I know it's taken me quite a while to get up any semblance of a blog post about my winter vacation trip to Thailand, but I promise you it hasn't been for lack of trying. It can be difficult to try and get all your thoughts (and photos) together concisely. Anyways, without any further delaying, here is part 1 of the Thailand Winter Vacation 2010 travel posts.
Judy and I left for Thailand on December 30th, just as the winter weather in Korea was turning from mild to cold. Luckily enough, our destination, was averaging 90 degrees F (or 30 C), so we were able to bring out all our shorts and t-shirts, clothing items that hadn't seen the light of day in a few months. Both our flights to/from Seoul were connecting through China, so now I can say that I have a Chinese stamp in my passport! That being said, the whole process of going through customs even though you're only connecting flights is a bit of a hassle. On our way to Bangkok we connected through Beijing and we got to hang out in the airport there for a few hours. I guess the airport staff were trying to conserve energy because the temperature in the airport was freezing! Eventually we were on our way to Bangkok and we got in shortly before midnight, grabbed a cab and made our way to the hostel.
What we didn't realize when we landed in Bangkok and awoke the next morning was the time difference between China and Thailand. The flight attendants on our flight incorrectly announced the time and Judy and I ended up waking up an hour earlier than we had wanted to. We decided to go exploring around our neighborhood for a little bit, since we didn't really have enough time to go see anything on the other side of the city; we were flying to Phuket that afternoon. Unfortunately, because we woke up early and maybe also partly because it was New Year's Eve, there wasn't much going on in the area surrounding our hostel, but here are some pics of everyday life.
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| Modern Home Security System |
After grabbing breakfast and lunch at our hostel and getting some friendly pointers and guidance about where to go in Bangkok, we made our way back to the airport to go to Phuket. We got in around dinner time and made our way to our next hostel, near Kat Karon and Kat Kara (the southern part of Phuket), which was a 5-10 minute walk from the beach...nice! Phuket was definitely in full NYE party mode when we arrived and after getting situated, we grabbed some dinner and joined in on the festivities. The fireworks started going off around 8 and didn't stop until around 2 or 3 am. There were pretty wild parties happening everywhere you went and it was a definitely a good way to bring in the New Year. The next morning we woke up and got Western-style breakfast! (incredible eggs, toast, hash browns!), something that's incredibly difficult to get in Korea if you aren't staying in a hotel, and even then it can be challenging. We made our way to the beach, where the sun was beaming down and the water was incredibly inviting.
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| No thanks... |
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| My meal of fried noodles and chicken. |
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| Guess what fruit that is? |
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| The finished product: tasted like citrusy-banana |
The next day we got up early to go on an elephant trek out in the forest, which was really fun! Basically how it works is when you get there, you walk up to a platform where you get on the elephant's back (there's a carriage to sit in) and you have a driver. But, the driver hops off about 5 minutes into the trek and then you get to sit on the elephant's neck. Fortunately, the elephant is more or less just following the driver walking in front of him so there isn't too much skill or technique involved. Here's a look at what it's like:
After the elephant trek, we made our way back to the area near our hostel, grabbed lunch, and then hired a tuk-tuk to take us to Wat Chalong, a pretty big temple just outside Phuket Town and to the famous Big Buddha. Both were very interesting to see. The Big Buddha sits on top of a large hill that overlooks most of Phuket and out into the Andaman Sea. Here they both are:
After a busy day of moving around Phuket, we decided to relax and take it easy that night because we had to wake up early again the next morning to catch our ferry to Ko Phi Phi, which is where I'll leave this part for now.
What I'm listening to: "All Die Young" by Smith Westerns
Remember the link for my Thailand pictures and future photo albums is now on the right side of this blog. It's called "My Picasa Pics."
I'm sooooo jealous and can't wait to read part II.
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