Thailand. Can you feel it! Our quick stop in Singapore came to an end bright and painfully early with a quick cab ride to the airport, a Subway breakfast sando, and a 90 minute jump up the coast to Phuket on our old favorite budget airline: Jetstar.
Gina, we aren't in Europe anymore...first we were hit with the heat and then the cab, tour bus, and tuk-tuk touts hit us next. We got through the many persistent touts and got a legit enough looking taxi to our hotel. The ride came complete with a 10 minute stop at the cab driver's office where he picked up his lunch and we got hit up for tours, more taxis, boat transfers, etc. by his colleague. Got to get used to being just a dollar sign to some of the locals!
In any case, Reining had us booked into the Marriott at Surin Beach. I dare say it's the nicest place we will stay for our entire 5 months in SE Asia- I mean, it's got a frickin' waterside. We settled into our room and I made my first on foot dash into town to scope the scene and pick up a few beers from the market. Love 30 Baht (US$1) beers! Reining did a bit of work while G and I took a small nap and a quick dip in the pool. Vacation from vacation is truly a great thing. The girls started it off right with a hour massage for the equivalent of apprx. $10 USD, actually a bit exy in relative terms, while I caught up with a few extra z's.
We had awesome Thai food for dinner at a restaurant down the street then headed to the beach for a few beers at the 'beach club' by the water. We fended off the numerous beach sales people trying to trade us their random stuff for our Baht and enjoyed the view of the slivered moon above the near flat Thai ocean. Some people at the beach were letting off the flying lantern thingys that they let off in the final scene of The Hangover 2 and others were setting off fire crackers. Then all of the sudden; a lunar eclipse! For real! What are the odds?!? It was a pretty awesome session.
Next morning we got up and, first things first, hit the gym. Serious. Then after a quick shower we headed across the street for lunch, guess what... more Thai. Gina and Becky discovered the coconut waters that are served still in their shell. They also figured out something that makes them even better... a splash of Malibu Rum. Lizzy Ryan- eat your heart out, homie! I stuck safely with the Changs... large ones, please. After waiting out a little tropical rain storm we headed to the beach to finally go for a swim. The water was warm, but still refreshing and a beautiful shade of turquoise blue... Just how we like it.
I brought my alleged waterproof camera into the water, against my better judgment and as I had feared the small crack in the screen leaked and the camera is now kaput. I was able to salvage the memory card (I think), but along with the SLR I had ripped off in SF- I am down 2 cameras on this trip! Luckily, Becky is long-term loaning us her old camera till we sort it out, but in the mean time no photos on the blog- we'll get some up in the next few days. (the photo attached to this blog is a generic Thailand photo and will be updated soon)
We swam for a while until the sun had set into the cloudy horizon and then took our sandy and salty selves back to the pool for a little waterside session and to catch the last 15 minutes of Happy Hour. We hit the town again for dinner that evening after a shower and a beer on our balcony... capping off another awesome day in paradise!