Day 6: Surfing!

Not for me. Che wanted to try his hand at surfing, so we headed down south to Kata Main Beach, which is reputed to be the best beginner beach in Phuket for surfing. On the drive down, we got hit hard by more rain. By the time we arrived at Kata Main Beach (this was only the tenth time, I think, that we've gotten lost - the maps and road signs are terrible!), even though it was only drizzling, most of the surfboard rental stands on the beach (as well as every other kind of stand) had shut down from being poured on all day long. We found one stand still open, only because the guy was out surfing himself. We happened to catch him when he came back to shore between runs, and Che & Jay were able to rent surfboards for about $12 US for 3 hours.

Cheron & I watched from the shore for about 30 minutes, taking pictures (of them floating in the water mostly, since we never saw them catch any waves), and eventually got bored. We headed off to find a place to get massages. Perfect timing too, as about 5 minutes after we got inside the spa, the rain started coming down in buckets. This "spa" was more like a hair and nail salon. Not nearly as pampering-feeling as the spa earlier in the week, but my foot massage was nearly as good. And for $7 US, who can really complain?

An hour later, we headed back to the beach in the pouring rain. Che had already returned his surfboard and was just playing in the water; we called Jay in and headed back to the resort to clean up and shower. Apparently the boys did catch waves (or so they say) after we left. But there's no photographic evidence of that. Either way, they had a great time so time and money well spent.

We called the concierge for a local seafood restaurant recommendation and managed to get a name and cryptic directions. Amazingly enough, we found it, but it was closed. So we headed north from the hotel and ended up crossing Sarasin Bridge into mainland Thailand (Phang Nga province) and stopping at the first roadside restaurant we saw. Dinner was very good, although more expensive than other places we've eaten. Still, less than $20 US for four people for a full meal isn't too shabby, especially when three of those dishes were seafood. We drove around afterwards for a place that was still open for dessert but came up short - everything was already closed.

Che gearing up for his first surfing attempt!

Che & Jay headed out to sea:

View from Kata Main Beach:

Dinner at Thanoon:

Day 5: Snorkeling Excursion to Phi Phi Islands

We booked a full day boat trip to the Phi Phi Islands for Tuesday for about $50 US each. The van picked us up at our hotel bright and early at 7:30 a.m. and drove us to Ratsada Pier, where we enjoyed coffee while others trickled in. A speedboat loaded up with passengers left the pier at about 9:00 a.m. for a 45-minute boat ride to Phi Phi Leh Island in the Andaman Sea. We stopped first at Maya Bay, the backdrop for the movie "The Beach." The Phi Phi Islands were hit hard by the tsunami and redevelopment has been slow, but the islands looked beautiful to us. The limestone cliffs jutting out of the middle of the ocean were amazing. The speedboat ride, though, was miserable. Next time, I have to remember to take Dramamine earlier. Blech.

Once the drugs kicked in, it was better. We circled around the Islands just to look at the beautiful scenery and take pictures, then headed next to Phi Phi Don Island, the largest of the Phi Phi Islands and the only one with permanent inhabitants. We stopped first at Monkey Beach, which is inhabited by, yes, monkeys. Lots of them. And they're not at all afraid of humans. They will come right up and grab any food you have right out of your hands. Che, of course, was creeped out by the monkey hands. We left there, then anchored just off the island to snorkel. We saw lots of cool corals and fish, including tons of giant and super colorful clams. After the first snorkeling stop, we headed to the beach for lunch. After lunch, we took the boat to Khai Nok Island for more snorkeling and relaxing. The snorkeling and relaxing were cut short by a big storm that blew in, so we took shelter from the rain and eventually headed back in the 9-foot swells. Thank god for Dramamine.

We got back to the resort late and ended up eating dinner at the resort and calling it a night early after our long day.

Che & Eva headed to Phi Phi Islands:


Phi Phi Leh:

Che & Eva at Maya Bay:

Phi Phi Don:

Leaving Phi Phi Don:

Day 4: Phuket Aquarium, Butterfly Garden, and Spa

After a lazy start and seeing a baby elephant on the beach at our resort, we headed out by rental car to Phuket Aquarium on the far southern tip of Phuket Island. The entrance fee to the Aquarium was a modest 100 Baht (approx. $3 US) per person, and that was the price for foreigners. Residents get in for half. The Aquarium was small but nice for its size, and it was part of a bigger Marine Center complex that also included a sea turtle breeding pool, an aquaculture facility, and a science and nature trail. It was raining, though, so we didn't spend much time outside the Aquarium itself. After the Aquarium, we grabbed lunch at a roadside restaurant and headed back north through Phuket Town to the Butterfly Garden and Insectarium, which was more than twice the cost of the Aquarium and not nearly as nice. We killed a little bit of time there, then headed into town for the evening.

First stop: a spa. The one we ended up (randomly) choosing was very nice. Inside, the decor reminded me of any nice US day spa, and for only 250 Baht (which is just over $7 US) each, we got hour-long massages. Che opted for the Thai massage, I chose (of course) a foot massage. SO nice. We are definitely going back at least once, maybe twice, before the end of the week. When you consider we spent more than that just to look at some butterflies, it was definitely a great value. After the spa, we grabbed delicious cheap food at a random restaurant in Phuket Town and headed back to get a good night's rest for our big snorkeling trip the next day.

Eva with a baby elephant at the resort's beach:


Che & Eva at the Aquarium:

Che & Eva outside the Aquarium:

The spa where we had $7/hr massages:

Eva & Che post-massage:

Day 3: Phuket Town

Jet lag must be catching up to us differently. Che woke up at 5:00 a.m.; I slept in until 11:00. Shortly after we were both up ready to go, down came a torrential downpour of rain. We braved the rain with umbrellas to tour the resort grounds, which were beautiful. I'm sure they'll be even nicer when the weather clears. We ate lunch at the resort then headed to the airport to pick up our friends Jay and Cheron. We dropped off their stuff back at the hotel, then headed out for Phuket Town.

The rain eventually let up and we were able to walk around through town, browsing the markets and shops. I thought driving from the airport to the hotel last night was scary, but that didn't even compare to driving through town. Che had a few drinks so I took the keys after dinner, but after about an hour of driving through town, getting more lost along the way (we didn't have a good map of town nor did any of us have a good bearing on where we were or where we were trying to go), and nearly having a heart attack the whole time, I had to pull over and hand him back the keys. Scooters and mopeds pull up on all sides of you and don't really care about turning in front of you or going straight past you while you're trying to turn - I think they assume cars will stop for them. Stoplights and stopsigns are apparently just a guide, as are lane lines, so no one really feels obligated to follow them. And that's all scary enough without having to also drive on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car while trying to navigate street signs that aren't in English! I can't tell you how many times I turned on the windshield wipers when I was trying to signal a turn. When it came time to maneuver a roundabout, I was done. This was all way too adventurous for me. Che handled it much better.

After hitting a grocery store and finally making it back to the main highway to our hotel, we called it a day. Jay was jet-lagged, and the rest of us were pretty tired too. So we're perusing the guide books tonight to make a plan for the rest of the week and we'll be off tomorrow, weather permitting, to see the sights.

This is the view from our condo balcony:

The reflection pond, which is the view from the open-air lobby of the hotel/resort looking towards the ocean:

Our rental car:

Phuket is congested with scooters and mopeds:

The Municipal Market, which are streets lined with mostly food vendors. We weren't quite ready to brave street food on our first day. We'll be up for it later in the week.

Day 2: Singapore, Arrival in Phuket

I was surprised by how modern, Western, and amazingly clean Singapore is. Our cab driver said Singapore used to be called a "fine country," meaning residents were fined for nearly everything, including litter. It obviously worked, because there's no trash to be found anywhere. It's also supposed to be one of the safest cities in the world. And it's beautifully lush.

We got up early today and headed out first for the Botanic Gardens. The first challenge, though, was to get past the mob outside the Marriott. That was apparently the popular place to be. First, it's the Mid-Autumn festival, so that means mooncakes. Mooncakes are baked filled pastries, and a lot of higher end restaurants and hotels come up with new and interesting varieties each year. The Marriott introduces a new signature mooncake flavor each year, and the stand outside was bombarded with taste testers and people buying boxes of mooncakes. On top of that, Formula 1 Racing is coming to Singapore for its first-ever night race, and there was a full-size Formula 1 car replica on display outside the Marriott. Construction is going on all around the city in preparation for the race, and we caught a glimpse of the spectator grandstands that are going up along the streets when we were headed back to the airport.

We walked to the Botanic Gardens and strolled through the Gardens (which are free to the public), which reminded me a lot of walking through Central Park. We headed directly for our intended destination, the National Orchid Garden located inside the park. Admission to the Orchid Garden is a little over $3 US per person, and for that, we were rewarded with the most spectactular exhibits of orchids you could imagine. I was overwhelmed by how many varieties there were and how gorgeous they are. I think I took at least a hundred pictures of orchids, most of which don't capture just how beautiful and delicate these flowers are. My favorite were the fragranced varieties, and the vanilla one in particular. Really lovely.

After a few hours at the Garden, we caught a cab to the Jurong Bird Park, which was not even on my radar for this trip. But our guide book flipped to it when I was looking for something else, it looked interesting, and it was closer (and smaller) than the Zoo, which I would have loved to have seen if we had had more time. Admission was more expensive ($12 US) but well worth it. The Bird Park was incredible. There were thousands of species of birds, many of which I'd never seen, and the exhibits and enclosures were amazing - huge, lush, and resembling natural habitats as much as possible. Many of the exhibits were actually free-flying aviaries, so once inside, it was a game to spot as many birds as possible. We could have spent hours in one aviary just trying to pick out the hundreds of birds inside. After seeing how beautiful the Orchid Garden and the Bird Park are, I was even more disappointed that we didn't get to the Zoo, which I have heard is one of the best in the world. Next time, I guess.

We had no problems getting to Phuket, which was a huge relief. We arrived after dark, though, so haven't yet had a chance to see how beautiful the island is. Driving ourselves from the airport to the hotel in a rental car was scary as hell, but we made it and checked in around 8:00 p.m. The service here has been impeccable, everyone is so friendly and nice, and the condo is fabulous. I can't wait to relax here for the next seven days.

Entrance to the Singapore Botanic Gardens:



Entrance to the National Orchid Garden:

One of about a hundred orchid photos I took at the Garden:

Waterfall Aviary at the Jurong Bird Park:

This cute little guy greeted us in our condo upon arrival in Phuket:

Singapore

We finally arrived here, our first destination (just barely, though, as we are only staying 24 hours), after 26 hours of travel. Immigration and customs took about 10 minutes in Hong Kong, so we managed to catch an earlier connection to Singapore and arrive here about three hours earlier than planned. We then spent almost as much time trying to figure out the subway system to get to our hotel, which is located in the heart of Singapore's shopping district. The shopping, though, is not that different than what you'd see back home: the Gap, Borders, Swatch, Starbucks, and a McDonald's on every corner. And Singapore is EXPENSIVE. We spent the equivalent of $35 US on two (yes, TWO) drinks at the Raffles Hotel. Ouch.

The flight over was not as bad as we thought it would be. It helped that we were both completely exhausted, so we both slept about 10 hours of the 13-hour flight from SFO to Hong Kong. Arrived pretty fresh in Singapore around lunch time and spent the afternoon walking around the city, enjoying a Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel (which is beautiful), and then cruising through the Singapore Art Museum. It's now about 9:00 p.m. (Friday) and we are ready for bed. Tomorrow's agenda is the Botanical Gardens, then we'll catch an afternoon flight to Phuket. So far, no news of cancellations on flights to Thailand, so I think we're good to go.

Our entire trip album is on Smugmug, but here are some highlights of the day.

The bathrooms at the Singapore Airport were beautiful!!


We were looking and feeling much more refreshed after we took hot showers and changed into clean clothes upon arriving in Singapore:

The Singapore Art Museum (which has free admission on Friday nights):

The Raffles Hotel, which is absolutely gorgeous. My pictures don't do it justice.

The Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel, birthplace of the Singapore Sling (which is actually very tasty!):

13 Days and Counting!

I have to focus on vacation before I go mad with work. The time has flown, and our trip is fast approaching. In the meantime, I have appointments after appointments and work projects after work projects to get through, but there IS a light at the end of the tunnel. One that shines from SE Asia. :D

Finally!

I got my car back yesterday, and it's as shiny and good as new. Looks fantastic, and I can't believe how much I missed it. It's soooooo nice to have it back.

The final insurance determination was a little more frustrating. First, the OTHER guy's adjuster concluded that I was 100% at fault. Um, yeah right! What kind of crack was he smoking? I was livid. My adjuster concluded he was 100% at fault, and the negotiations between the two adjusters fell apart because neither would budge. Go, my adjuster. The dispute ended up getting referred to some panel of senior adjusters, and they concluded that he was 80% at fault and I was 20% at fault. Have to say, if we're allocating 20% fault here, I personally think it belongs to the police officer whose car was blocking the lane of traffic I was supposed to be in when I got hit. But whatever. That means I am getting back 80% of my deductible and the out-of-pocket costs I paid for the rental car. I guess I'll take it, although I'm more concerned about how this will affect my rates. I would think that a single accident in which I was only 20% at fault in FIFTEEN years shouldn't affect me. But then again, I am probably giving the insurance company too much credit.

Countdown to Vacation

21 days and counting until we hit the road, Che sporting a stylin' air cast on his leg (about which he specifically asked his orthopedist, "Can I surf in it?").

Sigh. He'll never learn.

Never a dull day.

Last summer, we bought dirt bikes and got into the most rednecky hobby I never envisioned myself doing (and loving!). We rode several times last summer and even rented my brother a bike so he could ride with us when he came to visit in September. Riding season ended on that trip to Mormon Lake, though, when Che crashed on the last run of the day and broke his humerus.

His recovery has been slow but he was finally feeling well enough to head back out on the bikes. Soooooo, we rented a cabin up at Mormon Lake, invited our friend Jay to join us, and met up with friends Sharon & Rick (who camp nearby) for weekend riding. Unfortunately, a day of downpouring rain on Friday left the trails muddy, slippery, and downright tough to ride. On our first run of the day, Che's bike slipped in the mud and he managed to ram his right foot (in its hardcore boot) against a tree stump and then pin it between the stump and his bike. He said it was painful but that didn't stop him from riding the rest of the day. We got a full (HARD) day of riding in on Saturday and finally called it quits when we were all muddy and exhausted (and Sharon beat up from somersaulting over her handlebars to land on a bed of rocks).

When Che finally managed to pull his boot off, his foot swelled up like a balloon and he could barely walk on it. Not good. He still managed to drive us home on Sunday, but standing and doing stuff on it all day swelled it up to the point it looked like he had gout. I was convinced it was broken but he insisted it was just soft tissue damage, claiming "I wouldn't be able to walk on it if it were broken." Um, you're not walking so good on it if that makes a difference.

He was in quite a bit of pain this morning, so he decided to go to the doctor, who immediately said "yeah, that looks really bad although I don't think anything is broken" and referred him for an x-ray. In the meantime, I had to play chauffeur since he could no longer drive on it without excruciating pain. The x-ray tech couldn't officially read the film but did say, "something doesn't look right" and promptly sent him back to his doctor with copies of the film. And then he got the call this afternoon: "you broke your fibula." Just call me Dr. Eva and let me gloat, "I told you so."
So the official dirt bike bone breaking count for Che: humerus, fibula. In less than a year. I'm sure his orthopedist (how sad is it that he even HAS a regular orthopedist?!?!) will just shake his head tomorrow and sigh. And maybe suggest a more passive hobby, like hiking.

Here he is midday, on a break we took to reattach my fender (which flung off the front of my bike during a ride). From the smile on his face, he obviously has no idea what's to come.

And here's what a foot looks like when your fibula is broken: