we found a hut to rest our souls. We head that the diving was still good, albeit a bit murky, so we signed up to dive on Sunday, and headed on off the pier, down a muddy little trail, and up a cliff to Cliff Cottages, where we rented a simple little hut for 4 nights. Back down the cliff for some crazy Korean BBQ- amazing. We bought some beers and went back to our place to enjoy the sea breeze and the oceans below. That same sea breeze began to roar, and I ran into the hut while Oli watched the rain come down. the rain and wind became a bit ridiculous and after coaxing Oli into the room, we both had to push against the door to keep the pelting rain from coming in- fierce! The lock didn't work, the floor was flooding, and the entire hut seemed to be lifting from the ground. I, needless to say, was not satisfied with our accommodation. The storm eventually subsided and we were not blown away. The view in the morning was unreal- from the porch we could see the ocean for miles.... a walk around to the other side of the cliff gave views of a gorgeous rocky inlet, and a little more walking gave us an unparalleled aerial view of the village. Not too shabby for 225/baht a night.
The day was spent napping in the hammock, writing in our journals, reading, and staring at the ocean.
On Sunday, we went diving off the coast of Koh Rang. The visibility was horrific, though there was tons of wildlife. It was so bad that we could barely see in front of us, so we had to crowd together so that we didn't lose the dive master. The pictures leave a bit to be desired. We did see a massive jellyfish, a fancy pants harlequin shrimp, schools of every fish imaginable, a nudibranch, and a humongous puffer fish. On the second dive we released two baby sharks given to the shop by local fishermen. They were so tiny and scared to be back in open water- it was so so sweet.
Back to the hut for a bit before dinner, then dined at a stilted restaurant over the ocean. On the way back my feet made some bad choices and somehow I found myself admiring the stars when I should have been walking across a bridge. Quick thinking helped me discover that the boards leading to that bridge were not so stable, and Oli was shrieking at me to get up- i was halfway off the embankment and dangling over the river. I hopped back up, ice cream cone still intact, and hobbled back to our hut to clean up the blood that was subsequently pouring out of my leg.
Today is another day for r&r. Gotta figure out what to do next!!!
Love and kisses.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Sad in BKK :(
We are back in Bangkok and dealing with the loss of the Miller's leaving :( so right now we are just posting some more (& maybe duplicates) of the underwater pictures.
We will update more thoroughly soon.
Peace.
We will update more thoroughly soon.
Peace.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Phuket or Bust!
Before we continue with our escapades in SE Asia with the Millers here are the photos from SNWMF '09 from Brian's wideangle:
Disclaimer: Sorry but there are so many photos in this blog that we haven't had the time to caption and rotate.... hopefully soon though!
We were all delighted when the millers finally arrived in Bangkok after a grueling trip over from NJ. We celebrated with cocktails in the beautiful evening warmth before retiring to bed to recuperate for the site-seeing ahead of us. We slept in a little and enjoyed a delightful riverside breakfast at the hotel in beautiful sunshine before setting off to the sights. We started off with a ferry ride up the river to visit the Temple of Wat Pho and the Grand Palace.
Wat Pho was amazing, so intricately decorated and adorned with hundreds of Buddha images and amazing carvings. It was the perfect place to start the Miller's vacation. After exploring the grounds a little we decided that it was time to see the main attraction, the Reclining Buddha that is 46m (140 ft) long and 15m (45 ft) high. It was enormous! After we had marveled at the Buddha we decided to make our way around the grounds to see the Grand Palace. As we strolled along the street a very nice guy came up to us and started chatting. As we had learnt previously there was a long religious holiday that weekend and apparently, because of this, the Grand Palace was closed for the weekend and therefore we could not go in. So the guy helped us out by showing us some other good places to go on our map and we all hopped in a couple of tuk-tuks to head off. We arrived at the 1st of the temples that was the supposedly the earliest temple in Bangkok and we sat down in front of the idol and took in the surroundings. It was very peaceful. That was until our tuk-tuk driver started talking about taking us to a gem market that was "for this week only" 300% off. This is where we started to get a little suspicious..... we explained that we didn't want to go shopping and that we wanted to go straight to the next temple, leading the driver to get very upset, shout at us, swear at us and even lunge at us!! We were needless to say soon on our way on foot to find a taxi!
After our harrowing experience we decided to mellow out a little and took the taxi to Jim Thompson's house. He was a pioneer in the Thai silk trade and a great collector of art. After disappearing in the jungle one day, never to be heard of again, his house was opened as a museum. The tour was great, very relaxing and with some very interesting stories to go along with it. When we had finished here the skies were starting to darken and the clouds close in for the daily dose of rain so we hopped on the skytrain just in time to get us to the ferry stop before the heavens opened. We took the hotel ferry the short distance back to the hotel for a few cocktails before heading to dinner across the river. The meal was fantastic Thai food and we even had the chance to experience authentic Thai dancing before retiring for the night.
We started the next day off with another great breakfast before heading to the Blue Elephant cooking school for our day's lesson. Our teacher David took us to the market before we began the class and we got see, hear and taste the experience! When we returned from the market we sat down in the classroom for our lesson. David showed us how to make the recipe and then we went into the practical room to do it ourselves. We had a great time making yellow curry, spicy beef salad, banana leaf baked fish and other delights. After the class we sat down in the restaurant below and ate the food that we had prepared.... it was all delicious! We had another great meal that evening out by the river on the terrace.
The following day was our last full day in the city before heading to Cambodia for the Temples of Angkor. We went again to the Grand Palace and made it in this time, however, The Emerald Buddha Temple was closed (legitimately!), so we decided to skip it before and come back in the morning. So we went for a wander around one of the market area in Bangkok by the palace and then up to Ko San road so that the family could get a feel for the backpackers area. Here we shopped, ducked into air-conditioned bars for a cold beer and ate Pad Thai from street vendors. When we returned to the hotel I picked up the suits that I had had tailored for me and we went out for a lovely dinner in the main business district. After which, the ladies went home and Michael and I went of to meet Alasdair to watch some Thai kick-boxing. Only when we arrived at the stadium we found that it was $45 a ticket to stand!! So we decided to go for a few drinks instead. We bar hopped and saw the sights that Bangkok's nightlife has to offer, which included a very brief stop at one of the "lady-boy" bars!!
Here are both our's and The Miller's photos from BKK:
After our breakfast we all decided that it would be best to relax for the few hours before our flight rather than rush around doing anything. So we hung out and explored the magnificent hotel that we had been staying in before heading to the airport for our trip to Phnom Penh. Upon arrival in Cambodia we were picked up by Pat at the airport where we found out it was a 5-6hr drive to Siem-Reap and the hotel!! We napped and watched the countryside go by and arrived to another great hotel and a delicious meal. We rested ready for Temple hopping in the morning.
We were picked up at 10 and we headed out to Angkor Wat, the most famous of the temples here. Just as we started up the steps our camera batteries ran out and the spares were in the van! Thankfully Michael had his camera and we could still capture the sheer amazingness of this wonderful place. It really was unbelievable to see such huge complexes that were built so long ago and so intricately. Every wall has elaborate carving on it that tells a story from either the Hindu or Buddhist belief systems. The whole experience was out of this world.
After Angkor Wat we traveled to Ta Phrom, a temple complex that is pretty much as it was found. The jungle sprouts out of the ruins and the ruins sprout from the jungle. Truly awesome. This temple is famous for the "Tomb Raider Tree", from one of the movies, a huge network of vines and trunk emerging from the rocks. This was again a wondrous place.
The next stop was beautiful pyramid temple that Michael and I climbed up. The view was amazing. We also visited anther smaller temple in the jungle before heading on to the last stop of the day. The Boulevard of the Elephants and Bayon, the next complex to be built after Angkor Wat. This place has faces all over the building and we were just getting into it when the heavens opened and we decided that it was time to leave! We had had a great day so far and we were ready for more tomorrow, when we knew that we would be riding elephants into the park to see Bayon again! We went out for a fabulous meal at Madame Butterfly's where we had authentic Cambodian fare and a wonderful time before heading off to bed to prepare for another day of temple trekking.
Here are our pics for the 1st day minus Angkor Wat:
The next day started earlier and we were on the road by 8 0'clock for our 1st stop....... the elephants!! Karle & Jessy got onto theirs and then Jen, Michael and myself followed. It was a great experience, if not a little bumpy, and we arrived at the other entrance to Bayon for another go at it! This time around we were far more successful and didn't get the rain coming in..... yet! This complex was again amazing and we had a wonderful time exploring the parts that we couldn't get to the previous day. When we had finished we headed out of the main area of the Angkor Temples to visit one that is further out of town but very special as it is made from red sandstone.
The ride was short out there and the temple was worth it, very intricate and very different from the other that we had seen. It was much smaller and didn't take us very long to go around, but that left plenty of time for Michael to shop!! It was hilarious to see the hoards of children all trying to get him to buy their scarves and in many cases succeeding! The next stop was another pyramid style temple, although this one was made from brick. It was truly unique to the others and was believed to have had 4 crematoriums on the top. This is when we got hit by the rain!! We ran back to the car and headed off in the direction of the hotel to call it a day and relax before another hellish day of traveling in the morning.
Here our 2nd day pics and the Millers from our stay in Cambodia:
Edit: Here are Jessy's pics from the sandstone temple:
And so the day began, 6hrs in a van, 2 delayed flights, and lots of airport food later we had another 1hr ride in the most luxurious van ever to arrive at the Kata Thani Hotel, Phuket at 1am. A cocktail or 2 later we were asleep and looking forward to the days ahead, relaxing and diving here. The following day, after a little confusion as a message was not passed along by the front desk, we got ourselves booked on a dive trips for the next 2 days and Jessy starting her certification that afternoon.
Since then Jen and I have done 5 great dives and Michael and Jessy 4. They were all spectacular too!! Karle came on the boat with us yesterday to snorkel and we all had a great day in the water. We have extended our stay here until Tuesday where we fly to Bangkok so that the Miller's can leave :( and we carry on to Koh Chang.
Here are the pics so far from Phuket:
Enjoy!!
Disclaimer: Sorry but there are so many photos in this blog that we haven't had the time to caption and rotate.... hopefully soon though!
We were all delighted when the millers finally arrived in Bangkok after a grueling trip over from NJ. We celebrated with cocktails in the beautiful evening warmth before retiring to bed to recuperate for the site-seeing ahead of us. We slept in a little and enjoyed a delightful riverside breakfast at the hotel in beautiful sunshine before setting off to the sights. We started off with a ferry ride up the river to visit the Temple of Wat Pho and the Grand Palace.
Wat Pho was amazing, so intricately decorated and adorned with hundreds of Buddha images and amazing carvings. It was the perfect place to start the Miller's vacation. After exploring the grounds a little we decided that it was time to see the main attraction, the Reclining Buddha that is 46m (140 ft) long and 15m (45 ft) high. It was enormous! After we had marveled at the Buddha we decided to make our way around the grounds to see the Grand Palace. As we strolled along the street a very nice guy came up to us and started chatting. As we had learnt previously there was a long religious holiday that weekend and apparently, because of this, the Grand Palace was closed for the weekend and therefore we could not go in. So the guy helped us out by showing us some other good places to go on our map and we all hopped in a couple of tuk-tuks to head off. We arrived at the 1st of the temples that was the supposedly the earliest temple in Bangkok and we sat down in front of the idol and took in the surroundings. It was very peaceful. That was until our tuk-tuk driver started talking about taking us to a gem market that was "for this week only" 300% off. This is where we started to get a little suspicious..... we explained that we didn't want to go shopping and that we wanted to go straight to the next temple, leading the driver to get very upset, shout at us, swear at us and even lunge at us!! We were needless to say soon on our way on foot to find a taxi!
After our harrowing experience we decided to mellow out a little and took the taxi to Jim Thompson's house. He was a pioneer in the Thai silk trade and a great collector of art. After disappearing in the jungle one day, never to be heard of again, his house was opened as a museum. The tour was great, very relaxing and with some very interesting stories to go along with it. When we had finished here the skies were starting to darken and the clouds close in for the daily dose of rain so we hopped on the skytrain just in time to get us to the ferry stop before the heavens opened. We took the hotel ferry the short distance back to the hotel for a few cocktails before heading to dinner across the river. The meal was fantastic Thai food and we even had the chance to experience authentic Thai dancing before retiring for the night.
We started the next day off with another great breakfast before heading to the Blue Elephant cooking school for our day's lesson. Our teacher David took us to the market before we began the class and we got see, hear and taste the experience! When we returned from the market we sat down in the classroom for our lesson. David showed us how to make the recipe and then we went into the practical room to do it ourselves. We had a great time making yellow curry, spicy beef salad, banana leaf baked fish and other delights. After the class we sat down in the restaurant below and ate the food that we had prepared.... it was all delicious! We had another great meal that evening out by the river on the terrace.
The following day was our last full day in the city before heading to Cambodia for the Temples of Angkor. We went again to the Grand Palace and made it in this time, however, The Emerald Buddha Temple was closed (legitimately!), so we decided to skip it before and come back in the morning. So we went for a wander around one of the market area in Bangkok by the palace and then up to Ko San road so that the family could get a feel for the backpackers area. Here we shopped, ducked into air-conditioned bars for a cold beer and ate Pad Thai from street vendors. When we returned to the hotel I picked up the suits that I had had tailored for me and we went out for a lovely dinner in the main business district. After which, the ladies went home and Michael and I went of to meet Alasdair to watch some Thai kick-boxing. Only when we arrived at the stadium we found that it was $45 a ticket to stand!! So we decided to go for a few drinks instead. We bar hopped and saw the sights that Bangkok's nightlife has to offer, which included a very brief stop at one of the "lady-boy" bars!!
Here are both our's and The Miller's photos from BKK:
After our breakfast we all decided that it would be best to relax for the few hours before our flight rather than rush around doing anything. So we hung out and explored the magnificent hotel that we had been staying in before heading to the airport for our trip to Phnom Penh. Upon arrival in Cambodia we were picked up by Pat at the airport where we found out it was a 5-6hr drive to Siem-Reap and the hotel!! We napped and watched the countryside go by and arrived to another great hotel and a delicious meal. We rested ready for Temple hopping in the morning.
We were picked up at 10 and we headed out to Angkor Wat, the most famous of the temples here. Just as we started up the steps our camera batteries ran out and the spares were in the van! Thankfully Michael had his camera and we could still capture the sheer amazingness of this wonderful place. It really was unbelievable to see such huge complexes that were built so long ago and so intricately. Every wall has elaborate carving on it that tells a story from either the Hindu or Buddhist belief systems. The whole experience was out of this world.
After Angkor Wat we traveled to Ta Phrom, a temple complex that is pretty much as it was found. The jungle sprouts out of the ruins and the ruins sprout from the jungle. Truly awesome. This temple is famous for the "Tomb Raider Tree", from one of the movies, a huge network of vines and trunk emerging from the rocks. This was again a wondrous place.
The next stop was beautiful pyramid temple that Michael and I climbed up. The view was amazing. We also visited anther smaller temple in the jungle before heading on to the last stop of the day. The Boulevard of the Elephants and Bayon, the next complex to be built after Angkor Wat. This place has faces all over the building and we were just getting into it when the heavens opened and we decided that it was time to leave! We had had a great day so far and we were ready for more tomorrow, when we knew that we would be riding elephants into the park to see Bayon again! We went out for a fabulous meal at Madame Butterfly's where we had authentic Cambodian fare and a wonderful time before heading off to bed to prepare for another day of temple trekking.
Here are our pics for the 1st day minus Angkor Wat:
The next day started earlier and we were on the road by 8 0'clock for our 1st stop....... the elephants!! Karle & Jessy got onto theirs and then Jen, Michael and myself followed. It was a great experience, if not a little bumpy, and we arrived at the other entrance to Bayon for another go at it! This time around we were far more successful and didn't get the rain coming in..... yet! This complex was again amazing and we had a wonderful time exploring the parts that we couldn't get to the previous day. When we had finished we headed out of the main area of the Angkor Temples to visit one that is further out of town but very special as it is made from red sandstone.
The ride was short out there and the temple was worth it, very intricate and very different from the other that we had seen. It was much smaller and didn't take us very long to go around, but that left plenty of time for Michael to shop!! It was hilarious to see the hoards of children all trying to get him to buy their scarves and in many cases succeeding! The next stop was another pyramid style temple, although this one was made from brick. It was truly unique to the others and was believed to have had 4 crematoriums on the top. This is when we got hit by the rain!! We ran back to the car and headed off in the direction of the hotel to call it a day and relax before another hellish day of traveling in the morning.
Here our 2nd day pics and the Millers from our stay in Cambodia:
Edit: Here are Jessy's pics from the sandstone temple:
And so the day began, 6hrs in a van, 2 delayed flights, and lots of airport food later we had another 1hr ride in the most luxurious van ever to arrive at the Kata Thani Hotel, Phuket at 1am. A cocktail or 2 later we were asleep and looking forward to the days ahead, relaxing and diving here. The following day, after a little confusion as a message was not passed along by the front desk, we got ourselves booked on a dive trips for the next 2 days and Jessy starting her certification that afternoon.
Since then Jen and I have done 5 great dives and Michael and Jessy 4. They were all spectacular too!! Karle came on the boat with us yesterday to snorkel and we all had a great day in the water. We have extended our stay here until Tuesday where we fly to Bangkok so that the Miller's can leave :( and we carry on to Koh Chang.
Here are the pics so far from Phuket:
Enjoy!!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
holy cow..... we suck
Hello friends.... it's been a while.
We have just been having so much fun stuffing our faces with curry and riding elephants that we haven't had the time to update. C'est la vie. Now we can torture you with a super duper update!!!!!!!!!
So where did we leave off?
We arrived in Chiang Mai, and enjoyed the lovely Pak hotel- awesome suite, complete with our own computer. So instead of updating the blog, we downloaded the most recent season of Lost, drank beers, and enjoyed our evenings! The temples were awesome,fod was fabulous. On our anniversary we had a lovely 2.5 hour spa treatment, then had lunch in town where we met an odd old farang and were offered an indecent proposal- to go home with him and meet his thai lesbian ladyboy girlfriend for some fun. Though we were offered unlimited funding to stay in Chiang Mai, we politely declined and ran back to our hotel. Now that's a memorable anniversary!
We enjoyed Doi Suthep but we had bad timing and ended up there on the day that the entire freshman class of Chiang Mai Uni were there doing their prayers. Miles of students walking up the hills, people singing and dancing and boozing... it was nuts. It took a bit longer than we expected!!! Headed to the Saturday walking market afterwards and bought some fisherman pants and paintings, then lounged for our last day in CM.
In the morning we had our last amazing breakfast at Pak, then hopped in a tuktuk and went to the bus station. We rode for 5-6 hours to Sukhothai and settled in at our little bungalow. Had a fabulous curry down the road, bought some Chang beers, and played cards all night on our balcony. In the morning, we hopped in a songthaew to Sukhothai Historical Park, where we viewed amazing ruins and frolicked in the rain.
After lunch we returned to the bus station and headed down to Ayutthaya where we stayed in an 80 year old restored teak hotel right along the river. In the morning we rented bikes and toured the city and ruins in the blazing sunshine. It was gorgeous, and Mr. Map Reader Oli made the mistake of leading us down the wrong road which was fabulous- we were right in the north of town where the residents live, and we saw them fishing, planting crops, laughing and smiling. It was a great detour and much better than the way we were supposed to go to the temple!
After a great day and a sore butt we headed to the train station to catch a train to Bangkok. The train was delayed and we spent our time drinking some beers at a local place with a guy who knew great English and even better bar tricks. I got a star up on the wall for my handy rubber band trick completion, and we walked away very satisfied.
The train was short and sweet, and we arrived in Bangkok surprised to see it so modern and well kept! We moseyed our way down to the river, hopped on a ferry, and headed up to Khao San Road, because as a backpacker, why not? We checked into our seedy hostel which was reminiscent of Leo's room in The Beach, then headed our to contact Oli's old friend Al. We rang him up and met him at a local bar, where we drank beers out of paper cups and chatted. We had a lovely evening with him, and experienced the backpacker culture for a bit, then retired to our room.
The following morning we grabbed breakfast, packed up, and headed back to the ferry to The Oriental stop. We got off the ferry, walked down the road, and were immediately whisked in to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, where they grabbed our bags, gave us juice, and showed us to our lovely lovely lovely riverfront room. So luxurious!!! I wanted to collapse in the fluffy white pillows but we got our bearings straight and headed out. We went to a local tailor where Oli got fitted for some gorgeous suits, then hopped in a cab in the nick of time before the heavens opened up. We headed to the mall to look for some Mandarin Oriental appropriate shoes for me, but go figure- couldn't find a place with my size! Never thought an 8.5 US was large, but now I know!!! We killed time at the mall, then headed back to the hotel to lay around and watch Dexter and wait for the arrival of.... THE MILLERS IN BANGKOK.
We have just been having so much fun stuffing our faces with curry and riding elephants that we haven't had the time to update. C'est la vie. Now we can torture you with a super duper update!!!!!!!!!
So where did we leave off?
We arrived in Chiang Mai, and enjoyed the lovely Pak hotel- awesome suite, complete with our own computer. So instead of updating the blog, we downloaded the most recent season of Lost, drank beers, and enjoyed our evenings! The temples were awesome,fod was fabulous. On our anniversary we had a lovely 2.5 hour spa treatment, then had lunch in town where we met an odd old farang and were offered an indecent proposal- to go home with him and meet his thai lesbian ladyboy girlfriend for some fun. Though we were offered unlimited funding to stay in Chiang Mai, we politely declined and ran back to our hotel. Now that's a memorable anniversary!
We enjoyed Doi Suthep but we had bad timing and ended up there on the day that the entire freshman class of Chiang Mai Uni were there doing their prayers. Miles of students walking up the hills, people singing and dancing and boozing... it was nuts. It took a bit longer than we expected!!! Headed to the Saturday walking market afterwards and bought some fisherman pants and paintings, then lounged for our last day in CM.
In the morning we had our last amazing breakfast at Pak, then hopped in a tuktuk and went to the bus station. We rode for 5-6 hours to Sukhothai and settled in at our little bungalow. Had a fabulous curry down the road, bought some Chang beers, and played cards all night on our balcony. In the morning, we hopped in a songthaew to Sukhothai Historical Park, where we viewed amazing ruins and frolicked in the rain.
After lunch we returned to the bus station and headed down to Ayutthaya where we stayed in an 80 year old restored teak hotel right along the river. In the morning we rented bikes and toured the city and ruins in the blazing sunshine. It was gorgeous, and Mr. Map Reader Oli made the mistake of leading us down the wrong road which was fabulous- we were right in the north of town where the residents live, and we saw them fishing, planting crops, laughing and smiling. It was a great detour and much better than the way we were supposed to go to the temple!
After a great day and a sore butt we headed to the train station to catch a train to Bangkok. The train was delayed and we spent our time drinking some beers at a local place with a guy who knew great English and even better bar tricks. I got a star up on the wall for my handy rubber band trick completion, and we walked away very satisfied.
The train was short and sweet, and we arrived in Bangkok surprised to see it so modern and well kept! We moseyed our way down to the river, hopped on a ferry, and headed up to Khao San Road, because as a backpacker, why not? We checked into our seedy hostel which was reminiscent of Leo's room in The Beach, then headed our to contact Oli's old friend Al. We rang him up and met him at a local bar, where we drank beers out of paper cups and chatted. We had a lovely evening with him, and experienced the backpacker culture for a bit, then retired to our room.
The following morning we grabbed breakfast, packed up, and headed back to the ferry to The Oriental stop. We got off the ferry, walked down the road, and were immediately whisked in to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, where they grabbed our bags, gave us juice, and showed us to our lovely lovely lovely riverfront room. So luxurious!!! I wanted to collapse in the fluffy white pillows but we got our bearings straight and headed out. We went to a local tailor where Oli got fitted for some gorgeous suits, then hopped in a cab in the nick of time before the heavens opened up. We headed to the mall to look for some Mandarin Oriental appropriate shoes for me, but go figure- couldn't find a place with my size! Never thought an 8.5 US was large, but now I know!!! We killed time at the mall, then headed back to the hotel to lay around and watch Dexter and wait for the arrival of.... THE MILLERS IN BANGKOK.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Better really late than never!
So, finally we are letting you guys in on the last 3/4 weeks of our travels. Well to say the least, it has been crazy busy!
We had a great final few days in Kuala Lumpur, staying with Mo, our 1st couchsurfing buddy, exploring the city (particularly the air-conditioned parts!) and hanging out with old friends. Gav, a guy that we both new from Brighton, is now living and working there, so we were able to catch up over several very expensive beers in the local Irish Pub - fantastic!!
After KL we spent 30 odd hours in transit - KL to Bangkok, Bangkok to Tokyo and Tokyo to sunny California. And after a little questioning from the immigration official who couldn't understand "why" we were travelling, we were finally stateside again, awaiting the arrival of Warren and Tessa! Tessa was apparently very excited to see us which was demonstrated by her urinating all over the pavement of the arrivals area, thankfully Warren greeted us with big hugs instead of following suit! We spent a wonderful weekend at the ranch decompressing after the long journey and enjoying the company of family once more. And we definitely enjoyed the trip to in'n'out too!
On Monday we left the ranch and cruised over towards the Bay Area to Tiburon to see Aunt Rayna and Uncle Jimmy. We had a great afternoon and a wonderful home cooked meal and great company in the evening before getting another great nights sleep. Tuesday we had another lovely day, went on a great hike where we snuck into the brand new, not yet open, marine wildlife centre, saw "UP" and mentally prepared for the Trivia Night at La Barca that evening. It was a blast! The food was great as usual and it was great to see Vance and Lori as well.
Next we ventured South even further and stopped in SLO to see Grams. We tortured her with a couple hundred of our photos, cooked dinner and ate Ollalaberry Pie! We also spent a great day touring Hearst Castle and looking through more pics and enjoying the opportunity to cook once more.
Come Friday we were rolling down to L.A. in time for lunch with our old work places. But 1st we had to swing by the old apartment in Westwood, completing one full revolution of the World heading East!! We both had great lunches and visited the LACMA for the 1st time before heading over to Erin's to start the night of fun. We had an awesome night meeting up with just about all of our great friends from L.A. and despite having at least one too many drinks we made it home and were up in time to leave L.A. once more. Not before a trip to the legendary Apple Pan for lunch though!
We made it back to the ranch in the early evening and detoxed before heading up to Boonville on Sunday to start pre-show for the festival. We spent the next 4 days working long hours, with short nights, enjoying more family time and getting everything in shape for Thurs/Fri. On Thurs our friends arrived and we celebrated heartily! It was amazing to see everyone again and we had a wonderful weekend with everyone. It was a really spectacular weekend with too many good moments to list them all but we thank everyone from the Vets Hall Camp for coming to Boonville and seeing us again. Even though it meant working the early or late shifts! We love you guys!
Come Monday, the show was over, we all felt great about the weekend but it was now time to start the clean up. Cue the long days and short nights again! Finally on Friday we were able to leave Boonville for another year and relax at the ranch with Warren, Gret, Bette and all the animals before our early start on Sunday.
Well, 34 hours of transit later we arrived here, in Chiang Mai, at our hotel on Tuesday the 30th. Yes, a hotel! We are splurging for our anniversary(Thx Mum & Dad)! We spent thye day lounging around in our suite, sleeping and eating the amazing food. Yesterday we explored the city a little, saw the amazing "Wats" (temples), ate more great food and finished the evening with a few drinks. Today is pretty much a repeat of that! We love it so far in Thailand and are looking forward to seeing Michael, Karle and Jessy on Wednesday and exploring more of it with them.
For now, that seems to be us caught up, so until next time.....
We had a great final few days in Kuala Lumpur, staying with Mo, our 1st couchsurfing buddy, exploring the city (particularly the air-conditioned parts!) and hanging out with old friends. Gav, a guy that we both new from Brighton, is now living and working there, so we were able to catch up over several very expensive beers in the local Irish Pub - fantastic!!
After KL we spent 30 odd hours in transit - KL to Bangkok, Bangkok to Tokyo and Tokyo to sunny California. And after a little questioning from the immigration official who couldn't understand "why" we were travelling, we were finally stateside again, awaiting the arrival of Warren and Tessa! Tessa was apparently very excited to see us which was demonstrated by her urinating all over the pavement of the arrivals area, thankfully Warren greeted us with big hugs instead of following suit! We spent a wonderful weekend at the ranch decompressing after the long journey and enjoying the company of family once more. And we definitely enjoyed the trip to in'n'out too!
On Monday we left the ranch and cruised over towards the Bay Area to Tiburon to see Aunt Rayna and Uncle Jimmy. We had a great afternoon and a wonderful home cooked meal and great company in the evening before getting another great nights sleep. Tuesday we had another lovely day, went on a great hike where we snuck into the brand new, not yet open, marine wildlife centre, saw "UP" and mentally prepared for the Trivia Night at La Barca that evening. It was a blast! The food was great as usual and it was great to see Vance and Lori as well.
Next we ventured South even further and stopped in SLO to see Grams. We tortured her with a couple hundred of our photos, cooked dinner and ate Ollalaberry Pie! We also spent a great day touring Hearst Castle and looking through more pics and enjoying the opportunity to cook once more.
Come Friday we were rolling down to L.A. in time for lunch with our old work places. But 1st we had to swing by the old apartment in Westwood, completing one full revolution of the World heading East!! We both had great lunches and visited the LACMA for the 1st time before heading over to Erin's to start the night of fun. We had an awesome night meeting up with just about all of our great friends from L.A. and despite having at least one too many drinks we made it home and were up in time to leave L.A. once more. Not before a trip to the legendary Apple Pan for lunch though!
We made it back to the ranch in the early evening and detoxed before heading up to Boonville on Sunday to start pre-show for the festival. We spent the next 4 days working long hours, with short nights, enjoying more family time and getting everything in shape for Thurs/Fri. On Thurs our friends arrived and we celebrated heartily! It was amazing to see everyone again and we had a wonderful weekend with everyone. It was a really spectacular weekend with too many good moments to list them all but we thank everyone from the Vets Hall Camp for coming to Boonville and seeing us again. Even though it meant working the early or late shifts! We love you guys!
Come Monday, the show was over, we all felt great about the weekend but it was now time to start the clean up. Cue the long days and short nights again! Finally on Friday we were able to leave Boonville for another year and relax at the ranch with Warren, Gret, Bette and all the animals before our early start on Sunday.
Well, 34 hours of transit later we arrived here, in Chiang Mai, at our hotel on Tuesday the 30th. Yes, a hotel! We are splurging for our anniversary(Thx Mum & Dad)! We spent thye day lounging around in our suite, sleeping and eating the amazing food. Yesterday we explored the city a little, saw the amazing "Wats" (temples), ate more great food and finished the evening with a few drinks. Today is pretty much a repeat of that! We love it so far in Thailand and are looking forward to seeing Michael, Karle and Jessy on Wednesday and exploring more of it with them.
For now, that seems to be us caught up, so until next time.....
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