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!!