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So in true Frye Fashion,
We up and decided to go to Thailand instead of dealing with a more expensive Hong Kong to process Blake’s Visa paperwork (seriously, two flights to Thailand + Housing = hundreds cheaper than HK). So with assistance from the employer and recruiter, I was able to book us on an over night flight to Thailand. Perfecto!
Or So We Thought.
Upon booking, I mucked things up. Royally. I’m pretty sure it was equivalent for grounds of divorce. Thank God my hubby is understanding. Thinking we were leaving Friday evening, We are packing and getting excited...we get ready for bed And my phone alarms: Flight from Bangkok to Phuket is delayed.
HUH?
So of Course I check our tickets, and the dates, and my calendar......and realize we were to fly from Hong Kong International to Bangkok, Thursday evening, arriving Friday Morning. All arrivals had the next days date since I was still booking EST.
Yep. Go Me. It took about 8 hours plus figuring out English vs Chinese airlines/speaking individuals and also the fact my phone can only call domestically in China. I hadn’t pulled an all nighter since the days of LifeStar but I was not quitting until this was taken care of. Luckily I had purchased travel insurance and all was ok. It was just having to get all flights on the same page.
Knowing there were also Visa issues for DH, we packed up the essentials to hold at HK International (Ya know, heirlooms, special Knick knacks, etc).
So Now that I have admitted to my royal screw up....we can move on to our trip to Thailand.
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In True Asian Airlines Fashion, the plane is larger than US Domestic flights, the Air is clean and has a floral scent (very mild and fresh, not like perfume).
And we sit back to watch our “Emergency Exit Plan” video.....and are instead greeted by a sex trafficking video. Yep, instead of three languages of how to buckle your seatbelt, we got the down and dirty of how to watch for Sex Trafficking and how to prevent it. It was so in-depth I should have received some EMS CEUs for it.
Arrived in Bangkok. Airport is creepy. End of discussion. Ok, well half of it is. Apparently the domestic flight terminal is no where near as nice as the international terminal. And security in the US was tighter pre-9/11 than what we had going through. No wonder there’s so much drug and sex trafficking!
We finally made it to Phuket, and then figured out we missed the last ferry to our destination: Koh Phi Phi. So, shacked up in a “Resort” for the evening. It was equivalent to a normal hotel room....so not sure what made it a resort. No continental breakfast just coffee. No biggy. We had much bigger plans for the day! Went by the visa office to deal with blake’s Visa and then off to Koh Phi Phi!
What’s so great about Koh Phi Phi? Firstly, it’s pronounced “Pee Pee” and yes we giggled. Secondly, as with all trips, we looked for our own Movie Tours. Apparently there’s an Island called “James Bond Island” as well another called “Maya Bay.” When Blake and I started dating he told me hands down, life goal was to get to Maya Bay. Good thing we have similar Bucket Lists because I had seen this oasis via Pinterest. He had seen it thanks to Leonardo DiCaprio’s “The Beach”
The unfortunate thing is - everyone else had seen The Beach too...and literally two weeks before our arrival, Maya Bay was closed indefinitely. Thanks to tourism, Maya Bay was seeing millions of visitors every year, causing 80% of its ecosystem to die.
The tourist in me was bummed. The science nerd in me was like “HOORAY!” It was such a conflict. After hiking (yes hiking) to our newest accommodations at the Phi Phi Good View Resort (which at the time of travel was under serious renovations. It is gorgeous now!) we took off to explore our little island of Paradise. It was mid-afternoon and the tide had gone out. We are doing the whole romantic walk on the beach looking at the ghost crabs, the bars awaiting their peak hours...when all of a sudden, the skies went black.
About the time Blake said he thought it was going to rain, huge rain drops hit our sun kissed shoulders. We dove for cover in what was a restaurant. We figured we would have some authentic Pad Thai as we waited out the storm. 160BHT later, we thought we had hit the jackpot of food. Articulated on a real plate with the egg lattice placed on top, the pad Thai had an intensity of flavors one cannot get from the US. That evening we roamed about, checking out the different night life, feeling as though we had found the Thai version of Cancun.
Tourists beware: the walk to Phi Phi Goodview along the beach disappears during high tide. Water is about mid thigh (waist high for short people). So if you wanna take the long way and not get wet, there’s that heads up.
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