Thailand

Even though we are Hong Kong-based, we have been fortunate enough to travel a lot.  Hong Kong schools give plenty of extended holidays and it’s easy to travel cheaply within Asia.  In addition to sharing my life in and around Hong Kong, I’ve decided to use my blog to share some of my holiday adventures with you…  I’ll start with Thailand because that’s the first place we went.

Mai Tai in a pineapple

Thailand has a bit of a reputation for being a dangerous and crazy party country (thank you, Hangover II) but in reality, I never once felt unsafe or even uncomfortable.  Perhaps if I’d gone to Bangkok, I’d feel differently, but I found the people of Phuket to be friendly, welcoming and happy. 

Now that I’m more well-travelled, I do things a little differently than how I did it in Thailand.  When I visit another country, I like to explore all aspects of it.  I will usually hire a driver (because driving in Asia is completely insane), plot out my route ahead of time, and see the whole country.  I like to experience varying qualities of hotels, from 5-star to utter darkness.   I enjoy doing both touristy things and experiencing life in local villages.  I rarely stay in one town for more than 2 nights and the days are packed with memorable activities.  Thailand was more of a stationary, relaxing time (though there were definitely some wild adventures mixed in).  There was no plan, no driver, and certainly no 5-star option.  But truthfully, even now, I wouldn’t do things any differently if I visited Thailand again. 

We arrived at the airport a shortly before midnight and noticed that everyone’s bags but ours were wrapped tightly in plastic.  This is a precaution tourists take to prevent being unsuspecting drug mules. *Note to self for next time.* Outside the small Phuket airport, we tried to get a cab to take us to our destination, Kata Beach, about an hour away.  All the cab drivers had charts that listed how much it should cost to get to each place.  Word to the wise:  they will throw these charts in your face and frantically try to outbid each other for your business.  Ignore the chart prices.  They are designed to rip off tourists.  Whatever the chart says, say you’ll to pay about half that price and if that driver won’t accept your offer, move on to the next one.   Thailand is known for horrible, dangerous driving… maybe if I’d been in a city, I would have noticed, but Phuket seemed relatively safe to me.   

An hour and a half later (after an unsolicited ‘bathroom break’ at a high pressure tourist shop on the highway) we arrived at our hotel and just crashed for the night.  The next morning we woke up refreshed and ready to enjoy all that Thailand has to offer.   I had booked the hotel online a few weeks prior on hostelworld.com (now I do all my booking months before) and we planned to stay there for the duration of our stay in Kata Beach.  If you go to Thailand, I recommend this place.  It’s called Hotel Kata Center Inn (make sure it’s the one on Taina Street)…. It’s definitely no frills but the food is awesome and the service couldn’t have been friendlier.  Every morning, we had free pineapple-banana pancakes and banana milkshakes.  We still make these pancakes about once a month at home and reminisce about how great that trip was.

The hotel was ideally located about 5 minutes from the beach.  We spent many a long day at the beach.  You rent a beach chair and umbrella for dirt cheap and just lounge around while people bring you pad Thai and coconut shakes.   The beach also offered parasailing trips.  It took me a week to gather my nerve but it was a rush that was very well worth it.    

Parasailing at Kata Beach

When we weren’t lounging at the beach, we were adventuring.  My husband and I both love animals, so our adventures (and entire trips, in fact) tend to revolve around our furry, feathery and scaley friends.  On Christmas day, we went elephant riding through the jungle.  It was amazing winding up through hills, enjoying the fresh air and seeing the trees where rubber comes from. If you are going to do this, please book with a travel agent (tour shops are easy to find)… do not just drive around and find men with elephants.  They may offer you better deals but these fly-by-night, roadside operations often seriously neglect and mistreat their animals.  If you see a man who uses a stick with a metal poker to control the elephant, don’t do it.  Travel agencies will set you up with companies that are more reputable.  You will pay more, but that’s because the money is actually used to take care of the animals.  The same thing goes for snake and monkey shows and encounters.  Please pay more and observe the conditions of the animals.  Animal cruelty is a serious problem all over Asia.  That being said, what an amazing once in a life time experience!  We also got to play with monkeys and snakes that day. 

Jungle elephant riding

My friend, the Burmese Python

We also shopped a lot.  I got countless dresses and shoes for a fraction of the price I’d pay at home.  My husband had been to Bangkok with some friends a few months before and brought me home plenty of purses and shoes then too.  We also got our wedding favours in Thailand.  You can imagine their surprise in the shop when we ordered 125 musical wooden frogs!

Wedding frogs

Another day, we went snorkeling by the Phi Phi islands.  The water was so clear.  There were fish EVERYWHERE and they were eating bread right from our hands.  I’d never seen anything like it before.  In Thailand, it was my first time swimming in the ocean.  It’s too cold down the west coast of Canada and the U.S., and I hadn’t had the opportunity in Hong Kong yet at that point. 

Two doors down from our hotel, there was a foot massage shop.  The massages were so cheap!  (Maybe around $2 CDN for an hour.)  We went there every night.  There’s nothing like a foot massage to help you unwind after a day of swimming and eating!  One night, we decided to venture out on the town.  Again, I felt safe the entire time, but it was definitely quite the interesting experience.  We walked down an alley about 5 minutes from our hotel and entered an open air room.  Inside this one room, there were about 50 different bars squished together, most with a ladyboy or two dancing on top of the bar counter.  Despite Thailand’s reputation for red light districts, this wasn’t one of them…  it was just  interesting and entertaining.  In fact, the only creepy thing I saw during this trip was the middle aged American business men and divorcees.  They were plentiful and each was latched on to a beautiful teenage Thai girl (or, in some cases, ladyboy). 

So that’s Thailand in a nutshell.  It was an amazing time and a great start to our travelling adventures in Asia.  Stay tuned for more trip details and pictures, interspersed among the regular blog posts. 

Kata Beach

*Edit*  After I wrote this entry, I got a hankering for a Thai coconut shake so some girlfriends and I went to Bangkok for the weekend as a part of my friend's bachelorette party.  We stayed in a pretty quiet area and the entire city was 'dry' because they stop serving alcohol during election time (something you should find out about BEFORE planning an overseas bachelorette).  All in all, it was a great trip.  We took a hassle-free taxi from the airport, stayed in a hotel suite that was bigger than all our HK apartments combined, shopped, ate and got foot massages.  I wanted to go shark diving at the aquarium but the ladies weren't up for that.  Maybe I'll have to bring my husband back for next time.