I learned a lesson a long time ago that I didn’t head last night. Don’t drink cheap gin. With a massive hangover, I missed breakfast, which heather said was terrific and on par with the Banyan Tree breakfast. I don’t know about that, we’ll see. She did manage to capture a video of me snoring deeply that won’t be posted here. After being dragged from bed, we headed poolside to take in the southern Thai sun for the day. The pool is super nice - warm water, plenty of lounge chairs and sits atop the Patong Beach inlet. It also has [View Full Entry]

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While I think Bangkok and Chiang Mai left us a little Wat-ted out (over Wat-tage), Phuket offers the serene beauty of a tropical paradise along the Andaman Sea. While there are plenty of attractions to see, there are no major temples or historical sites that are must sees, safe for the natural beauty that rises out of the Southern Coast in the Andaman and the neighboring Gulf of Thailand. We had dinner at our hotel the first evening here in Phuket in a beachside Italian restaurant. It was great to have something other than Thai food and the meal we had [View Full Entry]

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We arrived to our hotel on Patong Beach in Koh Phuket with no major issues to report. Our hotel, The Amari Coral Beach Resort (www.amari.com/coralbeach), is gorgeous with incredible views of an inlet that leads out to the Andaman Coast, again surrounded by the mountains. Even though the resort is beautiful and posh, we have no internet and I’ll need to update the blog each morning (?) from the lobby. We’re going to have dinner at the hotel and then head out to Bang La Road, a happening spot, much like Khao San Road in Bangkok. Tomorrow morning I think we’ll [View Full Entry]

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We didn’t have anything planned for us today and wanted to see the actual city of Chiang Mai. The old city, the original area that made up the city of Chiang Mai, is a square plot of land, smack dab in the middle, surrounded by a stone gate and moat, with the larger surrounding area encompassed by the picturesque mountains. As we drove up to it, you could picture how it looked 600-700 years ago, much like you’d picture a medieval castle and surrounding villages. Our taxi dropped us off at Wat Chedi Luang, a giant ancient ruin that towered above. [View Full Entry]

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Today we went to the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School for some lessons in the art of making Thai cuisine (www.thaicookeryschool.com). It was an all day schooling run by Chef Sompon Nabnian that entailed the cooking of six traditional Thai meals that we would learn, cook and eat. The first lesson was about the ingredients we would be using throughout the day, the different herbs and vegetables and sauces. The reason for the fishy taste in everything, we learned, is due to the use of fish sauce, which apparently is used in nearly everything the Thai cook. Oh, and the use [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Chiang Mai yesterday afternoon after a 90 minute flight from Bangkok. Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city, is in the rural northwest and our hotel was about a 40 minute cab ride from the airport. The car ride reminded me of a trip through the American south with patches of desolate areas and plenty of farming. The terrain in the north of Thailand is mountainous and is part of the Himalayan Mountain system. We are outside the city limits of Chiang Mai and I kept giving looks to Heather as we moved through the countryside, trying to figure [View Full Entry]

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Not much to talk about the day as we slept in recovering from NYE, but we were going at about 9:30. We were all Wat-ted out and it was out last day in Bangkok before departing for Chiang Mai in the northeast of Thailand. After breakfast, dragging our feet and moving slow, we headed back to Siam Square to do a little shopping. As my favorite nieces (Charlotte Rose & Veronica Marie) in the world like to say, “SHOPPPPPPING.” So I’ll provide some random observations to ya along with some details on our day. I think I mentioned this in a [View Full Entry]

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Today I had my fitting for my suits. Sweet. After breakfast (which was excellent as always) we strolled back over to Paul Smith Tailors to see our friend Peter. It took about 20 minutes to sort everything out, but to say the least, I’m pretty psyched for how the final products will look. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel to grab our stuff for today’s adventure to Wat Saket, the Golden Mountain. The Golden Mountain is a beautiful landmark with 318 spiraling stairs that leads to the top of the building, well in view of the massive golden chedi (the [View Full Entry]

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I was on a mission today to get my suits. We had seen a tailor that looked to be pretty reputable on our way to the night bazaar the other evening and figured we’d give them a try. The Paul Smith Fashion Tailors (lucky super #1 tailor in Bangkok) is on the other side of the street from our hotel about a block down, so we hoofed it in the oppressive humidity alongside the bustling daily Bangkok traffic. Crossing the streets here in Bangkok is an adventure - first you got to get used to them driving on the other side [View Full Entry]

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Breakfast is so good here I needed to put an entry dedicated specifically to it. It is delicious. They have a mixture of breakfast/lunch (brunch for the sophisticated) items and will make you a fresh omelet to your liking with real eggs cracked right in front of you. They also have fresh sushi, but who wants that at 9AM? They have an amazing array of fresh fruit to choose from as well with different combinations daily. Jackfruit, Dragon fruit, honeydew, cantaloupe, lychee, banana, guave and mango. They also have fresh squeezed juice, which is delicious, including watermelon juice, pi [View Full Entry]

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