ahh fu*k it. let's go to phuket

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: In mid-September through early October, Andrew and I had the opportunity to travel to Thailand Singapore, and Malaysia. Here are some blurbs of what we experienced during our trip.

Khao Lak, Thailand (Le Meridian Resort and Spa)
Andrew had a weeklong work conference in Thailand and lucky for me - significant others were welcomed to attend. The conference was held in the town of Khao Lak, which was the most severly hit area from the tsunami in 2004. His company chose this location to help bring in much needed revenue. The location was beautiful and you couldn’t tell that a tsunami ravaged this area just two years ago. I jumped at the chance to hang out on the beach and catch up on some reading so off we went. While Andrew was stuck in meetings, I basked in the sun and chilled out with a totally flaming gay guy that served as a fabulous beach buddy. One afternoon I fell asleep in the sun and got fried. After a few days of looking like a lobster, I did end up with a really cool tan!

Monkeys: On the resort was a mini-zoo of sorts with several gibbons (monkeys), birds, deer and other creatures. We had a chance to feed the gibbons fruits and hang out for a bit. The gibbons were very cute and loved having their back scratched. One even held Andrew’s hand!

Spa: A trip to Thailand wouldn’t be complete without a massage and spa. Well I went over the top with a 6-hour special. Yup, you read that correctly….6 hours of pampering. One morning, Andrew and I left our hotel room at the same time (he went to his conference and I went to the spa) and I came back to the room later than he did. When I saw him he looked at his watch, then look at me with a "What a f**k?" look on his face. I loved it. So what does one experience in 6 hours? Lemme tell you…it was heavenly. A quick breakdown of the services I got were: steam sauna, 2 hour massage, facial, milk and rose petal bath, aloe vera wrap, millk/honey wrap, mani and pedicure. Did I exaggerate on getting this package? HECK YEAH! It was worth every Baht.

Military Coup: During our time in Thailand, the military took over the government in Bangkok. From where we were, Bangkok was 6-7 hours away by road. The coup was peaceful but of course the media exaggerated. Our family and friends in the US were wondering if we were coup. There were no issues or threats to us, or anyone for that matter. It was coup to hear from the hotel staff that the people supported the coup as the king gave permission to take over the government. We were coup and you couldn’t tell that anything of the sort was even happening as all tourists and locals were going about their day as usual. It was hella coup.

Gay Bar: After the conference at the resort, Andrew and I, along with another couple who happened to be gay, headed to Patong Beach. This is a beach town with a lot more hustle and bustle than what we had at the resort. We experienced our first gay bar scene at Patong. It was a very calm street with a cabaret-type theater across the road. Many young men were standing around showing off their goods as would-be customers checked them out. Andrew was the only straight guy in the neighborhood and I was the only female there that was a real woman! Andrew was offended he didn’t get any looks.

Ko Phi Phi (The Beach): Did you ever watch The Beach with Leo DiCaprio? We went to that island. Check it out.

Kayak Trip: One day, we went on an awesome kayak trip to Phang Nga, Thailand. We had very experienced guides paddle us through caves while we looked at thousand of fruit bats hanging around and monkeys swimming on the beach. Some of the cave entrances were so low that we needed to lay down in our kayak to avoid being beheaded! These caves were like rooms with no ceilings. Once we made it through a cave entrance, we were still able to see the sky above. Parts of the water were so low that we’d get stuck in the sand. It was kinda like the movie GOONIES with Andy being Chunk and his big butt was sinking our kayak. Whenever we were on shallow waters, we’d get stuck and Andy would need to wiggle us out. Poor guy felt like such a heavy-weight.
In the evening we entered various caves and experienced sparkles in the water through bioluminescence. Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism as the result of a chemical reaction during which chemical energy is converted to light energy. So in essence we made waves in the water with our hands and the organisms produced this light in the water that made it look like glitter. It was just so beautiful. We met people from all over the world and experienced a very tranquil and amazing trip. If you’re ever in Thailand, check this out! You will remember it always.

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