A Little (ok maybe a lot) of R&R- Southern Thailand

This post mostly consists of just hanging by the pool or on the beach, eating a lot of good food, and sleeping a bit late.  It was time for a much needed longer term stop (a vacation from traveling per say) and boy did we make the most of it!  The weather was hot, sunny, and perfect to spend most the time in or very near the water.  The pools were warm and the ocean was even warmer, sometimes so warm that it wasn't quite as refreshing as we would have liked, but please don't read that as a complaint.  We hit three different locations in the south of Thailand- Ao Nang beach in Krabi, Koh Phi Phi island, and Karon Beach in Phuket.

Ao Nang Beach and other islands in the background

Always just a quick walk to a great sunset

Krabi

We spent hours trying to chose the right hotel which we usually TRY not to do.  We wanted a hotel in a good location, not too expensive, but very nice and this was not an easy feat.  While we love TripAdvisor for all their reviews and comments sometimes it can be a chore to sift through them all to find the right match for us.  Well, we beyond succeeded in our decision and loved every minute we spent at the Krabi La Playa Resort.  As a bonus we chose to treat ourselves to a free stay! (THANK YOU American Express points!)

Walkway to our room

Pool view from the room

Pool and pool bar at night

We stayed in the beach town of Ao Nang and were close to all we needed.  Food, beach, 7-11, shopping...what more could we ask for?  The pool was huge and luxurious and the beach not even a ten minute walk away.  Food was just across the street from the hotel served from food stalls with noodles, curry, rice, meats on a stick (some a mystery), fresh smoothies, papaya salad, and it was all delicious and CHEAP!  We ate lunch here just about everyday for about $3 each.

Our favorite vendor's well stocked cart

Krabi is very geared toward the tourist crowd and while it was nice to see some Westerners, we didn't really love how most of the restaurants cater to their tastes.  We wanted to eat real Thai food in Thailand and that's exactly what we did.  We found a legit Thai restaurant under a tent back off the main road and ate there 4 nights in a row.  They had the best curry we have ever had...green, red, panang, massaman!  Yum!

One morning we took a longtail ferry boat about 15 minutes and landed on Railay Beach.  It was a stunning beach, had a street with food and shopping, and has some of the best rock climbing near water in the world apparently. (we didn't try...we'll leave that to Kristin and Daniel)  We took about a 20 minute walk to Railay East Beach and found a couple hotels in the most private, secluded area that we thought about staying in a few nights then we decided we didn't want to move around so much.  Railay was a beautiful place to spend the afternoon laying on the beach and staring at the limestone cliffs that surround it.

Longtail boat motor- basically a car engine with a prop strapped onto the back of the boat

Railay West Beach and surrounding cliffs

No cars on this island, just one small pedestrian street market

We booked a longtail boat day tour to Hong Island where we enjoyed snorkeling, relaxing in the water, and the wind in our hair on the ride.  Hong Island was absolutely stunning and the sand was the softest, whitest sand we have ever seen and felt.  We were the last group at the end of the day to leave the beach so we had the island almost to ourselves for a while.  It was really postcard perfection.

Koh Phi Phi

We had heard amazing things about this island and wanted to check it out for ourselves.  Since we had to transit by ferry from Ao Nang in Krabi to Karon Beach in Phuket anyway, we decided to make this a two night stopover on the way.  Many tourists do this as a day tour from another area but we chose to spend two nights there to cut down on our traveling.  This, friends, was a mistake!  Our hotel on the island was not cheap and it was probably the worst we've stayed in on this trip.  We didn't really love the vibe of the island and our tour around the islands was not our favorite.  We know, it's hard to complain when in paradise and we do understand that but this island did not appeal to us much at all.  We did explore the nightlife areas a bit and can certainly see the island's allure if you are a barely twenty one backpacker, like to party, and don't care what your hotel bathroom looks like.  There were two highlights 1) great snorkeling on a small island nearby and 2) we went to Maya Bay, the beach used in the movie The Beach and described in the book of the same name.

We took another two hour ferry to complete our trip to Phuket except this time it felt more like we had boarded a Bearing Sea crab boat from the Deadliest Catch.  Thank goodness for Dramamine.  We both popped a half a pill and it was night night for us for the entire trip.  Many others on the boat did not fare so well...

In order to get to The Beach beach we first has to climb this really safe set of stairs, haha!

The almost surrounded lagoon of Maya Bay

Phuket- Karon Beach

Again, choosing the hotel, not easy.  You can easily be a victim of "creative photography" when looking at these hotels online.  But again, success!  We have never heard of this before but the hotel offered a "run of the house" special and if you were willing to change rooms in the middle of your stay if necessary then you got a REALLY great deal.  We opted for this since it also included breakfast every morning and wifi and it worked out great!  We only had to switch rooms once on the very last night and being that we don't have much with us it was no big deal.  The hotel was on the side of a mountain and the pool was on the roof so we had a stunning view of the beach.

View from the rooftop pool

April is monsoon season in Thailand and though we really lucked out with weather during our stay, it was interesting that with almost the flip of a switch on April 1st, a cloudy haze hangs over everything.  It didn't bother us in the least but the pictures are not as phenomenal because it looks quite cloudy.  We still had plenty of wonderful time in the strong sunshine.


There's really not much to tell about Phuket.  We loved the beach and being able to cheaply rent chairs and umbrellas since the sun is ridiculously strong.  We ate good food but the best was at the hotel which made life very convenient.  We found ourselves really fall into a daily routine in Phuket and found that we do miss that a bit.  We had breakfast, went to the pool/beach, went to the beach/pool, enjoyed the herbal steam sauna (AMAZING!), had dinner, and caught up with family, watched tv, and did some trip research at night.  It was so nice.  We also celebrated Christine's birthday and Wes gave her the perfect gift...a bag of Oreos!

Karon Beach view from our chairs

For about $1.50, locals would hack open cold coconuts and bring them to us

Wes being artsy with a beautiful sunset and dragon statue

We are quite sad to leave Thailand but have had a wonderful time exploring the country and the cuisine.  We have really loved the food and also enjoyed the hospitality of the Thai people and their country's beautiful scenery.  It has been an incredible experience in Southeast Asia and we are so happy to have dedicated time to this part of the world.  That said, we are really excited for India, Turkey, and the rest of what's ahead in the next few weeks!  We are currently in Bangkok waiting for our flight tomorrow morning to New Delhi!

Bye for now!

Close Your Eyes and Pray (while crossing the street)- Vietnam

Chào bạn!

If ever strapped for cash but still looking for a nice and cheap place to stay, head for Vietnam!  We stayed in 3 different hotels throughout Vietnam and all of them were very nice and under $50!  Now, that's our kind of bargain.  The advantage of the American dollar extends throughout all areas of tourism and hospitality and boy did we make the most of it!

One of the things that will forever be burned into our memories is the traffic in Vietnam, composed of a STRONG majority of motorbikes.  There are almost no traffic lights or speed limit signs and really it's just a free for all.  You can drive on either side of the street as needed and if you happen to run into a one way street, just drive on the sidewalk in the opposite direction.  The amount of scooters and other forms of two wheeled vehicles on the road is astounding.  They park them on the sidewalks which makes walking down the sidewalk almost impossible.  You feel like you are taking your life into your hands every time you walk out of the hotel for a stroll.  We eventually got the hang of it but it did take a couple times crossing the street for us to realize that everyone just kind of moves around one another and somehow, to our surprise, it just works.  It would certainly end differently if you just walked out onto 5th Avenue at rush hour and expected traffic to part for you...

A central intersection in Hanoi Old City

Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon

In Ho Chi Minh City, we visited the famous Bin Thanh Market and were hassled by many Vietnamese ladies that did not want to take no for an answer.  At one point a lady grabbed on to Wes's backpack and wouldn't let go.  She REALLY wanted us to buy a T-Shirt.  We physically had to remove her and quickly walk away.

We visited War Remnants Museum which was very interesting and definitely showed a different version of the war than US history books.  At least the government finally changed the name from the "US War Crimes Museum" after some diplomatic healing a few years ago, but the exhibits and strong propaganda displayed still tell the same story.  It was certainly interesting to see the way the war is illustrated through another perspective. 

Since Wes was still feeling a bit under the weather and Christine wasn't feeling so hot either one afternoon, we actually caved in and ate lunch at a Pizza Hut.  Yes, we know we haven't been to Pizza Hut in years but boy did a reminder of home taste great!  Don't worry, we also ate our fair share of Vietnamese food like Bahn Mi (sandwiches on French baguettes), Chicken and Beef Pho (rice noodle soup), Vietnamese coffee (delish!), and other various noodle and rice dishes that we have no clue of the names but they were yummy!  We also enjoyed drinks at the rooftop bar of the Grand Saigon Hotel (a French Colonial fixture of Saigon since 1930) while looking out at the city lights and enjoying the rare breeze.

We had our best massage to date at our hotel in HCMC.  It was technically a foot massage but they covered the whole body, it was 75 minutes long, and cost us a total of $20 for two!  We enjoyed hot tea and some Kenny G in the background all the while thinking "How are we so lucky?"  By the way, every hotel in Southeast Asia loves Kenny G on repeat, or maybe some Michael Bolton and Whitney Houston thrown in.  Strange.

HCMC Central Post Office

A captured CH-47 Chinook helicopter at the war museum

The Opera House built in 1837 and the newest office tower in town behind

More steaming bowls of Pho!

A Bahn Mi vendor making magic for $0.30!

Ok, ok, we caved and ate some western chain food...once

Hanoi

We took a short flight from HCMC up north to Hanoi where we had a day or two wondering what everyone loved so much about Vietnam.  We eventually saw the lure of enjoying good cheap food, drinking coffee watching the traffic around you, and just relaxing while strolling the city.  We left Hanoi for a night to cruise Halong Bay.  This was honestly one of our main reasons for visiting Vietnam and it really made the entire trip totally worth it.

An odd selection of frozen fish, and snakes, available at the airport snack bar.  Yes AFTER security,  Frozen fish and snakes on a warm plane, think about it...  Luckily we don't think anyone had any on our flight.

Halong Bay

We took a long and bumpy four hour ride to the Gulf of Tonkin coast and boarded a Junk.  This is an old fishing boat that has been remodeled to include cabins, a dining room, and lounge area.  It was absolutely spectacular!  We sailed to a private island and walked through a cave where local Vietnamese fishermen used to live for thousands of years.  We kayaked around the bay for a bit and enjoyed amazing food on the Junk.  We visited a local floating fishing village, a pearl farm, and a local school.  This was quite eye opening to see how these people live on the water and seem quite happy with a minimalist life.  We think we would probably go stir crazy!

We met a nice Scottish couple on the cruise and hung out with them most of the time.  They have also done a lot of traveling and a couple years ago they came to NYC to see the Rockettes so they had lots of questions for Christine.

On the ride back we found out the cruise scheduled to go out that day was canceled due to stormy weather so we were thrilled that we were able to experience the bay and the amazing views it offers.  We were also privy to a "water puppet" show by some local artisans which was about a half hour with puppets telling stories and moving about in water.  You have to see it to understand, but we would never tell anyone to torture themselves in this way.  It was pretty rough and quite a tourist trap!

Our home for a couple days

Our cabin

The water was as smooth as glass which made paddling around the small islands a breeze

A village of homes and other buildings floating on pontoons

Cultured pearls being opened after 4-5 years of growth

Overview

The Vietnamese in general do not speak much English at all.  We learned some good hand signals and made it work most times but we did have a couple funny things happen.  One afternoon we took our clothes to be laundered.  When we dropped them off the man motioned 3 and we thought he meant 3 hours.  So 3 hours later we went back to pick up our clean clothes only to find them in the exact same spot we left them, and just a dirty.  The guy looked at us like we were crazy to think they would be done already.  We still don't know exactly what he meant...3 days, 3 o'clock tomorrow??  Lost in translation! We're just glad he was still there because we had to fly the next morning!

Wes learned almost immediately the scams that people run on the streets.  No more than a few steps after walking out of the front of our hotel, some guy was pointing to Wes's shoes and saying something was wrong.  Wes stopped and looked to see what he was looking at and the guy has quickly pulled out this super glue looking tube.  Christine luckily saw what was happening and quickly grabbed Wes and off we scrambled.  We later learned that this was probably actually glue dissolving solvent that they put on your shoes to create a problem and then tell you they can fix them for you.  Of course, this will cost you.  Our Scottish friends fell for this scam and they tried to charge them quite a hefty fee but luckily they were smart enough to walk away and say either take what we offer or you get nothing.  Though the Scot was shoeless so I'm sure they would have paid pretty well if the local would have refused!

Vietnamese coffee is AWESOME!  It is quite strong and a little thick but they put sweetened condensed milk in it which always makes things taste better!  This stuff will get your day started quickly!

We talked about the motorbikes but we forgot to mention that entire families of 4 will ride on one bike.  Yes you read right...one bike!  It goes like this...kid, dad, kid, mom!  We thought briefly that this would be a great way to save money when we have a family and then realized we would pay a lot of NYC tickets which would probably equal the cost of a car payment so we scraped the idea...

Back to Hanoi for a flight to the beach in Krabi, Thailand!  Time to take a vacation from traveling...

A Quick Hello to Cambodia

Cambodia was a quick visit but we're very glad we stopped on our way to Vietnam.  After a less than restful overnight night train trip from Chiang Mai and a four hour bus ride, we finally made it to the Cambodian border. (Just imagine a dusty Mexican border town in the late 1800's)  We had read a lot about this and how to handle the Visa purchase and other procedures because of a LARGE number of people in the area trying to scam you.  We successfully got off the bus and away from the bus station and made it through the Thailand exit.  From there we had to purchase our Cambodia visa. Everything we read said this was easiest to do on arrival so that's what we did.  We waited in line for about 30 minutes, and remember its about 95 degrees with no air conditioning and hundreds of people surrounding you, until we got to the front of the line and were told this wasn't the line for visas but it was the line for after you had your visa.  So back we went looking for the visa office.  We asked a group of police officers on the street and they quickly looked at each other and told us they could do it for us.  We soon realized this was a scam and continued on our way to the official office.  This was quite a quick and easy process once we found the right place.  We were really hoping not to have to wait in that long line again since by the time we got back it had grown much longer.  We went to the front and kindly asked an officer and he got our passports stamped and off we went.  Well, sort of.  We then waited for a bus from the border area to the local bus station.  While waiting we had tons of little kids pulling on our clothes and begging. It was quite a sad sight but we were also warned not to pull out our wallets because they could easily snatch them.  We arrived at the local bus station and switched to another bus for a three hour drive to Siem Reap.  The bus pulled in to a dark, sketchy parking lot beside a dirt road and we quickly grabbed our bags and jumped on a tuk tuk to our hotel.  Somewhere in this process Wes lost his sneakers that were attached to be outside of his bag.  He now has a running list of lost items...pack towel, luggage lock, sneakers. We'll just call this donating to the local communities.

Once we checked into our hotel we walked to a neighborhood street restaurant for dinner.  We had an amazing meal that surprised us both.  Then it was early to bed and an even earlier wake up to watch the sunrise at the Angkor Wat temple complex.  This was an absolutely spectacular site to see.  Since seeing sunrise there is pretty much what every traveler that comes to Cambodia does, it was a bit crowded.  Even so, there was something very special about it and that we'll certainly never forget.  Our tuk tuk driver that we hired for the day then proceeded to drive us to various temple sites for the next six hours.  In those hours we have probably never sweat so much in our entire lives.  We finally cried uncle and told our driver it was time to go back to the hotel for showers and a nap.

 

Some VERY steep stairs!

Trees taking over on top of some of the ruins

All the tuk tuks waiting for their customers at Angkor Wat.

In a small grocery...An aisle made for Christine!

When we woke up Wes really wasn't feeling well.  Our tuk tuk driver took us out into the country to see some beautiful scenery and how the locals live.  We returned to the same place we had eaten the night before for some dinner and were going to hit the night market but Wes was really under the weather so we just went back to the hotel.  Good thing we did because Wes lost his cookies quickly after we arrived back.  We now know that this was a reaction to the malaria medication we had started taking a few days earlier.  This is the first sickness either of us have experienced since we have been away and hope that maybe it will be the only one!  That said, we keep hearing others warn us about our tender westernized bellies in India so we'll just have to wait and see...

We had an early bedtime for another early morning to catch yet another bus from Cambodia through Phnom Penh and across the Vietnamese border into Ho Chi Minh city.  This was a 14 hour bus ride and we arrived in need of a serious massage!!  After this day we arrived in Ho Chi Minh and bought a few flights for our upcoming travel, haha!  We're done with buses for a little while.

More from Vietnam shortly!