Ok, ok it's time! I have been so busy since Thailand I haven't had a chance to put my photos and words together. And considering the photos are off 2 phones, an SLR, an underwater film camera and a polaroid, it has taken considerably longer then I first thought.
Now there is a pretty ridiculous story of how I actually got to Thailand. See that passport above? I got that the day I flew out. Because the night before I found out that my old passport was out of date by a whole year! It was probably the most gut wrenching night of my life. If I wasn't able to get a new passport the next day I wouldn't be able to fly out that night, would have to pay for a whole new flight and Luke would have had to flown out alone and spend the next couple of days by himself.
Tuesday came, and it was the most stressful day. I was up as early as possible calling the passport office. There were no bookings available for today but she told me I could go there and try my luck. I caught the train straight in and spent my whole morning in this passport office. When I got through I was told that if I could get someone who wasn't family to come in and help me fill all the papers out there was a chance I could get a new passport that day! I called up Luke and he had to leave work early, yada yada yada I GOT A NEW PASSPORT!
So please learn from my ridiculously stupid mistake and CHECK YOUR PASSPORTS!!
We made it! Said our goodbyes at the airport. Bought a heap of alcohol to pick up when we came back and on our flights we went.
I don't sleep on planes. Our flight was 9:45pm - 7:00am, with a midnight 2hr stopover in Malaysia. Where we ate these ridiculously spicy crepes and aged 20 years in the smoking rooms. The longer flight was good, we had a spare seat next to us which was nice. But other then that my advice to you would be, do not fly Air Asia for a longer then 3hr trip unless you really do not have the money. I didn't know chairs could even be that close together, apparently they can.
The first thing that happens to you after you walk out of customs is that you get yelled at, and it's scary. All you want to do is get a cab and go to your hotel, but what you get is 8 men yelling at you to pick their cab company, grabbing you, pulling you, it's a nightmare. Then you get on the roads, thats where the real nightmare begins. The way Thai people drive is just incredible. The lines on the road are merely decoration, 2 lane roads are actually 3 and a two person moped can fit as many people as you like if you are creative enough. I saw mums riding mopeds with little children wrapped around her like baby possums, packs of men sitting on the edge of utes barely even holding on, and of course everyone is going as fast as possible. But then again I can't argue with how quickly we got to our hotel from the airport. Still beats Sydney traffic.
Our hotel was beyond amazing. My best friend bought this deal on groupon but was unable to go so she sold it to us. It was $220 for 7 nights at a spa resort! The Mangosteen Resort and Spa to be specific. And Luke and I felt like absolute royalty!
The room was huge with a balcony overlooking the water and an outdoor rain shower! Even the bed was huge! The first day we decided to stay at our new home away from home for the day and kickstart our relaxation. The deal came with a free 30min massage, which we then updated to an hour. I am pretty sure I was asleep for most of it, but for what I remember it was pretty relaxing/ painful. I am not really that big on massages, I am more of a back scratch kind of girl. I would actually pay someone to professionally scratch my back. But Luke loves a massage so we did the hour long one, it was dead cheap. But then again, money is different when you are overseas.
Our first lunch in Thailand, Luke has Pad Thai and I had some sort of stuffed crabs. I can't say my dish was that amazing, I had this weird taste in my mouth for literally the whole day. But Luke's was great!
We spent the day by the amazing pool drinking coconuts and Singha's and eating our free fruit platter of tiny fruits.
And then we ate again. Salt and pepper shrimp as an entree which was actually on special that night and were exquisite!
And for mains I caved and got the Pad Thai and Luke got the Beef Pad See Ew.
Just a heads up, Neither Luke or myself got sick the entire time we were in Thailand because we were super safe with what we ate and drank. If you are going to Thailand any time in the near future, first of all be careful because there is a bit of political turmoil going on at the moment, but also here are some simple rules to follow in regards to what you eat and drink whilst you are there.
- Avoid chicken, unless it is in soups because it has been boiled.
- Avoid salad because they wash it in their water. (This was the hardest for me)
- Don't get ice in your drink
- Avoid cocktails
- Avoid any alcohol that doesn't come from a bottle that you can open yourself.
- At clubs and bars they tend to put methanol in their drinks, be especially careful if you go out and only drink from bottles.
- If they have already opened the bottle, unless you see them open it, give it back. They often reuse bottles, empty out the beer and mix it with water to make more money. There is a reason drinks at clubs are so cheap.
- Stick to seafood, its usually the safest option when you are out.
If I can think of more I will make sure to add them to this list. More thailand posts coming soon. Sorry for the slow first post, we had a pretty slow, relaxing start to Thailand.
erica
