Phuket

Awwww Phuket, beautiful, beautiful Phuket.
(prounounced 'poo-ket', not 'foo-ket' like I called it for awhile. And no! not 'fuk-et'!!!!!!)

Melissa and I had planned the trips and hotels in an order so as not to get tired or used to the same type of place or hotel.
Hong Kong - Matt's apt
Singapore - YMCA room
Bangkok - traveler hostel style
Chaing Mai - country b&b

And now,Phuket. Our relaxing, beachy and beautiful hotel stop.
Perfect timing.

The hotel was huge and spacious with it's own private beach and gorgeous pool overlooking the waves. Fabbbbbbbbbbbulousssss.

It was surrounded by a little town full of shops & restaurants that were just dying for business.
It's Thailand's low season so everything is an additional 30% off plus your bargaining skills.
We could see it be a very *happening* little place during the busy season, but as for now, it was longing for people.

After exploring and taking a night swim, we headed to our beautiful room to sit on the balcony and look at the sky and listen to the sea. This was my favorite part of the room. The patio overlooked the pool and into the ocean.

It was the perfect picture for a girly beach book. Imagine: a girl in the hotel's bathrobe, lounging on a patio chair, with feet resting on the railing, drinking tea and looking out into the view. Her hair piled ontop of her head since the wind was doing what it wished and a small smile on her face while she breathed deeply and sighed.

That was Phuket for me.

We spent the majority of the next day at the beach and playing the waves.
They were HUGE!
They rocked our world for awhile and we shrieked with laughter when one of us ducked too late, not at all or just misjudged the wave strength. There are pretty good sandbars out there so we could walk pretty far out. The result? Grand ol' times.

The view was breathtaking: on one side of us, the never ending Indian Ocean and on the other, the beach and green brush behind our hotel. None too shabby. Reminded me a lot of the time spent in Hawaii. Bit of homesickness, gotta admit.

The one catch to this beautiful paradise is the absolute need for sunscreen.
Alas, poor Les.
Poor, POOR Les.
Or as we could call him, Lobster Les.
Wowza.
He shall never make that mistake again.
Don't worry anyone, we've been capturing his color and now peeling skin ala "Jenny Craig" style with before and after pictures. He's starting to peel now (7 days later), the color is fading (a bit) and his bubbles are going down.

We headed to Patong to see the "Simon Cabaret" that evening.
This show was very highly recommended and our opportunity to see the Ladyboys.
Ladyboys are basically DragQueens; but more believable and prettier.
That was the word on the street.
The show was absolutely horrible. HAHHAHAHA
It basically was a high school lip-synching competition to different pop songs of America, China, and Thailand. There was some choreographed dancing (some. it was just bad) but mostly it was glitter and sparkle and crazy costumes. We just all looked at each other and started laughing; it was so bad it was funny. Melissa fell asleep for portions of it while Les and I just chuckled and shook our heads. Some were better than others but basically, the songs just gave you a chance to gawk at these Ladyboys. They WERE beautiful.
After the show, we had the chance to take pictures with him and see them up close.
Some were much taller than I thought and some you could tell now that you were closer.
However, a lot of them it was still hard to tell!!!!
Little bones, little bodies, little waists, they looked good!!!!
Is it wierd, as a woman, to be jealous of a man dressed up like a girl?
HAHAHAHAHAH

Patong was a cool town and was the most happening place to be. Restaurants and bars lined the streets with stalls and shops trying to get traveler's money. We've been told again and again that it was rare to see Americans over here so everyone just guessed that we were Australian. Catcalls and 'G'day Mate!' was shouted at us repeatedly. Good stuff. Made me proud. :)
We had eaten at an Irish bar called Molly Malone's as no one was ready for more Thai food (or bad food). Les and Melissa got Cottage Pies and I got a burger. Ahhhh, grease that we were used to.

The next day we headed to Phang Nga Bay for sea kayaking and a day at sea.
Les needed to get out of the sun and couldn't stand even thinking about it so we assured him that this trip would provide all the necessary coverage and shade he needed. :)

We boarded this large boat with about 20 other people from ALL over: Italy, Spain, Singapore, the Middle East, Ireland, India and France. The cool thing about traveling over here is that you see EVERYBODY. It's rarely just Europeans and Americans - we are defininately the minority. It's Eastern Europe, China, Japan, India, Malaysians and then Australians, Western Europeans and maybe some Americans. It's awesome. I love seeing the differences in dress, in family, in communication...
Let me just say....we whiteys love our khaki.

The Sea Kayak trip took up to several of the Thailand's different islands including Hong Island, Panak Island, Lawa Island and the "famous" James Bond Island from the Man with the Golden Gun (1970s?). We saw limstone caves, monkeys, walking fish, crazy trees and rock formations. It was cool. In the sea kayaks, there were some caves that we have to lie completely down to get thru. That was pretty cool. The crew was hilarious and service was top notch from these 20-something guys. Drinks, snacks, lunch was provided but more importantly, their attitudes and sense of humour. They loved joking with everyone and on our trip back they danced to MC Hammer, R&B and then had their own Ladyboy performance. It was hilarious and put everyone in a great mood. The day was beautiful and perfect. We were on the boat for about 7 hours.
The day was perfect and just being at sea made us happy. Wind in hair, surrounded by islands and seeing God's amazing creation. What an imagination He has. Some things are just crazy!

Not bad for 2.5 days!

Thailand - check.

On to Kuala Lumpur (KL).