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Published: April 19th 2009
Final Week
Ferry Ride To PhuketHello Again!!
We wound up our last week in Thailand with a trip to the island of Phuket and then back to Bangkok for a final farewell to our friend Ting.
We had heard that Phuket was rather touristy and highly commercialized but we wanted to see it for ourselves. It was certainly a little more touristy and busy but we loved it for a few days!! After switching boats from Koh Lanta to Phuket in the middle of the Andaman Sea (rather funny as you have to kind of walk a plank to get to the next boat as the crew throws your luggage onto the next boat!) we arrived to the busy port of Phuket Town. We soon found a transfer to our swanky resort "Blue Marine Resort" on Patong Beach (I found this deal on latestays.com as recommended from a young German couple we met in Samui). The resort was absolutely beautiful, nestled on a mountain looking over Patong Beach. It was a 10 minute walk across the road to the beach with shuttles in and around the resort if you wished. Patong Beach of course consisted of white sand and beautiful blue water. The resort
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One of the infinity pools - view from our room consisted of several infinity pools, bars, restaurants etc. The rooms were very posh and we enjoyed living in luxary for a few days!!
We had kind of heard about Thai New Year from April 12-15 and the traditioin of throwing water but we never expected anything like what we experienced!! Our first day as we walked along the beach road we soon realized local Thai people and tourists were shooting us with giant water guns and big pails of water. Within 20 minutes we were absolutely soaked and laughing at all the fun! We gave up trying to keep dry and for the next three days we just wore our bathing suits around town. The most amazing place was the street of the girly bars, it was packed with people soaking each other! There must have been a million water guns around the island of Phuket that weekend! As I said, we have never seen anything like it, we decided to relax, laugh and join in the fun. Brett and Lindsay had told us about their similar experience a few years ago in Thailand and we now know what they were talking about!!!
Three days later we flew
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Our Room at "Blue Marine Resort" from Phuket to Bangkok in preparation for our flight home. We visited some giant shopping markets and toured around the area. Luckily, Ting was able to meet us in Bangkok for a day. The first morning we travelled to the Tara Hotel where she used to work many years ago and met Warren's mom and dad when they stayed there on a Thailand tour. We toured the hotel and area and went for a pizza lunch. Ting brought her little neice with her ("L") and we enjoyed her friendly personality even though we could not communicate through language! Ting has an amazing ability to converse in English even though she does not use the language on a regualar basis anymore. We admire the people that can speak a second language!
After lunch we took a cab to the south of Bangkok to visit her mother, sister, and brother in law. What an eye opener for us! Ting's mom who is 66 years old has lived in the same building that consists of her street front restaurant and her two room home above. She begins her day with a drive on her scooter at 6 a.m. to the market to
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Another Pool buy her supplies for the day. She starts cooking her Thai dishes on an open wok and has them ready for sale in big pots and trays by 11 a.m. Her daughter "A" is the vendor and begins selling. They have a very brisk business party due to the fact that they sell for a reasonable price. Most meals are 10-15 bhats (which is about 30 cents Cdn). This is all the people in this area can afford so she keeps her prices low. What nice people to vist even though we couldn't communicate through language. Ting would interpret for us and we would have a few good laughs. At about 8 p.m. when the food is all sold, Ting's mom starts washing dishes which takes her until about 11 p.m. and she gets to bed around midnight only to begin again. She never takes a day off as she wants to help her daughter and son in law make ends meet and assist in the cost of sending them to school. But in the end, all the people around the communiity seems as happy as can be. There was a senior communicty event going on across the street where
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Busy but beautiful Patong Beach they were honouring the elderly with a supper and entertainment. It made us stop and think when we complain about the bla bla and stress of our everyday lives! Arouind 6 p.m. we were asked to choose what we would like to eat and we were served up a few dishes with steamed rice.
At 7 p.m. Ting put us in a cab and we travelled back to our hotel in preparation for our 4:45 wake up call to get to the airport! It was hard to say good bye but we felt happy that our daughter Jenny and husband Ryan will probably be visiting her next month in Rayong.
Our flights home were uneventful, long, but efficient and we arrived home save and sound at 8:10 p.m. April 16th. Lindsay and Alice were at the airport to meet us which was such a nice way to end our trip and return home!
In conclusion, our Thailand vacation was a trip we will never forget!!! The experiences, sites and people we met were incredible. Hope you enjoyed our blog and thanks for tuning in!!
Mallory and Warren
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Jenny
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Amazing Trip!
What a fantastic trip!! The water fights looked crazy! Can't wait to see you in June! Love Jenny