Off to "The Beach"

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Monday, Feb 11
Jason’s last full day was spent being lazy by the pool all morning. We celebrated his pre-departure with more noodles and pork satay next door. We then headed downtown for a foot massage and dinner that evening.

For dinner we met my aunts, uncle, and grandma and had dinner in Chinatown. The meal was multiple courses starting with Chinese style sushi and a main course of roasted pig. Jason ate an ear, Stu the tongue, and I tried but spit out the burnt tail. We also had wine with dinner although their pours were not quite what we’re used to in the US. Instead of 4 oz’s it was closer to 1 so that every time we’d take a sip the waitress had to walk back over to refill our ounce. Of course this did not pose a problem since we were the only patrons in the restaurant and had appx 1 server per dinner guest. After eating we walked down the street to get Jason some chestnuts to bring home and that was the end of the night. Back to the condo so Jason could pack and get prepared for his 24 hour journey home.

Tuesday, Feb 12
This morning Jason left on a 6am flight. Mom and my Aunt Tim took him to the airport. After dropping Jason and then my Aunt off at her house, my mom proceeded to get lost on the way home. Stu and I were still sound asleep. She finally made it back. After she napped we planned to head to do some shopping and loaded into the car. We got onto the highway when all of a sudden the car started making funny noises. Mom looked down at the heat meter and saw that the engine was quickly overheating. We pulled over and she started calling friends. Not more than two minutes later a tow truck arrived. Apparently the government provides free tow service just to get you off the highway. Unfortunately this is the one time we didn’t have our camera with us. We got a tow, caught a tuk tuk (3 wheeler taxi) and cancelled shopping in favor of massage as a two hour Thai massage (450 baht or $15) makes everything better. One of the things I wish most was having that cheap of a massage in the US. Dinner was at an Italian restaurant down the street before heading home for the night.

Wednesday, Feb 13
This morning was spent by the pool. We walked next door and had noodles and pork satay. We came back and Stu got a haircut and we both got a manicure at the condo (I’m sure Stu would want me to omit this part). Pretty lazy day. We didn’t do anything else except dinner at Fuji Sushi with my Aunt Tim and her family. We enjoyed some Rohti (Indian pancake with sweetened condensed milk and sugar) for dessert then came home.

Thursday, Feb 14
We left for Phuket this morning (small island at Southern tip of Thailand) and arrived early afternoon. We drove about an hour from the airport and checked into our hotel in Patong Beach. We spent the afternoon walking the beach, purchasing scuba gear, and sunning by the pool. Rough I know. That evening we stumbled to a little hotel tucked into the side of a road and enjoyed 2 for 1 martini’s. What more could you ask for you ask? How about a foot massage? We treated ourselves to one for a whopping 250 baht (appx $8) and threw in a $3 tip. After that we had a nice valentines dinner with wine glasses the size of my head. A fabulous day overall.

Friday, Feb 15
Friday morning we headed to Phi Phi Island on a speed boat tour. We left around 8am and arrived at the Pier an hour later. We boarded a speedboat along with about 20 others and went beach hopping. We stopped at 4 different beaches including the one from the famed movie “the beach” with dicaprio. I’d been there about 5 or 7 years ago and it was vastly different in the number of tourists that were there. We used to stop there to rest and lunch between scuba dives and would be one of about 15 others on the beach. This time when we arrived there were dozens of other speedboats and 100’s of other tourists. Kind of spoiled what I remembered. I was hoping we’d stop on the main part of Phi Phi Island where I’ve stayed before so I could see how things had changed and what had survived the Tsunami that hit in Dec 2005. We didn’t make it to that part of the island and instead stopped on a different part of Phi Phi. We did a boat drive-by of a different section that was newly rebuilt that had been completely wiped out.
After our all day tour, we returned to Phuket to stay downtown. I ended up with a rash on my arm from “sea lice” bites while snorkeling. We navigated our way to a pharmacy using my rough thai, enjoyed a beer, did some shopping, had dinner, then returned to the hotel for a nice night’s rest.

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Photos

Valentine's Dinner
Yes...the hallmark holiday has even reached Thailand.

Phi Phi Island
One section entirely rebuilt after the Tsunami

The Beach
Where they filmed the movie. Lots of tourists now.

Window Shopping
The clothes in the background are um...interesting.