Aaah, Phuket

I can't believe I haven't posted yet about our great trip to Phuket, Thailand.  We had a Blast, and Larry spoiled me rotten for my birthday.  We had beautiful weather, loved the scenery, people and food.  We left Sing on March 20th, and returned on Monday the 24th.  We stayed at a cute little beach resort and spa, called the Absolute Sea Pearl.  It was tiny, maybe 50 rooms or so.

They spoke english, but we really did have a harder time understanding and communicating, than we do in Sing...see, already being spoiled for Singapore. 

We spent Thursday night, wandering around a little, and ended up back at our hotel for dinner. I was sooo excited to have Thai food in Thailand...and it was good, it really was...but...since it was a tourist area, it wasn't the "blow your face off" good I was expecting.  I love warmer foods (spicy) so I was ready....but for the most part I ended up adding chili to my dishes.  Still so good though. My favorite was tom ka gai, or coconut chicken curry soup.  Sooooo good. We also had some really good noodle dishes, and an excellent green curry one day for lunch.  We've heard that Bangkok has more "real" thai stuff to offer, and I'm really looking forward to having my face blown off.

On friday, we got up, had breakfast at our hotel (it was included) then covered our entire pasty bodies in 30 sunscreen, and hit the beach!  My idea of a good vacation is baking my brains in the sun, swimming, munching a little, then maybe a nap.  Larry is the opposite, he loves to explore, go and do, and of course, snap a gazillion pictures.  So, I was really impressed that he spent the day baking with me, and seemed to like it.  He did go off and explore the parasailing operation at the end of the beach, and of course made friends, but he spent a good portion just chillin with me.  I enjoyed snapping covert pictures of the numerous Russian and German tourists in "banana hammock" bathing suits (one of my favorite Friends episodes was when Pheobe decided she wanted to change her name to Banana hammock...until someone told her what it was) I amassed quite the collection...and am thankful my husband likes traditional bathing suits.  

Oh, and the women go topless there too, so a big hi-light for us was saying " geeeez...didn't need to see those topless".  I think there was only one or two times when Lar was glad the woman decided to flip her lid, so to speak.

After getting cleaned up, we roamed around a little, and did a little tourist shopping.  The sellers were ruthless...it was pretty funny.  One guy saw us coming and started yelling "Tailor, Tailor, come here, Tailor!"  And my wise ass husband yelled back "My name is Larry, not Taylor"  Once again, cracking us up, and no one else got it...oh well, good times.  Only one time did I feel like we were on the set of "broken down palace", when we took a turn down an alley, and all the "massage" parlors had girls lined up, propositioning men as they walked by.  I was a little nervous, but we high tailed it out of there, and all was fine.  I did yell at one guy, that was staring and laughing at us, then realized, "hhmmm...maybe I shouldn't smart off in Thailand".  A firm hand on the small of my back, and a rueful shake of his head, Larry just smiled, and said "C'mon, 313, let's go".  Once again, the cooler head prevails.  

We woke up early on Saturday morning to be picked up for a day tour we had booked to the Phi Phi islands by speedboat.  They take you by boat to the Phi Phi islands, Maya bay, Loh Samah Bay, monkey beach, lunch at PhiPhi Don island, and then snorkeling at Khai island.  It was a really fun day.  Parts of the movies The Beach, and James Bond were filmed there, so that was kinda neat.  My favorite was Khai island, one of the prettiest beaches I have ever seen. Awesome snorkeling too.  I had forgotten to bring the extra battery for the underwater camera (Larry has just started speaking to me again), so we only got a few shots of the fish, but it was pretty cool.  Lar saved the day by buying a couple of the disposable underwater cameras, so we think we have some good shots on there.  We saw a ton of sea urchins, loads of really colorful fish, and many, many banana hammocks.  It was a great day, really fun and action packed. Pinched my self a few times, to remind myself I was in Thailand, somewhere I never thought I'd visit.  We ventured out again that night, and had a really yummy dinner of hokkien noodles,and green and red curries.  Yumm-o.  Larry and I are usually pretty careful about not eating street food while we travel, but one man and his cart intrigued us so much, we both kinda looked at each other and said "what the heck!"  It was a crepe cart....adn you could pick your choice of fillings.  We chose nutella and banana.  I'm still thinking about it...it was so, so good!  Larry and I split one for dessert, and neither of us spoke for a while, just enjoyed the chocolate banana goodness, beautiful beach, and lazy vibes of being on vacation.

Sunday, we ventured to the beach again for a few hours, I swam and baked my brains, and Larry read and napped a little.  We were both sore from the extremely rough ride on the speedboat, so we laid low before out next adventure....a spa day!  As part of my birthday gift, Larry treated me to a spa package.  Never thought I'd say this, but being rubbed, scrubbed, and wrapped in cucumber by tiny thai women is right up there as one of my favorite things ever!  It was SO GREAT!  And the best part....my cute husband did it with me!  So fun!  He did the manly version, and wanted me to assure everyone he was very butch about the whole thing.  I did look over at one point at my beloved; wrapped in cucumber, and snickered a little. Too funny!  But he's all about new experiences and taking care of himself.  And really, when you're in Thailand, you kinda have to get a massage...it's the law.  So after 5 hours of all that we were pretty useless, and just ordered room service from the hotel.  More thai, of course.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip, and we really liked the laid back, sweet vibe of the people. We liked it better than Bali!  The people seemed happier, and  things were calmer.  Hopefully we'll go back someday.

We're getting ready for me to go to Michigan in a few weeks, to start our home leave.  I've been cooking meals and freezing single servings for Lar, though I think I'll probably come home to a full freezer of single serving meals.  ha!  I'm looking soooo forward to seeing my family and friends, and of course, all my peeps at Target.  Larry said the last time he was in the states, they had missing posters posted all over with my picture on it.  It'll be good to see everyone and we have lots of fun side trips planned too! (I get to squeeze and kiss Annabella till she shoves me away!  YAY!!  You too Ryan!)  I get to resume my position on Deb's couch(and be hugged till I barf...I've been warned), and hang with my parent's up-north.  We're going to NYC with Gary and Beka, for a Yankees game, and Chicago for a Cubs game.  Sarah Burke might get to see her first love (Uncle Larry), and I get to attend Mays Berkshire Bookclub Meeting.  Fun stuff coming up!  I might not post for a while, but I'll be back!

Miss and love you all!

xoxoxo

Pam